Without purposefully trying, it seems the last three days’ worth of devotions have fallen in the same theme. Yesterday, I mentioned cult leader Jim Jones. Today is the inauspicious anniversary of an event that we wish would never have happened. However, as long as there are false teachers in the world, there will always be events like this.
Marshall Herff Applewhite, Jr. was born on May 17, 1931 into the home of a Presbyterian minister. Marshall grew up in church and was very religious as a young man (notice I didn’t say he had a relationship with the Lord! He was just religious). He went to a Presbyterian seminary with the hopes of being a pastor. However, while in seminary, he developed a great interest in music and switched to Colorado University where he earned a master’s degree in music.
Though he was married with a couple of children, he was wrestling with homosexuality. Eventually, he left his wife and children and became estranged from his parents as he pursued relationships with men. Mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, Marshall was unravelling and beginning to investigate alternatives to Christianity. This is when Bonnie Nettles entered his life.
Bonnie was a nurse and she and Marshall became good friends. Marshall believed they had known each other in another life and Bonnie told him that extraterrestrials had foretold their meeting and friendship. It wasn’t long before Marshall and Bonnie had beliefs that incorporated a mix of Bible, science fiction, astrology, and a UFO religion. All they needed now was a following.
The first follower came in 1974. Soon, several dozen had joined. The group was originally known as the Human Individual Metamorphosis and Total Overcomers Anonymous. In the latter years, it became known as Heaven’s Gate.
On this day in 1997, the 39 cult members were found dead in various states of decomposition. They had died in shifts, each taking a fatal dose of phenobarbital and vodka. Dressed identically in dark clothes and Nike tennis shoes, they would drink the potion and lay down in their beds where they died. Why would they have done this?
The Hale-Bopp comet was set to pass earth. Marshall taught that there was an alien
spacecraft hiding behind the comet. They all needed to end their lives so that the aliens would receive them, carrying them through Heaven’s Gate (hence, the name of the cult) and into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Most of us wonder how in the world people could fall for this. The answer is simpler and the falling more common than we might like to admit. Consider these verses:
1 Timothy 6:20-21 “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: (21) Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.” People who get sucked into the cults from solid Bible teaching don’t keep the committed Word of God, and they don’t avoid the profane and vain babblings. They give them an ear.
2 Timothy 2:16-18 “But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. (17) And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; (18) Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.” Again, those who get sucked in don’t shun the babblings. Instead, they listen and consider.
2 Timothy 4:1-4 “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; (2) Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (4) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” For these people, the Word of God isn’t enough. They need things that tickle the ear and make them feel good. False teaching becomes the spiritual opiate. You need another fix to get high.
Titus 3:10-11 “A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; (11) Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.” Oh, we can’t reject them. We have to go back to them over and over and over again in hopes that we might win them to our way of thinking. Instead, they win US.
Someone reading this is going to say, “But, Jimmy or Susie was on this path and because I kept talking with them and trying to straighten them out, they are good today.” So, you disobeyed God in an attempt to beat the odds. Hmmmm…where’s the wisdom in THAT? Either God knows best or He doesn’t. You decide.
False teachers are never going to disappear. The average cult in this country was started by someone who used to be in a church. That means we must be on our guard. Hearts must have the Lord’s hedge built around them. We must follow God’s Word, even when it seems harsh and hard.
The sanctity of our spiritual life depends on it.
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