Spiritual abuse looks good at first. So it is so difficult to identify. And it is even more difficult sometimes to see the harmful effects of spiritual abuse.
Apologetics Resource Center
Often in cult ministry we focus on groups that deny central aspects of the Christian faith such as the Trinity, deity of Christ, salvation by grace etc. Many Christians believe that if they simply look at a doctrinal statement, they will be able to spot potentially harmful organizations. Such may not be the case. There are many groups, such as University Bible Fellowship and International Church of Christ which look very good on paper but are involved in practices that can prove spiritually damaging. Our Kansas City office has recently become involved with one such group. It is important that believers are able to move beyond the doctrinal statements to recognize other telltale signs of danger.
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Commitment to God = Commitment to Group. In abusive groups a subtle switch is made that causes commitment to the activities and beliefs of the group to equal commitment to God. This may be extremely difficult to spot at first because most of us express our commitment to God through faithfulness and ministry in our local church. The difference is one of degree. Imagine a student in college. Abusive groups may ask the student to lead small-group studies on multiple nights of the week. Other nights may be consumed with gatherings of the entire group and leadership training. On weekends the group has evangelistic outreach activities and of course there are regular special emphasis weeks. The student may find that their class work or family life is suffering under the burden. However, if he questions the amount the group is requiring he will be told he needs to stop loving the world and go wholeheartedly after God. Never is the thought allowed that God may actually want him to study or spend time with his family.
Newsletter of the Apologetics Resource Center
The University Bible Fellowship is another fairly large Bible-based cult on some college campuses. After the controversy at Wheaton College last year (Wheaton allowed them to rent their facility for a conference), the National Association of Evangelicals removed UBF from membership, as the facts were presented about their abusive methodology. Yet they are still active. Beware.
http://www.arcapologetics.org/worldviews/worldviews-2005-04.htm
