Bible Based Cults Designed to Entrap and Deceive

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Bible Based Cults Designed to Entrap and Deceive

You've heard of cults. What about Bible-based cults?

Here's the definition: A cult is a perversion, a distortion of biblical Christianity, and a rejection of the historical teachings of the Christian church. It is characterized by major deviations from orthodox Christianity — as warned about by the Apostle Paul.

And no, this isn't for stupid people. A woman came to our church years ago to tell her story about how she got sucked into a Bible-based cult. She was very smart, well-put together. It looks like Christianity on the surface. But once she got deep into it, she realized there were all kinds of abuses going on. That experience has kept me on my guard ever since.

This is a serious thing. It hurts people. And that's why we are so for the truth. Anything that wobbles on the truth, we set it aside to walk the narrow path.

The Warning from Scripture — 2 Corinthians 11

Let's go to 2 Corinthians 11:4. It says:

"If one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted."

The Apostle Paul goes on to say these are false apostles. They're deceitful workers. So Satan — disguise himself as what? An angel of light, of course. So what do you think those who follow him are doing? They're doing the same thing.

Drop down to verses 12-15:

"And I will keep on doing what I'm doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve."

What does Paul say he's going to keep on doing? He's going to keep cutting the ground out from underneath them. He's going to keep confronting these false teachers. He's going to keep battling these false gospels.

"But that's not very loving."

That's not very loving. So I'm thinking — because he's doing that, it's probably an important thing and we should be doing the same. Keeping our heads on a swivel.

The Five Earmarks of a Cult

1. Authoritarian Leadership

Oftentimes there's just one person at the top. There can also be a group of people at the top who just disseminate everything to everyone below them. The problem is it eventually creeps into people's personal and public lives. They demand complete obedience. And this extends beyond the church walls, beyond the moral teachings of the church and of the Bible. They start to control you. They want control over your personal and private lives. They also claim special revelation — that they have been given special authority from God — and they use that claim to coerce and manipulate members. That's how that works.

2. Distorted View of Scripture

Here's where it gets tricky. They claim to believe the Bible and they even use verses in the Bible to support their teachings and actions. However, they deviate from the traditional interpretations and the primary uses of those scriptures in order to exert control. And when they get into really dicey activities — when they're starting to manipulate people and abuse is going on — they use those same scriptures to justify their own actions. It's really just a poisonous cauldron.

A lot of times people call that proof-texting. You give these little proof texts. In a Bible-based cult, they do the exact opposite. They take a little passage from here to justify what they're saying and then try to support it with another verse that has nothing to do with the first verse. They're totally disconnected. It's manipulation.

Many of them — especially many of the false teachers on the Pentecostal side — will use the NLT a lot because they can then twist that. Or they'll use the Living Bible or even The Message. When you get back to the original language, many of them don't even know how to interpret it. They've just created this narrative and then shoehorned in all these other scriptures.

Then their next step: they claim they have new divine revelation which they try to mesh with the old scriptures but give them a forward advancement into renewed demands on the members.

"God told me. Oh, God just showed me just now. I got to tell you what God told me to tell you."

If it's not in Scripture, God didn't say it. Okay? The Spirit does commune with us, but a pastor in a pulpit — no, no, no, no, no. That is not his job.

They also misinterpret prescriptive and descriptive. For example: In the Old Testament, husbands had many wives. So we need to do that again. Or another example: People experience miracles. So if you're not experiencing miracles, you don't have the Spirit.

It's like you're taking the sovereignty of God and trashing it. You're taking His promises and throttling it. And you're taking the supernatural realness of God and setting it aside.

Remember authentic Christianity. Jesus is working His way toward us while we were yet sinners. And three things are going on. There is the supernatural power of God — it's real. Then there is the sovereignty of God — His purposes, they're sovereign. They're not always going to be name-it-claim-it wealth and happiness. If you're not being blessed, right? The Bible teaches that you either endure or you escape. And what's the difference? It's different for everybody. It's God's sovereign purposes. And then over that is the umbrella of God's promises.

And they are outstanding. And these this all gets manipulated.

So how this shows up often is in either new or renewed demands on its members. New demands can be like dietary restrictions or activity restrictions — you're not supposed to do this and you're not supposed to do that. Even though nowhere in the Bible does it say that.

And what I mean by renewed demands: the Old Testament they had many wives, so we should be doing that again. No, that's not what the Bible teaches. And in the New Testament, they called them the Judaizers. When the Gentiles would become Christians, it's like, "Okay, you have to go back and you have to do all these things that the Jews were required to do." No, no, no, no, no, no. Jesus put the kabash on that. There is a new covenant.

So be looking for that — extra burdens on people, either new regulations or renewed regulations out of the Old Testament.

3. Isolation from Outside Influence

They encourage you to cut off ties with family, friends, or people that you know are going to differ in those beliefs. And so that is always a dangerous thing when you're in a group of people and they're like, "Well, you can't associate with that person anymore because they don't agree with what King Cookie Ball is saying from the pulpit."

You got a real problem there. A real problem.

"Well, you got to have unity of the brethren and you got to stick together. And sometimes there's influences that make it not feel like people are sticking together."

The natural tendency is to say, "Hey, you need to stick together." And so that's one thing. The other thing is you can't talk to your parents because they'll try to talk you out of this. You can't talk to your kids anymore. You know, drain your bank account and give it to the dude in a dress or whatever it is.

They cut you off from information. A lot of times it can happen through social media where you're no longer allowed to be friends with people outside of that group. It can happen in a lot of different ways, but they cut you off from relationships and outside perspectives. And how hurtful it is when you have opinions that go against the group. Now you're shamed and we just can't have that. You've got to have group think.

In a real authentic Christian world, there is camaraderie and unity and it's around Jesus always. If you're making Jesus's name great and worshiping Him for taking the wrath upon yourself, those are legitimate things. But if you have an opinion that goes against the group, there's no freedom in that.

4. Psychological Manipulation and Practices

In an actual church, there is grace for growth. We understand that people that walk in might be from different backgrounds. There's different things that they know and different things that they don't know. So there's grace for growth.

But in the Bible-based cults, it is pass/fail. Maintain control or face punishment. If you veer outside, there's punishment, there's repercussion. And it's really to instill fear to make you not want to go outside of what they say. They put high-pressure tactics on their members. And Oftentimes it's based on recruiting new members — you have to go out, you have to talk to people, you have to bring more people in so we can exercise our mind control over them.

There's a lot of manipulative techniques that false teachers in the pulpit will use and they're very commonly known. Chris and I know a couple people who are professional illusionists. They get up and they do tricks for a living and they can tell you that there are very subtle tips and tricks for an illusionist to guide a person what they're thinking and then they're able to read their mind. It looks like — how did you do that? And yet they know full well these are just simple little manipulative tricks they use. Now, unfortunately, false teachers in the pulpit do the same thing.

There's a few of them that are really, really obvious. And what these do — what they're meant to do — is interrupt your critical thinking.

Chanting mantras — particularly mantras that are very man-focused or very self-focused. Can you give us an example? Let's see. "I am loved by God. I am loved by God." And you're just repeating that and repeating that. That takes you from active critical thinking in your brain to a very passive state in your brain. You're not thinking and processing and critically looking at things anymore. You're just kind of soaking it in like you do when you watch TV.

There are so many people get sucked into these Bible-based cults and they're not stupid. No, they're very usually intelligent and sincere people.

Repetition techniques. "Hey, can I get an amen?" Does not qualify as a manipulation technique if it's not over and over. But when you are doing it over and over — "Everybody say faith. Faith. Everybody say well-being. Well-being." — that is a manipulation technique.

It is. And I'm sorry to say this because I know that I'm going to offend a handful of people, and I don't mean to. I just want you to start thinking about what we're teaching you today. And that is when you sing "Just as I Am" over and over and over again, that does help generate converts. And that is a manipulation technique. When pastors are doing altar calls and they have to have a piano playing in the background, that is a manipulation technique. Whether they're used appropriately for the glory of God, you can decide. I am very much against those things. I don't mind singing "Just as I Am" as people contemplate the message. But when you have to do like nine verses and you're still waiting, you're still browbeating — every eye closed, every head bowed — right? Just slip your hand up where you are. That's where I'm saying our Lord and Savior with His authentic salvation that comes to us while we're sinners is so much stronger than these things if you just proclaim the gospel and allow the Spirit to do the work.

The greatest revival in the history of the world was in Nineveh when Jonah said, "Repent or die." And they all just threw themselves on the ground and started repenting to God. Sat in sackcloth and ash.

It was a well-structured sermon. No. Repent or die.

And not three points in a prayer. Only two. Repent or die. And it worked.

Again, I'm not saying that every technique is evil. Every manipulation technique is evil. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying know what it is. When you are hearing somebody speak at any service and they have to have a piano in the background, they are getting more into your emotions than they would be without it.

The manipulation in Bible-based cults is off the chain. It is off the chain and it's very intentional.

Getting verbal agreements. For instance — just give me an amen or asking people to verbally respond — say amen and everyone says amen. You're getting people to verbally respond and ascribe to something that they haven't even processed and understood what they just said. Probably not. When I taught sales back in the day, little agreements lead to big agreements. And so many times you'd say, "So, you're really looking at this problem through the right lens." Correct. And you nod your head like this. And I'm telling you, 99.9% of the people go, "Yeah, I see where you're going." And you just keep getting those agreements. So when you do ask for the big close, they've already agreed all the way along.

Sudden stops and interruptions. Anytime they just suddenly stop — they're kind of going along — "Oh, the Spirit is here" or "God is doing something" — and they're kind of interrupting what they were just saying. Again, it's a manipulation to shut off your brain. Your brain just exited everything you just heard, which means you're no longer critically looking at it, and they can continue on in whatever direction they want. Those sudden stops, those interruptions — it's all meant to stop your critical thinking and your mindful engagement.

"Are you teachable?" questioning. One of the big manipulation techniques in the Pentecostal charismatic world — which leads into Bible-based cults, let's just be honest about it — is: "Are you teachable? Are you teachable?" Who's going to say no? "No, I'm not teachable. I'm stubborn and I'm ignorant and I like to stay that way." No. So you say you're teachable. So then when they teach you something, you have to take it. "Look, the Bible goes exactly against what you're trying to teach. I'm going to trust the Bible." "Well, you're just too stubborn. You said you were teachable. I guess you're a liar, too." There's no winning in that. Otherwise, to prove that you're teachable, you start to absorb what they do.

5. Scripture Merged with Pagan Rituals and Practices

That is becoming very common today. And it's very, very sad. And it can show up in a couple well several different areas, but one of the big areas that it turns up is in music — the mantra and the chanting and the repetitive — that is mind control. And so you bring that into the church and you're basically softening their brains to just soak up whatever it is that you're going to pour on them. And it discourages mindful engagement with what's actually being said. And it's often very man-focused rather than God-focused.

If you're encouraged to engage in many pagan rituals and practices like anything and you slap a Christian label on it — like yoga or kundalini or fortune-telling as prophecy. Just things like that. You just got to be careful about that. Always go back to the Word of God and go back to the simplicity of the narrow road.

Christian yoga? Really? You know, that's like — what are you talking about here? Because they say, "No, it's just exercise, you know." Well, no, it's not. It's just stretching. Exercise is exercise, but yoga is an Eastern mysticism practice. Why do you got to have the word yoga? There's such a plethora of exercises out there for you to do. You don't have to go to this Eastern mysticism which has positions that are designed specifically to receive spiritual stuff.

Same is with the speaking in tongues or being slain in the Spirit. And you watch these people rolling on the floor, laughing, speaking gibberish in the church. Okay, if you go and Google kundalini with a K and you watch these people do kundalini — which is a pagan ritual — it looks exactly the same. They're rolling on the floor, laughing, speaking gibberish. You can't distinguish between the two. And so that is just pagan rituals coming into the church.

We have even turned what the Bible refers to as prophesying into nothing more than fortune-telling. "Oh, God is telling me that you're going to be wealthy" or "you're going to be whatever." And it's always this positive great stuff. Never mind that the prophets in the Bible were always issuing a pretty devastating warning.

Sometimes a broken clock is right twice a day. So sometimes they get close with their guesses, but it's never spot on unless — God's requirements for a prophet are very specific. It's 100% accuracy all the time. Everything else is just fake. False. Run from it.

And you know what gets me? When you see somebody doing prophecy and it's so generic, it's embarrassing. "I prophesy in the name of the Lord that you're going to have lunch." Really? Was it a sandwich or a slice of pizza? What did God say? Maybe some goulash.

Have you seen the ones? These are the ones that I think are so funny. A lot of them are women and they get on their YouTube channel and they're like, "Okay, so the prophecy word for the month of January 2026 is evergreen." And they just — this is stuff you can do off the cuff. You don't even have to prepare for it.

"God gave me a word. We need to prepare in the month of May for a shaking. There'll be a shaking. There'll be a sifting."

There's always a shaking and a sifting going on. But here's the thing: if you listen to all of them — hundreds of them out there — and you listen to all who have the word for January 2026, they're all different. So there's hundreds of people telling you "this is the word for January 2026." It's nonsense.

How to Identify a Bible-Based Cult: Tactics They Use

Lovebombing

Shower with affection, praise, giving gifts, promises of better shelter, better complete care for them than what they could get anywhere else. Telling them how just awesome they are. And a lot of these people are really targeting those who are down on their luck, those who are going through a crisis or devastation of some sort. These are the people — desperate people is who they're targeting.

When they can move in and make use of that method, what it does is it creates emotional bonds of need and indebtedness to the group. And it makes it harder for those people then to walk away because they've just loved me so much.

There's a lot of truth in what these cults are doing. It's not just all false. That's why I'm saying nice, sincere, loving, well-adjusted, intelligent people get sucked into this.

Positive affirmations about others is a really good thing to have in your life. But to spin it to the level where you're showering with affection just to create the emotional bonds to end up taking away some discernment — that's the same thing a con man does, right? A loving person in your small group is speaking affirmations and encouragement to you because they love you. A con man is speaking affirmations to you because they're going to take advantage of you somehow.

Isolation

Got off from family, friends, and opposing views. Gotta isolate. Because what this does is it distorts reality for the person that's involved in it and it inhibits their ability to rationalize and critically think things through. So again, you are increasing their dependency on the group. That's the game.

Fear Mongering

Heavy focus on doomsday and apocalyptic scenarios and visions. "God told me there will be a shifting. A sifting. A shaking."

I saw Greg Lockach do this not that long ago. Oh my gosh. Mark and avoid that. Please repent, Greg.

But he was preaching and he was talking about how there are Christians out there who say, "I disagree with what Greg Lock is doing" — and we would be those people. And it was really interesting because he's like, "You know, hard things are coming, and when you get thrown in jail, you're going to need us. So you better not be criticizing us, you better not, you need to make friends with us and you need to come with us because when you're in jail, you're going to need us."

That's fear mongering. Because — why is he not in jail? Does he not have the truth?

It's kind of a weird thing. I mean, the Bible does say some of you will be taken off to jail. Some of you are going to endure some pretty tough stuff and some of you are going to escape it. And the point of that is just be prepared for whatever it is that you have to face. But he is using that truth — that Christians do encounter persecution and suffering — and he's trying to instill more fear in you in order to manipulate you to not criticize them. Do not criticize them because you're going to need us. And so it's sick. It immobilizes members from being able to function apart from that group. They can't function on their own.

Information Control

They will restrict access to outside news, conversations, and perspectives. This all enforces conformity. Conformity is the big thing. We think of that like in 1984 and communism. It's all about conformity. And what it does is it suppresses the individual's ability to think things through and to express that they don't like this, they're going to reject this. That becomes more and more difficult for them to do as the information control increases.

One of the big information control things I've seen recently is a school in Houston, Texas. All the Muslim children were allowed to bring pictures if like five, six, seven-year-olds walked to the center of the stage with a picture of an American flag or President Trump and they ripped it, set it on the floor and stepped on it. That was what they did for a school project in the United States of America.

Wow.

And that is exactly what's going on in Muslim countries in the Middle East. They literally give out candy to those kids who profess hatred to Jews and those who aren't sure don't get anything.

This is the same kind of manipulation that's happening. It's group pressure.

Group Pressure

People are ostracized and shamed while blind obedience is rewarded. It ensures conformity and it suppresses individual growth and understanding. If you don't understand, it's because you're stupid. It's not because we're wrong. That is the mantra.

And the thing that I go back to is — people think these stupid people caught up in those Bible-based cults. No, these are well-adjusted, many times educated, sincere folks. And so when they get told they're stupid for questioning, they don't want to hear that. "Aren't you teachable?" They don't know how to stand their ground because anytime they stand their ground, one of the things that's going to come at them is you're unloving.

I just encourage people to read Matthew 23. Once your patience is out, even the Lord Jesus cut loose in Matthew 23. Try to be gentle. Try to have long-suffering. Try to have patience and the fruit of the Spirit. But there does come a time where you have to fish or cut bait.

Cult vs. Mainstream Christianity: Key Differences

Leadership Structure

• Cult: Single charismatic leader with absolute power, no accountability. Often family members are assigned to any authoritative role within the group. It's a cover-up culture within. We're seeing a lot of that today, aren't we?
• Biblical Church: Hierarchical structure with shared authority. They hold one another accountable and that goes from the top all the way down. All the members find themselves under this same authority equally.

Membership Size

• Cult: Often small, exclusive group. Admittance rigid and compulsory.
• Biblical Church: Large, diverse membership. When we say diverse, we're not talking about the color of your skin. This is not DEI. It's just — are there people in there that maybe have never been introduced to one another? Are there people that just moved into town? Are there people that have been there since the beginning of the church? Are there men, women, children, all ages? The truck driver singing next to the banker, next to the school teacher, next to the contractor and the real estate agent. Are they all related?

Like that Westboro Baptist — they cause a scene and then we find out it's just one big family with a few strays that got sucked into the family.

Beliefs

• Cult: Unconventional or extreme beliefs differing from traditional doctrine — new, not previously held, not generally accepted doctrines. Many times these can be subversive and they can be minor and they can be tweaks. And those tweaks are meant to give you a little bit more juice than the next guy.
• Biblical Church: Traditional beliefs held over long periods of time. We keep going back to the original apostles. What did they teach? What did they give to us? We anchor to that. Then we also look throughout Christian history because God Himself preserves the church. What doctrines have withstood the test of time?

One of the newest today is that we need to have the spiritual gifts again because they had it in the early church, therefore we're supposed to have it now. No church throughout Christian history has adopted that doctrine. It has tried to get in a couple times throughout history, but it has always been soundly rejected as heresy. And here it is — it's trying to make its way into the church again.

Member Freedom

• Cult: Severely restricted.
• Biblical Church: Greater freedom in practice.

History

• Cult: Newer, less established.
• Biblical Church: Long history and credible traditions.

Spirituality

• Cult: Misapplies spirituality to ordinary occurrences. Hyper-focused on the supernatural — especially healing and miracles. Members are sometimes denied doctors and expected to depend solely on supernatural experiences.
• Biblical Church: Recognizes the difference between natural and supernatural. Acknowledges miracles are a direct intervention of the natural and are not regular occurrences to be expected in everyday life.

They'll say, "I'm sick. This is a spiritual attack." No, you got a bug. That happens all the time. That is a natural occurrence. Then on the flip side of that, they'll say — "Oh, that was a supernatural movement by God that I sold my house." No, you sold your house. This happens every day. It's a natural thing. We can thank the Lord for those things. But the other day I got the spot right in front of the door. "I am blessed and highly favored. I'm blessed and highly favored as well."

As opposed to that poor pregnant woman who had to park two blocks back. Well, she's going through a sifting right now. She's going through a shaking. That's what's happening to her.

They overspiritualize the natural and it is redonkulous.

Pragmatism

• Cult: Interprets all bad things happening as punishment for sin and/or disapproval from God. Interprets good things happening as God's approval.
• Biblical Church: God is not pragmatic. He is not like that. We recognize that in view of God's mercy and His sovereignty, we do not deserve the good things God gives us, nor do we receive the punishments we do deserve. The world is fallen. You're going to have sickness, relationship issues, job loss, financial worry. Everybody's going to have those. And God's not — "Oh, you got good things cuz I'm pleased with you and you're going to get bad things cuz I'm mad at you." That is not how God works. Not at all.

That's how marriage works. Not how God works.

The Sufficiency of Scripture — Sola Scriptura

• Cult: The Bible is not a sufficient source of information or authority. Additional revelations, extra prophets, extra-biblical text are required. This whole movement to have apostles and prophets between you and God — that is no different than the Catholic Church where you need a priest to mediate between you and God.
• Biblical Church: We learn at the crucifixion that the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. We have direct access to the Holy of Holies each and every one of us through Christ Jesus.

The actual Bible will interpret itself and is completely sufficient for all Christian life. Sufficiency is a big deal in Christianity right now because a lot of people want to do the Bible plus plus — Jesus plus plus — and that just minimizes the supremacy of Christ. His work on earth is complete and sufficient. It was recorded by eyewitnesses and it's been preserved all by Him for the last more than 2,000 years.

And so when you say, "Yeah, we have the Bible but we also need prophets or we also need this tradition or we also need these extra writings" — you are saying that Christ is not enough. That His life, death, resurrection is not enough. That the apostles that He handpicked to start the church and to record everything He did and said was not enough. You are declaring Christ insufficient.

And to be very honest and this is brutally honest — that is antichrist. It is antichrist.

Jesus is enough. And He is in the Word. He is the Word. And that sufficiency of Scripture and the supremacy of Christ is something that true Christians are going to hold on to because it is absolutely true.

What to Watch For

Divination

Strictly prohibited by God. What is divination? It's really the ability to access knowledge of the future. We think of it in terms of fortunetelling or astrology or numerology. And we're looking to find out what's going to happen in the future through tarot cards and horoscopes. Those are pretty easy to identify. But when that starts coming into the church, what does that look like? It can look very Christian, but it's really nothing more than divination.

Let's look to Leviticus 19:26. It says: "Do not eat any meat with blood still in it." Does that mean I can't have my steaks medium rare? No. No, that's had it taken out. Anyway — "Do not practice divination or seek omens." Very, very specific and very clear.

And before somebody says, "Well, that's Old Testament." No, that's God's wisdom, right? It really is. There's a whole litany of things that we are to avoid as God's people. And some of those things in the Old Testament are still absolutely relevant today. Just because Jesus came doesn't mean we can practice divination now. No, it's strictly forbidden.

So what does that look like when it actually ends up coming into the church? Well, it looks like this. Someone comes up to you and says, "I have a word from God for you. God told me to tell you." If it's in Scripture, okay. If it's not, take it with a grain of salt. That is just not how things work.

Also if you hear the words: "You just need to get aligned with God and then He'll show you" — or if they say, "You need to do this in order to activate God's blessing." Anytime someone's telling you that you need to do this in order for God to do that — no. This is divination. You're starting to try to control the outcome of things and predict what's going to happen.

Omens can show up in the church where it's like: "I was just kind of depressed and I was driving down the road and I saw a blue house and God just spoke to me and said, 'You are so blue.'" No, that's called an omen. And again, that is part of the occult.

But what if I'm experiencing a shifting, a sifting? I had a dream or I had a vision.

Red flag. Red flag.

I believe there are things that God can encourage us in dreams. And I think there are things even in daydreams God can speak to us. But you don't put much stock into them unless they're reinforcing what you've read in Scripture. A lot of times your dreams can be — you rustled in a bad ham sandwich the night before.

Don Piper who went to heaven for 90 minutes — one of the nicest guys we've ever interviewed. I love the guy, but I don't believe he spent 90 minutes in heaven. It just doesn't line up with Scripture. People under severe medication see things that are not going to heaven. It is not God speaking to you.

When you have these feelings, these omens, these different things — you really need to lay it down next to Scripture.

The Spirit lives in us. And so the Spirit will commune with us. It can lead us, guide us, direct us. What it doesn't do is stand up and say, "Now for the whole church, here's a new thing you've never heard before." That is just not from God. It just isn't.

And the last thing when it comes to this — the talisman. That is making its way into the church again where if I hang this cross over my door, it'll keep the spirits out. If I have this over here, move that over there, and I set it up all just right, then God's going to really — if I walk around the yard three times and repeat Proverbs — okay, calm down. You can just pray to the God of the universe in the name of Jesus Christ.

Spiritism

Spiritism is where you're communicating with people who have already died. This is called necromancy, and there's a lot of different terms for it. And again, the Bible strictly prohibits it.

There are situations where maybe someone who's lost a loved one, all of a sudden they think they heard that person speak to them and they turn around — oh, they're not there — and they've passed already. This is the brain reconciling the new reality because your brain is so used to that person being in your life every single day that it catches sometimes. Your brain catches sometimes and thinks that person is still there and it has to settle in your brain. There's nothing unusual about it, but it is not the person from the dead communicating with you.

But then we move on to even these weirder things like the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry where they start participating in things like grave soaking. Yeah, it's as disgusting as it sounds — where they go out to these graves of Christians and lay on their graves thinking they're going to soak up some insight and knowledge from them. This is disgusting. This is spiritism and it is again forbidden. We do not get to communicate with the people who have gone before us.

Someone who says that they're going to take control over all the spirits in the room — no. Nowhere in the Bible does it command us to do that or tell us to do that. We are not to engage in that.

The Bible basically tells us that we're supposed to just resist the devil. We're supposed to let Jesus take care of it. And I've always said — get behind me, Satan — that Jesus said. I kind of say that like, picture a two-year-old in the arms of big daddy who's holding a 12-gauge shotgun at the intruder. We're the two-year-old. Us rebuking the intruder doesn't mean anything, right? Our Father has this and that's what He wants us to do — trust Him to take care of it.

Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Quit the game.

So applying Christian phrases to occult practices — that's just nonsense. It doesn't get you anywhere. In fact, it's very detrimental to your walk.

There's some really weird things out there. One of the things that I'm going to tell you that's infiltrating the church — you're going to think I'm nuts — and that is: Jesus is from outer space. Jesus is just a dude who showed up from another planet. I'm telling you right now, when it comes to New Age, when it comes to Mormonism, when it comes to cults like Heaven's Gate, they teach and believe this stuff. It may not be an overt teaching that they proclaim every day from the pulpit, but underneath this is exactly what they teach and promote. It is completely opposite of what Scripture teaches. And therefore, while they might claim they are Christians — this is antichrist. Jesus did not come from another planet.

Magic (Sorcery)

It's the science and art of causing change. This is alive and well in the charismatic movement — if you think the right things, if you think the right thoughts, and you speak the right words, you're going to speak reality into existence. This is not taught anywhere in the Bible. What it teaches is that you are in charge of your own outcome. So if you're going through difficult things and it just doesn't seem to relent — whose fault is that? It's yours because you're not thinking the right things and you're not saying the right things.

Magic is a counterfeit of actual spiritual gifts. We see this all the time in these hucksters like Todd White who pretends like he's lengthening people's legs. That's nothing but a parlor trick. And you can't manifest reality around you. There is a physical reality that is beyond your control.

But guess what God says you can do? You can go to the God of the universe and He will walk you through the realities that you must face through this life. If someone's telling you that you can affect reality around you, they're lying to you and it's only going to end up in disappointment.

The whole manifesting — "We're manifesting." They think they can manifest the reality that's around them.

What do you say to the evidence, Chris, that we did man? No.

No. That is — Satan's a counterfeit. I'll put it that way.

That's setting yourself up in the place of God. That's what that's doing. You are looking at yourself as God and you are the one in control and wielding the same power that He has. And the problem comes — what if two people's reality that they're wanting to manifest are opposed to one another? I mean, that creates the shaking.

Hyperfocus on Felt Needs and Social Justice

They make it their mission to fix all your problems. That is the great promise they give to you. Your relationships will be restored. Your health will be restored. Your finances will be restored. All of these great things are going to happen to you. And that is what makes you so dependent on them.

They will claim that you have secret sins if these things don't happen. That you just haven't confessed. Or they claim your faith is not enough. That's why these things haven't happened. It's always your fault if your felt needs don't get met or if the world seems a little unfair.

I remember my dad when I was growing up — when I would say "that's unfair" — he would say, "Who told you the world was fair? Whoever told you that was lying."

So it really diminishes the authority of God's Word. That's exactly what it does. Now you're just playing games. You're living inside your own head. And Jesus, the Bible, God of the universe — they're just secondary whatevers. And it diminishes the veracity and authenticity of God's Word.

Final Thoughts — The Warning from Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 says:

"Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, and who is a medium or a spiritualist who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. Because of these same detestable practices, the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you."

That's kind of sobering.

Be on the alert. These things do try to make their way into the church and they come in very subtly. But you just have to realize — oh, no, no, no, no — that's not how we gain a right view of reality. Not by talismans or omens or speaking truth into existence or manifesting this that or the other thing.

These are Bible-based cult practices. And hopefully you'll have a little bit better understanding and be able to spot them when you see them.

Are you offended by what we're saying? And if so — ask yourself why. What have you gotten caught up in?

This is just straight truth looking at the Bible with no apology. We love Jesus because Jesus first loved us. We're forgiven. We're sinners. We don't deserve His grace.

Christianity is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.

We worship Jesus as our King. We don't make Him into our little puppet or our little genie in a bottle. And we don't badmouth the Holy Spirit or create a thing out of the Holy Spirit that's not the Holy Spirit according to what our King has told us in Scripture.

Get into the Word of God today and go serve your King.