Cult following of 'The Shack'

James B. De Young is author of the newly released WND Books title "Burning Down 'The Shack.'"

Q: Do the followers of "The Shack" comprise a cult?

A: There are certain characteristics of the people who love "The Shack" that suggest cultic-like devotion. Why would I suggest such a thing? Because the word "cult" suggests certain behavior and domineering personalities that have often arisen among Christians in the past. Remember Jim Jones and his People's Temple cult in the 1970s? More than 800 adults and children committed suicide in blind devotion to their leader who could do no wrong and whose teaching was beyond questioning.

But how do I know a cult when I see it? The dictionary says that a cult is 1) a system of religious worship or ritual, 2) a quasi-religious group, often living in a colony, with a charismatic leader who indoctrinates members with unorthodox or extremist views, practices or beliefs and 3) a group of followers.

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Some of these words do not characterize the readers of the novel by Paul Young. But Paul Young is certainly a charismatic leader who is gathering a significant following. He certainly propagates unorthodox or extremist views and religious beliefs (as I will show). And since he comes under no local church, he himself decides what is orthodox.

Every reader of the novel needs to reflect on this question: Does my devotion to the story of the novel and what it tells me about relationship with God exceed my devotion to God as presented in the Bible? In other words, would I rather read "The Shack" instead of the Bible? Or, if I discover a conflict between what the Bible says and what "The Shack" says, do I choose to go with Paul Young and "The Shack"? If the answer is "yes" to any of these questions, then readers should consider whether their devotion to the novel is cultic.

Let's try a test of whether one's devotion to "The Shack" is cultic. In the novel the character Papa, representing God, asserts: "I don't need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment. … It's not my purpose to punish it; it's my joy to cure it" (120).

Now consider how distorted this is. While some statements in the Bible talk about sin having its own consequences (such as entrapment in sin; blindness; hardness; etc.), the vast majority of the teaching of Scripture attests that God does indeed punish sin. Just the first three chapters of Romans say this more than a dozen times (1:18, 32; 2:2-12, 16; 3:4-6, 19, 25-26). We shall all, believers and unbelievers alike, stand before the judgment seat of God to be rewarded and/or judged (Rom. 14:10-12; 2 Cor. 5:10-11). Indeed, "God is just and will bring retribution" when Jesus himself returns from heaven to "punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel" and "punish them with everlasting destruction" (2 Thes. 1:6-9). When we realize that Jesus more than any other person repeatedly warns that the judgment of hell is real and eternal (for examples, Matthew 25:41-46; Luke 16:19-31) there can be little doubt that much Scripture teaches that God indeed punishes sin.

But universalism makes the arrogant claim that a God of love could never judge people this way. He only "cures" sin and "chastises" people.

However, the Bible says that God offered his Son Jesus Christ as the sacrifice who willingly bore the judgment for our sins, so that we would not have to be judged for them if we believe on him (2 Cor. 5:21; John 3:16-18; Romans 6:23). If we refuse to believe that God judges sin, then we have no salvation in Christ, and there is no deliverance from the penalty and the power of sin.

If you believe "The Shack"'s pronouncements about judgment and sin instead of the Bible's, then you are in danger of being swept up into a cultic allegiance to a charismatic leader! And isn't this just the nub of what makes many people uncomfortable about "The Shack"? The novel projects "novel" views of a lot of the Bible's teaching that at least distort the truth and at the most slander God and Jesus Christ (as I show in my "Burning Down 'The Shack'").

And in line with the novel's opposition to the local church, this charismatic leader refuses to come under the leadership and authority of any local church and decides for himself what is true. This is cultlike!

If "The Shack" is not yet a cult, it may be on the way to becoming one.

Order James B. De Young's "Burning Down 'The Shack': How the 'Christian' Bestseller is Deceiving Millions."