It would be interesting to know when the term gained its negative connotation. Did it come into play at the beginning of the modern era? If so, perhaps it arose in connection with the rise of secularism as a way to deride those who worship God. I tend to use it in two ways: neutrally, as in "the OT cult focused around the temple," and negatively, as in "the Mormon church is a cult." Maybe it should be used more precisely to refer to one or the other?

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Casey Bessette
Westminster OPC • West Suburbs of Chicago • My Blog: Paradise Regained

"It is part of the calling of the ekklesia to learn to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge and also to make known within the world of science 'the manifold wisdom of God' in order that the final end of theology, as of all things, may be that the name of the Lord is glorified. Theology and dogmatics, too, exist for the Lord's sake." — Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 1, p. 46