It is indeed not very difficult at all to describe the earliest Christian community as cultish in nature.
I tend to agree with Austin Cline.
The term cult has become almost pejorative. Religious defenders tend to use the term as cudgel to attack small religious groups or minority Christian faiths which do not adhere to all the traditional Christian doctrines. Cults are merely other religions, no better or worse than older, established religions. Unfortunately, the excitement of these religions is not far away from fanaticism, a danger to the believer and those around him/her.
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What a cult is defined as:
A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.
The followers of such a religion or sect.
A system or community of religious worship and ritual.
The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.
A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.
Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.
The object of such devotion.
An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.
[Latin cultus, worship, from past participle
Early Christianity would fit as an example.
Cults are endlessly fascinating to me. They have existed for centuries, for all different reasons.
The Thugee Cult ( featured in Indiana Jones)
Heavens Gate
Jonestown
Aum SHryinku Sect
Waco
I think The AUM sect was a massive organisation in East ASIA who were developing seismic and microwave weapons, they had millions of members world wide, and not your usual detached cult members, doctors, lawyers scientists etc, they released sarin gas in the tokyo underground