Rev. David Holwick N
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
April 6, 1997
2 Peter 1:16-21
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I. A time of weirdos.
A. Letter from parents to a government official:
Dear Sir,
We are writing to you concerning our son, John Doe.
We have seen to it that he has received an outstanding
education.
He has gone to distinguished schools and lacked only the
bar examination to become a lawyer.
Several leading firms have already interviewed him.
Recently our John got involved in a strange religious sect
and all our hopes for him have been called into question.
Leaders of this sect are controlling his every move.
They tell him whom to date and whom not to date, and have
taken all of his money.
He has been discouraged from associating with his old
friends.
John has also become very judgmental and has rejected most
of our cherished values.
Legally, what can we do to get our son out of this cult?
And what is the government doing to control these groups?
Sincerely...
Mr. & Mrs. Doe
1) "Which cult is this letter describing?"
2) Not Moonies or Heaven's Gate.
It is a composite of actual letters from Roman parents
in the second and third centuries A.D.
The cult they are concerned about, we now call
Christianity.
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B. Many commentators - Christianity used to be a cult.
1) Deprogramming of fundamentalists.
2) Are we any different from Heaven's Gate?
II. What is a cult?
A. Negative term for a religion we want to put down.
1) Tongue in cheek, Heaven's Gate admitted they were one.
2) Sociologists agree on some key factors.
B. Classic definition of a cult.
1) Out of the mainstream.
a) Appeal to disenfranchised, alienated.
b) Offers strong acceptance in exchange for faith.
2) Focused on a charismatic individual.
a) Usually, leaders make great claims for themselves.
b) Group cannot see themselves existing without leader.
1> ("Do" and cancer scare)
3) Stretching social boundaries.
a) Rigid boundaries on sex (celibacy).
b) No boundaries on sex (multiple, shared marriage).
4) Brainwashing?
a) Brainwashing not possible, but choices are limited.
1> Isolation from doubters.
2> "Us & them" mentality.
b) Decisions made by group.
III. Christianity as a cult.
A. Jesus would be a classic cult leader.
1) Rejected by mainstream.
a) Strong distinction made.
b) Keys of Kingdom.
2) Claimed special powers.
a) Miracles.
b) In league with Satan?
3) High commitment level demanded.
a) Hard views on divorce, money, charity.
b) Carry cross.
c) Let dead bury the dead.
4) Disciples pledged this commitment.
a) "We will die with you."
B. One key distinction.
1) Jesus claimed to be great - and was.
2) Wise advise of Bishop Talleyrand.
In his day he was considered the cleverest diplomat in
Europe.
He rose to fame as a bishop, but left the church and his
faith to gain power as a politician.
It was not an easy time to be in power.
Talleyrand survived the French Revolution and Napoleon.
During this period of great upheaval the liberal leaders
tried to stamp out Christianity by inventing a new
religion which worshipped reason.
One of his supporters complained to Talleyrand how hard
this was to do.
Talleyrand replied: It's really quite easy.
All you need to do is get yourself crucified and
then rise from the dead.
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3) Jesus' hardest statements are Jewish way of making a point.
a) He was not forbidding followers to attend funerals.
b) Christians choose life over death.
IV. Baptists have been tarred with the same brush.
A. In early America they were often arrested.
Some in Boston where whipped for preaching in public.
B. Roger Williams banished in middle of winter to Rhode Island.
C. In Belarus (Russia), Baptists have interesting company.
Their new constitution gives the government the right -
and obligation - to regulate religion.
Religious groups are divided into three categories:
- traditional: Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Muslim.
- harmful: Satanic cults and other occult groups.
- fringe: Mormon, Jehovah's Witnesses and Baptists.
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V. The enticement of cultism in Christianity.
A. Dead-end of personalities.
1) Many national ministries cannot survive founder's death.
2) When a pastor leaves, do you go too?
3) Focus should be on Jesus, not personalities.
B. Do we appeal to weakness more than strength?
1) Guilt has validity but can be overdone.
2) We should have just as much emphasis on the positive.
C. Do you look to us to give you life's answers?
1) Much of Christendom settles for easy answers.
2) Baptists have a tradition of soul freedom.
a) You are free to make up your own mind. (within limits)
3) Be open to seekers, questions.
D. More emphasis on being "one of us" than on being conformed to
Christ?
1) Baptists emphasize a converted membership.
2) Sometimes we settle for membership, period.
E. Fly-by-night or anchored in rock.
1) Christians (and Baptists) have a long history.
a) God usually doesn't start from scratch.
b) We are in accord with centuries of religious tradition.
c) Be aware of it.
2) We are founded on Scriptural truth.
a) Know the Bible.
b) Learn discernment.
c) When your interpretation differs from norm, humbly
seek out why.
VI. Maybe we should be a cult.
A. Christians should be different.
1) There is sense in which this world can never be our home.
a) We should not expect to change the world.
b) Instead, we create a new community within it.
1> Jesus - they'll know you are Christians by your love."
2) Dr. Stanley Hauerwas, a professor at Yale, says,
"What we Christians have lost is the sense of just
how radical our practices are, since they are meant to
free us from the lies so characteristic of the world."
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B. We should reject sin of the world.
1) What many people accept as normal, God rejects.
2) By having different values we should expect opposition.
C. We have a Higher Power who loves us.
John Cox has experienced the darker side of life.
From alcohol to drugs to cults, Cox knows the "real world."
Raised in Texas, Cox went to First Baptist Church of Chico
as a boy.
During an altar call to be saved at the end of one service,
Cox's two brothers went forward.
John said he felt a hand pushing him down the aisle as well.
Not God's hand - one of his relatives.
The pastor told the boys they would be baptized the following
week and instructed them to wear the appropriate clothing.
John thought it was going to be a swimming party and had
no idea what was going on.
What was going on, Cox said, was absolutely nothing.
He was not saved at the time, and as he became a teenager
he got involved with what everyone else in his small town
was doing - drinking, partying, drugs, you name it.
He remembers going wild and kind of losing all respect for
anybody.
As he got older, Cox's girlfriend Sandee got involved in some
eastern meditation and other cult activity.
He and Sandee then moved to Memphis to go through a six-week
training course of another cult, The Way International.
They are in Ledgewood.
Two have come to our church.
Another cuts hair at the Ledgewood Mall.
Cox recalled how members of The Way would witness to people
in bars.
The only problem was they sat and drank with them while they
were witnessing.
That bothered Cox, who, although not a Christian, had a
respect for God and his Word.
"Deep in my soul, I knew the Bible was the first and last
word."
He thought, "If God is God, he's separate from this
lifestyle.
He's not like me."
Cult members didn't believe in the Trinity and they took a
black marker to any passage in Scripture they didn't
believe.
Most of them had 2 or 3 percent marked out.
The Way International doesn't tend to be too far out, and
he was oblivious to the real issues involved.
One quirk was that leaders would get in their face, like a
drill sergeant, and order them to speak in tongues.
But God was working on John and Sandee - even working
through members of The Way.
"They had some semblance of the truth - that we are sinners,"
Cox said.
As he studied his Bible on his own, John realized he was a
sinner in need of a Savior.
A couple of months after picking the Bible up, he started
repenting of things.
He and Sandee were living together but weren't married,
and they fell under conviction about that.
They left The Way, hitchhiked back to Texas, got married
and were baptized together.
They were delivered from smoking, drinking and drugs -
totally set free.
The Cox's now have five kids, and John is a Christian
singer on tour with the group Petra.
He says in his concert testimony:
"The cool thing about being a Christian is if the world
were to crack open, and there we would be falling down
into the abyss, I have the faith and hope that God is
going to reach down with his hand and catch me and say,
'You're coming with me,'
I can't lose."
#4068
D. Marshall Applewhite's own son has become a born-again Christian.
As he put it - only Jesus Christ can open Heaven's Gate.
Do you know this Jesus?
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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