Exposing Deception and Discerning Cults
I. JESUS WARNED ABOUT FALSE PROPHETS AND CULTS
A. When Jesus taught on the end times, He warned us to beware of false teachers who could gain a large following, thus starting new
cults. Jesus twice emphasized that “many” will respond to false leaders (v. 5, 11). False teaching will accelerate (v. 11) as the gospel
accelerates (v. 14).
4 Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many…11 Many false
prophets will rise up and deceive many…
14 This gospel…will be preached in all the world… then the end will come. (Mt. 24:4-14)
B. Jesus said that “many” false prophets will come, and “many” will follow false teachers in the end times. There will be a great
increase both in the number of cults and the people who join them.
C. A cult is a group that refuses historic Christianity and has an unusual devotion to one leader whose set of beliefs are not found in
Scripture (as affirmed in historic Christianity). A cult sees themselves as the only ones with the truth and they see the larger Body of
Christ as apostate.
D. Jesus urged us to take heed to avoid deception. The way to avoid deception is by receiving knowledge, or by shining the light of
understanding to expose the ways of deception.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. (Hos. 4:6)
E. We must both warn and rescue those who are involved in false teaching and practice. It is easier to prevent someone from joining
a cult than it is to get them out afterwards. Part of the forerunner ministry is to warn and rescue loved ones involved in cults by teaching
them the truth.
F. The conflict in the end times will be the battle for truth. Satan’s weapon will be deception; our defense will be love for the truth.
This battle will focus on defining who Jesus is and how we are to love Him. We must love God on His terms. Our love for God must be
expressed through allegiance to Jesus and the Bible. The Spirit exalts Jesus by guiding us into all truth about Him.
13 The Spirit of truth…will guide you into all truth…He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and
declare it to you. (Jn. 16:13-14)
G. Truths about Jesus that offend humanists include His right, as God, to establish absolute standards to which the nations will be
held accountable. Second, Jesus is the only way of salvation. Third, Jesus possesses the wisdom and love to judge sin in time and
eternity.
H. Paul warns us of a falling away in the end times that can be avoided by loving the truth.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day [Jesus’ return] will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin
[Antichrist] is revealed...9 according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with unrighteous deception
among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth. (2 Thes. 2:3-10)
I. Paul spoke about false teachers who would start cults by drawing people after themselves. He admonished the elders to be alert to
this (1 Tim. 1:3-11; 4:1-8; 6:2-7, 20-21; 2 Tim. 3:1-17).
J. Peter warns of the dangers of false teachers who deny the main tenets of our faith. They can be detected most easily by their
covetousness and immorality (2 Pet. 2:9-14; Jude 8-10).
1 There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord…2 Many will follow their
destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words…14
having eyes full of adultery…they have a heart trained in covetous practices… (2 Pet. 2:1-14)
K. Historic orthodox Christianity is defined from statements such as the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Westminster
Confession (see these creeds near the end of this document).
We must accept the main historical Christian doctrines which include:
Jesus as God’s only son who is fully God and fully man, born of virgin birth, without sin
Jesus’ death and bodily resurrection and ascension to the Father’s right hand
The one true God exists in three persons (the Trinity) as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Salvation is by faith alone, through grace alone, and in Christ alone
The infallibility of Scripture as our final authority for all matters of faith and practice
The unity and diversity of the Body of Christ
L. False teachers do not hold to the main and plain doctrines of Scripture. They pervert the teaching about the grace of God by
legalism or lewdness. Legalism seeks to earn the grace of God. Lewdness reduces the message of grace to receiving forgiveness without
turning from our sin. The true message of grace inspires us to deny lust and to walk in godliness (Titus 2:11-12).
4 For certain men [false teachers] have crept in unnoticed…ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny…our
Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 4)
II. SEVEN CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTS
A. If a group displays one of these characteristics, then they are a cult or have cult tendencies.
B. #1 Opposing critical thinking versus letting people think for themselves
1. Cults: Their members must accept what the cult believes without challenging their doctrines. They do not want their
members to think critically for themselves.
2. The Bible: We must all examine each teaching that we hear in the light of Scripture. Do not believe a teaching that you
cannot see with your eyes in your Bible. Think for yourself. Do not say, “Our leaders say…” but rather say, “The Bible says…”
21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. (1 Thes. 5:21)
3. Christians are exhorted to test the spirits or to discern the spirit behind a teaching.
1 Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God. (1 Jn. 4:1)
C. #2 Isolating members and penalizing them for leaving versus helping them do God’s will
1. Cults: They isolate their people and then reject any who leave. They say that people will be judged by God or will lose God’s best if
they leave. Rejection, shunning, and warnings of judgment are given. People are taught to make lifelong commitments to the group
and/or to seek permission to join another ministry.
2. The Bible: A leader’s first concern should be for the good of the people he is leading. Therefore, leaders are to help people
succeed as they seek to follow God’s will for their own lives, regardless of whether it means joining another ministry. The foundational
value is that God owns the people, not the leader or the group in which they serve.
D. #3 Emphasizing special doctrines outside Scripture versus loyalty to Scripture
1. Cults: Cults brainwash their people and emphasize the special revelations of their “anointed” leader who presents himself as
having unique insights that no one else has. They claim to be the only way of salvation and that all refusing to join them will be lost.
2. The Bible: We must emphasize the supremacy and infallibility of Scripture as the final authority of truth. We must emphasize
the main and plain themes of Scripture: the love of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount lifestyle, prayer, reading the Word, winning the
lost, healing the sick, serving others, etc.
E. #4 Seeking inappropriate loyalty to their leaders versus connecting people to Jesus
1. Cults: Cults require loyalty and devotion to the leaders instead of to Jesus. Faithfulness is defined as supporting the leader,
rather than obeying Jesus. This loyalty is achieved by forbidding them to correct or question the leader.
a. It is very dangerous, in any ministry, when the leader cannot be questioned. Cult leaders are not accountable to
anyone, nor do they freely admit their faults or errors; rather, they warn members that they are not to correct the leaders
because they “must not touch God’s anointed.”
b. The leader is seen as being above reproach and is not to be contradicted. Members have an inappropriate loyalty
and respect for him.
2. The Bible: Our first loyalty and connection is to Jesus. We serve together with weak and broken leaders who do not have all
the answers and who are in need of insight and correction from others.
F. #5 Dishonoring the family unit versus insisting on the biblical priority of the family unit
1. Cults: Children are taught to be more loyal to the leaders than to their parents. Women are taught to be more loyal to the
leaders than to their husbands, and husbands are taught to accept this as normal behavior.
2. The cult leader seeks to take the place of fathers, mothers, or a pastor or authority figure. The members act as dependent
children seeking to win the approval of the leaders. Leaders go beyond their God-given authority and manipulate their members.
3. The members are required to cut ties with their family and friends who do not join the group. They are required to socialize
only with other group members.
4. The Bible: The first relational priority of commitment is to one’s marriage, children, and parents. The sanctity and identity
one’s family is far more important than the ministry in which they are involved.
G. #6 Crossing biblical boundaries of behavior versus sexual purity and personal ownership
1. Cults: Cults emphasize special revelations that allow their leaders to cross biblical boundaries in the areas of immorality and
finances. They usually insist on owning the money and property of members who “join the community.”
2. Peter taught that false teachers are most easily detected by covetousness and immorality.
3 By covetousness they will exploit...14 having eyes full of adultery...heart trained in covetous practices...18 They allure through
the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness. (2 Pet. 2:3-18)
3. They promote unethical ways to gain money (for example, lying about collecting money for charities that do not exist). Some
insist on moral standards for the group, except for the leaders who are called to have “spiritual partners” for the benefit of the
movement.
4. The Bible: Sexual purity and private ownership of finances and property. In Acts 4, the disciples laid their money and
property at the apostles’ feet as a one-time free will offering, not as a permanent economic arrangement.
H. #7 Separation from the Church versus a culture of honor towards the whole Church
1. Cults: Cults criticize and exclude the larger Body of Christ and claim to be the only ones truly saved. They separate from the wider
Church with an elite spirit, believing that they alone have a special calling and status with God. They have a polarized mentality of “us-
versus-them” that causes them to separate from others in the Church and society at large.
2. They mock and ridicule all beliefs that differ from their own. They dishonor the Body of Christ, viewing all denominations and
ministries as being in error.
3. The Bible: We love God by loving the whole Church that is so dear to Him. We are to cultivate a culture of honor in our midst that
emphasizes blessing other ministries without criticizing, and a spirit of inclusion without elitism.
4. We are to bless the budding virtues (that have not yet matured) of all ministries, regardless of their deficiencies and without
needing to point out their differences in ministry focus, style, and standards of excellence. We all have deficiencies in ministry and need
other ministries to show forth the fullness of Christ to our city and nation. The Holy Spirit forbids us to verbalize their deficiencies and
differences.
I. The Scripture makes it clear that there are times to bring righteous judgment to ministries with destructive doctrines and behavior
(Mt. 18:15-17; 1 Cor. 5:1-11; 2 Cor. 11:12-15; 1 Thes. 5:14, 21; 2 Thes. 3:6-14; Rev. 2:2, 14-15, 20). We must do this in the right way
and with a right spirit.
III. HOW TO DISCERN A FALSE PROPHET OR TEACHER
A. Christians are exhorted to test the spirits or to discern the spirit that is behind a teaching ministry.
1 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. (1 Jn. 4:1)
B. We are called to test all doctrines and ministries that we are open to receive from. We must challenge each teaching that we hear
in the light of Scripture.
21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. (1 Thes. 5:21)
C. Jesus said that we can only test and know a ministry by their fruit. Jesus compared false teachers to wolves because they are
dangerous in their effect on people and deceptive in their ways of leading people. A wolf is a natural enemy of sheep who cannot defend
themselves. A wolf disguises himself as a sheep by claiming to uphold the Scripture.
15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their
fruits…17 Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit…20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (Mt. 7:15-20)
D. Jesus changed his metaphor from wolves among sheep to fruit on trees. We may not immediately discern a wolf, but it is clear if
edible fruit is on a tree. We must know or test fruit in a teacher’s life. There is a moral and a doctrinal test. Sound doctrine and holy living
are the sure fruit of a good leader. It is not possible to examine fruit from a distance. Thus, Jesus is not exhorting us to become critical of
others as a self-appointed “heresy-hunter.”
E. We must raise awareness of the dangers of cults with their deceptive practices and dangerous psychological pressure techniques
such as brainwashing.
IV. HOW TO AVOID DECEPTION
A. We can all avoid deception by loving the truth (2 Thes. 2:10), and by growing in our relationship to Jesus by holding fast to Him as
the head.
10 All unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (2
Thes. 2:10)
19 Holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is
from God. (Col. 2:19)
B. Practical ways to hold fast to the head include regular, prayerful Bible reading, setting our hearts to obey the Lord, and staying in
relationship with others with a teachable spirit—a spirit that receives the truth.
V. THE APOSTLES’ CREED
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into Heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church,
The communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
The resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.
VI. THE NICENE CREED
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God
from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through Him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made man.
For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is
worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
I. EMERGENT CHURCH: JUSTICE AND TOLERANCE WITHOUT ALLEGIANCE TO JESUS
A. Once again, a growing crisis is emerging in many churches across America. A new wave of confusion is subtly yet systematically
seducing many young adults into deception. Sincere young people whose hearts were once ablaze for Jesus are being allured into
compromise on foundational biblical truths and practices. The true danger of this “new kind” of “Christianity” is obscured by the works of
compassion and justice that its followers are engaged in. However, they fail to recognize that no amount of increased ministry activity can
“balance out” the profound spiritual and scriptural compromises that they are embracing.
B. Yes, they are doing more and more in the name of justice and compassion, but less and less in the name of Jesus. In the name of
tolerance, they are settling for a humanistic and “politically correct” theology that trivializes the glory of Jesus. Many young adult ministries
are falling prey to this deception as they seek a form of relevance that dulls the razor’s edge of truth for the sake of man’s approval. It is
not enough to mention Jesus’ name if they deny foundational truths about Him. Our theology and spirituality, as well as our works of
compassion and justice, must flow from deep allegiance to Jesus and His Word.
C. Over the centuries the evil one has attempted to drive a wedge between doctrine and practice. Jesus was very careful in His
answer to the lawyer testing Him concerning the greatest commandment in Mt. 22:34-40. He clarified the first and great commandment as
loving God and then forever linked it to the second commandment of loving our neighbor.
D. Right belief, orthodoxy, must have the right expression, orthopraxis. Wrong emphasis on either leaves the Church in a powerless
position to advance the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. In our century we have witnessed the damage of both a dead
orthodoxy from an escapist evangelical approach and a fatal heresy from a liberal social gospel approach.
E. In the past few years, a new movement known as the “Emergent Church” has surfaced in the West, cloaked as a new and
improved version of Christianity. The ideas propagated by the Emergent Church have captured the imagination of a multitude of young
adults and are leading them down a dangerous and risky path to deception and heresy.
F. This movement purposefully refuses to define most of its beliefs and leaders. This in no way obscures the reality that the primary
voices that shape their “conversation” are having a destructive influence on many young believers who, though undoubtedly sincere, lack
discernment in basic biblical truths.
G. Right beliefs matter! In John 6 Jesus did something that seems scandalous to the modern Christian. The day before, Jesus had
fed the multitudes by multiplying the fish and the loaves. The crowds, satisfied by His feeding, desired to make Him their king and have
Him feed them again. Jesus discerned that their interest lay more in receiving their daily needs than in discovering His true identity and
what His life truly meant for their salvation.
H. Thus, Jesus refused their request, closed down the soup kitchen, and challenged them to seek the bread that comes from
heaven, that they might never die. Life is to be found in a living encounter with the Lord of glory and His work of redemption.
I. He will not be our king on any terms other than us giving our hearts completely in living communion with Him around the subject
matter of Himself, truth claims included. Jesus was to be all, or He was to be nothing.
J. We recognize that there are some leaders in the midst of the wider Emerging Church Movement who are seeking to hold to historic
evangelical truths while embracing new forms of church expression and structure. We commend such organic house church movements
and new monastic communities. However, the overall “sound” coming from this undefined movement significantly undermines essential
biblical truth as it leads many into great error.
K. God is raising up clear voices from many different parts of the Body of Christ who are unmasking the dangerous seductions of the
Emergent Church as they expose its unorthodox and heretical beliefs. Search out the Scripture for yourself and see what it says about
salvation.
L. We also acknowledge that many times the Body of Christ has often erred in not embracing the apostolic charge to Paul to
“remember the poor” in Gal. 2:10 and has yielded to the temptation of showing favoritism to the rich, which is warned against in the book
of James (Jas. 2:1-6).
1 Do not hold the faith…with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there
should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here
in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,”…4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves…? 6 You have
dishonored the poor man. (Jas. 2:1-6)
M. Neither the unbeliever nor the covetous will enter the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Rev. 21:8). We have also often refused the
foundation of prayer and the full work and power of the Holy Spirit necessary to change a sinful culture once we have embraced it.
N. Satan has always worked to divorce right belief from right practice, while working to divorce both from the power of the Spirit. We
must refuse both dead orthodoxy and dangerous heresy.
O. We must do as Jude commands and “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3-4). The time is
short. With a deep allegiance to Jesus, we must engage the culture with the truth and works of the gospel demonstrated in the power of
the Spirit.
3 I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For
certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God
into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 3-4)