World Religions and Cults: Counterfeits of Christianity

World Religions and Cults #1

by Bodie Hodge, Roger Patterson

Religions in today's culture seem to be multiplying. Have you ever wondered why certain religions believe and practice what they do? Or how they view the Bible? This volume delves into these and other engaging questions, such

- How can a Christian witness to people in these religions?
- Do these other religions believe in creation and a Creator?
- How do we deal with these religions from a biblical authority perspective?

Many religions and cults discussed in this first volume openly affirm that the Bible is true, but then something gets in their way. And there is a common factor every time man's fallible opinions. In one way or another the Bible gets demoted, reinterpreted, or completely ignored. Man's ideas are used to throw the Bible's clear teaching out the window while false teachings are promoted.

This book is a must for laymen, church leaders, teachers, and students to understand the trends in our culture and around the world where certain religions dominate, helping you discern truth and guard your faith. When you understand a religion's origins and teachings, you are in a better position to know how to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ as you take the good news to those in false religions.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, Christian, Christian Non Fiction, School, Christianity, Theology

542 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 9, 2015

About the author

Bodie Hodge is the author of Fall of Satan and co-author of Dragons: Legends and Lore of Dinosaurs. He is on the staff of Answers in Genesis, and is a speaker, writer, contributor, and researcher on a host of topics related to apologetics, biblical history, and the book of Genesis.

Reviews

[Kay Burkot · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is very poorly researched. The chapter on Roman Catholicism has many errors, and definitely does not represent the true teachings of Catholicism. It contains many typical errors that Protestants make about Catholicism. It is evident that the author did not research thoroughly. (And from another review on this site, it appears that someone holds the same opinion for the chapter on Eastern Orthodoxy.) And yet it would have been so easy to research before writing. The website www.catholic.com (simple and easy to remember) contains a lot of information about what Catholics believe. One has to wonder whether the author was truly interested in stating what Catholics really believe or merely interested in sharing his own personal (mis)beliefs about Catholicism. After reading this chapter where I was familiar with the subject matter, I had to wonder how much the authors we're getting wrong about the other faiths they covered. As a result, their credibility was totally destroyed.

[Callie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I don't think I've ever read such a thorough exploration of different religions from a Christian perspective! I'm a Ken Ham fan, and I frequently see Bodie Hodge on Answer News with Ham - when I started seeing this book series around, I knew I wanted to read it.

This book starts out with giving a thorough overview of Christianity and it's doctrines, and from there each chapter discusses various religions and how those religious doctrines relate to the truth of Christianity. I knew a little something about each of the religions covered here, but after reading this book I feel like I understand them so much better.

What I really loved about this book is how each chapter is summed up with speaking about how best to reach someone who may be caught in these various religions with the true Gospel. The compassion for people in all these religions is really evident in this book, and I think it's an excellent reference to have on my shelf.

Now I'm definitely going to read the next two in the series!

[Kaye · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is apparent from reading Chapter 5 (How is Eastern Orthodoxy Different?) that minimal, if any, research was involved during the writing of this book, or at least, this chapter. It truly saddens me that someone has taken the liberty to bastardize information they clearly did not research, nor understand, and pass it on as truth. Lord have mercy.

I pray that anyone who reads the chapter seek out an Eastern Orthodox Christian in order to discuss the misconceptions and errors printed throughout the pages.

[Jasmine (Jazzie) [Jesus Loves You!!] · Rating 4 out of 5]

*me realizing I forgot to ever mark this book as "finished".....* Oops... 🫣

Rtc!

[Lexi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This had a lot of interesting information about different religions, some of which I had never heard of before. I almost rated it four stars, but I decided to stick with 3.5 because there were some parts that got a little dry.
This is a great read for if you wish to understand more about other religions.

[Madilynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful and informative. Compares several religions to Biblical Christianity. Pretty easy to follow.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this after my 17 year old who had been reading for school. I really enjoyed the bite-sized histories on religions from Catholicism and Mormonism to lesser known belief systems like the Moonies and the Creativity Movement(whoa!) there are some crazy convictions out there! What is most surprising me is the number of them with roots in the Bible, but so many apparently skip over Gal. 1:8 in their search for Truth. What is also so shocking is how many of these have arisen in the last 200 years from nothing, to having such a huge following. Never underestimate the power of a persuasive , charismatic leader. This will be a good book to keep in the shelf to reference.

[Nate Lanning · Rating 5 out of 5]

A straightforward and easy dive into Christianity’s biggest offshoots and what makes them different from true biblical Christianity. Starting with a very detailed description of what biblical Christianity looks like, the book then examines the problems with Roman Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity. I found these first few sections to be incredibly interesting since I had just a passing knowledge of what Catholics believe and virtually no clue about the Orthodox (except that they’re the ones with the beards). Some of my favorite sections of this book were the ones about Islam, Modern Judaism, and Mormonism. Each religion has its beliefs outlined, it’s inconsistencies pointed out, and it is compared to the truth. This book also gives some good tips as to what questions to ask/things to talk about with friends and family who might hold some of these beliefs.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a lot in here, but it's a really interesting and worthwhile read.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated that this book defines other beliefs as comparing them to christianity

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book!! It was amazing. It was clear, understandable, and very biblical. It is getting tough to find biblical books nowadays; this one is a treasure. They had an excellent overview of the counterfeits of Christianity and I can't wait to start the next two!!

Also, Master Books has a curriculum set that is pretty awesome too if that is something you would be interested in. Here is the link(this one isn't from MB but it is what I have) :
https://www.christianbook.com/compara...

[Christopher Desruisseau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on world religions from a reformed perspective.

[Greg Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a very good book covering two different Christian denominations and several non-Christian religions. This book was very educational. I learned much about religions I knew little to nothing about. I highly recommend this book to learn more about those. I did take issue with them lumping Catholicism in with other non-Christian religions. I understand they disagree with some of the Catholic Churches teachings, and in several cases showed they did not really understand their teachings (since I don't believe they intentionally misrepresented them). Reading the chapter on Catholicism will either misinform the reader or confirm existing misconceptions. This is the reason I only gave the book four stars and why I won't recommend this book without this caveat.

[Becky Durstenfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book. After awhile it was hard to keep all the different groups straight. Written from a Christian perspective, it appears that these other religions are quite flawed. Many of them seem very strange and it makes one wonder how any intelligent human being would believe these versions of "truth" especially those that are based on what one person said. It is a good introduction to many world religions and cults that most of us don't know much about. It is good to also hear from the people who do beleive in these religions and this book does a good job of quoting from their own words.

[Doug Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview with clear delination between “counterfeit” religions and Christianity. That said, each writer takes a singluar, unified perspective of each religion based largely on writings, not on experience, practices, or hearts of the followers. If a writer for one of these “counterfeit” religions where to write about Christianity from a similar singular, unified perspective, I suspect it would not represent the beliefs of Christianity. Maybe this is all a book like this can accomplish.

[Chris Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Longish book. 404 pages. Took me awhile to finish it! But it is good and has many different religions and cults covered by many different authors. I learned a lot that I did not know about other faiths. I bought this from the Creation Museum in Kentucky with two other books in a set. This is the first one in the set. One of the editors, Mr. Hodge, works for Answers In Genesis, I think.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was actually life-changing. It made me realize a lot about other religions that I had never known, and even introduced me to a few new religions, like the Moonies. The only complaint I have is that it was often repetitive. All-around, a great, insightful book written by well-versed researchers.

[Jill Crosby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty decent coverage of “counterfeit” religions, I.e., those religions that draw on Biblical images, verses, people, and events to develop an entirely different set of dogma. Basic, yet comprehensive enough to illustrate the whys and hows of Christianity’s offshoots & imitators

[Regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this book as a textbook to teach my daughter about world religions. We both found it very enlightening and fascinating. Very thorough and well-researched.

[Joe Jewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book presents helpful contrasts between Christianity and false cults. What I really like about this book is that it takes a presuppositional apologetic approach.

[Mayzie Hamel · Rating 5 out of 5]

that last chapter was INSANE 😃

[Tarra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of high school curriculum, very informative read.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

whether it's you or your teen that wants to learn, I highly recommend this book series.

[Bretton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book in preparation for a class I’m taking later this summer, it was very interesting. Well written, and informative. I appreciated covering the same 7ish topics for each chapter through the beliefs of different religions.
Using Master Books and Answers in Genesis books in my curriculum throughout high school I was familiar with the writing style and the structure of the book. And I really enjoy the structure.
I learned a lot of really interesting things, I appreciated sitting the sources, as well as scripture when it was discussed. I’d definitely be interested in learning mg more about some of the religions I encounter on a regular basis, such and Catholicism and Islam.

I would recommend this to anyone but especially a biblical Christian who is interested in learning how they can understand different religions to best communicate with different people.

You’ll definitely learn some interesting things, some things will probably shock you, and others you just won’t be able to comprehend.

[Leah Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be a simplistic comparison and contrasting of Christianity to other religions. While somewhat informative, it cites countless scripture references without expounding upon or taking the context of each verse citation into consideration, leading the authors into some false, albeit common teachings about the Christian faith. The sheer number of scripture references were also overwhelming to a long-term disciple of Jesus like myself. I can't imagine what kind of tedious torture this would prove to be for the curious investigator. I would only recommend this book to Christians who know their Bibles extremely well and can weed out false teachings and incorrect assumptions. Otherwise, I would steer clear.

[Rachel Grepke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I have ever read regarding other religions. I was hesitant when I realized it was written by several different authors, but that actually made it better. They gave just enough information to make you want to go deeper and learn more. I think this book is a great read and I highly recommend it.

[Caedon Hull · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you ever wanted to know what Mormons, Jehovah's witnesses, or Muslims believe, you definitely want to check this out. You will also find some religions you haven't even heard of. And most importantly, it will also tell you of ways how you can share the Good news of Jesus Christ ✝.

[Maddie's_Bookshelf · Rating 3 out of 5]

It did very good at covering the diffrent cults, but I do wish that the book had been a bit more consice. For people that love to learn about this, and want details, it would be great for them. I was just curious to learn the main point of each cult of Christianity.

[Erika Nederveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of religions and how they are inconsistent with the Bible. Also the author had a section in each chapter about how to witness to people involved in these religions.