The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin

Jeltja

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I wanted to recommend The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin, which exists in an original, revised, expanded 2019 and concise Handbook form. The book's outlook is fundamentalist and evangelical. Although I am a Calvinistic Baptist and Martin was not I don't find much in the book's understanding of Christian orthodoxy I disagree with. He is fair to his subjects, while he obviously disagrees with them and is emphatic in defending his view of the gospel he is not mean spirited or dishonest.

I don't know what the legalities of it are but many Ministries put pdfs of the Hank Hannegraff revised edition in pdf format online. It is my understanding that Walter Martin's estate does not oppose this, though the newer version are still under copyright (formerly published by Ravi Zachariah until he was expunged from the cover and contents). So if you do choose to download the older versions I don't think you're offending the copyright holders.

Apologia Studios have a series called 'Cultish' which I also like. Martin's book is 50 years old and I know groups like Apologia and James White have done further research into non-Christian and non-Orthodox groups. I would love to see a self-consciously Reformed version of Martin's book.
 
Are there two books with the same title?
I remember reading one but I can't remember which author it was.
Is it American based? So many cults come from the US. It's because of the freedom to worship in any way they want thats in their constitution. So you could make up your own religion and it's allowed, even if it harms people.
 
Are there two books with the same title?
I don't know. The one by Walter Martin had an original edition in 1977, based on research Martin had done for his previous books and Bible answer show. It was then revised. Later Ravi Zachariah, before all the scandals, released an updated version as well as an abridged handbook version.

Is it American based?
Yes.
So you could make up your own religion and it's allowed, even if it harms people.
I don't believe that religious neutrality is really possible, the government always has a state religion - Humanism in America. I am against government control of the church, or the reverse, but I believe in very decentralized communities where Christians can live under their own laws with the state and church doing their proper duties.
 
I don't know. The one by Walter Martin had an original edition in 1977, based on research Martin had done for his previous books and Bible answer show. It was then revised. Later Ravi Zachariah, before all the scandals, released an updated version as well as an abridged handbook version.
Kingdom of the Cults was first published in 1965. I came to the Lord in '74 and it was the first book I read as a Christian outside the Bible.It helped considerably because it had a layout where Walter Martin would show what the specific cult believed on a specific topic and then in parallel show what the Bible had to say on the corresponding topic.

I don't know what the legalities of it are but many Ministries put pdfs of the Hank Hannegraff revised edition in pdf format online.
I had listened to Walter Martin's Bible Answer Man for a number of years where Don and John Stewart would often sit in. Upon Martin's passing (1989), Hank Hannegraaf seemed to come out of nowhere and took over the radio program and I left off listening shortly afterwards.
 
When I was a new christian I used to look up churches on a website called Cultwatch because there so many christian sounding ones and I didn't know if they were cults or not. There was a nz version


Practically every church I knew was listed except for Presybterian ones and the Baptists!
Ok I'm still a bit wary of those...they might not be outright cults but still need to check them individually cos wolves can still sneak into them.
 
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