Is there was a difference between the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the cults?
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| English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
- Christianity is historic and evidential — not a blind leap into a dark chasm, but faith founded on objective fact.
- Cult leaders attempt to subjugate their followers’ critical thinking faculties because the mind is seen to be the obstacle to enlightenment.
A striking parallel from paganism can be found in the ashram of Poona, India, where devotees of the late guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh engage in repetitive physical motions in order to work themselves into an altered state of consciousness. Their frenzied behavior produces a mind-altering form of hyperventilation, which empties the mind of coherent thought. In the end, they personify Rajneesh’s rendition of the mindless man.
Is what was once relegated to the ashrams of cults is now being replicated at the altars of churches?
Having largely set aside their ability to think rationally and critically or to exercise their will, they have become hypersuggestible, which means that they are likely to accept any ‘spiritual truth’ that enters their minds.
Even more remarkably, they seem to be primed for mystical experiences and may attach great spiritual significance to virtually any event or thought no matter how mundane or outlandish.
What heightens the danger of this kind of activity in churches is that Christians do not expect a counterfeit. While virtually the same methods employed in cultic communes can now be experienced in Christian churches, there is a significant difference.
What heightens the danger of this kind of activity in churches is that Christians do not expect a counterfeit. While virtually the same methods employed in cultic communes can now be experienced in Christian churches, there is a significant difference.
- In the ashrams of Poona there is no pretense. Despite such dangers as spirit possession or insanity, Hindu gurus openly encourage trance states through which devotees tap into psychic realms and discover their “higher selves.”
- But these practices are cloaked in Christian terminology and attributed to the Holy Ghost rather than the pantheon of Hindu deities.
Whether in the ashrams of cults or at the altars of churches, the result of achieving an altered state of consciousness is always the same. It dulls the critical thinking process because the mind is seen to be the obstacle to enlightenment.
As the worship leader prophesied, “The Lord is saying, ‘I’m bypassing your mind and going straight to your heart.’ …The heart is what matters to the Lord.”
Though counterfeit revival leaders repeatedly express this concept, it is in reality a false dichotomy or a fictional antagonism. Not only are the mind and intellect of tremendous importance to the Lord in living the Christian life, but from the perspective of Scripture the heart is more a matter of understanding than of sentiment.
John Wesley correctly stated, “It is a fundamental principle that to renounce reason is to renounce religion, that religion and reason go hand in hand; all irrational religion is false religion.”
John Wesley correctly stated, “It is a fundamental principle that to renounce reason is to renounce religion, that religion and reason go hand in hand; all irrational religion is false religion.”
While he recognized physical manifestations as a natural response to an encounter with the gospel, he also attributed enthusiasms such as falling, laughing, and jumping to the “simplicity” of people and to the ploys of Satan.
Wesley recounted the story of a meeting that took place in 1773. A hymn was sung over and over some 30 or 40 times, resulting in bodily agitations on the part of some of the people present. In response to this phenomenon, he wrote, “Satan serves himself of their simplicity, in order…to bring a discredit on the work of God.”
Years earlier, in 1740, an epidemic of laughter had broken out during a gathering in Bristol. Wesley said, “I was surprised at some, who were buffeted of Satan in an unusual manner, by such a spirit of laughter as they could in no wise resist.” A short time later the “spirit of laughter” returned. One lady present was “so violently and variously torn of the evil one” that “she laughed till almost strangled; then broke out into cussing and blaspheming; then stamped and struggled with incredible strength, so that four or five could scarcely hold her.”
Some charismatic practices, such as jerking spasmodically, laughing uncontrollably are conspicuous by their absence in the ministry of Jesus Christ and the apostles. Conversely, they are commonplace in the world of the occult. Peter warned believers to be wary of just such pagan practices. He admonished believers to “be clear-minded and self-controlled” (1 Pet. 4:7).
Years earlier, in 1740, an epidemic of laughter had broken out during a gathering in Bristol. Wesley said, “I was surprised at some, who were buffeted of Satan in an unusual manner, by such a spirit of laughter as they could in no wise resist.” A short time later the “spirit of laughter” returned. One lady present was “so violently and variously torn of the evil one” that “she laughed till almost strangled; then broke out into cussing and blaspheming; then stamped and struggled with incredible strength, so that four or five could scarcely hold her.”
Some charismatic practices, such as jerking spasmodically, laughing uncontrollably are conspicuous by their absence in the ministry of Jesus Christ and the apostles. Conversely, they are commonplace in the world of the occult. Peter warned believers to be wary of just such pagan practices. He admonished believers to “be clear-minded and self-controlled” (1 Pet. 4:7).
