At present, there are approximately 1.5 billion Muslims, 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, and 900 million Hindus in the world! Of the 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, there are 71 million of them living here in the US alone. In the last twenty years, the membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has doubled in size. There are over 3.5 billion people worldwide who are enslaved in just these four cults/religions alone. These are staggering numbers!
If a believer is going to be an effective witness for Christ in this dark world, they would do well to know the basic tenets of these common beliefs in order to effectively refute them and win souls to Christ. That is why we have included the course Cults & World Religions in the TEPSE curriculum. The Cults & World Religions course was our first class this semester. Both faculty and students have already used their knowledge gained in the class.
A few weeks ago, two Mormon missionaries arranged a meeting with Chris Schroeder (President of TEP). Their desire was to present to him their reasons why he should become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As a practical application to the Cults & World Religions class, Chris allowed a couple of us to sit in, listen, ask questions, and be in constant prayer as we tried to speak the love of Christ and to persuade these two dedicated young men that they were believing in a false Jesus (II Cor. 11:3-4).
The meting seemed to go well but the young men made no movement away from their beliefs. Once the meeting was over, we set another time where we could continue our discussions with these Mormon missionaries. The next day, however, they called Chris saying that they would not be coming back. Why not? Because they had heard that he had talked with missionaries before and determined that he was not truly interested in the Mormon beliefs. By the grace of God, Chris took, what was most likely, the final opportunity he had to plead with these men to come to the true Jesus. As far as we know, there has been no change in the hearts of these missionaries; but we continue to pray for them so that they may come to the saving knowledge of the real Jesus.
There are many vaired cults and world religions today. As a believer, we need to pray for those who are ensnared and enslaved in them. We need to encounter them and tell them about the real Jesus. It's a matter of eternal life or death!
just a reminder:
Distance Learning Program - Atlanta, GA
Systematic Theology I
Registration deadline February 27, 2009