What is a cult?

There are many groups out there that claim to be Christian. However, upon further examination, they are found to be false, espousing teachings that are not found in Scripture. These groups are called cults, and they are extremely dangerous since those who fall into their clutches are very hard to remove. Cults range from the enormously popular Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses to the small, esoteric apocalyptic groups that firmly believe the end of the world is at hand. In this entry, I want to give a brief overview of the characteristics of cultic groups so that we can be better prepared to recognize such people and stay away from them, as well as warn others about their dangers. I am indebted to the website http://www.carm.org/ for providing most of the information I am using for this blog entry - check it out by all means! It has been a wonderful apologetics resource on the Internet for a decade.

The term "cult" has been variously defined. A common blanket definition is "a group radically committed to a leader or principle." Obviously, this isn't adequate, since almost anyone could thus be a cultic member. I am defining "cult" from a Christian perspective, and so the definition I will adopt will not include other religions such as Hinduism or Buddhism, which deny any affiliation with Christianity at all.

Basically, a cult can be defined as a group which includes the Bible in its set of authoritative scriptures, but distorts the Word in order to support its aberrant doctrines. When I mean "distort," I mean the cult denies the essential doctrines of Scripture. Secondary matters, such as the difference between dispensationalism/reformed theology, infant baptism (as long as it's not for salvation)/believer's baptism, and the timing of the rapture do not distinguish heresy from orthodoxy. Some essential doctrines of Scripture include:

- The deity of Christ
- The Trinity
- Salvation by grace alone through faith
- The physical resurrection of Christ

In addition, there are some groups that do hold to these essentials, but are so extreme in secondary doctrines that they must be avoided, since they choose to emphasize on what divides rather than on what unifies. They are not properly "cultic," but are still dangerous in their own right.

Another key characteristic of cults is that they tend to add human works to the gift of salvation. This is the case with Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, since they both teach that Christ indeed paid a price for our sins, but we must work with Him to confirm our salvation. In other words, we do our best and hope God does the rest. Of course, this denies several Scriptures such as Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
Even some well-known groups, such as Roman Catholicism, fall into this danger since they also emphasize the adding of our works to God's grace. The Protestant Reformation happened mainly because of the abuses of the Church of Rome, especially in the area of doctrine, and the regaining of the central doctrine of our justification by grace alone through faith was a major hallmark in the recovery of the true church of God. We need to cling to this doctrine with all our might, because it gives God all the glory for our salvation, and puts us into our proper place. More has been said by me in previous posts, such as in the ones on Justification and Sanctification.

Some cults also add their own Scriptures to the Bible. The Mormons acknowledge such books as the Book of Mormon (acknowledged to be "the most correct book of our religion" by founder Joseph Smith) and The Pearl of Great Price. The Jehovah's Witnesses count as authoritative the materials published by the Watchtower organization, as well as their version of the Bible called "The New World Translation" that corrupts several verses in favor of bad doctrine. Christian Scientists revere books written by Mary Baker Eddy (ex. Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures). In all of these cases, the books radically change Christianity to a form which the cult in question approves of. So, when examining a group, it is good to see what authority it places on its own publications as compared to Scripture.

Cults also tend to be strongly controlling. They are usually led by a single person or a powerful body of leaders. Such people may have highly charismatic abilities and strong powers of conviction. Of course, this alone is not a determining factor in defining a cult, since there are many strong preachers and people who God has raised up in orthodox Christianity to edify the saints. However, it is still true that most cults are led by domineering, controlling people. Such leaders may claim special revelation from God, have unique abilities tailored for their mission, and demand high levels of commitment and trust (i.e., they can't be questioned at all). Eventually, the cult tends to rule over all areas of its members' lives. That is why it is so difficult to extricate people from cultic groups.

By no means are all cults strange-looking. Some groups are very upright, honest, and moral people by the standards of this world. They do a good job of sweeping most of the "odd" stuff under the carpet. Many Mormons, for example, have an admirable record of honesty and uprightness, as do many Roman Catholics as well. Indeed, this may be a key reason why many people join cults. Cults can provide them with a strong sense of "belonging," and appear to meet their key needs. The group can be a key source of support and comfort (and of conflict once the member desires to leave the cult). In this world, where so many people are alone and distraught, cults put up an attractive front and lure their hapless victims into the clutches of heresy. Satan has been using this technique for thousands of years with devastating results. However, praise God that He continues to expose the errors of these cults and to receive many souls into His true Kingdom!

When encountering cults, it is extremely important to understand what you are going up against. Many cults use similar terminology as orthodox Christians, but give them different definitions. For example, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Bible is inerrant. What they mean, though, is that their New World Translation of the Bible is inerrant, and all others are frauds. The Holy Spirit, according to the JW's, is not a person but rather an impersonal "force." For a Mormon, eternal life is not about living forever in heaven with God, but actually becoming a god of your own. Mormons also believe that Jesus is the brother of Satan and is actually a god distinct from God the Father (they believe the Trinity is three separate gods instead of one God in three persons). There is much more I could say, but I think the above information is sufficient to show that we are dealing with different things represented by the same terms.

So what can we do if we know people who have fallen into cult traps? Patience and hard work is the key. First of all, perseverance in prayer. Second, maintain communication with the person(s), and at all times determine to show the love of Christ to them so that they can see the alternative. Lovingly share your concerns about the group they are with, and give the relevant information about false doctrine if they are able to bear it. The problem is, of course, that cult members tend to become antagonistic if you attack their group - so that is why I urge caution when showing them how they are wrong. Ask God for wisdom and discernment about what to say in these situations. Sometimes it is better to be bold; sometimes it is better to be more discreet. Each situation must be examined in its own perspective. God is very merciful and has saved thousands of people from cults, and there are many helpful resources on the Internet and with various ministries to help people who are escaping from bondage to these groups. www.carm.org, as I stated before, is one such resource.

I may delve into certain groups in more detail in future entries. Definitely the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses deserve an in-depth description. But perhaps Christian Science, Oneness Pentecostalism, Scientology, Seventh-day Adventism, and Bahai'ism may be mentioned as well. There are a lot of groups out there, but some are more common than others - and that is why I choose to talk more about them. Word needs to get out about the dangers of these cults: for example, in Japan, most "Christians" are actually members of cults which masquerade as the one true faith. Part of our witness as Christians means exposing false doctrine to the light. So that is why it is good for us to know at least the basic details about cults so that God can use us to reveal the lies of the devil and substitute the truth in their place.

I hope I can continue to write more often - in truth, it is the comments on my blog that help me know that I have an audience and that what I write is actually read. But, of course, I serve God in my writing and as I write He helps me clear my thinking better. I write to please Him, and that needs to be my utmost motive in everything. Nevertheless, I welcome comments and questions, so I can interact with my readers.

Have a good day!

Some insights on the Incarnation of Christ

I'm glad to have the weekend off from work to write a bit on this blog once again. As all of you can probably suspect, work is the reason why I haven't been posting as frequently! Being "unemployed" definitely had a positive influence on the amount of material I was able to post here ;)

I have decided, in this blog post, to address a deep theological topic in a devotional way. This is partly to make the subject easier to understand for those who may not be acquainted with it, and to remind ourselves of how amazing God's dealings with this world have been. I am talking about the subject of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ - that is, God's appearing on this earth in human form. The word "Incarnation" is a Latin-based theological term meaning "embodied in flesh," and is not a directly Scriptural term; just one developed to identify the doctrine (like with the "Trinity" or the "Rapture"). So, we can refer to this important doctrine as "Jesus Christ embodied in flesh."

The Incarnation is one of the central, fundamental truths of Christianity. John in his letter outlines this clearly: "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already" (1 John 4:2-3). He was addressing a group of people who were claiming that Jesus could not be a man because He, being God, could not be tainted with the supposed evil of possessing human flesh. It is interesting that our present world's main problem is believing in Jesus as God; the main problem back in John's day was believing that Christ was actually a man! Of course, this brings us into the question of the deity/humanity of Christ, which is not the subject of this blog (but is still a vital theological truth). I just wanted to show that this doctrine, being so important, has been attacked many times by those who do not accept the truth.


I will present the basic Scriptural proofs of the Incarnation and then proceed to make some devotional insights.


First, Jesus was clearly born of a human woman, Mary, and one of the names given to Him affirms His deity:


"....an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us)." Matt 1:20-23)

The Virgin Birth shown here, I should add, is also important to orthodox Christianity, because it clearly establishes both the divine and human natures of Christ. God did come down to Earth and undergo the normal human process of birth!

One of the most important verses also deals with Christ's coming down to Earth:

"And the Word [Christ] became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).



In Romans, Paul details a further reason for Christ's taking a human body upon Himself:

"For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh..." (Romans 8:3)

That is, because our legal efforts could not make ourselves righteous in God's sight, He then sent Christ, the Perfect Man, to be blameless and perfect and utterly vanquish sin.

The celebrated passage on Christ's utter humiliation also refers to His incarnation:

"....though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11)"

Because Christ needed to totally identify Himself with us, He did take upon the same kind of substance as us humans, so that He could truly be our representative and decisively defeat Satan:

"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." (Hebrews 2:14-15)

I think these passages together present a powerful picture as to the truth of God's dwelling among us as a human being. Let's push these verses home a little further, so that we may see that all this is really relevant to us.

1. The very idea that God Himself, being in heaven, a place where He was completely happy and satisfied, lacking in nothing, willingly chose to humble Himself and walk upon this sin-cursed earth is absolutely mind-blowing. We daily see the filthiness and lowliness of our daily existence and the gross limitations of our finite bodies, whose needs must be continually met. This world is a rotten mess of corruption, one that the sinless God absolutely detests. Yet - because He is loving, He still chose to make a difference and restore the race of fallen humanity. So, Jesus walked on this earth for 33 years and experienced all the wide range of sufferings that we fellow humans endured. He was tired. He was sick, I'm sure. He wept. He suffered intense pain and agony. The very act of His birth was a trial to His mother, as because of sin all childbirth is painful to all women. He needed to sleep. He was continually wearied by the huge throngs of people clamoring to see Him day and night. And, most of all, He died. Not just a normal death, but the worst one that could be inflicted by that time's standards - crucifixion. Surely it is an amazing thing that God Himself should experience this world's pains, and this truly shows the depth of His great love.

2. Not only did God come down to this Earth, but He came down to one of the meanest corners of the world. A people despised and abhorred, an object of mockery to the pagan nations around it - these people Christ chose to make His principal dwelling with. Why could He not have entered upon the splendor of Rome and been the son of Caesar? Enjoyed the riches of Egypt? Inherited the courage and daring of Parthia? Been immersed in the ancient wisdom of the Chinese? But, no, He made His abode with the Jewish people, a people conquered and crushed under the dominion of the Gentiles. A people of no great fame or renown, known mostly for its strange custom of worshipping simply one God with fanatic fervor and ardor. Yet, God had chosen this nation to bring Christ forth, and God ordained things this way to put the worldly wisdom of Greece and Rome to shame. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Virgil, Epicurus - who are they compared to Christ? Their insights are but incomplete and poor compared to our Savior's full knowledge. Yet they did come from the richest and most prosperous nations at that time, and Christ came from one of the most destitute. Here, we see once again the manifold and profound wisdom of God, in choosing to incarnate Himself upon this Earth in a manner that blows our minds.

3. The fact that in taking the likeness of sinful flesh upon Himself, Christ thus made Himself our representative before God so that we would not have to suffer eternal damnation is one of the great mysteries of the Truth that will take all of eternity to explore and grasp. Why should God do thus? Why put Someone in our place to suffer for our sins? Why such great love? Simple - it is because of Who He is. He has testified of Who He is in His Word. Is there another God? No. Can this God change? No. He is loving, and the Father has sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins. That is the truth of this universe. There is nothing else that competes with this reality. And I am so thankful that things are the way they are, that God is Who He is. It might conceivably have been different - but this, right now, is the truth and there is no changing it.

The sacrifices of the Old Testament all pointed to Christ as the substitution that God put in our place to suffer sin's punishment. The animals - bulls and goats - reminded Israel that its sins were covered by the shedding of another's blood. But the blood of these creatures was not efficacious to take away sin. It merely shadowed Christ's greater, efficacious sacrifice. In order to be a true atonement for sin, He had to be "made like His brethren." A human needed to suffer for humans - yet this was no mere sinful human, but a pure, holy, and sinless God-man, Who was completely divine yet completely human. In Romans, Christ is called "the last Adam," because He vividly contrasts the tragic fall of the first Adam. The first Adam brought pain and ruin upon the creation; the last Adam restored it to its true glory. The first Adam showed his weakness and futility by succumbing to the temptation to sin; the last Adam showed His strength and victory by crushing Satan under His feet. Just as a human brought man into grievous sin, so a human delivered man from the curse of sin. What a wonder we have here from the glorious God!

4. Christ sympathizes with us in our weaknesses, having endured all the temptations that beset humanity. Hebrews talks much about this, in affirming Christ's absolute appropriateness as our representative. We can come to Him with all our concerns and infirmities, knowing that He will not cast us out. Lepers, the blind, the deaf, the demonic, the spiritually tormented - all those came to Him when He was on Earth and were not rejected. And He continues to receive such people even today into eternal salvation - both physically and spiritually. Let us pray, then, and seek to cast all our cares upon Him, for He cares for us. Everything from eternal salvation to security over enduring BBC orals, we can come to Him for. Think on this, and rejoice!

I have to confess, once I start writing about these glorious things, it can be difficult to stop going on and on! But for the sake of brevity, it is best to conclude my thoughts here. I only wish that I thought on the glorious truths of Christianity and on my Savior so much more. My prayer for those of you who do not know Christ is that He may reveal to you just how amazing and glorious He is, so that you will rejoice with me and with my brothers and sisters over His salvation.

In His Name, I bid you a good day :).

Youth Groups - An Examination

The last fifty years have seen an explosion in the number of ministries devoted primarily to reaching young people ranging from preschool age to college age. I was involved with one of them, Word of Life Fellowship, which is based in the Adirondacks of New York and was founded in the 1940's. Word of Life has grown internationally, and operates Bible Clubs, Bible Institutes (one of which I attended for 2 years), youth camps, and conference centers. In New York, it runs the Campground, the Island, the Inn, and the Ranch - all catering to different age groups (not just young people, but families and older people as well). However, Word of Life's primary mission is to reach young people for Jesus Christ, and its ministries are developed with this end in mind. WOL is just one example of the many parachurch ("alongside the church") groups developed to meet the growing needs of the youth community - other organizations include Youth for Christ, Campus Crusade for Christ, Young Life, and Campus Bible Fellowship.

It is amazing to see all the services that Christians have for youth these days. I am grateful for such ministries. I fondly remember my times as a new, growing Christian in my church's youth group. Yet I do wonder if we tend to overemphasize this aspect of our ministries, especially in our developed countries (America and Europe). That's why I am writing this blog entry to examine more closely the purpose of youth ministries and how we can balance things better.

The Scriptures present the idea of a unified Body of Christ - where there is no distinction between nations, races, gender, and age. The Body is uniform in the sense that everyone has an equal standing before Jesus Christ, no matter what type of person he or she may be. Galatians 3:28 says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." A similar passage, Colossians 3:11, declares, "Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all." I am sure that old and young people can belong into this category as well. The great tragedy of the past 50 years has been the great youth rebellion away from authority and from their elders. Because of this, a split has developed in American society, where both groups tend to do their own thing. This has tended to spill over into churches as well, and I do know of some churches where young people hold their own separate services, without any spiritual contact whatsoever with their elders. This is a destructive practice that grievously wounds the Body of Christ. There are a host of commands in Scripture where the young are called to respect the old, and there are even some church teachings concerning this matter. For example, Paul in Titus declares concerning older women: "[They] likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled" (2:3-5). We see here a fundamental principle in church ministry: that the older people act as examples to the younger people, teaching them and training them to live their lives reverently and godly. Not only does this make Biblical sense, but it also makes practical sense: older folks tend to have a better overview of life and know the mistakes they've committed in the past when young, so they are in a position to teach young folks all about how to live rightly.

Thus, I greatly desire youth ministries to be better overseen by the older members of the church. A common objection one may make is that the old folks don't understand these newer times, with all our recent technological innovations - so how can they teach us accurately these days? That is a lame argument, however - because time has shown, over and over again, the solidness of the foundation of elder (and Scriptural) respect. Great upheavals have occurred in society, but usually a return to more traditional ways has proven to be more beneficial. Moral principles never change, no matter what manner of society is dominant. Murder is still wrong all across the world. It is the same way with Biblical authority and principles. I have further addressed this issue of absolutes in my entry on Truth.

By no means am I saying that youth should no longer take leadership positions in these ministries. After all, Timothy was the pastor at Ephesus; and he was young and intimidated by such a great responsibility. Paul said to him, "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12). God has called up many bright young people to key ministry positions all over the world. Nevertheless, the general pattern is for leaders to be people of maturity, which does often mean having the wisdom which a greater age gives. If a young person is qualified for a important role in ministry, it should only be confirmed after much prayer and much advice and much examination by older believers.

One other thing - I feel that the emergence of the "teenage" age group has been an overall detriment to American society as a whole. The term "teenager" has been around for only about 65 years and is a more casual version of "adolescent." Of course, I recognize that this time period, from the ages of 13 to 19, is filled with complex changes in both body and mind that need to be adjusted to. However, it is my opinion that we have encouraged teenagers to see this period of transition as being a time of "extended childhood" rather than "young adulthood." Hence, there is a catastrophic blend of childish impulsiveness with the material possessions of "grown-up people." College life also seems to be a continuation of this mentality, albeit with a more adult-oriented aspect. I know many will disagree with my assessment, but I feel that this state of affairs can easily be seen just by a general examination of American society as a whole. There are some solutions in my mind that I think might help the situation, but they are beyond the scope of this blog entry to address.

I will now list some key points that can be followed when dealing with youth ministries:

1. I think youth groups should be limited to the children of church members/families with consistent attendance. They do not exist just for the purpose of "having fun" and gathering a group of similarly-aged people together. A youth group is a ministry of the local church that is designed to disciple and train up the young people, more specifically those who have professed salvation. Youth groups are traditionally comprised of teenagers, so this means that only teenage believers in the local church should be allowed to regularly participate in youth groups.

2. The focus of the time in youth group should be teaching. I do not say that youth groups should be "a church within a church," but I do say that the teaching should be of such a nature as is designed to build up the young people in the faith, teaching them the Biblical foundations and main doctrines of theology. Along with the pastoral teaching from the pulpit, the teaching of the youth pastor can be combined to present a wonderful body of spiritual material that can be greatly used by God to mature His young believers. These truths also need to be applied within the youth group, and that is where activities come in. For example, the youth group can go on evangelistic trips, do outreaches to elderly members of the church, and have Bible studies designed to sharpen the theological skill of the members. I see no harm in having times of fun, but these are not the focus of youth group - teaching and building up in the Word is the focus.

3. I personally looked forward to retreats as one of the most enjoyable events of my time in my church's youth group. Some helpful comments I can give about retreats are:

- Do make sure you have a valid spiritual reason for the retreat. These kind of events are, strictly speaking, about getting away from normal life for a while to focus on the things of God. Sometimes, I felt that the times of fun at retreats were more important than the times of Bible teaching. That is why it is important for the overall tone to be about Christ.

- Do provide times of relaxing. Fellowship is a very wonderful thing when done in the name of Christ.

- Again, only believing teenagers should be a part of retreats. Unbelievers will not understand the nature of such trips, and I would only condone their appearance at a retreat if the general tone of the Bible messages was going to be about salvation. In that case, I would make sure that these messages overshadowed any times of fun that were planned.

- If the main purpose of a trip is to have a fun time of fellowship, do not call it a retreat!

4. The youth pastor can be an older man (middle-aged), rather than a young person. The focus here is not on "being relevant" age-wise to young people, but on imparting Biblical wisdom to teenagers. If in doubt, it is always good to have assistants who are still young (early 20's, perhaps?) and show spiritual maturity, so that they can have a more personal idea of the contemporary struggles today's youth experience. Situations, of course, are always flexible, and each church needs to examine itself to determine the best type of person, whether young or old, to be the youth pastor. I will not express an absolutely adamant opinion on this matter.

5. As for parachurch youth ministries, they need to be complementary to the work of the local church. One problem I felt that Word of Life had was that, while it had a local church branch, it did not actively encourage all of its students from the Bible Institute to find churches. That may have partly been due to its remote location in upstate New York. Instead, we had services every Sunday on campus. This raised interesting questions about the validity of Communion in our gatherings, since we often partook of the Lord's Supper as a Bible Institute body.

Another blog entry is needed to fully address the parachurch movement, but for now it suffices to say that parachurches must not interfere with the local church in such a way that they entirely replace the church's work in a community. God's plan for this age is to work through local assemblies of believers that practice the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper; parachurches are simply organizations developed by believers that are designed to improve the effectiveness of local churches in a particular aspect (i.e., evangelism, apologetics, missions). Thus, parachurch youth ministries are to support the youth ministries of local churches so that the Body of Christ can be built up and become stronger.

These are the main points I feel need to be addressed by youth ministries. I recognize that there is much room for diversity of opinion on these points, and I respect those who may hold different practices for managing youth groups, as long as their reasons for doing so are soundly Biblical. I just wanted to reveal some personal concerns and suggestions about this whole matter, so that we Christians can all have better communication regarding youth groups. They are an integral part of today's society, for better or for worse, and we need to always be looking for ways to improve them. As always, I am open to further discussion on this topic!

God bless, and I hope to write more entries now that I have adjusted to my routine of a new job!