Pride is a stumbling block to moving forward to seeing the One and Only True God. As long as you are filled with so much Pride and can't own that you belonged to a cult.......you try to live under your own power.
You truly are stuck on stop.
And while you are stuck on stop,............you placate and minimize the destruction this cult causes because you don't want to face it...........to look in the mirror..........Pride stops you because you have grandiosity of self that "You" would "Never" be in a cult............"You" are too smart............"Your" family is "So Much Better and Way Too Smart To Ever Be Involved In a CULT!!
Please think about it!!!!
Eternity is Forever!!! Your choices NOW will matter THEN!!!
(The information below is summarized from numerous
expert sources on cults and the occult.)
The two words, "cult and occult," sound similar.
But while different, they both pose a similar spiritual threat to people by appearing to be something they are not.
Both can cause its victims to miss God's loving and free provision for their lives through Christ, and cause them to face a tragic, Christless eternity.
There are many nice, friendly and caring people in the cults and the occult.
God loves them, so much that Christ died for them. They are not our enemy. Our enemy is Satan and his deceiving spirits.
Cults:
In popular usage, "cults" are religious groups predicted by the Bible (2 Peter 2:1)
that deviate from the central, historic truths of Biblical Christianity and God's revelation in Christ.
Some cults are offshoots of ancient pagan religions, have no similarity to Christianity, and are easy to identify.
Others falsely try to imitate Christianity, often using the Bible and Christian terminology, and are more difficult to distinguish.
These latter cults typically exhibit one or more of the following traits:
(1.) They may consider Jesus Christ as not equal to God the Father, but something less. But Jesus said, "He who has seen ME has seen the Father," (John 14:9), and Paul said that Christ is the "image of the invisible God," (Colossians 1:15).
The Bible is repeatedly clear that Jesus is Deity, and when on the earth, "HE" was God in human form.
We can be redeemed from our sins only because God's own perfect blood (in Christ) was shed for our perfect cleansing.
(2.) They may typically reject the clear biblical revelation of a triune God, sometimes called the "Trinity:"
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit - - One God, NOT THREE, but manifest in three PERSONS. The Bible refers to all three as Persons, YET ONE.
A Mystery............but truth!!
(3.) They may have their own "sacred" book in addition to the Bible. And although they usually deny it, these books conflict and are given precedence over the Bible.
(4.) They typically reject the wonderful "BIBLICAL TRUTH" that salvation is a 'free gift" from God by grace through faith alone (this truth glorifies God and not man).
Instead, cults and all other "religions" falsely say that people must "EARN" their salvation by certain works and deeds, often works that will perpetuate the cult (this glorifies man rather than God).
(5.) Cults are often exclusive, centering around a strong leader (or late founder) who has the only "true" interpretation of Scripture. Whereas Christ came to give us freedom, (Galatians 5:1), cult members are in bondage to that cult or leader, with the threat that leaving the cult will cause a loss of salvation.
Thousands of these cults exist,...........if involved in any cult....run, don't walk, to the nearest exit, and find a Christ-centered, Bible-believing church. Also, apply the four-step process listed further down on this page.
References:
There are many excellent books available on cults. Four are:
"The Kingdom of the Cults," by Dr. Walter R. Martin - -
"The Deceivers," by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart - -
"Cult Watch," by John Ankerberg and John Weldon - -
"Larson's New Book of Cults," by Bob Larson.
The Occult:
The word "OCCULT" refers to what is hidden, concealed or secret. The OCCULT involves the spirit world - - but the spirit world of darkness. The OCCULT is particularly deceptive because the spirit world is very real.
Practitioners are dealing with reality - - but DARK, FORBIDDEN and EVIL reality.
There are two kinds of spiritual reality. the first is God's SPIRITUAL KINGDOM of truth and light where Christ is King, the nature of which is "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17), and where God's holy angels dwell, worship and serve "HIM."
The second is the world of Satan (a fallen angel): a world of darkness and hopelessness, void of God, and where other fallen angels (called demons) who hate God, work to advance this evil kingdom under their leader, Satan. This latter world of spiritual darkness is that which is experienced through the sinister practices of the occult.
The Bible does not reveal a "dualism," or co-equal forces of good (represented by God) and evil (represented by Satan). Satan is totally subject to the sovereign omnipotent Creator. But God has given Satan certain authority to operate in the earth as a result of man's sinful fall.
He operates through the minds and wills of fallen humanity, and he has constructed a complex web of many evil schemes, including occult practices, EVEN RELIGIONS, to deceive and snare people by appearing to offer them access to supernatural power and knowledge.
The Bible says that such deception will increase in "the last days" before Christ returns (1 Timothy 4:1).
But the Bible also says, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose: that "HE" might destroy the works off the devil," (1 John 3:8).
- Those who trust and obey Jesus Christ have protection and victory through "HIM."
Any degree of occult involvement can produce problems of oppression, depression, despair, hopelessness, and many physical problems, sometimes bringing self-destruction, even death. Demonic influence can produce obsession, phobias, bizarre behavior, violence, homicide and sexual perversion in its victims. Worse, it can deceive a person into eternal darkness. The occult is a form of idolatry and a sin expressly forbidden by God (Deuteronomy 18:9-12). In the New Testament, when the gospel was proclaimed and received, the liberated people gladly burned all their occult materials (see Acts 19:19).
Here are just a few of many occult practices: astrology, various kinds of "fortune-telling," witchcraft, satanism, ESP, telepathy, clairvoyance, seances, spiritism meetings, use of mediums or "channeling," automatic writing, ouija boards, hypnosis, parapsychology, psychic surgery, eastern religions, reincarnation, voodoo, magic charming, yoga, involvement with psychics such as Jeane Dixon, Edgar Cayce, the Rosicrucians, New Age "superstar", Eckhart Tolle that Oprah Winfrey has endorsed. The New Age is even compelling evidence that UFO's are real, but supernatural and often occult manifesation of fallen angels whose ultimate purpose is to deceive humanity into thinking super intelligent extraterrestrials will help usher the earth into a golden, "New Age" of happiness without God.
But with God rejected and without "HIS" blessings, occult practicing, lost and depraved humanity will soon bring upon itself the end time global holocaust prophesied by the Bible.
If you are now or have ever been, anytime in your life, involved with an cult or occult practice, you can be set free of it and any symptoms it may have brough by doing the following:
(1.) Confess sincere faith in and commitment to Christ.
(2.) Confess the cult and occult sins to God, naming and forsaking each one.
(3.) Renounce Satan, in Jesus' name, and commanding him and his demons to depart.
(4.) Receive and claim your liberation by faith, without doubting, trusting in the authority and total faithfulness of God and "HIS" Word.
If you do this, Satan "MUST" obey and release you, by the authority of Jesus' Name and God's Word, and any symptoms that Satan put on you, must disappear.
References:
There are many books available in Christian bookstores and on Amazon.com about the occult and the New Age Movement.
Here are a few:
"The Coming Darkness" by John Ankerberg and John Weldon
"Inside the New Age Nightmare" by Randall N. Baer
"Understanding the Occult" by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart.
Dr. Margaret T. Singer's 6 Conditions for Thought Reform
These conditions create the atmosphere needed to put a thought reform system into place:
* Keep the person unaware of what is going on and how she or he is being changed a step at a time.
Potential new members are led, step by step, through a behavioral-change program without being aware of the final agenda or full content of the group. The goal may be to make them deployable agents for the leadership, to get them to buy more courses, or get them to make a deeper commitment, depending on the leader's aim and desires.
* Control the person's social and/or physical environment; especially control the person's time.
Through various methods, newer members are kept busy and led to think about the group and its content during as much of their waking time as possible.
* Systematically create a sense of powerlessness in the person.
This is accomplished by getting members away from the normal social support group for a period of time and into an environment where the majority of people are already group members.
The members serve as models of the attitudes and behaviors of the group and speak an in- group language.
Strip members of their main occupation (quit jobs, drop out of school) or source of income or have them turn over their income (or the majority of) to the group.
Once stripped of your usual support network, your confidence in your own perception erodes.
As your sense of powerlessness increases, your good judgment and understanding of the world are diminished. (ordinary view of reality is destabilized)
As group attacks your previous worldview, it causes you distress and inner confusion; yet you are not allowed to speak about this confusion or object to it -- leadership suppresses questions and counters resistance.
This process is speeded up if you are kept tired -- the cult will keep you constantly busy.
*Manipulate a system of rewards, punishments and experiences in such a way as to inhibit behavior that reflects the person's former social identity.
Manipulation of experiences can be accomplished through various methods of trance induction, including leaders using such techniques as paced speaking patterns, guided imagery, chanting, long prayer sessions or lectures, and lengthy meditation sessions.
Your old beliefs and patterns of behavior are defined as irrelevant or evil. Leadership wants these old patterns eliminated, so the member must suppress them
Members get positive feedback for conforming to the group's beliefs and behaviors and negative feedback for old beliefs and behavior.
* Manipulate a system of rewards, punishments, and experiences in order to promote learning the group's ideology or belief system and group-approved behaviors.
Good behavior, demonstrating an understanding and acceptance of the group's beliefs, and compliance are rewarded while questioning, expressing doubts or criticizing are met with disapproval, redress and possible rejection. If one expresses a question, he or she is made to feel that there is something inherently wrong with them to be questioning.
The only feedback members get is from the group, they become totally dependent upon the rewards given by those who control the environment.
Members must learn varying amounts of new information about the beliefs of the group and the behaviors expected by the group.
The more complicated and filled with contradictions the new system in and the more difficult it is to learn, the more effective the conversion process will be.
Esteem and affection from peers is very important to new recruits. Approval comes from having the new member's behaviors and thought patterns conform to the models (members). Members' relationship with peers is threatened whenever they fail to learn or display new behaviors. Over time, the easy solution to the insecurity generated by the difficulties of learning the new system is to inhibit any display of doubts -- new recruits simply acquiesce, affirm and act as if they do understand and accept the new ideology.
* Put forth a closed system of logic and an authoritarian structure that permits no feedback and refuses to be modified except by leadership approval or executive order.
The group has a top-down, pyramid structure. The leaders must have verbal ways of never losing.
Members are not allowed to question, criticize or complain -- if they do, the leaders allege that the member is defective -- not the organization or the beliefs.
The individual is always wrong -- the system, its leaders and its belief are always right.
Conversion or remolding of the individual member happens in a closed system.
As members learn to modify their behavior in order to be accepted in this closed system, they change -- begin to speak the language -- which serves to further isolate them from their prior beliefs and behaviors.
