Cultish

I have been listening since about 2020-2021. There was a period of time between 2021-2023 where I believe it was just the height of the podcast. Y’all were crushing it and I learned a lot of things and got a lot of leads for researching things on my own. I started with the one about Santeria, and that was HUGE for me in recognizing that evil spirits do work (as I’ve heard it stated “Holy Spirit” is not the only spirit at work) in the world. Since about early 2024, I’ve noticed things just aren’t the same. Seems almost as if the quality has taken a dip. I recognize life gets in the way and they funding issues make it difficult, but man I miss those “golden years”. I have to agree with another review that if the goal is to help former cult members find healing and to help inform people on how to minister to cults, it feels as though that mission has been slightly abandoned. This 10 episode one on Under the banner of Heaven has been good, but I’ve had a difficult time following at points and it also feels as though there have been slights against Mormons instead of simply just teaching us how and why. I know content is difficult to come by if you’ve hit almost all the cults, but I hope the new year doesn’t look like the end of last year. Again, love you guys and thank you for how you have blessed many! God bless yall!!

I used to really like this show but recent episodes have me questioning continuing to listen. In listening to the ICC series, I was interested in understanding their history and doctrine that don’t follow the Bible. However, it felt more like the guest was there to bash the founder of the denomination and make fun of the people more than anything else. I really think they could’ve gotten away with 2 episodes in that series than 3 (I had to stop the last episode with 20 minutes left because I felt the guest was making fun of the people in the church. If this church is a cult than those people are victims of the cult and should be treated with grace.) I think episodes and guests like this one along with other guests who have led the hosts to believe they are “experts” regarding these groups are reasons why they aren’t getting the listener support they need to continue the show. If they are going to continue, and receive support, I think they should do the following: 1) more research on the cults and the “experts” they use, and 2) actually find people who used to be in these groups/cults and interview them. Maybe that means they have “seasons” or “series” where they can deep dive these groups but it also means that they post 10 or so episodes and GET IT RIGHT then post something and have to take it down because it comes out that their “expert” isn’t such an authority on what they say they are.

I’m listening to the episode about the Pagan origins of Christmas, and I noticed a few issues with the information. There are pagan traditions that have been intwined with Christmas. The Sami people for example, celebrated the return of the sun during the solstice, their sun deity riding a sleigh pulled by reindeer. It doesn’t change the validity of Christmas, but it’s important to remember that cultures affect each other, and Christmas is the latest in a long line of mid-winter holidays.

If it weren’t for your podcast, I’d still be living a life of confusion within Seventh-day Adventism. I firmly believed in Ellen White but always felt like I didn’t understand or care about the Gospel. I was certain I was lost. I had been listening to Cultish off and on for years, so by the time you came out with the series on SDAs, you had massively gained my trust. At first I felt offended when I saw you were going to be covering SDAs, but that sent me down a rabbit hole and my beliefs were changed very quickly. I believe the Lord used your podcast to pull me out of darkness. Ironically, I was listening to an ex SDA interview on the YouTube channel SDA Q&A (S8E12), and the guy mentioned your podcast as influential to him too! Go listen to it and try to get him on your show! Please keep doing what you’re doing and PLEASE do more episodes on Adventism! It’s one of the biggest wolves in sheep’s clothing out there. I’m so glad my kids won’t be raised in that religion. They will have no doubts about the real gospel.

Your episode on the Baha’i Faith has so many easily refuted inaccuracies and distortions! The guest misconstrued basic concepts and insinuated that the Baha’is have a nefarious scheme for some authoritarian global takeover, but Baha’i writings clearly uphold the integrity of all major religions and Baha’is have a long history of promoting interfaith dialogue and fellowship which is a matter of well-established public record. He flippantly calls it a sect of Islam, and scoffs that they call themselves a world religion, however the Baha’i Faith is recognized as an independent religion in over 200 countries and territories, is global in scope, and Islamic authorities overwhelmingly recognize the Baha’i Faith as a separate religion, NOT a sect of Islam. It’s the Baha’is distinct belief in a new Messenger of God that makes them a target for ongoing persecution in many Muslim majority countries. Why not use some intellectual rigor (and honesty) to research the Baha’i Faith and present it accurately, and then do your cult take-down? It also wasn’t clear what criteria your guest was using to establish a cult: was it Hassan’s BITE model? Or something else? I was very curious to hear how you would construct your argument that the Baha’i Faith as a cult, but if your “expert” can’t even get basic facts straight, the whole effort seems either intellectually lazy or willfully disingenuous.

What a weird, ironically-named podcast! While the hosts/guests are intelligent and well-spoken, their worldview doesn’t allow them to see the cultishness of their own belief system. In the episode about transgender people and identity (which was a fascinating listen for multiple reasons) it was clear they have never talked to an actual trans person about philosophy or belief systems.