Cults (Remastered) [From the playlist, Armor of God]
The sermon of this post is from the YouTube site, MLJTrust.
A sermon by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Ephesians 6.10-13 https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/book…
“Armor of God” playlist: • Introduction ― A Sermon on Ephesians …
“The devil, you see, is not only the great antagonist of God, he is the great counterfeit of God.” ―Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Ephesians 6.10-13 [KJV] Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Sermon Description [by MLJTrust]:
What are cults? Why are they so dangerous?
In this sermon on Ephesians 6.10–13 titled “Cults,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that cults are groups that are not Christian, but nevertheless claim to be. They teach things that fundamentally deny the Christian faith and gospel.
Often, cults are centered around one person who claims to have received a special divine revelation.
These cults either deny the authority of Scripture altogether, or they put another authority on equal level or above that of the Bible.
Many of these cults minimize or deny the doctrines of sin, the incarnation, and the atonement.
Unlike heresies, cults are groups that are entirely outside of the church and Christianity.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that cults are one of the many ways that the devil deceives people. False teaching can and does destroy people’s lives because it sets them on the path to destruction by denying the true gospel.
This is why the church must be clear that the gospel is by faith alone in Christ who is both truly God and man.
[Note that MLJ is still preaching on the phrase, wiles of the devil]
Sermon Breakdown [by MLJTrust]
[I placed numbers in front of each bullet point below because I added a few things to several points below MLJTrust’s points. Things that occurred in the church after MLJ’s death, and things he did not add because he limited this sermon to one church service.
Before that, I added a couple of definitions that MLJ clarified in his sermon but that are not in the sermon description or MLJTrust’s points. My words are in brackets.]
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- (1) The apostle Paul was concerned about the wiles of the devil against Christian people.
- (2) The cults are a manifestation of the devil’s activity against Christians. They are counterfeits of Christianity.
- (3) The cults sound like Christianity and use Christian terminology, but they are not actually Christian.
- (4) The cults offer blessings and solutions in an attractive manner. They seem more exciting than real Christianity.
- (5) Followers of cults are often sincere and zealous, but they lack knowledge. Their zeal is not according to knowledge.
- (6) Cults tend to flourish during times of crisis, trouble, or uncertainty when people are seeking solutions.
- (7) Although cults vary in their specific beliefs, there are common characteristics that identify them as cults and not as true Christianity.
- (8) Cults typically originate from a new revelation given to a founder, often a woman. The cult revolves around the founder and their teachings.
- (9) Cults recognize an authority in addition to the Bible, such as the writings of the founder. The Bible is secondary or reinterpreted through the lens of the cult.
- (10) Cults deny or distort essential Christian doctrines like the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the atonement, sin, salvation, creation, and prayer.
- (11) We can test cults by their view of the origin and authority of their beliefs, their understanding of Christian doctrines, and their view of prayer.
Definitions MLJ provided in the sermon [7 minute mark of sermon and following]:
Cult defined in sermon description above.
Examples of cults MLJ provided, he stated that the list is incomplete:
Christian Science; Theosophy; Jehovah’s Witnesses; Christiodelplhinism; Positive Thinking; Unity School of Christianity; Anthroposophy; The Science of Thought; and Mormonism.
Additionally: various forms of psychological teaching and thinking, which are cults but may not have a name. Such might be taught from Christian pulpits.
Such cults may use Christian terminology but are not Christianity.
[The above ‘additional’ cult definition fits into the category defined by J. Gresham Machen in his book Christianity and Liberalism. He made the point that such “Christian” churches and pastors are not Christian. Their Christian terminology is gutted because they deny foundational biblical tenets such as Christ’ resurrection. They add the ideas of men to God’s word.]
‘Additional’ also applies to such groups as Christian mysticism. There is such a thing as Christian mysticism, but mystics are easily led away from the true faith.
Definition of Christian Mystic: one who is concerned with an intellectual grasp of Christian doctrine and with having a living and vital relationship with God and with the Lord Jesus Christ. The emphasis of the mystics is the inner life, the experiential, experimental aspect of the Christian faith.
The apostle Paul was a Christian mystic.
That is actually a vital aspect of true Christianity, without that aspect, one is likely not a Christian.
MLJ noted that the Devil will come in and turn mysticism into something that bypasses true Christianity, ignoring essential elements of the Christian faith and becoming more focused on the mystical.
[The emergent church incorporated eastern meditation for a deeper experience along mystical lines; Beth Moore put out a DVD titled “Be Still” which attempted to teach meditation for a deeper experience; it was actually an introduction to eastern meditation, which is not biblical. It is no longer available, but I found a used copy on Ebay to review. Eastern meditation is not biblical, see my post Yoga / Meditation, in that Category. Be Still is still available at Ebay: https://www.ebay.com/p/51437501 ]
Around the 10 minute mark, MLJ recommended several books that one might purchase to learn more about cults. He thereafter began to speak about times when cults might be more prevalent. MLJ mentioned: Some Modern Religions by Oswald Sanders, and a few others.
[Currently, Walter Martin’s Kingdom of the Cults appears to be the definitive work on the topic, available at Amazon, as is one book MLJ mentioned: Some Modern Religions by Oswald Sanders.]
Additional points that related to specific numbers above:
Point 5 above: Communism also falls under this description, and with the false religions as well as the cults, per MLJ.
Point 8 above: regarding origin of cult: usually began via revelation which a person, typically a woman, received. Time of origin, the last century: Mormons, JW’s; [dispensationalism began in 1830, Darby followed another person who received a direct revelation, another one of the Plymouth Brethern.]
[Thereafter, the person who received the revelation becomes very important. Charles Taze Russell of the Jehovah Witnesses; Joseph Smith Jr. of the Mormons, and
The Seventh-day Adventist Church had its roots in the Millerite movement of the 1830s to the 1840s, during the period of the Second Great Awakening, and was officially founded in 1863. Prominent figures in the early church included Hiram Edson, Ellen G. White, her husband James Springer White, Joseph Bates, and J. N. Andrews.
Charles Taze Russell (February 16, 1852 – October 31, 1916), or Pastor Russell, was an American Adventist minister from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and founder of the Bible Student movement.[1][2] He was an early Christian Zionist.[3] In July 1879, Russell began publishing a monthly religious magazine, Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. In 1881, he co-founded Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society… see Wikipedia for all three above.]
The Roman Catholic Church also has an extra biblical authority: the pope and tradition.]
[In our day Beth Moore, Benny Hinn, all the “ministers” of the NAR, Penecostal, Word of Faith and their factions receive direct revelation from God….
MLJ did not mention the Pentecostal movement, but MacArthur’s book, Strange Fire, carefully explains that the movement began in 1901 or thereabouts via the lying false revelation Agnus Ozmun received at a Bible school in Topeka Kansas. 1906, Azusa Street revival reported similar things. MacArthur’s book traces the evolution of the movement. It was founded on false revelation, lies. In scripture, I believe that after the Davidic kingdom divided, and Jereboam set up two golden calves, that is a similar false system. None of those kings or any of their worship was acceptable to God because they developed another un-biblical system.
That is, regarding the way that MLJ noted that cults begin, the Pentecostal movement shares that false origin story. ]
[One last point on the doctrine of creation which is denied by cults: Ken Ham harps on the fact that Genesis 1-11 is the foundation of the Bible. Even most denominations don’t act like that is truth. He has many talks that explain how ignorance of Gen 1-11 has modern day Christians standing against abortion, gay marriage… in a way that is not biblical. See his YouTube sites: Answers in Genesis; or Ken Ham.]
MLJTrust video-page link: https://www.youtube.com/@MLJTrust/videos
Playlist-page link: https://www.youtube.com/@MLJTrust/videos
Playlist, Armor of God [this sermon is #16 on playlist]: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvVtziP2bL635x3GqdxWCxozHSpFf8MYK