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5. U n i t e d S t a t e s :
TRAINING TO PREVENT CULTS "ROBBING" NEW CHURCHESNEWLY-CONVERTED CHRISTIANS are in danger of falling into the hands of "sheepstealers" without sound teaching to protect them from cults, according to organizers of a course designed to help missionaries prevent future "robberies".
The gospel message needs to be anchored in solid biblical doctrine if evangelism isn't simply going to prepare the way for non-Christian groups to take advantage of, say the leaders of the 12-week School of Acts which begins this month in one of the world's cult havens.
"We have heard of groups that would wait until evangelistic teams had been to an area on a short-term outreach, and then go knocking on the same doors saying they were Christians too. The people there who had just made a commitment to Christ didn't know any better, and they would end up beingpulled into a cult," said director Tom Osterhus.
The Youth With A Mission program in Paia, Hawaii - a surf resort which is increasingly a magnet for New Age believers from around the world - aims to equip workers to serve in Asia and the South Pacific, where cults continue to grow.
During their training, the students will study the essentials of Christian doctrine, as well as learning about different cults, including Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses. Visiting speakers include Dr JI Packer, former Professor of Theology at Regent College in Canada, and Dr Ron Carlson, President of the cult awareness organization Christian Ministries International.
Following their studies, the students are due to travel to Fiji, the Philippines and Argentina to offer training to local churches about cults, which Osterhus identified as "any religious group that does not accept thebasic tenets of orthodox Christianity, such as Jesus is God, or there being no other way to salvation than faith in Christ".
With the gospel spreading across parts of the former Soviet Union, there is a growing need for cult awareness training there, too. "In parts of the world there has been a lot of evangelism but not much follow-up and discipleship," said Osterhus.
"New Christians need to be given some ground rule, to learn the classic characteristics of any cult.. They need to be taught such simple things as how to study the Bible for themselves, and to read a chapter or passage in context.
"We have heard of churches in rural places where the pastors are doing witchcraft in services because they do not know any better. They are just bringing in the old stuff they used to believe and mixing it with the new. There are other pastors who believe that some of these cults are simply another Christian denomination, and do not know the difference."
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