I once heard a theory describing the wily nature of a coyote. It was said they use trickery to catch and kill dogs. It goes like this: There is a dog playing in the yard and catches the attention of a coyote on the hunt. In order for the coyote to have a successful hunt, it will go up to the pet dog teasing and playing with the dog until the dog becomes enamored by the coyote. At this point it will start to chase and play with the coyote. After a while of establishing a semi-friendship with the dog, it will then lead the dog further away from its home into the woods where a pack of five to six coyotes will attack and kill the dog.
Well, after doing a little more reading, I found this theory is not a real tactic employed by coyotes. They tell of the lack of ability for a coyote to deceive a dog in this way. As a side, this in no way says it is a safe practice to let your dog or any pet roam around your yard unsupervised. Coyotes can jump six foot fences, climb chain-link fences, and will use whatever is close to a fence to gain access to your pet.
As I thought about this tactic, I looked back at ways used by nefarious individuals to recruit or lure people into their cults. These cults come in a variety of forms: band, church, clan, clique, denomination, faith, religion, and sect. There have been many well-known cults over the years. Perhaps you remember Jim Jones and "The Peoples Temple" (1955-1978). This is where we get the saying "don't drink the Kool-aide or they have drunk the Kool-aide." The news showed pictures of over nine-hundred people laying dead, one upon the other, resulting from being forced to drink something laced with cyanide. The goal of the cult was to create a "utopian community".
Between 1955-1993, there was the cult known as the "Branch Davidians". The deluded leader David Koresh, believed he was the Messiah. A standoff with the FBI resulted in the death of at least eighty members. Three other cults include the "Sullivanians" located in Orlando, Florida until their end in 1991, the "Children of God" which now operates in over eighty countries around the world, and "Heavens Gate" founded on the premise that aliens would come in an extraterrestrial spacecraft to escort the groups members to the kingdom of heaven. In 1997, their group participated in a mass suicide timed to happen when the Hale-Bopp comet arrived.1
These are only a few of the notorious cults having drawn our attention over the years. There are other well known religious cults such as the Latter Day Saints, Mormons, Islam, and Jehovah Witness to list only a few basing their membership on false beliefs as well. One source puts the number of cults between three to five thousand throughout the world. Most of them are not illegal which makes them difficult to defend against.
It makes one ask, "How does this happen?" How do people fall into such deluded beliefs? One website suggests there is a four step system used by cults to draw people into their group. First, they "pick the right target who is stressed, emotionally vulnerable, have tenuous or no family connections, or are living in adverse socioeconomic conditions." These people are not unstable so to speak, but more open to mental conditioning. One of the most appealing target people are the college students who are still forming their identities.
Second, is "Love-Bombing". This is a showering of affection, flattery, and validation. This can also be in the form of misinformation. The third step is isolation in which the target person is separated from family, friends, and religious affiliations. Finally, the cultist strives to keep control of their targets. They do this by keeping the target dependent upon the group for identity, support, and continued education.2
Religious cults are very difficult for individuals to fight. Much of what draws them stems from false teachings that have a ring of legitimacy, but in actuality are very misleading. I believe some of the reasons for a persons vulnerability are: being a new or baby Christian with little knowledge of the Word of God and lack of discipleship on the part of the church, worldly draws on a weakened spiritual life, and an actual false delusion of their believing themselves to be a Christian. In other words, they are not true believers.
To me, I believe one of the worst sources of deception comes from within the body of believers. There is the thought that everyone sitting in our church pews are true believers and have a great depth of biblical knowledge so that what they say can be trusted. That could not be further from the truth. Although it is difficult to prove, many hold that the true Christian believer is a small percentage of those attending church.
With that being said, you have to look what the Bible says about guarding ourselves against these false teachings and doctrines. Matthew 7:15,
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."
They come to you seeming to be good, but in reality they are not good at all. Acts 29:30,
"I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them."
2 Peter 2:1-2,
"But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute."
What are the common factors? They are false prophets / teachers. They appear to be good. They are in the world and from among the people, that is the church. They introduce destructive heresies, deny the sovereign Lord and bring destruction upon themselves and those who follow them. They will lead many away from the truth. I do not know about you, but that scares me. It scares me to know there are people within the body of Christ who will purposefully lure people away from the Lord to further their selfish agendas.
It also scares me to know there are those within the church who are truly deceived, but maintain they are within the true believing body. It further scares me to know there are television personalities who will grant you the desires of your hearts for a simple donation to their ministry. They will send you a prayer cloth for a small or large donation. They claim the bible teaches you will have a prosperous life if you will simply claim it. Some say they have received a special "word from the Lord". Does any of this sound familiar? We could spend pages on each of the religious cults and false teachings, but suffice it to say, each of them lead you away from Christ instead of toward Christ.
How can you spot a person in the body who is being deceived or led away from the Lord? This person will stop attending church. It will be one Sunday missed followed by another and then another until they have not been for several months. They will stop attending Sunday school or life groups. They stop reading and studying the Word of God. They begin separating themselves from the body of Christ. They begin to live lifestyles counter to the Christian way of life.
I referred to coyotes at the beginning of the blog and the story of their playing with dogs as a ploy to separate the dog from their owner. In reality, it is different with wolves. Studies have shown the wolf has a running gait of 55–70 km/h (34–43 mph), can leap 5 m (16 ft.) horizontally in a single bound, and can maintain rapid pursuit for at least 20 minutes. A wolf's foot is large and flexible, which allows it to tread on a wide variety of terrain.
Author Randall Pierce writes in How do wild wolves hunt in a pack? that wolves employ a very effective strategy. They start by locating their prey. The criteria for a suitable candidate is the weak, young, old, and injured. Because they can run up to 35 miles per hour and chase for a long time, the wolves will wear down their prey until caught. Their primary tactic is to get the prey separated from the rest of the herd. They do not employ a tactic of befriending their prey. At the risk of being too graphic, the prey either dies from blood loss or shock.
Now the warning Jesus gives to the child of God, to be on guard against wolves in sheep's clothing, takes on a clear and deeper meaning. Jesus tells us this, so we will not fall prey to the false prophets and teachers desiring to take us captives. He warns us in order to protect us from spiritual failure. So, what are some of the deceptions being promoted by these wolves?
For starters, they will say you do not have to go to church. Well, there is nothing in Scripture demanding your strict attendance to services every time the door is open. But, Scripture does tells us in Hebrews 10:25,
“do not forsake assembling”
which means we are to assemble together for worship. But furthermore, it is a wise word written to protect us from enemy attacks, hardened hearts, discouragement, doubt, and depression (Rachael Branson). When we assemble as the body of Christ, we are to support each other in love and encourage one other in our faith.
Then, there is the old saying, "there is more than one way to God" even though Scripture clearly teaches us in John 14:6 the words of Jesus when he says,
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
Of course there is the deception of "works based salvation" which teaches that by holding to practicing all the laws and ceremonies, you will be saved. However, the truth is found in Ephesians 2:8-10,
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
Paul writes there is no way for us to work our way into heaven. That nothing we do; attend church, giving money, being benevolent or nice, can be good enough to get us into heaven. To wrap it up, wolves wear all kinds of clothing. Some are very easy to spot while others are very simple and insidious. They all have one thing in common: deception.
When I go fishing, I go with the idea of catching fish. No really! I mean it is great to be out on the water in the open outdoors, but the idea is to catch fish. I do not keep them, but I enjoy catching them. One of the main tools used in fishing is the lure. You identify the fish you are trying to catch, look at the surroundings where the fish will be hiding, and then put on the line a lure that will trick them into biting. Little do they know there is a hook embedded in the lure that will catch them and before they know it, the fish is in the boat. They have been tricked or deceived. They have been seduced into thinking the lure is good for them to eat.
When false teachers are going after their prey, they use a little truth mixed in with false teaching to lure in their prey. Before long, the deceived are out of church, out of fellowship, out of the study of the Word. In other words, they are snatched out of their Christian life into a life of delusion and apathy. Wolves are everywhere. Stay in the Word and by all means...
Watch out for the lure!
Wear Jesus Well
Blessings,
Steve
1 American Cult: 5 Spiritual Groups That Went Too Far, by Elizabeth Yuko
2 4 Psychological techniques cults use to recruit members, by Matt Davis
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