Text message received this morning: “I’d like to comment with regards to the PBMA, people keep saying that the PBMA is cult … no its NOT!”

No further theological insight was offered. Not that any theological insight into a cult like the PBMA is really feasible.

Cult: “a group of people, which claiming to be a Christian, embraces a particular doctrinal system taught by an individual leader, group of leaders, or organization, which (system) denies (either explicitly — definite — or implicitly — absolute) one or more of the central doctrines of the Christian faith as taught in the sixty-six books of the Bible.”

Let’s see… Ruben Ecleo was venerated as a “god” and “Divine Master” who could perform miracles, and his followers were fanatical even to the point of bloody violence.

Man claims to be God + violently fanatical followers + legalistic New Age interpretations of salvation = Cult.

Simple enough. Also see my entry on False Messiahs.

(I’d love to see what goes on in their email, since their home page has been down for a while.)