Mayflower,
One would need to define "cult".

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Scott Bushey
Husband to Tina, father to Nicole, Danielle and Zoe
Member First Presbyterian Church of Margate PCA

Does the roman catholic church count?

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Doug
Baptist
Hemet, Ca
Old Time Radio Podcast

For a short time I attended a local congregation of the Boston movement Church of Christ. At the time I never heard of them before. As I continued to attend their "studies", I became more and more aware that something wasn't quite right with their theology. And this at the time that I was steeped in Arminianism and Dispensationalism.

[Edited on 12-4-2005 by Greg]

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Greg Carpenter
Attending Lake Osborne Presbyterian Church
Lake Worth, FL

"It is a throne of grace that God in Christ is represented to us upon; but yet it is a throne still whereon majesty and glory do reside, and God is always to be considered by us as on a throne." –John Owen

OH Good someone else too. I attended an anti coc with my hubby (left a PCA church with some problems that needed help....) and am now in the OPC. The COC is weird no mater what branch, Boston, anti or liberal one is dealing with.

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Grace Farmer
Member, Mid Cities Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Bedford, Texas

I'll never forget the one Boston COC I spoke with at work years ago. We were talking about baptism, so I mentioned the thief on the cross who didn't have the opportunity to get baptized. His response was "But who's to say that he didn't get down from the cross, get baptized, and then get back on again. The Bible doesn't say". He was serious. Wow.

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B.Howes
Framingham, MA

I practiced full-contact origami!!!


No.....

but I was a Master Freemason ("...may my throat be cut ear to ear...my body washed in the rough sands of the sea, where the tide ebbs and flows twice in 24 hours should I knowingly or willingly violate this my solemn obligation as a Master Mason....")

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

Money? Yes! Look no further than Indulgences.

Is a Master Mason the same as a 33rd degree mason?

Also, do the higher up types participate in satanic rituals?

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Joseph Ringling
Father to Joey, Jenna, and Timothy
Janesville, WI

3rd degree masonis Master,then you can go up to the York or Scottish Rite to get your 32,33rd degree.

Th Shriners actually kiss the Koran (but they do support a lot of hospitals).

The have their...
own name for God - The Great Architect of the Universe,
own prayers,
blood oaths,
rituals,
and a symbology of dying and being rasied back to life...

Does having your own cult count?? As a teenager I formed my own group complete with various doctrines about God and Christ. Having grown up in christian circles (Pentecostal, unfortanately), and having memorized much scripture as a child, I used that knowledge to my advantage in convincing a few people of some very twisted things.

I thank God he didnt just fry me on the spot for my haughty and blasphemous spirit.

Mike

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Mike Mariotti
Husband and Father
Kaleo Fellowship
San Diego, Ca

www.kaleochurch.com

Being a cult leader is even better than being a Rockstar...all the power and women you could imagine. Notice how these two factors (power and sex) play a role in most cults. All false religions rely upon the strength of depravity to promote it. True religion says take up your cross.

Before I got saved, I was a self-styled disciple of .....I hate to say it... SHIRLEY MACLAINE....."Out on a limb"

When I started believing in Christ exclusively I landed in an independent pentecostal pacifistic quasi oneness leftover from the Jesus Movement. After all that ironically he actually preached a gratia infusia Roman Catholic justification. In a sermon we were told that some other preacher had asked him if he was one of the 'two witnesses', he told us .....no.

At least it wasn't dispensational!

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David Cronkhite, Elder
Pasadena United Reformed Church

"I count myself one of the number of those
who write as they learn, and learn as they write."

Did you ever see the Far Side cartoon that showed a lizard sitting on a rock with another lizard commenting: (along the lines of) "I was Shirley Maclain in a prevous life".

I was (thankfully as you will see in a minute) put on an IFB bus every Sunday. My stepfather was an errant Nazerene...and my mother holds a mix of of christianity, Indian mysticism, gypsy superstition, "saved by the light", etc mixture. Her best friend was B'hai (that's how I got named Jamal...now ya'll know what the J is for in my signature).

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JC - PCA - PA...homesick for SC
A we n' de Ya, ho; I mak sikker; Deus juvat

Indicabo tibi o homo quid sit bonum, et quid Dominus requirat a te: Utique facere iudicium, et diligere, misericordiam, et sollicitum ambulare cum Deo tuo. Michaeas 6:8

"Who says you can't go back, been all around the world and as a matter of fact. There's only one place left I want to go, who says you can't go home" Bon Jovi

I was a solipsist, but it cut down on my fellowship opportunities.


I then tried to convince myself of Skepticism, but I just couldn't beleive it!

:P

What's an IFB?

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The man who is disposed to think of his sin as a great calamity, rather than as a heinous crime, is not likely either to reverence God or to respect His law. - John Kennedy, 1873
Meg
Blog
Member, Intown Presbyterian Church,PCA, Portland, OR

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Well, I certainly do not consider myself to have been raised in a "cult" at all, but the Assemblies of God is just about as close as you can get in the "legitimate" evangelical sphere without approaching such!

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Chris


A passion to know and reflect Christ by living and demonstrating the truth and richness of the historic Reformed faith

Visit My Website Here

Christopher Blum
Member of Trinity Presbyterian Church of Northern Kentucky (PCA) in Burlington, KY

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Quote:

"I then tried to convince myself of Skepticism, but I just couldn't beleive it!"

That's a good one Trevor...I think I'm gonna have to use it.

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Christopher
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."
Ecclesiastes (12:13)
Church Affiliation: Faith Presbyterian OPC

"Is Calvary Chapel a cult ? "

It's more like a giant youth group.

"Did you ever see the Far Side cartoon that showed a lizard sitting on a rock with another lizard commenting: (along the lines of) "I was Shirley Mac Clain in a prevous life" ?



I love Far Side.

I was a big Edgar Cayce follower too. But I began to notice a pattern develop in reading his accounts of past lives recalled. For a donation, Cayce would do sleeping trances. The persons of past lives were usually famous historical people who were rich and powerful and often victimized by backward, unloving Christians.

First post

Read my bio. Raised in a Catholic family, then agnostic, and then embraced Islam. I was a practicing Muslim for 3 years before hearing the Gospel, which at first I thought was disgusting. Over time, the Holiness of God was impressed upon me by the brother sharing the Gospel with me and I saw how unholy Allah is.

I've been a Chrisitan for a year now. Praise God!

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Sola Scriptura
Solus Christus
Sola Gratia
Sola Fide
Soli Deo Gloria

Welcome to the Board, and to the family! You're in for a wild ride!

Welcome to the board! I was very glad to hear your testimony.

__________________
Ruben
Moderator
F.P.C.I.
Indiana

Vanities and disguises have covered us, and thereby we are naked; licenciousness hath inflam'd us, and thereby we are frozen; voluptuousness hath fed us, and thereby we are sterved, the fancies and traditions of men have taught and instructed us, and thereby we are ignorant.
John Donne

Board Rules - Signature Requirements - Suggestions?

Calvinistas Conversando
Teología en Mexico
The Howling Wilderness

I was in the cult of selfishness. Hard one to get out of, but God is doing a good job working on me.

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Ivan R. Schoen, B.A., M.A., M.L.I.S.
Pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church (SBC)
Poplar Grove, IL, USA
http://maranatha-sbc.org

Let's pray

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Brian K. Karger
Faith Baptist Church
1689 LBC
www.founders.org

I was a wiccan for many years and belonged to a Gardinarian/Alexandrian coven (I just gave my testimony about this at Church a couple of Sundays ago, Yikes!!!). When I made the exodus out I was detoured by the Mormons for awhile. When God finally saved me I was involved in a Charismatic church but I didn't fully embrace it because of my past occult activity. I become Reformed while attending an Assemblies of God University. Here I thought I was the only Presbyterian or Reformed Christian for that matter with such an ecclectic background. All your comments have been very encouraging.

[Edited on 3-16-2006 by RTSbound]

Was once involved in the Armstrong Cult. Got hooked when I was a teen new to the faith. Up until I was 13, I thought Jesus Christ was just a cuss word my dad used when angry. I never understood He was a real person.
Years later after watching the John Ankerberg show when he had Dr. Walter Martin on his show exposing the false teachings of the top 10 cults in the U.S I was upset to learn my favorite teacher Herbert W. Armstrong on the list. Needless to say I wrote Ankerberg an angry letter and he sent me info about this false prophet and God in mercy used it to open my eyes.
Now fast forward some years later and still looking for a church I get involved in the Assemblies of God denomination and stay with them for about four years. But seeing their blatant hypocrisy and deceit that went on there I left and went on searching. I did start going to a small baptist church but never really felt that was where I needed to be so left them and joined a Charismatic tongue talking Spirit filled church. It was from the pastor there who shared with me the book by A.W. Pink, the Sovereignty of God and the Lord really opened my eyes then. After that I met a co-worker who was a member of a new PCA church in the town I lived in. I strted going there and became a member after a year there and learned more of the doctrine of Grace and God's Sovereignty.
It has been a long road getting to where I am now and I am still learning. God has been merciful to me and I am so thankful to Him for what He has saved me from and how He has preserved me into His Kingdom.

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Tom Mitchell
Opp, AL
Member of First Presbyterian Church PCA Florala, AL

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin
Romans 7:24,25
www.myspace.com/tom_mitchell1960
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=607055102

I used to listen to him on the shortwave years ago. I thought he was the real thing. lol
I once thought about moving to S.C to join his commune. Thank God I didn't.

Same here

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Adam - Pennsylvania - Baptist

http://www.myspace.com/aleavelle

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/p...5655012&ref=nf

I was deeply under the influence of theological liberalism in my early years at college.

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J. B. Atken
John Knox PCA
Layman, M.A. student at Louisiana College

I was SBC.