Paul Carden
Executive Director
“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
James 3:17
By God's grace, Paul has devoted nearly 30 years of his life to cult-related research and outreach in Latin America, Africa, eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. In 1980, Paul joined the Christian Research Institute (CRI) under its founder, Walter Martin. For six of his fifteen years at CRI Paul served as a missionary in São Paulo, Brazil, and for six years he co-hosted the live, nationwide “Bible Answer Man” radio broadcast alongside Ron Rhodes, Robert M. Bowman, Jr., Kenneth Samples, and other noted apologists. During his time at CRI he was also the ministry's director of international outreach and a senior editor of the Christian Research Journal (1989-1995).
Paul is currently the general editor for various apologetics-oriented charts and pamphlets produced by Rose Publishing, including Christianity, Cults and Religions; Christianity, Cults and the Occult; and the “10 Questions and Answers” series. Paul's articles have appeared in such publications as Evangelical Missions Quarterly, East-West Church and Ministry Report, International Journal of Frontier Missions, and World Pulse. He has served on the editorial board of the Cultic Studies Review and is contributing editor of the weekly Apologia Report.
John Divito
Research Associate
"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Philippians 1:21
John was raised in the Mormon faith but was saved by God's grace during his college years. After trusting in Christ, he became active in campus ministry and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Missouri State University. Following the Lord's promptings, John resolved to serve Christ more fully and enrolled at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. In May of 2007, John received his Master of Divinity degree upon completing the applied apologetics track in the seminary's school of missions, evangelism and church growth. John's passion is to equip believers with biblical truth and to proclaim the gospel to those trapped in error. His short-term missions work has taken him to Belize, Mexico, Morocco and Uganda.
Eric Pement
Research Associate
"For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake."
2 Corinthians 4:5
Eric is a former member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints (RLDS), a movement now known as the Community of Christ. He is widely known for his expertise on cults and new religious movements. He worked for over 22 years at Cornerstone magazine, and was most recently its executive editor, specializing in apologetics, cults, world religions, and controversial issues. In addition to writing numerous articles, Eric compiled The 1986 Directory of Cult Research Organizations (revised editions in '87, '88, '90, '91, '93 and '96) and was the editor of Contend for the Faith, a compilation of papers presented at the 1989 Rockford Conference on Discernment and Evangelism. Most recently he co-authored (with Jim Valentine) “Jehovah's Witnesses and the Doctrine of Salvation” in Reasons for Faith: Making a Case for the Christian Faith (Norman L. Geisler and Chad V. Meister, eds.). Eric has an M.B.A. from North Park University (2006) and an M.Div. from North Park Theological Seminary (2009), with graduate studies in philosophy at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Eric describes himself as having “a skeptic's mind, a servant's heart, a child's curiosity, and a pastor's faith.”