Tags: Ergun Caner, liberty baptist theological seminary, THEO 678 Sects and Cults, and topic tag


A current trend in modern religion is the rise of sects and cults. In particular, the rise of Jehovah’s Witness and the Church of Christ (Mormons). The most significant part of their theology that separates them from Christianity is their lack of faith in the Trinity.
Jehovah’s Witness was a cult started by Charles Russell and Joseph Rutherford. This cult was formed in 1953. Perhaps the key belief for them is that Jesus died for a select few. Have you ever seen the pamphlets that they give you when they stop by your door? They never say that Jesus died for everyone. The very fact is that, in their theology, Jesus died only for 144,000. That is the total number that can be saved. That is also the reason why they come by your door all the time, they have to work for their salvation and they must work hard since there are only a few slots in heaven. One very big problem with the JW movement is their translation of the Bible. The New World Translation is highly inaccurate. Many Greek scholars have came out and completely bashed their translation. About the translation when you look for the so called experts who translated the Greek, you will find none. For instance, when you read like Zondervan and Holman Christians, you can look in the beginning of the book and normally find out who was in charge of the translation process. For the New World Translation, that information is not available.
The Church of Christ movement began by a guy named Joseph Smith who claimed to have a vision by the angel Moroni. He was given gold plates that had the history of the sect on them. He was told to translate them and go and tell the world. Problems with the Mormonism movement is that is based of lies, deceit and contradiction. Every leader proclaimed a different message. Perhaps the most stunning idea of Mormonism is that when you compare it to Islam, they are very, very similar. Think about it for a minute. Mohammad had a vision. He was given golden tablets. He was sent to proclaim Islam to the world.
In conclusion, these are sects and just simply that. They are not biblically correct and they do not follow sound doctrine. Denial of the Trinity is denial of everything Jesus taught in the New Testament. The most stern warning I can give to the followers of these sects is that they do not follow the true theology and teachings of the Bible. It is written: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book,” (Rev 22:18). Jehovah's Witness has added and taken away and Mormonism has added and taken away. Again these are two extremely popular and influential sects and cults of our times, please do not buy into their teachings.

http://www.Liberty.edu/seminary