Religious cults
When a the word "cult" comes up, most people think of an evil group of people who practice pagan rituals, but not many people
think about churches that profess Jesus as Lord. As shocking as it is, many church denominations out there could be labeled
as a cult, because of certain beliefs they have, traditions they keep, or un biblical doctrines they teach. I want to talk about three
of these denominations that a lot of people do not realise are cults.

Catholic

Mormon

Jehovah's witnesses

Why? Because they do not follow according to the bible. They practice traditions and follow religious rituals, believing them to
have the power to save. They will say they believe Jesus is the only way, but yet they put faith in un biblical teachings for salvation.

NOTE!

Isaiah 8:20 “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”


Catholic

Let's start with Catholic's. Members of a Catholic church often refer to the priest of the church as the father and treat him as of
more importance than others. That man is not their father and has no right to exult himself above anyone else in the church.

Jesus said in Matthew 23:9 "And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven."

Jesus said in Matthew 23:12 "And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be
exalted."

Does this not prove that Catholics are wrong for calling a man in the church the father? But it even goes deeper than that.

Job 32:21-22 "Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man. For I know not to
give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away."

So calling one by a title, such as prophet, priest, pastor, minister, father, or even pope should not be done. They are just a
person as you are. They deserve no credit, neither should they receive any, because Christ is all in all. We are nothing, and even
our greatest works of righteousness are like filthy rags to God.

When a person ministers unto others, it is not they who work, but God who works in them. He alone gets the glory. However, it
seems Catholics take God's glory away from Him and give it to Mary, the saints, and the pope. Those people are exulted above
others in the minds of men, but not in the eyes of God.

Acts 10:34 "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons."

Another thing the Catholic church does is pray certain prayers such as the Rosary, with repetitions. They repeat certain words or
a set of words over and over according to what the prayer is.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:7-8 "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be
heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye
ask him."

The third thing I want to mention is their idolatry in the church. The Catholic church is full of graven images. Every where you look
you see a sculpture of mother Mary or of Jesus. They have crosses all over the place. Symbolism is all over the place. This is
against the law of God.

Exodus 20:4 "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth."

Leviticus 26:1 "Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any
image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God."

Catholic's have sculptures and images everywhere and they bow to them, they do the cross every time they see them, and they
treat them as if they were a living person with feelings. They are giving glory to idols.


Mormon

What about the Mormon's? The Mormon church believes in some very strange things that are not at all biblical. They believe they
can be exulted as God and become a God that rules their own world. They even believe that the God of the bible became our
God and had a God before Him. This is not biblical at all.

Isaiah 43:10-11 “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me,
and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and
beside me there is no saviour.”

The Mormons have their own book called the book of Mormon. The book of Mormon was written by a man named Joseph Smith
who believes it is another view of the gospels. He claims an angel named Moroni showed him where some ancient golden
plates were buried. These golden plates were translated by Joseph and became the book of Mormon.

NOTE! The book of Mormon contradicts itself and contradicts the bible.

First of all, we are not to listen to any gospel except for the gospel that we have heard from the bible.

Galatians 1:8 “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed.”

Second of all, Joseph Smith was a Free Mason. That's right, you can look that up for yourself if you like. Being a Free Mason
means you are a satan worshiper. However, a Free Mason will argue with you about this, but it does not take hardly any biblical
knowledge at all to see that any secret society is of the devil.

This is by far the craziest thing I've heard about any religion. Magical Underwear. Yes, the Mormons wear magical underwear
and believe it has power to keep evil away from them. I wish this was a joke, but sadly it's not. This is not only ridiculous, but it is
blasphemy against God. So does a Mormon put faith in God or in their underwear?

James 4:7 "Therefore, put on your magical underwear and the devil will flee from you."

That's not what it says!

James 4:7 "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

No magical underwear needed!

That alone is enough to see that the Mormon church is a cult.


Jehovah's witnesses

There are a few false things the Jehovah's witnesses believe. I will mention the main two in the next segment where I talk about
all three of these religious groups. The main thing I wanted to talk about that separates the Jehovah's witnesses from the rest is
their belief on hell. They do not believe hell is a place of torment for unbelievers, but that when a person dies, they are just dead
and gone. Okay, so I have a question for the Jehovah's witnesses. Why did Jesus warn of hell if it were not a place of torment?

Jesus said in Mark 9:43-44 "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two
hands to go into
hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.


All three of them!

Now I want to talk about a couple of things that all three of these religious groups teach that is complete heresy and will keep
those in their congregations from being saved.

The Catholics, Mormons, and the Jehovah's witnesses do not believe Jesus is God.

Catholics and Mormons believe Jesus is the literal son of God and the Jehovah's witnesses believe He is the angel of God and
the first of all creation.

I'll throw out the Jehovah's witnesses belief right here.

John 1:10-11 “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and
his own received him not.”

Notice it says the world was made by Him. Jesus made the world. Look back in
John 1:3 and it says, “All things were made by
him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Jesus is the creator of everything that was made.

Doesn’t
Genesis 1:1 say that in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth? Yes, that is exactly what is says. The bible
does not contradict itself. So, if Jesus created all that there is, He must be the one and only, God Almighty.

That pretty much proves the Catholics and Mormons wrong too.

In
Isaiah 48:12 God said, “I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.”

In
John 8:23-24, Jesus said, “Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore
unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that
I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”

If you do not believe that Jesus is the one and only God, you will die in your sins.

To learn more about Jesus being the one and only God

The Catholics, Mormons, and the Jehovah's witnesses also teach a works gospel. They all believe you must do good works and
obey the law in order to be saved.

Galatians 2:16 “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have
believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the
law shall no flesh be justified.”

Galatians 2:21 “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”

If a person believes they must do works for salvation, they will never be saved. I will explain it to you in this way based off what
Paul said in
Romans 9:30-32. If you pursue the law of righteousness than you do not attain to the law of righteousness,
because you do not seek it by faith, but as it were, by works of the law.

Salvation is a FREE gift of God's grace!

Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any
man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them.”

The Catholics and Mormons do not believe hell is eternal, but that rather one will spend a certain amount of time in judgment.
Catholic's call this purgatory.  

Jesus died on a cross for you. He said on the cross,
"It is finished" He did not say it is almost there, now is all a person
must do is work their entire lives to be made righteous, and many even then will have to go into a temporary judgment.

A person must believe that Jesus paid it all! To believe that His death on the cross was not good enough, shows no faith. They
are not trusting in Him, they are trusting in their works, and they cannot be saved that way.

Galatians 5:4 “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”

If you are a part of a Catholic, Mormon, or Jehovah's witness congregation, you must leave and go to a biblical church.

Romans 16:17-18 “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which
ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words
and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.”

2 Corinthians 6:17 “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you.”

Also read about false prophets in the church to be sure you are not being deceived.

To learn how to recognize false prophets
(Click Here)
(Click Here)
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