CULTS
Starting with this issue we will look at cults in the United States and try to see how they affect Christianity as we know it to be true. For the most part we see cults trying to claim they are Christian faiths. However, we’ll see that they don’t follow the Bible except for small pieces they can fit into their own doctrine. They either deny or change the scriptures to fit their own belief system. They believe their faith is the only way anyone can achieve salvation.

A cult of Christianity is a group of people, which claiming to be Christian, embraces a particular doctrinal system taught by an individual leader, group of leaders, or organization, which (system) denies (either explicitly or implicitly) one or more of the central doctrines of the Christian faith as taught in the sixty-six books of the Bible.
Source: "Unmasking The Cults", by Alan Gomes.

This month we’ll start with a very popular cult…’New Age’. This one is sweeping the country. Let’s see if we can see why and how this is happening.

NEW AGE: A destroyer of humility! A Christian practices to be humble before an almighty God. The New Age teaches four main doctrines: (1) Knowing good and evil, (2) Your eyes will be opened, (3) You will be like God, (4) You will not die. Do these sound familiar? They should. You’ll find these four lies in Genesis 3:4-5, where Satan is speaking to Adam.
Knowing good from evil: In this new knowledge, music and arts are of the "natural": singing birds, rivers, mountains, the music of rain, storms, the oceans, the desert......But in this utopic world of knowledge, something is wrong: Feminism is at its heights, with mother earth, Gaia, at the front... abortion rights, gay rights, animal rights with abortion prohibited in animals, polygamous privileges, homosexual marriages, prostitution, gambling, drugs... all of this in the name of "God in you", for all that God can be and do is focused in the depths of your soul...
Your eyes will be opened: You become conscious of how powerful you are, capable of overcoming any problem... this is the "human potential movement" which has made the greatest inroads in the spread of New Age:

You will be like God: The "gigantic quantum leap", is when every human will realize that he is God... and this will occur "suddenly", as a "quantum leap", when enough people on earth have the consciousness of God, of being God!...

You will not die: At the core of the New Age is "Reincarnation"... and you will never even be sick with the holistic healing, exercise, diet, herbology, biofeedback, acupuncture, massage techniques, magic, the healing effects of crystals, pyramids, and many other superstitions.

"The 5th lie of Satan", of Matt.4, is included in this new wisdom: Jesus Christ is discarded, he is not God, and not even the son of man... he is only the "Christ Energy" or the "Cosmic Christ"... better try the occult.
There is something very wrong here.

The primary belief here is that everything is God. And, that you are God. All that you do is fine. You can overcome anything because you are God. Your decision will be the correct ones because of your god position. The primary thought here is the ‘Me generation’. The New Age is an umbrella, a collection of beliefs, over 1000 of them that you can find on the internet.

How do you become a god? It’s really quite simple, since you are already a god. You just have to realize it, and live as a god. It’s a completely mystical experience, not by logic or any type of reasoning.

There is not a founder or world leader for New Age. The term was first brought into existence by spirit medium, Alice Bailey, who died in 1949. The term gained popularity and international recognition after the musical Hair launched the concept of the Age of Aquarius.

FROM THE INTERNET
Thought you might be interested in this information from the White House. This isn't a rumor; this is a fact. We have a friend at church who is a very talented artist. For several years she, among many others, has painted ornaments to be hung on the various White House Christmas trees. The WH sends out an invitation to send an ornament and informs the artists of the theme for the year. She got her letter from the WH recently. It said that they would not be called Christmas trees this year. They will be called Holiday trees. And, to please not send any ornaments painted with a religious theme. She was very upset at this development and sent back a reply telling them that she painted the ornaments for Christmas trees and would not be sending any for display that left Christ out of Christmas. Just thought you should know what the new residents in the WH plan for the future of America . If you missed his statement that "we do not consider ourselves a Christian Nation" this should confirm that he plans to take us away from our religious foundation as quickly as possible.

A LITTLE HUMOR

SUNDAY CLOTHES A little boy was walking down a dirt road after church one Sunday afternoon when he came to a crossroads where he met a little girl coming from the other direction. 'Hello,' said the little boy 'Hi,' replied the little girl. 'Where are you going?' asked the little boy. 'I've been to church this morning and I'm on my way home,'answered the little girl. 'I'm also on my way home from church. Which church do you go to?' asked the little boy. 'I go to the Baptist church back down the road,' replied the little girl. 'What about you? '
'I go to the Methodist church back at the top of the hill,' replied the little boy.
They discover that they are both going the same way So they decided that they'd walk together. They came to a low spot in the road where spring rains had partially flooded the road, so there was no way that they could get across to the other side without getting wet. 'If I get my new Sunday dress wet, my Mom's going to skin me alive,' said the little girl. 'My Mom'l tan my hide, too, if I get my new Sunday suit wet,' replied the little boy. 'I tell you what I think I'll do,' said the little girl. 'I'm gonna pull off all my clothes and hold them over my head and wade across.' 'That's a good idea, 'replied the little boy. 'I'm going to do the same thing with my suit.'So they both undressed and waded across to the other side without getting their clothes wet. They were standing there in the sun waiting to drip dry before putting their clothes back on, when the little boy finally remarked: 'You know, I never realized before just how much difference there really is between a BAPTIST and a METHODIST!!

Know when to speak #12

Once you’ve repeated their answer, ask one more time.. ‘May I share with you how I came to know that I have eternal life, and how you can know also?’ As stated before, we don’t want to ram the gospel down anyone’s throat, and this last question will take the threat completely away. You are asking to tell how you came to know the Lord. Most of the time the person will say ‘ok’. In the event they do not say ok, do not try to push the issue. Change the subject.

There will be another time, only if you don’t try to force anything. Remember, people are not rejecting you.

Great! Now what? Your next sentence should grab their attention. To start off we can just say, “Did you know that heaven is a free gift?” With that statement, the eyes will open, the gears in the brain will turn, questions start to form, and….are you ready to back it up? An important point to keep in mind is; never say anything you can’t back up. By back up, I mean open the Bible and go right to the spot you just mentioned. If you are going to use the Bible, know what it says and where you can find it. Can you imagine how this gospel presentation will go if the person asks you where it says heaven is a free gift, and all you can come with is that it’s in the Bible. …….Goodbye credibility.

Well, let’s see if we can back up a strong statement like the one above. Free gift, huh? For a starter, take your Bible and turn to Romans 6:23. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We can follow this with about two to five minutes of your personal testimony. You might say, “I used to believe ……. and now I have eternal life.” Be careful not to give away the answer. The person you are speaking to will come to a conclusion on their own after you have shared the gospel. Afterwards you can tell them, “You know we can’t earn heaven, and we don’t deserve it. There is no way we can get there on our own.” Get ready…. You’ve done it again.