Calvary Chapel South Bay Cults Course Notes

Textbook: The Challenge of Cults & New Religions by Ron Rhodes (Zondervan)

Syllabus (doc file)

Some Marks Of A Cult (doc file))

What The Bible Says About The Occult, Wicca & Paganism (PowerPoint)

Cults & The Trinity - Class Exercises (PowerPoint)

Cults & The Idea Of The "True Church" (PowerPoint)

Liberalism, The Emergent Church & Gnostic Christians (PowerPoint)

About the Ebook - Cults, Sects and Heresies

The ebook is a compilation of articles on cults written while John Edmiston was editor of Eternity Online Magazine and also active in cult ministry. The approach is to treat cults in broad groups - classical cults, commercial cults, New Age cults etc, This avoids the confusion of material on thousands of different cults - Jehovah's Witnesses, Iglesia Ni Cristo, Mormons, Moonies etc. (For information about specific cults use the other cults sites on the Internet on the lik at the bottom of this column.) The ebook covers cult dynamics, types of cults, some New Age and spiritual considerations, and a handful of doctrinal isues common to a wide variety of cults. The book is intended as an introduction to cult ministry not as a complete compendium. Nevertheless the articles in the book have been widely read and accepted and many have found them helpful.

Download "Cults, Sects and Heresies
The ebook comes in two forms - aAs a self-extracting exe file for PC's or as a zip file for Mac's and other OS. The ebook works best with Internet Explorer.

cults2.exe
(151KB) (PC's only)

cults.zip
(259 KB) (both PC;s and Mac)

3 min download at 28.8 K modem

1. Download the file
2. Remember where you put it.
3. Go to Windows Explorer and double click on the file
4. It will load in your web browser and you can read it straight away. (Internet Explorer works best with these ebooks, Netscape is generally OK, Opera seems to have problems.)
5. Use the yellow arrows to turn the pages.
6. Our books are best viewed in "page view" - see under View in the menu.

Cult Links

Click here for links to good cult sites.

Mature Level Courses At The AIBI

The mature level courses at the Asian Internet Bible Institute are designed for those who have been Christians for a while and have some basic bible and theological knowledge. They are not recomended for new Christians.

They involve studying an etext which can be downloaded for free.

The course are for bible-believing, born-again Christians of evangelical, charismatic or Pentecostal persuasions. Students should be able to say they are a born-again Christian and agree with the Apostles Creed before enrolling.

If you complete the course and done the term paper you will receive a "Certificate of Completion" that states that you have completed 18 online bible studies in cult ministry. (This is similar to the Certificates Of Completion that you get after you do on a short-course in your workplace.)

Please note that we use adult-learning strategies designed to stretch students a little. We do not expect you to "agree with everything" and you may even find some topics rather controversial (at least we hope so). Gentle structured provocation and vigorous but Christian online discussion should be part of the online learning process.

Assessment: Write a 1500 word (4 page) term paper on:
"An in-depth study of two different cults focusing on how cults recruit and indoctrinate people and the structure of their belief system"
Term papers should be scripturally based and demonstrate knowledge, understanding and application of the course material.

Term papers should be done in MS-Word or similar format (Wordperfect, RTF , PDF) and may be sent to the lecturer at any time.

Contact the Lecturer

May you be blessed and grow in Him.

John Edmiston - President AIBI