Be careful when you go around and searching for a church nearby your neighborhood. The reason is there are a lot of cult church in this world nowadays. I had encountered one today and I guess it is very important for me to share it here so that we would not go wrong. Not to say I know it all but if ever I am wrong, please correct me. I am just wanting to help my fellow believer of Christ from entering false teaching.
1) Be careful when you meet Christians, who claimed that their church are the real church compared to the other churches around. There is no right church or a perfect church in this world. We are all sinner, fall short of God's glory as per scripture,
"23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23 - NKJV)" So in that sense whenever any Christian claimed that their church are the perfect church, beware that they might be cult.
2) Be careful when you meet Christians, who claimed that their version of Bible is the most truthful Bible compared to the rest version. All the different version of Bible are God's inspiration to mankind and no one can said that their Bible is the most truthful Bible as per scripture "16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3: 16 - 17 - NKJV)". So by saying that no one can claim credit for what was written except God Himself.
3) Be careful despite when they know you are Christian, yet they still wants you to join their church, whether as worshiper or to serve in their church. This is what it meant by, "steal sheep", whether it is from the pastor themselves or the congregation. It is not right for us as a church to steal another sheep from another church. Jesus teach us to love one another as per scripture "34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. (John 13:34 - NKJV)". A true believer would focus on God more rather than anything in the church (perhaps the church they invited
got a better equipment or better worship team) because the things of the world are temporal but the things of God are eternal.
4)
Be careful when you go to a certain church that teaches you different things than Jesus Himself. For example if the church you went to do not use Bible as the medium of teaching, please do not go. In another word, if the preacher preaches everything other than Jesus Christ, it is a cult. The scriptures said,
"Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14 : 6 - NKJV)." It is only through Jesus Christ that we have life. So if any churches do not believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, please avoid going there anymore. It is a cult. I had to say this is main reason for us to be alert whenever we enter into a church. The church we attend must believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord. Not only believe, they must confess it and Bible must be their medium of teaching in the service itself.
I guess that is all I can share about watch up over false churches. How can we be discern over all this matter of cult? Well there are few things we can do to discern:
1)
Read the Word of God, which is the Bible. Read it daily. Please do not neglect this. It is our Christian spiritual food. Without it we will get lost.
2)
Praying to God for wisdom and knowledge. Not just for wisdom and knowledge but everything we keep in prayer.
3)
Ask Holy Spirit for guidance. A lot of thing we might not know but Holy Spirit is the one who guide us, to make the right decision. If you have not receive Holy Spirit into your life, welcome Him. He will sure come in and guide you but you need to ask Him to come in. He is our Helper when in our time of needs.
4) I guess this is the most important time in our life. For those of us who had not believe in Jesus Christ, please believe in Him for He is our Savior and Our Christ. The main thing in life before we start doing the three things of above is, we must
believe in Jesus Christ.
Believe that He is our Savior and our Christ.
So if you had not done so, shall we all say a prayer below:
"Heavenly Father, have mercy on me, a
sinner.
I believe in You and that Your word is true.
I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and
that He died on the cross
so that I may now have forgiveness
for my sins and eternal life.
I know
that without You in my heart my life is meaningless.
I believe in my heart that You, Lord
God, raised Him from the dead.
Please Jesus forgive me, for every sin I
have ever committed
or done in my heart,
Please Lord Jesus forgive me
and come into my heart as
my personal Lord and Savior today.
I need You
to be my Father and my Friend.
I give You my life and ask You to take full control from this moment on;
I pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ."
Amen.
So for those of you who had said this prayer and wanting to grow in the Lord please go to a right, Christ sound church and not simply enter a church. At the same time please ask your newly joined church member to guide you in your walk with the Lord. God bless.. =)