The Counterfeit Church

One of the, basic tenets of Christianity is that of faith. We talked about faith. I talked this morning, in our Psalms class. We studied the 23rd Psalm. We talked about faith following after the Lord.

And I think we understand that without the least, there cannot be salvation. I mean, again, that's the basic theme in a lot of the preaching, in a lot of our songs. Without the least, there can be no salvation. And we know this. We teach this, and we promote this, and we proclaim this, but unfortunately, so does Satan.

Satan also knows that the leaf is the key ingredient in the drawing of people towards an idea. That is why the Bible teaches us not only that we should believe, but it also teaches us about what we are to believe, and who we are to believe. The simple man believes anything, Proverbs chapter 14, verse 15 tells us. And believing just anything or believing just anybody can lead us to destruction. A recent example of this tragic gullibility has been witnessed in Waco, Texas recently, as more than 70 adults and children were needlessly killed as a result of their ignorance.

It's their ignorance that killed them in believing cult leader David Koresh, and believing his false teaching. Interesting thing, last Sunday, there was an editorial in the daily Oklahoma that made the growth of in the growth of fringe groups and counterfeit Christianity, that I call, and these begin to arise in cultic groups, as these cultic groups vie to fill the void that is being created by mainline Christian denominations who have lost their credibility because of their stagnation and scandal. And because mainline Christianity has lost its credibility because of this, and because the government, in many instances, local and national, and society in general is dismissing Christianity, because of this, fringe groups are beginning to fill the void. Now, of course, this presents a tremendous opportunity for the church, but also it presents a warning that cults will continue to grow in this country as well as in our own brotherhood, and we need to beware of them. And so this morning, I'd like to give you some background about cults in general and some information about how we can protect ourselves against cults or what I call counterfeit churches or counterfeit Christianity.

I think the first thing we need to talk about is, what is a cult? Just get a kind of a working definition here to help us. What is a cult? Well, a cult is usually a group or a movement that exhibits an excessive devotion to a person or an idea, and uses unethical manipulative techniques and persuasions to advocate their cause or their leader to the possible detriment of the members, or the family of the members, or society in general. Now you need to understand something here.

The difference and always keep your eye on this fact. The difference between any cult and true Christianity is that Christianity never uses manipulative or deceitful ways to advance the kingdom. And society and the individual are always blessed with the presence of the Christian mess message, with the presence of the kingdom of God. Always blessed. Now there are different categories of cults.

For example, there are eastern religions in the category of cults. The occult, remember I talked about the occult one Sunday evening? Witchcraft and satanic worship groups, that's, the, those are cults. Communal or self help groups, many of those are cultic in their behavior. Certain eastern or zen, practices are cultic.

Mass therapy or trans transformational training, you watch this on TV late at night, are cultic in their approach. UFO cults, Christian aberrational. That's what the Branch Davidians. They are Christian an aberration of Christianity. Those are termed Christian aberrational cults, spiritualist cults.

Certain forms of psychotherapy are cultic in nature. I remember 1 primal scream. I remember primal scream therapy, doctor, Janoff and his primal scream therapy, very just a a straightforward cult. The new age movement, rife with cultic tendencies. There are racist cults, political cults, all kinds of cults vying for the attention of, different individuals.

Now all cults have a different approach, different names, different formats, but their agenda is all the same. The objective is always the same for a cult. The objective is always mind control. The objective of the cult is always to control, to control one's mind and through that control behavior. Now mind control is referred to as brainwashing.

In the old days, we used to call it brainwashing or coercive persuasion or thought reform, a newer term. Thought reform refers to a process where a person or a group systematically uses unethical manipulative methods in order to persuade others to conform to the wishes of the group or the manipulators. Now the wishes could be simply for profit. And most cultic groups, the bottom line of controlling the individual is to control the purse, to control the profit, to control money. Some have a desire to control simply to, satisfy their need to control others.

And they interpret this as having a a broader vision or a higher calling or a higher knowledge. But the bottom line is always to control the individual. Now the methods vary in all of these groups to achieve that control, but there are always overlapping stages that are common to the control game in all of the cult groups. Three things. Three stages that all cult groups go through in their retaining the individual and gaining control over that individual.

1st step is deception. The first step is deception. Recruits are convinced into believing that the group will enrich their lives in some significant way. You're just gonna be better off somehow. I don't know if it's financially or emotionally or spiritually or socially or philosophically or theologically, but somehow, you're gonna be better off if you join this group.

And this deception 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's perspective. And the group's goal again, I remind you, the key here is how this is accomplished through manipulation, through deceit, through excessive peer pressure. The second stage in the cultic groups, acquiring control over one's mind is dependency. You begin with deceit, you move towards dependency. By gradually isolating members from outside influences, by establishing unrealistically high and guilt inducing expectations, by punishing any expressions of negativity and denouncing independent critical thinking, the group causes members to become extremely dependent on the group's compliance and the group's compliance oriented expressions of love and support.

In other words, they make the individual totally dependent on the group by isolating him from all outside influences. And then the 3rd stage is 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 individual's growing dread of losing the group's psychological support. Some people even face physical punishment if they think of withdrawing from the group.

In other words, if there's no compliance to the wishes of the groups, the individual receives no love. Deception, dependency, and then dread. You know, one question I asked myself as I was researching this thing was, why? Why would anybody get involved in such a thing? I mean, if it's so bad, who joins?

And why would anybody want to join? Well, it seems that researchers tell us that there's no exact a type or b type who joins a cult, but there are common factors that all of us possess that make us vulnerable to the, influence of a cult. A large majority usually experience significant stress prior to conversion, which exposes them to alternate solutions to their problems. In other words, conversion, usually to conversion to a cult usually is preceded by a stressful life situation that the individual is individual is experiencing. You know, an interesting thing is that conversion to Jesus Christ is also often preceded by crisis.

So the sad fact is that many who would accept the Lord are usually intercepted by a recruiter from a cult. And the reason is that recruiters from cults are usually much more zealous in recruiting cult members than we are in evangelizing the name of Jesus Christ. Other factors that may make one susceptible to, being inducted into a cult, things like dependency, a great need to to belong, people are lonely, Or passiveness, the inability to say no that many people experience. Or gullibility. Some people just believe anything.

Or the need for black and white solutions. One of the key elements for individuals to belong to cults, one of the key factors in all of them is that they like black and white solutions. They don't like a gray area. They like, you know, it's all this way or it's all that way. And cult leaders and cult philosophy usually gives them black and white answers to everything.

People who want all one way or all another way usually are susceptible to cult recruiters. Also naive idealism. People who are ideal but in a naive way are subject to cults. Ignorance of how cults operate. Again, another great danger.

And one of the the worst ones is ignorance of the basics of religion. And especially for Christian aberrational groups, the ignorance of God's word, the ignorance of religion, of the Christian religion, is usually the main factor why people are seduced by cults. Now it isn't just that someone is vulnerable in this way and then automatically becomes a member. You know, you're lonely and automatically you become a member of a cult, or you're an idealist and automatically you become a member of a cult. That's not the way it works.

The group usually and purposefully identifies the characteristics that it's looking for, and it manipulates these characteristics in order to gain a conversion. In other words, cultic groups know who they're looking for, and they know where to find them. And they purposefully go out and look for this type of individual. Now the names of the cults are different, but the tactics that they use are all the same. They use deceit and coercive persuasion, peer pressure, excessive peer pressure.

They they use a a tactic where they they isolate the individual, and that individual has lack of privacy. The renunciation of family and friends is necessary to become a a member of a cult, and they force individuals to renounce their family and their friends. Absolute obedience to the leader, for example, is one of the requirements that is drilled into the members at an early stage. Rejection of previously held vast value. Mutual confession.

That's another tactic that is used quite often by cults. Guilt and fear. Preoccupation with fundraising or recruiting. All the people do is recruit and recruit, and they're busy all the time recruiting new members. Don't do anything else.

Another tactic is having a a charismatic a charismatic leader with dogmatic, teachings. If you don't know, ask the leader. He knows or she knows. Love bombing is another tactic that they use where new recruits are showered with attention and affection. Secret and loaded information and communication between the group.

In other words, usually, cultic groups have their own language, their own lingo that only they understand. And, of course, many of them use hypnosis, group games, and meditation. So many different tactics used by cultic groups in order to recruit and to retain members. And I think that all of us would be affected by these tactics if they were used on us. But the most vulnerable individuals are those between the ages of 18 to 25 years of age, those who come from the middle to the upper socioeconomic, background, those who have average to above intelligence, those who are curious, idealistic, and usually in a state of stress because of some kind of transition.

To me, that spells a college student. Doesn't doesn't that sound like a college student to you? You wonder why so many groups use college campuses as their recruiting graph. Young professionals and college students are the, target group for most cultic for the for most cults. Now cults are dangerous because their effects on the individual are destructive.

That's that's the bottom line. They're dangerous not only because you lose your money, but because you lose your mind. There is the loss of free will and control in one's life. There is the, diminished intellectual ability. The people that I have met, the people that I have worked with who have been subjected to cults and the influences of cults can't think for themselves anymore.

They lose that ability. There's a dramatic change in life goals. There's a reduced capacity to form human relationships. People cannot form relationships outside of the group other than relationships for the purpose of recruiting, and that's unethical. Guilt and psychotic episodes or suicidal tendencies are common among those who have been subjected to cults.

Destruction of family and friendship ties, and ultimately, the loss of genuine faith, and the loss of ability to have genuine faith. That's the saddest thing. The people that I have known, friends of mine, and people that I've worked with who have been subjected to cults, the one thing that is so sad is that they lose the ability to have genuine faith because of their experience with cults. Once a person has been a victim of mind control, it's like having had an addiction. The effects of it last an entire lifetime.

Now I said that I'd give you some background, and that's kind of a lot of statistics and, you know, lists and things like that. I wanna give you something a little more meaty to hang on to, and that is how to con how to control this, how to protect yourself. The key to protecting yourself against cults and the key to protecting those that you love against cults is the ability to control your own mind. That's the bottom line. If you don't want somebody else to control your mind, you have to be able to control your own mind.

That's that's the that's you know, you can't hide. You can't not talk to anybody. You can't not explore different ideas. That's not the way to protect yourself against cult and dangerous ideas. The way to protect yourself is by having the ability and developing the ability to control your own mind.

And this control comes in 2 ways. Number 1, by knowing the enemies of the mind. By knowing the enemy. That's what this sermon is about, hopefully. Helping you to know the enemy.

And secondly, by knowing the mind of God, because usually these people come in the name of the Lord, or in the name of a higher power, or a higher idea. You need to know the enemy, and you also need to know God's mind. As far as the cult, as far as the enemy is concerned, there are some things that can help you avoid the traps. Here's a couple of things to help you avoid the traps of the cope. First of all, beware of the recruiters.

Beware of the recruiters and the converters. Beware of people who are excessively approving and interesting in everything that you do. Just everything you do is just so wonderful. Some stranger that you meet is instantly interested in your entire life. Beware.

Be careful. Be careful of people who offer simplistic solutions to complex world problems. Be careful of people who pressure you into doing and thinking things using guilt all the time. Be careful of groups who demand secrecy or financial information from you. Be careful.

Be careful of people who place heavy emphasis on fundraising and recruiting and devotion to a single living leader. Be careful of the recruiters. They're out there. They're in here, maybe. Secondly, know the difference between a sect and a cult and the genuine church.

Know the difference between a cult and the genuine church. There's a difference, obviously. But sometimes it's not so evident to see because the language and the gold are very often the same. I mean, you know, every time you saw a picture of David Koresh, what did he have in his hat? He had a bible.

And they said he had a tremendous memory, and he could quote scripture. And he talked about Jesus, and he did all kinds of things. Well, sounds like the church, doesn't it? Sounds like. Know the difference between a cult and the church.

Couple of examples. First of all, the church teaches allegiance to Jesus Christ. Colossians chapter 1 verse 18 says, he is also the head of the body, the church. The church teaches allegiance to Jesus Christ. Cults usually demand obedience to people.

The goal is to live for Christ and die for Christ, not to live or die for a man or for a woman or for just an idea. Secondly, the church promotes freedom in Jesus Christ. Paul in his great epistle in Galatians chapter 5 verse 1 says, it was for freedom that Christ set us free. Cults, however, reduce personal freedom in thinking and in doing. You lose freedom when you are in a cult.

The goal of the church is to free us from guilt, not to make us feel guiltier. There's something wrong with any group that makes you feel guiltier. Christ came to free us from guilt. We were singing this morning as people who are free from guilt, free from sin, we have something to look forward to, eternal life. Number 3, the church encourages study.

The church encourages thinking. The true church encourages questioning and searching in order to grow in Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter 17 verse 11, Paul said that the Bereans were more noble because they searched the scriptures every day. But cults, on the other hand, discourage, even forbid any critical analysis in order to create utter dependence on the leaders. The goal of the church is that we know God and his son, Jesus Christ.

That's eternal life. And the only way to do that is to ask questions, to search, to seek, to knock, to ask, not to be afraid. The true church encourages this type of healthy question. There's room for doubt in faith. Did you know that?

There's room for doubt. The great leaders of faith at times doubted and questioned and asked God. In a cult, there's no room for doubt, only for submission. Number 4, the church promotes peaceful relations with everyone. Jesus says we're to be in the world, but not of the world.

We're to pursue peaceful relationships with everyone through Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 12 verse 18, Paul says, be at peace with all men. Cults, on the other hand, strive to isolate the individual except for the purposes of recruiting. The only reason you have a relationship with someone is to recruit them. That's unethical.

That's unethical. The goal of the church is that we be at peace with everyone, that we love, even our enemies. And finally, the church strives to serve the community in the name of Jesus Christ. What does Jesus say in Matthew chapter 5? Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good work and glorify your your father who is in heaven.

Cults, on the other hand, rarely benefit humanity with benevolence. Their only goal is to save humanity by recruiting humanity into its own orbit for the purpose of controlling humanity. You see, the goal of the church is to glorify God with good works. It didn't matter if you do something good to someone who doesn't believe in God, it still glorifies God just the same. Cults don't understand this idea.

Know the difference between the true church and the goals of the true church and the message of the true church and the way of operating in the true church and a cult or a sect. There's a big difference. And secondly, the greatest protection against cults, of course, as I said, 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.

John chapter 8 verse 31 and 32. You see, cults are nothing new. Mind control is nothing new. Mind control for the purpose of destruction of the soul is nothing new to the 20th century. The Bible has always warned against it.

How are people led astray? The Bible says, By good words and fair speeches, they deceive the hearts of the simple. Romans chapter 16 verse 18, 2000 years ago, Paul said, Be careful of people who will try to deceive you with fair speech. Nothing new. Nothing new.

What can we do to protect ourselves in the knowledge of god's word? Three things, and we'll end the lesson with this. Number 1, prove all things. First Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 21. Prove all things.

Learn to assess. Learn to discern. Learn to weigh matters before accepting as true. We're not necessarily negative or narrow minded just because we are careful before we accept as true or accurate something that someone says, even if they say it with a lot of zeal and sincerity? We're so impressed with zeal and sincerity these days.

The Jews had zeal, but they did not have knowledge, and they perished because of it. Be accepting of truth, not just zeal. Secondly, try the spirits whether they are of God. First John chapter 4 verse 1. Try the spirit, whether they are of god.

You see, those who say that they speak on behalf of god should be measured solely against god's word. And if they fail the test, they should be rejected. I I didn't this is not in my notes, but I just thought of some clown, and clown is the word, on TV. Channel 4 should be ashamed of itself for putting this guy on. Did you see this guy the other night who was predicting the end of the world and tells you he was an engineer?

This this was his. Right? You see some people are smiling. They said, some guy in a in a in a garage in Arkansas. I'm serious.

In a garage in Arkansas, as if they're, you know, it seems that this this particular channel is I wasn't sure if they were making fun of us or what. This guy with a calculator was calculating, you know, October 13th is gonna be the end of the world. He's sure of it. Yes. He was wrong before, but this time, he's sure.

They gave this guy, like, 5 minutes of news on the evening news. There's something serious here in the study of eschatology, a very serious study, the study of the end times, and so on and so forth. This clown! And they asked him after they asked him I'm getting excited. I don't want to get excited.

I'm getting angry, see, and that's not right. They asked him, what will you do? What will you do if it doesn't happen? And you know what he said? I guess I'll go fishing.

I guess I'll go fishing. You know, well, I'll go fishing. This great bible scholar, they called him a bible scholar. If he would have been a bible scholar, he would have understood in the Old Testament, if you made a prophecy in the name of the lord and you were wrong, what happened to you? Church, you were stoned.

You were stoned. You didn't go fishing. You were stoned. Try the spirits whether they are of god. Those who say that they speak on behalf of god should be measured solely against god's word.

And if they fail the test, they should be rejected. Again, it's not how zealous or how successful or how pleasant or how powerful or how beautiful or how rich that you are. It's how biblical is your message. That's what counts. God's messenger has only God's message, and if he doesn't, he should be rejected without hesitation.

Do not feel guilty for rejecting at your door someone that brings you a message. Don't feel guilty if someone comes at your door and says, you know, we are members of this particular sect. Don't feel guilty if you say, no. I'm not interested. Thank you very much.

Don't let them into your home. Don't feel bad about, but I'm not being kind. No. You don't have to be kind. Part of the religion of the Jehovah Witnesses claims that Jesus is really an angel.

Anyone that comes to me and says that Jesus is only an angel, I reject that person outright. I don't care if it's a little old lady with her mother. I don't care if it's a young boy with his dad. I reject outright. It's a false.

Number 3, how to protect yourself. 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 to us in the name of the Lord in order to gain control. We're so naive. We want to do the right thing.

We want to be kind. We want to be good people. And because we want to be like that, we do not discern carefully that other people don't play by the rules, and they will just lie to you in the name of the Lord in order to gain control. Paul says, be careful. Jesus says, be careful.

Satan has his messengers out there, but they are usually disguised as messengers of Lot. Well, cults are dangerous. I hope I've gotten that message. If anybody says, so what was the sermon about this morning? You know?

You won't say, well, I don't know. You'll say, well, he talked about cults. Well, what did he say? You'll say, well, he said that cults are dangerous, and we're susceptible, and we're vulnerable. And we're vulnerable because they can rob us of our salvation.

And they they're terrible because they are damaging the work, the legitimate work of the church in society. Every time Jay Leno makes a joke about David Koresh, every time they make a joke about some fallen TV preacher who sleeps with his secretary, every time society make takes a shot at these poor individuals, just remember that indirectly, we're taking a shot. Indirectly, it's damaging our work. The legitimacy of our message is being damaged by those who are illegitimate preachers, counterfeit Christianity, and counterfeit churches abound. So let us know and let us be aware of their tactics, and let us be able to rightly divide the word in order to help everyone distinguish the true church and its members from the counterfeit church.

Now tonight, we're gonna get a little closer to home, and we're going to examine a major cult that has grown out of our own brotherhood, and that is the Boston Movement. I would encourage you to come back, not just for that, be here on Sunday evenings, but of a particular interest, especially to college students, about a cult group that has grown out of our own brotherhood. We'll review that this evening. We'll now sing a song of invitation. Again, it's hard to make a segue.

I haven't preached the gospel. I've talked about being careful about those who don't preach the gospel. But in our songs and in our worship today, we have remembered Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose for our justification. There may be some of you who are studying the bible with someone, one of our elders or one of our people here in the church, who feel now is the time to make a confession of Jesus Christ as your lord and to be buried with him in baptism. Please, if this is the time for you to make that confession, we encourage you to come forward.

If you need the prayers of the church for any reason, for illness or for strength and struggle against sin, we encourage you now to come forward as we stand and sing the song of encouragement.