Have you ever been in a cult??

Will a sheep-sacrificing cult suffice?

I was in the Love Family for over a year.

They were a well known West-Coast Hippie-Judeo/Christian cult.

We used to share group LSD trips, and yeah, it was a trip!

 

HAHAHAHA MBNA! I know them all too well. Good answer for the exit interview. You mean you never bought a green car? I'm in Delaware the credit card capital of the world. Yay for us. MBNA is a really bad cult be careful people. They suck you in with lots of money then they cut you off from the outside world, then they keep you from your family by forcing you to work "mandatory overtime". Eventually you will go nuts and an ambulance will come take you away. I guess that is why they put their largest facility here (there are many) next to the hospital. hehehe.

 

Is it true that to advance in scientology you're expected to 'donate' large amounts of cash?

 

Ok, here's my lifetime's worth of experience with a cult: anyone here familar with "The Message"? ...... William Branham? 7th Age messenger ............
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PS... hey, for those looking for Sheep/Goat/animal sacrificing cults, just look into "Santeria" . lol.

 

considering as how there is no belief that is not perfectly rationaly a cult in the eyes of some other, and since i have from time to time in my life affiliated my self with several beleifs, a+b=c.

=^^=
.../\...

 

Crazy stuff you dealt with.
I would like to say that even though we debate on differnt sides many times that this story of yours has given me a new respect for you. there are few humans who get in a position of power that understand that position and the availabilty of the advantage they have, yet still are human enough to pass up the opportunity to take advantage for that you have my greatest respect. and i have a new understanding of where your arguements with me come from.

peace.

 

When I was much younger, I fell prey to a group who called themselves "Holiness". The women were required to wear long skirts or dresses, no makeup, must have long hair, and wear no jewelry. If you went swimming, you had to wear your dress with some shorts underneath. You were not allowed to read anything without the pastor reading it first to make sure it was OK. I remember many days in the summer heat with a long dress on working in the field for the pastor. Only gospel music was allowed. Even classical music was frowned upon because it was allowing satanic thoughts to creep in. Often, I was kept out of school to scrub the baseboards of my pastor's house. We were told that we needed to be like the pastor to get to heaven. We were not allowed to watch movies, go to school functions or we were in a "backslidden state". Everyone was going to hell except for those who "believed". Similar to another poster's experience, we were in church atleast 6 out of 7 days...atleast. The church was no bigger than a regularly sized livingroom.
I do not consider myself or anyone else who gets caught up into these cases gullible or easily led. I think when people are at a low point in their lives they need something to believe in and acceptance. That is exactly what the leaders or pastors feed on. They make you feel needed and loved. I worked like a dog to prove my worth in the pastor's eyes, deceptfully thinking I was getting closer to God that way.
I was angry and bitter for a long time. But I have faith that is my own now.
At any rate, I lived to tell and there are many who were in worse case scenarios than I, and others who can never tell their story.

 

I've never heard of that, but am interested to learn of it.

 

My friend and I seriously considered starting, for the purposes of a tax shelter, The First Volcano Worshipers Church, registering it as a non-profit religious organiztion, and getting a big model of a volcano to put in the living room so that the faithful could bow down to it. We never did it, though. I could have solved some of my financial problems that way.

 

The Message, or Santeria?

 

I used to be a christian!

 

When I was a kid I was forced to be part of this horrid cult, we had to go to this building once a week, forced to sing songs, forced to bow our heads in prayer, and forced to pretend to like a bunch of stuck up holier than thou republicans, I got out as soon as I got sense, thankfully so did my little sister and my parents..........the cult was called "The Presbyterians" some evil evil shit.

 

lol ... *grins*

 

The Message

 

google a search on William Branham

If you have been in Holiness stuff before.... the teachings of The Message is quite similar.
But with a "prophet" for this day ....

I know quite a bit about it .... I used to study so many of the books .... the doctrine and all is quite in depth. I can answer any questions you may have... although its something Ive definately tried to put behind me ... trying to learn to live normally...

 

I've been in two cults: the catholic church, when I was baptized against my will when I was 1 month old and Falun Dafa, when I went crazy after a nasty breakup. Wasn't much better.

 

Ok...thanks.
I can identify with your wanting to put it behind you. I went through a long period of grief---Grieving the part of me that I had lost while succumbing to the deception. Ahhhhh---can't go anywhere but forward, right Sister? Keep it up!

 

I looked up a few sites about the man. It surprised me that Kenneth Hagin dubbed Branham a prophet...Hagin is a well known author in the Christian community. It is unsettling how they make their beliefs seem Christ centered, but they are all really Branhamists. How can someone place themselves so high?
Branham taught that the Word of God was given in three forms: the zodiac, the Egyptian pyramids, and the written scripture....is that what you were taught? How in the world did he manage to slip the zodiac way of thinking past a bunch of bible believing people?

 

when i was 11 years old, i went on my own, to an "assembly of god" church for a couple of years. i would definately consider evangellical christianity a cult. an uber ultimate cult if there ever was one.

they were always trashing science, or what they claimed was science, as if they had the slightest idea what they were talking about. which, as it turns out, they didn't. not about that anyway.

as to what is greater then ourselves, how anybody can immagine to know what they are talking about, about it, is beyond me.

=^^=
.../\...

 

wow ... didnt know Kenneth Hagin did that ..

Branham was as big as Billy Graham and the others back in the day ... around 50's-60's.... he was well accepted among the masses.... known throughout as a healer and a bunch of amazing stuff...

It is when around 1963 that his ministry "changed" ..... he preached on some far out stuff ..... in Revelations and about the 7 Seals ... he would always type the spiritual to the natural .... he taught that Catholosicm was the mother harlot and the denominations were all offbranches ........ a bunch of stuff, I cant recall at the moment ............

he supposedly was the "voice of god" ..... a 7th church age messenger ........ the end time Prophet..... a man sent from God....

All these things that he did and spoke of .... he never really claimed to be, he said he was just someone to point the way. LIke a roadsign, or whatever. He didnt encouraged his people to believe he was a prophet or anything like that ..... thats the odd thing.... He was a very humble man it seems. He wasnt in it for money, and he was much of a loner. Often up in the mountains etc ... praying and talkign to God they say ....

he was killed in a car crash in 1965 I think....

All of his messages were recorded ... and very widely published and distributed by the "Voice of God" ministries ..... ... like thousands of sermons in book form or tape, CD etc ...

I do think he had some gifts .... obviously that of healing, but he could also tell people all about themselves and what was wrong in their lives by their aura... he was very accurate ...

he wasnt a theologian. He was born and raised a very poor man and had a little, poor education.... but when he got under the "anointing" ..you wouldnt know it at all.... it WAS as if there was something else "speaking through him" ........ there was something that could hook you, chill you, make you believe or drive you away .......... those that were hooked often felt like they were stepping away from the world ... no longer a part, and life from then on out would be different in their eyes......... people who were just following the man didnt see it, the way those who got the "holy ghost" did .....

the changes that would be made, like not cutting hair, women wearing skirts only, modesty, purity, living a "holy" life and always praying and studying..... those things would also determine if you were "Bride" ....

If you were doing it to fit in ... it wasnt right... you were supposed to pray for the desire to live holy........... He would always emphasize the need for the Holy Ghost .... the holy ghost would change the people... make them live a holy life ....................

many people worshipped him..... he didnt want that .....

he was a nature man. He relied on signs and lived in another realm almost.
He would often refer to numerology and things like you mentioned..
odd thing is ... it all made sense, to hear him .......... some of it made a lot more sense to me than most what I have ever heard preached by denominational teachers ....

He gave a very different (so seemingly very STRICT) interpretation of what the bible means....
but if you really look at the bible... it is true that many of the churches dont even preach what the bible really says. It made sense to me. I saw alot of truth in it.

Ive attended alot of different message churches. Ive heard alot of different interpretations of the Message.

It all boils down to this...
the "good" churches would be those that see Branham as a mouthpiece of God...
the "bad" churches are the ones that still worship branham, lifting him above god....

there is an AMAZING array of churches, some are very liberal and then those that DO seem very cultish .... right down to all sorts of weird things like going way beyond anything Branham taught to do. Some ministers have used it as a way of power control and added their own interpretations to it ....

well thats about all I can think of .... probably dont make alot of sense, Im not thinking too good this morning ... *yawns* and im getting ready to leave for work..

here is a website that has alot of the individual "believers" websites and many of the other church websites: www.messagelinks.org .....