Cults

"...You also get it in connection with various forms of Mysticism. That's one of the great dangers of Mysticism. There is of course a true Christian Mysticism. The Apostle Paul, I would say, was a Christian Mystic. In other words what we mean by Mysticism is that a man is not only concerned with an intellectual grasp and understanding of the truth, but that he has a living and a vital relationship with God and with the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the emphasis always of the mystics, the inner life, the living, experimental, experiential aspect of the Christian faith and the Christian position. And of course it is absolutely vital. If our so-called faith doesn't lead to any kind of experience, well then I take leave to doubt whether it's Christianity at all. This is a life, and it's living, and it's real, and it's experimental. But the danger always is that the Devil comes in at that point and turns what is a true Christian Mysticism into something that ceases to be Christianity. In other words I'm venturing the assertion, which I could prove if I had the time, that the greatest danger always with Mysticism is to by-pass essential Christianity. In other words the system, the Mystical system and method, becomes so important that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself becomes comparatively unimportant." - Martyn Lloyd Jones from "Cults" (Ephesians 6:10-13)

http://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/cults/