Cults

How can we know anything about anything

To try to explain truth to him who loves it not is but to give him more plentiful material for misinterpretation. George Macdonald

Do we have to make a choice between science and the Bible?

NO!

That is NOT where the problem is, but that is what everyone seems to want to talk about.

Take science as an example. How can we know anything about the created material world around us?

How can we know anything from what we can see using natural sciences?

We all see the same things in the material world, but we don't come to the same answers.

Why is that?

How can we know anything about the Bible and what it teaches? Every person believes different things about the Bible and how it should be read.

Why is that?

Same scientific facts. Different answers.

Same Bible. Different answers.

Why is that?

The true question is this: How do we come to our answers that we get from what we can see through science or what we can read in the Bible?

How do we think about what we see using science or what we read in the Bible?

How do we analyze what we have seen and read?

How do we interpret what we have seen and read?

We use logic, but logic always has a foundation. Jesus talked about building on the Rock. That Rock is Jesus Christ. He is the true foundation. There are also the false foundations of the ungodly.

An example might help.

Question: Why do you believe in evolution?

Answer: Because my science teacher told me that evolution is scientific fact.

Question: Why do you believe your science teacher?

Answer: because he agrees with the textbook he assigned us to read.

Now, we have asked, "Why?" twice.

If we continued to ask, "Why?" we would come down to the foundation of this person's thoughts.

When we get down to the foundations, there are no more questions that can be answered. So where to the foundations come from?

There are three possibilities.

things that we make up, pulled from the air
demonic lies
divine revelation

Question: Why do you believe in creation?

Answer: Because God revealed this to me. He spoke to me through the Bible and gave me His faith so that I could believe Him.

See how quickly we got to the foundation. This is a belief that has a foundation that is solid and that cannot be moved.

In reality, the things that we make up, that are pulled from the air, are actually from demons and all the lies of demons spring from the prince of demons, Satan. So these are one and the same.

Divine revelation comes from the Almighty, Creator, God, Jesus Christ. So there are only two choices, but how do we know there are only two choices? Because God has revealed this truth to us.

The question then is how do we tell the difference between the revelation that comes from God and the lies of Satan?

The answer is that everyone who sincerely wants to do the will of God will know.

Jesus said, "If you really want to obey God, you will know if what I teach comes from God or from me"

The rejection of the revelation that comes from God is not an intellectual problem. It is a moral problem.

Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it shall be opened." *

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Matthew 7:7-11 *

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can set the truth before someone, but you can't make anyone believe those things that they don't want to submit to. They have to want to obey God.

How frequently it is brought to our attention that nothing good can be done if the will is wrong! Reason alone fails to justify itself. Richard M. Weaver

Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32)

"If we are not prepared to buy the truth at the cost of our own humbling we shall not receive it"

Lies appear to have no price upon them. They seem cheap and they abound everywhere. But for the truth there is always an obvious price to pay.

"[God] has set a day when He will judge all the world's people with fairness. And He has chosen the man Jesus to do the judging for Him. God has given proof of this to all of us by raising Jesus from death" (Acts 17:31).

"There is a judge for the one who rejects Me [Jesus] and does not accept My words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day" (John 12:48)

That also stands for every person who speaks the utterances of Jesus. When we hear them, we hear Jesus Christ, and we either accept or reject. Every person who follows Jesus Christ is commanded to only speak His utterances and not their own.

"When we love others, we know that we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God" (1 John 3:19)

Ravi Zacharias did two open forums in a university. On the second night, one man told him that he had brought two Atheists in the night before who said that the arguments presented were so strong that they could not contend with them, but they were going to remain Atheists because that is what they prefer to be true.

In another case of just listening to an unbeliever and drawing out his reasoning, the unbeliever finally came to his foundations.

They turned out to be assumptions that were pulled from the air. When asked why he believed his basic assumption, the unbeliever looked startled and blurted out, "I guess I'm making the whole thing up." It was quite a revelation to him since he hadn't even known that he had any assumptions. However, he decided to remain an Atheist because he didn't want God to rule over him.

Cults

A cult is here defined as that which looks to anything other than the living Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, righteousness, satisfaction, fulfillment, revelation, wisdom, power, or solutions or that is of any spirit other than the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit. Often times, cults look to a "different Jesus." Cults are often identified as organizations, but they really are spirits or ideas, and they infiltrate organizations and churches to varying degrees. Cults do not want to be identified as cults, and rationalism, modernism, and liberalism are not exceptions.

Meaningless Definitions of Cult:

Merriam-Webster OnLine defines a cult as "a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also: its body of adherents." Of course, this brings up the question:

To many ungodly Christians, born again Christians are regarded as unorthodox and spurious.

Another dictionary gives this definition: A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false.

Some Christians consider any who do not accept the rapture theory as being a cult, while other Christians are suspicious of those who do accept the rapture theory.

Some consider any who do not belong to their particular organization to be a cult.

There are many definitions of the word, cult. Indeed, many people assign the label, "cult," to any who do not agree with their rationalized suppositions, speculative theology, or man-made orders and rituals. Many of these theologies and man-made orders are actually extra-biblical or even anti-biblical. Again, we define that which looks to anything other than the living Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, righteousness, satisfaction, fulfillment, revelation, wisdom, power, or solutions or that is of any spirit other than the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, as cult-like behavior. It is our belief that we need to trust in the Lord, Jesus, who is the Christ.

The tendency to easily classify an organization as a cult is a disorder in the Church. Often, competitiveness between denominations will cause one organization to label another as a cult. (Incidentally, competitiveness between groups of Christians is not part of the Church for which Jesus died. This competitiveness is actually part of the world.) While it is important that every shepherd warn the flock about the dangers of true cults, it is also important to be able to discern the Body of Christ as the apostle, Paul, exhorts us in First Corinthians. Of course, Satan loves it when Christians are divided and not getting along.

The list of meaningless definitions could go on, so how does http://www.SeekFind.net define a cult?

Define Cult:

Anything short of perfection in following this Jesus is a tendency toward error, but, to my knowledge, no one has ever followed Christ perfectly. For that reason, this site draws a line in the sand at the point that people begin to depend on self-righteousness. All human goodness movements are thus considered cults by this web site.

All movements that exalt the human intellect--leaning on human understanding--are designated as cults by SeekFind.net. Considering human reasoning to have the ability to add to or take from Scripture is certainly considered cult-like thinking by SeekFind.net, though this type of thinking is a common, almost automatic, human failing.

Human efforts at righteousness as opposed to leaning on the power of the Holy Spirit are another example of depending on something other than Jesus.

Exalting an organization, a body of doctrine, a person, or any other thing--these are all alternatives to lifting up the living Christ.

Denying that Jesus Christ is the unique Son of the unique God the Father would certainly be the doctrine of a cult. Denying that Jesus Christ came in the flesh would indeed be the doctrine of a cult. Denying that it is Jesus Christ Who lives in every person who trusts in Jesus for deliverance from sin, sickness, death, and hell would also be the doctrine of a cult.

A word about equivocation

Cults, such as liberalism, atheism, or naturalism, love to use a method known as equivocation to confuse and deceive. Equivocation muddies the meanings of words in order to deceive. A cult member will give a meaning for the word, "cult," such as: "The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual," and then point out that a Christian Bible-believing Church fits that description so a Christian Bible-believing Church is a cult. They will do this knowing fully that it is a rare person who thinks of a cult as the local Christian Bible-believing Church. The sole purpose of this type of equivocation is to confuse and deceive.

A follower of liberalism will use the same equivocation technique. He or she will point out that there is a meaning of liberal that means to reach into one’s own pocket and help the less fortunate. How different that is from what most people mean when they say, "liberal." As far as giving goes, a liberal in present-day terminology is a person who reaches into someone else’s pocket and gives that person’s money to the poor and then takes the credit for being compassionate. How different the two are!

The same could be said for atheists, naturalists, materialist, evolutionists. And we could give several examples for each of these, but that wouldn’t cover the subject. Their ways are changeable so you cannot know them. They’ll come up with a new story and deception next week.

Some create a pretend jesus that doesn't fit the Bible or that creates a story with the Bible as a backdrop. There is the Archangel Michael, the Satan's brother story, the intercourse with Mary story, etc.

Some speak of jesus as god and that we all can become gods. This, of course, denies the unity of the Triune God.

Some worship the god of forces, an impersonal force god like the one in Star Wars. This belief is incompatible with the God who wrote the Bible.

Some say that Jesus did not come in the flesh. They may say that Jesus is a divine principle, a Cosmic Christ, the bright white christ light, or some other thing. Whoever denies that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is an antichrist.

Some say that Jesus Christ is just human nature achieving at top potential. This is sometimes referred to as the human potential movement. They say that we all have "Christ in us" and our job is to "get in contact with it" and achieve our inner potential. There is, indeed, something inside every person even if they don't accept Christ as their Savior and Lord, but that thing that is in every person is not good; it is deceitful and desperately wicked, and no one can know it? We don't discover Christ within; we accept Him and invite Him in.

Some say that Jesus not historical, that is, they claim that He never really lived. This bold claim also says that Jesus has not come in the flesh.

Some say that Jesus not God, contrary to the Bible, which says that Jesus is God.

Some say that Jesus became the Christ when he attained Christ-consciousness at age 30. This is also contrary to the Bible.

There is the two-Jesus concept, which says there is the outer historical and inner mystical Jesus. This is not the Jesus of the Bible either.

There are some who say that Jesus is just one of many ascended masters, like Buddha and Mohamed.

Many cults say that Jesus was just a good man or a prophet or a teacher. That could not be true, because Jesus made claims for Himself that must be true. If they were not true, then Jesus would have been a liar, but they are true and Jesus is not only God, but He is the Truth.

Some claim that the Holy Spirit is not God but rather a force emanating from God.

Cults

How can we know anything about anything

Cults

Define Cult

Meaningless Definitions of Cult:

Define Cult:

A word about equivocation

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