“WARNING!!!”

“Digging Deeper” is an opportunity for you to continue your study of God’s Word throughout the week.

TUESDAY
“WARNING!!!”

1 John 4:2-3
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

One sure way for you to determine if someone is of God is to find out what they believe about Jesus Christ. If a person or group denies the incarnation of Jesus Christ, John says they have the spirit of the antichrist. This is a denial of the doctrine of Christ as the apostles taught it and a deviation from orthodox Christianity.

This is exactly what is happening with Cults in our culture today. A cult is a group that surrounds a leader, or a group of teachings, which either denies or misinterprets essential biblical teachings. For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that Jesus is God.

SPECIFICS ABOUT CULTS:
• Usually an offshoot of Christianity
• Denies one or more of the doctrines of historic Christianity
• Often considers itself the only true expression of Christianity

One noted cult researcher observed that the cults are “the unpaid bills of the church.” In many ways, the church has failed to doctrinally train its members; it has failed to make a real moral difference in the lives of its members; it has failed to meet people’s deepest needs; and it has failed to provide people with a sense of belonging. The failure of the church is wide and deep and has made it easy for the cults to flourish.

Some experts say there are about 700 cults, while others say there are as many as 3,000. Cults of one form or another involve more than 20 million
people in the United States, and are multiplying at an alarming rate. The world we live in (the world our children and grandchildren are growing up in) is full of wrong information and beliefs about Jesus Christ.

WARNING: What a person believes about Jesus matters!