Kingdom of the Cults 2.0 / Cultic Movements Within Modern Charismatic Christianity NAR Word of Faith

Hello, and thank you for listening to the Testing the Spirits podcast. The question we're going to be looking at in this episode is, charismatic Christianity cultic? Before I answer that, let me say this first.

Just because someone believes that the spiritual gifts continue, just because somebody believes that speaking in tongues is for today or, you know, word of knowledge, the sign gifts are for today, that does not make someone cultic.

I am not saying that at all. There are many moderate charismatics to where what I'm going to say does not apply. However, on the other hand, the current leaders of the movement, people like Catherine Crick, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer, Chuck Pierce, those are the four people on the video thumbnail, and others like Benny Hinn, you know, and Mike Todd, you know, anyone who basically teaches the prosperity gospel or claims to get direct revelation from God.

They make false prophecies, you know, Bethel Church. They claim God speaks directly to them. Yes, this is cultic. I believe Kenneth Copeland's church members are in a cult. I believe Catherine Crick's church members are in a cult.

And I say this not to put anyone down, but I do this because we are commanded to test all things, test the spirits. And if people are trapped in cultic movements, we want to warn them. So this is for people's good.

So the word of faith, what type of charismatic Pentecostal Christianity is cultic? I would say word of faith, sometimes called the word faith movement, the new apostolic reformation. Yes, I believe these forms of either hyper charismatic Christianity, some would argue it's just mainstream charismatic Christianity.

This is cultic. These teachers are cultic. When I began my ministry, I knew about the main cults, right? The old cults, the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, Christian science. I knew I'd have to contend with these groups and their false prophecies and false doctrine concerning Christ.

And yes, in all fairness, some of the Seventh-day Adventists have moved away from the original cult-like nature of the movement, but many of the original Seventh-day Adventists and certainly groups like the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, they deny the Trinity.

They deny, to this day, the deity of Christ. They teach a works-based salvation. They deny hell. They teach that the Bible has been corrupted. With the case of Mormons, they basically have replaced the Bible with the Book of Mormon.

I mean, this is cultic, but this is happening within charismatic Christianity. The details are a little different, but it's the same general type of situation. I knew I would have to contend with the original cults, but here's what I didn't expect.

I didn't expect that I would have to deal with the Pentecostal charismatic cult leaders. Again, Kenneth Copeland, Catherine Crick, Benny Hinn. I believe they are cultic. Here's why it's relevant, because, yeah, it's true, not too many evangelicals, not too many Bible believers are listening to sermons from Jehovah's Witnesses, pastors from the Mormon church.

They're probably not listening to a lot of that, but people do hear sermons from, say, Stephen Furtick. People do, Bible believers do read books from Joyce Meyer. So I think this is a very relevant issue, which probably touches people you know or people that you go to church with.

So here's the argument why I believe these groups are cultic, these teachers are cultic. Number one, they have a source of authority other than the Bible. Number two, they teach false doctrine concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Number three, they, like the Mormons, they teach that man can become gods, like the little God's doctrine. Most people are aware at this point that Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, and others, they have taught the little God's doctrine.

And all of this amounts to number four, this is a false gospel. First, before we go through these points, let me just read a verse of scripture, just proving there's nothing new under the sun. What's going on now was going on in the 1800s and it was going on even in the first century.

The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11, 3 -5, he said, But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

I think a lot of people are bored with the Bible, so they want their ears tickled. So they go after these anointed teachers, supposedly, who have a new, fresh revelation from God. Paul says, For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it.

Then Paul says, For I consider that I am not inferior to the most eminent apostles. So in the Corinthian context, there were people who claimed to be apostles of Jesus Christ, but they were not. And they were opposing the true apostle, which was, in that case, Paul.

And this is a huge problem today within Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity, this belief that there are modern day apostles. And just the proof that they are false apostles, who are, in many cases, just like in the Corinthian letter, they are opposing the true apostles.

Here's an example. The true apostle of Jesus Christ, Saul of Tarsus, aka the Apostle Paul, here's what he said in 1 Timothy 2 .12, along with 1 Timothy chapter 3. He said that women are not allowed to be pastors.

And yet, within Charismatic Christianity, many of these anointed teachers are female pastors and some of the women claiming to be apostles, yeah, they're female apostles. So they're claiming, just like in the Corinthian letter, they're claiming to be apostles while denying what the true apostle said with Paul.

And it gets worse than that. Here's a clip of something that went on recently in a Charismatic church. The people, just to explain what's happening here, this is probably the craziest thing you've ever seen, but the pastor had a birthday and he claims to have this special anointing.

So he was handing out pieces of his birthday cake to his church members. And when they eat the anointed pastor's birthday cake, they get slain with the spirit.

Watch.

You can see. Watch, watch, watch, watch, watch.

Take it, take it.

Put it in your mouth. Put it in your mouth. Put it in your mouth.

You can see.

It's not easy.

You take, put it in your mouth.

Sit down. Look at your wife. Look at your wife.

Okay.

So that's, yeah, the most insane thing you've seen in a long time probably, but this is actually pretty common within Charismatic and Pentecostal churches. I could play clips like that all day long, but I think you get the point.

Here's the thing. I submit to you that what you just saw is more cultic than anything the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Are doing.

I submit to you that that is more cultic than what the Mormons are doing today. It's certainly not any better. I mean, I would, I think I would join the Seventh-day Adventist church before I would ever join a church like that.

Now, I'm not going to do either.

Okay.

But you get the idea. Or the video I uploaded the other day about Mike Todd, who claimed to have a conversation with God and God supposedly told Mike Todd that you need to teach your people that they need to demand more from God.

Utter blasphemy. I mean, no fear of God with these people. They put words in God's mouth that he never said, which brings us back to the first point of why this form of hyper-Charismatic Christianity is cultic.

Number one reason, they have a source of authority other than the Bible. These people are not preaching God's word. They do not follow the Bible. Instead, they claim to follow, you know, quote unquote, the Spirit, which is not the Holy.

Spirit.

How do I know that? Because the things that they're teaching do not line up with the Holy Spirit inspired scripture. In many cases, they directly oppose what we see in the word of God. So what happens with some of these guys, I mean, they're just liars and con men.

They're just making stuff up. With some of the other people, I think they get a thought in their mind, they get a feeling and they attribute that to God and then they preach it. And now that word is the authority.

They're fake revelations and made up prophecies. I mean, a lot of these guys, Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson, you know, they've Bethel Church, Chris Vallotton. I mean, they have made prophecies on video that have turned out to be totally false where the exact opposite happens.

I mean, they are verifiable false prophets. So they have a source of authority other than the Bible. Number two, they teach false doctrine concerning the person and work of Christ. What they do, this is common standard, really within the word of faith movement.

They elevate man. They exalt man while at the same time pulling Jesus down to our level. Some of them like Kenneth Copeland and Bethel Church, they teach something that has been called the kenosis heresy, basically that Jesus ceased from being God.

He was no longer God when he was on this earth. He was just a man. Joel Osteen's wife has taught this. That Jesus was just a man. According to her, he became divine at his baptism. There are other variations of this common view within the word of faith movement is Jesus died and he went to hell and he became divine when he was born again in hell.

Did a video on that a while back. So basically Jesus, what they're teaching is he is not the eternal God because when he walked this earth, he was just a man. He was able to work miracles by the power of the spirit.

So if you can just get that same spirit, you can do what Jesus did and you become a little God. That's what they believe. That's what they teach, which leads to the next heresy. Number three, third reason why this is cultic.

Like the Mormons, they teach that man is divine. Kenneth Copeland, Stephen Furtick, they take that holy name of God. I am, and they apply it to themselves. Joel Osteen has done this too. And just a, just a disclaimer.

Not every person that I mentioned in this video has taught, you know, all of this. And there's a lot of different variations of these teachings, but it's all unorthodox. And I believe it is cultic. And finally, number four, this amounts to this all amounts to a false gospel.

I heard some of the new apostolic reformation teachers. They say things like the true gospel. If you're going to preach the true gospel, you have to operate in signs and wonders. Basically, if a pastor is not teaching signs and wonders, if he's not operating in the supernatural, you know what, however they define that, then that pastor does not have the full gospel.

They say that the apostles in the book of Acts have the full gospel, which is true. And they preach the cross. Here's the argument. They, the apostles in the book of Acts, they have the full gospel. They preach the cross, but they also did miracles.

So that's the full gospel. And they might appeal to a verse like Mark 16 verses 17 and 18, which says Jesus speaking. He says, these signs will follow those who believe in my name. They will cast out demons.

They will speak with new tongues and they will take up serpents. And if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them. And they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. Now here's the thing.

Do I believe that? Absolutely. But who is Jesus speaking to? He was speaking to his disciples, Peter, James, John, and then later Paul. Those men did all these things in the book of Acts, but it doesn't mean that I can do it today.

And here's the bottom line. And again, I, I'm not saying that every charismatic is in a cult.

Okay.

I'm not saying that, but if somebody believes in modern day apostles, that is cultic. Because if, especially if they're following after these modern day apostles, they are in a cult because these people are not apostles.

This is the bottom line. There are no apostles today. And as soon as you start following these so-called apostles today, yeah, they're teaching things outside of the Bible. They have a different source of authority other than the Bible.

And a lot of what they teach is just flat out unbiblical. It opposes biblical doctrine. So one last time, just because somebody is in a charismatic church, Pentecostal church, not saying that they are in a cult.

However, if they are following after Kenneth Copeland or Catherine Crick, this hyper form of charismaticism. And again, you can argue that that's actually the mainstream because the leaders of the movement are hyper charismatic, whatever it is.

Yes.

Kenneth Copeland, Catherine Crick, that type of stuff. This is absolutely cultic. One last thing. If somebody is tempted to leave a comment on this video saying, you know, how dare you? You know, Jesus said in Matthew seven, Jesus said, judge not.

So how dare you write? Jesus did say that. And Jesus also said in John chapter seven, that we should make righteous judgments. The idea that we should never judge is a common, common thing, but you're taking that verse out of context.

Also in Matthew seven, you want to talk about Matthew seven, Jesus in Matthew seven warns of false prophets. So we need to read the whole Bible. We need to take verses in their proper context. We need to study to show ourselves approved.

But unfortunately, many of today's top leaders and charismatic Christianity, I mean, they're not doing that. They're twisting the word of God, teaching things opposed to it, taking stuff out of context.

When they do quote the Bible at all, it's, it's out of context. So these are cultic false teachers. So in conclusion, we're going to keep on doing what the Bible says. First John four, verse one, we're going to keep on testing the spirits.

Why?

Because many false prophets have gone out into the world and that's many of the charismatic.

Leaders.

And they are essentially acting as cult leaders. Thanks for listening. And until next time, may the Lord be with you and have a great day.