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Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Cult? ... continued
 
Another place we see the word “cult” is in the word “culture”. These two words have different roots, but are related because a “cult” controls the “culture” of its members. Now I found this interesting: This is the definition from the Shorter (only two volumes) Oxford English Dictionary of 1933:

Culture, sb. ME. [a. F., ad. L. cultura: see CULT.] 1. Worship 1483. 2. CULTIVATION I. ME. 3. CULTIVATION 1625; spec. the artificial development of microscopic organisms, esp. bacteria, in prepared media; concr. the product of such culture 1884. 4. fig. Improvement or refinement by education and training 1510. 5. absol. The training and refinement of mind, tastes, and manners; the condition of being thus trained and refined; the intellectual side of civilization 1805. 6. CULTIVATION 3 (rare) 1876. 2. The soil is clay, and difficult of c. 1806. 3. the c. of the vine 1856, of silk MORSE, oysters (mod.). A c-fluid…that contains…various species of organisms KLEIN. 4. The education of children (is called) a C. of their mindes HOBBES. 5. C., the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world M. ARNOLD. Hence Cu-ltureless a. rare, uncultivated (lit. and fig.). Cu-lturist, one engaged in the c. of plants, fish, etc.; and advocate of c. 
Culture, v. Now rare. 1510. [a. F. culturer, f. culture; see prec.] To subject to culture, cultivate. lit. (usu. poet.) and fig.

The world is full of “cults” much more pernicious than the ones that are popular to persecute today. Consider the lies that are “artificially developed” in the “prepared media” of TV, radio, and print! Most people fill their minds daily with these and expect to be full of faith after an hour or two at church. We must each develop a Godly culture which will cultivate faith in ourselves and our children. If we stand determined as God has led us, we may be viewed as a cult also. But “who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.   – Rom. 14:4. There are no perfect churches, only our heavenly Father and His son Jesus.
 
In addition, I have read several books on “cults”, the authors’ main purpose being to establish the reader in an accepted denomination. Much of the information in the books is hearsay and inaccurate. But the authors know that the groups they describe are powerless to defend themselves or too focused on their mission to the world to waste time writing books or filing defamation suits in response.
 
The current events prompting this column concern me, because Christians are believing the media reports and contributing to the aim of the devil to eliminate our national freedoms. I believe these are the goals of the attack on David Koresh and his followers:
 
·      To discredit any unaccepted Christian group as fanatical.
 
·      To discredit home education
 
·      To discredit anti-gun control groups
 
·      To cause the general public to fear all of the above
 
I have been interviewed for newspaper articles in the past and most of the information that they printed was inaccurate. And the “quotes” of me were distorted beyond recognition. So I don’t trust what I read in the papers or hear on the radio. But I reason through all the information that I find. And usually that still small voice says, “Peace, be still and know that I am God, not you.” So I reserve judgment for later. We don’t’ need to pass judgment on situations in order to walk in love toward the people involved. I only fully trust the Lord and His Word. I exhort everyone to pray fervently about the “cult” situation in Waco.
 
TRAGEDY IN WACO
 
My heart was sick when I saw the buildings engulfed in flames and realized what I was viewing. It is ironic that April 19, 1993 is exactly fifty years after the Warsaw Ghetto Massacre of 1943. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, on Jan 18 the Nazis (National Socialists) entered the ghetto to assemble a shipment of Jews and were met with surprising armed resistance by the underground Jewish Combat Organization. After four days the Germans withdrew until April 19 when SS chief Heinrich Himmler launched a special Aktion to clear the ghetto by force in honor of Hitler’s birthday, April 29. The 19th was also the first day of Passover that year.
 
Before dawn, 2000 SS men and troops attacked the ghetto. The one-sided battle continued until May 16 when Jewish ammunition was exhausted. It took the Germans 28 days to kill or deport to Treblinka over 56,000 Jews. At the end, the Nazis blew up the Great Synagogue of Warsaw. SS Major General Stroop wrote his report, “The Warsaw Ghetto Is No More.”