Week 8

Cults

This week we talked about cults. It was an introduction to cults and in the next few weeks we’ll do a more in depth study of some of different ones.

The word “cult” comes from the Latin word for worship. Basically a cult is defined as “a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious”. Really anything that opposes the normal biblical view. It is not meant to be an insulting word but a way to categorize something different the biblical Christianity. Some of cults, for example the Mormons, might even call biblical Christianity a cult. The Jews call early Christianity a cult because of their differing views.

One of the characteristics of a cult is that it always surrounds itself around a specific person or that person’s misinterpretation of the Bible (ex. Joseph Smith with the Mormons). Besides being focuses around a leader or person’s interpretation, there are 5 things that you can look for doctrinally in a cult.

They reject the Trinity. They do not believe that Jesus is God. They either lower him down to humanity’s level or will raise themselves up to the same status as Jesus.
Belief that all Christians churches are wrong and they have the only truth.
They believe the bible, but will distort it to fit their viewpoint of man, God, Holy Spirit, Heaven and hell, salvation, and many other doctrines.
They deny that people are saved by faith alone. There is always works involved. Haven’t we seen that through all the religions we’ve studied so far?
They are skillful at using Christian words and doctrines, but with a twist. They’ll use the same words but they will not mean the same thing.

The first thing to do to identify cults is to know true Christianity. The bible tells us to test all things (1 Thess. 5:21). A guy that once worked for the Secret Service in the counterfeit division was asked “how, with all theses different types of fake bill going around, do you figure out which ones are not real?” He responded with, “To spot the fake ones all you have to do is know the real one”. If we know God’s word, when something comes along that teaches a different gospel we’ll be able to spot it.

Our Visit

We had a great visit. We visited a family that came to our “Trunk or Treat” that we put on at the school. The family had a young boy in the 4K class at the school. We talked with the wife. The husband was in bed, he’d had a few shot for a back problem earlier in the day. We did have a good conversation talking about our Sunday School class and Church. We asked the “Key Question”, “In your opinion, what do you understand that it takes for a person to go to heaven” She gave, what seemed to be a faith answer, but added a little to it. To be safe, I shared the gospel with her. We continued to talk a little more and prayed with her before we left.
When we got back to the car, we realized we were 1 hour late getting back to the church. It was worth it we had a great visit and Joanna clicked well with her. Ashley, the other young lady we brought with us, bonded great with the son. Well she played video games with him anyway.

Prayer Request

Pray for this family that they find a church home that can minister to their needs. Both of them have bad back and are taking treatments for the problem. Pray for our ministries, both here and PMBS AIT in the Philippines.

Week 4

Judaism

This week we are studying Judaism. It is unique in that it is both a nationality and a religion. We have, what we call, the Old Testament in common with them. They pay particular attention to the first five books, called the Torah. They also have teaching of their rabbis, which mean master or teacher, written down in a book called the Mishnah. Another book that they use is the Talmud. This is about 36 Volumes and is based on the Mishnah with more material added.

Without going into a lot of detail about this religion, the main difference in Christianity and Judaism is Christ. Christianity has its roots in Judaism. Most of our favorite bible characters were Jews. Even Christ was a Jew. They would have followed some of the same practices and rituals as today’s Jewish people.

Like us they believe in one God and it is the same God we worship, the God of Abraham. They don’t believe in the Godhead being in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The especially don’t believe Jesus was the Son of God. Some Jews accept Him as a good teacher. Their belief in salvation comes from commitment to the one true God and through moral living. As Christians we know it is through Jesus only. We understand that we don’t live a moral life. We know that all have sinned and that there is none good. For this reason we need a savior, someone to pay that debt that we have and to redeem us. We are saved thought faith in Jesus (Romans 3:24).

Our Visit

One of my team members had to be out this week so my prayer partner stepped in and came with us. We had a couple scheduled visits. These were a couple families from the Victory Baptist School. The first one was a family that had a couple kids at the school with the oldest one being in 6th grade. This family has been at the school for 7 years. It was dinner time so we had a quick visit at the door. We stated the purpose of the visit and asked how everything was going and if there was anything the church could help with. Before leaving we had a prayer with the family. Or second visit was not home so we left a church brochure at the door.

On the way back to the chruch, Joanna gave a bible to a police officer and she had a short conversation with him. He was asking questions about Satan. As we were pulling off there were some young men at the liquor store, so we gave a couple bibles to them.

Prayer Request

There as been a lot of children in the church and school asking question about salvation and a few the visits were geared toward them. There was even one saved last night on a FAITH visit. Please pray for each of these children and that God will continue to show them of there need for Jesus.

Week 3

Greek Orthodox
This week we are studying the Greek Orthodox Church. They are a little similar to the Catholic Church, which they split from in 1054 A.D. The reason from the split is they wanted to keep the church the same as it was the first century.

The main difference in the two churches is the Orthodox Church doesn’t have a Pope. Even though they don’t have a Pope, they still have a succession from the original apostles to today’s archbishops sometimes called patriarchs or metropolitans. The Catholic Church is a succession from Peter to the Pope, but the Orthodox Church is from each of the apostles.

Like the Catholic Church, the Church has authority over scripture. This is because of their understanding of the bible. We understand the bible is the inspired Word of God. This Word has always existed and gave life to the Church. Their understanding is that the Church wrote the bible so that they have supremacy over it.

This picture above is the an example of an Icon that they pray to.

Our Visit

Our plan was to visit a family that attends Victory Baptist School. That family wasn’t home so we visited their neighbor. I remembered the neighbor form a few weeks ago. I meet them at another Church member’s house which lived across the street. Before the visit, I felt that I didn’t go their with the right attitude or heart, but God quickly showed me that he planned this visit. This family of two boys and a mother just lost their father/mother. We were able to share God’s word and pray with the mother before we left. Also before we left we arranged for another group to visit that would be better suited to minister to her needs and would be the Sunday school that she’d attend.

On the way back to the Church I gave my Bible to a lady at a carwash. She seemed very thankful to receive it.

Prayer Request
Pray for the family that we visited that the love and comfort of God will show through our Church in this time of need. Pray for a guy that I went to school with that heard the gospel last Sunday. Pray that he will realize his need for a savior and that he will “accept this free gift”.

FAITH Is Starting Up

We have a new semester of FAITH starting up and I have a new team. On my team is Josh and Joanna, both from my Sunday school class. It is going to be a great 12 weeks.

Before we go out each week, both Josh and Joanna will go to the regular FAITH class and I, along with the others that have been though FAITH more then two semesters, will have a new class. This time around we will be going through a book called "So What's The Difference?" by Fritz Ridenour. It is a book that will take a look at 20 other religions or world views. This week we discussed chapter one, "Biblical Christianity". It talks about what is biblical Christianity. To study other religions we must fist define what we believe in and compare other world views from there. The book uses a plum line illistration. We need to measure what we believe by God's standards and what His word says. (see Amos 7:8)

My team members should be in their class where I was in my week one last year (see Week 1) They should of had teachings showing the importance of the “Great Commission” and how to gain power over their fears.

Our Visits

We had two assigned visits, both with the last name Smith. The first one was a couple that has family in the Church. They visit during the worship service on occasion, but don't attend a Sunday School class. The wife was there but husband was out. We had a great visit and invited them to our class. We had a good visit and prayed with her before we left.

Our second visit was with the Smith family. This is a family that are members of our Church. The husband is currently stationed in Iraq. They've missed a few weeks in Church and we wanted to check in on them. The son is having a little trouble with separation anxiety and has trouble leaving his mothers side. Because of this, she is having trouble going to Church and doing some things around the house like mowing the yard. Funny thing, she just email Joanna before our visited. She was trying to find out if Joanna's son does any yard work. I guess it is not really funny, I don't even think it was by chance that we were there at that time either. We found several ministry opportunities for our Sunday School class and It was a good visit.

One last mission. Each week were are to find somebody on the street and give them a bible. On our way back to the Church we stopped a Kroger and Joanna gave the bible to a family walking in.

It was a great first week and it is going to be a great semester. My team is going to work well together and have some fun along the way.

Prayer Request

Pray for the Smith boys with their dad gone and his safty. Pray for a good semester of FAITH. Also I have an oppertunity to talk about witnessing at Victory Baptist School, in the third grade class. This will be on Thusday from 2:15-3:00. They want me to talk about why I share my faith and how I do it. The important thing is I get to share the gospel. This is a very important age and pray that God will give me the words to say and that hearts will be open to the message.