What Does the Bible Say About Dealing With Cults?

Deuteronomy 17:2-5 ESV / 5 helpful votes

“If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing his covenant, and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden, and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones.

1 Timothy 4:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,

John 1:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Leviticus 19:31 ESV / 4 helpful votes

“Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

Revelation 21:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

1 John 4:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 Peter 2:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Isaiah 8:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes

There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

Deuteronomy 4:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes

And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

Leviticus 20:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood shall be upon them.”

Leviticus 20:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes

“If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.

Revelation 22:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Revelation 9:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

2 John 1:10-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

1 John 5:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For there are three that testify:

1 John 2:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.

1 John 1:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

2 Peter 1:20-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

James 2:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Galatians 5:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Romans 5:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Romans 3:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Acts 19:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver.

Acts 16:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.

John 10:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 8:44 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 1:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Mark 16:17-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Mark 16:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Matthew 28:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Zephaniah 1:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom,

Micah 5:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;

Daniel 2:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked,

Ezekiel 21:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shakes the arrows; he consults the teraphim; he looks at the liver.

Ezekiel 13:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds.

Ezekiel 13:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive?

Ezekiel 13:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the Lord God.

Ezekiel 13:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

Jeremiah 27:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’

Jeremiah 27:9-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish.

Jeremiah 14:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And the Lord said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.

Isaiah 47:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed; perhaps you may inspire terror.

Isaiah 44:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,

Isaiah 44:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”

Isaiah 19:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers;

Psalm 103:2-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

2 Chronicles 33:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

1 Chronicles 10:13-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.

2 Kings 23:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Moreover, Josiah put away the mediums and the necromancers and the household gods and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might establish the words of the law that were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord.

2 Kings 21:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

Deuteronomy 18:9-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, ...

Leviticus 20:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God.

Exodus 22:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“You shall not permit a sorceress to live.

Exodus 7:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts.

64 Bible Verses about Dealing With Cults

Deuteronomy 17:2-5 ESV / 5 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Timothy 4:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 1:1 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Leviticus 19:31 ESV / 4 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 21:8 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 4:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Peter 2:1 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 12:2 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 8:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 4:19 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Leviticus 20:27 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Leviticus 20:6 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 22:15 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Revelation 9:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 John 1:10-11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 5:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 2:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 1:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Peter 1:20-21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

James 2:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 5:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 3:23 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 19:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Acts 16:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 10:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 8:44 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:16-17 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 1:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 16:17-18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Mark 16:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 28:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Zephaniah 1:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Micah 5:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Daniel 2:27 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezekiel 21:21 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezekiel 13:20 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezekiel 13:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezekiel 13:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ezekiel 13:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 27:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 27:9-10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 14:14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 47:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 44:25 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 44:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 19:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 103:2-4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Chronicles 33:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Chronicles 10:13-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Kings 23:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Kings 21:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 18:9-12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Leviticus 20:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 22:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 7:11 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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