The Gospel Time Bomb

Cults, sects, and mass therapies abound in every part of the United States. Adherents to these extremist groups come from every geographic section, socio-economic stratum, ethnic and age group. "It is not the Moonies or the Hare Krishmas that we should fear," writes Lowell D. Streiker, America's leading expert on cults. "The fastest growing and most dangerous religious movement in America today is ultrafundamentalism - an extremist form of evangelical religion that shuns reason, forbids needed medical treatment, abuses women and children, and eagerly awaits the end of the world. The cults of the seventies were alien and exotic. These sects are as American as the Fourth of July." The Gospel Time Bomb explores the dangers of ultrafundamentalist cults by presenting selected case histories, by explaining the significance of the central tendencies of ultrafundamentalism, and by suggesting why such groups are flourishing at this particular time in this particular society. The author carefully defines the nature of religious experience, conversion, revivalism, pentecostalism, sheperding, and deliverance. He relates how many of the dynamics found in ultrafundamentalism are at work in such secular phenomena as Amway, real estate sales, and prostitution. The Gospel Time Bomb assesses the so-called evangelical upsurge and Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority. In addition, Dr. Streiker offers his predictions of the future as well as his suggestions for defusing the destructive potential of the extremeists, for moderating the fanaticism of these new sects, and for responding to them humanely and effectively.