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WEEKLY
Volume 3 Number 52
24 May 2009
Cults
(Message delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the
Worship Service, 2:00 pm, May 24, 09)
Text: Acts 20:28-35
Our Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles
have warned us of false Christs, false prophets, false teachers, false
brethren, false teachings, etc. Last week we had a brief study of false
isms, and today we shall have a brief study of cults. Nowadays, there
are more than 5,000 cults in America, some of which have their
membership in millions around the world such as Mormonism, Jehovah’s
Witnesses, and Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science). The
following information is the extract from some articles in A Concise
Dictionary of Cults & Religions by William Watson and Dictionary
of Cults, Sects, Religions, and the Occult by George A. Mather;
Larry A. Nichols; Alvin J. Schmidt.
Definition
“A Cult is a counterfeit of classical
Christianity, a group whose authority for cardinal beliefs is something
or someone other than the Bible. Most deny the Trinity and the
incarnation of Jesus Christ, that is, that He is and always has been
God. Such groups also give emphasis to salvation by works. They may
claim to be Christian, but by biblical standards they are not.” Cult is
different from occult, which “refers to groups who openly credit Satan
or the spirit world for their abilities. Satan, spirits, or gods and
goddesses are worshipped and give power for the practitioners to cast
spells or curses, divine the future, and communicate with the dead.
Occultic groups are entirely opposed to Christ and Christianity”
(Watson).
Beware of a Good Church Name
It is unwise and dangerous to trust in
a good church name. For examples, The Church of the Living Word (CTLW)
was founded in 1954 by JOHN ROBERT STEVENS (1919-1983). The name is
sound, but their doctrines are against God’s Word: Jesus Christ
possesses no unique role as the Son of God. The church itself, composed
of individual believers, becomes Christ. The Holy Spirit functions in
such a way as to enable believers to become God. Human beings can become
God. Stevens taught that salvation, in addition to Christ, comes through
membership in the CTLW. Because the Church of the Living Word is the
“true church,” all other churches are “false,” “apostate,” and
“thoroughly corrupt.” The Holy Spirit operates exclusively within the
parameters of Stevens’ ministry. The BIBLE as it stands is an
authoritative document, but only for times past. Because it is outdated,
the church is in need of new and supplementary revelation. Such new
revelation is always channelled through and guided by Stevens’ authority
as apostle in the church” (Mather, Nichols and Schmidt). How true a cult
it is!
How to Recognize a Cult
To recognize a cult, you and I must be
born again and have a firm faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and God’s
Word, the Holy Scriptures. That means, we must know, appreciate, and
love the Lord Jesus Christ and God’s Word with our full dependence and
submission in our faith, practices, doctrines, worship, and service. The
apostle Paul carefully and diligently preached and taught God’s people
“all the counsel of God” (Acts 20: 27) with his warning, “Take
heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the
Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he
hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my
departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the
flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse
things, to draw away disciples after them” (vv 28-30). Paul did not
warn them only once, but day and night with tears, “Therefore watch,
and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn
every one night and day with tears” (v 31), and then committed them
to “God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up,
and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified”
(v 31). Truly, only God and His Word are able to build you and me up in
Christ. We only harm ourselves if we doubt, question, criticize or
disobey God’s Word.
Dear friends, how can we recognise a
cult if we do not know “all the counsel of God” from God’s
perfectly inspired and preserved Word (the doctrine of the inspiration
and preservation of the Holy Scriptures)? You and I must know the truth
or true doctrines of God, the Trinity (God the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit), the Deity and Incarnation of our Saviour Jesus Christ, His
eternal Sonship, His atoning death, His burial, His bodily resurrection,
His ascension, and His second coming, the doctrine of salvation by grace
through faith alone, the doctrine of justification, regeneration and
sanctification, the doctrine of Biblical separation, the doctrines of
human beings, sins, the end times, Heaven and Hell, and many other
Biblical teachings from God’s Word alone. Knowing God’s Word, we can
recognise a cult because:
-
They reject and twist
all the Biblical doctrines mentioned above.
-
They blindly follow
their leader and his teachings rather than Jesus Christ and His
Word. The Holy Scripture alone is not sufficient. They have their
own books or new translation of the Bible regarded as the new
revelation from God with full authority. Only their group is right
and has the truth, all others are false, corrupt and apostate.
-
Salvation is not by
Christ and God’s grace alone but by human good works and efforts as
well. Outside of their group, there is no salvation.
-
With their seductive
promises and blessings, they try their best to draw others to their
group instead of the Lord Jesus and God’s Word alone. They will
indoctrinate new converts with all the false doctrines and slowly
enslave the new converts in their cultic group with threats or
curses of condemnation if leaving their group.
In Australia, we often see Jehovah’s
Witnesses and Mormons walking two by two, putting their tracts in the
mailboxes or knocking at the door for evangelism. We must be aware of
their false doctrines. Let us have a glance at Jehovah’s Witnesses’
organization through an article written by Mather, Nichols and Schmidt.
Jehovah’s Witnesses:
The founder was CHARLES TAZE
RUSSELL (1852-1916). Russell was born into a Presbyterian family
in Pennsylvania, but when he was 17, he declared himself as a
skeptic and then regarded all the creeds and churches as corrupt
apostate churches. In 1876 Russell met
N. H. Barbour, who led a group of Adventists in Rochester, New York.
Russell and Barbour had become convinced that Christ had in fact
returned in 1874, not visibly, but invisibly and spiritually. They
joined forces and began to publish the magazine titled The Herald of
the Morning, and then a book titled Three Worlds or Plan of
Redemption in which the two leaders more fully expounded their view
that the Millennium had begun in 1874. Then Russell began the
publication of a new magazine titled Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of
Christ’s Presence and formed the unincorporated Zion’s Watch Tower
Tract Society in 1881, and the
Millennial Dawn, later renamed Studies in the Scriptures
in 1886. In 1908 Russell moved the
headquarters of the society to Brooklyn, New York.
Then, the mantle of
leadership was passed on to Judge JOSEPH FRANKLIN RUTHERFORD (1869-1942)
on January 6, 1917.
All who worship in the
name of Jehovah are true worshipers, quoting Isaiah 43:10, “Ye are my
witnesses, saith [Jehovah], and my servant whom I have chosen.” (They
fail to see that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Jehovah in the OT).
The third president of
the Jehovah’s Witnesses was Nathan Homer Knorr (1905-77),
and The NEW WORLD
TRANSLATION appeared in 1950 in successive volumes, with the entire
Bible produced in a single volume in 1961 (The Bible was twisted,
modified and mistranslated to serve their doctrines and purposes).
The fourth president of
the Watchtower was FREDERICK W. FRANZ, who died at the age of
ninety-eight (December 22, 1992). Under Franz’s leadership, missionary
activity has continued to increase, along with literary output.
The False Teachings:
-
All of the
denominations of “Christendom” are utterly false and apostate. The
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is God’s only true organization
on earth.
-
Christmas,
Good Friday, Easter, and family birthdays are not observed because
they are regarded as pagan. Watchtower members do not salute the
flag of whatever nation they reside in and refuse to participate in
war and military activity.
-
No blood
transfusions.
-
Reject the
TRINITY.
-
Deny the
Deity and eternal Sonship and preexistence of Jesus Christ, and His
Incarnation, and His bodily resurrection. The New World
Translation renders the last phrase of John 1:1, “the Word was
[a] god.”
-
Deny the
Divine Personality of the Holy Spirit, who is only an impersonal
power or influence to them.
-
The Bible
is the Word of Jehovah God; however, the society ultimately appeals
to its own helps and tools in order to insure that the Bible is
interpreted and understood “correctly” and the Bible need not even
be read apart from his own (Russell’s) notes and books. All other
versions of the Bible besides the New World Translation are
unsuitable and tainted. The interpretations of the Bible that differ
from the Watchtower’s are invariably false (How dangerous and
deceiving it is!).
-
Christ’s
ransom and Jehovah’s offer of salvation is extended to two sets of
people. First, the exclusive or heavenly congregation comprised of
144,000 according to Revelation 14:3-4. Second, the ransom of Jesus
“must embrace more than those of his bride.” These who are saved are
destined to dwell on earth.
-
The state
of being saved does not come until after one has proven
oneself worthy through keeping the laws of God throughout life.
-
There is no
eternal Hell or state of everlasting condemnation.
-
Satan, too,
will be annihilated like unbelievers.
-
Human
beings are comprised of both “body” and “breath” (soul) but that the
soul is not eternal or immortal.
-
The
Watchtower believes itself to be the one true church on earth. All
organized religion is apostate, and all of the denominational
churches of Christendom are false and will constitute the very enemy
of God in the Battle of Armageddon.
-
Witness
theology asserts that the
kingdom of God was to arrive with
the overthrow of earth’s present rulership in A.D. 1914, though this
prophecy, like so many others, failed to come to pass, such as those
of the year 1918, 1925, and 1975. They spoke in Jehovah’s name but
their prophecies did not come to pass, so they are just false
prophets, “When a prophet speaketh in the name of
the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the
thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it
presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him”
(Deut 19:22). How blinded are their followers, who still believe
that only they are right and have the truth!
Based on their false
teachings, unbiblical beliefs and practices, we know for sure that
Jehovah’s Witnesses is a cult. Next time we shall study some other cults
if God willing.
Conclusion
Dear friends, Satan is
still working hard to deceive many by false teachings and empty words.
It is dangerous if we think that God’s Word is imperfect or insufficient
or if we are not submissive to the authority of God’s Word alone, which
is the Sword of the Holy Spirit (Eph 6:17). May God help you and me to
be alert and discerning in these last days of compromise, deception, and
apostasy, full of false isms and cults. May God help us diligently study
His Word to equip ourselves well to stand firm on the foundation of our
Lord Jesus Christ and God’s Word alone. May God keep you and me faithful
and submissive to the Lord and His Word alone and then serve Him and
contend for His Truth until He comes. Amen.
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