Many people belong to a cult today and have no idea of that. The term cult is sometimes used to describe groups of people that closely follow or are fans of a person or thing – like “Elvis’s fan club.” Too many assume they know what a cult is without understanding what the biblical meaning is or the impact of following those teachings. Some people think the term is related to Satan/Devil worship or witchcraft. Well, those are types of “cults,” but there are more that are considered by many as acceptable religions.

The focus of this article is the definition of a “cult” described in the Bible and how a person can accept a false doctrine that can lead them down a path that takes them away from God and not to salvation. How important is this to God and should you be concerned about it? I could include more than fifty separate places in the Bible that warn us about being fooled by this. The New Testament has many warnings with some in Revelation that speaks to the changes within our society in the past several years and within many “traditional” churches today.

We have heard the statement – “It does not matter what a person believes as long as they believe it.” Or perhaps – “Who is to say that their beliefs are more valid than any other?” If either of those statements does not cause you any concern, then it might be time to think about how much you trust Jesus Christ. Do you trust Him to be honest and knowledgeable? Do you accept what is in the Bible that He taught?

John 14:6 NIV ⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Hebrews 13:8 NIV ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

These two verses are important to always remember and make part of the building blocks of your faith. Jesus tells us that He is the only doorway to God and His Kingdom. Jesus tells us that God is unchanging – His values from the beginning and to eternity are and will be the same regardless of changes that have or will occur within societies or politics. The Bible, God’s Word, is full of examples from the beginning to the last book in the Bible. From Genesis through Revelation there are clear examples of God’s people straying from His values and how they were dealt with until they returned to His values.

Isaiah 45:5 NIV ⁵ I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me,

The Bible tells us that there is only one God. Throughout history, people have worshiped many different gods, thinking that there was a god for many different things. They created idols and symbols that they prayed to and gave sacrifices to. Most people see those as false gods and false teachings. If you believe the three verses above as true, then can you see that it does matter to God what a person believes and that they must believe in only one God? If you believe there are multiple heavens or that there are many different ways to get to a single Heaven, then you are saying you reject the Bible as God’s Word.

Assuming that the Bible is God’s Word and that it is truthful, then what does it tell us about “false teachings” and the dangers of accepting and following them? How do we recognize the signs of a “cult” of false teaching? There are many examples of those warnings and I will provide a few, but a simple search on “false teaching” will provide many more for you to read. As always, never just take anyone’s word for what the Bible says or what it means, go to the Bible. If someone tells you something that is not supported by the Bible, then you should be concerned about accepting it as truth.

The book of Deuteronomy was written by Moses, a number of years after God had given him the law (Ten Commandments). The book of Revelation was written by John the Apostle, and it is the “revelation” of Jesus Christ as given to John. Below are two messages from God that need to be understood as warnings against changes to God’s Word.

Deuteronomy 4:2 NIV ² Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.
Revelation 22:18-19 NIV ¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. ¹⁹ And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

The Bible teaches that faith in Christ, plus nothing else, equals salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 reads, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

The three most obvious cults today are Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watchtower Society, and Mormons. All three put good works in the place of “nothing else,” suggesting the redeeming work of Jesus is not sufficient by itself. So where else can we get misled into believing false teachings? Believing that politics and God are always aligned – if something is legal, then God has accepted and approved it! If that even sounds correct, then you have not understood any of the verses above. Below are several warnings in the Bible about accepting changes that have occurred and will occur in societies that are not accepted by God and will never be.

2 Peter 2:1-2 NIV 2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. ² Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.

2 Timothy 4:3 NIV  ³ For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

2 Peter 2:18 NIV ¹⁸ For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.

2 Corinthians 11:3 NIV 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

1 Timothy 4:1-2 NIV 1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

1 John 2:20-23 NIV ²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.^[a] 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. ²² Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

1 John 3:7-10 NIV ⁷ Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. ⁸ The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. ⁹ No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.

Isaiah 5:20 NIV ²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV 3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ² People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴ treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Revelation 21:8 NIV ⁸ But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Romans 1:27 NIV ²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NIV ⁹ Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men^[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Timothy 1:8-11 NIV ⁸ We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. ⁹ We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰ for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine ¹¹ that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.