Chapter 7: The Christian Response

IN THIS SECTION, you will learn about:

• Common heresies shared by cults.

• Productive and unproductive witnessing techniques.

• Cult activities on the world mission field.

• How the cult challenge can strengthen the church.



AS A RESULT, you will be able to:

• Defend six foundational Christian doctrines.

• Share your faith freely and effectively.

• Knowledgeably counteract the worldwide cult expansion.

• Turn doubt into strength, wisdom, and faith.

Key Scripture: “Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” (Ps. 119:89).

Key Word: Canon.

In this last chapter we will look at ways to respond to cults and cultists. Although witnessing is not debating, it is important to have a foundational knowledge of what the Bible teaches. As we noted in Chapter 1 of the Study Guide, cults typically diverge from orthodox Christianity by rejecting certain cardinal doctrines of the faith. We will review six of these doctrines and direct you to references in the resource books for further study. As you look through the references, mark two or three significant scripture passages per topic in your Bible. The ability to reference these quickly will give you confidence and authority when discussing doctrine.

The first doctrine universally rejected by cults is that of the Trinity. Although the word “trinity” is not found in the Bible, the concept of the Trinity is the only one that reconciles what the Bible teaches about the unity of God and the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

A second doctrine rejected by cults is the divinity of Christ. A common argument is that Jesus cannot be God and also call God the Father. However, in Scripture we also see the Father calling the Son God (Heb. 1:8). Again, the doctrine of the dual nature of Christ is the only one that harmonizes all the scriptures concerning Christ.

Since cults commonly augment the Bible with their own “scriptures,” it is important to establish the inspiration, authority, and finality of Scripture. Knowledge concerning the Bible’s historical reliability and the completion of the canon (after which no books could be added or deleted) is also valuable.

Matthew 25:13 declares that no one knows the day or the hour of the Lord’s return. Yet cults continue to attract and intimidate followers by claiming such knowledge. Scripture emphasizes the fruitlessness of such speculation, as well as the fact that the Second Coming will be a public rather than a secret event.

Without exception, cults deny the full sufficiency of Christ’s atonement. They are all works-oriented. Many cults, as well as the New Age Movement, fail to grasp the true nature of sin as a personal act of turning away from God. They do not understand salvation as a renewal and regeneration of the human spirit. Yet nothing less than a new heart (Jer. 31:33) is really sufficient to bring true peace.

Cults typically teach that there is a “second chance” for salvation after death. Those who believe in reincarnation can postpone indefinitely any binding decisions about God. In denying eternal punishment, cults toy with the eternal destinies of their followers.

Key Concepts: [All answers above]

1. The concept of the Trinity reconciles what the Bible teaches about the ____________of God and the __________ of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

2. In Hebrews 1:8 the Father calls the Son ______________.

3. After the _____________ of Scripture was fixed, no books could be added or deleted.

4. Contrary to what some cults teach, the Bible says the Second Coming will be a _________________ rather than a secret event.

5. Many cults, as well as the New Age Movement, fail to grasp the true nature of sin as a ________________ act of turning away from God.

6. In denying eternal punishment, cults toy with the eternal ________________ of their followers.


Further Study: Use the readings above for additional study.

Life Application: Theological concepts such as the Trinity were truths of experience for the early church. Are the six doctrines we studied above experientially true for you? Do you know the Holy Spirit as a person and as God? Have you experienced regeneration? How would you communicate this in your witnessing?

Key Scripture: “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22).

Key Word: Love-Bombing.

The greatest obstacle to success in witnessing to cultists is often not the worldview of the cultist, but the mistaken assumptions of the Christian. Dr. Tucker presents four “myths” about witnessing.

The “I Will Put My Words In Thy Mouth” Myth. Although God may sometimes lead us to speak the right word to the right person, we still have a responsibility to study Scripture and prepare to share our faith maturely and accurately (1 Peter 3:15). Too many Christians are lost to missionaries of the Mormon and Jehovah’s Witnesses because they are biblically illiterate. Being unable to defend their faith, they fall prey to a persuasive barrage of cultic proof-texting. Programs like Living By The Book help to educate and equip Christians about the content of the Bible.

The “Only Missionaries Witness” Myth. There is no such thing as “private” Christianity. Jesus made it abundantly clear that we are to “let our light shine” before all (Matt. 5:16). The commitment to proselytizing shown by the cults and the willingness of individual cultists to undergo great personal hardships to spread their “gospel” should cause us to reevaluate our own level of commitment to witnessing.

The “Great Debater” Myth. Our goal in evangelization is not to win arguments but to win souls. The supreme motivation in witnessing must always be love. We are not called upon to quarrel or argue concerning matters of faith (2 Tim. 2:23-26). Never forget that the final outcome of any witnessing encounter does not depend on us but on God (John 6:44).

The “Cultists Are Unwinnable” Myth. God does answer prayer and can change the most fanatical cultist. Statistics show that large numbers of people leave cults within three years of joining. Recall the Hare Krishna devotee who admitted: “I spoke confidently of Krishna to everyone, but in my heart was not sure at all” (p. 278). As with Saul (Acts 8:1-3; 9:1-19), those who appear farthest from faith may sometimes be nearest.

Having laid these mistaken assumptions to rest, here are several techniques for successful witnessing to cultists.

Become familiar with the cult’s central beliefs. Understand the terminology of the cult, and try not to offend the cultist. Define your terms as you go along so that there is mutual understanding. Use the cultist’s “scriptures” in your discussion, if possible. Use Nephi 31:21 to present the Trinity to a Mormon, for example. Avoid regimented “eight-point” plans to win cultists to Christ. Such approaches are artificial, depersonalizing, and leave little room for real dialogue.

Realize that cultists are not usually won through arguing, but through love and caring. Be willing to invest the time needed to build trust in your relationship. Establish a genuine friendship with the cultist if you can, not as a means to an end but as an expression of Christ’s patient, accepting love. Cults are famous for love-bombing newcomers into the group, and then coldly manipulating them. It is important that our love be sincere and constant, always protective, trustworthy, and persevering (1 Cor. 13:7).

Encourage dialogue in your discussion by searching for common ground. Like Paul in his speech to the Athenians (Acts 17:22-34), seek something to affirm in the cultist and in their quest for truth. After all, we as Christians have more in common with the sincere cultist than with the atheist or agnostic secularist. Most cultists and New Agers are honest, good, and intelligent people who are hungry for spiritual truth. Until the Holy Spirit enlightens them, they cannot know that they are fleeing from their own sense of sin and from the waiting mercy of God. Approach cultists with love and respect, not with a “kill a cultist for Christ” attitude. Spiritually, they are now as you were before Christ found you. Literally, “there but for the grace of God” go you.

Emphasize Christ – His virgin birth, His claims to divinity, His atoning death, and His glorious resurrection. This is the Christ that calls to them: “Follow me!” Does the cultist honor and love Christ as they do the Father (John 5:23; 1 John 2:23)?

Testify about what knowing and following Jesus means to you (Mark 5:19-20). It has been said that a person with an experience is never at the mercy of a person with an argument. Cultists, especially New Agers, have a finely tuned sense for spirituality. If you know Christ in the “power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing his sufferings” (Phil. 3:10), people will feel His presence in your testimony. You need not know everything about theology to have an effective witness. Perhaps the best witness to Christ in the New Testament is that given by the man born blind: “One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see” (John 9:25).

Be sensitive to the cultist’s vulnerabilities. He or she may be suffering from doubt, lack of genuine love, despair over sin, or spiritual unfulfillment. Do not be judgmental; emphasize the infinite, free love of Christ. Tell them that Christ came as the great physician, not to the righteous but to sinners (Mark 2:17). Cultists, bowed under the merciless burden of a “works” righteousness, need to know that God is indeed love.

When New Agers understand that the eons-long process of burning off their bad karma through reincarnation is a kind of cyclic hell (as it is acknowledged to be in the East), they will be eager to know about the forgiveness and peace available here and now. The unique message of Christianity is that salvation, grace, and forgiveness may be received as a free gift through Jesus Christ. Cultists drawn by the Spirit will see and joyfully accept this offer as the “good news” that it truly is.

Key Concepts: [All answers above]

1. The supreme motivation in witnessing must always be _________________.

2. The final outcome of any witnessing encounter depends on _____________.

3. Cultists are not usually won through _____________________ but through love.

4. Cults are famous for “ _________________ ” newcomers into the group and then coldly manipulating them afterward.

5. It has been said that a person with an ______________ is never at the mercy of a person with an argument.

6. What should one not focus on in witnessing? a) Christ; b) dialogue; c) winning the argument; d) common ground.

Life Application: What is the biggest obstacle you face in witnessing? Fear of rejection? Unpreparedness? Fear of ridicule? Pray about this obstacle. Give yourself to the Lord to be used as His witness and then be sensitive to those He brings into your spheres of acquaintances. Remember that He is in control, and allow Him to make an opening for you to speak.

Key Scripture: “For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9).

During the past one hundred years Christian missionaries have spread the gospel around the globe in an unprecedented wave of evangelism. Major American denominations have targeted this century as the one in which the gospel will go out to “all nations” (Matt. 28:19). Major revivals have occurred in third-world countries and even in communist countries.

In the wake of Christian missions, however, the cults have followed. The deceptive strategies used to ensnare and convert undiscerning Christians at home have been even more effective on trusting and unschooled new believers abroad. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses go door to door, gaining entrance into people’s homes without identifying themselves. They quote the Bible freely and use evangelical cliches and orthodox theological terminology. Cultists have even been known to infiltrate the counseling areas of evangelical crusades and snatch new converts from the altar after they have made decisions for Christ.

Cultic activity overseas has increased so much that Christian missionaries are as likely to witness to someone from an American cult as from another world religion. As of 1989, the Book of Mormon had been translated into 160 different languages. Nearly fifty Mormon temples existed worldwide. As the Berlin wall came down, a Mormon temple was being erected in Germany.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses document their worldwide growth in their annual Yearbook. Last year they recorded 43,000 baptisms in the United States; 24,888 in Mexico; 23,556 in Brazil; and 12,676 in Italy, a typically unfruitful area for Protestant missionary efforts. Jehovah’s Witnesses reported more than 9,000 baptisms in Japan last year, while the membership of Protestant Churches there remained virtually unchanged.

Another cult with a vigorous foreign missions program is the Unification Church. Through organizations such as the International Relief and Friendship Foundation, the Unification Church establishes schools and training centers. In these schools children and eager adults are trained in Unification Church doctrine along with academic subjects.

The Worldwide Church of God, the Way International, the Reorganized Church of the Latter-Day Saints, and the Hare Krishnas are also active on the international mission field. As unreal as it may sound, the great crowd of Russians who marched on Moscow demanding democratic reforms on February 4, 1990 were accompanied by dancing, chanting Hare Krishnas.

The coming decade is a critical period in world missions. Communism and the ideologies of secular materialism are crumbling. Russia and Eastern Europe are regaining their religious freedom. Hundreds of millions of people, whose collective spiritual hunger has been repressed for three-quarters of a century, are clamoring for spiritual sustenance.

As revival occurs overseas and the Christian church seeks to educate and serve those hungering for spiritual reality, the cults are at work as well, sometimes outpacing us. Ministers in Eastern Europe are already asking Western Christians for help in combating the New Age Movement. The spiritual warfare that you have been training for is really a world war. This Living By The Book course should help you mobilize the educational tools and evangelistic techniques needed to wage and win this war.

Key Concepts: [All answers above]

1. Cultists even infiltrate the counseling areas of evangelical ________________.

2. Christian missionaries are now as likely to witness to someone from an American __________________ as from another world religion.

3. The __________________________ has been translated into 160 different languages.

4. Through the International Relief and Friendship Foundation, the ___________________________ Church establishes schools and training centers.

5. The Russians who marched on Moscow demanding democratic reforms on February 4, 1990 were accompanied by dancing ____________________.

6. Ministers in Eastern Europe are already asking Western Christians for help in combating the _________________________________.


Life Application: “What can I do to counteract cult expansion overseas?” First, you can pray against the deceptive strategies of cults on the mission field. If you are a part of an intercessory prayer group, make a special point of praying against cult expansion. Do you know missionaries with whom you can share the fruit of this course? If not, you might want to “adopt” missionaries in a country that is besieged with cultic activity. Perhaps you can send them a copy of Dr. Tucker’s book to help in educating them about the cults and their founders.

Key Scripture: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

What have we learned from our study of the cults? We have found consistent similarities in their doctrine and in the character of their founders. The cults are marked by spiritual and intellectual poverty. Their “gods” are too small–either divinized humans or impersonal forces. Cults inadequately grasp the problem of sin, and are either naively optimistic about human perfectibility or fiercely legalistic. The founders of cults are often possessed by unbridled egotism or uncontrolled lust. The recurrent theme of salvation by works betrays the essential pridefulness of cultism.

Despite these shortcomings, the cults continue to make sharp inroads into our culture. What does the continued success of the cults tell us about the failings of the church? Dr. Tucker observes: “I personally believe that one of the shortcomings of the evangelical church is that it spoon-feeds its youth and expects them to spit out what is taught them. We need to challenge our young people to discover for themselves the truths of the Bible, and to let them question and challenge and doubt – if that’s their inclination.”

Cults do not offer their members this option. Their rule is, in Herbert W. Armstrong’s words, “If you doubt, you’re damned.” All too often, however, the church projects the same message. Christians who do not feel free to express questions and doubts simply drift away from the church to find answers elsewhere. If the church cannot or will not address their questions, the cults, New Age thinking, or agnosticism will win their allegiance by default.

We need to understand that genuine questions and doubt can be a part of faith, because genuine faith is an act of the whole person – the emotions, the intellect, and the will. We are instructed: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Faith does not believe the unbelievable through sheer willpower. Reason, the Word of God, and the prompting of the Spirit are the preconditions of faith. As these elements interact, reason finds reasons to believe beyond itself and to say “Yes” to the revelation and grace of God. As with Thomas, Jesus continues to respond today to genuine questions (John 20:24-29).

Theologically speaking, the opposite of faith is not doubt but sin. We sin when we choose to ignore the implications of the questions set before us by our mind, by our conscience, and by the Holy Spirit. We sin when we choose to be estranged from God; to go our own way; to create our own values, unguided by the light of reason, of Scripture, or of the conscience. Sin is a refusal to allow God to find us through our questions. A person with this attitude has dishonest doubt rather than honest doubt. They are not inquirers but skeptics. Instead of asking why God’s answers are true, they look for reasons to disbelieve them.

Honest doubt brings deeper assurance of faith. Through honest doubt, we reappropriate our faith on higher, more mature levels. We learn to say “Yes” to grace and overcome sin in new ways. Children grow by asking questions; spiritual babes do also. An unexamined faith often remains an immature and fruitless faith. As you allow your faith to be tested and expanded, it becomes possible for you to “give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15) in ways that are more compelling and real.

We can see quite clearly how this process works by examining church history. Heretics like Arius, Sabellius, Montanus, and others caused the early councils to clarify the doctrines that served as the foundation for the universal church. As a result, the unique strengths of the Christian faith became apparent to the classical world. Christianity was victorious over the civic religion of Rome and over the pagan religions of antiquity for reasons that were very good then, and remain very good now. Christianity is not a mythical religion (2 Peter 1:16). Its founder and Scriptures are historically verifiable. The person, claims, and works of Christ are open to study. The Gospels are backed by massive textual evidence and centuries of scholarship.

Unlike the New Age Movement and many of the cults, Christianity has a realistic and responsible attitude toward the problem of sin. It is not naively optimistic about human nature. The Christian understanding of human nature is broad enough to explain both Hitler and Mother Theresa, and profound enough to discern the real difference between good and evil. It recognizes that cosmetic solutions for the moral brokenness in humanity (education, economic reforms, etc.) are inadequate. Regeneration alone can make us whole.

Christianity knows a God who in His transcendence, omnipotence, and moral perfection is big enough to be God. But He is also a God who is great enough to become small, so that we might know Him and love Him. His love for us is such that He gave himself for us to purchase our freedom and eternal life. No other religion can claim the self-revelation of a God so infinite, yet so intimate.

In our post-rational, pluralistic society where truth and ethics are relative, Christianity continues to provide the absolutes without which human life becomes disordered, meaningless, and finally subhuman. In a world that finds such concepts as honor, beauty, kindness, and love increasingly difficult to define, Christianity acts as the repository of inexhaustible truth – most especially in the person of Christ himself. Our contact with the cults helps awaken us to the true riches we hold in Christ. As we acknowledge these riches, we can both battle victoriously with the cults and go forth to change the world for Christ.

Key Concepts: [All answers above]

1. Name three ways in which cults are “impoverished.”

2. Theologically, the opposite of faith is not doubt but ________________.

3. “Dishonest doubters” are skeptics who seek reasons to ___________ God’s answers.

4. An ___________________ faith remains an immature and fruitless faith.

5. Name three of the enduring strengths of Christianity.

Life Application: Are you afraid to question some aspect of your faith? Do you feel that you know the difference between “honest doubt” and “dishonest doubt?” Has there been a time when doubt has led you to deeper faith? Do you have doubt now? Have you spoken to God about it and asked Him to lead you to those who can help you find an answer?