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WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE CULTS?
(Ephesians 4:1-16)
TEXT:
SUBJECT: Christian Cults
F.C.F:
PROPOSITION:
APPLICATION:
A. In his book, The Four Major Cults, Anthony
Hoekema begins with a familiar expression: “The cults
are the unpaid bills of the church.” He explains:
Though this statement does not tell the whole
story, there is a great deal of truth in it. Cults
have sometimes arisen because the
established churches have failed to emphasize
certain important aspects of religious life, or
have neglected certain techniques. Though
one may assign many reasons for the rapid
growth of the cults, one reason we may be
sure of: people often find in the cults
emphases and practices which they miss in the
established churches.1
He hastens to add, though, that “This is not to suggest
that where the cults differ from the churches, the cults
are invariably right and the churches are always
wrong.”2
B. So is there something we can learn from the
cults? Certainly we can learn something about false
doctrine. We can distinguish the true by contrasting it
with the false. If the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that
Jesus was merely a created being or that we must earn
our salvation through our good works, it helps us better
understand and more fully appreciate the full divinity
of our Lord Jesus and the joyful freedom of the Gospel
of grace.
But do the cults do anything right? Can we steal
a page from the cults and be reminded how our faith
and practice are something less than commendable?
Yes, we can. Anthony Hoekema offers no less than ten
ways in which we could take a lesson from the
Christian cults. For example,
1. We can learn the importance of having definite
convictions about matters of faith.
Cult members know what they believe. They
1
Anthony A. Hoekema, The Four Major Cults (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1963),
1.
2
Ibid.
1
are well-indoctrinated in their beliefs. Part of this is
due to the fact that core beliefs of cult are often
formulated in simplistic statements that can be easily
remembered. Another part of it is that their beliefs are
often contrasted with orthodox Christian teaching
which is held up to ridicule. Jesus is the first created
being replaces the harder to understand Christian
doctrine of the trinity. Not only do they know what
they believe if you ask them, but they will be quite
willing to share it with you even if you don’t ask.
And God’s people need to study to know what
and why we believe. A great help is going over a
catechism and memorizing the answers to key
questions. It gives you handles upon which to hang
your faith. Not long ago I witnessed a candidate being
examined for licensure at a Presbytery meeting.
Several times, when asked a question, he would recite
the catechism answer, and then explain it in his own
words. Knowing our doctrine and coming to settled
convictions about it can help to refute falsehood, to
teach the truth to others and to live out our faith.
What’s more, people are drawn to those who
have definite convictions. We grow tired of answers
like “maybe,” “it depends on the circumstances,”
“perhaps,” and “in my opinion.” People are hungering
and longing for people who believe something and can
declare it with boldness and confidence. This explains
the growth of the cults. But it also demonstrates a
wonderful opportunity for the church.
2. We can learn the importance of knowing
Scripture.
Cult members also know very well certain texts
of Scripture. Often a cult like the two by twos is
formed by a focus on a few particular texts to the
exclusion of others. So the cult members will be able
to discuss the long and the short about particular texts,
quoting them at length. A frequent comment about cult
members made by nominal Christians is that they seem
so sincere and they sure do know their Bibles.
And so we need to know the Scriptures even
more. That’s why we give attention to reading
passages of Scripture and explaining the Scriptures in
our church services. And every Christian should be in
a continual plan of Scripture memorization. We can
only know God through his Word, we can only live
holy lives through the Word, and we can only defend
the true and refute the false through the Word.
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3. We can learn zeal in witnessing for Christ.
And this is one of the key feature of numerous
cults. Several, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the
Mormons have been very intentional about witnessing.
For the Jehovah’s Witnesses, witnessing door-to-door
is an article of their faith. If they do not knock on a
certain number of doors, they will lose their salvation.
Our zeal for witnessing should be far greater.
Not only do we have the answer to the world’s greatest
problem, it is a matter of the glory of God, sharing the
greatness of the Gospel of grace.
4. We can learn to teach definite techniques for
witnessing.
We may not approve of their techniques, but it
is very plain that the cults intentionally teach
techniques for witnessing. For the Jehovah’s
Witnesses, their midweek meeting is a witness training
meeting. They are taught how to initiate conversations,
how to steer them in the right direction, how to answer
objections and how to close the deal. Several of you
have commented on receiving phone calls inviting you
to attend the Jehovah’s Witnesses services in Sioux
City! They now even have telemarketers. These
techniques are not always effective because they only
learn a certain speech or path through selected
Scriptures, and they can easily be sidetracked by
someone who truly knows the Bible.
There are good methods of witnessing, that is,
making the Gospel clear. We have the best message of
all. It is a shame to keep it secret. One of the simplest
is to read through a gospel booklet like Billy Graham’s
Steps to Peace with God, the Navigators, “The
Bridge,” or Campus Crusades “Four Spiritual Laws.”
Some have memorized “Romans Road,” a series of
verses in Romans that take you through the Gospel: sin,
condemnation, the cross, faith and commitment to
Christ. I have often used with great blessing the basic
outline of D. James Kennedy’s Evangelism Explosion.
Having memorized this sensible, biblical Gospel
presentation, I can adapt it to fit various situations. Or
you can follow the great themes of creation, fall,
redemption, and culmination. God’s people should be
trained in presenting the best news anyone could
possibly hear.
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5. We can learn the effective use of the printed
page.
Several of the cults widely use the printed page
and other media to spread their beliefs. I have
frequently found copies of Jehovah’s Witnesses
magazines, “Awake,” and “The Watchtower” in public
places like hospitals. The same is true of Seventh Day
Adventist literature. The great exception to this is the
Two by Twos, who publish nothing but a hymnal.
Printed literature is certainly one way of getting the
Word out.
Christians do distribute literature, but we could
do more. There are Gideon Bibles in every hotel room.
As I traveled to Pennsylvania and back this week I
found gospel tracts in several rest areas and other
public places. The Radio Bible Class has done a good
job of literature distribution. But we can do more.
Many of us will be traveling during the summer.
We should be well-stocked with gospel tracts and
literature as we travel, to leave in rest rooms,
restaurants and tourist areas. And we should also have
an ample supply of Christian literature in our homes,
not forgetting our most important mission field.
6. We can learn a strong sense of urgency.
Many cults are fueled by urgency, most often
connected with the millennial cults, those who teach
the imminent return of Christ: Christ is coming any
moment, and we must read these signs of his coming.
Often this is based on a misreading of the text, but
several cults were created through someone setting a
date for the end of the world, like the Jehovah’s
Witnesses or the Seventh Day ADVENTISTS.
But our message is certainly as urgent.
Christians know the problem and Christians alone
know the solution. People are dying without Christ
every day. And people are living without Christ every
day. But even more important: God’s honor is at stake.
God gives fair warning of his coming judgment. He is
doing so all the time through natural disasters, through
diseases and infirmity. When people look in the mirror
and notice new wrinkles and gray hairs, they should
realize that it is appointed once for a man to die and
then comes the judgment.
But God intends to give even greater warning
through his church. This aspect of warning was a
constant feature of the preaching of the early church.
The first Christian sermon preached on the day of
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Pentecost was concluded in this way: “And with many
other words he bore witness and continued to exhort
them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked
generation.” (Acts 2:40) Knowing all of this to be true,
we need to live with an even greater sense of urgency.
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the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14
so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro
by the waves and carried about by every wind of
doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful
schemes.”
7. We can learn a greater sense of dedication.
9. We can learn to endure and embrace ridicule for
Christ.
Dedication is urgency for the long-haul, a
dogged determination. Many cult leaders were
remarkable for their strong, dominating spirit to
establish their beliefs and complete the task. In a day
when many start but few finish, when people are
reluctant to commit themselves to anything beyond
tomorrow at the latest, and when we want to keep all of
our options open, we need men and women in the
church who are committed for the long-haul, for life.
I have often thought that an essential question
for all who would aspire to church office would be this:
“Are you willing to die for Jesus Christ, for his church,
and for this church in particular? And, if so, are you
then willing to live all your life until you die for Jesus
Christ, for his church, and for this church in
particular?” If not, then please do not apply. The
church suffers today from a singular lack of sacrificial
dedication, that which is frequently seen in various
cults. In this the church is only reflecting the laziness
and lack of commitment in the culture at large. True
dedication should be one of those signs, marks of true
faith, a signal to the watching world that God truly is at
work in our midst.
8. We can learn to assign a larger role to laymen.
Most of the cults make much use of laymen and
women. Some, like the Two by Two’s, were formed
out of a reaction AGAINST an ordained, professional
clergy, and assign all of the work to that of laymen.
They have no officers, no ordained pastors, and so
everyone shoulders the load.
While we can admire this to an extent, we must
remain true to the Scriptures. Our text in Ephesians 4
shows a define division of labor: God has appointed
some in the church to train the laymen to do the work
of the ministry. So we read in verses 11-14: “And he
gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the
pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the
work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13
until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to
Cult members often get used to being ridiculed
for their peculiar beliefs. Some will hold to unpopular
beliefs and customs that make them appear odd and
open them to the scorn of others, even worse. I have
stated early in this series that the proper response to the
beliefs of cult members is ridicule, because their
beliefs are ridiculous. We should not treat their
cherished views with deep respect, but should expose
them as sheer nonsense. But we should, however,
deeply respect those cult members who are made in the
image of God, including their ability to reason and
think.
What often happens is precisely the opposite.
Because of the extreme relativism of our day in which
all beliefs are considered true, no matter how absurd
they may be, what we wind up doing is showing
respect to preposterous beliefs, and showing disrespect
to those persons who hold them, assuming that they are
too stupid to see how ludicrous their ideas are. The fact
is that we should respect cult members enough to show
them their error, believing in their dignity as the crown
of creation, as rational beings made in the image of
God, to see the silliness of what they profess. In such
ridicule, we should appeal to their reason, for that is a
mark of deeply respecting them.
This doesn’t mean that they will believe you or
turn from their errors. But what it will prevent is
making them a martyr, and this is what we want to
avoid if possible. If we ridicule the person, they will be
made to feel that they are suffering for their faith, and
that will tend to confirm them in their beliefs. They
will reason, “This must be true, since I am suffering so
greatly for it.”
At the same time, we can learn from their
willingness to live according to the courage of their
convictions. God calls us to live differently from the
world, and as we saw this morning, this will always
cause a measure of conflict. We must be ready to have
both our beliefs and our selves ridiculed, mocked,
scorned, and excluded for the sake of Christ and his
Gospel.
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10. We can learn that the Christian faith has a
contribution to make to good health.
I hesitate to mention this because some teach
that the Christian faith is ONLY about health and
wealth and prosperity in this life. But when the cults
like Christian Science talk about mental attitude and
positive thinking, there is a grain of truth to this.
Positive thinking is better than negative thinking. Glad
confidence in Christ, joyful gratitude to the Savior,
holy living in purity, the rhythm of six days of serious
labor and one day of rest, the peace of heart of being
forgiven and reconciled to God: these are undoubtedly
more healthy than their alternatives.
Consider the two ways of life, the works of the
flesh and the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, and tell
me which sounds more healthy. “19 Now the works of
the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity,
sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy,
fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy,
drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” This
sounds like the people you would find in the waiting
rooms of the free clinics, or on the couches of the
psychiatrists. “I warn you, as I warned you before, that
those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom
of God.” (And neither will they enjoy a peaceful life in
this world). “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no
law.” At the very least, that sounds like a person who
is emotionally, if not physically, very healthy.
Proverbs 17:22 puts it quite simply: “A joyful heart is
good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the
bones.”
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One way to help protect a marriage from
adultery and divorce is to have a great marriage. One
way to help protect children from going astray is to live
joyfully, faithfully, and vibrantly for Christ yourself.
And one way to help protect God’s people from the
lure of the cults is to make the church all that God
intends for her to be, teaching and training in all of
God’s glorious truth, equipping all of God’s people for
service according to their gifts, and living our faith in
Jesus Christ joyfully, expectantly, sacrificially, and
faithfully.
CONCLUSION
So these are some truths we can learn from the
cults. Again, this in no way endorses the sinful and
wicked false beliefs. John Calvin calls false teachers
like those we find in the cults, “Cruel murderers of
souls,” and we must take this to heart. Yet the great
attraction of the cults is often due to some failing on the
part of the church,
an ignorance of Scripture and doctrine,
a lack of zeal and training in witnessing,
an absence of urgency and dedication,
entrusting all the work to the “professionals,”
a reluctance to suffer scorn for Christ, and
a failure to teach all of God’s truth.
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