Dan was a fervent crusader against the Pope and the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church.  Every Sunday after the service, over tea and coffee (which he refused to drink), he could be seen without fail mingling among the fellowship, warning all who would listen to him.  Not only did he speak against that church but he was also “armed” with a shoulder bag full of anti-Catholic literature, in the form of pamphlets, newsletters and booklets, which he freely gave away.

Although he could be counted on to be with us after each service, not always would he be in attendance in the service.  Often at that time he would be with fellow crusaders standing outside a Catholic church or cathedral or rally somewhere, “doing the work of God,” telling Catholic practitioners of their errors.

I knew of some of those errors.  My religious upbringing was in the Roman Catholic church.  I was a former altar boy who also attended a primary-school convent for four years and was taught by dedicated nuns, so I knew their teachings very well.  When Dan spoke of the differences between the doctrines of Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, he did so using the Bible as his reference.  As a result, he was accurate with his biblical knowledge.  He certainly knew how to quote the Scriptures in their right context for his arguments, but sadly, it was all according to the letter of the law.  

Dan was a religious legalist.  And like all religious legalists, he lacked the presence, the grace and the power of God the Holy Spirit.  Listening to him speak, it was not difficult to discern bitterness within him, plus a zealous, religious, self-righteousness and a misguided understanding of biblical love.  He was also riddled with arthritis, which in my opinion, was an outward confirmation of my discernment.

Whenever Dan would came to me with the purpose of “getting into my ear,” I would listen, but then challenge him as to what God was saying and revealing to him personally.  He could never give me a direct answer.  I asked him about his personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Each time I questioned him on it he would look at me and smile, continue with his mission for a minute or so and then move on to someone else.  This went on for some months.

Then one day I called to Dan’s home.  He invited me in and during the course of our conversation I yet again asked him about his salvation in Christ.  In answering, he spoke of his doubts in Christ’s forgiveness, saying he had lots of guilt for his past sins and, “one day I’ll have to give an account to God for every one of them.”  I thought as much.  Here sitting opposite me was a classic case of one who knows all the Scriptures one needs for legalistic religious purposes to pull down and put guilt trips on others, but he doesn’t know Christ’s forgiveness, mercy, peace and love for himself.

I could also discern the presence and powers of the demonic - both in Dan and in his house.  But I ignored those and simply shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with him, regardless of his previous understanding of it.  As a result, Dan wanted to commit or re-commit his life to the Lord.  So I led him in a prayer enabling him to do so.  No sooner had he completed this however, when once again he proceeded to continue on with his zealous mission.  I encouraged him to lay that aside for a time and begin to use his energy getting to know the Lord through prayer and the study of His word.  He said he would do so, but I knew it would not be easy for him based on the demonic presence in him and around him. 

Four weeks later I revisited Dan at home at his request, specifically to do some foundational Bible teaching.  He was a living example of a Christian who has no foundation in the word of God.  His Biblical knowledge was extremely limited because of distorted and perverted teachings or understandings.  And as a result, he operated out of half-truths. 

The problem with people or churches who operate out of half-truths however, is that they open themselves up to the powers of spiritual deception by believing they have all the truth on any one subject.  That is why the New Testament gives the exhortation for Christians to study to show ourselves approved unto God, and become workers who do not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

We spoke about the influence and power of demonic beings, with Dan acknowledging that they were in him and in his home.  At nights while he was in bed, he said they would wake him from sleep with all sorts of disturbances, having done so for many years.  I asked him if he could recall his first encounters with them and he told me it happened when he was in Africa, “many years ago.”  He said it was there that he saw one which followed him around and it spoke to him often.   

I suggested to Dan that he probably had heaps of them following him since then and that, “they were doing so to this day.”  He agreed.  He confessed any known sin before God as a result of allowing these demons to come into his presence and then we began to pray some of them out.  In the space of about two hours, in Jesus’ name, we took authority over the religious spirit, the spirit of bitterness, uncleaness, sickness, afflictions. lies, deceptions - to name a few – and Dan was becoming a changed man before my eyes.

At a later date I called on Dan again and he acknowledged that he was feeling much better – less fearful, less oppressed etc and he had ceased his Catholic-bashing all the time I was with him.  I took the opportunity here to suggest to him that his anti-Catholic mission was not a ministry given to him by God.  

He continued to do a few basic Bible studies with me.  My objective was to make sure that he filled himself with the word of God, because it was the only way he could keep his deliverance from the demonic beings.  I explained to Dan that each biblical Christian is in a continuous spiritual battle with the demonic and as such, it was within his interests to discipline himself to prayer and Bible study, so that he could learn how to discern what was of God and what was of the devil.         

I told him that God would always give him authority over any demonic presence he came up against, but that God’s way is always through the excersise of these disciplines.  I gave him Jesus’ example from Matthew 12:43-45, where He spoke about the unclean spirit going out of a man, who then went through dry places looking for rest, but found none.  So he decided to return to where he came from.  On doing so he found the house empty etc, so he went and found seven others more wicked than himself.  They all entered and dwelt within the man and the last state of him became worse than the first.

The last time I saw Dan after those meetings, it appeared that he was continuing to take that advice.  “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonsration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”  1 Corinthians 2:4-5.         

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.

As a result, he had “no time for your Jesus or your Bible.”  At that time I had not been a Christian very long – about three years – but I was very grateful for my own studies and teachings, because at this point these had equipped me enough to expect such comments from cult victims – in fact victims of spurious “religious” practices and teachings in general.  As well, they had equipped me so as not to be offended or threatened by such comments.

Through God’s enablement in this equipping, I held on to the wisdom of many authors and teachers - all of whom taught me that knowing the Scriptures is the key to knowing Jesus Christ and truth, not getting caught up in other religious belief systems.  They taught that if one knew those Scriptures, then one would soon discern what was truth and what was error when it comes out of the mouths of victims such as Scott, or their false doctrinal teachers.  Further advising, that as messengers of Christ under the power and annointing of the Holy Spirit, we are then in a position to help these victims in real ways, not religious ways. 

I was also grateful for the challenges many of these authors and teachers brought, advising me to come to terms with the Bible - either it is the word of God to mankind, or it is not.  Either there is a God Who can be known to us personally in Jesus Christ, or there is not.  Either Jesus Christ is telling us the truth in the Scriptures, or He’s a liar.  Also, they encouraged me to settle it once and for all, “as soon as you take a stand for the Bible, you will be labelled by both believers and non-believers alike as a fundamentalist, a crack-pot, a loveless “christian”……whatever.”  Thanks to God I have settled it – and by His grace I don’t bow to labels. 

Even though Scott made that statement to me, he asked questions about the fall of man as it’s declared in Genesis 3:1-24.  His theology was heavily biased towards the cult’s teachings naturally enough, so it was, “Rubbish,” to my answers.  Did I believe Jesus Christ died on a cross for man’s sin?  “Rubbish,” when I said did.  Did I believe Jesus Christ is both God and Man?  “Rubbish,” again.  I asked Scott if he was looking for answers, or was he looking for an argument?  He was silent to the question.

For myself, it was an amazing experience to be tuned in to the Holy Spirit.  Once again God was revealing to me the love He has for each individual - the love and honour He has for each person’s uniqueness.  Religious man loves to lump us all together – one in, all in!  But not God.  Never.  Yes, Jesus loves the church – but the church is always people – an organism – not an organization.  Because of this truth, not once was Scott made to feel wrong even though he was closed off at that point to my message and responses to his questions.  

He argued about beliefs, saying there was no such thing as right or wrong.  So I asked him if he thought what Hitler did was right.  He said no.  I asked him why not?  A softening came into his eyes.  He then said, “I would really like to have what you say you’ve got.  I can see you’ve got something, but I don’t think I can accept that it’s Jesus Christ.”  All cults deny the true Lord Jesus Christ so one shouldn’t really expect any response other than the one given by this young man.

So I explained to Scott that the Bible doesn’t tell us do anything we “can’t” do and that maybe, if we’re really honest with ourselves, perhaps we mean we “won’t”  do.  He was silent for a few seconds and then said, “That’s something I haven’t given much thought to.”  I then asked him if he’d like me to pray for him asking the Lord to show him the reality of Himself from this moment onwards, in personal, practical ways as well as spiritual.  He said he would like me to do so, also telling me he would accept a New Testament if one was given to him.  I never saw Scott again, but I made sure a New Testament was delivered to his flat.

When it comes to cults, cult leaders and their teachings, the differences between what they teach and what the Bible teaches are often glaringly different – but not always.  Sometimes the counterfeit is extremely difficult to discern.  Many years after this event with Scott I was to go through a personal experience of endeavouring to discern just such counterfeit.  It came about when I associated myself with a national group here in Australia, spending over seven years among them.  

After about three years of sitting under their teachings I began to become very disturbed in my spirit.  Something wasn’t right but “I couldn’t put my finger on it.”  The leadership (that I knew) and the people, were/are a lovely group and that, in my mind, made it all the more difficult for me to search out what was going on and what I was experiencing. 

With regards the big picture – the difficulties came to an end when I began to see their denial of the plain-sense meaning of the Scriptures in preference for spiritualizing and allegorizing of the same. 

It was a difficult time for me but I’m very grateful to the reality and power of God for the experience.  One of my constant prayers to the Lord was/is to ask Him to enable me to operate in the spiritual gift of discernment – firmly believing that when God answers and reveals – all ministry can then be optimal in it’s effect. 

Therefore, my time and experiences with this group, although harrowing, taught me heaps about how we can quicky get into error by the over-emphasis of  doctrines taught from the Scriptures.  I learned that if people favour the practice to spiritualize and allegorize, at the expense of accepting plain-sense meanings, then it won’t be too long down the path before they can make the Bible say whatever they want it to say.  And they do. 

Most Christians do not search out the Scriptures for themselves, they simply leave that to the leaders and teachers – trusting “that they must be right.”  I also learned that it’s easy to fall for something by ignoring to check  out what is preached or taught and if we continue not to check, then soon we’ll fall for anything. 

In the future, I will be posting my testimony of that experience on this blog.  It is a very long testimony.  But I’ve written it for teaching purposes as well, dot-pointing the main characteristics of cultish behaviour.  Thanks to the many writers and teachers who’s works I studied on this subject over some years - all of them making it clearer for me to see what I was caught up in – I pray this testimony does the same for others.   

In the meantime, if you think you could be currently caught up in such a group, or you know of people who are, I invite you to read my testimony and see if it matches your queries and experiences.  If so, may God bless you with faith and trust in Him as you pray, asking Him to show you the next step to take.  (Update.  The testimony can now be read in my post: Melbourne Christian Fellowship – Why I Left It. Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.)  “And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”  John 6:35.

© 2009 – 2010, Roger Williams. All rights reserved.