Why did this book appear?

Over the years, we have been repeatedly asked to write a book about various things opposed to Christianity: cults, non-Christian religions, secular religions, and the occult. This book is an expanded and revised edition of our earlier work, Understanding the Cults.

Often, when we affirm the uniqueness and finality of the Christian faith, we have to respond to the challenge of people of other religious convictions. They are trying to prove that Christianity is compatible with other religions and cults and that we should not emphasize the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, who is the only way by which man can know the truth and the living God.

This book demonstrates the incompatibility of Christianity with cults, and the Handbook of Modern Religions proves the same with regard to non-Christian religions, secular religions, and the occult. That is why we have titled this book "Deceivers". We don't mean to say that the founders of these groups are deliberately deceiving people. Perhaps some of them sincerely wanted to find the truth, but ended up playing in Satan's sideshows.

It should also be noted that it was not Christianity that attacked cult superstitions, but rather cults that tried to attack Christianity. The result of this has been that orthodox Christianity has been forced to take a defensive stance, presenting its truth as a weapon in the battle against the various deviations that the cults want to present as historical Christian doctrine.

Our Field of Study

It is intended to be a very general reference book for those who want to learn about the beliefs of different groups and why they are incompatible with Christianity. This book was not intended to be an exhaustive treatise on any of these groups, or as a comprehensive guide to all alternatives to Christianity. Rather, we limited ourselves to describing the bands we encountered the most. However, if we have not dealt with a group and its analysis is not included in this book, this does not mean that we are defending its beliefs.

We may add that we have had to confine ourselves to evaluating only the principal positions in each group we have chosen, and that we have only briefly touched upon their history, organization, methods, and secondary theses in their teachings, unless they are inseparably connected with their main doctrine and are worthy of special consideration. Not all chapters are equally detailed. We have studied the methods by which various cults attract people to themselves, and we have devoted most space to the largest and most aggressive. Mildly aggressive cults are described in less detail, and these chapters contain only basic information about what separates the group from Christian unity. We would like this work to serve as a good reference and launching pad for further study.

We have also prepared an extensive bibliography to assist the reader in the future if he wishes to know more about any of these groups.

The right approach

We live in a society where a person is free to follow religious beliefs of his choice. We do not argue with this. However, when a person or group of people publicly declares that they are the ones who are doing God's true work on earth, and the orthodox Christianity that has existed for centuries is wrong, we feel that we must rise to such a challenge. They have the freedom to say it, but we as Christians have a responsibility to respond to them. be always ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give an account of your hope with meekness and reverence" (1 Pet. 3:15). That is, answer anyone who attacks historical Christianity and places his faith above Christianity. We are not attacking these groups, we are simply responding to their accusations. One example of such accusations to which we respond can be found in the writings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as "Mormons":