The Church of Christ is no more a cult than is the Baptist Church, it all depends on the Teacher and the followers. i.e. In the Texas Baptist Churches we have one church that is, absolutely, a cult. The Pastor/Teacher is a Homosexual and the assembly, it is reported, is full of actively homosexuals, they make up a Baptist Cult but the small Country Church I attend is a very Fundamental Assembly, having no part with that church "claiming" to be Baptist.
I can proclaim to be a pilot and because of my Crew Member Wings, many will believe me. I can, likely, take an aircraft off and successfully, still today but if one were to look at my DA 201 File, they would find I never was able to log [record] a single hour of stick time [actually flying the craft]. Because I was the Crew Chief/Load Master and the craft, in the States and Europe was often flown by a single pilot, I was often in the Copilots seat and because young pilots fear nothing, I was taught how to fly and how to land and take off and I flew, Pirate Time, well over five hundred hours in UH1s, Oh13Hs, L19s and other fixed and rotary winged aircraft but I was never licensed and that means I wasnever a pilot even though I must correct kids and some adult from assuming I was or am because I still wear my wings and my medals.
There are, likely, COC Churches that are cultic but that as nothing to do with them being called Church of Christ.