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What is a Cult?
Running Away From My Church Blog ^ | 2/07/18 | Robert Messner

Posted on 02/10/2018 7:10:14 AM PST by tiredofallofit

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To: tiredofallofit

Anyone whoa actually BELIEVES a DemocRAT !


41 posted on 02/10/2018 9:39:55 AM PST by Yosemitest (It's SIMPLE ! ... Fight, ... or Die !)
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To: Hot Tabasco

“Q”

+1


42 posted on 02/10/2018 9:42:01 AM PST by Fantasywriter (Any attempt to do forensic work using Internet artifacts is fraught with pitfalls. JoeProbono)
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To: Larry Lucido

Just believe in the power of transformation of Jesus Christ
You don’t need a group a church or anyone else
I’ve been invited to join several liberal churches here
Declined them all politely saying that I believe in Jesus
and that’s enough for me !
Mostly the word has gone astray with group-think
Look at the Catholic Church. The Presbyterian church

The Bible is the word of G*d. It is like the rock of Gibraltar

It does not change Will not change. Cannot change. Should not change

Marriage is sacred and the key to the world as we know it


43 posted on 02/10/2018 9:49:58 AM PST by Truthoverpower (The guvmint you get is the Trump winning express !)
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To: metmom

Hi, this was already established and I acknowledged it. Thanks.


44 posted on 02/10/2018 10:09:30 AM PST by tiredofallofit
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To: tiredofallofit

The word “cult” is a club those holding to a majority belief use to bash minority beliefs.

Judaism, the majority view, saw early Christians as a cult, and worthy of being stoned to death.

Roman Catholicism, the majority view in the middle ages, saw dissenters from that view as a cult, and worthy of being burnt at the stake.

The RC in Florence, Italy, burned Savonarola for condemning the Renaissance for its wickedness. They felt justified in doing so because of his conservative views.

Both RC and Protestants burned at the stake, and drowned every Anabaptist (today’s Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites) they could get their hands on, for their minority view that infant baptism was unscriptural the majority view felt justified in persecuting them.

Once Lutheranism had become the majority in Germany, the Lutherans began persecuting other protestants who dissented from Luther...especially the Anabaptists.

The Calvinist Protestants at Geneva, Switzerland, considered Michael Servetus worthy of being burned at the stake for his minority view, and burned him.

Nowadays Christians know its not “Christian” to stone somebody to death, or burn them at a stake (except for some RC’s), the club in the hand of majority view evangelicals now is the word “cult.”

Historic Premillennialists (post-trib) today are shunned and kicked out of their majority view churches. In many pretrib dispensationalist denominations, if a preacher does not hold to their majority pretrib view, he is sent home from the foreign missionary field. They sometimes use the club (”cult”) on them .

Most Christians today don’t know their history, nor the scripture. This is America, where we have freedom to believe the scripture as we see it. We are not Italy, Germany, or England of the middle ages with their national churches. Not everybody is going to see it the same.

What we have today is a bunch of offended snowflake Christians, content in following their particular majority view, ready to wield the “cult” club on dissenters.

When Mormons or JW’s come to my door, they don’t offend me, I have studied the scripture for myself, I stick with the truth I see in the scripture, others have the freedom to see it differently. What people call “cults” are only a problem to the snowflakes, who don’t know the scripture for themselves.


45 posted on 02/10/2018 10:10:55 AM PST by sasportas
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To: sasportas
Good post, t y. When Mormons or JW’s come to my door, they don’t offend me, I have studied the scripture for myself, I stick with the truth I see in the scripture, others have the freedom to see it differently. I have developed a relationship of sorts with two young Mormon men by listening respectfully to their beliefs over the last six months - if they see me on Main Street, they always stop by for a brief debate. They are interested in my (RC) beliefs which are difficult for them to understand, but they really do listen! I have sown seeds that may one day germinate for them, possibly leading them to explore different religions...
46 posted on 02/10/2018 10:54:25 AM PST by heterosupremacist (Domine Iesu Christe, Filius Dei, miserere me peccatorem!)
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To: tiredofallofit

I know of a church that many people call a cult
because they follow the church which we can see
that started on the day of Pentecost.

Some people believe they have to be a cult because
they do not believe the Christian church has any
authority to collect tithes.

They believe the gospel has already been preached and
it is the preachers job just to read what it says.

They do not push their doctrine down any ones wind pipe
they believe if you are not smart enough to figure it
out you can ask.

And much more which I liked so I will just say “ if it
is a cult” it is a darn good one.

If we have been any thing to fear it is from the big
religious institutions.


47 posted on 02/10/2018 11:01:40 AM PST by ravenwolf (Left lane tdrivers and tailgaters are the smallest peabrains in the world.)
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To: tiredofallofit

A lot of nonsense here. First and most importantly, the author is incorrect. His church was not a cult. There are extremely few churches that are cults. Cults are typically not churches. More commonly they are communes.
The distinguishing characteristics of a cult are:
1 - an all powerful leader who demands absolute obedience in all matters large and small.
2 - members are physically isolated from outside family, friends and community. This requires living in a designated place.
3 - leaving the cult is a death sentence, whether emotionally or physically.
4 - all of each member’s belongings become the absolute property of the leader.
5 - all attention is paid to the leader, all eyes are turned inward with no influence from the outside world permitted.
6 - membership involves initiation that puts the mew member in a totally compromised position. This may involve committing an immoral or criminal act.
7 - Membership requires the absolute sacrifice of the self to the leader, becoming his (or her) chattel slave.

If your church adheres to these conditions it is most certainly a cult. If it does not it is not a cult.


48 posted on 02/10/2018 12:21:49 PM PST by Louis Foxwell (Islam is Satans finest work.)
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Nope. Just superstitious cultists arguing the finer points of their bigoted hypocrisies.....

“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”......[Stephen Roberts]


49 posted on 02/10/2018 12:26:19 PM PST by S.O.S121.500 (Had ENOUGH Yet ? ........................ Enforce the Bill of Rights .........It is the LAW...)
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To: InkStone

Calling a group a cult does not make it a cult. There are a million Pentecostal churches in the world that adhere to some form of Sondergaard’s teachings. They are not cults. Nor are they cultic.
Nor do false teachings qualify as cultic. The democrat party is drowning in false teachings. It is not a cult. A criminal enterprise, perhaps, but not a cult.


50 posted on 02/10/2018 12:27:39 PM PST by Louis Foxwell (Islam is Satans finest work.)
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To: bassmaner

I absolutely agree. Muslim fundamentalism is a cult. It is the very best example of a cult. It satisfies every condition listed in my earlier post.


51 posted on 02/10/2018 12:30:10 PM PST by Louis Foxwell (Islam is Satans finest work.)
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To: dhs12345

None of which has anything to do with being a cult. False teachings (whatever I or tradition disagree with) are not a distinguishing characteristic of a cult.


52 posted on 02/10/2018 12:31:53 PM PST by Louis Foxwell (Islam is Satans finest work.)
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To: Larry Lucido
My (only slightly flippant) definition of a cultist: Someone who stops in the middle of a street sermon, and says you have to come to his “hideout” for more.

Not bad. Beware. Might be just a sex club. But you never know.

53 posted on 02/10/2018 12:34:06 PM PST by Louis Foxwell (Islam is Satans finest work.)
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To: sasportas

Good answer.


54 posted on 02/10/2018 5:25:02 PM PST by ravenwolf (Left lane tdrivers and tailgaters are the smallest peabrains in the world.)
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To: Louis Foxwell

Only when it allows someone power and control over someone else and people stop thinking for themselves. A very common story in cults.


55 posted on 02/10/2018 5:25:16 PM PST by dhs12345
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To: Larry Lucido
(Excerpt) Read more at runningawayfrommychurch.com ... Not taking the clickbait. I’m taking your advice and running away from your church blog.

Yes, anyone posting their own blog an article only about 700 words should post the whole thing, if it is Truth. The rest of the article hardly provides much depth.

56 posted on 02/10/2018 6:23:10 PM PST by daniel1212 (Trust the risen Lord Jesus to save you as a damned and destitute sinner + be baptized + follow Him)
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To: tiredofallofit
While I strongly suspect that they are correct, I never thought of myself as a cult member.

Of course not.

You were probably taught that ALL the others were cults; not your organization; which finally discovered what GOD had kept hidden from the others.

57 posted on 02/10/2018 6:49:42 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Larry Lucido
I clicked. Here's another tidbit:

After all, we believed that we were the only church correctly interpreting the Bible. We were unique. Everyone else was cultish or cult like because they subscribed to the “wrong” doctrines.

58 posted on 02/10/2018 6:53:38 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: heterosupremacist
I have sown seeds that may one day germinate for them, possibly leading them to explore different religions...

The problem is; if (when) these young men DO come to realize just how false MormonISM is; they may shy away from ALL religion; instead of trying out others.

59 posted on 02/10/2018 6:59:23 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: dhs12345
A very common story in cults. ALL religions and denominations.
60 posted on 02/10/2018 7:01:17 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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