 Cults range from the relatively benign to those that exercise extraordinary control over members' lives and use thought-reform processes to influence and control members.While the conduct of certain cults causes nonmembers to criticize them, the term cult is not in itself pejorative but simply descriptive.It denotes a group that forms around a person who claims to have a special mission or knowledge, which they will share with those who turn over most of their decision making to that self-appointed leader.