Reasons for Activity

    It did not just happen over night. The deviations from orthodoxy came slowly. Well, not too slowly. The early church had to handle deviations and misapplications early.
     Solomon, the wisest man in the world, had this to say, "There is nothing new under the sun"
     The counterfeit truths are like water. They satisfy. But they don't hold solid when seen under the microscope of the Bible.The fake truths masked themself as orthodox but were not. When they start to say that Jesus was a creation of God, the first born of creation ,to them it meant He was created, not always existent. Or the false teaching that God is a force.
       At the start the church was strong and held a common faith and a common hope. They were close knit together in all aspects of their lives.
    The church of today has become a social club. Not all, but enough to allow error to creep in and even be accepted at truth. Today's church in America has turned into a security and entertainment center. In fact, look closely and you can see the  five major faults within the church.

1. A rise of liberalism
2. An isolation from contemporary world issues
3. A lack of sound Bible teaching
4. A failure to promote a solidly Biblical world view
5. A fundamental failure to meet people's spiritual, psychological, and social needs

   
   Humanism. That is what has crept into the church. Hinduism and the Eastern Belief system has rushed in to fill the void.
    We need to, as Christians, get our World View from the Bible, God's Word. His only Word. He has communicated and put down in the Bible all He wants us to know. There will be no more communication. It is finished when the book of Revelation closed.
     We need to protect ourselves against the attacks of the cults. That is one reason I am doing this series in this blog.
       As we look at these cults we can see self-centered leaders. They do not submit to God's will. They tend to have big egos. The followers are insecure and need the ego driven leaders in order to make themselves feel worthwhile.
       Their leaders give them their interpretation of what the Bible says. In reality they teach what their books say. Yes, they tend to have a book other than the Bible. Maybe in addition to but mostly in place of.
         More. Much more in the future.
       Am I helping you? Let me know how you are. Especially those oif you who are outside the United States.

Cult Characteristics

         You may ask me,"Dane, just what should I look for to see if I am in a cult or not?
          That is easy to detail. ask yourself,

1. "Are they telling me that all Christian churches are wrong and that they are a special group to whom God alone has given truth?
2.  Do they attack the diety of Jesus Christ and lower Him to the level of a man, or even raise man to the level of Christ?
3.  Do they deny that man can be saved by faith in Christ? in other words, do they teach that man can make himself right with God by good works?
4.  Do they say that their leader, human leader, has new additions to the Bible or even new interpretations?
5.  Do they distort the Bible's teaching to suit their own particular belief about man,God,the Holy Spirit, heaven, hell, salvation or other vital doctrines?

             If so, you may be looking at a cult. Be very careful.

        Let me know if I am helping you. Comment. Defend your belief system. Am I stepping on toes? Am I firming you up?

Effort Makes One Enlightened

    So now we look at another Eastern system.Since we in the United States are slowly forgetting our Christian  roots  we are allowing strange systems to creep in to fill the void.
   Man is a religious creature. He is made up of three parts. He is a body. He is a Spirit. He is a soul. The body eats and is satisfied. The Spirit comunicates with the unknown. The soul is what gives him the urge to seek something out there.
   Not all adherents to the Eastern mind set are Hindu. More to the mindset is the teaching of  the Buddha. Unlike the Hindu the followers of the enlightened one or Buddha hold to the theory of a 'middle way'. that is a path between the complicated religion of the Hindu and the world of sensuality. They have a clear firm rule for the followers.
   There are the Noble Truths:

• Suffering is universal. The very act of living is suffering But in each reincarnation (there it is again.) there is suffering. You will be looking for the Nirvana or release from the endless cycle of suffering.
• The cause of suffering is craving. The endless cycle occurs because we are attached to the world.
• The cure for suffering is to eliminate craving. Simple. No craving. No suffering
• Eliminate craving by following the Middle Way--the Noble Eightfold Path.By isolating the cause of the inability to escape the cage of birth, suffering, rebirth-- something called tanha --you can work out the solution.

        The system they came up with has a eightfold path.

1. Right viewpoint
2. Right aspiration
3. Right speech
4. Right behavior
5. Right occupation
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right meditation

     In the twentieth century and now into the twenty first we can see Buddhism in a variety of forms.
     In Tibet it appears as Demon Worship. In Japan it shows up as the new militant, nationalist  cult of Soka Gokkai.
     But the two main forms we should be aware of are Hinayana that holds that only a fortunate few make it to Nirvana, and Mayanana which is that all will make it, salvation is for all. There is a savior god. Hinayana  said that man must save himself. But Mayanana sees Buddha as the savior
       The problem is that its gods are beyond man's ability to reach.
        On the other hand, Christianity gives us Jesus who will give us the strengh to live a righteous life. God can be reached because God first reached down to us.  

Change in Thought

    Western thought began in the Greek culture many many years ago. A long time ago. It can be traced back to Socates, Plato, Aristole. They saw the universe as having a purpose and a plan for being.
   Judaism and Christianity added to thier belief system the teaching of the Bible. There was an energetic and rational  God behind it. A God who created the universe. There was a law giver. This was a basis for science because there were laws in nature. Man believed in the God of the Bible.
   That was the Western view. Over in the East the view was different. Their view tended to be that all things that exist in the universe, including man, are of no importance and therefore are temporary.Only the realm that was outside the world exists. They saw that the only way to reach it is to deny the world around them.
      Japan  and China have made some scentific progress since they have adopted some Western thought
    . But I am not looking at science here. In this blog and in this posting I wish to lok at Hinduism. It had its beginning in the Indus valley. The teachings can be found in their sacred writing, the Vedas They see these as "Revealed Wisdom".
    . For them they can go back to  about 2000 B.C. They have many gods who can cause death and disaster. In their sytem they have Brahmans or priests. They have become a high social class.
   They see the  Vedas as teaching that four classes of people came from the head, the arms, the thighs, and the feet of the creator god, Brama. The four classes then became the Brahman or priest, the Kshastriya or warrior and nobleman, and the  Vaishya which is the peasant, and lastly the Shudra or slave.
     There are four stages and four goals to be attained. But not for the girls. They are considered worthless.
     The stages are initiation, and after initiation he is considered "Twice-Born"  Now he has to go through four stages.

• Student
• Head of a house with wife and children
• A meditating hermit seeking enlightenment
• A homeless wanderer

    From here he is given four goals.

1. To become righteous and virtuous
2. To have material goods
3. To enjoy life through love, pleasure, and appreciation of beauty
4. To have spiritual victory over life

   And we must not forget reincarnation. You get another chance to get it right.
   
    This makes man himself god.

    The Bible that the Christian has says there is no second chance. "It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgement." No reincarnation.

   Stay with me. We are getting there. How are you? Any comments or questions? 
   Actually Hinduism is a philkosophy not a theology.

Why I am Doing This

      Dude. You may be thinking, just why is this guy spending so much time on subjects like cults and Bible study methods and not just blogging as in web logging? That is a very good question. As those of you who are following these posts since the beginning you know that I am setting this blog "For Your Information" up for the church group I am a member of.
   I guess I feel that since I have had some training at Western Theological Seminary I am a frustrated theologian.
   That may be true. I also don't want anyone to unknowingly be sucked into a false belief system.
   I took a class on Contemporary Theology. The text book used was by a James Livingston, Modern Christian Thouight Since it had a copyright of 1971 it didn't cover today's Christian Thought. That is, the New Age was not covered. And a good amount of Cults never got into its pages. Looking back, the cults were not the main emphasis. It was more the development of Christian Thought from the Enlightenment to Vatican Two.
    I found soon after I became a Christian in 1968 that I was given an interest in false religions. Basicly in the cults and in spiritual counterfits.
    God got my attention when I was away at college in Taft, California. I was in a Four Sqaure Gospel fellowship at the moment. I noticed the tongue emphasis going on around me. I found myself analyzing what I saw and asking "Is this something Satan could influence and get a toe hold in?" I concluded yes, since he can appear as an angel of light.
    Satan also is busy in movements that diviate from the Bible as the basis for belief.
   That is why you will be reading for a while in this blog a series on cults. That is why you have had a series on Bible Study Methods. A person must learn to feed himself. A person should  know how to test the spirits. And that is why I spend so much time systematically blogging.
     Keep on reading. Yes. Please do so. Also comment. Let me know how this is being received.

One god- Allah

    But the Jew isn't the only one who holds the belief in one god. This movement is based on the leadership and teaching of one man called Mohammed. Mohammed  was trying to lead his followers out of a life of ideolatry. In doing so he proclaimed himself a prophet and designed  his religion around rules and regulations. He placed man under a terrible burden of responsibility.
   This is in contrast to Jesus who said "Come to me, all you who labor, and I will give you rest. ..My Yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28,30
    The Islam belief systyem has five doctrines.

1. There is one god and his name is Allah.
2. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mohammed. There is an evil angel also called Shaitan as well as dijinns. 
3. Moslems have four sacred books- God inspired books they call them.  The Torah of Moses ( the Pentateuch), the Zabur (Psalms of David), The Injil (gospel) of Jesus, and the final words of Allah to mankind, the Koran. This Koran is seen by them as superseding and overruling all that went before.
4. They hold to twenty-eight prophets of Allah with Mohammed being the last and greatest prophet.
5. On the last day when the dead are resurrected Allah  will be their judge and send the people either to heaven or hell.. Heaven will be a place of sensual pleasure. On the other hand hell will be where everyone who opposes Allah and his prophet, Mohammed, will be.

      On top of that there are pillars of faith to be observed.

• To become a Moslem you must publicly recite the Shahadah."There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is the prophet of Allah."
• You must pray five times a day knelling and bowing toward Mecca.
• You must give one-fortieth of your income in alms.
• You are required to fast on Ramadan which is on the ninth month of the Moslem luner year
• And you should not forget the pilgrimage to Meccca. This you can do once in your lifetime.
• There is another pillar which we here in the United States, since 9/11, are very aware of. That is the pillar of the Jihad.. It is a Holy War to defend Islam ( doesn't seem to be the case in the USA) or a reason to conquer other lands for Allah.

        That is well and good. But as I looked deeper into the subject I found that they read the Koran to say that Christ never died on the cross. It was Judas who died there. The Koran in Surah 4:111 states that man must take care of his own sin. Sin to them is failure to do Allah's will or follow the pillars which detail one's religious duties.
     Please. Am I helping you? What would you like me to clarify? What are your needs? How can I help?

Foundation

    Before I go on in this study on Cults I feel I should let you in on a secret. Get close now. Christianity didn't spring up without a foundation.
    Christianity never could have come if it wasn't for a man called Abraham. He was called out of his Ancestral home in Basra  ( southern Iraq). He heard God's voice telling him to go to a land that He would show him. He went and lived the life of a nomad. He was quite old. He and his wife, Sarah had a child named Isaac. Abraham was a hundred at the time and Sarah was ninty.
     As the story goes Isaac and Rebecca had two sons, Jacob and Esau. It was through Jacob that God worked. He had twelve sons. Through the line of Judah God worked and brought about a King named David. From David's line came Jesus. The Jew  is also called a Hebrew.  The name comes from "Eber",  their traditional ancestor
    Jewishness is not a religion. It is a nationality.They are looking for a Messiah. What they won't admit is that the Messiah has already come. According to the scriptures which thay had guarded and preserved , Jesus of Nazareth was the messiah they were looking for.
    Let me place here a look at what  Christian say and what the Orthodox Jew says.
    When  it comes to God- the Christian  says our God is revealed as  a trinity; Father, Son, And Holy Spirit., Not three Gods but one God - One essence.
    The orthodox Jew would say "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God,The Lord is one." That comes from the Shema.
    As for Sin the Christian says that in Adam man fall and is now born in sin.
    The Jew would say, no. Man is born neither good nor bad. Man is born free with the capacity to choose between good and evil. Therefore each man is accountable for himself
    As for Jesus, most Jews see Him as a good teacher of ethics. Since Jesus did not bring lasting peace nor did He deliver Israel from the oppression of Rome, He was not and could not be the Messiah.
..   But did you know the first people called Christian were a small group of Jews? Yes. Jews. We can call them completed Jews. The term "Christians" was a term used by people to try to mock the followers of The Way.."They were first called Christians at Antioch " That is recorded in the Book of Acts. Look it up
    Until next time.
    Please feel free to comment. I will read and respond.