Cultish

I was born & raised LDS (Mormon), and was converted (in a dramatic way by God’s grace) to Christianity through front-to-back reading of the New Testament which resulted in (to my shock!) an encounter with the real Jesus. I love their insights on this topic of Mormonism especially. The best part is, the hosts use God’s word as the lens with which to compare all belief systems. The dialogue is respectful and loving towards the LDS rather than a prideful “gotcha!” These men are following New Testament instruction to discuss topics of belief with gentleness and respect; but also with the truth of God’s word.

As someone who escaped a South Korean doomsday cult called Shincheonji several years ago, Cultish was a resource that was incredibly helpful in my healing journey. It was helpful to know that I was not the only one who went through what I experienced in the cult and that joy and freedom were possible again. I’m so grateful that these guys were able to help point me back to the true Gospel of grace, not the merit-based system I had escaped from.

Love the podcast guys! With the La Luz de Mundo podcast I heard a lot about Oneness Pentecostal (Apostolic) influence. I would love if to hear you guys to head to head with the guys on the Apostolic Classroom podcast. They are out of Indianapolis. I’ve been around both trinitarian and oneness believers… I think categorizing them as “modalist” is an uneducated under-simplification. Think you all could have an in-depth conversation.

This would be more interesting if the hosts would let the guest tell their story without interrupting and THEN ask questions and add commentary. As it is, it’s often hard to follow. It’s rude and disrespectful for the hosts to show off their scripture memorization skills in the middle of the guests’ stories. Also, it’s very hard to take the hosts seriously when they get facts wrong. Example: in the Jodi Hildebrant story, they made multiple errors and couldn’t remember some key names like Lori Vallow Daybell. Care enough about your listeners to do some research and make some notes before you drop a podcast.

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.

Dropped my rating another star. The Calvinistic leanings and absolute arrogance almost make it unlistenable. I like cultish. It has some great content, and as a believer that definitely believes in a biblical hierarchy with a man both heading the home and the church, I was interested in hearing this one. But Dale Patridge takes it too far. Skinny jeans are not a sin. I mean they’re a tragedy on most men, but they’re not sinful. And if he wants to criticize the music, then look at its biblical accuracy, not if he thinks it’s too emotional. David wrote some very emotional stuff in Psalms. He is critical of a 2-dimensional view of Jesus as gentle and emotional, but he does the exact same thing on the other end of the spectrum. Just because a man doesn’t fit his view of what is manly doesn’t mean they’re not manly. The feminist movement has so perverted what men and women are to be, and done everything to erase rather than celebrate our God given differences. That much is certain, but Patridge’s fear of skinny jeans and men being too sensitive is not the answer either. He just comes off as a jerk (not new for him) in general. But what’s concerning more than anything is how very little of what’s being said is biblical. Patridge is presenting his opinions as gospel. As I read the most recent reviews, I can see I’m not alone. I just hope the hosts don’t brush this off but take a good, long look at this episode and how biblically inaccurate it is.