Re: Heaven and Hell
No, WCG is a cult because of it having an overall leader that decides what the people believe and don't believe.
Not celebrating Christmas doesn't make them a cult.
Keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days doesn't makes them a cult. But because they take both of these issues and others and bind the people with them as a legalistic requirement for salvation, this makes them in great error according to the Bible.
And the WCG doesn't believe Jesus was God so that puts them in the non-christian category. They do believe Jesus was like God. Basically they believe there are Two Gods, as I remember the famous question always asked when I was a kid, "How many Gods are in the Godhead?" and we yelled out TWO!
But the main thing that makes them a cult is Mr. Armstrong being the exalted leader that everyone looks to for truth, even though he is no longer alive, but it's his belief system that is still held to today. And you could not leave the church without being told you were turning away from God's true church, and even worse things. :)