Not Another One..

Thursday afternoon I went to a local bus/trolley stop and proclaimed Jesus Christ, I raised up a banner that said "Jesus Christ is God" and on the other side "Read God's Holy Bible" in bold letters. Many times people have seen the sign from far away while they are driving or walking and they come up to me to ask questions. One young man named Jonathan approached me and seemed rather interested in what I was doing and wanted to know the message I was telling people. I told him I was sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ; that Jesus came into the world, died and rose again on the third day. He started to tell me that that was not the Gospel, but I quickly quoted 1 Corinthians 15:1-5 to show him otherwise. I asked him if he died today where would he spend eternity, he told me the kingdom of God. I asked "How did he know" and he answered "Well, I study the Bible a lot" and went on to talk about the Passover and keeping the Sabbath. He was very friendly and talked really fast. As, he was talking to me it seemed like he was trying to teach me. Then he asked me if I had heard of the "heavenly mother". I have heard of the "heavenly mother" once from a friend who was telling me about a church her brother got involved in. Jonathan told me he attended a church called World Mission Society Church of God. He "informed" me that the heavenly mother was essential to our salvation as well as the second coming of Christ, and everything he believed is from the Bible. As I started to ask more questions he said he wanted to get together later to talk about his beliefs and asked for my number. I told him I didn't give out my number to strangers (which he said was weird) and would give him my email address instead, but he said he didn't have access to the Internet at this time. He asked me if I had a pen when I asked him for his phone number, I found one in my bag and handed it to him, he took out a blank card to write down his number, then stopped and told me he did not have a working number that he could be reached at.


We talked for a while longer and it seemed like he was withholding information from me. He told me since God made man and women in His image then God must be a man and women. God the Mother and God the Father, he also quoted Galatians 4:26 as a proof text. I asked him if someone could find the way of salvation and the heavenly mother by just reading the Bible and no additional help, he said said no. His answer confirmed to me what I had been thinking the entire conversation, "He was in a cult." When, I arrived home I visited their official website and read everything he had told me.


Some cults are easy to identify, especially if they dress a certain way (i.e. Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses). However, most cultist dress normal, are overly friendly and if they claim to be Christian will say things like "According to the scriptures.." Most cults are not easy to identify. So, here are a few points to help you identify a cult because no one has ever shopped around to join a cult sought out to be manipulated economically, physically and emotionally.

• Beware of instant friends: Cult members seem to be friendly, caring, sensitive, and honest. In reality, however, they are often dishonest, manipulative,and destructive.


• Cults manipulate people: The key to all recruitment by any cult lies in how they manipulate people.


• Cults Do Not Allow Questioning: True leadership allows questions, and even recognizes the importance of disputes on occasion. One of the prime hallmarks of cults or other groups with cultic tendencies is the condemning of questioning.


• Cults Require Submission to Authority: Cults demand dependency and call it biblical submission.


• Cults Motivate through Guilt and Fear: Cults demand obedience and motivate their victims by using guilt and fear.


• Cults Stress Experience over Reason: Do we know the truth because we experience some-thing? No. We know the truth only after we examine the evidence, weigh it, ask questions, look for contradictions and then make an informed commitment.


• Cults Discourage Individual Freedom: Cult leaders claim that their members are not equipped to make wise personal decisions. They attempt to dictate the members' use of time, dating lives, thoughts, and beliefs, among other things. The lack of freedom lies at the breeding ground for cultism.


• Cults Offer Things that are too good to be true

ASK QUESTIONS!

Read through the Bible, trust the Holy Spirit, do your research and watch out for World Mission Society Church of God.