A Christian cult, or theological cult, is any religious movement that claims to belong to Christianity but distorts one or more of the essential doctrines of Christianity taught in the Bible. Since the time of Christ, heretical groups such as these have attacked various aspects of the nature of God and the soteriology of Christ.
Many people have heard of the patience of Job. He was a righteous man who endured great hardship and yet maintained his faith in God. But what is often overlooked is the rich theology contained in the book of Job. Does Job’s theology match that of the modern Christian?
Christianity promotes a full-orbed world-and-life view that flows out of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. For a worldview to be a complete, holistic worldview it must deal with both the world’s beginning at creation as well as its ending at the consummation — and all that lies in between. Thus, it should show where history came from and where it will end.
In part 1, we looked at those doctrines that are essential to salvation: those that cannot be denied by a person whom Christ has saved…. But how do we know that our faith in God is genuine? After all, Jesus refers to people who were confident in their salvation, who professed Christ as Lord, and even performed miracles in His name; yet, they will not enter heaven. Just imagine living your life, thinking you are a Christian, being confident in your faith in Christ, and then having Him say to you on Judgment Day, “I never knew you. Depart from Me.”
What doctrines are absolutely essential to Christianity? As the Word of God, all Scripture is equally and absolutely authoritative. But not all Scripture is equally clear, nor equally central to salvation. Christians disagree on certain nuanced details, yet are united by our common salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ. On the other hand, there are people who profess to be Christians, but who deny central, core doctrines of the faith. Where is the line that divides genuine faith from a false faith? At what point does theological error become heresy?
One of the most fundamental Christian doctrines is that of the Trinity. It separates genuine Christianity from the cults and from other religions and is essential to understanding the Gospel. We recently received a message challenging an article I had written responding to a critic who denies the third Person of the Trinity: The Holy Spirit.