ABC- FOR TEENS APRIL 2009
VINAYALAYA RETREAT HOUSE, ANDHERI EAST
THE CULTS
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. ” Galatians 1:8)
Paul declares the seriousness of preaching another gospel. When thinking of cults and false teachers we are not thinking of those who are Christians but might have some differences on doctrine here and there but we are considering those who are seeking to damn others in hell by replacing the gospel of God with another gospel.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Matthew 7:15-16)
The Lord Jesus warned that many false prophets and false Christs will come so we should not be surprised to see so many and it will be difficult sometimes to know who is a cult for they will behave and speak like Christians.
Paul says that they appear to be ministers of righteousness
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Cor 11:13-15)
Illustration: Counterfeit money
When police are trained to find counterfeit money, they never are shown one single counterfeit note. They spend many days knowing what the real one looks like so that they can easily spot any fake currency. So it is when dealing with the cults. We do not first study the cult teaching but study the Word of God. If we know the Word of God well then we can easily tell when someone is teaching false doctrine.
J N Darby said, “The devil is never more satanic than when he carries a Bible.”
1. SATAN’S TACTICS OF DECEPTION
We can see how the cults operate by looking at the father of all the cults and his tactics in deception. From Genesis 3 we can see how the Devil deceived Eve.
1. Doubting God’s Word – “Yea hath God said,”
Satan starts his brainwashing technique by making Eve doubt the Word of God. All cults deny the authority of the Word of God and replace it with the writings of their founders. They teach that no one can know the Word of God without their literature or they teach that their prophet or prophetess’s writings are equal to the Word of God.
2. Taking away from God’s Word – Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Satan left out the word “freely” which God has used when speaking to Adam.
Satan made God look like an austere, strict and hard hearted God. God had bountifully and generously and freely given man all the trees to eat from but Satan leaves out this word. Satan made Eve to doubt the love of God.
All cults remove verses from their literature that contradict their teaching. They only use verses out of context that seem to teach their doctrine but they will never quote verses that say otherwise.
3. Changing God’s Word- Ye shall not surely die
God had said that -“for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
But the Devil changed God’s Word and said “Ye shall not surely die“
4. Indoctrination – And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Eve starts to think like the Devil and also leaves out the word “freely” in her reply. The cults start their brainwashing by making you only read certain verses until you start thinking like them and blind yourself to the rest of the truth of the Bible.
5. Adding to God’s Word -But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Eve added the words “neither shall ye touch it” This makes God look even more strict and hard for He never said such words. Once the deception and indoctrination has started the only way is down into complete deception where Eve will foolishly think she can become as god.
6. Denial of God’s Word – And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Most cults listen to the lie of the Devil and propagate it that there is no hell and judgment for the sinner. This is a common belief with nearly every cult for man does not like to believe he will be punished for his sins so this teaching attracts more into the cult.
7. The salesman technique – For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Cults try to look as Christian as possible to fool people. They will always hide their false teaching and try to seduce people with attractive things that appeal.The cults like Satan use bait to get people to join them. Satan’s bait to Eve was “ye shall be as gods”.
The cults offer love by the “love bombing technique”. This is not genuine love but a bait to hook people. They will look for those who have been bereaved or are feeling lonely at college etc and will show much kindness to pull them into their cult.
They will put down the Christian churches and speak of evil of them and many will agree with them because of the hypocrisy which is everywhere.They will always hide their worst teaching and will offer words that comfort and appeal.
8. Twisting the Bible – “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16)
The word “wrest” means to “twist, to put to the torture” just like a man is put on the rack and his body is pulled and twisted until he talks whatever his torturers want him to say. Thus the false teachers do with the Word of God.
9. They confess not –
For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. (2 John 1:7)
2. ANSWERING THE CULTS
We see how the Devil used the same tactics on the Lord Jesus in the temptation in the wilderness but He defeated Satan by the use of the Word of God (Matthew 4).
Comparing Matthew 4:6 with Psalm 91, we see how Satan tried the same crafty tricks on the Lord Jesus but the Lord did not respond to his temptations for the Lord Jesus is impeccable. It was impossible for Him to sin (James 1:13)
Psalm 91
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Satan left out the words “in all thy ways” As long as we walk in God’s ways He will protect us. We cannot run out in front of a bus or jump off off a building and tempt God to protect us. Satan left this out and then Satan added the words “lest at any time” (Matthew 4:6). God has his time for everything. We cannot tempt God to work when we want Him to.
13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adderb: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
The Devil left out this bit! It speaks of his doom when the Lord Jesus shall crush his head. No wonder he did not like to quote this.
As we see, the Devil uses the same tactics with the Word of God as in Genesis 3 but in the Lord Jesus he could find no response to the temptation.
“Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” (Mathew 4:7)
The Lord Jesus did not discuss the Scripture that Satan quoted. The Lord answers Satan with another Scripture to contradict him and this is what we do with the cultist. The Lord did this three times and if we keep on doing this they will flee like the Devil.
