7 Signs of Cults & False Prophets

With the rise of cults, false prophets, and false Christs in the world, believers more than ever need to study the word of God and have a relationship with JESUS CHRIST. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and a STRANGER they shall NOT follow.” If people are following strangers they are not the sheep of Jesus any longer and have been deceived by their lusts.

False prophets only manage to deceive people who are not genuinely interested in Jesus Christ but what they can gain. Their interest is to seek after teachers who tell them what their itching ears want to hear as the Apostle Paul told Timothy.

“You shall know them by their fruits”, Jesus said.

7 Ways to identify cults and false preachers

1. Cults have extra or special revelations

They come up with extra ways to get to God apart from the Lordship of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Jesus is the only way to the Father. If your leader claims to be Christ or has a SPECIAL Revelation on how to get to God, then he is a liar. Jesus is the ONLY way and his yoke is easy. He warned, “If they say here or there is the Christ, do not follow them”.

Jesus will not ask you to sin, ask you to fast to death, ask you to sow seeds, and give all your money. He is not a thief. Jesus said anyone who enters in another way except by him who alone is the door, is a thief and robber (John 10:1). Those who come into the sheep pen by another way, and steal and deceive the sheep are false. They don’t preach Jesus and his cross as sufficient. They add in mixtures.

2. No repentance. Sin and works of the flesh are evident in cults

There is no preaching of true repentance and love in cults and false churches. Cult leaders never preach against sin, and if they do they take it to the extremes of legalism to keep people in bondage.
False teachers always have works of the flesh evident in their lives. Most of them will be living in sexual fornication and take advantage of weak women who are easily seduced. The man or woman will secretly have relations with women or men in their church. They will take advantage of their followers using seductive twisting of scripture. They also are liars, twisting the word of God to fleece their flock. Most of them will be secretly engaged in the works of the flesh and lust e.g., Greed, drunkenness, lust, sexual sin, perversion, pride, rebellion, and so forth.

3. Worshipping the charismatic leader

Cults have one primary identifier. Their leader is placed on a pedestal and worshipped and revered beyond what is acceptable to God. He is usually honored more than Jesus. There is blinding and brainwashing to where he cannot be questioned. Fear is used to threaten those who question. Kneeling before a leader, giving all to the leader, revering him more than the Lord Jesus, and above the word of God is a clear sign of a cult. The Bible is twisted to instill fear so that the leader is not questioned. Jesus’ name is used only in passing, but there is no deep reverence for Jesus or a leading of souls to him who died for us.

4. Isolation and specialness

Most cults and false preachers oppress people and separate them from their families and societies. This is why most cults meet in secret places and isolate people from family, friends, and other believers. Jesus commanded us to love one another. Jesus never told us to hide from the world but to be a light and witness to the world and bring them to him. He also never told us to hide away from fellow believers. These false teachers tell their followers not to attend other churches and claim themselves to be the only true and chosen servants of God.

5. Obsession with prophecies and deliverance

Another common thing with cults and false teachers is an obsession with demons, deliverance, and prophecies while ignoring the teaching of God’s word to make true disciples of Jesus. These false teachers aim to entertain, shock people, and display their powers but there is no evidence of changed lives or devotion to Jesus in themselves or their followers. Only an elevating of the leader to celebrity status.

Remember Jesus warned us that signs and wonders and casting out of demons is not a sign that someone knows Jesus. Satan performs false wonders and sometimes in his mercy, God will heal someone even if the person praying for them is a liar. Jesus said many will come to him saying, “Lord, Lord did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name do many mighty works“, and he will say to them “Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you.” We must have discernment.

6. Greed and worship of money

False preachers are also greedy and fleece the sheep to get money. They are obsessed with the false doctrine of seed sowing and make merchandise of the souls of men. This is a clear sign of falsehood. God is not a thief neither does he need your money. Giving must come from the heart for God loves a cheerful giver. And God’s miracles and word are NEVER for sale. God does not heal FOR money. Satan does pretend to heal for money, but not God. False teachers are greedy and make themselves fat at the expense of foolish people.

7. No Love. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is absent

You shall know them by their fruit. Is the life and love of Jesus evident? Is the fruit of the spirit evident in that ministry or that leader? The fruit of the Spirit is Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Chances are they are all absent in false ministries. Instead, you find death, misery, greed, power games, pride, fear, control, envy, cursing, self-exultation, selfish ambition, and arrogance. Members also adopt the same traits.

Jesus warned of False prophets and false teachings in the last days

Jesus warned us that these false teachers preaching false Christs would appear more and more in the last days. Be wise and stay close to the Lord Jesus. He is always available to talk to you and it is he who saved you. You don’t need a human mediator between you and God. Jesus is the only mediator. Paul asked the Galatian church which turned to false preachers, “Who bewitched you?” Sadly many believers are getting deceived and bewitched by false teachers.

Jesus is the great shepherd of the sheep. He is the true shepherd. Follow him and know his voice and you will not be deceived by thieves and robbers who seek to steal, kill, and destroy like their father.

Scripture references

Jesus, Matthew 7:15-20: Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves

Jesus, Matthew 24:24: For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect

Jeremiah 14:14: Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries, and the delusions of their own minds

2 Timothy 4:3-4: For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths

Acts 20:28-30: Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 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 2:1-3: 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. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping

Galatians 5:19-21: Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God