1/19/25 

Today after our church gathering and lunch, Nick and I met at a coffee shop for spiritual training focusing on engaging with cults. We discussed the local groups present on and around Cal State Fullerton as well as the scriptures that refute their false doctrines. Many of these false teachings can be disarmed by awareness in five primary areas: Christology (studying Jesus), Soteriology (studying salvation), Ecclesiology (studying the church), Pneumatology (studying the Holy Spirit), and Eschatology (studying the end-times). In addition to discussing the significance of these topics, we also had a mock dialogue to simulate the conversations these groups have on the college campus and how these verses relate. 

Just after we finished our meeting and were about to leave, we were approached in the parking lot by a young man who invited us to join him for a Bible study. Nick and I were both shocked because this was the exact scenario we had just been talking about in our meeting moments prior! This is a very common move that cults use to recruit new members on the college campus (as nearly every student we've talked to has attested). Nick proceeded to ask about the Bible study and if there was anything special about it that we couldn't get at another Bible study. The man replied by saying that we must be water baptized to be saved. This is where the scriptural grounding in soteriology came into play. Because we were prepared, we were able to reason with him through scripture and show that it is not through water baptism that you are saved, but rather through faith alone. At the end of our dialogue, we asked permission and prayed for him that the Holy Spirit would reveal to him the false beliefs that his group teaches and move him into a healthy discipleship community. We shared our contact information with him and parted ways for now, but Nick and I were blown away by what had just occurred! This was too perfect to be mere coincidence!