Well, we welcome everybody along tonight. We're glad to see you. Thank you for being here. As we've been announcing through 2026, we're going to do something a little bit different and think about cults or comparative religions and learn a little bit about, well, what do they specifically believe? If you think about Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons, I suppose, are among the major cults. We're going to bring in Islam, comparative religion as well. Think a little bit about what are the main pillars of Islam. They talk about five or six pillars of Islam. So what do you know about those? And then also, how do you witness to someone that has that belief system? Because that's really the purpose. It's not a matter of having knowledge. That is good as far as it goes, but we want to be able to put our knowledge into use. And the idea is if you meet up with some of these, whether it's through university life, school life, work life, even in your neighborhood, and you get the opportunity to engage in conversation with somebody with these views, well, how do you go about witnessing? What line should I take? Because there are different ways whereby you can witness, there's different approaches that you can take. There's the general one, you know, if you're witnessing to anybody that's a sinner, there's a general approach. The best thing sometimes is just tell them your testimony. Sometimes that's as good as any to deal with the cults, because they don't have a testimony. You've got something they don't have at the very start. And that is you've a testimony that you've come to know the Lord and you're trusting in the Lord. And to them, they have no understanding of that because it's a system of belief. There's no experience in their heart of salvation, no coming to know the Savior and trust in the Savior in that way. So sometimes it's a good idea just to tell them your testimony. But if you want to go a little bit more a little bit further than that. Well, how should you go about it? And there are those who have studied these things and have given suggestions. That's what we're going to try and cover as we go along. Now, tonight we're going to do a little bit of an introduction to CULSE. I used to lecture on CULSE in correspondence course in the Whitefield a number of years ago. So I've taken what was my introductory lecture These were given out. There were never any classes. There were people that did this by correspondence here in Ulster, some in England, if I remember right as well. There was people over there that used to do these. And we had a bit of an introduction. So that's what I want to cover with you. I've given you notes so you can take these away with you and keep them and refer to them. It's late on a Sunday evening and you've been listening to a number of sermons and if you're half as tired as I am, you mightn't retain much this time of night. So the notes are there for your benefit. I don't know whether we'll say to the men that comes. The Reverend Brown, Reverend David Brown is coming next month to speak. Reverend Ian Kenny is coming the month afterwards to speak. I'll say to these men about if it's possible to give out notes. Some of them maybe don't have what they're preaching on in note form, in the sense of giving them out. They'll have their own notes, all right, to preach from, but maybe they just don't have them in the form of giving them out in a fashion. So I'd certainly encourage them to do that, but it mightn't always be the case. We're going to read a few verses here, first of all, from 2 Corinthians 11. It's the three verses that are mentioned there at the foot of that first page of notes, 2 Corinthians 11. And we'll read verses 13, 14, and 15. So what I want us to do tonight, you'll see there, what is a cult? So how do we find one? Why do cults prosper? And then What are the characteristics of a cult? So those are the three things that we're going to cover. And if I don't get all of these things said, well, you'll have the notes to take home with you and to refer to at a later time. But we'll read these three verses, and then we'll have a word of prayer. So 2 Corinthians 11. Verse 13, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. Amen. We know the Lord will bless the reading of those three verses. Let's just bow together in prayer for a moment. Our Heavenly Father, We pray that thou will bless us. We thank thee for each one who is here tonight. And as we consider these things, not just tonight, but over coming months as well in our youth meeting, we pray that it will be profitable, beneficial. We know, Lord, how prevalent the cults are in this day and age. We see them down in Belfast and in other city centers. And we pray, Lord, that we might know a little about what they believe best of all, be able to witness most effectively to them. And we pray that you would have mercy, Lord, and save and deliver. And we thank thee that there are those that you have brought to know the Lord Jesus, and we're glad of that. So hear our prayer now and bless us as we consider these things we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. So what is a cult? Well, we've said there it's a perversion or a distortion of biblical Christianity and or a rejection of the historic teachings of the Christian faith. The word cult is derived from the Latin cultus, which means to worship or give reverence to a deity. In modern usage, it refers to a system of religious worship, homage or devotion. A cult is a group that has deviated doctrinally from apparent or host religion. And there's two quotes I've put in there, one from Dr. Kearns in his Dictionary of Theological Terms. It's the older version. These notes are going back a few years, so it's not the recent one. there that came out that he may have enlarged upon this, but there was a version that had this quote in it. A cult is, in effect, idolatry, posing as Christianity. For whatever protestations are made to the country, worship based upon a repudiation of fundamental Bible truth is idolatry. And then Walter Martin, in his book Four Major Cults, says, A cult then is a group of people polarized around someone's interpretation of the Bible and is characterized by major deviations from Orthodox Christianity relative to the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith, particularly the fact that God became man in Jesus Christ. So, Walter Martin did a lot of writing on cults, if you ever come across any of his books, and that book, Four Major Cults, is quite a sizable book that he wrote on four major cults, and he deals with some of these points that we're thinking about tonight in his introduction. So those are a few definitions of what a cult is. Paul warned that there would be false Christs and false Gospels that would attempt to deceive the true church and the world. And those verses there that we've read in 2 Corinthians 11 verses 13, 14, and 15 highlight that. We could go on as well to John, the beloved apostle. He also warned that there are many antichrists going forth into the world, 1 John 2, 18. Little children, it is the last time, and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know. that it is the last time. So we're thinking about those who deviate substantially from the truth of the gospel. And that's going to bring in the cults like Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists, maybe some others that are not as well known. It'll certainly bring in comparative religions as well. We could take Roman Catholicism, because it's a departure from the gospel. We could take Islam as well. Although sometimes Islam is looked upon as a major religion, and they talk about the three religions of the world, certainly the three Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Well, Islam is a distortion of the gospel, and maybe we will cover a little bit about Islam and how it started out. Interestingly, with Islam, you think that verse in Galatians of an angel Comes and preaches any other gospel. That's the very commencement of Islam Muhammad believed in the angel came from heaven and spoke to him and that Islam was a correction of the apostasy of Christianity because Muhammad didn't like the Jews and he didn't like the Jews religion and by extension the Christian religion But it's interesting that Muhammad believes that an angel came from heaven and taught him these things. And Paul said, even if an angel comes, in Galatians 1, even if an angel was to preach to you another gospel, let him be accursed. So it's interesting that the Lord even had that statement in scripture long before Islam. Islam started around 600 AD was when Muhammad lived and Islam started. as a religion. And look at it tonight, if you look at some of the maps of certainly the Middle East, even North Africa. Virtually all the northern part of Africa are predominantly Islamic countries tonight. And there was a time even the great Turkish Empire stretched as far across as Spain. They invaded Spain from North Africa many, many hundreds of years ago now. So it has been an aggressive religion. So there's many, many cults and comparative religions that have come out of some distortion of Christianity, some moving away from the truth of the gospel. So there's a little bit there around, well, what is a cult? Secondly, why do cults prosper? We live in a day when the cults are showing rapid growth. In most parts of the world, South America, Asia, Africa, have seen significant growth. There's been an explosion in growth in the former republics of the Soviet Union and its satellite states, countries that were communist for many, many years and profess not to believe in any God. And the cults are in there and gaining a hold on people. So countries where, even until recently, religious practice was outlawed and have no heritage of sound biblical teaching, several basic reasons can be given as to why individuals join cults and why they prosper. So I've got quite a few here. Well, there's three in this section, and then we're going to go on to think of some other points. But there can be variations of this, a mixture of them. But one, cults provide answers in an unsure world. They provide what seems to be authoritative answers to man's basic questions. Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? The cults offer easy answers to those who are dissatisfied with the present state of their lives. Two, cults meet basic human needs. Mankind needs to be loved, to feel needed, to sense their lives have direction, meaning and fulfilment. Individuals who experience an identity crisis or have emotional problems are particularly susceptible to the cults. And during such difficult moments, many cults give the unsuspecting a feeling of acceptance and direction. The cults seem to offer ready-made solutions. Most tell their believers what to believe, how to behave, and what to think, and emphasize dependence upon the group or leader for their emotional stability. A person does not usually join a cult because he or she has done an exhaustive analysis of world religions and has decided that a particular cult presents the best theology available. That's not the case. That's not how cults work. Cults are very systematic. They will find the people who are more susceptible. They know the type of individual that they can work on. And they do mark houses. When they go around areas and speak with people, they do their homework and they keep an account of who they've spoken to. Was there any possibility of that person giving them a hearing, go back another time? They'll mark out those that stay away from those individuals. I remember one of our students, and I think it was, this is a number of years ago, and the Jehovah Witness is turned up at his door. So he occupied them for an hour or two in debating with them. When they finally left and they went to the neighbor's house and he walked out and down the avenue and up their avenue and he says, don't listen. As soon as they opened the door, don't listen. They're a bunch of frauds. They're deceiving you. He just stood and preached the gospel at the end of their drive. as the Jehovah Witnesses, I think it was, was trying to knock on the other door and get into conversation with them. So I'd rather say there was a big black or red X, don't be going near there, those houses every again. There's a boy there to avoid. But they do mark out people's, mark out areas and who they've been talking to. And if they find somebody, you know, that maybe is going through an emotional experience in life, and they think that they can make inroads, they will be back. They will be back in a very short period of time. They know who they're looking for. They know the type of individuals to work on. They know the type of individual that after they've been speaking to them a while, they know there's not much hope with that person. Let's move on to somebody else. But they do know who it is. There's a profile that they have. that they know, here's the greater likelihood that this individual will give us a hearing, maybe even come over to be one of us. So, cults meet basic human needs. needs. The last paragraph there of that second point, instead a person usually joins a cult because he or she has problems that they are having a difficult time solving and the respective cult promises to solve these. These problems are often emotional in nature. As I say, you wouldn't go to a cult because you've done a systematic study of theology and you've come to the conclusion that they are teaching the truth of the gospel. That's usually not the reason why somebody goes over to believe in a cult and start practicing. following that particular cult. The third one there, cults impress the uninformed. When a mainline church fails to provide spiritual warmth and a true exposition of the word of God, those with spiritual needs will find other avenues of fulfillment. Many cults prey on ignorance and try to impress the uninformed with pseudo-scholarship. Many of those involved with the cults were raised in Christian churches but were untaught in the basic Christian doctrines, making them an easy prey for the cults. And if they can get into somebody's emotions and tell them they've got the answer for their troubles and What they have known or practiced before is never going to help, and that was wrong. They're going to get a hearing sooner or later. On to number three there, then. We're going to take a little bit longer. What are the characteristics of a cult? Well, I think there's nine here that I have mentioned in this particular point. Number one, new truth. Many cults promote the false idea that God has revealed something special to them that has never been before revealed and that supersedes and contradicts all previous revelation. The Mormon Church, for example, teaches that Christianity was an apostasy for 15 centuries until God appeared to Joseph Smith and revealed new truth to him. Today, they still believe in living prophets who received divine revelation from God. Again, I don't know if you know much about the Mormons, but they believe that Christianity apostatized at the time of Constantine, AD 333. And that from that point, right the whole way through to the days of Joseph Smith, there was no witness on earth, no true witness. So that's 1,500 years. from 333 A.D. through to the 1800s when Joseph Smith started teaching what he did. So for 1500 years there was no witness. Well, I would like to think you could easily argue back on that from Scripture as to why that's a falsehood. God has said he always will have a witness. Didn't Jesus Christ say I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Well the Mormons would suggest that for 1500 years the devil did prevail against the church and prevail against Christ building this church. But this is the type of thing that they come along saying. And then, you see, they can repudiate all of the Reformation and all of those things that happened back in those days. Oh, the church was in apostasy. We don't accept any of that at all. Joseph Smith was the one who brought the truth back again when the angel appeared to him, another individual who had an angel appear to him. There are those out there who claim special revelation, that they have the truth and no one else has it. So cults justify their existence by claiming that they have something more than just the Bible and its inadequate message. They therefore have no objective, independent way to test their teachings and practices. We, in contrast, should test all our teaching and practices objectively and independently by God's infallible word. Help can also be gleaned from the history of the church in examining the authenticity of a doctrine or a practice. Sometimes it's very difficult to counter the cults because they already have a mindset. You take Jehovah's Witnesses when they go around the doors and if they knock on your door and you open the door, maybe you quote a verse of scripture. Their mindset is to go immediately to what they have been taught that verse means. They're not listening to you or me at the door. Their mindset is to go to immediately, well, what have we been taught that that verse means? And that's what they will parrot to you. And it doesn't matter what argument you may bring or how you may explain that verse and point out the truth. They've got an explanation for that verse. Their leaders know the verses that people turn up. They know the verses that people turn up. That's why I say it is important that you do learn some skills and some techniques as to how to witness it to cults, people that are involved in cults. Because you have to get around that mindset. That when they're at the door and you quote a verse of scripture and you think, there's a verse of scripture that settles that point. They're not listening to what you're saying that verse means. They've already tuned into what their leaders in the cult have told them that verse means. And that's what they will parrot back to you. So how do you get around that? Because that is the barrier. You could have all the knowledge of the scriptures, you could quote verse after verse, you could know all their doctrines and what they believe and every answer that there is to bring forward to argue against it, but you'll not get anywhere. I've tried it. I've tried it. That's why I am of the opinion, and that's why I did it when I was doing the correspondence course. At the end of every cult, we took time to think about how do you witness to these people? Because you feel like you're banging your head against the wall. You're going nowhere. You're wasting time. Maybe sometimes you go in and think, I wasted an hour of my day. I've gotten nowhere with that individual, maybe even more than an hour in the day. But we need to be able to counter what they teach effectively. Now, we need the Lord to open their minds the same way as anybody's converted. The Lord has to open their minds. But if they're not even listening to what you're saying, because they've already tuned in to what they've been taught the verse means or a passage means, well, it wouldn't matter what knowledge you have. It wouldn't matter how you say it. you're not getting anywhere. It's going to just go round in circles. So how do you break that circle? How do you get them to think differently? And some of the things, I don't know what the brethren will say, but certainly if you, you know, one of the most, if you take, let's take two Jehovah's Witnesses turn up at your door. The Mormon is always two men. The women don't go out and do door to door like the Jehovah's Witnesses do. But whether it's, It would apply to the Mormons as well, but let's just take the Jehovah's Witnesses. Sometimes those who have written and who have thought these things through, they often say, you start speaking to the second person because there's somebody there being trained. There's somebody there that's taking the lead at the door. The person who does the talking to you when you open the door. That person's the one who is training the other one more than likely. So you bypass the first person. You start asking the other person questions. And if the other person interjects, you say, no, I'm not talking to you. You just be quiet there for a moment. And you start talking to the other person. Because they're the ones that are not so sure about things. They're the ones that are getting some training on the ground. So just little practical things like that. No, it's going to go on to the fact you need to know what you're talking about as well. But just little things about how you break that circle and get past that barrier that there is there, that they're going immediately. Because maybe that second person doesn't remember what they were taught. Maybe they haven't been to too many Jehovah's Witness meetings and they haven't got all that knowledge. Oh, that's what we were taught that verse means. So you can maybe have a profitable conversation with somebody. So it's just developing a way whereby you can break that circle as you're witnessing to somebody so that your time witnessing does become profitable. and that there is the possibility, we acknowledge we need the Lord, to open blinded hearts. It doesn't matter who you're speaking to, whether it's a cult or somebody just brought up under the gospel, the same work of the Spirit needs to happen. We do need to try and work out, how do I get around that? So that's one of the reasons why not only do we want to cover what do these cults believe, but how do you, in your own mind, have a strategy? This is how I'm going to witness to these people. This is how I'm going to go about it. And we can glean on others that that have thought this through and practiced, maybe even some who have been on the other side who have been Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons. And they know what it is that touches their heart when somebody speaks in a specific way. Just opening the door and denouncing them, you'll not get very far. You might go and think, oh, I told them. You might go and pat on your back, I told them. I told them they were wrong. They didn't go away from your door, they thought you were wrong. That's what they left the door thinking. That person, they're wrong. I'm right. You haven't got through. So what is the point of spending an hour with people that you're not going to get through to? There has to be another way. Another way. Is there possible to find that? So that's one of the reasons why we want to. to look at these and look at them in this particular light. On to number two there, new interpretations of scripture. Some cults and comparative religions make no claim to truth or extra-biblical revelation but believe that they alone have the key to understanding the mysteries of the Bible. So they'll take the scriptures, they'll not add to it, but their attitude is, that the Scriptures are their only acknowledged source of authority, but they are interpreted according to their understanding. The most obvious example of this is the Roman Catholic Church, who claims that the Scriptures have to be interpreted according to the unanimous consent of the Church Fathers. So there's an example. The Roman Catholic Church says, oh, well, we believe in the Bible. We believe that the Bible is our rule of faith. as long as it is interpreted according to the unanimous consent of the fathers. Charles Chinake, who was a Roman Catholic priest in Canada and wrote that book, 50 Years in the Church of Rome, and then he lived, he was over 90 and he wrote another book, 40 Years in the Church of Christ. If you have never read 50 Years in the Church of Rome, I would encourage you to do it. I know it's a pretty big book, but I would say it's an eye-opener. to Roman Catholicism, if you were to read Charles Chinake, 50 years in the Church of Rome. Because Charles Chinake makes the point, there's only one thing that the Church Fathers are unanimous about. They're not unanimous on anything. It's a con. It's a con. When Rome says that the Scriptures have to be translated according, or a doctrine has to be interpreted, the Bible has to be interpreted according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers, it never exists, even on the subject. And you might think, oh, surely they're all agreed on Peter being the Pope. No. They're not agreed on Peter being the Pope. The Church Fathers are not agreed. They're all over the place on it. They have different views on whether Peter was the rock upon which the church is built. So even on that most fundamental matter that you might think about the Roman Catholic Church, you'd discover they're not even agreed on that, the church fathers. But there's this practice that the Bible has to be interpreted according to a particular fashion. Number three, non-biblical guidance. Some cults have sacred writings or sources of authority that supersede the Bible. The Mormons say that they believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. Quote, that's a quote, Article Eight of their Articles of Faith. So they believe the Bible only as far as they believe it is translated correctly. by a Mormon, according to Mormon teaching. Well, then we'll accept it, but not otherwise. Other groups claim the Bible to be their final authority, when in reality, their authority is the Bible as interpreted by a cult figure. A sure mark of a cult is the final authority in scriptural matters rests on something other than the plain teaching of the scriptures. And we should never get away from that. The plain, simple teaching of the Scriptures. We believe the Bible is our final rule of faith and practice. Full stop. The plain, simple statements of Scripture is the final rule. of faith and practice. Number four, another Jesus. One prominent characteristic found in cults is false teaching about the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in the word of God and accepted by historical biblical Christianity. Paul warned about following another Jesus and believing another gospel. Second Corinthians 11 verse four, that same chapter that we were reading in. If he that cometh preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit whom ye have not received, or another gospel which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear him. Galatians 1, 8 and 9, I've made reference to this about an angel coming and preaching another gospel. Let him be accursed. The Jesus of the cults is always something less than the eternal Son of God who became flesh and dwelt among us, died and rose again. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Christ was the first creation of Jehovah God. Mormons believe that Christ is one of many gods, the first born spirit child. Cults virtually all deny the deity of Jesus Christ. It's always a good rule, young people, whatever you hear, whatever comes along purporting to be the truth, to ask the scripture question, what think they of Christ? That should be your first thought. because that will, in many cases, will find them out. Even when you think of other things that are outside of cults, some things that go on in Christian circles and charismatic circles and so on, it's a good starting point. What think they of Christ? What position do they give Christ? What prominence do they give him? What do they believe about him, about his work, about his person? And many times you'll find, certainly with the cults, they have a lesser view of Christ. Number five, double talk. A feature of some of the cults is that they say one thing publicly but internally believe something totally different. Many call themselves Christians when in fact they deny the fundamentals of the Christian faith. The first article of the Mormons state, and I quote, we believe in God the eternal father and in his son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost. That would give you the impression that Mormons are Christians since they believe in Christ. However, that should be however. There should be a full stop after Christ and that should be however. When we disentangle the semantics, we discover that what they mean by Jesus Christ is far removed from orthodox Christianity. Yet they seek to present themselves as just another denomination of Christianity. So we're not to take things at face value. The scripture would tell us not to test, to try, So when you come like a Mormon article of faith there, as I say, the very first article of faith, we believe in God, the eternal father, and in his son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. Maybe we would say, oh, here, they must be Trinitarian. That's very good. But they're not. They're not. They don't believe the orthodox position on Jesus Christ. Six, the denial of the Trinity. Cults have either an inadequate view of the doctrine of the Trinity or else outright denial of it. The doctrine of the Trinity is usually attacked as being pagan or satanic in origin. Changing beliefs. Cult doctrines are continually in a state of flux. and have no sure foundation on which to anchor their hopes. Adherence to a particular cult will learn to accept a belief only to find out later that it has changed or been contradicted by further revelation. Jehovah Witnesses used to believe that vaccinations and blood transfusions were sinful. They've now changed their minds. Jehovah Witnesses have also had to change their beliefs about the second coming on many occasions. Some of, again, if we do get to the place of learning some techniques, it's some of those things that start to make people to doubt the organization as a more effective strategy to witness to somebody, to get a doubt sown in their mind. Well, they need to hear the truth in the sense they need to learn of their need of Jesus Christ, but to get them, first of all, to question the organization because it is ingrained into them. And in some cases, they have been, so indoctrinated that they're not going to listen to what you say a verse of scripture means. But maybe you can get in on them by putting the doubt in their mind about the organization. I sure you're the people that had to change your views so many times. What? And I've highlighted there about vaccinations and blood transfusions. It's never mentioned today. Maybe Jonathan could talk about that a little bit more, maybe in his experience as a doctor. But certainly, you go back 20, 30 years, and there were articles and papers about Jehovah's Witnesses that refused, blood transfusion refused to give their children, permit their children to get blood transfusion. And in some cases, children died. There were court cases where the court intervened and ordered that a child would get a blood transfusion in order to save their life, contrary to the opinion of their Jehovah Witness parents. And I'm sure if you did a search on Google, there would be many a case that would come up along those lines. It's more or less forgotten about now, because they've moved on. But that used to be their views. And certainly, on the Second Coming, they have stated, and then had to retract and try to explain away, on at least five occasions that the Second Coming had taken place. Seventh-day Adventists are the same. They have been caught out, and then they try to reinterpret what, well, we didn't really mean that, you know. You did, until you got caught out. But they do. So sometimes that's a better, more effective way of sowing a little seed of doubt in somebody's mind, letting them go away and think, praying that the Lord would use it, but maybe going away and thinking, I wonder, is that right? Have we changed our minds? And they certainly have. On there to strong leadership. A cult is often a group of people gathered around a particular individual, the leader or teacher of the group. He or she usually claims some special revelation from God which enables them to dictate to the group what they believe and practice. This usually means that the leader is treated with reverential awe and is given allegiance by group members where his or her pronouncements are accepted with blind and unwavering obedience. Strong leadership leads the cult follower into total dependence upon the cult for beliefs, behavior, and lifestyle. When this falls into the hands of a particularly corrupt leader, the results can be tragic. Many years ago, this is a way before, well this first one is before your time, the second one I do remember, Jim Jones and the People's Temple. He took a group of individuals to South America and they all committed mass suicide. David Koresh and his followers burned themselves to death in Waco, Texas. I can remember that happening. I remember that being on the news. There was some investigation. It's like some of those things that are going on in America at the minute. I don't know whether it was Ace then or not, but it was certainly some investigation by the federal authorities. But he had the whole building booby-trapped with cans of, well, we'd call it petrol. They call it gas or gasoline out there. And he ignited it, and this was done in view of the world's media. The whole thing just went up. He lit it, and everybody in it. I think maybe there was one or two escaped that particular thing. And he claimed he was the Messiah, and these people were blindly following him. Look it up on Google, those names. If you have time, Jim Jones and David Koresh, and you'll read something of the events around him. Individuals who are dominant in a group, and people start following them, and especially if they are corrupt individuals, ungodly, wicked individuals, the things that they tolerate. Lastly, their salvation by works. One teaching that is totally absent from all the cults is the gospel of free and sovereign grace. No cult teaches that a person can be saved from eternal punishment by simple faith in Jesus Christ and repentance toward God. It is always belief in Jesus Christ plus some other action. It might be baptism, obedience of laws or something else. The Mormons state in article three, we believe that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved. Now, if you stopped there, you'd think, oh, that sounds pretty good. Is that not orthodox or near enough orthodox? But it goes on, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. That's salvation by works. If you add that in to that first statement, that's a salvation by works. That's not salvation by faith. That's no better than potpourri. And yet that's what the Mormons believe. And they try to present themselves as a Christian church or a Christian denomination. They're no better than Popery. That's what they believe. That's what their stated belief is. And that's always the mark of cults. Salvation by works. Salvation by works. And again, sometimes that's a little nugget as well to use in trying to get past somebody's preconceived ideas is to sow a little seed of doubt regarding that. What are you trusting on to get to heaven? I remember one of our ministers who was heading out of his house to do a visit or something and I think it was the Jehovah's Witnesses come around the corner and he just stopped them and he said, I've got five minutes before a day, tell me how to get to heaven. Couldn't tell him. And he said to him, he says, Jesus Christ could tell a dying thief how to get to heaven in a matter of minutes. You can't. There's something wrong with what you believe. And he went on about his visit. Because it's a whole elaborate, you have to do this and you have to do that. Sometimes you have to come and get converted in the Jehovah's Witness Hall. or through the Mormons or whatever, or as the Lord Jesus said to the dying thief, you just look to Christ. You just look to Christ. So there are strategies, hopefully, that we can use. The last paragraph, this is salvation by works. Cults never teach that faith and repentance alone can save the soul. They attack the doctrine of salvation by grace. alone through faith alone. And some of them do it with a vengeance. They rail against the idea of salvation by faith alone.