CUL:Know the Marks of Cults  by Dave Breese

   ( the following is excerpted from the book/study guide on cults, we
highly recommend this book, due to the fact that it helps distinguish
cults & cult groups as they are in the process of apostisizing. This is
not intended to replace the Book, rather it is intended to encourage
you to GET IT and READ IT so you don't get sucked into some cult
unknownly. )

   Why do Cults Grow?

   A cult is religious perversion. It is a belief and practice in the
world of religion which calls for devotion to a religion which calls
for devotion to a religious view or leader centered in false doctrine.
It is an organized heresy. A cult is impossible to define except
against the absolute standard of the teaching of Holy Scripture.

   1. Love of Darkness

   One of the chief reasons people refuse to believe the true Gospel of
Christ after they hear the truth of God is its ruthless illumination of
sin and its call to repentance and faith in the Saviour. Despite this
fact, there are those who foolishly go on refusing to recognize the
moral law of God. They choose rather to embrace a false doctrine that
excuses their immoral or self-centered lives. They foolishly prefer the
ever diminishing pleasures of sin and self-willed to the joy of
Christ's forgiveness and life.

   2. Spiritual Immaturity

   One of the great needs in the church today is for Christian growth.
Nothing is more important than spiritual growth in the life of the
newborn Christian. The spiritual babies mentioned in Scripture are
called upon to "desire the sincere milk of the Word" what they may grow
as a result. It is the study of the Word of God which produces the
knowledge of sound doctrine.

   3. Spiritual Subversion

   Another reason sincere people are drawn off into the cults is that
traveling religious carpetbaggers work industriously to subvert people
from the true faith in Jesus Christ into a religion that is contrary to
the Word of God. They doubtless commended them for believing in the
Gospel of the grace of God but then proceed to insist that they must
become obedient to the law of Moses in order to be true Christians. the
subverters of the Corinthian church were advocating the heresy of
phenomenalism. That is, they were denying the Pauline thesis that the
just shall live by faith and rather insisting that the just shall live
by sight. In Colossus, the troublemakers came preaching the mysterious
gnostic heresy. Therefore Paul said, "beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Col. 2:18)

   Intellectual pride has lead many to feel that Christianity is "not
sophisticated enough" or "too simple" for their perceptive intellects."
True wisdom consists in simple obedience to God and His Word.

   The first responsibility each Christian has is not to be an expert
on the cults, but on the Word of God. Few pursuits are more exhausting
than an attempt to get to the bottom of the endless labyrinth of cult
prouncements. A cultic religious point of view may be valuable in many
ways and even true in part. This is what makes it attractive to its
followers. What makes religious practice a cult, however, is not only
the falsities which it believes but also its fatal omissions of sound
doctrine.

   IDENTIFYING MARKS OF A CULT OR CULTIC PRACTICES

   1. EXTRABIBLICAL REVELATION - How has God revealed Himself?

   The Word f God, is therefore, God's final and complete revelation,
and this revelation can be supplanted by no other. The cults have no
such commitment, believing in the heretical doctrine of extrabiblical
revelation. They assert that God speaks or has spoken outside or apart
from the Bible. the first and most typical characteristic of a cult is
that it claims for it's authority some revelation apart from the clear
statements of the Word of God. Most cults claim to respect the
teachings of the Bible. Many even attribute divine inspiration to Holy
Scripture. many religions have invested divine authority in the person
of a visible individual who speaks infallibly, his words having the
same or higher authority than Holy Scripture. After giving us 66 books
of the Old and New Testaments, the Holy Spirit directed the Apostle
John to categorically close the verbal revelation of God at the
conclusion of the Bible. (Rev. 22:18-19)

   Final truth is the Person, the Word, and the work of Jesus Christ.
No subsequent revelation as to the nature of truth can supersede the
revelation of Jesus Christ. They place their arcane and mysterious
writing on a par with the Word of God. A word of admonition is
therefore in order. The Christians believes the Bible to be the final
and only verbal revelation of God. Believing the, he must give himself
to the study of the Word of God with a higher degree of intensity than
ever before. One is at least being inconsistent and perhaps
hypocritical if he professes a high view of Scripture but neglects to
dispel his ignorance of the truth of God through a serious program of
Bible study. The greatest single reason for the advance of the cults in
our world today is ignorance of Holy Scripture on the part of
Christians. The second greatest is unwillingness on the part of the
people of God to transmit divine truth by way of a testimony for Christ
to others who need yet to receive salvation in Christ. The life of the
Christian will be firmly anchored against all opposition when it is
grounded in a working knowledge of Holy Scripture.

   2. A FALSE BASIS OF SALVATION - What must I do to be saved?

   This longing for reality is the fuel that energizes the growth of
most cults in existence today. Because they are involved in some form
of exploitation, the cults without exception obscure the truth and
offer salvation on some other basis than that of a free gift that comes
to us by the grace of Jesus Christ. The clear teaching of the New
Testament Scriptures is that eternal salvation comes to a believer
solely as a result of faith in Jesus Christ. By contrast, Scripture
teaches that all other forms of supposed salvation, based on human
efforts, are cursed by God. "For as many are the works of the law are
under the curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is every one that
continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law
to do them.' but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of
God, it is evident; for, 'The just shall live by faith'" (Gal. 3:10-11)

   When he comes in humble faith, he receives the gift of God which is
eternal life. And it is exactly this, a free gift. When he believes the
Gospel, he receives eternal life and is justified in the sight of God.
To be justified, of course, means to be declared righteous. This is a
legal change in the attitude of God toward the sinner and depends on
the saving act of Jesus Christ which is entirely independent of the
individual experience of the believer. Eternal salvation comes to the
believer because of imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness is
righteousness that is placed to his account in heaven. Personal
righteousness is not, however, the basis of his salvation. He is saved
on the basis of imputed righteousness. The total benefits of Calvary
come to the believer on the basis of Grace. No message is more
viciously attacked by the cult promoters of our present world than the
Gospel of grace of God. It is absolutely maddening to the professional
religious promoters that god saves individuals freely, by grace alone.

   Nevertheless, the promoters of the cults continue to press their
malignant doctrines of some other way of salvation besides faith in the
finished work of Christ on the cross. One of the most popular
alternative doctrines of salvation is that of salvation by membership.
Failure to keep this membership intact incurs the damnation of the
soul. In many of these religious programs, what a person believes is of
little consequence; it is what he does that counts. By contrast to all
of this we need to hear again the finality of the words of Paul, "If
righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Gal.
2:21). Few scenes are more tragic than that of a benighted soul
pursuing a false hope of salvation when Jesus Christ offers all of this
as a free gift.

   3. UNCERTAIN HOPE - The soul that is in distress is also in bondage!

   If a person's distress can be perpetuated by a religious promoter,
that promoter can be reasonably sure of keeping a distressed soul in
continued and ever increasing bondage. The religious charlatan,
therefore, must be very careful never to produce a final cure. Rather
he must push certainty up into an unreasonable future in order to keep
needy souls continually striving today. We ought not to be surprised,
therefore, that a nearly universal characteristic of the cults of our
time is their insistence that one can never be sure of eternal life
while in this world. The issue of salvation is never settled. The
follower lives in constant fear that he has not done enough, given
enough, prayed enough, worshiped enough to be sure of salvation. One
suspects because of all of this that the cults are really not talking
salvation at all, but rather are pushing religious philosophies tied to
a set of unreasonable goals in the name of which they can extract every
kind of sacrifice from their hapless followers.

   Because they are interested in producing perpetual obligation as
against spiritual freedom, they keep their followers in hopeless
bondage of a continually insecure relationship with God. A hope so
uncertain is hardly a hope at all. A thoughtful person who examines the
preaching and writing of the cults carefully is almost certain to sense
a frustrating indefiniteness. He is being strung along, beguiled up a
primrose path to nowhere. A common characteristic of the cults is that
they are devoid of a theological structure that offers to anyone a sure
salvation.

   The reason is very clear: They traffic in anxiety. The person who is
anxious is also exploitable. To make him fearful is the design of these
religious leaders so that they may use fear to create dependence upon
the religious view that they are promoting. Cult gathering places are
populated by frightened people who live in terror of falling into
disfavor of their religious establishment.

   4. PRESUMPTUOUS MESSIANIC LEADERSHIP - Only Jesus Christ deserves
disciples!

   This towering fact is ignored by most of the religions in the world
today. The cults are replete with the stated or implied suggestion on
the part of leaders as to some unusual divine capability that might
well inspire worship on the part of their followers. One of the marks
of a cult is that it elevates the person and the words of a human
leader to a messianic level. Their (followers) easy mental acquiescence
has led them to seek a leader who can give them all of the answers and
personalize or objectify their religious needs. They want someone to
speak to them with authority, even finality. The temptation to change
from a simple servant to an exalted messiah can be very strong in the
life of a charismatic leader.

   Another form of presumptuous messianic leadership in the religious
scene of our time is the claim of some leaders to their own ability as
special intercessors with God. Their followers are asked by them to
"believe in my prayers" and to give me the opportunity to pray for
you." There is a general buildup of presumption that the leader,
because of his special gifts or deep spirituality, has some unusual
powers with which to gain leverage before the throne of God. This
shameful doctrine is false and foreign to the teachings of the New
Testament. The clear teaching of the New Testament is that each person
who has been justified by faith in Jesus Christ has access to the
Father in prayer and needs no human mediator. One of the great promises
of the Bible to every believer is found in Paul's words to Timothy,
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5) Every believer in Jesus Christ is himself a
priest and has access to the Father because of the work of our great
High Priest, Jesus Christ. Distant hands laid on stacks of letters are
as nothing compared to present believers meeting in prayer with Jesus
Christ before the throne of God. The great relationship for the
Christian is that personal one which he has between himself and his
Lord. This relationship continues, made viable by the Holy Spirit who
lives within the heart of every believer independent of any human
mediator.

   The fearful contrast is apparent in the cult scene today as cult
leaders labor to produce idolatrous dependence upon themselves. This
tragic development is only possible because of the ignorance on the
part of many people as to the teaching of the Word of God. The message
of Scripture is that the individual must not commit himself to
"infallible" human leaders. Rather he must become a follower of Jesus
Christ, who alone is the head of the Church. The cult leader also
strengthens his presumptuous leadership by arrogating himself the
position of being the only repository of divine truth.

   5. DOCTRINAL AMBIGUITY - If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who
shall prepare for the battle?

   Doctrinal ambiguity is a mark of a cult. One of the very fascinating
characteristics of the cults is the interesting and sometimes hilarious
changes of doctrine through which they pass. Their doctrines are
continually altered in order to adapt themselves to new situation,
arguments, or the whims of their leaders. The word "doctrine" has not
meaning in the fever swamps of the mind which are inhabited by the
cults, for doctrine means a systematic presentation and understanding
of truth. The idea of doctrine is therefore virtually unique to
organized Christianity. By contrast what passes for doctrine in the
cult is really a sub-rational set of disconnected thoughts and
practices that only serve to confuse the mind and the emotions as well.
Emotions were never intended to be an end in themselves and are totally
untrustworthy as the custodians of truth. Any religion, therefore, that
deliberately bypasses rational doctrinal understanding and seeks to
build upon the emotions will inevitably deceive rather then enlighten.
This "mindlessness" of the cults is a most useful device. The cult
promoters are not truly appealing to the mind but rather are attempting
to set the mind aside and to appeal to a set of religious emotions.

   The words of the cults are the products of a corrupted language. The
words themselves have no real meaning. They have become emotional
triggers connoting to you whatever they want them to mean. The cult
promoters have denied the doctrine of objective value as relates to the
words they use. Indeed, unlike the religions of the world, Christianity
commits itself to careful details of all kinds. Like no book in all of
the world, the Bible is a book of careful historic detail. In addition
to this, important theological propositions in the Bible are stated in
many ways so that there can be simply no question about the meaning.

   The Christian who studies the Word of God becomes spiritually
mature, a defender of the faith, and able even to teach others. Fables,
predicted in Scripture, are one of the marks of a cult. One can listen
endlessly to cultic representatives on radio and television and never
by sure what they are talking about. They pose questions which they do
not answer. The answer cannot be found even by reading hundreds of
pages of his literature. Rather, the reader is led into an ever deeper
labyrinth of confusion. The tendency of cults is to more away from the
objective, categorical truth as taught in Scripture.

   The great need in the religious establishment of our time is for the
candid preaching of sound doctrine as against the tantalizing sentences
of those who never do quite get to the point. Thank God for the
faithful Christian expositors of the Scriptures in our time. Ambiguity
is the devils gospel, whereas clarity is divine.

   6. THE CLAIM OF SPECIAL DISCOVERIES - I have found the secret!

   Religious fantasies that are presented as special spiritual
discoveries are dangerous. the careful teacher of sound doctrine is
rarely as electrifying as the mysterious religious promoter who,
usually for a price, will let us in on his "secret." Under the spells
he casts, we are often tempted to forget that the best things in life
are not only free, but they are usually obvious. It would be impossible
to have a cult without mysterious, otherwise unavailable inside
information. In one way or another, each of these dreadful religious
traffics in such hallucinations.

   The Christian must remember that there is no discovery in the entire
universe that anyone could possibly have that is superior to his
discovery of salvation in Jesus Christ. There is no higher information,
no better revelation, no deeper truth - nothing is greater than the
knowledge of Christ. The person who turns from this greatest discovery,
this ultimate revelation, to pursue the delusions of a cult leader is a
fool. Despite this obvious truth, the cults continue to beguile
unstable souls with their false claims to special discoveries. No
discovery is more special than Jesus Christ.

   People willingly flock into the train of the religious leader who
has "discovered the secret" and is willing to pass it on to them. The
claim to special discoveries and "repeatable-on-demand" revelations
from God is the point where the cults tend to move off into the occult.
Witchcraft, spiritless, and Satan worship are nothing more than
religions which claim to be able to call for the incursion of the
metaphysical in the realm of the physical. This is surely on of the
reason why the cults are often but a stopping place where a disturbed
soul lingers briefly before dropping totally into the pit of the
occult. Nevertheless, the almost universal base of each cult religion
is the purported revelation that one person received. These persons
claimed divine authority for a private, unauthenticated religious event.

   The fundamental characteristic of the faith of Christ is that it is
based on historical fact. There were hundreds and in some cases
thousands of witnesses to the open and public facts of the Gospel.
Often those to whom the Gospel was preached were reminded that they
knew of their own knowledge the truth of these things (Acts 26:25-26).
the truth of Christianity does not depend on private knowledge or
secret, unconfirmable relationships on the part of individuals. we
notice that heresies being brought in by false teachers are secret and
destructive. It is a fair generalization to say that it is the duty of
the true minister of the Gospel to take the mysteries of God and make
them plain. The normal direction of the cultic promoter is to take the
plain truth of the Word and turn it into as mysterious a message as
possible. Many deadly pitfalls lie along the path of the dark and
mysterious.

   7. DEFECTIVE CHRISTOLOGY - Who is Jesus Christ?

   In all the history of the Church, the most grievous heresies have
been those which have advocated a view of the person of Christ other
than that which is taught in the Word of God. A false view of the
Saviour produced a false religion which presented no salvation at all.
Most of the cults that are active in our time deny the true deity of
Christ, the true humanity of Jesus of the true union of the two natures
in one Person.

   It is clear then that the test of a true representative of the
Gospel has to do with his definition of the person and the work of
Jesus Christ. The central doctrine of Christianity is Christology, the
doctrine of the nature of the person of Jesus Christ. Many today who
claim to be Christians deny the true deity of Christ. Religious
liberalism can be judged as heretical on the basis of its denial of the
sure deity of the blessed Son of God. The thoughtful Christian will
carefully analyze the doctrine of a cult that is being pressed upon
him, paying special attention to the Christology of that alternative
religious message. The message that in effect declares Christ to be the
automaton of the Father and not a real person in Himself is a cult. The
message that denies the virgin birth of Christ, holding Him to be
merely the natural son of Joseph and Mary, is a cult. An examination of
the doctrinal base of any religion in the light of its views on the
person and the work of Jesus Christ can be most revealing.

   Closely related to the fatal heresy of defective Christology is a
denial of the trinity of the Godhead. These critical doctrinal problems
concerning the nature of the Godhead should come to each Christian as a
new reminder of the need for Christian scholarship. The cults will have
a field day in exploiting experience-oriented saints who have no time
for the study of Christian doctrine.

   8. SEGMENTED BIBLICAL ATTENTION - There is no book in all the world
like the Bible.

   Variation and diversity are not marks of error. But herein lies a
potentially serious problem. they take some important but not critical
emphasis of Scriptural doctrine. It is easy to see how a religious
group can move from the true to the false by small steps of defection
from the teaching of Holy Scripture. Too often, however, this special
emphasis becomes the critical, all-important point. When a theological
eccentricity moves to the very center of the attention of a group of
Christians, that group, often without sensing it, becomes eccentric and
potentially heretical. Its attention to an interesting portion of
Scripture has been carried to the point where it has isolated this
passage of the Word of God from the corrective modifications found in
other portions of the Word. Its segmented biblical attention has cut it
off from the body of divine truth. Virtually every cult in existence
today has followed the unwise course of segmented biblical attention
out beyond the pale of reason into the production of a destructive
heresy.

   The lesson for all of us is very clear. While we may be fascinated
with the words of one of the personalities of Scripture and with the
emphasis of a given book of the Bible, we must not fail to pay
attention to the message of the entire Word of God.

   It is of great importance that the doctrine by which a Christian
orients his faith and his life come from ALL Scripture. He remembers
also that revelation is progressive! God presented truth in a
cumulative fashion, moving from the basic theistic concepts of the Old
Testament to the final revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ. Christ
brought life and immortality to light throughout the Gospel (2 Tim.
1:10), and His doctrine was explained to us by His apostles who wrote
letters of the New Testament. We must also never forget that the proper
interpretation of the Bible must be based on text, context, and greater
context. The biblical interpreter must ask, "What does this verse mean?
In what setting is it given to us? How does it relate to the whole
Bible?"

   Some who pretend to be experts on demonism fall into the same error.
Knowing of demon influence, the proceed to attribute all forms of
aberrative behavior to the presence of demons. There are others who
find a verse in the Bible about God having given to some prophet a
vision. They use this as the scriptural base for a notion that all
sound religion is therefore conducted on the basis of God revealing
Himself in vision and dreams. Another leader may greatly encourage
Christians by his emphasis on a relaxed and positive mental attitude.
While this message may be of value, if taken as ultimate truth, it can
cause a naive person finally deny physical reality.

   It is a grave temptation for any group to find a verse in the Bible
about holiness, the kingdom, law, grace, works, faith, or something
else and use it for a substitute for the whole counsel of God. Even
zealous Christians have frequently fallen into the trap of segmented
biblical interpretation, thereby creating a cultic influence in their
system of doctrine.

   9. ENSLAVING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE - "You belong to me!"

   Cults actually bring their followers into psychological and
spiritual slavery. So important to the writers of Scripture is the
preservation of Christian freedom that we are not only advised that we
possess it, by we are carefully warned never to lose it. The consequent
emphasis of the New Testament is that Christian leaders who have power
or persuasive ability must be careful never to overly control or
dominate the faith of others. The Apostle Paul never said that the
strong should control the weak but rather that the strong should
support the weak.

   Few passages are more indicative of the divine concern for the
proper pastoral attitude than his earnest words, "Neither as being
lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock" (1 Peter
5:3). the word of God is clear; spiritual leadership is to be the
leadership of example. In simplicity and godly sincerity, the leader is
to be an imitator of Jesus Christ and pray that his very life will
furnish, before his onlooking flock, and illustration of the Christian
life for all to see. When the life of a Christian leader illustrates
only arrogance, groundless authoritarianism, and human imposition, he
is representing another Christ than the One presented in Holy Scripture.

   The promoters of cults obey no such rules as Scripture lays down for
leaders. Indeed, they know that their success is directly dependent
upon their ability to trap followers into a permanent entanglement.
This association is almost invariably formed with the bonds of fear.
The leader's preaching, teaching, and efforts are dedicated, not to the
production of individual competence and freedom on the part of his
followers, but to create dependence. The leaders of the cults are
working to promote, not liberty, but slavery. Thus an almost universal
characteristic of the cults is the creation of a monolithic, merciless,
and entangling organizational structure.

   "So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans,
which I hate" (Rev. 2:15). Who were the Nicolaitans? What were their
deeds and their doctrine? We have only one definite indication as to
the nature of this group and that comes to us from the meaning of the
word itself. The word Nicolatitan comes from two Greek words, "nicao"
and "laos" which means victory over or subjugation of the people. The
exaggerated distinction between "clergy" and "layity" had begun in the
early stages of Christianity. Some were already thinking it spiritually
necessary or practical to subjugate the people of God and become
masters over them.

   Power corrupts! This is not only true in the realm of politics. It
is tragically true in the area of religion. The religious ascendancy of
a group of spiritual elitists of the mass of People is a program and a
belief hated by God ... the subjugation of the people is a program
despised by God. We may note also that the Nicolaitan trend was merely
a set if deeds in the church at Ephesus. By the time we come to the
church at Pergamos, however, what had been deeds has turned into a
doctrine.

   Religious institutions today are filled with whole sets of
catechisms, disciplines, liturgies, and stated methods which are
basically nothing but the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. The program of
subjugation of the people kills the true work of Christ. This kind of
killing organizational structure is one of the reliable indexes of the
cults of our time. The cult is usually represented to the captured
devotee as synonymous with the kingdom of God itself.

   One of the normal connotations of the word "cultic" is that of
passionate devotion to a cause to the point of the irrational. The cult
hopes to bring its hapless followers to the place where they think of
little else except their involvement with the movement and its human
leader. The average cultist is as much a slave to his present religious
involvement as he ever was to the sin of his former life. Certain large
religious groups in the world, some of them thought of as legitimate,
preach the doctrine of damnation for all outside their particular
organization.

   It is a truism that the less truth a movement represents, the more
highly it must organize. Truth has its own magnetism producing loyalty.
The absence of truth makes necessary the application of the bonds of
fear. A cultic leader may present his wares by saying, "Come to Jesus,"
but his real theme song is "You belong to me."

   The only imperative membership which the true Christian recognizes
is membership in the body of Christ. Jesus Christ has set him free, and
no one is entitled to take this freedom from him.

   10. FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION - The marvelous message of the Gospel of
Christ is that one may receive eternal salvation "without money and
without price."

   The Word of God makes it clear that the Christian is never put under
obligation to do, give, sacrifice, or expend himself in any way in
order to be more sure that he has the gift of God which is eternal
life. The Word of God, however, is clear that service for Christ is a
voluntary proposition on the part of the Christian, and nothing that he
does will increase his own guarantee of eternal life. He is saved by
grace and kept by the power of God. His eternal life came to him
without payment on his part. It is dependent on the work of Christ on
the cross.

   The Apostles taught that sacrificial Christian leaders thereby gave
evidence of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul, again
leaving us a shining example, was very careful never to accept gifts
from the churches for his own personal use. He did this for the purpose
of making the Gospel of Jesus Christ totally without charge. What a
strong contrast we see in the cultic practitioner of today! He strongly
implies that money contributed to the cause will buy privileges or
gifts or powers for the receptive follower. The follower of the the
cult is often promised that he can escape the many purgatories in this
world and the next through the investment of his money. In the
financial structure of the average cult, tithing is but the beginning.
Then comes the real pressure. Enamored of his new spiritual leader, the
head of the house forgets the clear teaching of Scripture, "If any
provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he
hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel" (1 Tim. 5:8).

   It is fair to say that an almost universal characteristic of the
cults is an insatiable financial appetite in the leadership. The false
religions of the world are characterized by lavish temples, overlaid
with gold and studded with diamonds. Most of them stand in the midst of
a sea of poverty which the cults themselves have caused. Their apparent
prosperity is nothing more than the shameful result of their cruel
exploitation of frightened people who seek their favors with financial
gifts.

   11. DENUNCIATION OF OTHERS - When one announces himself as the true
Messiah all others of course are false and must be put down.

   Some of the most bitter imprecations in print are the scathing
calumny of cultic messiahs upon all who do not believe their views and
join their organizations. True Christians are forbidden to judge one
another (Rom. 14:13) and are given the liberty to be persuaded in their
own minds as to how to live unto the Lord (Rom. 14:5). They are even
told to "judge nothing before its time" (1 Cor. 4:5)

   The cultic attitude is a fearful contrast. The sincere Christian
will conduct himself very carefully when it comes to criticism of
others. We are therefore reminded in Scripture that one is guilty of
the most forbidden kind of arrogance when he presumes to judge the
activity of his brothers who labor for the Lord. We are often warned in
Scripture to be very suspicious of those whose first calling seems to
be to produce divisions within the Church of Christ. Much unsettlement
has been caused in the ranks of Christians by those with pretended
convictions who demand a hearing and who are often purveyors of a new
discovery of truth.

   12. SYNCRETISM - We must become all things to all men!

   The loving concern for spiritual accommodation can be pressed to the
point where it compromises the Gospel of Christ, sometimes beyond
recognition. This kind of accommodation involves one in a grievous sin
called syncretism.

   Syncretism describes the attempt to gather together what some would
call "the best qualities" of various religious points of view into a
new and acceptable faith. It is the attempt to "synchronize" the
otherwise diverse religious elements currently believed by people so as
to make a new religion attractive. The definition of syncretism from a
religious point of view is "the process of growth through coalescence
of different forms of faith and worship or through accretions of
tenents, rights, etc., from those religions which are being superseded"
(Webster).

   Syncretism is a favorite cultic device. Both the older and emergent
cults, almost without exception, have accommodated themselves to
existing religious points of view, incorporating older doctrines into
their systems of faith along with new and creative heresies. Few cults
of our time present much that is really new in the world of religion.
Almost invariably they are a rehash of existing concepts, orthodox and
heretical. They present warmed over elements of Protestantism,
Catholicism, paganism, pantheism, idolatry, local tetishes, and some
pure idiocy.

   Sensing some new, exploitive possibilities, the cultist glues
together a bewildering array of religious components, knowing that some
of these will strike a chord of response. Incorporating these in the
same package with a few theological terms, he is off and running with
another cult. A similar thing also happens on the mission fields of the
world. Missionaries, some of them merely para-Christian backgrounds,
arrive in an area already steeped in religion. Animism, ancestor
worship, religious paganism, or raw heathenism are flourishing. Hoping
to minimize the offense of their "Christianity," the missionaries
accommodate themselves to the local religious climate. Sometimes the
resulting religion brings together a regional god, an animal sacrifice,
the Virgin Mary, and Jesus Christ all in the same system. Syncretism on
mission fields is becoming one of the scandals of the religious world.
A syncretistic religion is not Christianity at all; it is a cult.

   We hear talk in churches today that may open the door to acceptance
of a religious potpourri that is something other than Christianity.

   The Gospel does not of itself promise to change the social
structure, the political climate, or the physical environment of those
who, even after faith in Christ, live in the midst of a fallen world.
Many groups of Christians today rejoice in the gospel plus a wonderful
religious heritage. The sacred traditions of many religious groups have
been a significant source of stability as they guide their way through
the new problems of this current generation.

   Looking to the past, however, can produce subtle deceptions in our
Christian thinking. Surely what the Church needs today is not so much
the "faith of our fathers," but the faith of Jesus Christ as expressed
in the changeless Scriptures of the New Testament. Hertiage can become
a dangerous element in the thinking of Christians because it is almost
always applied to a human tradition which, at best, is only partially
biblical. Indeed, great, time-spanning religious traditions are
ordinarily formed to protect by custom certain theological propositions
which are unvoiced in the Word of God.

   Another syncretistic tendency has been the movement of the great
denominations to include "the imperative of social action" in their
preaching of the Gospel. This has been true to the extent that they
have been legitimately accused of preaching a social gospel. The Gospel
may have indeed have social implications (fewer, I think, than are
commonly touted), but this is another, infinitely less important
subject than the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and His glorious
resurrection. The one produces eternal salvation; the other, endless
discussion. The point is that Christians need an understanding of
Christian doctrine adequate to discern the difference between what the
Gospel IS and what the Gospel implies.

   Europe resembles a vast cemetery of Christian religion; it is now
dead but has left behind its grave markers. Little of Christianity
remains in the countries of its origins. As churches grew older, they
seem to have given themselves to the spirit of accommodation while
forgetting their heavenly calling. They set up ecumenical movements,
national conferences of Christians and Jews, and endless other
movements to make their situation more legitimate. The opted for
political change, social action, and worked with sincerity. Time, money
and irreplaceable human energy went into these "worthy causes" and
salvation from sin seemed pale by comparison.

   Syncretism, the attempt to synchronize the Gospel of Christ with a
godless world, is a deadly virus from which almost no institution
recovers.

   WHAT SHALL WE DO?

   1. Understand Christian doctrine. The chief single reasons for the
success of the cults is the spiritual naivete' on the part of many. Too
many Christians are content with a superficial knowledge of the Word of
God and think of themselves as thereby being spiritually intelligent.
Nothing could be farther from the truth!

   The Christian must give himself to a detailed study of Scripture and
must understand the Bible from a doctrinal point of view. He should
have valid biblical information that answers the questions: Who is God?
What is man? What is sin? What do we mean by biblical inspiration? We
live in a time when doctrine has been played down in favor of Christian
experience. This is the most foolish course imaginable because
experience has little or nothing to do with Christian truth.

   2. Separation from spiritual subversion. Many people ask whether
they should not attend meeting of cultic religious organizations and
give themselves to an extensive reading of subversive religious
literature. With rare exceptions, the answer to this question is NO, a
thousand times NO! It is not true that we cannot speak critically of
false doctrine unless we have read everything that the leadership of
these cults have to say. The statement that says, "You cannot know what
it is until you have tried it" is a satanic doctrine, and it is the
very one that he used to subvert Eve and bring the terrible cancer of
sin into all the World.

   3. Refuse profane points of view. Scripture commands again and again
that he must be careful, take heed, watch, remember. He is called upon
to be very sober because his satanic adversary continues to go about
seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).

   4. Do not encourage cultic practitioners. Those who do not believe
the Gospel of Jesus Christ are in fact enemies of the Lord. The Apostle
John wrote: "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth no in the doctrine of
Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he
hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring
not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God
speed; for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds"
(2 John 9-11). This is the hard but necessary course of action for one
who would protect himself and his family from spiritual danger.

   5. Be willing to contend for the faith. Scripture calls upon us to
earnestly contend for the faith, which means of course to be willing to
defend the truth of the Gospel in the face of satanic adversaries (Jude
3).

   The true servant of Jesus Christ must be careful that his friendship
with Jesus Christ's the association that is absolute. by comparison to
this, all human associations are relative. This principle of the
universe is truth and this must be defended even at the cost of our
lives. Our spiritual sentiments, and this is the most sentimental age
in the history of the Church, would lead us many times to feel that
contention for the faith of the Gospel is somehow unspiritual or
undignified. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The world is
described as a battleground and the essential struggle on that field of
conquest is the struggle between truth and untruth.