Cults of Appeal

The Greater Gaston Celebration, a few weeks back, drew large crowds to hear the message of Billy Graham's grandson, Will Graham. While the strong evangelistic messages resembled the familiar style of America's great preaching legend, what I want to talk about is the "other crowds" the "Graham Crusades" (pardon the terminology, I realize the many implications) tend to attract. Following the first night's service, I was approached by a young man, tract in hand, that resembled a modern day "hippie". Appearances aside, I was a little nervous as I had not come across a (real live) cult member before and did not know what to expect. He passed out his tract and moved on to the next group of young people. That was it. I did a little research on his particular cult, the Twelve Tribes, and then felt I had a better idea of what I was dealing with. The next day, he and the other members were at the gate, right outside the park. It was public property leaving the Billy Graham Association staff no room to remove the "guests". When I walked outside the second night, at first I was a little perturbed that the same group was passing out tracts and leading people astray. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized any amount of "persecution" on these people at this event will just strengthen their faith in the beliefs of this cult. While the Twelve Tribes follow the same rubric of most cults, a syncretistic version of Christianity, there were several things that intrigued me about the group.
First, was the discipline of simplicity. As a chosen discipline, it can be a powerful way to not only save money to give to others, but also make a statement about where one belongs; not of this world.

Second, I like that they lived in communities. They were literally living out the Acts 2 type community that sold all they had, broke bread together, taught each other, and shared all things in common.

Third, they said they were interested in what the Bible really says. Me too! They wanted to get back to what the NT church was really like including worship practices and being separate from worldly things.

Man, if cults were really about these three things (Simple living, Community built in Love, Really taking the Bible seriously) you could sign me up in a heart beat. Sadly though, cults are never what they appear. There is the public knowledge that is shared with everyone evangelistically and then there is the private knowledge that is hidden behind an attractive facade.
By private knowledge I mean (specific to this cult), their children are often beaten even as young as 2, 3, and 4 for disobedience in worldly things. Their community leaders are the sole authoritative voice in the house setting up a dictatorship rather than mutual community. The founder/"prophet" of the Twelve Tribes owns several houses and even a private jet which may be nice for him and needed if he is to oversee all of the little cult communities, but falls way short of the mandated life of simplicity pushed on the "drones".
While I would partially agree with Shemiah, the cult member that took a few minutes to talk with me, that the North American church has strayed away from the principles lived out by the early church, I believe it best to pray for a reformation/revival/resuscitation of the church rather than split of into an exclusive group that leaves the world behind. By doing this, they opened themselves up to oppressive "dictator-style" leadership that leaves no room for accountability. This sort of leadership becomes the "Word" creating space to twist the gospel message into whatever the leader sees fit.
Lord, save those people, but also save the church!