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Is my church a cult? In certain charismatic churches it’s a fair question, where deliverance & prophetic ministries can easily become high control groups, because the framework is already built in. When leaders can speak for God & experiences validate themselves - scriptural guardrails can be overshadowed by personal prophecy & big personalities without a lot of accountability. In this episode we’ll look at why the charismatic movement is fertile ground for cults to spring up, Red flags you should look for and tough questions you can ask yourself if you think your church may have crossed the line.Looking for resources on cults & cult like behavior? https://internationalculticstudies.org Spiritual Safety Survey - "Am I in a dangerous cult?"https://spiritualsafetycenter.org/survey

What is a false teacher according to the Bible? The term sure gets used a lot - especially in discernment ministries. But it can be confusing for those who are new to the faith, or leaving NAR / Charismatic movement when everywhere you look someone is accusing another minister, or examining everything with a fine tooth comb looking for any and every little misstep. The Bible gives us a standard by which we can tell destructive false teaching & heresy from an interpretation issue on a secondary doctrine. Truth matters - even when it comes to discerning error. The only way to mature is to learn to see danger for yourself. No one gets everything right - not even in discernment ministry. But the more you equip yourself, the less you’ll have to depend on others to tell you who (or who not) to listen to.

Worship music in the charismatic movement feels so right - until you see how wrong so much of it really is. Bad theology in the music leads to misunderstanding of what worship even is. So once we wake up, it can be difficult to make sense of anything. What music is legit, and how can we know for sure? In this episode, we’ll shine a light on the false teaching in the worship songs we used to sing , ask questions that help us sort the good from the bad and more - to help those struggling with the whole idea of worship learn how to truly worship in spirit and truth.

Deliverance ministry is harmful in many ways. The teaching itself - that deliverance is ongoing, means you’re never truly free. You’ll always need another deliverance down the road.But to those who come out of addiction it can be even more dangerous. Some substitute a former addiction for a new one - and deliverance ministry can easily become a compulsion when it teaches that every bad thing that ever happens could be caused by a demon. Others may break free from addiction but never deal with (or begin to heal from) the underlying issues that addiction attempts to mask or medicate. While maturing in the faith , as scripture leads us to do, does help to heal these past hurts - deliverance ministries actually lead to stunted growth. That leaves us helpless against trauma & other issues that addiction often stems from - leaving us searching for something else to fill the void our addiction used to fill.

Deconstructing from the charismatic movement is hard. We might even wonder, why does God allow false teachers to keep harming people? Scripture gives us the answers we need. And while the truth can be difficult to grasp at times, God is faithful to restore, redeem and heal even the deepest hurts. In this episode we’ll look at what the Bible has to say about why God allows these frauds to continue & give some encouragement for those who are putting the pieces back together.

September Rapture speculation & predictions are back, adding to the confusion over eschatology. Some people are captivated, others avoid it - but most are just plain confused.Popular end times teaching - dispensational premillennialism, has led to an entire industry dependent on prophecy “experts”. But did the church always believe that the last days would look like the Left Behind movies? You might be surprised to learn that the church didn’t always view the end times the way so many do today. In this episode we’ll take a look at other popular, biblically orthodox views that might just help you see eschatology in a whole new light.

When leaving NAR/Charismatic movement , it can feel like starting over and can be difficult to know who to trust as it is. To make matters worse, some make it sound as if Arminians & Calvinists are not simply different theological perspectives - but not even real Christians, cutting you off from what could be a Bible teacher you can learn a lot from. Reformed Bible teachers like John MacArthur are the first experience with deeper Bible teaching for many believers, but misinformation about reformed theology and Calvinism can cause you to miss out on something much deeper than you’d ever find in the charismatic movement - causing you to lean into pop evangelicalism or worse - a different version of what we just got out of. But there’s no need to be afraid of reformed teaching, and contrary to some claims - Arminians & Calvinists are in fact brothers in Christ. They hold many things in common, including the gospel. So rather than choosing a side, those leaving the NAR should focus less on picking a team & just start learning and growing. We can show the world what unity in the body of Christ looks like if we turn the rhetoric down a few notches.

The charismatic movement is full of contradictions. Always looking for a “new thing” while at the same time seeking a repeat of the book of Acts. Calling those who criticize them Pharisees & “religious”, yet turning worship into a ritual. Just. Plain. Broken. The confusion appears to come from a total misunderstanding of the reality of the new covenant & elements of the old. In essence forming a “charismatic covenant” of their own. This is why people leave the movement frustrated, disappointed & deconstructing in many cases. How can you miss something so obvious?

Are Generational curses biblical? The teaching is popular in deliverance teaching, and many charismatic ministries - leading many to blame the spiritual failings of their ancestors for their own current troubles. Like many false teachings, cherry picked scriptures out of context can make it seem as if almost any teaching is legit. But the “proof texts” that are often used to support “generational curses” aren’t what they seem once they’re read in context. In this episode we’ll look at a sermon from Derek Prince, an influential teacher in what is known as accepted as deliverance ministry & refute a teaching that has caused a lot of unnecessary pain to a lot of people.

Do Christians have authority for miracles, deliverances, signs and wonders just like Jesus? Or is the believers authority something different? On this episode of RE3, we’ll examine how “authority” is portrayed in NAR/charismatic teaching vs a biblically grounded view using some of the main proof texts that are so often used to prop up false teaching. Along the way, we’ll ask helpful questions that can encourage us to look more closely at what we are taught & learn to think more biblically. A warped view of the believers authority can lead to so much harm long term. This specific false teaching has caused a lot disappointment for those who have bought in to the idea that anything Jesus can do - we can do better.

“Judge not”. Charismatic thought stopping techniques come in many forms, but when discernment is used - out come the calls to to stop judging & claims that popular ministries have good fruit to show for their efforts. Pharisee, Spirit of religion and more are all used in an attempt to keep Christians from obeying scripture. Because the Bible repeatedly commands us to judge. While we need to be careful to judge rightly, the Bible makes it clear what kind of judging is called for in different situations. In this episode we’ll learn how to judge according to scripture AND learn a biblical definition of good fruit when it comes to ministry.

In charismatic/NAR movements, manifestations of all kinds are often seen as proof that the Holy Spirit is working. From the “worship experience”, to altar calls to deliverance services - nearly anything goes & all of it attributed to the Holy Spirit without as much as a question. But how do we explain it when New Age, Hinduism, Shamanism and more have the same manifestations? If speaking in tongues, falling over, convulsions and everything else seen in the NAR looks no different - then how can we determine what spirit is really at work? In this episode we’ll look at examples of manifestations from across the religious spectrum & look to scripture for clarity & discernment. Facts don’t equal feelings, and Christians are commanded to test the spirits, so let’s get started.

How powerful is Satan? In NAR / Charismatic circles - people live, pray and prepare for spiritual battles like he is almost sovereign. Teachings like strategic spiritual mapping, dominion, and calling nearly everything bad that could ever happen a spiritual attack, teach without explicitly saying it - that Satan is the main power on the earth. On this episode we’ll explore the results of this “accidental teaching” and see what the bible actually says about the enemy. We don’t have to live in fear - our King is still on the throne, in heaven and on earth.

What does quenching & grieving the Holy Spirit mean according to scripture? Charismatics teach that questioning the different manifestations that go on in church is the fast track to grieving & quenching the Spirit, but is it true? Many people find themselves worried about being uncomfortable while others get “into the flow”, dancing & shaking - even screaming and falling to the floor. Charismatics are taught that to have doubts about what is going on means that something is wrong with you - and it can scare people into keeping their concerns private. When we are unable to ask questions, we can not only go along with error out of fear, but we can also find ourselves actually committing the very sin we accuse those with doubts of doing. In this episode we’ll break it down according to scripture, to see what grieving the Spirit really means & who in fact is doing it.

Is the Jezebel spirit a manipulating, seductive demonic force named in the Bible Or is it another convenient false teaching used to control unsuspecting people that only appeared recently in church history? Many have been accused of having this spirit, leading to a lot of unnecessary harm in the church. In this episode, we’ll trace the history of the teaching to find out if it really is found in scripture like many deliverance ministries claim. We’ll take a look at the type of ministries that teach things like “Jezebel” spirit. We’ll also touch on the effects this teaching can have on both sides - accusers and accused 🚩I can’t remember where I got a clip or two, they were probably a screen recording from a YouTube video I watched. Sorry to any content creators whose work I can’t give credit to!