sounds like a cult to me
You have a very good ear, MuddyPaws.
Merriam Webster defines as such: cult noun, often attributive
Definition of CULT
1 formal religious veneration : worship
2 a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
3 a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
4 a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator (health cults)
5 a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad
b : the object of such devotion
c : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion
Given that the first two definitions are indeed appropriate regarding the One True Holy and Apostolic Church, we’ll take ‘em. The term cult has only really had pejorative connotations within the last fifty or so years. If you’re thinking of the third definition, let’s research the word used within that definition — spurious:
spu·ri·ous adj
Definition of SPURIOUS
1 of illegitimate birth : bastard
2 outwardly similar or corresponding to something without having its genuine qualities : false (the spurious eminence of the pop celebrity)
3 a : of falsified or erroneously attributed origin : forged
b : of a deceitful nature or quality (spurious excuses)
One can only appropriately place those definitions with those who came later, ostensibly to “reform” that which had thus far subsisted for 1500 years, only to leave and form ~30,000 means of keeping people from the Truth. Now there, one can find a use for the third definition of a cult.