Mike Bickle addresses the critical issue of discerning false teachers and cults, emphasizing that deception is a primary attack on intimacy with God. He highlights the importance of understanding the characteristics of false teachers, such as their tendency to exploit followers, promote inappropriate loyalty, and deny core Christian doctrines. Bickle urges believers to cultivate a love for truth and to be vigilant in exposing major deceptions, as many will be led astray in the end times. He encourages the church to prioritize loyalty to Jesus and the Word of God over any individual leader or ministry. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a commitment to critical thinking and a deep love for biblical truth.

Tonight we're going to talk about discerning false teachers and cults, which is one of the enemy's number one attacks on intimacy with God, is to bring deception, to get people with a false devotion and a false loyalty in order to cut off the loyalty to Jesus. Father, we come to you even now. We ask you for the spirit of truth. We ask you for the spirit of revelation. We ask you to exalt Jesus in our hearts and in our midst, in Jesus' name. Amen. Matthew chapter 24, verse 5, I mean verse 4, it's talking about the end times and Jesus said in context to the end times, take heed that no one deceives you. And I'm going to take it a step further. It's not just that you would not be deceived, but you would be engaged in this for the, for the people that you love, that they would not be deceived. It's not enough just to avoid deception. We want others to avoid deception. Verse 5, for many will come in my name. And I want you to catch how many times the word many is used in this passage. They'll say I'm the Christ. They will deceive many. So there's multitudes of people who are getting swept away by deception. Again, it's the enemy's attack against intimacy with Jesus. And so, verse 11, many false prophets will arise, and again, they will deceive many. They'll get many people to follow after them. Verse 24, false Christs and false prophets will arise, and they'll show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. And the elect can be deceived if they're not careful, but it's not, it's not difficult to avoid deception. Matter of fact, the primary way that we avoid deception, not the only way, I'll give you a couple one, two, threes at the end, but they're really self-evident. Because the weakest and newest believer can avoid deception if they want to. But the primary way is to shine the light of understanding, to expose the deception. It says in Hosea chapter 4, verse 6, I don't have this on the notes, that my people, it's Hosea 4, 6, my people are destroyed by lack of knowledge. And by shining light on the deception, by exposing the deception, most of the power of it is broken right there. Now, as the great harvest accelerates, so deception accelerates. As the activity of the Spirit accelerates, and more people take hold of truth, not just more people take hold of it, but they go deeper in the truth. So the enemy doubles his efforts, or accelerates them, and more people take hold of deception, and they go deeper in deception. So there's a parallel on both sides. Now this idea that many, it says twice, that many will be deceived. Jesus says that twice in this passage. And that's where we're getting the idea of cults. It's large gatherings, multitudes, clustering together around false leaders. And that needs to be exposed. And not just that you would avoid it, but you would expose it. That's part of the forerunner calling to expose major deceptions. I'm not talking about trying to find out every minor error that some ministry's in, and making a big point, and sending out a newsletter to expose them. I'm talking about majoring on majors. The major deceptions, the forerunner, those with a forerunner calling, or the whole body of Christ. But those that are really locked into preparing people, and preparing themselves for the coming of the Lord, they will focus on this idea of the responsibility of exposing major deceptions. Paragraph B, the conflict in the end times will be a battle for truth. There'll be other battle arenas, but the battle for truth will be the primary one. Satan's main weapon will be deception, and he'll use false signs and wonders to back up the deception. And our main defense against deception is truth, is love for truth, is the shining of the light of understanding, but loving it. Loving truth is a critical phrase we're gonna look at in a few minutes. At the very center of the battle is a focus on defining who Jesus is, number one, and how we love him, how we respond to him. And the enemy is bringing confusion, even in the church, as to the definition of who Jesus is. And there's believers beginning to move the boundary lines on this. But it's not just who Jesus is. That's the first area of battle. But it's how we're supposed to love him. And there's a false grace message that is endorsing compromise. And it really doesn't matter what we do, because everything's okay in the end. And the truth is, we have to love God on God's terms. Not on our terms. It has to be on God's terms. And our love for God is expressed in our allegiance to Jesus, in allegiance to his word. That's how our love for God is expressed. Now, the Holy Spirit, in John 16, verse 13, Jesus said, the Spirit will guide you. The newest believer can be guided by the Spirit if they want to be. He'll guide you into truth. He'll tell you of things to come. He'll glorify me. He'll take what is mine, and he'll give it to you. Paragraph D. Now, Paul gives a prophecy about the falling away in the end times. And the answer to avoid the falling away is by loving truth. In 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, Paul said, don't let anybody deceive you by any means. He says, the day of the Lord, or talking about Jesus's return, it won't come until the falling away comes first. There is a huge falling away just preceding the coming of the Lord. It has not happened yet. It's not a gradual falling away through history. There is a major falling away in the years leading up to the return of the Lord. It might be a couple decades, and the falling away may accelerate, or it might be just a real intensity in the final years. Who knows? But we know that it will be discernible, and it is one of the signs of Jesus's soon return. And the next sign that Paul gives is that the man of sin, which is a title for the Antichrist, he will be revealed on the world stage. Now, that's interesting that the falling away is as big of a sign and as apparent as the Antichrist appearing, meaning it's not a subtle falling away that we don't see. It is a huge global, I mean, sign that is walked out or seen on a global level, the falling away as well as the Antichrist. Verse 9, now he's describing the Antichrist and his appearing. He will be according to the working of Satan, with all power, all signs, and lying wonders, and with unrighteous deception. Among those who perish, and here's why they perish, they did not receive the love of the truth. The love of the truth is the critical issue. Above all things, we must be people who love truth, that we're willing to be corrected, we're willing to invest our life in the pursuit of truth as defined by the Word of God. Paragraph E, now love for truth is more than just adherence to it. It's more than verbal acknowledgement of the truth. Love of truth, it's more than that. It's taking a firm stand for the truth, regardless what it costs. Loving the truth means we conform our life to the truth. A lot of people say, Jesus is Lord. I believe in the kingdom of God, but they don't do anything with it with their life. That's not loving the truth. It's not verbal, giving verbal or mental assent to it, but it's taking a stand and conforming our life around the truth. The paragraph G, Paul talks about cults back in his day. 2,000 years ago, here in Acts chapter 20, verse 29, Paul said, for I know this, that after my departure, now he was leaving the elders of Ephesus. He was on the beach, giving a farewell message and address to them and about to get on a ship and never to return to the city of Ephesus. He said, after I leave, and here he's talking to all the elders, he goes, savage wolves, what a horrible term. He's talking about Bible teachers. He said, they are savage wolves. They will come in among you. You'll actually open the door to some of them. They won't spare the flock, meaning with their destructive deceptions. Verse 30, now he gets real personal. Catch this. This is intense, and we want to know this about our own lives, not just about the guy down the road. Paul said, among yourselves, you elders, some of you will rise up and speak perverse things. I mean, they're looking at each other. These are the elders that Paul put in place. He said, some of you will rise up, speak perverse things, and here's the cult concept, you will draw away disciples, they will draw away disciples after themselves. That's what a cult is. It's drawing people mostly after one key leader and his unique ideas that are not found in the Bible. Paul said, therefore watch, pay attention, keep your eyes open to the Spirit, to the Word, and be alert in your spirit to this. Now he's telling this to the elders of Memphis. What a painful thing for Paul to say. What a unnerving thing for a group of elders to hear. They're looking at each other saying, what do you mean? We'll rise up from among us. But it can happen that people that are legitimate teaching ministries can begin to get off course and leave the written Word of God and draw disciples after themselves instead of after the Lord. Top of page 2, 2 Peter chapter 2. Now Peter warns about false teachers. He says, there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies. They will deny the Lord. Now the reason they're called destructive heresies, because they cause people to not enter into salvation. I mean they, the consequences are real. They destroy people's lives. Even denying the Lord. Verse 2, many, here's that many word again that Jesus used four or five times in Matthew 24. Many will follow their destructive ways. Because of their teaching, the way of the truth will be blasphemed. Meaning these guys will teach and the people will hear and they will blaspheme. They will ridicule the true gospel of Jesus and the ways of Jesus. Oh, that's it. That's, they'll call it legalism. A lot of groups, if they don't like the standards of holiness, the key phrase is dismiss it by calling it legalism. That's a, that's a key way that false teachers get out of the tension and the challenges of denying themselves to follow the ways of the Lord. Now, now he's gonna get real specific here. I want to point out two different, two main characteristics of false teachers or false prophets. And these are the two things that cults are built around, these two tendencies in leadership. Verse 3, by covetousness, they will exploit you. They will trick you and manipulate you by appealing to covetousness and by their own covetousness. They'll exploit you with deceptive, with deceptive words. Verse 14, talking about the false teachers, they have eyes full of adultery. They cannot cease from sin. Their heart is trained in covetousness. Verse 18, when they speak, they speak great swelling words. I mean great grand words, but it's emptiness, Peter said. They allure people through lust and through lewdness. It's talking about particularly sexual immorality. So the two most easily detected signs of a false prophet, not the only two, but the two that shout at you, is they covetousness, money is a really important thing in their life for their own personal lives, and lewdness or immorality. They find a way to preach the Word in a way that actually allows and promotes illicit behavior among even the people in their group. And some of them are the saints, actually, because some of the saints get caught into this kind of stuff. Paragraph J, now a cult, they don't accept the main and plain doctrines of Scripture, just the main historic Christian doctrines. And I listed a few of them there. It's not an exhaustive list, but these are the main ones. You could add a few to it if you want to get all the main doctrines, but Jesus, fully God, fully man. Jesus' death and bodily resurrection. The one true God in three persons, or the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equally God, all three. One God, three persons. Salvation by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone. There is no other way of salvation. The infallibility of Scripture, the unity of the body of Christ, and diversity, meaning there's many different denominations and streams and groups. I mean, there's thousands, hundreds of, I don't know the number, but thousands and thousands of different streams in the body of Christ. And if they preach Jesus and they seek to love Him, I mean, nobody does it perfect, but it's in their heart. It's their confession to love Him. We must honor, receive, and support one another in the, in the unity and diversity of the body of Christ. Now, cults don't like these, these main points here. These get in their way. I have a couple creeds or confessions. You could look at the main ones. There's, there's quite a few creeds, but the Apostles' Creed, the, uh, the Nicene Creed, and the Westminster Confession. Those are three of the most used creeds or confessions in the body of Christ, particularly in the Western world. And so they're very, they're short statements, the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed. And you can read them and get the main and the plain doctrines of the Bible, just real clear. Roman numeral two, we're going to look at the seven characteristics of a cult. Paragraph A. Now, if a group embraces even one of these characteristics, doesn't mean they're for sure a cult, but they definitely have cult tendencies, and they might be for sure a cult. If they, one of the seven, you, you need to be alarmed. If one of these seven are in place, and if all seven are in place, then it is real trouble. Two or three of them, it's real trouble. Paragraph B, number one characteristic. They oppose critical thinking. I don't mean being critical, criticizing, that's not what I mean. But I mean, objective, critical thinking, thinking that questions and challenges the truth, or their perception of the truth, or what they hear as being taught as truth. It's critical. Well, I'm using the word different ways now. It's essential. It's essential that the body of Christ, everybody, they are critical thinkers. Meaning, they challenge what they hear, and they see if it's in the Bible, and they believe, they only believe when they see with their own eyes, in their own Bible, then they believe it. And if they don't see it with their own eyes, in their own Bible, they should not, not, not necessarily be against it right away, but they should be cautious and restrained and say, well, I'm not sure yet. I'm still checking it out. Cults don't like that. They want to control the way people think. They want to tell people what to think. They don't want people thinking for themselves. They don't want to be challenged. Paragraph two. Now, I've said it, but I can say it like a broken record. We must, every one of you in this room, but it's not just you, it's the people you're ministering to. And some of you have teaching ministries now, and others of you, many of you have teaching ministries in the future. You don't want people to buy into what you say without them seeing it with their own eyes. That doesn't honor you. That actually dishonors you. That people say, Mike, I'm so excited to be here. I just believe everything you say. That is a put-down of my ministry. That means I have not laid a good foundation. That doesn't flatter me. That hurts my heart. I go, ouch! How did you get by the gate on that one? I go, what do you mean? I just think you're just great. That, that, that, I would rather you appreciate me with an asterisk. You say, you know, I like that guy, but you know what? I'll see. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm talking about a critical spirit. I'm talking about just taking responsibility for your own heart to know truth. I have said this for years here, that we want all of our Bible school students, I think I even said it last week, that we want all of our Bible school students, well everybody, not just Bible school students, but we want you to challenge everything you hear in every class. But in humility. But challenge it. And make sure you can see it with your own eyes in the Bible before you accept it. Loyalty to a ministry actually involves challenging the ministry, but in humility. That guy says, well, I'm really loyal to that ministry. I don't want to, you know, I don't want to challenge him. I'm loyal. I go, that's a false definition of loyalty. If you really love somebody or a group of people, then you want them to embrace the truth. And if you're loyal with humility and in the right process, with the right spirit, you want to challenge them. That's a part of the definition of loyalty. Cults don't go for that at all. It says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, 21, test all things. Now this is Paul talking to the church at Thessalonica. Another translation says examine everything. And how do you test it and examine it? Well, one way is how the Bereans did it in Acts chapter 17, verse 10. I mean, verse 11. It said the Bereans received the Word of God with all readiness, with all eagerness. I mean, they were hungry for the Word. They had an open spirit. Now, here's the balance. They had all eagerness. They had an open spirit, not a critical spirit in the negative sense, but they searched the Bible daily to find out whether the things that Paul was teaching them, because Paul was in their city teaching them, and Luke wrote the gospel, I mean, wrote the book of Acts. Luke is giving this record. He said they were very eager. They were open-hearted. And that's awesome. But they said, Paul, we like your spirit, but we're gonna check it out ourselves with our own eyes and our own Bible. And they're called noble-minded. It's how they're described later on in the passage or earlier in the passage. Actually, they're called more noble-minded are the Bereans than the others. So it's right to have all readiness, to be eager. The thing, I don't want us to go to either extreme. We don't want such a hunger and openness that we accept everything. The man, you know, it's like the preacher said, so open-minded their brains fell out. But we want eagerness and openness for sure. That's what the Bereans were. They were ready, but they were cautious with a spirit of humility. They searched it out with their own eyes. Now one thing that I want, thing I really care about in our midst here, I don't want people telling somebody else a Bible truth by saying, Mike said, Alan said, Wes Hall said. I want them to say the Bible says. Until you know where it's at, I don't mean you have to know the Bible verse. That's not what I mean. But unless you have confidence it's in the Bible, you're actually not helping anybody by saying Mike said. Well, Alan said that Jesus is God. Well, Alan's right. But we got to get past Alan said. You don't need to be telling a truth to another person unless you, are you convinced it's in the Bible with your own eyes. And so it's, it's, it's not, I don't see that as a statement of loyalty. I see that as a statement of bad leadership of our Bible school teachers, me being one, that our students don't know that's weird to say that. They need to say the Bible says or whatever, you know, they don't have to use the word Bible, but it, you know, here it says right here. They can say it any way they want. Okay, top of page three. Characteristic number two. Again, I don't want you just to do that by accept these things. I want you to make these known to other people because you love them. Doesn't mean you have to go home tonight on the telephone and let your, you know, your friend back in the, your church back home, let them have it on something. That's not what I mean. I'm talking about, you're saying, you know what, I'm gonna get a hold of this stuff. And I'm gonna, you can say it in your own way, but these basic principles. Okay, characteristic number two. Cults penalize people for leaving their cult. They penalize them. Now the opposite response, the biblical response, is the leadership is supposed to be helping people succeed in their quest to be in the will of God. Not resisting them saying, wait. What do you mean you're going somewhere else? No, you can't go somewhere else. God's going to judge you if you go somewhere else. No, you need to say your first response. Always needs as a leader is to help people succeed in the will of God, no matter what city or what calling it is. Just to succeed in the will of God. It's a mindset. Now what the cults will do? They'll warn people of judgment. The problem is, this is one of those where, I know good guys who do this, and I wouldn't call them a cult, but that's, it's definitely a cult tendency. I know, I mean good guys. When somebody wants to leave their ministry, they get real tense about it. They start saying, well, you'll miss out on God's best and probably the Lord, negative things will happen to you, or the anointing of God in your life won't be what it would be if you stayed here. Beloved, that's bad. Someone tells you that, that doesn't mean they're a full-on cult leader, but that is clearly a cult tendency. That's kind of the one that's more common than the other ones. And then if the people do go, they're rejected. They're shunned by the community. Instead of being celebrated and checked in on, and when they come back in town, you know, hey, let's rejoice and celebrate with your victories. Let's weep over your failures. What they do is they shun them. And they rejoice when negative happens, and they don't celebrate when the good happens. And they warn of God's judgment. That's bad, really bad, if leadership does that. The, uh, one of the tendencies of a cult, and I'm not saying it's impossible to do what I'm doing next, because it could be an exception, but it should be a rare exception with, you know, just, I've never seen it yet, in terms of my personal life in ministry, but it's the idea of making lifelong commitments to a ministry. I've had guys over the 30 years of ministry have come to me, I've had it a number of times, says, I want to commit for life to be here. And I've told them, I mean for, for many years, for decades, I say, no, I don't want you to commit for life. They go, what? I go, here's what I would rather you commit. I would rather you commit to do the will of God in the present tense. So if you do the will of God in the present tense, like if it's today, it's to be here, let's do it. If in a year it's not, well, don't stay here. You do the will of God in the present tense, and if 10 years goes by, 20 years goes by, 30 years goes by, and you're still here, I'll say, well, guess what? You were really right way back in the 80s. But we don't have to know that now. Let's just commit to do the will of God in the present tense and bless each other wherever that leads us. And we, if we happen to be together for decades, cool. That's God's will, but we don't have to know it on the front end. Let's just enjoy it in the present tense. So I've had, uh, a number of leaders who have, I mean 10 or 20 or 30, I don't know the number, not one or two and not hundreds, but some, uh, I've had this conversation many times over the years. I've said, no, I don't want, I don't, we don't need those commitments. Let's just commit to do the will of God in the present tense. Let's do that and let's enjoy it. And if it takes us in different directions, let's rejoice. Let's weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice, meaning if you go and some trouble happens, I will be pained in my heart with you. And if something good happens, it's my victory too. And if it's a pressure, it's my pressure. Let's celebrate each other in the will of God. Now there's a softer approach that some take and I, and I think I really do. I believe it's cult-like tendencies, even though they may not be a cult. So I'm being a little heavy on this number two because I know good guys who do number two. But some softer and heavier, but you got to get their permission in order to go somewhere else. And if you don't get their permission, you are rebellious. And I've heard that for 30 years, you know, I can't leave there. I'm rebellious. I just, that is fundamentally and profoundly wrong. It just is. I remember, uh, once I went to a citywide pastors meeting that I go to. I've been a part of a citywide pastors group. Well, I mean all the days of IHOP and even before that for, for the years I've been in Kansas City with a group of guys. And uh, so when IHOP started, they asked me to share, and I did, about IHOP. And I said, here's our rules. I said, you can recruit anybody you want, anytime you want. I said, that's the rules of IHOP. You can recruit anybody, anytime. We've had that rule for, for 10 years, our policy. So, uh, some months later, one of the pastors came to me, said, hey Mike, I just want to check in with you. That worship leader, do I have your permission to recruit them? I said, no. Guy goes, what? I thought you made a big deal at the pastors meeting that we could recruit. I go, you can. He goes, you are totally confusing me. And I was being a little bit ornery because I knew I was confusing him. But I was making a point. I said, I'm not going to give you permission because I don't have the authority to give you permission. I said, if I give you the permission, you're going to think that he needs permission from you when he goes to the next place in the will of God. And I'm not going to let you bind that person in that way. I said, so no. You don't have permission. But if you go and recruit them, that's between you and God and them. But don't dare think that you own them. Because the fundamental of foundational value is the people of God belong to God. They really belong to God. And leaders, we must be. We must be cheerleaders, if you will, for their success in the will of God, not just their success in our system, in our org chart. Now those of you that don't have ministries in the sense of organized ministries yet, and most of you don't, you might go, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I find that when people actually get a hundred or couple hundred people following in a ministry or church or church plant, whatever, they don't do that so easy. It's kind of like they rejoiced when they were 20. But when they were 30, they had a bah humbug in their spirit. Because the guy they liked wanted to go somewhere. They went, and I go, no, no, you got to let them go. Not just let them go. Give them money and help them go. No, I mean celebrate it. Be a part of it. You're not, you know, it's the idea when, you know, a young person gets married, you know, they say, we're not losing a son. We're gaining a daughter. You know, it's really true. You're gaining a family. When somebody leaves, quote, your ministry to go somewhere else, it's not a loss. It's an expansion of your inheritance in another ministry, if you have the ability to celebrate it and to get excited about it. But if you think they're your people, this is fundamentally will bug you. It will, but I made a decision and I hope I've done it for 30 years. Best of my knowledge, I've done it each time. Anytime somebody comes to me and I warn them on the front end, I go, if you've got a decision to go somewhere, and I've said this near 30 years, this same phrase, I go, and you ask me, should you go? I'm not going to kick into the wisdom gear and help you figure it out. I'm going to kick into the cheerleader gear and help you get there. So get wisdom from somebody else because if you come to me, because I'm the main human leader over the ministry, I have to be in the help you get there mode, not the warn you, you better not go mode. So if you come to me, I am going to help you by even in just verbal encouragement. I'm going to help you. So if it's wrong and you get there, don't call me later and say, why did you send me? No, no, no. I am predisposed to help people go to the new place. And so I said, get wisdom before you get to me. Make me like step two, three or four. Don't make me step one because I'm going to help you go. I've had a couple of guys over the years. I mean, main leaders, they came and told me, I says, good, let me help you. They go, you mean you want me to go? I said, no, no, it's not that. They got spirit of rejection hit them because I was so enthusiastic. I go, no, no, no, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that I will always say yes. They go, yeah, but couldn't we like weigh it over and pray over it? I go, no, you got to do that a few steps before you get to me because I'm the the main in the human sense Senior leader in our midst. And so in that position, I don't want to be in a you better stay here mindset. I want to be in, I'm going to help you go there mindset. So that's a very big point in my heart, but it's not enough that I like this. It's my desire that you would have the same value when you have leadership over people. And some of you have leadership over people now. Okay, characteristic number three. Cults, they emphasize special doctrines that are outside of the scripture. They get these ideas and these mandates and these missions from God that are not in the Bible. They don't have a loyalty to the Bible. They have a loyalty to being unique and even odd or eccentric or different. That's kind of, I don't know that many of them, so I don't know really what they're thinking, but it's they emphasize that the anointed leader has unique insight that nobody else has. If that guy has insight nobody else has, I don't think you want to go. I don't think that is a, that is a a red flag. Because the Holy Spirit, if he's emphasizing something, he's telling lots of people all over the body of Christ, if he's emphasizing it. Now he may not be telling the majority of the body of Christ, but even if he's telling one percent of the body of Christ, beloved, that's 10 million people. I mean there's millions even if it's only one percent. Millions of other members of the body of Christ and other streams are going to be stirred by this thing that may not be common or, but others are receiving it. The Spirit is bearing witness to it across the world. So the, instead of focusing on some unique kind of uh strange mandate, we need to buy into and take hold of the main and plain things in the Bible, like the Sermon on the Mount lifestyle. There's nothing more main and plain than Matthew 5, 6, and 7. It's the Sermon on the Mount. We cannot go wrong. Sermon on the Mount. And in the Sermon on the Mount, the eight beatitudes, the first part of Matthew 5, the eight beatitudes, the eight central character traits that we want to develop in our life. And then Jesus gives us six things to avoid. Then he gives us five things to pursue. Prayer and fasting and giving and blessing and giving ourself to God in these kinds of ways. In Matthew chapter 6 he describes those. So we want to teach, I don't mean just we, I'm talking about the body of Christ. We want to teach the supremacy of the scripture. Cults don't do that. They teach the specialness of their own doctrines and their own mandates rather than the main and plain things of the scripture. Walk out the Sermon on the Mount lifestyle. Heal the sick. Feed the poor. Witness. Be. Serve one another. Have an open teachable spirit. Walk in humility. Read your Bible. Give money to people. Bless people. Be nice to your enemies. Just the normal main and plain things. And speak the truth to other people, believers and unbelievers alike, to edify their life. Okay, number four. Characteristic of a cult is they seek inappropriate loyalty to the leader or leaders. And there's typically one main leader. Sometimes there's two or three. And the goal of this leader or leaders are to connect people to themselves and to create an inappropriate devotion and loyalty to them. A preoccupation with getting their favor and their approval. And we need to get people preoccupied with Jesus and his favor and his approval and get them with a mindset of loyalty to him. And if we've done that, that's the friend of the bridegroom spirit that John the Baptist talked about in John 3, 29. He called himself a friend of the bridegroom. He means that Jesus is the bridegroom and the people are the bride and John says I'm going to get the bride connected to Jesus. I'm going to get the people loyal to Jesus and I'm getting out of the way so they can be connected. Now that's the friend of the bridegroom spirit, meaning that we want to serve so people do not have an inordinate preoccupation or loyalty to the leader. And a leader that wants that, that doesn't necessarily mean they're a cult because that's a, it's just a carnal desire. But if it goes to an extreme, I mean a lot of good guys have that just because we're fleshly people and we have you know, just fleshly pride in us. That doesn't mean they're a cult. But if they do it to any kind of regular amount of time at a certain measure and intensity, then it is cult-like for sure. Cults require loyalty to them and they go, well, I love Jesus. They go like, well, okay, whatever. I want to make this place cult-free, cult-safe. All the people that come through here all the years because they are so focused on loving Jesus that if they ever go anywhere and somebody goes, what about me? They go, ugh, wrong question. That's the first thing that strikes them. They've been here for a few months or a few years and they go somewhere else and the afternoon they go, atmosphere is, hey, what about loyalty to me? Something will just trigger them so strong. And of course, not just because they're here, but that's one of my goals of everybody that passes through here, whether a short amount of time or long amount of time, they end up strengthening their loyalty to Jesus. I appreciate people that are faithful at IHOP, but I don't want IHOPers. I want Jesus people. I want people focused on Jesus. Their assignment may be IHOP for a year or a decade or longer or shorter. That's cool. The Lord will pay them. He will bless them, but I don't want IHOPers. I want Jesus loyal people. My dream is not IHOP. My dream is connectedness to Jesus. IHOP is my assignment. I appreciate my assignment most of the time, but my, uh, this is not my dream. IHOP is not my dream. My dream is the anointing to connect with Jesus's heart. The grace of God is what I mean by anointing and that's what I want to help everybody's dream to be that comes here. And a lot of people have that dream before they get here and that makes it really easy. And others, they shift over in their heart and they make a shift and that makes people that have this kind of loyalty to Jesus, they are, they are, it's a safety net. They become, uh, immune to cults because the cults have a different spirit and that will really rub them wrong. They will feel it instantly. They'll go, oh, this doesn't feel right. They want me to be devoted to them. Yuck. Cults will express that loyalty is being, is, uh, being forbidden to correct them or challenge them. And people that are cult leader type personalities, one way you can tell is that hopefully you haven't ran into too many, but they won't admit their errors. They won't in their family, to their wife, their children. They won't in their team. They won't in just in normal, uh, coming and going of life. They won't ever say I was wrong. I messed up. I'm sorry. That's terminology they don't use. And the most godly men and women and the best leaders can say I'm sorry in relationships, particularly in their marriage, but then in their team ministries, the people that are the closest to, they need to have, be able to say I'm sorry really easy without it being a big deal. You know, we had a meeting with the, uh, worship team and we were talking about dating. And Alan Hood said one of those brilliant things. He goes, what kind of, what do you look for in a, in a mate? And one of the, he gave a couple really good points, but one of them I love, he says, find someone that it's easy for them to say I'm sorry. If they can't say I'm sorry, I mean really easy, then go slow. That's trouble. That's trouble. If they sweat and pray and fast and stay up all night to get the courage to say I'm sorry, like that's not good. That ought to flow out of them really easy. Same thing with leadership. I don't want leaders in our, particularly, well any leaders, but our top leadership that can't say I'm sorry really easy to one another and particularly at home with their, with their family. That's where it really needs to be established. Okay, so number four is this inappropriate loyalty and devotion and preoccupation with leaders. Number two, the Bible wants, I've already said it all, our loyalty and preoccupation first to Jesus. Secondly, I mean there is loyalty in relationships, but second is good. Second is still a valuable thing, but it's nowhere close to our loyalty to the Bible and Jesus. We serve with weak and broken leaders. They don't have, there's no leaders with all the answers. All the leaders need insight from other people and they need correction. Every single leader. If I meet a man or a woman in our leadership team, they don't think they need correction or they don't need insight from other streams of the body of Christ. I don't mean just us, but from other people. They are not safe leaders and cults don't exhibit that spirit at all. Okay, number five. I mean just kind of on the way here. I'm giving you these cult tendencies, but really this is just good old-fashioned sermon on the mount teaching. This really is what we're really doing. This is just the kingdom lifestyles we're talking about. Number five, cults dishonor the family unit. Whereas the Bible insists on the priority of the family unit. And you only want to be a part of ministries that insist on the biblical priority the family is first. I mean God is first. And not just theoretically. We obey God as our first concern. But in terms of relational commitment, our family is first. And then that doesn't mean we got to make sure we spend lots of times watching TV and entertainment just so that we're there. Because a whole lot of quote family time is not really, it's not quality connection. It's not quality communication. Hanging out in a room watching TV is not what I call family time. And that might, you might do that a little bit. But that's not what I mean. I got to draw back so I can just spend more time in entertainment. Entertainment's nice. And doing it with the family, that works. But I'm talking about if you're drawing back from the work of the kingdom, it really needs to be to have quality investment in your family. Not just to flesh out with your family. That's not the point. But the work of the ministry is always the second priority to the quality commitment to the relationships in our family. And that's a real common point that all ministries would know. But again, some misappropriate that. They apply it differently. And they draw back from their ministry mandate a normal, diligent work ethic in order just to, uh, an inordinate amount of entertainment time. Because family time in 2009 is different than it used to be in the old days. Because there's so much media going on today that it's, things are, it's, it's a challenge for a young couple now to raise their families without this inundating them in a way that when, when my boys were 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, we didn't even have a TV. And we didn't fit. A lot of our people didn't. We just were doing stuff and didn't think about it. But today it's just, uh, the media culture is so much more intense. So the reason I'm pointing this out, I'm not, it's not a big correction or rebuke is that don't mistake that for family time. Because that's not what I'm talking about. Family time, I'm talking about quality, commitment, eye contact, communication. That has more priority than serving others outside of your family. But number five here, the dishonoring of the family unit, number one, the cults. Now this is really, really, uh, perverse, but children in cults are taught to be more loyal to the leaders than their parents. Equally perverse, even more intense. Women are taught to be more loyal to the leaders than their husbands. And even more bizarre than that, husbands are taught to accept those two things as normative. And the vast majority of ministry cultures, that would be so obvious. That doesn't even be worth, you don't even have to say it. But I've seen some good guys get close to that line. Number two, the first relational priority is to one's marriage, one's children, and one's parents. Our identity in our family, it has to be more important than our identity in our ministry. I am first, Mike Bickle. I have a wife and I have a family. That is my first identity, not just the leader of a ministry. It's an important reality. Identity meaning the way I see myself. I don't see myself first as a guy that gives Bible teachings. I see myself first as a guy who loves Jesus. That's the first anointing or grace I want to operate in. Then I want to be a faithful man in my family. And then I want to work with a diligent work ethic to serve others in the ministry here and outside the ministry here. Okay, number, top of page four. We're coming to the end of this. Number six, the crossing of biblical boundaries in behavior. Cults do this. And the two main issues, not the only two, but the two main ones, they really stick out. It's the two I mentioned earlier from 2 Peter, immorality and covetousness. It's money and sexual immorality. This is the main issue. Cult leaders, it's typically only the top leaders, but it does trickle down some, they emphasize special revelation where God told me by special revelation they can cross boundary lines of immorality. And actually more of that's happening in the last couple decades. It's kind of, it's on the increase where guys are, they're teaching the grace of God in a way where they're crossing boundary lines morally. And then the next thing that a cult are very common is that the, the ministry itself or the leaders of the ministry, they own the property, the people's property. When they join them, hey it's one for all, all for one. It's a community. That's how it goes down. But it boils down to the money and the property belongs to the top leaders. That's really off. That's really off. Even if it's well-meaning where people, I want to live with a group of people that don't want anything from themselves and everything belongs to everyone. Well the better way to do that, the biblical way to do that is it's all still yours. You just give it away in a generous way, day by day as much as you want. But it's not, the biblical pattern isn't for you to sign your house, your car and your money over to another group of people. The biblical pattern number two is sexual purity and private ownership. You know someone says, well in Acts chapter 4 they laid all their money at the apostle's feet. There is a moment where the grace of God hits a people. The people still own their own houses but they sold them and they brought the money. It was a one-time deal and they might have operated in that grace but all the money was still theirs and they gave it when they gave it and they laid it at the apostle's feet to meet the needs of the poor in that time. And then the Spirit of God could hit them again. They could do that again and again and again. It's not the pattern of the Bible where the leaders own the property and the money and the sexual boundaries are clear. That's pretty obvious. Characteristic number seven, the final one, is the cults have a separation from the larger body of Christ. Where the body of, where the Bible is, is very adamant. This of course you don't have to use this language. You can use, but the, as long as you uphold the truth, is to promote a culture of honor. You don't have to say it that way. Towards the whole church, all the, all the ministries, all the denominations, all the churches that are seeking to love Jesus. Nobody is, is fully there. So I'm not saying, well if they're really mature we'll honor them. No. If it's in their heart to honor the Word of God, to love Jesus, we, they are part of our family. We need them. Part of our inheritance is in their hands. Part of their inheritance is in our hands. We give to them. They give to us. We're around one big table at the father's, at the father's house and we honor one another and that's very important. What cults do is they criticize and they exclude the larger body of Christ with the spirit of elitism. And then they say they're the only ones saved. One guy told me that about me. He said, you think, this was years ago, he goes, you think that people have to be a part of your church to be saved. I said, that is the bizarrest thought in the world. I said, so what you think that I think is that you have to be a part of my ministry org chart for the blood of Jesus to work? He goes, well that sounds a little ridiculous. I go, I know. That's my point. I go, if they got to be here to be saved, that means they got to be a part of my organizational ministry org chart in order for the blood of Jesus to be effective. What about all the people hundreds of years ago? They just all go to hell because my organization didn't exist. He goes, well I guess that's a little absurd. Well what I'm trying to say is I think you're proud. I go, I can take that. I am proud. Okay. Let's, let's talk straight, but I don't, the blood of Jesus is limited to my org chart. That's a bizarre concept. So he downgraded his charge to that. I was proud. I could take that. I mean, it was true. I came by it honestly. Okay. B in the Bible, we love God by loving the whole church because the whole church is so dear to him. We cultivate an honor of a culture of honor in our midst. We emphasize blessing all ministries. One of our, for those that are new here, we have a policy. I mean, it's important to us. We will not allow criticism of other ministries, not in little snide comments on the side. If any of our leaders ever do that, they have to apologize. They have to acknowledge it and apologize. We do not criticize other leaders that have different focuses or even deficiencies. We all have deficiencies or different styles. Now it's one thing if a ministry is promoting destructive doctrines and destructive behaviors, but then we have to go through the biblical process of going to them in private. We have to go the right process in the right way. So there is a place to expose falsehood, but I'm not talking about destructive behaviors and destructive doctrines. I'm talking about, you know, that one group down the road, they push people down to the prayer line. That's so bad. Well, that is bad, but you don't push people down the prayer line, but we can't criticize that ministry by name. You cannot do that. And I said, guys, don't ever mention names of anyone who does that. They are part of the body of Christ. We have to bless and not criticize unless it is a destructive heresy and pushing people down the prayer line isn't one. It's dorky, but it's not destructive heresy. And we have to honor them and love them and not like, bear witness, I got a witness against them. Nah, we're just all folk. Just be easy on them. And we have to have a, the biblical mandate is a spirit of inclusion, meaning that it's our dream to be involved, meaning dream, the thought of our heart is, Lord, how can we be involved and serve other ministries and receive from them? Not how can we be biggest, best, and first? That's a cult mindset. We want to be the biggest, the best, and the first. That's a cult tendency. But rather the kingdom mindset is that we want to, how can I use my resource here, the people, the money, the, the promises you gave us, Lord, to help other ministries with no strings attached? That's inclusion. And so it's a spirit of inclusion without elitism. It's to receive from them and to give to them as part of our, the dream of our heart as kingdom people. But cults are really opposite to that. Okay, the end of it. I'm going to skip a Roman number three, go down to Roman number four, the last couple sentences. Roman number four. Everybody can avoid deception. The newest believer can't. Colossians 2, 9, Paul's talked about holding fast to the head. The head being Jesus. If we hold fast to Jesus, that's the, we get people reaching to connect with Jesus. If they'll do that, they don't have to be mature at it if the reach of their heart is to hold on to the head. Not to a ministry, but to hold on to the head. If we do that, we read our Bible on a somewhat regular basis. Nobody does it all the amount that they want, but we got to stay in the word, a little bit at least. We got to set our heart to obey the Lord. I'm talking about the whole body of Christ right now. How can everybody can avoid deception if they want? They have to set their heart to obey the Lord. That doesn't mean they always do, but it's in their heart and when they fail, it's a problem to them. They confess it. If they have that heart, they're not going to be deceived. If they have these things in place, they're quite easy. They stay in relationship with other people, but with a teachable spirit. And what I mean by a teachable spirit, where the people you're related to, some of them are in the ministry you're at and some of them are in other ministries. It's not good to have only people in your ministry, but people in other ministries, we have an open heart and when they correct, we have a teachable spirit instead of defensive. They say, you know what, I think that's wrong. Well, what do you mean it's wrong? How about when you do this? That's called a defensive spirit. When someone says you're wrong, even if they're wrong about you being wrong, it's way better for you to take it and say, Lord is there even five percent truth and give the guy five dollars instead of giving him a counter cut down. Instead of him saying, well what about you being wrong? Say, Lord if there's five percent of this is right, the correction, give the guy five bucks and thank you for serving you. Five dollars is as cheap of a lesson as you will ever learn, trust me. Most lessons that I've paid for are way more expensive. Give him five bucks twice. Say, hey keep it coming. I needed that five percent and we serve other people by witnessing. I mean we serve the truth. That's how we love the truth, by witnessing and by ministering the truth to others. Amen and amen. Let's stand.