Cults - A Sermon from The Bible A Book Of Truth Web Ministry

"As you have received Jesus the Lord, walk in Him. Have the roots of your faith deeply planted in Him, be continually built up in Him, just as you were taught, and overflowing in it with thanksgiving. Be careful no one robs you or makes you captiveby his so-called philosophy and vain deceit which are idle fantasies and plain nonsense, following the traditions of men, of the material rather than the spiritual world; just crude notions following the elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding the teachings of Jesus. For in Him the fullness of the Godhead dwells in the form of the body, and in Him you are filled with the Godhead - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and He is the Head of all rule and authority ... Let no one rob you of your prize by self-humility and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions he claims to have seen, vainly puffed up by his unspiritual mind. Such things have indeed the outward appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed worship, devotion and delight in self-humiliation of the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh" (Colossians 2:7 to 10, 18 & 23).

"Give no attention to myths (legends, fables) and endless genealogies which cause disputes and questions rather than faith and trust, and doing God's work ... some have wandered off into fruitless discussions and arguments" (I Timothy 1:4 & 6).

"The Holy Spirit distinctly declares that in latter times some will fall away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach. Through the hypocrisy and pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid people to marry and teach them to abstain from certain foods, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth ... Refuse irreverent legends, profane, impure and godless fictions, old wives" fables and silly myths and express your disapproval of them. Train yourselves towards Godliness (1 Timothy 4:1 to 3 & 7).

"For the time is coming when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but having ears itching for something pleasing, they will gather to themselves teachers, chosen to satisfy their own lusts and to foster the errors they hold, and will turn aside from hearing the truth and turn to myths and manmade fables" (2 Timothy 4:3 & 4).

"Beloved, do not have faith in every spirit but test the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you may know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesses the fact that Jesus actually has become Man and has come in the flesh is of God. Every spirit which does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist of whom you have heard that it will come and is in the world already ... By this we know and recognise the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error" (I John 4:1 to 3 & 6).

The scriptures give us very strong warnings about not believing in things that are not from God. If we study the Bible and hold on to its teachings, cults will not deceive us. Once we know the truth about Jesus we will never be deceived. We will learn that there is no other Person and no other way to eternal life. Only ignorance about Jesus the Messiah, can allow people to be deceived by any cult or false religion. We are to have our roots firmly embedded in Jesus. Any religion that does not have its roots in Jesus the Messiah is false; it is not from God, and we are to ignore the teachings. Reading these above passages of scripture, we can see that there are incorrect beliefs that were described then, which are in the modern world, just as they were in the apostle"s time.

We are not to turn away from our faith in Jesus once we have believed. Being made captive means to be in bondage to a false belief. We are not to listen to philosophy for it is nonsense, as are idle fantasies, crude notions and false beliefs such as Confucianism, Buddhism, New Age, Darwinism, Hinduism, freemasonry, astrology, science fiction and the like. People who believe these things are all deluded by seducing spirits and all disregard the teachings of Jesus. Self-humiliation is the whipping of ones-self. Some people go so far as to have themselves crucified! That is utter foolishness. The worship of angels is sin. Angels are special ministers of God to born-again believers. We are to respect and appreciate them, but we are not to worship them (Hebrews 1:14; Revelation 19:10 & 22:9). There are several false religions that have been started by people who claim to have seen a vision. Unless God gives the vision, then it is false. Some examples of false religions started by deluded visionaries and false prophets are: Scientology, Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah"s Witnesses and some breakaway Catholic-styled sects. None of these deal with the carnality of the fallen human race, nor do they hold the promise of the reality of eternal life with God. We all need to have our sins washed away by accepting Jesus as our Saviour, and receiving the forgiveness He promises.

Not so long ago, it was accepted that families spent every Sunday morning in church, and for people not to go, was considered an affront by the community. In this day and age, people are sometimes mocked when they say they went off to church. Millions of people have turned away from faith in Jesus. People think they can be "cleansed" by consuming a vegetarian diet, rather than being cleansed by the blood of Jesus. The inner organs such as the liver and kidneys were designed by God to clean themselves. Going on a "liver cleansing" diet is foolish and has no spiritual value. Eating a normal healthy diet is enough and to teach others to become vegetarians or to abstain from eating certain foods is an evil teaching. To forbid people from getting married, is also an evil teaching and the two main religions that have their celibate nuns and priests are Buddhism and Catholicism. Godless fictions are things like reincarnation, evolution and even the so-called "global warming". The planet on which we live has a normal cycle of hotter seasons and cooler seasons. In the year 1,000 AD, the planet heated up so much, whole tribes and communities were wiped out. Millions of people died from the heat. We are possibly entering just another warm phase that may last some time - or it may not. There are deluded "experts" who tell us all about the melting icebergs - but they don't mention the active volcano deep under the sea that is causing the ice to melt. The Bible says that people who teach these things are not just deluded, they are liars (1 Timothy 4:2). These scientists are deliberately lying to us about "global warming" to deceive and lead many astray. The scriptures tell us to avoid these godless fictions and train ourselves towards Godliness.

Many people don't like to hear about Jesus because they know they will have to take responsibility for their sins and that is something most people do not like to consider. We are sinful people and we need Jesus to cleanse us from the inside out. That thought is offensive to a lot of people so they follow a teaching that is pleasing to their ears and choose to listen to errors. They will not tolerate the truth (2 Timothy 4:3).

We need to have a close look at the teachings of religions, and if their teachings do not line up with the Word of Truth, then we need to dismiss them as being false. How can we tell if a religion is false? If there is any religion, anywhere in the world that does not confess Jesus as the Saviour and Messiah, it is a false religion and do not listen to the teachings of that religion. We must not disregard the teachings of Jesus. If there is a religion that does not believe in Jesus, then that religion calls God a liar and to do that brings eternal judgement upon ones-self. "He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony within himself. He who does not believe God, has made Him out to be a liar because he has not believed the evidence that God has borne, regarding His Son" (1 John 5:10).

If we don't believe then we can't be saved. If we are not saved then we are condemned to go down to an eternity without God. We need to be born-again by the Spirit of God, forgiven for our sins, baptised and then we will be saved. The scriptures tell us very clearly ... "He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:16). If you are involved in a cult, God is saying through the Bible, don't believe what they say; come out of it, turn away from it and find a church that believes the truth. Find a genuine Evangelical, Pentecostal or Charismatic Christian church to attend. Give your life to Jesus and you will be saved.

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The painting is The Adoration of the Golden Calf by Nicolas Poussin (?1594-1665).