1. Abuse of Individuality: They adopt a GROUP mentality. They are not permitted to think for themselves apart from the group and only accept what they are told.
God seeks the unity of his believers, not depriving them of their individual talents but using them for the glory of God. The Bible describes the Church as one body. The head is Christ, and the church members the parts of the body.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ… Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
Psalms 133:1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.
The Church of God members follow God with a willing mind; if you have been a part of the Church you can testify that nothing done in the Church is forced upon any member. Everything is God’s commandments that can be found in the Bible.
2. Abuse of Intimacy: Relationships with friends, relatives, spouses, children, parents etc are broken or seriously hampered.
This claim can go both sides, because Christians only want to have the word of God in their lips, some people might be offended. From personal experience many of my friends stopped talking to me because my conversations were more constructive and positive, because I wanted to share the word of God with them, because I wanted to follow the Christian way. The Church of God encourages that the family members come and enjoy in a Christian environment.
In the time of Jesus, the disciples left everything in order to follow Christ.
Mark 10:28 Peter said to him, “We have left everything to follow you!”
Today the disciples are praised by the world, as role models for Christians.
Even in the time of Jeremiah the prophet, his own friends stopped talking to him because he always spoke the word of God.
Jeremiah 20:7-10 …So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long…all my friends are waiting for me to slip…
3. Abuse of Finances: Pressure to give all you can to the group. In non-communal groups, members usually live at the lower socio-economic strata, not because of a lower income level, but because they are always giving money to the group for some reason.
The Church of God does not force anyone to give up all their finances, or live in lower socio-economic strata. Many of the Church members have good careers, or have their own companies, many of them are Doctors. In the Church of Nepal, the Nepalese president visited the Church of God located in front of his house. Again these claims do not apply to the World Mission Society Church of God.
The only thing practiced in the Church of God is Tithes and Offerings, and every Christian Church knows this is a law in the Bible.
4. US Versus THEM Mentality: Isolation from the community in general. Anyone and everything outside the group is seen as of the devil or unenlightened etc. Their enemies now include former friends; the Christian church; governments; education systems; the media – the world in general. Those who are involved with these in any way see such involvement as a means to an end.
If the Church of God considered everything other than the Church evil, why would it do so much community service? Why would the Church receive presidential awards and governmental recognitions?
The Church of God does encourage its members not to get indulged in debauchery, revelry, sexual immorality, drunkenness; things that are now accepted by the world.
1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
5. Abuse of Time and Energy: The group controls and uses almost all the members’ time and energy in group activities. They are usually in a constant state of mental and physical exhaustion. Special days or times will be allocated for “group play”- where members simply gather and do church appointed activities (sports, chess, knitting etc).
Do we really need to discuss this… every church has community service, spiritual retreats, and special events. How can you classify an organization as a cult because of Church activities? So is Ted saying that no church organization can be involved in church appointed activities such as community service? The disciples 2,000 years ago used to meet every day.
Acts 2:46-47 Every day the continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
6. Abuse of Free Will: They must unquestioning submit to the groups teachings and directions and their own free will is broken. Their will actually becomes the groups will without their realizing it. This is done either by coercive methods including low protein diets and lack of sleep, frantic activity, or over a period of time through intimidation. Both methods make heavy use of guilt.
As Christians we need to follow the will of God. If that means changing the way we carry ourselves, we must do it in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.
1 Corinthians 7:35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the LORD.
Regarding the food in low protein, whoever has attended the Church of God will know that food is definitely not low in protein. And the other claims are not worthy of mention for they don’t apply to the Church of God.
