Cults of the late 1800s

[Proselytiser of Jah]

Came across an interesting reply to a redit post here in the history thread, by the user "Pdbowen".


https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/ ... h_century/


It's no secret many cults and religious groups stemmed during this time. And a lot of it seems to be connected with the rise of Masonic groups and influences too. It was also the era which founded the roots of modernised Eastern religions and New Age movements of today (for example Yoga, Kung Fu, etc, became publicised and rebranded into health practices for the everyday person, "separated" from their original magical and religious origins).

Part of it, as the post explained, was certainly down to global expansions and cross-cultural interactions, resulting in some major shifts in the world.

Whilst I take things with a grain of salt when it comes to conspiracy, there is certainly something to be said about these patterns during this time period.

During these times we also see the Christian Restoration movements (which for the most part seemed pretty grounded), of which certain cult-like groups sprang, such as the Adventists, JWs, Mormons, etc, all which have either confirmed, or "suspected" Masonic connections.

It's almost as if during these times there was some sort of "grand spiritual battle" going on behind the scenes, groups of genuine truth seekers, Christians who desired for purification of worship, and on the other side, those who wanted to promote occultism, and others who took advantage of these events to create sects and cults. Perhaps with a wave of honest truth seekers coming to light in the world, Satan, as always, attempts to throw a wrench into the works here and there, creating confusion and splintering.


But whatever the case, just thought it was an interesting observation.

[AmosAU]

Hi POJ,

Thats an interesting article. I would suggest the timing is a little off.

Most of these new cults and cultlike movements did in fact have their origins in the early 1800's. All of the Advent movements, including the SDA.s and WBTS (later called JW's) had their origins in the Millerite movement around 1830 ish. These also included the different brethren churches, Christedelohians, Rosicruschens, etc. All around the same time.

This was also around the time when modern occultism came to the fore as a major but more hidden system.

Regards, Amos.