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Easy and Powerful Way of Witnessing to the Cults
AUTHOR: Slick, Matt
PUBLISHED ON: April 24, 2003
DOC SOURCE: CCN

        An Easy and Powerful Way of Witnessing to the Cults

    Following is a method of witnessing to cultists that is
non-offensive and powerful; at least, they have found it to be
thought provoking.  It focuses on Jesus, the gospel, and uses the
Scripture because, 1) Jesus draws all men to Himself (John 12:32),
2) the Gospel is powerful for salvation (Rom. 1:16), and 3) God’s
Word accomplishes what God wants it to (Isa. 55:11).

    The main principle…
    Jesus said that He alone reveals the Father (Matt. 11:27 and
Luke 10:22).  Therefore, if you want to know the true Father, you
must know the true Jesus because a false Jesus will not reveal the
true Father.

    If someone puts his faith in the Jesus of Mormonism,
Jehovah’s Witnesses, or any other cult, then his faith is useless.

The validity of faith does not rest in itself, but in its object.
The greatest faith in someone false is the same as no faith at
all.  That is the case with the Mormons and the Jehovah’s
Witnesses.  Each group believes in a Jesus, but not in the Jesus
of the Bible.  Because they each have a false Jesus (1 Cor. 11:4),
they are not saved.  They may be sincere, but they are wrong–dead
wrong.
    The theologies of the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses do not
permit prayer to Jesus, nor the worship of Him.  They also deny
that He can be called their God.  (Some Mormons may pray to,
worship, or call Jesus God, but only if they don’t understand
their church’s official doctrines.)

    In brief…
    You should introduce the cultist to the real Jesus, the One
of the Bible who is prayed to (Acts 7:59), worshipped (Matt.
2:2,11; 14:33; 28:9), and called God (John 20:28; Heb. 1:8).  The
hope is that once the cultist sees that he is without the Jesus of
the Bible, he will realize he doesn’t have the Father either.
Then, hopefully, he will leave his cult.  If not, at least he will
be exposed to the true Jesus and the Word of God will have been
spoken in truth.

    The “approach” is simple.
    1)  Establish a common ground:  the need to know the Father.
    2)  Establish that the only way to the Father is
        through Jesus:  the Jesus of the Bible.
    3)  Show the need for having the correct Jesus, the one
        of historical (and Biblical) Christianity.
    4)  Establish that the Jesus of the Bible is prayed to,
        worshipped, and called God.
    5)  Ask the cultist if he prays to, worships, and calls
        Jesus God (they don’t).
    6)  Ask the cultist why he is right and you are wrong
        if you do what the scriptures teach and he doesn’t.

    Remember, a false Jesus cannot save.  Sincerity and false
messiahs do not bridge the gap of sin between God and man, only
the Jesus of the Bible does that.   

    Expanded form…
    Here is a sample dialogue between a Christian and a cultist.
    Christian:  Would you agree with me that we both want to know
the Father and do what He wants us to do?”
    Cultist:  Yes.
    Christian:  Jesus said that he was the One who revealed the
Father to us (Matt. 11:27 and Luke 10:22).  So, to know the true
Father we must first know the true Jesus, right?
    Cultist:  Yes, that seems reasonable.
    (You are not attacking his doctrine, you are appealing to his
desires which, on the surface, are identical to yours:  to serve
and love God.  You can catch more bees with honey than with a
hammer.)   
    Christian:  The question is, how do we find the true Jesus?
That is simple.  We go to the Bible.  That is where the true Jesus
is, right?
    Cultist:  Right.
    Christian:  Good.  Now let me ask you a couple of questions
to get things started.  If you were to say, “Father receive my
spirit,” who would you be praying to?
    Cultist:  I would be praying to the Father.
    Christian:  Right.  If you were to say, “Jesus receive my
spirit,”  who would you be praying to?
    Cultist:  I wouldn’t pray to Jesus.  I would only pray to the
Father.
    Christian:  I know.  But just for the sake of argument, if
you did, who would you be praying to?
    Cultist:  I would be praying to Jesus.
    Christian:  Right.  Now, in Acts 7:59, Stephen, while full of
the Holy Spirit (v. 55), prayed to Jesus:

        And they went on stoning Stephen as he called
        upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive
        my spirit.” (See also, Acts 9:14; Rom. 10:13.)

    Stephen prayed to Jesus, not just through Him.  If it is
acceptable for him then it should be alright for us.  The Jesus of
the Bible is prayed to.  I pray to Jesus.  Do you?  If yes, good.
If not, why not?  (If you are talking to a Mormon, you may want to
mention that in the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 19:18, Jesus is
prayed to–not just through!)
    Cultist:  Jesus said to pray to the Father.  So, I do.
    Christian:  Yes, I agree.  I do too.  But I also pray to
Jesus as Stephen did.  If the church is only to pray to the Father
then why did Stephen, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
address Jesus in His prayer?  Was he wrong?
    (See also 1 Cor. 1:1-2 with Zech. 13:9 where the church calls
upon the name Lord Jesus:  a prayer to Him.)
    Cultist:  I don’t have an answer.
    Christian:  Glad to see you’re honest.  Let’s continue.
Jesus was also worshipped.  The verses for these are:

        And those who were in the boat worshipped Him,
        saying, “You are certainly God’s son!  (Matt.
        14:33).
        And behold, Jesus met them and greeted
        them.  And they came up and took hold of His
        feet and worshiped Him (Matt. 28:9).
        (See also Matt. 2:2,11; John 9:35-39; Heb. 1:6.)

    Do you do what His disciples did?  Do you worship Jesus?
    (Mormon theology does not allow worship of Jesus.  However,
some Mormons do anyway–they just don’t know that their church
has, and still does, teach against doing so.  If he says he
worships Jesus, ask him how he can do that without praying to Him.
    All Jehovah’s Witnesses say no.  They have their own Bible
where they have mistranslated the word ‘worship’, wherever it
refers to Jesus, to the words ‘do obeisance’ which means to show
respect or honor to someone.  Because of this, using the verse
about worship will not carry much weight.  In that case, you will
want to substitute this…)
    Christian:  Do you honor Him equally with the Father as Jesus
said to do in John 5:23?
    Cultist:  Not equally.  The Father is greater than Jesus.
    Christian:  But that was because Jesus was fully man as well
as fully God and as a man was in a lessor position.  Still though,
Scripture requires that you honor Him equally with the Father as
Jesus said.  If you don’t, then why not?
    Cultist:  I don’t have an answer.
    Christian:  Alright.  There is just one more issue to
address.  Do you call Jesus your Lord and God?
    Cultist:  No, I don’t.
    Christian:  After Jesus’ resurrection He showed Himself to
many people.  One of them was Thomas.  John 20:28 says:

Thomas answered and said to Him [Jesus], “My
Lord and my God!”  Jesus said to him, “Because
you have seen Me, have you believed?”

    God calls Jesus God in Hebrews 1:8:

        But of the Son He [the Father] says, “Thy
        throne, O God, is forever and ever…”

    (In the J.W. Bible they have translated Hebrews 1:8 as “God
is your throne forever; either is correct according to the Greek.
However, Hebrews 1:8 is a quote from Psalms 45:6 that says, “Thy
throne, O God, is forever and ever,” which is the only possible
translation from the Hebrew.  The writer of Hebrews attributes the
verse as an address to Jesus.  Since the J.W.’s deny Jesus is God,
they have changed the Bible to suit their own theological needs.)
The Father calls Jesus God.  Thomas called Him his Lord and God.
Do you call Jesus your Lord and your God?
    Cultist:  No.  I don’t call Jesus my Lord and God.
    (Jehovah’s Witnesses will say that Thomas was swearing.  Ask
them why Jesus didn’t rebuke Thomas for swearing?
    With a Mormon, you can again mention the reference in the
Book of Mormon 3 Nephi 19:18 where Jesus is also called Lord and
God.)
    Christian:  My question to you is this.  If I have the wrong
Jesus, and therefore I serve the wrong God, then why do I pray to
Jesus, worship Him, and call Him my Lord and God as the Scriptures
teach?  But, if you have the true Jesus, why is it you don’t do
those things?
    Cultist:  (Silence!)

    This brief approach is powerful because it brings the cultist
face-to-face with the Jesus of the Bible.  Though the cultist
won’t respond by dropping to his knees, the Word of God will
accomplish what God wishes it to.

        So shall My word be which goes forth from My
        mouth; it shall not return to Me empty,
        without accomplishing what I desire… (Isaiah
        55:11.)

                                  Matt Slick

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