One flaw is that much of the information he presents is from second-hand resources. While it is certainly OK to get some information from Christian experts, I'm not quite sure why the author doesn't look up and list the information himself from original sources. It would mean so much more. The bibliography itself is also limited, as I believe he misses out on some very important books written by both Christians as well as those from the individual cults.

Rhodes does give easy-to-use charts to illustrate his points, and he includes good, accurate information that appear basic to the individual cult. (I didn't read closely, but what I did look at was fair, honest, and correct.) The book contains two glossy picture sections, which is nice, but I wonder how much this added to the cost of the book. Instead of these pictures, I would have rather had conclusions to each section as well as possible witnessing scenarios and glossary tables. He did this in his other books ("Reasoning With..."), and these ideas seemed to work well. The reader is left hanging at the end of each chapter, and I think Rhodes would have better served his audience by taking this one additional step.

Finally, and while not wanting to sound too critical, I'm wondering why he ignored the Boston Movement, which is the International Churches of Christ (not affiliated with the Church of Christ denomination), since it is so prevalent on the college campuses. I would think that information on this contemporary group would have been so much more crucial than anything he wrote on "the New Age Movement" (is this a cult?) and the Unification Church (as far as I am concerned, the Moonies are pretty much non-influential in today's America). I also question whether Freemasonry or Satanism are "cults," and it appears these chapters were saved to the end to fill out the book. While I don't agree with either group, they certainly are not "cults" in the evangelical sense of the word.

I would temper my above comments by saying that a person with no knowledge of these groups would be fine with this book, but those who have studied these groups will do better finding works that more concentrate on the individual group. There is nothing new here that could not be discovered in other more detailed sources.


Disappointing and rather sloppy scholarship   March 18, 2004
 14 out of 29 found this review helpful

Mr. Rhodes' five "essential" doctrines of Christianity as found on pages 22-23 are wide of the mark. Not all mainstream denominations of Christianity, particularly more liberal ones, would agree with his conclusions. His assertion that the doctrine of the trinity is a "biblical fact" is nothing short of laughable considering the church did not fully develop or embrace the doctrine of trinitarianism for over 3 centuries after Christ's death. And only after intense debate.

With respect to the specific religions he includes in his book, I can only speak to the Unitarian Universalist chapter as that is the religion with which I'm most familiar. Some of Mr. Rhodes' facts are easily refuted and his conclusions are sometimes downright insulting.

For example, "Past Unitarian Universalists include five U.S. presidents..." In fact, there has never been a UU president as the denominations merged in 1961. He names Thomas Jefferson as a Unitarian Universalist. Jefferson was raised an Episcopalian and later in life belonged to no specific religion although his writings do contain Unitarian ideals. There have been four presidents who belonged to Unitarian churches when the Unitarian faith bore little resemblance to UU practice today.

Mr. Rhodes contends that UUs "have little respect for the Christian Bible." That would be his opinion and one which would not hold up to scrutiny. UUs do indeed respect the Bible and other sacred religious texts, they just do not use it the same way Mr. Rhodes does.

Mr. Rhodes states that most UUs deny that there is an afterlife. He sites a document that isn't even accepted as the definitive statement of UU belief by all, or even most, Unitarian Universalists.

Mr. Rhodes contends that UUs are intolerant towards Christians despite their professed belief in religious tolerance. He does not explore the meaning of religious liberalism or differentiate between acknowledging Christianity as a valid faith path while failing to appreciate a conservative Christian proclaiming UUs as evil, sinful, faithless people destined for eternal damnation. Why should anyone tolerate intolerance?

If his other chapters are as misleading as this one, I would recommend anyone interested in cults seek a different source. Clearly Mr. Rhodes' purpose in writing this book was not scholarship, but to elevate his own religion by showing disdain for others. Even if that means shoddy research and erroneous conclusions.


Cults, Cults, and More Cults   October 5, 2002
 7 out of 11 found this review helpful

Ron Rhodes has written a succesful primer on the topic of non-Christian cults. The book is very easy to understand, matched with colorful photos and a reader friendly format. Johnson (another reviewer) is correct when he says Rhodes misses some information, however, I think in this case, it is a stregnth of Rhodes' book.

Rhodes accuractly portrays the major teachings of churchs like the 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints'(Mormons), Jehovah Witnesses, and Unity School of Christianty, just to name a few. He also deals with other religions and their teachings, but here he is a little less effective.

This text is written for the 'layman' and as such, it succeeds for those individuals who have not read any information about these unquie religions but need some basic information. For those of us who have studied many of these sects in-depth, the book is quite boring and one would be better off purchasing something with more theological depth.


Good Read..   November 1, 2002
 7 out of 15 found this review helpful

This was a good read but read slowly as some parts are wordy. Mormonism was covered VERY WELL. 1/4 of this book was really dry.


Excellent insight into the Cults   February 24, 2006
 5 out of 10 found this review helpful

Ron does a great job of arming readers with all the right ammunition to counter false doctrines and provides wisdom for how best to lead people to the absolute truth of God. Very well done.