Christianity Explained Information
Find Christian Unity in Biblical Explanations of the Doctrines That Count!
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have a choice to make: You
can either believe the opinions of theologians, atheists, or agnostics,
or you can determine for yourself what the Bible says by studying it.
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Topics
What Is Christianity Explained Information?What Is Religion and Where Did It Originate?
What Is the Bible, and How Relative Is It to My Life?
What Are Messianic Prophecies?
Who Was Jesus of Nazareth, Really?
Why Are There So Many World Religions?
Why Are There So Many Christian Denominations?
What Is the Law and How Does It Apply to Me?
What's All This About the End of the World and End-time Prophecies?
Isn't the Book of Daniel a Closed Book?
Revelation: How can anyone understand all that symbolism?
Who or What Was Jesus' Mother, Mary?
Didn't Darwin Disprove Creation?
What's the Truth About Faith and Works?
Christian E-mails: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Complete Directory of Articles/Studies
Title Abbreviations for Books of the Bible
Genesis
- Ge
Exodus - Ex
Leviticus - Le
Numbers - Nu
Deuteronomy - De
Joshua - Jos
Judges - Jud
Ruth - Ru
I Samuel - 1sa
II Samuel - 2sa
I Kings - 1ki
II Kings - 2ki
I Chronicles - 1ch
II Chronicles - 2ch
Ezra - Ezr
Nehemiah - Ne
Esther - Es
Job - Job
Psalm - Ps
Proverbs - Pr
Ecclesiastes - Ec
Song of Solomon - So
Isaiah - Isa
Jeremiah - Jer
Lamentations - La
Ezekiel - Eze
Daniel - Da
Hosea - Ho
Joel - Joe
Amos - Am
Obadiah - Ob
Johah - Jon
Micah - Mic
Nahum - Na
Habakuk - Hab
Zephaniah - Zep
Haggai - Hag
Zechariah - Zec
Malachi - Mal
Matthew - Mt
Mark - Mr
Luke - Lu
John - Joh
Acts - Ac
Romans - Ro
I Corinthians - 1co
II Corinthians - 2co
Galatians - Ga
Ephesians - Eph
Philippians - Php
Colossians - Col
I Thessalonians - 1th
II Thessalonians - 2th
I Timothy - 1ti
II Timothy - 2ti
Titus - Tit
Philemon - Phm
Hebrews - Heb
James - Jas
I Peter - 1pe
II Peter - 2pe
I John - 1jo
II John - 2jo
III John - 3jo
Jude - Jude
Revelation - Re
How Do I Identify a Cult?
According to Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, here are the definitions.
cult (kult), n.
1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.
3. the object of such devotion.
4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.
5. Sociol. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.
6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
7. the members of such a religion or sect.
8. any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.
–adj.
9. of or pertaining to a cult.
10. of, for, or attracting a small group of devotees: a cult movie.
Now, there may be some confusion in your mind between cults and sects. Not everyone knows the difference.
sect
(sekt), n.
1. a body of persons adhering to a particular religious faith; a religious denomination.
2. a group regarded as heretical or as deviating from a generally accepted religious tradition.
3. (in the sociology of religion) a Christian denomination characterized by insistence on strict qualifications for membership, as distinguished from the more inclusive groups called churches.
4. any group, party, or faction united by a specific doctrine or under a doctrinal leader.
As you can see, a sect may or may not be a cult. By definition # 2. under sect, a group regarded as heretical or as deviating from a generally accepted religious tradition would be a cult.
Interestingly enough, by this definition, Christianity itself is a cult--a Jewish cult. Or, at the very least, the Jews couldn't make up their minds whether Christianity was a sect--followers of the Messiah--or a cult--followers of a blasphemer!
"But this I confess to you, that according to
the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers,
believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.
"But we desire to hear from you what you think;
for concerning this sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere."
Let's look at different things that might cause different religious movements to be considered cults by Christians.
First of all, if a religious movement rejects one or more of the main Christian doctrines, it obviously would be a cult as far as Christians are concerned. These doctrines will be listed and explored elsewhere on this site and linked here. Needless to say, if you don't know them, you won't be able to identify and protect yourself from cults. That's why God agonized over the fact that his people were nonchalant about knowledge.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being
priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also
will forget your children.
And Paul reminded Christians that they were not immune to rejecting truth the way the Jewish leaders had rejected Christ.
The coming of the lawless one is according to
the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,
and with all unrighteous deception among those
who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that
they might be saved.
And for this reason God will send them strong
delusion, that they should believe the lie,
that they all may be condemned who
did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Remember the old adage, "It isn't what you know, it's who you know"? If you believe in Jesus' teachings, then you know God, the love of God, his desire to save his creation, his tireless work on your behalf, and you'll want to learn more about him. You'll do your Bible studies and listen to him, and he'll be able to save you. He will send knowledge so that you won't be deceived by cults.
Other cult identifiers:
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Extra-biblical revelation that takes precidence over Biblical doctrine. When religious leaders claim to have a "word of knowledge" that is not clearly supported in scripture, whether they realize it or not, they are cult leaders.
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A leader claims to be the sole-interpreter of religious doctrine. When one person claims to have some special ability to interpret scripture that others don't have, beware the cult because in this day and age, nearly everyone has access to the Bible. God's religion is understandable by the masses, because he wants the masses to participate in a personal relationship with him. Jesus taught Biblical principles in the languages of the masses, but not one of the principles he taught couldn't be supported by Bible study.
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A "latter-day prophet" claims to be equal to or greater than Jesus. Jesus cautioned that many would come in his name and deceive many.
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Total submission to the organization is required. Scripture teaches total submission to God, not any earthly organization.
-
Outsiders are not allowed to attend certain meetings. Since Christ said, "Come unto me all you who are heavy-laden . . ."
no-one is denied access to God. Christ also said,
"I am the door." -
The concept of Christ is defective--a false Christ is uplifted. Any Christ not supported by scripture is a false christ.
-
Humans are required to save themselves by their works.
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The belief that humans can become gods is advanced.
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Truth is mixed with enough error to draw the believer away from God and to the leader, often a 75-25 mix of truth to error.
-
There are occult practices or symbols in the church.
Today, there is concern over "new age concepts" in the church. Depending on your definition of "new age concepts", there may or may not be need for concern.
I can only reiterate that if Christianity is the result of the Messiah coming to the Jews, then Bible study and understanding is the only defense against deception, which is the basic ingredient in cults. You can study every movement that comes along, but then you have to trust your own instincts in deciding which is "true". Only by studying the true can you recognize the false when it arises!
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test
the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have
gone out into the world.
Even prayer and meditation can be short-circuited. Whle you believe you are filled with the Holy Spirit, it is possible to be filled with an unholy spirit.
To the law and to the testimony! If they do not
speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
In John 10:34, Jesus himself said that "Scripture cannot be broken."
To me, that means that if you have
studied the instruction manual and allowed its teachings to become a
part of your life, your prayers and meditation will be aimed in the
right direction, and false christs that arise will not be able to lead
you astray.
Related Links
Written in the HeartThe Truth About Mary Magdalene
Scriptures:
Within Text:
Acts 24:14
Acts 28:22
Hosea 4:6
II Timothy 2:9-12
1 John 4:1
Isaiah 8:20
More Study:
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