A few days ago, I was sent a copy of the DVD, “Christianity, Cults & Religions” to sample and review from Rose Publishing. This afternoon I made some time to sit and watch through the first of six lecture-based studies and was very impressed.
The lecturer, Paul Carden is extremely knowledgeable and easy-to-understand. The first session gives a well-grounded Biblical basis for a study of this nature and Carden gives ample reasoning for why Christians today need to go through a study of this nature.
I am already planning on using this study in my adult Sunday school class in a few weeks.
The DVD curriculum includes six 30-minute lectures from Carden as well as a supplemental DVD with a PDF of the Leader’s Guide which can be printed and used in the classroom setting.
The DVD retails for $29.99 and is available for purchase here if you’re interested.
Here is a promotion-video for the DVD-based study:
From the product description: “Paul Carden, one of the most respected specialists in this field, has spent 30 years researching, writing and broadcasting on the topics of cults and new religions. He is the general editor of the best-selling cults comparison chart, Christianity, Cults & Religions.”
Rose Publishing sent me a couple copies of Carden’s “Cults Comparison Chart” that I am giving away here on stevansheets.com
To be entered in a drawing to receive one of these glossy comparison charts, simply comment below leaving your contact information and I’ll pick the winners by November 1st. The comparison chart is available on Amazon.com for $3.99, but you can potentially get one sent to you FREE simply by commenting on this blog post! Check out the comparison chart’s description over at Amazon.
Here is a video showing the chart’s usefulness:
One of my former churches had this chart and it was amazing. My current church needs one!
I’d love to do a World Religion/Cults Series with my Middle School group. Would you recommend it for 11-14 year olds? If you say it’s quality stuff for that age group, then I’ll probably go out and order it. It’s so hard to tell from a promo clip or a description on Amazon if it’s something I’ll be glad I spent the money on. Stevan, your opinion could be the final piece for me to make my decision…
Matt –
While I have to admit that the curriculum was NOT designed for 11-14 year olds (no fast-paced graphics, music, youthful lecturer), I think a resource like this could easily be adapted to that age group. Giving them a heads up that someone old enough to be their Grandpa is going to be discussing these cults and religions as well as making sure to have ample time for discussion about what their learning would be key. One thing I do like about the DVD is that it’s NOT “stuck” in 1985 like most non-youth-oriented video curriculum I’ve seen. The graphics and video are well produced.
Let me know if you “go for it” – I’d love to know how your students respond to it!
Looks like a great resource … been contemplating doing a series like this for the youth … definitely needed today when the information they generally will pick up is so skewed.
Don –
Cool! I hope you go for it, too, and make sure and let me know how students respond to the curriculum. I agree that most students don’t have a clear understanding of what the “typical” cults and other religions believe. I’m super-excited about using this in my adult class – I know that the information is already ‘revealing’ to ME, too!
Thanks for posting such a variety of resources. I’ll have to look into this one some more.
I thinks this would be an excellent addition to my library and I would be able to show some people at work what diffferent cults and religions believe, Thanks for the opportunity to possibly win it for free.