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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 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.

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.

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 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.

7. We can learn a greater sense of dedication.

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 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.”

9. We can learn to endure and embrace ridicule for Christ.

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.

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.