I love this site and am grateful the information is available. I'm also reading a lot from the Mr. Arons website he is the Cult Counselling Center Austrailia, Raphael Aron.

My 21 year old son was raised Christian but has recently joined a Fundemental group and that has many red flags they are a cult. He said the bible doesn't teach that we should obtain higher education and when questioned about Honor your Mother and Father he replied, "the bible says, unless I hate my Mother and Father, I cannot follow Jesus". He then told me the self appointed pastor took him and a few others out to the woods to practice shooting. He said, I shot an AK-47, 9MM and the rest I couldn't hear because besides trying not to faint I was trying not to vomit.

They are a fundamental baptist group that prides itself on being Anti-state, not a 5013C and the end is coming.

Anyone have any help? Last night I talked to him on the phone about nothing just small talk and when we concluded the conversation and I said, "Ok, well, I guess I will talk to you later, I Love You," He said, "Ok bye". He normally would say, I love you too.

So I'm trying to keep some contact with him and not push him away even though I sent him a few emails about cults a week or so ago and he blew up and was very angry. Therefore, I realize that probably being there and loving him and of course praying my heart out and educating myself is the only way to go. Anyone have any ideas?

I don't know what you mean by anti-state or 5013C, but I was in a fundamentalist group that was very harsh. WHat I didn't realize, and your son might not realize, is that being strong for God does not mean being harsh to everyone else. He may not even consider you a "Christian", because you don't believe the same exact way he does. I was in a group for about 14 years, and have seen the problems because I was finally at the receiving end. I hope for better for your son. I know every once in a while people would warn me we were harsh, but I thought they were weak Christians and didn't really understand us. I THOUGHT I was acting in love for God by steeling myself against what I saw as worldly, but I somehow lost the idea of a loving God.
I fell into this because I saw the Christians around me as wishy-washy, I was so desirous to talk about the Bible, and I found a group leader I thought was on-fire sold out for God. I really admired and trusted this person because of his zeal, but I have finally realized he was off base. It wound up nothing was ever good enough - no ministry, no preacher, no Christian books - everything had a problem.
Just sharing a bit with you, so that hopefully you can see what may or may not fit your situation, just things to consider and look for.

Rhonda can you explain to your son that ''hate'' does not mean to ''abhor''. The word is used to mean 'prefer less'. In other words tell him to read abut Leah and Racheal. The Bible says Jacob ''hated'' Leah. Well clearly in context it means he ''prefered'' her less than Racheal. Jacob clearly loved Leah as he had six children with her and chose to be buried beside her. Also the Bible says that God ''blessed'' Essau. It is clear that God had favorable things for Essau but compared to Jacob he was ''hated''.... this means prefered less. It does NOT mean abhored or despised or rejected.
By loving God ''more'' than our parents we deepen our ability to love our parents because...God is their Creator.
This horrific people are taking the words of the Bible out of context.

Also tell him to read the book of Romans. Christians are NOT anti-state.
Also...I forgot....don't TELL him anything. If it's really a cult he'll get defensive. It's best to ask a question like....''what do you think of the fact that blah blah blah....''. Try not to act like you know better. Cult leaders convince their followers that they have superior knowledge and any type of confrontation will have the member convinced that you are ''out of god's will''. Just act interested and try to ask thought provoking questions and keep telling him how you love him. I wish I had another chance with my loved ones. I found out too late that I was fighting against some cult leader. They got involved secretly with a groujp of freaks that I had thought disbanded. Good luck with your son.

Firstly, for everyone's edification, here is the Wikipedia definition of a 501(c)(3).

QUOTE:"Section 501(c)(3) is a tax law provision granting exemption from the federal income tax to non-profit organizations. This exemption does not cover other federal taxes such as employment taxes."

Wikipedia goes on to say the 501(c)(3) applies to churches as well as other non-profits. Your son boasting his group doesn't subscribe to this federal tax law tells me this is a small group. Even Benny Hinn and his scoundrels would be in a 501(c)(3).

Secondly, I am saddened to hear your son may in fact be involved with a fundamentalist christian "cult". I was groomed by one for the better part of a year in college. Luckily, my own ego was strong enough so that when they demanded I bow to the "good" of the "leader's" orders and get in line, to finally told them all to "get bent". Amazingly, the "Love Bombing" ended immdiately as they "dusted off their shoes" and let me be.

I would ask you to tell us all you know of the specifics of this "church" group, including it's name (if you know it), and the exaulted supreme leader's name if you know it. We can all be of more help with more information.

I would dare say that rrmoderator will answer you directly with assitance if you can provide more of an identity of this group.

Good luck, and while I am an atheist, still, god bless you and yours.

Thanks for all the posts, I had company visiting for the weekend and didn't check my email. Are you sure you guys don't know this group? Each comment is a bulls eye hit. Ok the group connects themselves with a fundemental baptist group and here is their website. As you stated they must be a small group and they are. The Pastor is weird in my opinion. In addition, my son told me that the Pastor's children were born at home and don't have social security numbers as well as by their website you can see they don't believe in immunizations. [www.preaching-freedom.com]

I looked up some of the links. I've seen a lot of this mindset where I was. You said you raised him Christian, and are discussing the Bible with him? BE VERY CAREFUL. You may wind up getting sucked into this whole thing, too!!! A lot of things sound very good and right and true, and make a lot of sense. I THOUGHT I could discern truth from error. I wound up so tied up in it.
If you do decide to engage him in conversation, be on guard - you will probably find that he takes Bible verses and applies his own interpretations to them. You might want to ask him if there are OTHER ways to interpret it. I was in a fundamentalist group for 14 years. People would make a comment here or there about how harsh we were, we thought they were weak Christians and did not understand. I did not realize I was following people's (and my own) interpretations of the Bible. Nobody really drew me into a thoughtful discussion about it, though. Looking back, it was probably wise of them. People can really get sucked in if they listen to anything long enough. It sounds reasonable and good and THEN IT STARTS TO MAKE SENSE!!! You really have to judge for yourself how much you want to listen to him. Please keep this in mind and take care of yourself. Eventually I came to see the wrong beliefs I had. It happened because I went through hard times and the "group" turned on me. I finally realized we knew nothing about love and mercy at all. I'm still floundering, but at least I see where I went wrong.
Feel free to PM me if you want to.
Kim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2008 01:16AM by sadkimmy.

P.S. Sorry if I'm a little repetitious from my last post, I forgot what I had already posted until I read it again. LOL

Kim:

Thanks for affirming what you did. I did read your post Friday from work. I don't think I can PM you as of yet I have to have 5 approved posts I think. Well I read that somewhere in one of the blogs. I am praying for my son and that is all I know to do. He needs to go through this and as Sparky said he had a large ego that caused him to get kicked out well my son does also. I'm hoping this will cause him to see the light of day. I'm praying for him and have others praying for him but I have let go so God can refine him and just continue to educate myself on how to respond to some of his arguements. Mind you we haven't had any lately because we talk about little stuff and day to day issues but not beliefs.

Hi Rhonda,

I have a friend whose son abandonned their church and started taking drugs,
then got a young lady preganant. His mother approached me for advice, and
I told her to keep her misgivings to herself, and express her concern for him
in a benign way, but always with an open show of affection.

She took my advice, and now her kid is on track, has accepted the responsibilty
for his child, and married the girl. He has returned to their church and has a
job, supporting his new family.

What I told her was that the worst thing you can do is sever lines of communication
and harahgue him. That will only alienate him. In your case, your denunciation
will only reinforce what this quack has been telling his followers.

Your son has loved you all his life, and while it is possible that he could be completely
corrupted, chances are that his love will eventually win out. Approach the Throne of
Grace about this, and let God work on your boy. He will.

In the mean time, when you talk to your kid keep the discussion positive. Ask how
he's doing, and motherly stuff, like; "are you eating your vegetables?", etc. This
will remind him of Mom, and the meticulous care you have given him all his life.

He likely already knows you are opposed to what he is doing, so don't harp on it.
Let human nature, and God's grace, do the rest.

I will pray for a positive outcome.