Mike Bickle emphasizes the importance of recognizing cults by outlining seven key characteristics that deviate from historic Christianity. He warns that cults often begin with subtle tendencies and escalate into more dangerous behaviors, including inappropriate loyalty to leaders, isolation from family, and the promotion of special revelations outside of Scripture. Bickle encourages believers to be equipped with knowledge to discern and expose cult-like tendencies, not only for their own protection but also to help others who may be lured in. He stresses the necessity of critical thinking and testing teachings against the Bible, as well as maintaining healthy relationships with family and the broader church community.

Turn to Acts chapter 20. We'll get there in just a moment if you want to read it from your own Bible. I Have it on the notes here, but Father we thank you for your presence We thank you for the Word of God. We thank you for the Spirit of truth That exalts Jesus in your word And we ask you to bless us even now as we speak and hear your word in Jesus name. Amen Well this morning I want to talk about how to discern cults and the the point that I really want to focus on is that I Would like to or the point the takeaway is is that I would like you to be able to say this some months from now at least identify four or five of these just out of memory without having to look at a handout and my Point in doing this is not just so that you won't ever be deceived But that you would be equipped to help others that are being lured in at the early stages of a cult I mean we're living in the midst of a cult being in our midst recently And so we're wanting to take immediate action, and this is one of our action steps to to do this now I asked my wife I quizzed her Made her kind of my experiment I said tell me this because she's heard this over the years tell me the seven characteristics of a cult I mean it's been on the website for some years And she says okay after you tell me the seven characteristics Okay, I had to look at my notes. I admit. I said okay. I can say most of them no My point is that you could be able to just in normal conversation be able to alert and to help and to warn other people Paragraph a kind of a working definition. This is not a complete definition of a cult It's a group that deviates from the doctrines and practices of historic Christianity It's a group that has an inordinate Loyalty to one leader inordinate meaning not appropriate a outside of the bounds of the Bible Now I'm going to talk about cult leaders and false teachers to This morning the Bible mentions false teachers, but many false teachers are itinerant And they travel around or they speak through the media But when a false teacher has a close-knit group Associated with them than that false teacher is more than a false teacher. They're also a cult leader Now cult leaders are false teachers They typically see themselves and their group is the only group that has the complete truth Now as I mentioned these seven characteristics if a group has one of them They have that that doesn't mean they are a cult, but it means they have cult like tendencies even one of these should be a red flag and so I want you to begin to Have that in your mind when you're talking to people so you can identify that clearly Now cults don't start the first day as a full-blown cult cult They start with a few tendencies and they escalate and they morph into something far more dangerous as time unfolds In paragraph B. We want you to be equipped to see it But we want you to be equipped to expose it so that you could warn and rescue other people that you love Even in the early stages of their involvement in a group. That's maybe just beginning in that direction paragraph C Knowledge is so powerful to be informed This is so such a powerful safety. The devil's weapon is deception. The Lord uses truth Jesus said truth will liberate you and the opposite is deception will bring you into bondage Hosea chapter 4 verse 6 my people are destroyed by the lack of knowledge people that are involved in cults They are much as destroyed in their life because they lack just basic fundamental knowledge Paragraph D. This is a very alarming passage in Acts chapter 20. It's actually a prophecy Paul the Apostle is warning the eldership of the mightiest Church in the book of Acts the Church of Ephesus. I Mean we have first the Church of Jerusalem Is the main as kind of the epicenter of revival then a few years later? It's the Church of Antioch Then a few years later it's the Church of Ephesus and Ephesus actually had the most powerful and influential Church in terms of Reaching the number of people by the revival that touched Ephesus. You can read about that in Acts 19 and 20 if you want Paul spent three full years there Now when he's about to get on the ship and leave Ephesus after three years and a great revival That's reaching the whole known world coming out of that revival that that city there He gives the elders this prophecy and I mean it's a pretty disturbing prophecy He says in verse 29 of Acts 20 For I know this I mean and he's going to talk about the future So he's prophesying after I leave when I get on that ship and the in the months and years ahead Savage wolves are going to come in and not spare the flock now savage wolves are false teachers He says but don't just look for new guys coming in Verse 30. This is the this is the part that's so disturbing. He goes talking to the elders even from from you some of you You will rise up in a in a wrong way you will begin to speak perverse things I mean you guys I Mean Paul the Apostle put those elders in place Says in verse 28 the Holy Spirit made them elders But he said some of you the Holy Spirit's telling Paul are actually going to change the way You a function in leadership. You'll draw disciples after yourself You'll speak perverse things you will become cult leaders some of you. I mean, I mean that's in the Bible I read that I thought oh my goodness So Paul tells them watch not only the new leaders coming in watch even your own leadership Now he's not trying to make everybody suspicious. So everybody's guilty till proven innocent, but he's saying be alert Be attentive. The problem will never go away The problem will never there will always be that tendency Later on I have in the paragraph Paul gave prophecies about the generation. The Lord returns the end times Jesus gave prophecies about the generation that he would return and the prophecies included Deception going to a level beyond any other time in history is what it describes That as the end time revival escalates deception will escalate as well That will be deception inside the church as well as deception outside the church Let's look at paragraph F I just want to mention a briefly. This is not a comprehensive these next couple paragraphs Just a couple of the beliefs that are standard that when people begin to drift from these beliefs then they are They they begin to drift and then they actually deny some of them. That's a sign of a cult paragraph F false teachers They don't uphold the main and plain doctrines of the Bible The big battle today going on in the spirit is a battle for truth particularly defining who Jesus is and More than that defining how we are to love him or to respond to him People are coming up with ways to love God that are outside of the biblical definition I mean, it's humanistic man-made ways and cults focus on this kind of thing. They call it loving God The Bible makes it clear. We have to love God on God's terms With allegiance to Jesus and the way the Bible says we are to have allegiance to Jesus paragraph G Just a snapshot not comprehensive We must accept these main historical Christian doctrines Colts drift away from these and then deny some of them But many Colts uphold some of these but the problem is they don't uphold all of them. That's the problem now we have our doctrinal statement and we have the some of the main historic creeds on our website in a number of places and you can read that later and become familiar with these Things that the Bible makes clear that are the essentials of the faith things like Jesus is God's only Son He's fully God fully man his death his resurrection one God in three persons the Trinity Salvation by faith alone by grace alone in Christ alone. Those are essential the infallibility of the scripture is the final authority of all matters of faith and practice and Another one very important that some people don't emphasize the unity and diversity of the body of Christ The fact that we must love the whole church Even the part of the church that looks different than us. We must love the whole church we stand firmly with the teachings of historic Orthodox Christianity as defined by statements like the Apostles Creed Or the nice seed creed that we repeat publicly on a monthly basis or the Westminster Confession and again, we have all these creeds and statements on our website Okay, those are just some a quick framework of what we must believe and Colts drift from that They believe part of it. That's the problem. They believe part of this, but they don't believe all of it top of page two Let's look just real quick eat at seven characteristics and we're gonna spend More time on the first one than the other ones because the other ones all flow out of the first one Actually the first characteristic of a cult that I want to alert people of they oppose critical thinking Now I'm using the word critical thinking in a technical sense. I don't mean a critical spirit. That's not what I mean but I mean the that Boldness but more than boldness. It's just the the Fundamental need to ask questions. And here's the question that a critical thinker asked is what I'm hearing actually, right? And if it's right, why do I think it's right? That's what I mean by critical thinking objective thinking that compares What's being taught to the written Word of God? The Bible demands that we think for ourselves one of our Purposes and I hop used to raise up a generation that thinks for themselves They will never be safe. No believer is if they're not thinking for themselves Now what cults do is they tell you you have to believe what the bullet what the what the primary leader believes? And the idea is just a parent the ideas of the primary leader without seeing them in the Bible Number two The Bible says we have to teach we have to test all things Now we test all things simply one simple way by comparing it with the scripture When we sit when we hear a teaching the thing that we say regularly to our I hope you students at the or at the orientation is this statement? I love to say this statement if you don't see something with your eyes in your own Bible a Teaching that's being taught if you don't see it with your own eyes in your own Bible that reject it Do not receive it till you see it with your own eyes in your own Bible That's very important. And if you don't see it challenge it but not in a proud spirit. I'm not talking about using knowledge to show off so that you can Impress the girls in the class how much you know, that's not what I'm talking about or how bold you are And I'm I'm talking about using This challenging this this demand this requirement to challenge in a spirit of love to build up not to boast it's so some some young people do it to boast and show off and and I did I know about that not just because I see it I did a little bit in my day But anyway moving on moving on Loyalty to a ministry Requires that you challenge the ministry again with the right spirit and kindness and humility in the right way If you really are loyal to a ministry, you must challenge it if things are wrong Colts will tell you that loyalty to a ministry means just Wholesale agreeing with it and never thinking it through. I don't care if it's your favorite teacher. You must see it with your own eyes and You don't want to say one thing. I've encouraged our young people over the years Don't say Mike Bickle said Alan Hood said Wes Hall said When we're when talking about truth Say the Bible said and if you can't say the Bible said then don't talk about that truth. Don't promote that truth Only promote truth that you can say the Bible says you don't have to know where it's at and to quote it exactly But the truth itself if all you know is that a leader said it you should not be promoting that truth So you can actually say it and defend it from the Bible yourself It's not healthy for people to promote truth that they only know second-hand Because their favorite teacher said it whether somebody on TV or a book. That's not good enough Most of you are aware of that paragraph 4 acts chapter 19, I mean acts 17 the Bereans They were highlighted and affirmed for their nobility is what it says they were noble-minded Now the Bereans They they were the believers that lived in a city called Berea. That's why they're called the Bereans and they were eager They were with all readiness. They received the Word of God meaning they were teachable. They are hungry for the word When Paul the Apostle came in town They'd never heard of Paul and he comes in town and he's teaching and I have no doubt They said you know what? No, this feels like the presence of God. It resonates in our spirit is true. We like this guy But that's not good enough to feel the presence of the Spirit to like the guy and to have a sense. It's true They said we got to take it the next step. Look what it says They searched the scriptures to see if it was in the Bible Paul. We like you Feels I'm in the presence of God is here and it resonates in our spirit, but that's not enough We're gonna find from the Bible where it's at now note this says they search the scripture all they had First hundred years of Christianity was the Old Testament when they said they searched the scripture to talk about the Old Testament Reason I highlight that some people think the Old Testament's invalid because of the New Testament And that's not a that's not biblical answer That's the only Bible that Paul preached from and it's the only Bible that they searched in the early church was the Old Testament because it because the New Testament wouldn't put together for another couple hundred years and Officially canonized the epistles were floating around So they had access to that now in the last week we had people with an open forums and small groups and and and big groups and and People I was very impressed because a number of people Challenged ideas and thoughts and small settings and large settings and I was impressed by that. I that's healthy. That's good And the reason I was impressed by it because they challenged it boldly, but with tenderness and humility See, that's the balance. It's not Challenged to boast but challenged to build up. That's the biblical balance and I felt a Good about the healthy way that people did that Number two in terms of cults They dishonor the family unit and I'm gonna spend a little bit less time on the on the on these These six we're just gonna look at them pretty fast. Most of them are pretty self-evident So it's not like it's so enlightening because it should be pretty obvious But I want I want to identify the truth so you can help others as well That might be in the early stages or a group that is developing these tendencies Well a cult will Dishonor the family unit the Bible insists the family unit is the first relational priority that we should be committed to number one the cults will teach the children whether they're the ten-year-old children or the 20 year or 30 year old children to Listen to the cult leader not their parents and there's a lot of folks around the earth and their 20s They cut off their parents and they listen to the cult leader and if anybody suggests that That's already a red flag. Even this is even the hint of that is a red flag Another dimension is that the cult leader will urge the women to be more loyal to the cult leader than to their husbands and what's more destructive or or more Horrible or I don't know what the word is that at all is that there are husbands Under the seductive influence of a cult that actually think that's normal There are some some some men that allow a cult leader to have more influence over their children and their spouse Because they think it's loyalty. I mean that is perverse beyond measure when that happens Number two They cults will require not always at first but eventually require Members to break ties with their families and even their friends and they may not do that in the early days when they're just getting formed in their perverse ways But whenever there's even a hint of breaking relationship with your family or friends Because they have a secret truth, they don't want anybody else to know or challenge that is a That that is a cult like tendency I mean, that's very serious number three The Bible makes it clear our first relational priority is to one spouse children and parents That our identity in the relational sense or main identities with the Lord But and the human relational sense our identity is with our family far before we have an identity with the ministry But in cults that's opposite. They are a part of the cult and their families They either they don't interact with them or they're never open and honest with them on and on every version of that Now there are times where parents Really are wrong and really are abusive. And so I'm not under under playing or minimizing You know one young person might say yeah, if you knew my father, he is so controlling abusive Wow, and I acknowledge that and so I'm not saying that you have kind of just well, that's my dad so he must be right because there's a lot of of wrong things that have happened in life and and Lot of parents have wrong ideas and they have wrong hearts and etc, etc, etc But here's what I'm saying. The Bible makes it clear that we always fight for the relationship to be restored No matter how much pain or wrong. We don't just say we're gonna trade in our family for the cult We always say Lord. I'm fighting for love and restoration I want to see the wrong things healed in the relationship and they may not succeed there may not be reconciliation, but as a Lover of Jesus we fight for the relationship with our family all the days of our life. We pray for it We work for it. We forgive we appeal we humble ourselves. We do everything to see the communication Restored but here's the point. I'm making here in a cult. They want to replace the family with the cult and They don't even and they say don't fight for the relationship Abandon their relationship and that's obviously completely false if you see that in any way red flag red flag red flag We fight for the relationship with our family all as long as we have breath top of page three Characteristic number three of a cult they isolate their members From from their family. They isolate the members from the larger church. They isolate their members from society but they go more they go beyond that they penalize the members in their cult if they refuse to isolate and Particularly if they leave I mean they start penalizing them say hey, what about the commitment to our group here? Why are you interacting with the people back home? And and the cults don't like that and they begin to penalize them and then if the person leaves the cult Then they threaten them with judgment and they shunned them and they pronounce a horrible things over them When people leave cults Sometimes it takes months sometimes even years Before they overcome the fear because they heard it for so many years from their cold of the fear of what if I'm gonna be judged if I leave the cult or what if I miss God's best and Mostly the cults go a little bit heavier than you'll miss God's best But they all say at least that if you leave our apostolic covering that's how they say it you won't have God's best but mostly cults take it to the next level and They start saying you will be judged by God a car wreck is coming soon a Calamity is coming soon. And and I mean people that leave groups for months sometimes and even years They're thinking it's not because I left the group. No You're not having this trouble because you left the group. You didn't leave God's blessing because you left their apostolic covering They don't have an apostolic covering. It's deception matter of fact You're in God's blessing because you're relating to your family again And you're relating to the larger body of Christ and you're connecting to Jesus instead of to your cult leaders your primary source of connection with truth Now one thing a cult will will say and other groups say this that are not cults But I think it's that the vast majority of time There could be a few exceptions because I don't claim to know how it works every in every place But when they push for this lifelong Commitment to the group and I don't mean a lifelong commitment to love or to relate to one another I think that's that's good that we want to commit to love each other and to relate to each other That's good, but a cult takes it to another degree You have to stay in the group with us in this location And there's other groups. I mean, there's some good guys out there that do a bit of that, too I've heard it over the years that they push people to make a lifelong commitment Not just to be in relationship and to love each other from different parts of the earth wherever God might lead them But they say you have to stay here in this group in this location with us And I've had guys over the years in the 35 years I've pastored where there's always a guy or two every you know a few years some guy will hear about a group that makes a Long-term commitment and say hey That sounds exciting You know it sounds noble like secure long-term relationship And I've had maybe a few times over 35 years where a few leaders and said hey Why don't we do that and I've always had this very strong a feeling about that that no We don't need to do that rather than making a lifelong commitment to all stay in this group in this location wherever it might be The phrase I have used for many years is let's make a lifelong commitment to Support each other in the will of God and wherever the will of God brings us Let's be committed to support each other in the will of God. Let's do that that I can do but Colts will push you for a lifelong commitment and sometimes other people will too and again I wouldn't call them automatically a cult, but I would certainly be alerted when people start talking that way Because there's no net there's no need to do that from how I could see it again There might be an exception that I don't know about Out there, and I'll leave that between the Holy Spirit and whatever he says to somebody But I'm always alerted when somebody says that at all. I'm always a little bit troubled by that I Have heard that kind of language for 35 years and I could only think of one or two groups that have ever stayed together the long haul Almost always the 5 or 10 or 15 years mark They all break up and they get mad at each other and do all kinds of things. I got hundreds examples of that So anyway, I'm alerted by that and if God wants us to work together in the same ministry, we don't have to know today Let's just do the will of God in the present tense and let the years unfold You know 20 30 40 years from now look back and say guess what? We stayed in the same ministry together. There you have it then go have a party or something We don't have to know on the front end now another alarm that I that I Something that alarms me and I hear this by good guys, and I don't call the people who say this a cult But I am alarmed by it. It's when a leader Says that you have to get my permission before you leave my ministry to join another And I've had young people over the years say well, you know I need to get permission to do this or that I go permission or counsel and I you know I want to get to distinguish it and they go I said counsel is good permission To move from here to there. I said that's a that that's a red flag When when somebody does that because leaders don't own the people the Lord owns the people not the leaders and I'm all for counsel, but permission. It's a whole different issue So when guys say that I'm always a bit alarmed by that. I read flags go up. I remember 13 years ago when I hopped first started and I spoke at the Citywide pastors a group that I'm a bit a part of for some years before I hopped again It's called the Midwest ministers fellowship that mmf. There's about two or three hundred leaders and pastors and It's a monthly meeting and I've spoken at it several times in the 13 years and when I hopped first started they wanted me to kind of give the vision and one of the things that I say regularly to leaders and We started I hop with this with this principle, you know, our copyrights the right to copy that's principle number one Principle number two We got a few of them that I told the leaders any of you can come to I hop at any time you want and recruit Any of our people anytime you want and you don't have to say anything to me And so different leaders have come to I hop and and they want and recruit people. I love that I tell leaders from around the world you can recruit you can do what you want I don't we don't own them. We are cheerleaders for them doing the will of God We want to help them do the will of God wherever it's at Well one pastor and this is certainly not indicative of mmf This that's just one pastors his own way of thinking. He came and said hey, can I have permission to? Recruit that worship leader a young lady and and I knew what he meant, but I was just being a little bit Honoree just for a moment here Which is so unlike me, but anyway, I Said uh, no you can't And he looked at me says, oh, I thought a few months back. You said we could recruit anybody. I said you can't He goes. Oh, then why won't you give me permission? I said because I don't have the authority to give you the permission to do that That's between her and the Lord you go offer her a role. I said pay her some money Honor her bless her and I said if she likes it and she went gets counsel from her parents or some friends Whatever and it seems right. I'm gonna encourage her to go He goes. Oh, I said the reason I won't give you permission Because if she joins you under that premise you're going to think she needs permission to leave you So I said I'm gonna help her leave here and join you But I'm gonna help her leave you enjoy the next place in the will of God So I don't want her getting permission to leave or to join. That's not what we're talking about And what I really want is not just that people would appreciate that I want to raise up young people with this kind of paradigm of leadership I don't just want 20 year olds to be free of that yoke being on them I don't want them to put that yoke on others when they get older and they grow into leadership I don't want that yoke put on them So I want to give you that paradigm shift that some people grow up in settings where the leader is the owner of that congregation and Extract long-term commitments out of them beloved Let's do the will of God in the present tense and let's help each other do it and let's celebrate that and number two the Bible answer is this as shepherds as Pastors as leaders we are called to help people succeed in the will of God for their life We want to help them succeed spiritually. We want to help them succeed Relationally we want to help them succeed in their in their finances in their ministry Our goal is not to use our influence to keep them in our system Our goal is to use our influence to help them succeed in the will of God wherever that placement might be because the foundational value is they belong to God not to the leaders that they're serving Jesus under the oversight of those leaders Okay, let's go to Characteristic number four a cult a cult group will Promote and insist on an inappropriate loyalty to them and To get them to connect to the leader and obey the leader instead of connecting to Jesus and obeying the obeying Jesus Now I believe in honoring leadership in Hebrews 13 in a number of places the Bible teaches us To honor leadership, and I don't believe in just people church hopping ministry and never ever being committed to a body of believers But they're committed to that body in as much as it's the will of God for that season their life And they're under the oversight of that of that leadership in as much as that leadership is helping them to Say yes to Bible truths and cooperate in the life of that community, and it's a soft leadership It is not a leadership that has the right over the direction of that person's life You know some places they have to get permission before they can marry somebody or permission before they move or permission before lots of things And I'm just really troubled by that kind of stuff because there's a difference between permission and counsel I believe in counsel, but not permission Now what the cults do is they define loyalty? to the leader and And Defining loyalty that here's how to define it by never correcting the leader by always agreeing with the leader That is not a definition a biblical definition of loyalty loyalty is a commitment to walk in love it's not a commission a commitment to agree with everything and never to challenge it a Cult will define faithfulness. I have written here as supporting and obeying the leader Instead of obeying Jesus and say boy that brother is really faithful. Why is he really faithful? Well? He's been here for years Okay, that's pretty good, but is it the will of God for them to be here for years? Yes, okay? We're doing good that's faithful and Some people define faithful because the people stay there and obey them and that's not the biblical definition of faithfulness It's that they're Obeying again Jesus they're connecting to Jesus That's what leaders do they help people connect to Jesus in a greater way so they hold on to the head Jesus is the head Colossians 2 19 One of the main tactics that's used over the years is this whole foolishness and gibberish About mantles I've heard it for 35 years and so almost all of it is foolishness in my opinion non-biblical Manipulative foolishness, and I give a few more adjectives if you want me to go on Say hi, I really feel and here's how it goes You know if you are faithful to serve you will get my mantle. There's so many things wrong with that statement Number one that cult leader doesn't have a mantle Number two he can't give it to you even if he has it number three you don't want it if he can give it to you Honestly and Number four he's promised that mantle to ten other people in the group And when he talks about that mantle He's looking at the group and all of them are winking at him and he gives one wink and they go. Yeah Yeah, we connected he's deceiving and manipulating Beloved you don't want somebody's mantle you want your own assignment from the Lord When I stand before Jesus on the last day when you do he's not going to talk to me about somebody's mantle He's going to talk to me about my assignment in the Lord And that's the only one that works anyway in my heart in the grace of God is my own assignment Well, they say, you know if you'll be faithful which translates do everything I say and do all the dirty work You will get my mantle one day again. He's promising it to ten people. He doesn't have a mantle He can't give it you don't want it that settles it. Okay, let's move on Then they talk about which is in the same spirit Well before we move on let's get back to that mantle thing for one more moment Somebody might say what about Elijah and Eli Elijah giving his mantle to Elijah he did There you go. Okay, let's go to the next point Like so what what does that got to do with you and that cult leader? It has nothing to do with you and that guy Well, what does that mean it doesn't matter what it means. It has nothing to do with you and that guy That's what matters in this conversation right now, so yeah Elijah did it do you do the double Anointing of Elijah. I'll talk metals with you till then Okay, I've gone way too long on that point Okay, you you hear the same topic don't touch God's anointed and what the cult leader means That's code for don't criticize my policies or my doctrines If you have to use the threat don't touch God's anointed It's only because you don't really believe you're anointed if you believe you're anointed you don't have to use that threat you only have to use it because you're fearful nothing will happen if they do it and The grace of God the way it works. Anyway, that's gonna happen to him. Anyway, so anyway going on number two Our Loyalty is to grow in connection to Jesus. That's our primary place of connection We don't replace him with Jesus and I mean with the cult leader We don't replace our relationship with Jesus with that cult leader and we want to be Obedient to Jesus's assignment not the cult leaders assignment over our lives Faithfulness is defined as Doing the will of God and connecting to Jesus that's what faithfulness is Okay, let's go on to number five the fifth Characteristic of a cult is they cross biblical boundary lines of behavior Now everybody sins. I'm not talking about doing something wrong and then repenting of it receiving mercy that's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about crossing biblical boundary lines and Claiming that a supernatural experience gave you the authority to cross those biblical lines or Twisting the Bible in a way that says but you're different than the others. I mean failing Repenting and receiving mercy and calling the crossing of the line sin. I mean, that's the mercy of God and God covers it But I'm talking about these guys validate crossing those lines by Claiming supernatural experiences or twisted interpretations of the Bible Now let's look at number two under this under paragraph eight The two main areas that are highlighted in Scripture. These are not the only areas by the way These are the two main ones that cult leaders always do Now maybe this particular cult leader you're thinking about has it, you know morphed into it Into this tendency yet, but they're a minute away if they are moving in that direction from both of these Negative things happening in there under their leadership. It's covetousness. And the second one is sexual immorality Covetousness I'm talking about they use their influence as a cult leader to be over all the money the money's theirs they may Twist how they do it. There's a hundred ways to Cleverly deceive people to where you're over their money and their property without them fully connecting the dots That you are but a cult leader always pushes for that financial issue and the issue of immorality Now let's read 2nd Peter chapter 2 verse 3 now Peters talking about false leaders false teachers again if a false teacher has a Close-knit group that they're tied with he's that false leader as a cult leader Says in verse 3 by covetousness They exploit instead of the word exploit they in a crafty way. They manipulate the control of your money That's what they're after In verse 14, it's not only do they have issues with money. They have issues with immorality. Their eyes are full of adultery Look what it goes on to say in verse 14 Their heart is trained in covetous practices these guys become Skilled at tricking you out of the control of your own money Now typically what they'll say is it all belongs to the community? But the community is under their control it belongs to them. That's what that's code for it's theirs And we're doing it for the sake of the kingdom, but it's theirs at the end of the day There's a there's many different ways they can do this they exploit They verse 18 they allure people Through lust and in this context he's talking about immorality lewdness lust of the flesh Now the way a cult starts they they probably they usually Start luring in their new members in the realm of money getting control of their money and properties or in various ways Sometimes it comes in stages But they always get into immorality sooner or later even though they may preach against immorality behind the veil they have biblical reasons they claim or Supernatural reasons to validate why immorality is okay for them though not for others and so they don't repent of the immorality. They're bold in it Again falling and repenting is one thing. That's a whole different issue They are bold in it now the way cults start They start with through a series of stages to break down your barriers in the realm of sexual immorality You know I've heard of groups. They all get together, and they give each other back rubs so they can relax you know Alert alert alert alert don't go and get back rubs They're built they're breaking down your resistance is what that's happening Then they remove a little bit of their clothing, but not too much I mean we're mature we understand because we want to have greater intimacy and we can't have fear and barriers gross and They tell the one gal that says I don't know this is where you have intimacy issues the reason you're so Touchy or what they mean is non touchy you won't let us touch you you have unsettled intimacy issues And you need your space and you need but you know what if you get healed you'll be comfortable being touched You know there's ten people in the group, and she goes well. I want to be healed I mean surely I want that do I have intimacy issues and all nine of them shake their head you have intimacy issues She goes well this doesn't sound right, but you are awfully anointed. Maybe it's Okay, it's just all absolute deception And number four The Bible is strong sexual purity again failure. I understand failure. I mean there's failure all through the body of Christ That's what mercy is about, but there's repentance. There's the declaration. It's wrong Ownership of property the Bible the rule of the Bible is people own their own money and property of course the verse they all use Is acts for that occasion where they brought all their money. They put it at the feet of the Apostles But beloved that was a one-time event to meet the need of the poor in that situation This was not a 50-year economic arrangement where Peter was over all the property for 50 years that of everybody who joined the church They had they preached the gospel they had signs and wonders and they had this Extravagant display of generosity to the poor as the church was being established now We care about generosity to the poor Always, but never do we lose our own ownership and right to our money in our property But it's always a freewill offering as the need presents itself and the Spirit gives direction Well, they use acts for where all the money was brought the Apostles and they make it a long-term arrangement And it's just it is not what the Spirit is saying and it's not what the Bible intends for us to understand top of page 4 Number 6 Separation from the church Now everyone in the church has the same two primary callings Everybody does we're all called in the primary sense to build the church and to work in the Great Commission Everybody has that call it looks different, but we all have the same two primary callings But those two primary callings are expressed in specific assignments God gives Individuals and ministries and often when another ministry specific assignment is different than Occults specific us. Well, they don't have a specific assignment except for to disband. That's the really only assignment they have from the Lord but they criticize the larger body of Christ because they don't Operate the same way the scripture makes it clear number two We love the whole church The whole church has weaknesses deficiencies. We are deficient in love and wisdom They are deficient in love and wisdom. We need each other to make up the things that we lack this kind of wholesale Attitude some people have all the denominations are all for all this kind of group church of churches They're off because they don't do it the way we do it or maybe they don't emphasize a few things That this group or that group emphasizes We have to bless one another even in the midst of weaknesses and Differences now number four and we'll look at this in a few weeks as we're working through the Sermon on the Mount and Matthew 7 It's real clear There are times to Bring righteous judgment is the term Jesus used To ministries with destructive behavior and destructive practices. There is a time to address it We have to do it in the right way We have to do it in the right process the right spirit the right information Matthew 7 we'll look at that later My point being in our honoring the culture of honor in the body of Christ that the Holy Spirit insists that we all buy into I'm not saying we wink our eye at destructive doctrines and destructive behaviors But when we do address them, we have to go to them in private Matthew 18 Then we have to there's a biblical protocol. We must follow Number seven Characteristic of a cult is they emphasize special revelations that are outside of the Bible I'm not talking about the Holy Spirit Emphasizing a biblical truth in a supernatural way. I'm talking about they have ideas and mandates that are outside of the boundaries of Scripture and You can read that on your own. It's pretty self-explanatory But this is one of the hooks that get people because these Would be cult members are so desiring to have something special to be something special to stick out to be unique And when this leader says I have something nobody else has because it's not in the Bible. That's why he has it They go. Wow, we could be a part of something special and that's part of the allure meant They can belong in a special way and they can have a special assignment That's unique that nobody gets besides them. I mean, what a burden I mean you if there's a cult group out there of a hundred or five hundred I mean, could you imagine out of a billion Christians in the earth? Your group of five hundred is the only one in the earth that gets it I mean what a burden to live thinking a billion don't get it because Jesus's leadership is that bad and his leadership is only Effective with with 500 people and they all happen to be in your group. I mean, what a bizarre mindset I don't know if you follow all that. But anyway Let's end with this Roman number three just the first point you can read this and we'll talk about it later is that we judge by fruit and Fruit means words and deeds. We can't judge by discernment We must judge by through what I mean by discernment is very important what I mean by discernment I'm using it in this context. The Spirit gives you insight into somebody's problem and That's that's biblical. But here's what you do with that insight when you get insight into somebody else's problem that's a commission from the Lord for you to pray and and or we'll always pray but secondly for you to go to that person in a private way and begin in a kind and tenor way to ask them questions about their beliefs and And their practices when you get discernment that somebody's wrong You can't act on that by taking it to other people You can only bring it to that person matter of fact if you get discernment on it the Holy Spirit saying I want you To in a pastoral way go talk to them about it and and don't accuse them use questions draw it out of them But until they actually have wrong words and wrong deeds wrong words are like I'm the in time apostle Nobody knows God besides me. That's that's that's fruit. That's bad fruit and The reason we are restricted in our judgment We can't operate off of just discernment except to go to them in private Because the Lord is protecting the larger culture of the body of Christ. He doesn't want it filled with accusation and slander And he's given that guy who's off time to repent he's using you as part of the pastoral process So some people say I get the I get the insight they go tell somebody else Beloved that's dignified slander. It's not even very dignified, but they say well. I'm only doing it to pray that is slander You can only use that discernment to go to the person in private and you could only bring Discipline if they if it becomes words and deeds it has to be fruit Because the Lord wants to protect the larger environment of culture the body of Christ as being loved Doesn't mean that we're gullible, but we can't have a culture of suspicion And so one thing we don't want after this of this cult that we've just discovered We don't want every time somebody says something wrong three people to hone in on him and they go wait wait What happened you know like I'm guilty till proven innocent and I want us to have a heightened zeal But I don't want us to use it in a wrong way Amen we're gonna end with that