were any here in a cult before coming to Christ
- Thread starter YeshuaFan
- Start date
I had little to no religious upbringing as a kid. My only exposure to religion were from my friends who were Jewish (Bar Mitzvah and all that).
So I struggled with the concept of God having a son. One of the biggest draws while coming out of the New Age religions (before that 'New Age' name appeared) was...
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
(Joh 14:6)
That verse killed two birds (Father/Son problem & Eastern religions) with one stone.
So I struggled with the concept of God having a son. One of the biggest draws while coming out of the New Age religions (before that 'New Age' name appeared) was...
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
(Joh 14:6)
That verse killed two birds (Father/Son problem & Eastern religions) with one stone.
I was in a cult of me me me…
If that counts?
Other than that, Like crossnote I never had a religious upbringing either, though I was exposed to people that were ( I went to a Roman Catholic school) but never understood it much.
But what I did was tamper with a bit of new agey stuff later.like my fiends.
A bit of eclecticism, but it suited me at the time whilst I settled on a major religion. Flirting about gave me a feel of what was involved. It was a bit of fun.
The new age stuff i tried too, I flirted with it but couldn’t get too attached as i couldn’t keep to straight path lol( I have ADHD) plus I was never a royal believer.
None of it ever got rid of suffering for long see.
Buddhism did catch on, how to eliminate suffering was at the forefront of my mind later in life, but I was drawn to the image of the cross, and loved the story of Christ.
So no major cult chains were firmly wrapped around me, Thank God. I read about people that get sucked into to alternative religions and wonder how on earth they get out sometimes.
How ‘bout you YeshuaFan ?
Did you dabble in the dark arts?
Edit: I didn’t have an actual verse per se,
I was drawn to the cross, the imagery of metaphor and poetry that weaves its way through the bible was enough for me to reflect on. Seeing how someone else suffered and died was a way for me to do the same.
And I think that’s the beauty of the bible. I also watch videos of the stories and gain insight that way.
If that counts?
Other than that, Like crossnote I never had a religious upbringing either, though I was exposed to people that were ( I went to a Roman Catholic school) but never understood it much.
But what I did was tamper with a bit of new agey stuff later.like my fiends.
A bit of eclecticism, but it suited me at the time whilst I settled on a major religion. Flirting about gave me a feel of what was involved. It was a bit of fun.
The new age stuff i tried too, I flirted with it but couldn’t get too attached as i couldn’t keep to straight path lol( I have ADHD) plus I was never a royal believer.
None of it ever got rid of suffering for long see.
Buddhism did catch on, how to eliminate suffering was at the forefront of my mind later in life, but I was drawn to the image of the cross, and loved the story of Christ.
So no major cult chains were firmly wrapped around me, Thank God. I read about people that get sucked into to alternative religions and wonder how on earth they get out sometimes.
How ‘bout you YeshuaFan ?
Did you dabble in the dark arts?
Edit: I didn’t have an actual verse per se,
I was drawn to the cross, the imagery of metaphor and poetry that weaves its way through the bible was enough for me to reflect on. Seeing how someone else suffered and died was a way for me to do the same.
And I think that’s the beauty of the bible. I also watch videos of the stories and gain insight that way.
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My only religious exposure was from a godly Grandmother, who was a Wesleyan, and I repaid her by going to her church one time, so majority of hearing about Jesus before saved was thru and by Billy Graham Crusades, and reading late great Planet earth!
Main exposure to me was thru Billy graham TV Crusades growing up, and was really into Ufos and Evolution before saved!
UFOs? It’s a wonder you weren’t abducted.
I never got into the whole UFO thing. Someone I once knew was though, and he said he did get abducted, and I was a bit concerned, because he was serious...
I believed him, but spun my own conclusions. I thought maybe he dreamt it or something. I know how real dreams can actually be.
I studied lucid dreaming/astral projection and thought maybe he did something similar. He was adamant he was literally taken up in a ship before he fell asleep, and had things done to him.
All the stories I hear today of UFO abductions are creeping up and more and more people say this has happened to them.
im on the fence.
I see that as being demonic deception, as see Ufos as being real, but as demonic activities!
They are pushing very hard to be accepted as just another christian church, and sad to say, some seem to have fallen for that lie!
Me. Me. Me! I'm ex-LDS.
No one particular verse brought me to my senses. It's the membership who drove me back to my senses when telling me that I just need to accept and believe what they say, regardless of what they considered to be my alleged "personal interpretations." The anger I saw them exhibit when I pointed out the differences between what was being taught and what the scriptures say, that was the prime motivator for me to take a more critical look at them and their fragile beliefs....which are so fragile, that they demand blind obedience and following rather than informed and verifiable evidences. That showed to me the fact that their manufactured god simply cannot stand up to scrutiny.
MM
To me being a non Lds, what sticks out to me is that the Mormon so called Apostles themselves agree that they do not hold to a Trinity view of God, and that they have gods that were evolving, as no eternal and Supreme One!
Actually, YF, they MUST believe in a supreme being somewhere throughout the past, because they would otherwise have to claim that some naturalistic power in nature itself magically transforms people into gods on the basis of how they lived their lives as faithful Morons, which makes no sense either since there is nothing in nature at which they can point as the source for such power. In other words, their belief system is self-refuting, and yet they will argue for the sake of arguing.
MM
Hello YeshuaFan;
I was always raised in a Christian home. Never perfect but nevertheless a Christian home. People who knew us thought we were braggerts for Jesus, that we were self righteous, our neighbors thought we were a cult.
Little did they know anything about my family. We were not perfect. Being the eldest son I saw the poor examples of my Dad and late Mom. But as a third grader I learned from 1 John 1:8-10;
8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. - NLT
My Dad didn't preach this Scripture to me since I didn't understand but spoke to me as his son, "if you do something wrong, own up to it." My Mom told me, "if you tell God you're sorry, He will forgive you as well as Dad and Mom." That I understood.
I remember those conversations. As I grew up under this foundation I understood the concept. We were not a perfect family, just forgiven. It took me years to forgive my parents. My siblings, Dad and I are much older now but there was and still is forgiveness going on with my family. My family was never exposed to other religions or confused with cults nor did my parents expose them to their kids until I became a young adult.
In 1998 My wife and I were invited to attend an Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) service. They were very friendly but as we passed the greeting table they separated me from my wife. The men sat on one side of the sanctuary and the women sat on the other side. The whole service was a very dark atmosphere, I don't remember if there was a cross at the front. At the end the minister had a hat passed around and the visitors were allowed to write a question on a piece of paper and deposit in the hat.
After answering questions the minister said, "well that's the last one." But my wife (to my surprise) blurted out, "no. You didn't read my question." The minister pulled her piece of paper out of the hat and read it out loud. "Do you believe in the Trinity?" He said, "no, because the word Trinity is not in the Bible and that Jesus was just a good man but he wasn't the son of God, therefore, no Trinity." We learned at the end of the service Iglesia ni Cristo is a non-trinitarian church, it claims to be the true church of Christ and all other Christian churches in these times have turned from their belief replacing it with man made doctrines.
We didn't riot and upheld our respect while maintaining the love of Jesus in this place. After the service we left quietly. A few days later I wrote a letter to the minister refuting many of this church's doctrines that he was preaching. I invited him to reply to me, or get a cup of coffee and we could discuss, but he never got back to me. Months later we attended a birthday party and I saw him there. I went up to say hello and he smiled and shook my hand, but he seemed very nervous.
I don't know if our experience at Iglesia ni Cristo brought my wife and me into the darkness but this event kept our faith in the light.
There are a whole lot of Scriptures but the ones that stand out and reassure me of my faith are throughout Genesis, John 6:35, John 14:6 and more.
God bless you, YeshuaFan, and your family.
Mormon theology though has no original and eternal Supreme God being, as to them all of the so called gods were once mortal who evolved into such, so even Yahweh has gods over Him still!
Any who deny that Jesus was and is God are under darkness, under delusion of spirit of Antichrist!
Yes, and their refusal to even go there, to even consider the irrational tripping points of their beliefs, that speaks loud volumes to the fact that they have their heads in the sand.....having forgotten what part of their anatomy is still sticking up in the air.
MM
Watched walter martin debate Mormon Apostles, and even the Lds admitted that they do not hold to a trinity, but to 3 gods one in purpose!
Walter Martin was/is a great man. I don't agree with wearing all that metal he always wore around his neck, almost like a white Mr. T at times, but he loved the word of God for what it says. He showed through his works that many religions out there that claim to be Christian do not at all believe in the same God portrayed within the pages of the Bible.
For example, there is a religion out there that has historically taught that their Jesus is called down by priests every day for re-sacrifice for sins. That is a Jesus completely unknown to the Bible, but is ANOTHER Jesus. Even that religion's followers today claim that their priests are NOT calling their Jesus down for re-sacrifice. That only shows that they don't know the historic teachings of their own religion. They corrupt not only the messages in the Bible, but even the historic teachings of their religion that any one of us can go back and read for ourselves to verify that it was and is indeed the position of their religion that their priests are re-sacrificing their Jesus afresh each and every day.
Another religion named in this thread teaches that their Jesus had a beginning, along with their 'father god,' along with the pantheon of gods they believe exist out there on their own planets.
Any and all gods that men have created for themselves and those who follow them, those gods are powerless to save them in the end.
MM
My next door neighbours are mormon. There's a mormon church just up the road. Never been to it.
Sometimes JWs knock on my door and you see them sometimes hanging outside the library with their watchtower stands. I just smile and walk past. I don't like it when they try to recruit. Its obvious, but it's annoying. If they continue I just say I already know where I'm going. I know the Lord.
Sometimes JWs knock on my door and you see them sometimes hanging outside the library with their watchtower stands. I just smile and walk past. I don't like it when they try to recruit. Its obvious, but it's annoying. If they continue I just say I already know where I'm going. I know the Lord.