Christian Cults

[Natt]

Could some churches be classified as both Cults and Christian?

[Shad]

Absolutely!!!!

My ex-fiance used to be a part of one until I came along and opened her eyes. This church's pastor had the entire congregation brain washed. And anyone who disagreed with her was brought out in front of the church as having demons or in the case of my ex-fiance the spirit of jezebel. Her sermons always had to do with her and how people should do things the way she did them because in her words she only did things the way the Lord wanted them done.

When we got engaged we decided that we wanted one of the decons of the church to do the ceremony because my fiance was close to him as a mentor within the church and I had grown to become friends with him as well. So we asked him if he'd do it and he was more than happy until the pastor of the church found out and demanded that he not do the ceremony or he'd be black balled so he had no choice but to back out. See this pastor had the idea that if anybody was going to do this ceremony it was going to be her or it wouldn't happen at all and well seeing as how we are now un-engaged you can see who won but I don't regret it for one second.

As a result of us refusing to have her do the ceremony my ex-fiance was black listed from the church and all the other churches in the area because the pastor of this church was a high standing member in the church circles so if she recommended that someone not be let into the church the other pastors of the other churches followed suit. There are 1 or 2 churches that don't follow her direction but they are small in nature and even then they are very leary of crossing her path.

Don't get me wrong the praise and worship in that church was something I have yet to experience again but the people running the church were nothing more than cult leaders who told you what to do, how they wanted it done, and when they wanted it done.

The members of the church I think knew what they were being told was wrong but they were scared and afraid to cross this lady. See this was a small town and pretty much everyone knows everyone and a lot of the high standing members of the church owned businesses within the community and had a lot of the congregation members as employees so you cross the pastor all she has to do is tell the business owner you should be fired and it was done. Matter of fact this is what happened to my fiance. See she worked as an accountant for a commercial cleaning company and after we declined the pastors offer to do the wedding my fiance started being treated as an out cast at work and the owners who were high standing members of the church started blaming her for things going wrong and what not which led her to having stress related health problems and while she was out they replaced her with the pastors daughter in-law and when my fiance came back they told her they were letting her go because there wasn't enough work for everyone. We my fiance filed a claim against the company to which they gladly settled out of court instead of taking it to a hearing where all their shady dealings would be brought out in the open.

Edited October 27, 2007 by Shad

[damo1]

damo1

yes as i have been doing a lot of reading for my self on cults and i have been looking into these groups the mormans the brethren and the jahova wittnesses and the little peble which is a throw of from wako and james town and the family

al i can say if we are not care full and alow our own doctrine to take over we too can do as these guys did

and if you are not strong in your walk with the lord and grounded in his word you leave your self open to be abused like these people that belived every single word these men said from these cults that they formed i am sure chrstians wil say no that the church can not be seen as an ocult but i say yes the church can be seen as an ocult as i am always listning to what is being preached and if i hear anything funny like the way these guys preached then i wil leave and not alow my self or my family or those that i need be manipulated like this also you need to be aware of natt is this abuse can also happen with in the body as it happens on the out side i cal this church abuse and if you are not grounded you wil leave your self wide open

for example if you do not get heald you are seen as an out cast if you find it hard to submitt you are seen as a rebbel and wil be ignored or told to leave their are two groups with in the body the rich and the poor and these groups act like those that are just living in the world

one guy in america was doing this he got shut down very fast by a christian proffesor who done a bit of research on his church they did everything a normal church did the music and preaching was all the same yet what the pastor did he bought his leaders of by buying them harly davidsons and these guys also picked who they wanted in their church

you only wear able to move freely if you wear in the leadership team and those with in the membership like body wear not allowed to question the pastor or the leaders if you started to question you wear told to leave and they would shun you if you had money and wear well of you wear made to feel welcome only the leaders can get heald by god as the members wear weak and needed to be told how to gain salvation this did happen you can get this book called church abuse

i always tel new christians to ground them selves in gods word and alow the holy spirit to guide them so they do not fall pray to this if any one is reading this i am sorry but i dont beat around the bush i say as the spirit places things on my heart i have confronted sevral that wear doing this hear so i am not just talking from my head

we need to be care ful though with the term cult used with in the body of christ even though we do not do what some of these groups do people on the out side wil see us as a cult due to hearing about these other groups that the media broad casts on tv

i wil leave it at this as my brain is being stretched with the amount of reading i have been doing on cults and why they belive in what they belive in and how we as the church can avoid the stigma of being called an acult

i am not saying al churches are like this but with in the ones i walked in to when i was not a christian i got given the 3 degree and if i did not fit in or wear the right clothes or looked like an odd ball i was shown the front door

this is my topic i like digging into and have been doing a fair bit of reading i had to give my brain a bit of a brake to to much info and turn to something else i have 5 thick note pads full of information that i have written down and a seperate folder for stuf i have down loaded of line as well

take care from damo

[Shad]

damo1

yes as i have been doing a lot of reading for my self on cults and i have been looking into these groups the mormans the brethren and the jahova wittnesses and the little peble which is a throw of from wako and james town and the family

al i can say if we are not care full and alow our own doctrine to take over we too can do as these guys did

and if you are not strong in your walk with the lord and grounded in his word you leave your self open to be abused like these people that belived every single word these men said from these cults that they formed i am sure chrstians wil say no that the church can not be seen as an ocult but i say yes the church can be seen as an ocult as i am always listning to what is being preached and if i hear anything funny like the way these guys preached then i wil leave and not alow my self or my family or those that i need be manipulated like this also you need to be aware of natt is this abuse can also happen with in the body as it happens on the out side i cal this church abuse and if you are not grounded you wil leave your self wide open

for example if you do not get heald you are seen as an out cast if you find it hard to submitt you are seen as a rebbel and wil be ignored or told to leave their are two groups with in the body the rich and the poor and these groups act like those that are just living in the world

one guy in america was doing this he got shut down very fast by a christian proffesor who done a bit of research on his church they did everything a normal church did the music and preaching was all the same yet what the pastor did he bought his leaders of by buying them harly davidsons and these guys also picked who they wanted in their church

you only wear able to move freely if you wear in the leadership team and those with in the membership like body wear not allowed to question the pastor or the leaders if you started to question you wear told to leave and they would shun you if you had money and wear well of you wear made to feel welcome only the leaders can get heald by god as the members wear weak and needed to be told how to gain salvation this did happen you can get this book called church abuse

i always tel new christians to ground them selves in gods word and alow the holy spirit to guide them so they do not fall pray to this if any one is reading this i am sorry but i dont beat around the bush i say as the spirit places things on my heart i have confronted sevral that wear doing this hear so i am not just talking from my head

we need to be care ful though with the term cult used with in the body of christ even though we do not do what some of these groups do people on the out side wil see us as a cult due to hearing about these other groups that the media broad casts on tv

i wil leave it at this as my brain is being stretched with the amount of reading i have been doing on cults and why they belive in what they belive in and how we as the church can avoid the stigma of being called an acult

i am not saying al churches are like this but with in the ones i walked in to when i was not a christian i got given the 3 degree and if i did not fit in or wear the right clothes or looked like an odd ball i was shown the front door

this is my topic i like digging into and have been doing a fair bit of reading i had to give my brain a bit of a brake to to much info and turn to something else i have 5 thick note pads full of information that i have written down and a seperate folder for stuf i have down loaded of line as well

take care from damo

OMG you just described my ex-fiances church to an absolute "T".

This paticular church was a so called Non-Denominational church in Canda and I have found that these types of churches or churches that claim to be Non-Denominational are the ones more often than not turn out to be cultic in nature.

[Natt]

A church my grandparents go to have convinced them that all the other churches are wrong in thier doctrine. They also use this verse excessively. I would still classify them as Christians though

Hebrews 13:17

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

[eric]

Could some churches be classified as both Cults and Christian?

Hi Natt, that's a bit of a tricky question. It can be difficult to see the difference at times. There are some people that call themselves christian and go through all the motions of being a christian, and their beliefs are all consitant with each other in their particular group and are close minded that they wont read any other literature that does'nt line up what they have been taught by the person or group they follow. It seems that they idolize their tutors or the source of their teaching as much as the Lord Himself.

Most of us know about the mormons and their devotion to the teachings of Joseph Smith, and the JW,s and Tazz Russell and the SDAs adoration of Ellen White.....The last mentioned, not as dangerous and as far off the truth as the other two. There are more, but I have'nt the time to mention them and their beliefs. There is a fine line, and people today being as gullible as they are, can be lead up the wrong path as in the case of David Karesh and others.............Just be careful.

Edited to correct spelling error in Ellen White

[damo1]

damo1

high Natt

i just got back from our mens group and turned the computer on and signed into to worthy to see wear this topic was going

Eric and shad said exactly what i said as when i jotted down what i said i was not sure wear this would go for you or what sort of things would be posted for you to read but Eric said this in one word be very care full and i am going to say the same thing we need to be grounded in gods word as his living word Will never let us down

as i said this topic is one that i love digging into as our church hear has had a few people that have been hurt very bad and only know are they able to allow the lord to heal them and only know they are able to trust our pastor and our leaders

what i was taught to look for by my old pastor who was a very wise man is this the way you can pick a cult is this look at how the pastor is bringing up his family look at what is being said does it line up with gods word always ask the holy spirit to guide you never make a commitment by me saying this check things out you should be able to do this as a person

never jump in too deep if something is not write with in then listen to your gut feelings some of thees leaders that run these cults are very good most are very educated and can use what they have been taught to their advantage some even study the bible we read but these guys Will study it until it is apart of them

these groups Will always target the hurting the poor the widows and the homeless their is a group in Sydney and what this group does in donate their kidneys and by donating their kidneys they feel they are getting closer with god the main leader of this group use to belong to the family and has started up his own group the teachings are based on the same principals the family used in the united states and right now several parents are trying so hard to get their kids out of the grip this guy has on them the youngest member sold everything he had and went to Canada as he met this lady on line who was searching for a kidney Donner only to be stopped by his mother and father the group is called the Jesus movement and what i heard this sounds just like a normal church but wear i was able to catch them out is this they all live together they share everything and only the leader has the freedom to move they sit together and tell him everything this is how gullible these people are the men and women tell him their dreams and then he tells them what he thinks and they go by his every word

when it comes to cults you need to be very care full that you as a person do not fall for what they say as even though it sounds so good to your ears and you feel like you have found something and a group of people that you can relate to they have you and once they know this they Will do what ever it takes to win you over to wear they gain your trust

Hebrews 13 - 17 obey them that they have rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is not profitable for you

this verse is a good one that this group i know of in Canberra uses a lot to trap its members and a Friend of mine is hooked up with this group the leader has not gone threw bible collage and has not been ordained by god to preach yet he feels that he has the right to lead a church in a 4 bedroom house that he is renting he has no skills what so ever but he knows the bible very well and he can preach to the point wear every single word that comes out of his mouth you Will almost believe that its god speaking threw him and their are churches like this all over the coast around Australia that are started of by people who have no degrees what so ever but they feel led and feel this is what they are too do and its thses groups that create a lot of heart ache as my friend who is a christian counsler almost has to gain their trust before he can even begin the counsling to the point wear healing can happen and they can be set free and restord back to normal some times it can take a 1 yr or 3yrs depends how far gone they are

i was working at a youth center in wooden and this group would hit the mall and hang out our youth center it was a government youth center with Christian youth workers working along side of the secular workers one Friday night i was walking past the bus stop and i stopped to talk with some young people and they said to me this group is handing out tracks and they would not leave us alone until we took the tracks they wanted us to have i said what else did this group say and one young girl said they came down very hard on us by saying that if we don't surrender and stop doing what we are doing you will go to hell but she said when i hear you that means me talk about the bible and what i have been threw you do not sound so judgmental and in your face as this group was with us she said one guy was looking at her and looking her up and down due to the clothes she was wearing and i Will not say what else he was looking at i took the pamphlet and told the kids to go to the youth center and i told them to tel the youth workers i Will be out for a while

i tracked this group down and i saw my friend and she saw me and i asked if she can introduce me to the Maine leader and i met him and i said explain your self at first he tried to preach to me thinking i was a sinner and then he said salvation is gained by good works i found it strange as salvation can be only gained by faith and faith alone not by good works i spent over 3hrs talking with him to the point wear i rebuked him right in front of his group and others watching me i was asking the holy spirit to lead me and i began to pray out loud in tongues and then i gave him a simple word i said what does it say about those that put nose holes around the weak ones he looked at me and then i said what does god say about false prophets and false teachers in wolves clothing and i said what did Christ do for me and the hole world on the cross and i said was his death in vain did he die so people like you that call your self leaders and think you are ordained to preach do you think that you Will go to heaven or do you think that you Will go to hell he could not say a thing as i felt this warmth come over me and the words that came out of my mouth i new these wear not my words i shut him up very fast to the point wear i told him if i ever catch you around hear if i ever catch you preaching fire and brim stone to these young people you Will be dealing not just with me but my other brothers in the lord and my pastor and we Will see how much authority you have if i have to i Will even shut you down

with in two weeks this group split apart 4 marriages wear broken apart and he was facing the courts for tampering with a young girl my friend was very confused and lost and she said what did you say to the leader as he was panicking when we got back i said i just said what the holy spirit placed on my heart and it was not my words but the holy spirit of god speaking threw me

al i can say natt is be grounded in gods word never let it depart you as people are people natt and some times other things wil take over as i said not al pastors in churches do this as they them selves know that they wil be facing god and wil not do anything to lead any one astray you wil find pastors wil be very prottective over their members and wil watch very close to make sure no one is taken advantage of or even alow a wolf to settle among the sheep pastors wil be able to pick this out very fast natt

i trust my pastor with my life i am very submissive to him as he is like me very smart and on the ball

take care from damo

[Shad]

another thing the pastor of our church loved to do to those who went against her and left the church on their own was to predict that because they left the church their finances would fail, their relationship would be tested or fall apart, and that their work situation would fail as well. Of course knowing that no matter what we do almost everyone has financial problems at some point in life which in turn puts a strain on relationships and of course having control over most of the business owners she could make the 3rd one happen.

So she would predict these things knowing that they are going to happen regardless whether she said them or not making the people who left believe that she knew it was going to happen and so when those things did eventually happen they would come running back to the church thinking that she had some type of visionary powers to be able to predict things.

She always looked at me strangely because she knew that she didn't have control over me because I wasn't an official member of the church that she'd had years to brain wash I just came there as a visitor with my ex-fiance so she felt threatened by that and even went as far as to tell my ex-fiance that satan had placed me in her life to tempt her away from the church when in reality she knew God had sent me to rescue her from that church because as I said earlier the praise and worship was awesome but I knew the first time I went there from the second it was over and she started talking that something wasn't right and she knew that I knew it.

So as others have said be careful and choose wisely and the most important thing to do is to constantly pray to God for guidance and don't be afraid to question things you don't agree with or aren't comfortable with because any genuine pastor should be willing to talk with you about them and work with you concerning those particular things. The second you question something and they become defensive it's time to start doing overtime praying to god about whether you are in the right place or not.

Edited October 27, 2007 by Shad

[OneLight]

They can be classified as such because they use the Bible as a base of their beliefs, even though they twist the truth. BUT, cults are not Christian.

[Guest TomG]

Could some churches be classified as both Cults and Christian?

Most Christian churches ARE cults. Here's the primary example...most "Christians" consider the Roman Catholic Church as Christian. It is not. In fact it is a cult and a very large one. You may ask "How can 2 billion people worldwide be in a cult?". Because the Bible tells us that all nations are deceived by the sorceries of the whore of Babylon which is the world wide religious organization, which consists of Christianity (what the world perceives as Christian for what that's worth), Judaism, Muslims, Hindus etc are all part of this whorish system because they are all false. There is only one true church. Denominations are nothing but cults.

What we need to realize is that many called and chosen Christians are still bound to these religious systems. God commands us to "come out of her my people". The whole realm of religion is basically under the influence of witchcraft and sorcery. A Roman Catholic cannot be praying to Mary and dead saints and worshiping a man called a Pope (whom they say have the keys to the kingdom of God when it is Jesus that has the keys) and expect to enter in to the kingdom. No idolaters can enter in. Not to mention the rampant homosexuallity...

Let's mention it...God is peeling off the covers of this false religious system. The old is fading away because they won't repent. That's why he exposed Ted Haggard. That's why he's exposing Juanita Bynum and Paula White. That's why Jakes can have Dr. Phi (who claims he's a Christian) preaching at his church. Millions of people are following after this strange fire and really believe that they are saved.

Most street folk know that these mainstream "Christians" are running game and they are going to hear the real church when God looses his people - full of the Holy Ghost for REAL - to preach the real gospel of the kingdom to the world...the time is soon...there is, according to 2nd Corinthians 11:4 - ANOTHER JESUS, ANOTHER GOSPEL and ANOTHER SPIRIT.

If you are not under the headship of the REAL Jesus Christ - are not baptized in the REAL Holy Ghost and are not being taught and preaching the REAL Gospel - you are in a cult...time to humble down (like everyone else - me included) and come out like He says.

Tom

www.gideonstrumpet.org

www.jesuscult.org

www.omegaministry.org