Within the realm of spirituality, Jesus could be defined as a charismatic cult leader in the sense of the dictionary meaning of the word.
Lets put in context. Assuming you are a believer now or putting yourself in the shoes of a believer in the times of Jesus, he had ways to show the source of his authority as a cult leader. None of the modern religious leaders of today have such proof and that is where the word "cult" takes on a different meaning than just plain worship of something or somebody.