What outward signs reflect a church having problems?
The lack of love for one another. This takes a little time to see and some involvement on you part. Jesus said you will know them (Christians) by their love. An over emphasis of giving money. The Scripture speaks of money more than any other subject. But when the sermons or in-house discussions are overly emphasized on the subject of giving money this may be a sign of spiritual problems within that local body. Does the sole authority on spiritual matters come from the historical doctrinal teaching of the Bible or does it come from one person inside the church organization’s private interpretation of what the Bible is saying? One definition of a cult is: a group of people gathered about a specific person or person’s interpretation of the Bible. (Read: The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin) This would take in groups like: Mormonism, who follow the teachings of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young; Jehovah Witnesses, who follow the teachings of Charles T. Russell and J. F. Rutherford; Chris
