Cults and Their Effects - Part 1
One of the basic tenets of Christianity is that of faith. Basic thing, you know, the bottom line in Christianity is faith. The thing we come back to all the time. Without faith, without belief, there cannot be salvation. Now we know this.
We know this. But unfortunately, so to say everything but that Satan also knows the plan of salvation. And this is why the Bible teaches us not only to believe, but also to be very careful what we believe and who we believe. So he's not just believe, you know, just gobble everything down. But you have to be selective about what you believe and who you believe.
Proverbs 14 verse 15 says, the simple man believes anything. Here the writer is telling us, that believing just anything or anybody could lead us to destruction, so we have to be careful. A recent example of this tragic gullibility, last couple of years has been witnessed in Waco, Texas. Remember Waco, Texas, David Koresh, the Branch Davidians? 70 people, 70 adults and children, you know, just just destroyed in flames.
And and why was that? Was it because of guns? And was it because of, you know, the FBI or whoever? You know, was it really that the reason? No.
That wasn't the reason. It goes all the way back to a group of people believing in this individual and ultimately following this individual to their death. They believed anything, and the result was destruction for them. Interesting side light to that, you know, that episode with David Paresh and his followers, there was an editorial in the daily Oklahoman, that made the interesting observation that as society in general and governments in particular begin to undermine and dismiss the role of the Christian religion as a cohesive factor in American society, there has been arise in the growth of fringe religions and counterfeit Christianity has begun to arise as this as cultic groups begin to buy to fill the void being created by mainline Christian groups who have lost credibility because of their stagnation and scandals. Let's face it, You have, you know, universally known or, you know, nationally known evangelists, you know, who who who are falling because of immorality or because they're stealing their flock blind of money, and people are discouraged, you know.
So as as as mainline denominations begin to go down, as there are scandals in Christianity, as the government begins to undermine the Christian religion in the sense that it really isn't an important part of the fabric of society. As this is going down, what is going up are the fringe religions that really people didn't pay attention to before, but now people are paying a lot of attention to these religions. A vacuum has been formed, and as you know, can't stand a vacuum. Something has to fill the void that has been created because of this. Of course, on the upbeat side, this presents a great opportunity for the church, for us to present the pure and simple message of the gospel.
What a sweet sound it has when you hear it in comparison to all the clutter that is, that is cluttering up television these days. But but it also should sound a warning that cults will continue to grow in this country as well as in our own brotherhood and we need to be we need to beware of, of these cults. We think that, oh, you know the we had that branch of Indian thing and all those people got burnt. So now people are really smart, they're not gonna pay attention. Uh-uh.
You think people would learn, but they don't. The cults keep on gaining new supporters. So tonight, I'd like to give some background about cults in general and information about how we can protect ourselves against cults or what I call counterfeit churches. Okay. First of all, we need to, answer the question, what is a cult?
Usually, it's a group or a movement that exhibits an excessive devotion to a person or to an idea. And uses unethical manipulative tactics and techniques and persuasions to advance their cause or their leader to the possible detriment of the members, their family, or the community. Remember, it's an excessive devotion to an idea or a leader using manipulation or unethical methods to bend your mind to believe and to become a follower. Now you have to remember the difference and always keep your eye on this. The difference between any cult and true Christianity is that Christianity never uses manipulation or deceit to advance the kingdom of God.
We speak the truth in love. We're open. We we say what's in the book. We're open to discussion. We never advance the cause of Christ through lying, or through cheating or through manipulation or through pressure.
That's not the method that Jesus has given us to advance the cause of the kingdom. And in Christianity, society is always benefited by its presence. It's always good to society and not damaging to society. Now there are different categories of cults. Okay?
All kind, you know, you know, not not just one type of cult, all kinds of cultic groups are found in different categories. For example, in eastern religions, many cults, exist in eastern religions. The occult, the witchcraft, voodoo, satanism, all these are cultic in nature. Communal and many self help, not all Be careful now it's on tape, I can play it back. Communal groups and many self help groups and systems use cultic methods in order to gain adherence.
Zen and the Sino religious, Japanese mystical religions, mass therapy or transformational training. UFO cults, they have cults based on UFO sightings. They have a thing called Christian aberrational. Christian aberrational are simply, cults that use Christianity as their cover. Okay?
Like the Branch Davidians, we talked about that before. Spiritualist groups, certain forms of psychotherapy, not all forms of psychotherapy, please don't get me wrong. But certain forms of psychotherapy are cultic in their manner and their usage. Of course, the new age movement is rife with cultic techniques and and groups, and then of course and and and what is the development in Europe especially is racist groups, you know, skinheads and so on and so forth. They're very cultic in their in their approach.
Now all cults have different, approaches, but the bottom line of cults, okay, is mind control. And, you know, they they're dressed differently. They have different habits. They, you know, they, you know, they have different quote theology or philosophy, but the bottom line, the goal of all cults is mind control. Also referred to as brainwashing, coercive persuasion, thought reform, color what you want, it's mind control, controlling your mind.
A process where a person or a group systematically uses unethical manipulative methods to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the manipulators. Now, it could be for profit, manipulate manipulate you for profit, but not always for profit. Mostly, it is to satisfy a need for control interpreted as a vision or a prophecy. Some people are control freaks. They don't make money out of it.
They just like to control your brain. They like to make sure that you think like they think, and they'll do anything to control your mind. Now the methods may vary, but there are some overlapping stages in the control game. Okay? Again, the groups are different names, they're called differently, they have different systems.
But they have different stages that they all use. Okay? 3 stage. Common tactic. State number 1, deception.
Deception. Recruits are convinced into believing that the groups will enrich their lives in some significant way. That's not a bad thing. And we all have, you know, groups and associations that if we join them, they'll profit us in some way. I'm not saying that joining a group is bad.
I'm saying that the recruiters for cults will always make a promise that the devotees will be enriched somehow. This would be really great for you. But this method is usually done in a highly manipulative and unethical way until the individual joins and begins to abandon his or her individuality and takes on the group perspective and the group goals. Again, the key here to differentiate between cults and just legitimate groups is how this is accomplished. In cults, joining the group is accomplished through manipulation and deceit and pressure.
Number 2 tactic, dependence. Dependence. By gradually isolating members from the outside influences, by establishing unrealistically high and guilt inducing expectations, By punishing any expression of negativity and denouncing any independent or critical thinking, the group causes members to become extremely dependent on the group's compliance oriented expressions of love and support. It's like, if you don't do what I tell you to do, you're not gonna get my love. Okay?
They make you dependent on them. They make the individual totally dependent on the group for love and acceptance. And that individual is not comfortable at all in any other setting other than the group. Okay? 3rd, hack it, dread.
Deception, dependency, dread. Once a state of dependency is established, the group's control over members thoughts and feelings and behavior is strengthened by the individuals growing dread of losing the group's psychological support. Some even face physical threats as well. In other words, question is always asked, if these cults are so bad, who joins them? What kind of zombie joins this type of thing, you know?
Well, researchers tell us that there's no type there's no type that joins a cult, but there are some common factors. A large majority usually experience significant stress prior to conversion, which exposes them to alternate solution. In other words, cults are looking for people who have gone through significant stress. Okay? It's an interesting I wanna make a parenthetical statement here, an interesting parallel here.
Conversion to Jesus Christ is also often preceded by a crisis. You know, a lot of times people have a crisis in their lives and they're looking for an answer, and they reach out and someone is there to preach the gospel to them and bring them to Christ. The unfortunate thing is along with Christians who are there to bring you to Christ, there are also cult recruiters who are also looking for the same kind of person. And the sad thing is that the cult recruiters are often more zealous in recruiting people than we are. They're usually more focused on looking for those people who are going through crisis and spotting them than we are.
We're just going through our doing our thing. We don't see the needs that people have, but they do. They're trained to look for them. Other factors that may make a person susceptible to a cult, Dependency, a person who is very dependent, who needs to belong, who is lonely, or a person who is very passive. You ever get people who can never say no to anything?
A guy comes by, salesman comes by, I'll sell you anything, those kind of people. Or people who are gullible or people who have a need for black and white answers. You know? Everything's gotta be black and white. Oh, gray.
I want everything this way or that. There's no room for discussion, you know, no no room in my life for things that are still unanswered. Cults usually appeal to people who like black and white answers. People who have naive idealism. It's okay to be ideal, but some people are naive in their idealism.
They think that, boy, nobody will ever hurt me. No one would ever lie to me. Uh-uh. Not in this world. Not in this world.
It doesn't happen. People who are ignorant of how cults operate, people who are ignorant of the basics of religion. In other words, people who don't know their bibles, who don't understand their bibles. They're the people who are susceptible. Now it isn't just that someone is vulnerable in this way and then automatically becomes a member just because you're a little gullible or you're a little naive, doesn't mean you're gonna become a cult member.
The group you see purposefully identifies these characteristics and manipulates them in order to gain a conversion. In other words, the groups usually know who they're looking for and they go out looking for these people. I mean, the radar is up and they're always if they're in a group, they're looking for that vulnerable, lonely, confused, easily led person and they'll find that person. Eventually, they will find that person and they will begin to do a number on them. Now the names of the cults are different, but the tactics, the, you know, the, the detail of their tactics are usually the same.
Of course, there's deceit and coercive persuasion, you know, peer pressure. There's a lack of privacy and isolation from society. They use the, a method of renouncing the family and friends. You've got to renounce your family and your friends in order to be part of the group. Absolute obedience to the leaders.
They pound away at this idea. You can't disobey the leaders. Rejection of previously held values. Mutual confession. That's a big tactic that they use.
They find you somebody and you confess and you just open your soul and you just pour everything out private and personal to one person. That is a tactic used in many, cult groups. Preoccupation with fundraising and recruiting. All you ever do is recruit. There's never anything else to do, just recruit.
Usually there's a charismatic leader with dogmatic teaching. Another tactic they use is called love bombing. You know what love bombing is? A new recruit is showered, just showered with love and affection and attention, you know. They drown them in all kinds of of of of, ego stroking to bring that person in to the group.
There's also secret and loaded language that is understood only by the group. You know, if you wanna be in the group, you you understand the lingo. They have the secret lingo that they use with each other. And of course, there's hypnosis, group games, meditation, all that all these are tactics used by cults. Now, all of us would be affected by these tactics, of course, and all of us would be affected, but the most vulnerable group are those between the ages of 1825 years of age.
Those who are in the middle to upper socioeconomic, background, those who have average to above average intelligence, those who are curious, those who are in idealistic and usually in a state of stress because of some kind of transition. Young people who are idealistic and away from home, what does that spell to you? Doesn't that sound like a college student? Sounds like a college student to me. Young people away from home who are stressed, who are idealistic, above average, intelligent, in the higher socioeconomic range.
That sounds like a college student to me. That sounds like a young adult to me. That's what this lesson is for tonight. Young adults and college students. I'm glad we've got it on tape.
That's who they target. Don't be surprised. You know, you go to the airport and you see this nice young lady, you know, nice young girl. And there she is selling a book and flowers and stuff like that and trying to get you to buy some religious material and you say, how did this nice young girl from a nice family end up here? Oh, because she was targeted.
Because she was the one that they were looking for. Now, cults are dangerous because their effect on the individual are destructive. I mean, some of the effects of cults on individuals are as follows. The loss of free will and control in one's life, that's the primary goal, to make the individual lose the capacity to exercise their own free will. Diminished intellectual ability.
People who've gone through the cult stage can't think for themselves. I know. I mean, in Montreal and here too, but especially in Montreal, we work with many people who came out of cults and I mean, the hardest thing was to get them to just stand on their own two feet, make a decision. Intelligent people, college graduates couldn't make a decision for their own life. They're always waiting for somebody else to decide things for them.
A dramatic change in life goals, Someone who who started off wanting to be a doctor or business person or a teacher, something like that ends up, you know, selling flowers or books in a in an airport, you know. Reduced capacity to form human relationships. People who've gone through cults have trouble, relating to people. A guilt and psychotic or suicidal tendencies, tremendous guilt, especially for those people who come out of cult groups. Destruction of family and friendships, we know Lisa and I know that some of our best friends, you know, went off into cults.
And 6 months later, it's like we didn't know them. And I'm sure, you know, some of you could raise your hands and say, hey, I have the same story. I can tell the same story about my brother, my cousin, something like that. They're like different people. You don't know them anymore.
And I remember facing one of my friends and saying, you know, hey, it's me. You're talking to me here. And it was like, well, my phone, you know. You don't understand. You know, I'm in another planet somewhere.
I say, how can I not understand? I've watched you for years. What do you mean I understand? I know who you are. A loss of identity and ultimately, and this is the sad part, a loss of genuine faith or the ability to cultivate a saving faith.
That's the saddest part of the cult destruction on a a human mind. The inability to cultivate saving faith, because cults are legalistic by definition. They can't let go that legalism and get into a saving faith relationship with Jesus Christ. Once a person has been a victim of mind control, it's like having had an addiction. The effects of it can go on a life that's like somebody who's on drugs.
They, you know, they're they're addicted to this lifestyle. It's terrible. Now, the key to protecting yourself and those you love against cults is the ability to control your own mind. Right? Controlling your own mind.
Let's face it, the name of the game is to control your mind. So how do you fight against that? You learn how to control your own mind so that somebody else will not control it for you. Control comes in 2 ways. Number 1, you've got to know the enemies of your mind.
You gotta know these people. And then number 2, you've got to know the mind of God. Well, as far as the enemies of the mind are concerned, these people here, Here are some of the things that you can do to help you avoid the traps. Number 1, beware of the recruiters and the converters. They're out there.
Don't think because you live in Choctaw, you know, well, we're out of town, you know, we're safe. Uh-uh. You're not safe. And if they if whatever, you know, happens in the world happens here. People steal here.
People kill here. People take drugs here. People, you know, everything happens here just like it happens somewhere else. And this also happens here. Beware of the recruiters and their converters.
Beware of people who are excessively approving and interested in every little thing that you do. Be careful of that person. Be careful of people who offer simplistic solutions to complex world problem. Boy, if everybody just took this pill, everything would be okay. Or if everybody would just follow this guy here and, you know, everything would be okay.
That's not how it works. People who pressure you into doing and thinking things using guilt as a main tactic. Be careful. Jesus didn't use guilt. He used truth.
He used love. Right? That's how he drew man to himself through his love. People who use guilt to make you do things, you need to be you need to be careful. Groups who demand secrecy or financial information, I mean, run.
You know, if the guy's having a bible study with you and at the same time, he's saying, you know, would you mind filling out this kind of financial information sheet for us here? You know, if I were you, I I would, you know, show him or her the door. People who place heavy emphasis on fundraising or recruiting and devotion to a single living leader need to be careful. No. No.
I'm not preaching to the choir here. You know? If you're a cult, we wouldn't be here tonight. But these are things that we have to know because we have children, and we have brothers, and we have sisters, and we have friends that we need to, we need to protect. The other thing you need to know is you need to know the difference between the church and a cult.
Because you see the language is often the same. The goals are often the same on the surface. But when you scratch a little bit, you go underneath, you find out that there's a big difference between cults and sects and the church, the genuine church. A lot of confusion here. The goals of the language as I say are often similar, but when you go down deep inside, there's a big difference.
For example for example, the church teaches allegiance to Jesus Christ. Cults demand obedience to people. See, there's a difference there. Yeah. The church demands allegiance to a person.
That person happens to be the son of God. That's okay. I'll follow the son of God. I won't follow the son of George or the son of Bill, but I'll follow the son of God. In Colossians chapter 118, the bible says, he, speaking of Christ, is also the head of the body of the church.
I can follow Christ because the body the bible says, he is the head. I should follow him. That's okay. The goal is to live for Christ and to die for him, not to live for a man or a woman and die for a man or a woman. Secondly, the church promotes freedom in Christ.
And my goal for you as a preacher is that you are free in Christ, that you're not weighed down by sin or ignorance or fear or despair. I feel that as a as a preacher, I've done a pretty good job if this congregation is free. Free. That they're not depending on me, that their whole dependence is on Jesus Christ and they are free. Free in their minds and free in their hearts.
That's the goal. Free to love each other with all enthusiasm. But the goal of cults is to reduce personal freedom in thinking and doing. Galatians chapter 5 verse 1 tells us, it was for freedom that Christ set us free. We should not be enslaved by any man or any institution.
Thirdly, the church encourages study and thinking and questioning and searching in order to grow in Christ. We have this thing, it's called Sunday school. We get together, we sit around, we talk about the Bible, we ask questions, we debate, we think, we study. We don't always agree. A church encourages that type of intellectual growth.
Cults discourage even forbid any critical analysis in order to create utter dependence of the leaders. The goal of the church is that we know God and his son, Jesus Christ. In acts chapter 17 verse 11, I told you this morning, the Bereans were progressive conservative because they searched the scriptures daily. They were more noble minded. They weren't afraid.
Number 4, in the church, we promote peaceful relationships with everybody in the world. We're to be in the world but not of the world. Cults, on the other hand, strive to isolate the individual except for purposes of recruiting. When you were baptized, when you became a Christian, nobody said to you, you had to go to a cave or you had to hide out at your house. No.
Jesus said, go now. Go. As you are going, preach the gospel to all creation. He sent you back out into the world to do the work of preaching. Go ahead and make relationships and talk to people and get to know people and create relationships with people, but cults don't do this.
They strive to isolate the individual. And number 5, the church strives to serve the community in the name of Jesus Christ. We wanna serve the we had a VBS. We invited the kids. We fed them.
You know, if somebody comes here and has a need, whatever, we're here to serve the community in the name of Christ. But cults rarely benefit humanity with benevolence. Their only goal is to save humanity by recruiting it into its own orbit and control. That's what they do. The goal of the church is to glorify God with good works.
That's what Jesus said in Matthew 5 verse 16, let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. We're out to benefit the world, not just save it and bring it into the we're out to benefit the world. Now, the greatest protection against cults, however, is knowing the mind of God whom these people say they represent. The ability to properly understand and use God's word is still the best protection against slavery to any cult. Jesus said, if you abide in my word then you are truly disciples of mine and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
Free from what? The truth shall set you free from sin and condemnation and fear and ignorance. If you know the truth, you can't be enslaved through ignorance. Cults are nothing new. Mind control for the purpose of destruction of the soul is not a 20th century invention.
The Bible has always warned against cults. I mean, how are people led astray? How do you think people are led astray? You think cults are new? In Romans chapter 16 verse 18, Paul says, by good words and fair speeches, they deceive the hearts of the simple.
Nothing new. They've been liars from the beginning who are on power trips trying to control people's mind. Nothing new. Paul tells us we should know God's word. That's how we will protect ourselves.
Know the mind of God. There's a couple of things here. We'll wrap this lesson up. Number 1, how to do that? Prove all things.
1st Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 21 says, prove all things. Learn to assess and discern and weigh matters before accepting them as true. We're not necessarily negative or narrow minded just because we are careful before we accept as true or accurate, something that somebody says. Even though they say it with zeal and enthusiasm, that's not what makes it true. I mean, the Jews had a lot of zeal, but it was without knowledge and they perished because of it.
And so be accepting of the truth, not just zeal. Zeal is good, but, you know, you can have zeal and ignorance. Secondly, try the spirits. 1st John chapter 4 verse 1. Try the spirits whether they are of God.
In this case here, he's talking about prophets and teachers. Try the spirits. Are they speaking on behalf of God? Those who say that they speak on behalf of God should be measured solely against God's word. And if they fail this test, they should be rejected.
Again, I tell you, it's not how zealous or successful or pleasant or powerful or you know, you got 2 ladies. It's raining out. It's Saturday. Here you are, you know, big lazy thing. You haven't shaved in 2 days.
You're at home. You're watching cartoons with the kids, and then your big deal for today is you're probably gonna go out and eat lunch and then lay in the attic and read the paper that afternoon. And ding dong, the doorbell ring. But there are these 2 ladies, you know, and it's raining outside, and and you've got 2 Jehovah Witnesses. How do you feel?
Guilty. How you feel? You feel guilty. They're out there doing their thing. I'm down here relaxing on my day.
I feel bad. They're so zealous. Being zealous doesn't make them right. I have no compunction no compunction at all. Close doors say, I'm sorry.
I'm not interested. I'm not interested in false religion. I'm not interested in false, in false teaching. I'm not interested in how zealous, no matter how pretty you are, no matter how nicely dressed, you've got your little girl with you, you've got your little boy with you. That doesn't matter to me.
I have no compunction at all to turn away someone who's trying to bring false teaching into my home, period. Try the spirit. God's messenger has only God's message and if he doesn't, he should be rejected without hesitation. I have no function in rejecting someone who tells me that Jesus is an angel or that Jesus is not divine. Listen, if Jesus is an angel and Jesus is not divine, you and I are utterly lost and dumb to boot.
So I have no time to waste with someone who will undermine my salvation. Thirdly, beware of false prophets. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves, Matthew chapter 7 verse 15. We need to realize that some people will lie in the name of the Lord in order to gain control over you, and that's the problem we have. We're so naive.
We think, excuse me, we think, nobody, they wouldn't lie to me about a thing like this. Sure they would. Sure they would. Of course they would lie to you. To gain control over you, of course they would.
Somebody lied to them, they believed it, they're gonna pass it along. Sure. And and you know why I know this? Because the bible says so. Because Jesus tells me I have to be careful because people will lie to me in my lifetime concerning religion.
We want to believe that people have good intentions, But brothers and sisters, there are genuinely bad people out there, and we need to be careful. Satan has his messengers out there too, but they are usually disguised as messengers of water. Alright. Cults are dangerous. That's the message I wanna get across tonight.
They're just they're dangerous to the soul's salvation and they damage the legitimate work of the church. So let us know and be, aware of their tactics. And let us also be able to rightly divide the word in order to help everyone distinguish the true church from the members of the counterfeit church. And next Sunday night, we're gonna get a little closer to home. I've talked about cults in a generic sense here.
But next Sunday night, I'm gonna examine the major cult that has grown out of our own brotherhood. And that's the Boston movement or the discipleship movement, whatever you wanna call it. Now it's called the International Church of Christ. Okay? That is a cult that has grown out of our own brotherhood.
Next Sunday night, I'm going to, review the history of that movement and where they're at now and some of the lingo and so on and so forth. We're gonna talk about that next Sunday night. Now, we are not a cult. We're not a cult. Jesus is our head and we are his body.
And our goal is to set each man free from sin and from death. Romans chapter 8 verse 1 tells us, there is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That's not a lie. That's not something I made up. I merely quoted it from Romans chapter 8 verse 1.
If you wanna be free from sin, from death, from ignorance, from fear, from despair, from hopelessness, then I encourage you to confess Christ and be baptized if you haven't done so already. If you are in the throes of struggle against sin and need help through our prayers, through the ministry of prayer, we encourage you to come forward tonight as, Bob leads us in one other song of invitation. Let's stand as we sing that song. Why do you wait?