I know a serviceman who is falling into this trap. Is there anything I can do, in addition to praying?
[Previous comment was left on January 24th on the thread:]
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Anonymous said:
We were taught that our “Pastor,” was an Apostle. That as he preached he literally spoke by the Holy Ghost, and that he never missed God’s [will]. That Jesus Christ came to him in person, and commissioned him to build this church organization, starting with a bible college. We were told that our pastor had seen angels, and that God had performed many miracles through his hands. That the “organization(s)” were the only “Real” move of God, and that our church was God’s last church, before the rapture. We were taught to honor the pastor with gifts, to obey him, and fear him, as we obeyed and feared God. To disobey him, was to bring God’s judgement upon you. To leave the “church” organization was to leave God. And, that once you left, your only chance to serve God, was to return to that church, before it was too late. To visit with former members who had departed, for any reason, was to be a Judas, or a Benedict Arnold. If someone's spouse quit coming to church, they were told that the brother or sister who remained, “with God’” was free to divorce the spouse, and remarry “in the church.”
The next guy in line to the founder “pastor,” constantly made references to the founders words, even giving dates and times of his utterances, and tieing them to some biblical precept, or doctrine, or teaching.
We had to ask his permission to ask a girl, “from our church” to date or to correspond, and to marry. We were told who we could not date. We were told who we could or could not bring to a bible convention. We were told who we could not perform a marriage ceremony for, Ordered not to, ie, One was white, and the other was black.
They kept meticulous records of attendance, church, and other events, tithe records, pledges, etc. We would be challenged by one of the church stooges if we forgot to put $1.00 in our tithing envelope, or offering pledge, etc. We were told that we were not a Christian if we didn’t pay 10% of our gross income. We were told that it was theft not to pay tithe, and that God robbers go to hell. We had to fill out forms to inform the church office where we worked, how much an hour we were paid, etc. We could not work on any job that infringed upon any church activity, even surprise activities. We could not be 30 seconds late for church, bible class, etc. or we would be rebuked openly, and if we were a student in the Seminary, we would lose that entire semester of classes, and forfeit the funds paid for those classes.We were taught holiness, or hell. That we had to dress a certain way, look a certain way, and act a certain way, most of them had no scriptural foundation. We were told that the internet, was really the sinner-net, and that only people who wanted porn, and filth went to the internet. We were told that social media sites, would cause us all to leave our spouses, and live in sin, and go to hell. We were ordered to remove people who had left the group from our social contacts. We were ordered not to read derogatory information about our group, etc, and were told that to do so was rebellion, which is the sin of witchcraft.Those who dressed in tattered clothes or who were homeless, were not followed up on, and those who had either invited them to church, or had picked them up, were discouraged from returning to visit, or bring them again to church. We were instructed to dress in very fashionable styles, so most of the ladies of the church would buy clothes at the Goodwill, or other Thrift stores. The founder would often mock these stores by calling them Cooke [KOOK] Stores. We were told the the KJV of the bible was the only true word of God, and that all others had compromised the truth. We were told that the church was a theocracy. I could go on and on about this group, we were told that a “cult” was a church that denied the Deity of Christ, but the actions of our leaders, and how it affected us made us all Pharisees, and Hypocrites, Whited Tomb, and un worthy of the Prince of Life who died in our place, on a cruel and horrible cross.
We had to ask his permission to ask a girl, “from our church” to date or to correspond, and to marry. We were told who we could not date. We were told who we could or could not bring to a bible convention. We were told who we could not perform a marriage ceremony for, Ordered not to, ie, One was white, and the other was black.
They kept meticulous records of attendance, church, and other events, tithe records, pledges, etc. We would be challenged by one of the church stooges if we forgot to put $1.00 in our tithing envelope, or offering pledge, etc. We were told that we were not a Christian if we didn’t pay 10% of our gross income. We were told that it was theft not to pay tithe, and that God robbers go to hell. We had to fill out forms to inform the church office where we worked, how much an hour we were paid, etc. We could not work on any job that infringed upon any church activity, even surprise activities. We could not be 30 seconds late for church, bible class, etc. or we would be rebuked openly, and if we were a student in the Seminary, we would lose that entire semester of classes, and forfeit the funds paid for those classes.We were taught holiness, or hell. That we had to dress a certain way, look a certain way, and act a certain way, most of them had no scriptural foundation. We were told that the internet, was really the sinner-net, and that only people who wanted porn, and filth went to the internet. We were told that social media sites, would cause us all to leave our spouses, and live in sin, and go to hell. We were ordered to remove people who had left the group from our social contacts. We were ordered not to read derogatory information about our group, etc, and were told that to do so was rebellion, which is the sin of witchcraft.Those who dressed in tattered clothes or who were homeless, were not followed up on, and those who had either invited them to church, or had picked them up, were discouraged from returning to visit, or bring them again to church. We were instructed to dress in very fashionable styles, so most of the ladies of the church would buy clothes at the Goodwill, or other Thrift stores. The founder would often mock these stores by calling them Cooke [KOOK] Stores. We were told the the KJV of the bible was the only true word of God, and that all others had compromised the truth. We were told that the church was a theocracy. I could go on and on about this group, we were told that a “cult” was a church that denied the Deity of Christ, but the actions of our leaders, and how it affected us made us all Pharisees, and Hypocrites, Whited Tomb, and un worthy of the Prince of Life who died in our place, on a cruel and horrible cross.
[Previous comment was left January 24th on the page:]
Anonymous said:
Wolves in Sheep's clothing. The whole slew of them and that includes their wives. They can be as sweet as they want but they know their hypocrite husbands as well as anybody. In addition, they enable their hypocrite husbands. It's a front. I'd be sweet also if my husband and or daddy gave me an endless supply of cash to use during my daily shopping spree. I'd be especially sweet knowing that my endless supply of cash ultimately came from all the church members. Oh, I'd be real sweet. There is no way I'm getting ugly with my bread and butter. No Sir.
Give my husband an endless supply of money so I can go shopping whenever I want and I'll be real sweet also. God bless you brother, praise God all the way to the bank and the shopping mall. I'll even give you a big hug and press my boobs against you like Tanya does. Make you feel real good about parting with your hard earned cash. The NTCC scheme wouldn't work without the sweet harmless wives. That's what makes it all believable. The sweet wives and guys like Olson. They couldn't possibly be in on the whole scheme, right? Just keep smiling and raking in the dough for yet another day of shopping and run around saying yes sir to your husband. Who would suspect that?
[Previous comment was left on the thread:]
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The Green font comment is almost a point-by-point example of How Cults Work as defined on a web site not even related to the NTCC.
