Variations and Models
Countercult apologetics has several variations and methods employed in analysing and responding to cults. The different nuances in countercult apologetics have been discussed by John A. Saliba and Philip Johnson.
The dominant method is the emphasis on detecting unorthodox or heretical doctrines and contrasting those with orthodox interpretations of the Bible and early creedal documents. Some apologists, such as Francis J. Beckwith, have emphasised a philosophical approach, pointing out logical, epistemological and metaphysical problems within the teachings of a particular group. Another approach involves former members of cultic groups recounting their spiritual autobiographies, which highlight experiences of disenchantment with the group, unanswered questions and doubts about commitment to the group, culminating in the person's conversion to Evangelical Christianity.
Apologists like Dave Hunt in Peace, Prosperity and the Coming Holocaust and Hal Lindsey in The Terminal Generation have tended to interpret the phenomena of cults as part of the burgeoning evidence of signs that Christ's Second Advent is close at hand. Both Hunt, and Constance Cumbey, have applied a conspiracy model to interpreting the emergence of New Age spirituality and linking that to speculations about fulfilled prophecies heralding Christ's reappearance.
Other apologists like Bob Larson blend an understanding of cults as heresies with a strongly nuanced emphasis on Satan as the energizing power behind the growth of cults. This theme has been portrayed in the anti-New Age novels by Frank Peretti (This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness) where demonic forces empower practitioners of New Age groups while Christians engage in spiritual warfare tactics of prayer and exorcisms to counter the groups.
Read more about this topic: Christian Countercult Movement
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