Conversation with a Cult Member

Of course he wouldn't tell you he was from a cult.

Yesterday while waiting for a friend to be done with class at Harper College, some people from the "Church of God" came up to me and asked me to go to a bible study at his church to uncover the "secrets of the Bible".

A red flag went up because since when are there secrets in the Bible?

So I asked him about those secrets and he told me that "along with God the Father, there is a God the Mother that many people don't know about". No wonder the red flag went up.

After quoting me a half-dozen unrelated Bible passages (possibly to woo me with his knowlege of scripture, but he didn't know that I know my stuff a lot more than the average guy) I ask him to just show me where God is called 'mother'. He points out Galatians 4:26, "But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother."

After one quick look in a Bible concordance I saw that "Jerualem" signified Sarah (Abraham's wife) because Abraham is the father of Israel (and Jerusalem) which means Sarah is the mother---and NOT God.

That is just one of the qualms I had about this cult along with their not directly answering questions, always going back to the same Biblical passages, and pointing the finger at us. He said that "worshipping on Sunday is not in the Bible" and I quickly responded that "Wearing that shirt you have on is not in the Bible, but that doesn't make it wrong" and of course he tried to hold back a smile (cuz he knew I was right!!) and went back to something he already said a few times that didn't make much sense.

Overall, he was very confusing to talk to and I was frustrated at the end of the conversation because I knew he did not listen to what I had to say. He just listened for the "trigger words" that would give way to an argument he had....

The School of Biblical Evangelism has this to say about what makes religious groups cults:
"A group is non-Christian when it denies the essential doctrines of the Bible: -The diety of Christ which involves the trinity, the Resurrection of Jesus, Salvation by grace alone" and goes on to say this about twisting scripture, "Some of the errors they commit in interpreting Scripture are: 1. Taking scripture out of context;
2. Reading into the Scriptures information that is not there;
3. Picking and choosing only Scriptures that suit their needs;
4. Ignoring other explanations;
5. Combining Scriptures that don't have anything to do with each other;
6. Incorrect definitions of key words; and
7. Mistranslations"

The people I talked to did #1, 2, 3, and 4 (and possibly 5-7 but I just didn't remember that). Needless to say, there is a lot to be learned from this experience.

1. We need to know the Bible and how to read it (click here for a suggestion on learning how to read the Bible, I have this DVD and you can borrow it if you'd like, it's sweet)

2. We need to be bold in preaching the Gospel in any way we can and take advantage of opportunities we've been giving, and then look to create more opportunities. True Christians need to let the world know the truth that they are sinners who are bound to be judged by a just God. We also need to let them know that by believing in Jesus they can have their sins covered and their fine paid.

We need to do this so the cult people don't reach them first!