For
more than a year, David Koresh had predicted an armed confrontation with
federal agents. He even nicknamed his compound "Ranch Apocalypse." In
a paranoid
frenzy,
the Branch Davidian's had bought or bartered for $200,000 worth of weapons,
thousands of rounds of ammunition and a grenade launcher. The initial
FBI
raid had been met with such a flurry of bullets that federal agents decided to
send heavily armed tanks against the compound to break through the walls
and
insert massive injections of tear gas into the buildings starting at 6:04 A.M.,
April 19, 1993.
The
tank incursions were met with volleys of gunfire. Inside the compound, the
Branch Davidian's donned gas masks and prepared for an apocalyptic confrontation
with
the "enemies of God." FBI spokesman Bob Ricks explained, "We
were hoping by the infusion of gas into that compound that the women would grab
their
children
and flee."' Instead, they all "bunkered down," put on gas Masks
and tried to withstand the siege.
The
tanks rammed the building five times between 6:04 and noon. At 12:05, flames
erupted from the opposite ends of the compound and were whipped by 20 to
30
mile-an-hour winds. Within minutes the entire compound was ablaze. By 12:18,
the watchtower collapsed. Shortly thereafter, the ammunitions room exploded
in
a ball of fire. And by 12:28, the second floor was engulfed in flames and the
roof collapsed. The blazing flames and dark smoke billowed across the
Texas
sky. Only nine of Koresh's followers managed to escape or survive the fire.
Arguments persisted for some time as to whether the inferno was the result
of
a mass suicide, an accident or an act of desperate self-destruction. But the
whole terrible mess was the end result of a false prophet whose deceived
followers
perished for a lie.
A
false prophet is one who contradicts the true message of Christ, as well as one
whose predictions fail to come true. David Koresh was guilty on both counts.
A
typically self-deceived extremist cult leader, Koresh perished with nearly 90
of his followers in the flames of Ranch Apocalypse. And in Matthew 23:27-33,
Jesus
Christ warned there is a worse fate for false prophets: They will not escape
the fires of hell!
Jesus
spoke often of false prophets and spiritual deception. He told His disciples
that spiritual truth could be recognized by its fruits. Then He added,
"Not
everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven....
Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your
name,
and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell
them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!"' (Matthew
7:21-23).
One might expect false prophets and extremist cults to arise from non-Christian
religions that reject Jesus Christ. But when false cults arise
from
within Christianity, it is especially disturbing. The New Testament, however,
is filled with warnings about heretics, false prophets and false prophecies.
Even
in apostolic times, the apostle John wrote, "Dear children, this is the
last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many
antichrists
have come .... They went out from us, but they did not really belong to
us" (1 John 2:18,19).
The
Bible describes Satan as the "father of lies" (John 8:44). He is
pictured in Scripture as the ultimate deceiver; his name means
"accuser." He is the
accuser
of God and His people (Revelation 12: 10). He is opposed to God and seeks to
alienate people from the truth. He misled the fallen angels (Matthew
25:41;
Revelation 12:4). He tempts men and women to sin (Genesis 3:1-13; 1 Timothy
6:9). He denies and rejects the truth of God and deceives those who
are
perishing without God (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Ultimately, he "
inspires" the false prophets and the very spirit of antichrist (1 John
2:18-23).
The
Bible clearly warns us that in the last days people will "abandon the
faith and follow deceiving [seducing (KJV)] spirits and things [doctrines
(KJV)]
taught
by demons" (1 Timothy 4:1). These false teachings will come through
hypocritical liars whose minds have been captured by Satan's lies. Thus, the
process
of spiritual deception is clearly outlined in Scripture:
The
term angel (Greek, angelos) means "messenger." God's angels are His
divine messengers (Hebrews 1:14; Revelation 1:1), and His true prophets and
preachers
are
called the angels of the churches (Revelation 2:1,8,12,18; 3:1,7,14). By
contrast, Satan is pictured as a fallen angel, the leader of other fallen
angels
and the one who deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9). He is revealed as
the ultimate power behind the Antichrist and the false prophet, who
deceives
mankind with false religion (Revelation 13:14). Thus, the messengers of deceit
are Satan-inspired false prophets and teachers whose messages are
the
very spirit of antichrist (1 John 2: 18).
The
lure of false doctrine is that it presents itself as the truth. It appears as a
corrective measure to established doctrine. It is propagated by those
who
are certain they have discovered some new revelation of truth or a better
interpretation of old, established truth. Either way, they are convinced
they
are right and everyone else is wrong.
That
is Satan's oldest trick. He appeals to our self-conceit and leads us into
self-deceit. When he first approached Eve, Satan questioned the integrity
of
God's command and appealed to her selfish desire to be like God. It was that
same desire that had led to his own fall in the first place. And there
is
something selfish enough in all of us to want to believe that we can know what
no one else knows. C.S. Lewis said, What Satan put into the heads of
our
remote ancestors was the idea that they could "be like gods."... And
out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we can call human history
...
the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which
will make him happy.'
One
does not have to look hard to find expression of self-centeredness in most cult
leaders: Father Divine said he was God. David Koresh claimed to be Jesus
Christ.
Sun Myung Moon says he is "Lord of the Universe." Joseph Smith
claimed to receive angelic revelations. Mary Baker Eddy believed her book, Key
to
the
Scriptures, was inspired of God. Herbert W. Armstrong claimed his church was
the only one on earth proclaiming "the very same gospel that Jesus taught
and
proclaimed."
Once
the false teacher falls into the illusion that he or she alone is God's
messenger and has a corner on His truth, spiritual deception is inevitable.
Mary
Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, was so convinced she was right
that she said, "Today the healing power of Truth is widely demonstrated
as
an imminent, eternal science .... [Its] coming as was promised by the Master is
for its establishment as a permanent dispensation among men."' She
believed
that
her "discovery" of Christian Science fulfilled the promise of Jesus'
second coming!
In
the preface to her Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy said of herself,
"Since the author's discovery of the might of Truth in the treatment of
disease
as
well as of sin, her system has been fully tested and has not been found
wanting. 114 It is difficult to imagine the sincerity of such self-conceit and
spiritual
arrogance. The only logical explanation is that she really thought she was
right.
Once
spiritual deception sets in, it leads to spiritual darkness. It is not long
before the deceived cult leader begins to espouse heretical doctrine. Since
he
or she acknowledges no one else as God's spokesperson, traditional and orthodox
concepts may be challenged or even disregarded. Pride and arrogance
are
the sins that lead a person to become spiritually deceived. These sins take us
to the second stage of spiritual deception. Satan tempts us with our
own
self-centeredness and lures us into spiritual darkness with the bait of our own
pride. We really want to believe we are right and everybody else is
wrong.
The Bible calls it the "pride of life" (1 John 2:16 NASB).
Having
been hooked by our arrogance, we are reeled in by our ignorance. Most people
who fall into the trap of false doctrine are ignorant of the implications
of
their views. Hank Hanegraaff illustrates this in his epic work Christianity in
Crisis.' In exposing serious doctrinal flaws, Hanegraaff states that
many
sincere preachers get off the theological track, but don't know enough theology
to realize their error.
The
problems arise when false teachers love their erroneous teachings to the point
they will not repent of them even when their error is exposed. This is
what
leads to spiritual blindness. The willful rejection of the truth results in the
mind being blinded by Satan. The Bible says, "They are darkened in
their
understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that
is in them due to the hardening of their hearts" (Ephesians 4:18).
Scripture
further explains that Satan himself is the source of spiritual darkness,
"The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they
cannot
see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of
God" (2 Corinthians 4:4). once theological error falls into
"ecclesiastical
cement"
it is virtually impossible to eliminate it. When false doctrine is accepted by
an organized religious body, it will be perpetrated by a false defense
(apologetic)
based upon a false premise. If I honestly believe my dog is a reincarnation of
my Uncle Joe, I will took for every possible proof of Uncle
Joe's
personality in my dog's behavior. When a whole p of followers accept false
doctrine as truth , they will organize group it, categorize it and systematize
it.
But that doesn't make it true!
All
cult logic is built on the same faulty premise: "We alone know the
truth." Believing themselves to have discovered truth that is unknown to
others,
cultists
assume they have a corner on that truth. The cultic paradigm works like this:
We
alone know the truth of God, therefore, of God. we alone are the people other
variations of the cultic paradigm derive from this original premise. For
example-,
if we alone know the truth, then all others are in error. if we alone are the
people of God, then all others are heretics. If People reject our
message,
they are rejecting God's message. if people persecute us, they are persecuting
the cause of God because our cause is God's cause. Since we are
right,
and others are wrong, our church is the only true church.
While
schismatic cults exist in every religion from Lubavitcher Jews to Muslim extremists,
they all have certain characteristics in common.
Every
religious cult has a sacred book translation, set of writings, key to
interpretation, and perhaps visions, dreams or voices to validate its beliefs.
Muslims
believe the Koran is God's final revelation to man through the Prophet
Muhammed. Mormons look at The Book of Mormon as equally inspired as the
Bible.
Jehovah's Witnesses recognize only their New World Translation of the Bible.
Seventh-day Adventists recognize Ellen G. White as an inspired prophet
of
God. Christian Science reveres Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health with Key to
the Scriptures as divinely inspired.
While
some cultic religions have gone so far as to produce and sanction their own
sacred books, others have not. Instead, they claim allegiance to the Bible,
but
insist that their interpretation is the only spiritually valid understanding of
Scripture. The Way International founder Victor Paul Wierwille claims,
"God
spoke to me audibly, just like I'm talking to you now. He said he would teach
me the word as it had not been known since the first century."' By
contrast,
The
Way magazine condemns the so-called Christian church as being built essentially
upon manmade doctrine and tradition.' Thus, Josh McDowell and Don Stewart
conclude,
"The Way International believes Victor Paul Wierwille has the only true
interpretation of the Scriptures and is the only one who can lead fellow
Bible
students out of the confusion in which traditional Christianity has engulfed
them."'
The
Children of God (COG), also known as the Family of Love, recognize David Berg
as "prophet and King" and his "Mo letters" as God's truth.
Berg himself
has
said, "My letters mean exactly what they say, literally, and they don't
need explaining away, spiritualizing or reinterpreting by any one."' One
of
Berg's
early prophecies concerned an impending earthquake in California in the early
seventies that never came to pass, yet he was revered by COG members
as
"God's prophet and King." Later revelations of sexual relations with
his own daughters and other cult members only caused Berg to use his letters to
defend
his practices."'
The
Church of Bible Understanding, originally known as the Forever Family, is an
example of a Bible-based cult. Founded in 1971 in Allentown, Pennsylvania,
and
headed by Stewart Traill, this religious group uses orthodox Christian
terminology loaded with very unorthodox meanings. Cult observers Una McManus
and
John Cooper state that Traill's "understanding" of the Bible and its
concealed meanings ("figures") are accepted as authoritative for cult
members.
They
note that the group has "declared war on the powers of this world,
including government, police, schools, parents, and churches.""
The
Church of Armageddon, also known as the Love Family, looks to the vision of its
members, including founder Paul Erdmann (also known as "Love
Israel"),
as
its divine authority. Members renounce all worldly traditions of matrimony and
are considered to be married to one another."
In
each of these examples, the words, visions or writings of a human leader are
made equal to the Bible. In some cases they are looked upon as being of
even
greater authority than Scripture itself. Whenever someone claims to have a new
revelation from God, he or she is making the same claim Muhammad made
for
the Koran and Joseph Smith made for The Book of Mormon.
Presumptuous
Leadership: Not every cult leader is dangerous, but every one is presumptuous.
Cult leaders think they alone have God's ultimate message for
mankind.
Therefore, in their minds, it becomes an absolute necessity that they deliver
God's message at all costs and eliminate whatever opposition they
face
in doing so. Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh's demand that his 58-
minute "message to the world" be aired on radio in Waco, Texas, is
typical
of
such a mind-set.
Early
descriptions of David Koresh's and Jim Jones' backgrounds show striking
similarities: broken homes, parental neglect, desire for power and control,
excessive
sexual appetites and the constant demand for loyalty and allegiance from their
followers. Jim Jones and David Koresh may be extreme examples
of
dictatorial cult leaders, but they are not that far removed from the excessive
behaviors of Sun Myung Moon, who dictates the marriages to total strangers
of
thousands of his followers, or David Berg, who authorized incest within the
Children of God. Like this statement from the egotistical Reverend Ike,
who
said, "You can't lose with the stuff I use," the blasphemous and
extravagant claims of deluded cult leaders are incredible. Here are just a few:
Judge
Rutherford (Jehovah's Witnesses): "Jesus Christ has returned to earth A.D.
1914 to establish the Theocratic Millennial Kingdom" (The Kingdom, 1933).
The
world is still awaiting this revelation.
Mary
Baker Eddy (Christian Science): "Death is an illusion" (Science and
Health, 584:9). She succumbed to that illusion on December 3, 1910.
Father
Divine (Peace Mission): "I am God Almighty ... the Holy Spirit personified
... the Prince of Peace" (New Day, July 16, 1949). "God" (George
Baker,
alias
Father Divine) died in 1965.
Elijah
Muhammad (Black Muslims): "Wallace Farad [Muslim version of Father Divine]
is God himself! He is the one we have been looking for the last 2,000
years"
(New York Herald Tribune, April 3, 1963). Wallace Farad (alias Allah)
disappeared in 1934 and was never seen again.
Elizabeth
Clare Prophet (Church Universal and Triumphant): "I am that I am"
(Teachings on the Path of Enlightenment). She claims to be the channel of the
"Great
White Brotherhood" of "Ascended Masters." She and her followers
are awaiting the end of the world in Montana.
Meher
Baba (Sufism Reoriented): "I (Parvardigar). Baba died on January 31, 1969.
am Jesus Christ personified"
Sun
Myung Moon (Unification Church): "Jesus Christ will return by being born
in the flesh in Korea as Lord of the Second Advent and True Parent of the world
family"
(Divine Principle, pp. 501ff.). Moon considers himself to be the Messiah
incarnate.
David
Berg (Children of God): "Forget not thy King.... Forsake not His ways, for
He hath the key, even the Key of David! Therefore, thou shalt kiss the
mouth
of David. For thou art enamored of my words and thou art in love with me, thy
Savior! " (The Kingdom: A Prophecy, August 20, 1971, Lo. No. 94). Berg
is
revered as King, Father and David by his followers.
John
Robert Stevens (The Walk): "We are going to turn and become the savior of
the Church" (Living Word, July 6, 1975). Steven's followers denounce all
churches
but their own as the "harlot of Babylon."
Herbert
W. Armstrong (World Wide Church of God): "We grow spiritually more and
more like God, until at the time of the resurrectionwe shall then be born
of
God-we shall then be God" (The U.S. and British Commonwealth, p. 9).
David
Koresh (Branch Davidians): "I am the Lamb of God" (People, March 15,
1993, p. 41). He died April 19, 1993.
This
one criteria separates cults from denominations. Various Christian
denominations may differ on their methods of ordination, their mode of baptism
or
their
form of church government, but they generally don't consign each other to hell
because of those differences. Cults, on the other hand, are always
convinced
they are the only ones going to heaven. All others are lost, damned, heretical
or have the mark of the beast!
Jehovah's
Witnesses believe that the Church Age ended in 1914 with the return of Christ
to earth. Therefore, they do not meet in churches, but in Kingdom
Halls.
They say that only Jehovah's faithful witnesses (the 144,000) know and believe
the truth-all others are lost. They clearly teach that only faithful
Jehovah's
Witnesses (both the "remnant" and the "other sheep") will
survive the battle of Armageddon and see the salvation of Jehovah."
Mormons
believe they alone are the "latter-day saints" of God. Brigham Young
said, "Every spirit that does not confess that God has sent Joseph Smith,
and
revealed
the everlasting gospel to and through him, is of antichrist." Speaking of
non-Mormon Christian churches, Mormon apostle Orson Pratt said, "They
have
nothing to do with Christ, neither has Christ anything to do with them, only to
pour out upon them the plagues.""
Seventh-day
Adventists believe that the third angel's message in Revelation 14 requires the
observance of Saturday Sabbath-keeping in order to guarantee
eternal
life. They allow that some Christians may live and die in ignorance of the
third angels message, and thus be given another chance to receive it
at
a special resurrection. But all who refuse will suffer annihilation.
Christian
Science founder Mary Baker Eddy said, "A Christian Scientist requires my
work Science and Health for his textbook ... because it is the voice
of
truth to this age ... uncontaminated by human hypotheses."" In the
glossary of Science and Health, the true church is defined as "that
institution which
affords
proof of the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine
science."" Since Christian Science views itself as unerring and
divine,
it
presumes that all other churches are erroneous.
Spiritualism
declares it is the "highest message of truth which we have as yet grown to
grasp."" Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, "Spiritualism is the
greatest
revelation
the world has ever known."" But Spiritualism (or spiritism), with its
emphasis on communicating with departed spirits, has always opposed every
major
doctrine of Christianity (inspiration of the Bible, deity of Christ, the virgin
birth, the atonement, and the resurrection) as anathema. Lord Dowling,
a
strong spiritualist advocate, said, "The doctrine of the Trinity seems to
have no adherent in advance circles of the spirit world.""
Swedenborgians
believe that Christ returned in the eighteenth century when their founder
received what they claim to be the key to the interpretation of
Scripture.
They also believe Christ designated them alone to be the "New Jerusalem.
Following the highly speculative ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg, this
small
but influential cult claims to be the church signified by the New Jerusalem of
the apocalypse. The rest of professing Christianity is viewed as
"perverted
from
the truth. 1123
The
Worldwide Church of God, under Herbert W. Armstrong and Garner Ted Armstrong,
denounced all Trinitarians as false prophets. They denounce all other
churches
as preaching a false gospel and a false Christ. They accuse others of
"stupendous errors," "false conceptions," and
"spiritual blindness."" Today,
under
the leadership of Joseph Tkach, the Worldwide Church of God has repudiated the
Armstrong view.
The
Unification Church (Moonies) teaches that Sun Myung Moon is the second messiah
("Lord of the Second Advent") sent to complete the work of salvation
begun
by Jesus Christ. Moon says of himself and his church, "No heroes in the
past, no saints or holy men in the past, like Jesus or Confucius have excelled
US.
1121 Emphasizing his church exclusively, Moon claims, "We are the only
people who truly understand the heart of Jesus, and the hope of
Jesus.""
Once
the process of spiritual deception reaches the point where the cultists believe
they alone are God's people, then it follows logically that whatever
they
believe must be God's truth. By contrast, then, all who disagree with them are
viewed as lost or deceived. Their belief that they have an exclusive
corner
on truth leads them to think they also have an exclusive corner on salvation.
It
was this "we are right; all others are wrong" mentality that enabled
the followers of David Koresh to surrender their wives and daughters to him for
sexual
purposes. It also opened the door for them to contradict the clear teaching of
Jesus against self-retaliation and take up arms to kill people in
the
name of God. It was this same mentality that provoked Muslim extremists from
the Al-Salam Mosque in Jersey City, New Jersey, to bomb the World Trade
Center
in the name of God.
Christian-based
cults have often begun as a result of some prophetic date- setting scheme. In
most cases these eschatological prognosticators were sincere
in
their belief that Christ would soon return. However, when things did not work
out the way they expected, they soon devised other explanations for their
foiled
mistakes.
In
1870, Charles T. Russell became influenced by Adventist teacher Jonas Wendell
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Sparked with a renewed interest in the second
coming
of Christ, Russell organized a Bible class, began teaching and started
publishing a magazine called Zion's Watchtower and Herald of Christ's Presence.
By
188 1, Russell incorporated Zion's Watchtower Tract Society. By 1886, he began
publishing a seven-volume series entitled MILLENNIAL DAWN, later called
STUDIES
IN THE SCRIPTURES.
Following
the ideas of N.H. Barbour, Russell initially taught that Christ would return
spiritually, not physically, in 1874 and finish the end-time harvest
by
1914, the dawn of the millennial age. By correlating historical events with the
length of the corridors in the Great Pyramid of Egypt, Russell confirmed
his
1874 date for the beginning of the tribulation. Modern Jehovah's Witnesses
reject Russell's calculation in favor of 1914. Cult expert Ronald Enroth
observes,
"To accommodate the change, a new edition of Russell's STUDIES (1923)
simply added forty-one inches to the corridor's length in order to locate
the
starting point for the final years of earth's existence in 1914.
Since
there was no visible appearance of Christ in 1914, Jehovah's Witnesses believe
He revealed Himself only to His faithful witnesses (the 144,000). Initially,
Jehovah's
Witnesses emphasized that when that number was complete (presumably around
1918), Christ would reveal to the world that He was already here.
Today,
they teach that there are two classes of followers: 1) The "congregation
of God," the true church of Jehovah, and 2) the "great crowd" or
"other
sheep."
The first group is limited to the 144,000 and will live in heaven, while the
latter group is larger and will live Jehovah's Witnesses teach that
they
are the 144,000 "associate kings" who will rule with Christ in the
millennium. They believe they are the only ones who know the truth that Christ
returned
on October 1, 1914, and ended the Church Age and the rule of nations. Hence,
they recognize no church but their own and will not salute the flag
of
any nation. They also believe they alone will survive the battle of Armageddon
and enter the millennium as God's true people.
Mormons
also believe they hold a special place at the time of Christ's return. Calling
themselves the Latter-day Saints, Mormons believe the time of the
end
is at hand and will culminate in the re-gathering of Israel in Jerusalem, the
re-gathering of Ephraim (Mormons) at Zion (Independence, Missouri), and
the
re-gathering of the ten lost tribes to Zion. Mormons believe they will build the
Temple of God in North America and recapture Zion from the Reorganized
Church
of Latter-day Saints (who hold title to the temple property in Independence
after a split from the group that went on to Salt Lake City).
Mormons
also believe they will be re-gathered first since Joseph Smith was a "pure
Ephraimite," and the Ephraimites (Mormons) now hold the priesthood, having
received
the "fullness of the everlasting gospel" in these last days. They
also believe that only faithful Mormons will enter the celestial kingdom (God's
highest
eternal order) and live eternally with their wives and children and continue to
procreate more children in that celestial state. In other words,
Mormons
believe they hold center stage in God's eschatological program.
Moonies
believe that all humanity will literally be saved by Sun Myung Moon, "Lord
of the Second Advent." Even departed Christians will return to earth
and
serve the new messiah in the "True Family" of eternity.
"Everybody who ever lived," notes Jack Sparks in The Mind Benders,
"good, bad, and indifferent-will
participate
in that great unified family formed around Moon, his wife and his
children." Sparks then adds, "What malarkey! This is one of the most
amazing
schemes
a human being has ever devised to deceive people and to bring them under
oppressive domination.""
Notice
again how one lie leads to another: We alone have the truth; we know what is
best for you; we alone are the people of God, we alone will be in heaven.
It
is this kind of logic that sets up the ultimate conclusion: All who are against
us are against God. Once the cultist is thus deceived, he or she becomes
willing
to do almost anything to protect the group from the enemy.
One
does not have to look far to find plenty of examples of the cultic-persecution
complex. David Koresh carried a Glock 9mm pistol and kept an arsenal
of
deadly weapons at his disposal because he believed the "agents of
Satan" were about to attack him and launch the final battle of Armageddon
.30 Expecting
a
soon-to-come apocalypse, Koresh's Branch Davidians fortified their Mount Carmel
complex outside Waco, Texas, to prepare for the end of the world.
Sheik
Oman Abdel-Rahman told his Muslim followers to "kill the enemies of God in
every spot to rid it of the descendants of apes and pigs fed at the tables
of
Zionism, communism and imperialism."" Like a true cult leader,
Abdel-Rahman assumes that his enemies are God's enemies as well.
There
is little difference in the attitude of many of the more traditional or
institutionalized cults. Down deep, they know they are different or out of
step
with traditional beliefs, so they expect to be rejected. Think of the abuse and
rejection Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses must experience as they
go
door to door to peddle their beliefs. "Jesus warned us that we would be
persecuted," they say, almost inviting more persecution.
Institutionalized
cults may have been started by fanatics, but as they grew, their leadership
diversified and with time came to develop theological explanations
for
why they are persecuted. But in today's extremist cults, where the leader has a
small but radical following, any rejection of the leader may result
in
direct hostility.
A
nomadic cult founded by Jimmie T. Roberts of Kentucky has no name and wanders
from place to place, often eating out of garbage cans. Nicknamed "the
garbage
eaters,"
they have left in their wake a trail of broken homes, battered women and abused
children." Believing that children are too young to know God,
they
assume little ones are "ruled by Satan." This mentality then assumes
that unruly children are agents of the devil and need to have the devil beaten
out
of them.
Jim
Jones was so paranoid because of his sinful lifestyle and unlawful activities
that he knew intuitively he was in trouble. So he devised a scheme of
moving
around the country to avoid police investigators. Finally, when he wanted to
avoid the federal government, he moved his flock to Guyana. There in
the
sticky South American jungle, he armed his men with guns, laced everyone's
Kool-Aid with cyanide, and prepared for an inevitable confrontation with
the
outside world-a confrontation that cost the lives of more than 900 people.
Spiritual
deception is a gradual, subtle process. Satan, the great deceiver, convinces
the cult leader that he has found the truth no one else has ever
discovered.
Armed with this egotistical ammunition, the cultist begins to weave a web of
religious deception. He first falls victim to it himself, then
he
convinces others that he is right and manipulates their resources to further
spread his message. In time, this leads to oppressive organizational controls
to
ensure this process continues.
God
is against false prophets whose spiritual delusion causes them to invent their
own message apart from God's truth. The Bible presents them in seven
categories:
1.
Self-deceived. Some false teachers may be sincere, but they are still wrong.
They have deceived themselves into believing their messages are true. As
Jeremiah
points out, their messages come psychologically from within their own minds and
are not from God.
2.
Liars. Some false prophets are deliberate liars who have no intention of
telling the truth. The apostle John says, "Who is the liar? It is the man
who
denies
that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist-he denies the Father and
the Son" (1 John 2:22).
3.
Heretics. These are people who preach heresy (false doctrine) and divide the
church. Of them John said, "They went out from us, but they did not really
belong
to us" (I John 2:19). The apostle Peter said, "There will be false
teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies.... These
men
blaspheme in matters they do not understand" (2 Peter 2:1,12).
4.
Scoffers. There are some who do not necessarily promote false teaching so much
as they outright reject the truth of God. Of them the Bible warns, "In
the
last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil
desires" (2 Peter 3:3). The apostle Paul calls them "lovers of
themselves ... boastful,
proud
... conceited" (2 Timothy 3:2,4). Jude calls them "grumblers and
faultfinders" (verse 16).
5.
Blasphemers. Those who speak evil of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the people
of God, the kingdom of God, and the attributes of God are called blasphemers.
Jude
calls them godless men [who] "speak abusively against whatever they do not
understand .... They are clouds without rain ... trees, without fruit ...
wild
waves of the sea ... wandering stars" (Jude 10,12,13). The apostle Paul
says that he himself was a blasphemer before his conversion to Christ (1
Timothy
1:13).
6.
Seducers. Jesus warned that some false prophets will appear with miraculous
signs and wonders to seduce or deceive the very elect "if that were
possible"
(Mark
13:22). Our Lord's implication is that spiritual seduction is a very real
threat even to believers. This would account for the fact that a few genuine,
but
deceived, believers may be found among the cults.
7.
Reprobates. This term means "disapproved," "depraved," or
"rejected." Paul refers to those who have rejected the truth of God
and turned to spiritual
darkness.
Consequently, God has given them over to a "reprobate mind" (Romans
1:28 KJV). They have so deliberately rejected God that they have become
"filled
with
every kind of wickedness" (verse 29). As a result, they are
"God-haters" (verse 30), whose behavior is "senseless,
faithless, heartless, ruthless"
(verse
31). These people are so far gone spiritually that they know it and don't care!
In
Jesus' own prophetic message, the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24-25), He warned,
"Watch out that no one deceives you .... Many will turn away from the
faith
... and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.... False
Christ's and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and
miracles"
(Matthew
24:4,10, 11,24). Our Lord warned His disciples-and us-of the possibility of
spiritual seduction by false prophets and teachers, especially as
the
end of the age approaches.