Larsons book of cults

436 Pages·2016·28.5 MB·English

by  Larson Bob.

LARSON'S
BOOK
OF
A popular and fascinating encyclopedia of
flourishing cults, including ^Astrology
The
Unification Church ^Bhag^A^an
Shree Rajneesh ^est Ho/y Order of
MANS Rev. Ike The Way ^Divine
Light Mission ^Branhamism ^The
Martial Arts ^Scientology ^UFOs
^TM ^Yoga ^and more than 50 others.
Digitized by the Internet Arciiive
in 2010
http://www.archive.org/details/larsonsbookofculOOIars
LARSON'S BOOK OF CULTS

LARSON'S
mm
BOOK
OF
Bob
Larson
TyndaleHousePublishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois
8
IawnoduRlodbleirktetPoaessxatnetnidnao,spfeorcitahleitrheaxnpkesrttoaGdrveictechaennd
reviewoftheoriginalmanuscript.
ScripturereferencesaretakenfromtheKing
JamesVersionoftheBible,unlessotherwise
indicated.
Fourth printing. September 1983
LibraryofCongressCatalogNumber82-6001
ISBN0-8423-2104-7
Copyright ' 1982byBobLarson
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Contents
ANINTRODUCTIONTO THE CULTS
I.
1. Drinkingatthe Fountain 11
2. Dismantlingthe Myth 16
3. ASociologicalPerspective onCults 26
4. A ChristianPerspective on Cults 31
5. BiblicalTheologyandthe Cults 35
ANINTRODUCTIONTO CULTCONCEPTS
II.
6. Understanding Cult Concepts 43
7. Enlightenment 47
8. Reincarnation 51
9. Meditation 62
CULTIC ROOTSINWORLDRELIGIONS
III.
10. Prologue 69
11. Hinduism 71
Buddhism
12.
(Theravada/Mahayana/Tibetan/Zen) 83
13. Taoism 97
14. Islam(IncludingSufismandBlack
Muslims) 103
IV MAJOR CULTS
15. SurveyofMajorCults 121
Pseudo-ChristianCults
16. ChildrenofGod(FamilyofLove) 123
17. ChristianScience 130
18. Church ofthe LivingWord, The 136
19. HolyOrderofMANS 140
20. International CommunityofChrist/
Thejamilians 143
21. Jehovah'sWitnesses 146
22. Local Church, The 152
23. Mormonism 156
24. Neo-Gnosticism 166
25. Penitentes 169
26. UnitySchoolofChristianity 171
27. WayInternational, The 176
28. Worldwide Church ofGod (Armstrongism) 181
PersonalityCults
BabaRamDass
29.
(HanumanFoundation) 187
30. BhagwanShree Rajneesh 190
31. Branhamism 194
32. BubbaFreeJohn 198
33. Gurdjieff/Subud/Renaissance 201
34. Guru MaharajJi(Divine LightMission) 205
35. MeherBaba(SufismReoriented, Inc.) 213
36. MuktanandaParamahansa 218
37. Rev. Ike 221
38. Rev. SunMyungMoon(UnificationChurch) 224
39. SathyaSai Baba 234
40. SriChinmoy 239
Occult/MysticalCults
41. Association forResearchand Enlightenment
(EdgarCayce) 242
42. Astara 249
43. Astrology 254
44. Bahaism 261
45. ChurchUniversalandTriumphant 265
ECKANKAR
46. 270
47. est 275
48. FoundationFaith ofthe Millennium
(FoundationFaith ofGod) 280
49. International SocietyofKrishna
Consciousness(Hare Krishna) 283
50. MartialArts 293
51. NichirenShoshu/SokaGakkai 302
52. Rosicrucianism 306
53. Scientology 312
54. Spiritualism/Spiritism 316
55. Theosophy 326
56. TranscendentalMeditation 333
57. UFOs 343
58. Urantia 351
59. Yoga 356
V SYNOPSESOFMINOR CULTS
60. AetheriusSociety 365
61. Alamo ChristianFoundation 366
62. AnandaMargaYogaSociety 368
63. Anthroposophical Society 369
64. AricaInstitute, Inc. 371
65. Church ofArmageddon(Love Family) 373
66. Church ofBible Understanding, The
(ForeverFamily) 375
67. EsalenInstitute 377
68. Farm, The 379
69. Foundation ofHumanUnderstanding
(RoyMasters) 381
70. KrishnamurtiFoundationofAmerica 382
71. Lifespring 384
72. MindSciences 385
73. Self-RealizationFellowship
(ParamahansaYogananda) 387
74. SilvaMind Control 389
75. Swami Kriyananda 391
76. SwamiRami(HimalayanInternationalInstitute
ofYogaScience and Philosophy) 393
77. SwamiVivekananda(VedantaSociety) 394
78. Swedenborgianism 396
79. UnitarianUniversalistAssociation 398
80. YogiBhajan(SikhFoundation/3HO
Foundation) 400
BackgroundSourcesforMinorCults 403
Cult InformationResources 407
RecommendedReading 409
Addenda 411
Coercive CultTechniques
AnnotatedBibliography
Index 421