Re: Destructive Church or Cult?
Date: June 26, 2012 11:58PM
I was in a cult similar to DLC and these disciple churches really stress tithing or the member will be cursed by God finacially. I took out student loans to pay my tithes and 10 years later, I am still paying back those loans.
I am sorry that some DLC members have blamed your nephew for his situation, that is typical, blame the victim of the church to keep the church blameless.
I have a friend born into a cult, poor girl never had a chance, and she left the church because she felt she could never meet the expectations of God as told by her preacher. She fell into a life of drugs and prostitution as a result of her belief that she is going to hell anyway...one thing led to another and she was homeless and owned by a pimp. Her distorted view of God, I believe, was partly to blame for her drug use. In these judgmental churches, one extreme can lead to a swing the opposite direction, just like harsh parenting can cause a child to be oppositional-defiant. Churches have a parrental sort of role with their members...and whether or not that he was on drug like they said, I dont know, but can tell you from what I have seen happen with my friend, a harsh church can trigger decompensation and drug use as a sort of spiritual oppositional defiance. I find the member's statements that the leader's integerty is faultless to be nauseating...nobody is perfect, not even him. They seem to exalt him to a god-like status which only confirms for me that it is a cult of sorts.
Anyway, How is your nephew now??
Knotty