What makes a religious group "demonic"

[Sammantha Wiley]

- Forcing members attend their church and work for free.

- Forcing academy students' family members to attend THEIR church, nowhere else.

- Using the little students in choirs and taking them on field trips, so they can earn money.

- Forbidding hearing and deaf students to use their voice.

- And so many more

Maybe the list above is not so "demonic" but it does make up a cult.

My friend wrote this about Harvest Baptist Church of the Deaf in Ringgold GA, which is where I grew up.

Leaving a Cult and Rewiring My Brain | Facebook

 

[Salty]

- Forcing members attend their church and work for free.

- Forcing academy students' family members to attend THEIR church, nowhere else.

Was talking to a Baptist pastor one day.
His church had a pianist - but she would be leaving soon
BECAUSE
she was taking a job as a teacher at a church that had a Christian School.
All teachers were required to be members of that church. This pastor told me the real reason for that rule was so that teachers would give their offering to there church.

Hmm - should we call that a cult?

 

[rockytopva]

No as Bible commands us to check all doctrines and theology per the Bible!

And here is a scripture for you....

Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. - 1 Corinthians 14:39

But... I was raised Baptist and believed with all my heart that speaking of tongues was of the devil and originated somewhere in the jungles of Africa. It was only by experiencing these things myself that I learned otherwise....

George Clark Rankin - Rockytopva Testimony

And along with George Clark Rankin....

During these forty-five long years, with their alternations of sunshine and shadow, daylight and darkness, success
and failure, rejoicing and weeping, fears within and fightings without, I have never ceased to thank God for that autumnal
day in the long ago when my name was registered in the Lamb's Book of Life.

 

[rockytopva]

And here is a scripture for you....

Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. - 1 Corinthians 14:39

But... I was raised Baptist and believed with all my heart that speaking of tongues was of the devil and originated somewhere in the jungles of Africa. It was only by experiencing these things myself that I learned otherwise....

George Clark Rankin - Rockytopva Testimony

And along with George Clark Rankin....

During these forty-five long years, with their alternations of sunshine and shadow, daylight and darkness, success
and failure, rejoicing and weeping, fears within and fightings without, I have never ceased to thank God for that autumnal
day in the long ago when my name was registered in the Lamb's Book of Life.

I must say also that I am currently a member of the Pentecostal Holiness church, which was started in North Carolina by a Methodist evangelist by the name of Abner Blackmon Crumpler, who willing to accept speaking in tongues, did not accept the idea that it was the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Crumpler was re-elected president of the body; however, with a majority of the delegates having experienced tongues, he permanently disaffiliated himself from the church.

Charles Stanley, a former president of the Southern Baptist church and senior pastor of First Baptist of Atlanta, was born in Dry Fork, VA. With all his success as pastor of a megachurch and a major television personality, Stanley never forgot his Pentecostal roots. In most of his books he acknowledged his upbringing in the Pentecostal Holiness Church and wrote glowingly of his grandfather George Washington Stanley.

https://www.intouch.org/read/blog/book-excerpt-a-lesson-from-my-grandfather
Pastor Charles Stanley, Retouching His Pentecostal Roots

 

[rockytopva]

Paul... Passing through Ephesus... Finds Christian disciples! And noticing that something missing from their life goes on to ask...

1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. - Acts 19

 

[Yeshua1]

I think some got rolled and don't know it yet. But the physical kingdom version of Christ is not the Biblical Christ.

Jesus will be King over His kingdom age !

 

[Yeshua1]

And here is a scripture for you....

Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. - 1 Corinthians 14:39

But... I was raised Baptist and believed with all my heart that speaking of tongues was of the devil and originated somewhere in the jungles of Africa. It was only by experiencing these things myself that I learned otherwise....

George Clark Rankin - Rockytopva Testimony

And along with George Clark Rankin....

During these forty-five long years, with their alternations of sunshine and shadow, daylight and darkness, success
and failure, rejoicing and weeping, fears within and fightings without, I have never ceased to thank God for that autumnal
day in the long ago when my name was registered in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Instruction for the Apostolic Age, not for today!

 

[rockytopva]

Instruction for the Apostolic Age, not for today!

Scripture?

 

[rockytopva]

Instruction for the Apostolic Age, not for today!

oh! I get it! We live out of the Spirit and in the flesh! The Spiritual stuff was all for the Apostolic Age! And what were the gripes againt the Apostolic Age?

Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. Revelation 2:4-5

The source of light was the Holy Spirit! In which they walked away from, against the Lord's wishes!

 

[Yeshua1]

oh! I get it! We live out of the Spirit and in the flesh! The Spiritual stuff was all for the Apostolic Age! And what were the gripes againt the Apostolic Age?

Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. Revelation 2:4-5

The source of light was the Holy Spirit! In which they walked away from, against the Lord's wishes!

The Holy Spirit Himself testifies that the scriptures alone are all that we need for today!

 

[Salty]

I must say also that I am currently a member of the Pentecostal Holiness church, which was started in North Carolina by a Methodist evangelist by the name of Abner Blackmon Crumpler, who willing to accept speaking in tongues, did not accept the idea that it was the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Crumpler was re-elected president of the body; however, with a majority of the delegates having experienced tongues, he permanently disaffiliated himself from the church.

Charles Stanley, a former president of the Southern Baptist church and senior pastor of First Baptist of Atlanta, was born in Dry Fork, VA. With all his success as pastor of a megachurch and a major television personality, Stanley never forgot his Pentecostal roots. In most of his books he acknowledged his upbringing in the Pentecostal Holiness Church and wrote glowingly of his grandfather George Washington Stanley.

Yes, you are absolutely correct about Stanley. Back in the 90's he did a 3 week series on Eternal security - during that series he brought up the fact he was raised as a PH. He then mentioned how frighten he was knowing he could loose his salvation at any time and end up in Hell. He was so thankful that he learned of the truth - which assured him of his eternal security.

I remember that series well, (I managed a Christian radio station) my Secretary was PH and after two days - she turned off the monitor when Stanley came on- she could not stand to hear anything about Eternal Security. Other than that - she was an excellent secretary!

 

[Yeshua1]

Paul... Passing through Ephesus... Finds Christian disciples! And noticing that something missing from their life goes on to ask...

1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. - Acts 19

They were not saved until they heard the Gospel by Paul. and God did the tongues to indicate that they now were included in the body...
Much,. most of what happened in Acts was recording down the transition time between the Covenants, and not norm for today!

 

[rockytopva]

Yes, you are absolutely correct about Stanley. Back in the 90's he did a 3 week series on Eternal security - during that series he brought up the fact he was raised as a PH. He then mentioned how frighten he was knowing he could loose his salvation at any time and end up in Hell. He was so thankful that he learned of the truth - which assured him of his eternal security.

I remember that series well, (I managed a Christian radio station) my Secretary was PH and after two days - she turned off the monitor when Stanley came on- she could not stand to hear anything about Eternal Security. Other than that - she was an excellent secretary!

Well then... What would I call the infilling of the Holy Spirit? In the old Pentecostal Holiness ways it would come through in the character. And if they could not discern the Holy Spirit within they would, as they were often in revival... Tell you to come back tomorrow night! And smile a little as they said it! I can imagine Abner Blackmon Crumpler's concerns over the Holy Spirit being too much about tongues and his decision to leave the denomination he himself started. I believe George Clark Rankin came through to the Holy Spirit in the revival described below....

"During these forty-five long years, with their alternations of sunshine and shadow, daylight and darkness, success and failure, rejoicing and weeping, fears within and fightings without, I have never ceased to thank God for that autumnal day in the long ago when my name was registered in the Lamb's Book of Life." - George Clark Rankin

I believe George Clark Rankin walked in the innocency of the Holy Spirit until leaving for the university.

George Clark Rankin - Rockytopva Testimony

I believe that the university life exposed George Clark Rankin to all the intellectual evils that would threaten his faith and walk in the Holy Spirit

Up to this time, as I have already indicated, my faith was simple, confiding and unquestioning. It was the faith of my childhood. Yes, it was the faith of my mother. I did not know the meaning of doubt in my acceptance of Christ and in my belief in the Bible. It had never occurred to me that Christ was not the Son of God and that the Bible was not the exact Word of God. I had never thought how it was possible for Christ to be both God and man, or just how we had received the Bible. My innocent mind was an absolute stranger to quibbles on these matters. Christ was my Savior and I knew him as such from experience; and the Bible was God's truth to guide me through the trials and the duties of this life to a better life beyond the grave. These were accepted as undisputed facts. I had never dreamed that anybody called these truths into question.

A professor of strong intellect, well trained and widely read, but not a religious man was about to give the innocency of my faith a rude shock just about this time.. The following is the substance of his deliverance:

"Wallace has not only made a mistake, but he has acted against common sense and reason. There is nothing in religion except tradition on the outside and emotion on the inside. The Bible is not a book to be believed. It is full of discrepancies and contradictions. The Old Testament is horrible. There are things in it that shock decency, to say nothing of a man's sense. The New Testament comes to us by a sort of accident. When King James appointed his commission to collate the manuscripts they threw out some of them and one or two of the present gospels came very nearly being discarded. They were retained by a very narrow majority. A number of the epistles, ascribed to Paul's authorship, were never written by him and they are not entitled to belief. They are a jumble of incongruous writings brought down from an ignorant age, and they are not in keeping with the intelligence of the race. The age has outlived them; they belong to a period filled with ignorance and superstition. Christ, if he ever lived, was a good man, but misguided and died as the result of his fanaticism. Wallace has only written himself down a fool by giving up a good law practice to enter the ministry."

But imagine the effect of all this on my innocent mind. It knocked me into smithereens. I had never dreamed of anything like that I had heard. It aroused all sorts of feelings and all sorts of questionings. It flung me headforemost out into a stormy sea without rudder or compass. The waves grew tumultuous about me. I was almost engulfed.

I arose and went to bed, but I did not go to sleep. I tossed from side to side filled with fear and misgivings. I thought of my mother and her faith; then it occurred to me that mother was just like myself. She had never seen anything of the world, had never read many books and was not an educated woman. She, maybe, was liable to mistakes. The man whom I had heard talk was an educated man; he had informed himself in history; he had traveled; he was a much smarter man than his father, and maybe he knew things that the rest of us did not know. He saw nothing in the Bible to call forth his faith and a number of the others seemed to agree with him. He did not even accept Christ as his Savior. And yet I was starting out to prepare myself to preach this gospel and to hold up Christ to men and women. Is it possible that after all there is nothing in it? Can it be that the whole thing is a fable, as my learned friend had argued? It was one of the most miserable nights I ever spent in my life.

 

[1689Dave]

Jesus will be King over His kingdom age !

He is now if you can see it. Do this; Nobody preaches the gospel of the Kingdom today. I've never heard it all my life. They preach the gospel of the Pharisee's future kingdom. = a false Kingdom and a false Christ.

Peter preached the true gospel of the Kingdom in Acts 2. It includes Jesus' present reign on David's throne from Heaven. And Jesus' payment for sins on the cross including his death, burial, and resurrection. If you spend time with it, it will be probably the first time you ever heard the gospel of the kingdom Peter, Paul, and the rest of the disciples preached.

 

[xlsdraw]

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2 speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3 forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth." ( 1 Timothy 4:1-3 ).

Perfect description of today.
Even so come Lord Jesus!

 

[Yeshua1]

He is now if you can see it. Do this; Nobody preaches the gospel of the Kingdom today. I've never heard it all my life. They preach the gospel of the Pharisee's future kingdom. = a false Kingdom and a false Christ.

Peter preached the true gospel of the Kingdom in Acts 2. It includes Jesus' present reign on David's throne from Heaven. And Jesus' payment for sins on the cross including his death, burial, and resurrection. If you spend time with it, it will be probably the first time you ever heard the gospel of the kingdom Peter, Paul, and the rest of the disciples preached.

Jesus stated the Kingdom will still be for Israel, just future, but that now the church into great Commission!

 

[Yeshua1]

Yes, you are absolutely correct about Stanley. Back in the 90's he did a 3 week series on Eternal security - during that series he brought up the fact he was raised as a PH. He then mentioned how frighten he was knowing he could loose his salvation at any time and end up in Hell. He was so thankful that he learned of the truth - which assured him of his eternal security.

I remember that series well, (I managed a Christian radio station) my Secretary was PH and after two days - she turned off the monitor when Stanley came on- she could not stand to hear anything about Eternal Security. Other than that - she was an excellent secretary!

Didn't he thought go off into that heretical teaching of "millenial exclusion", which was very odd for one holding to eternal security to teach!

 

[Yeshua1]

Well then... What would I call the infilling of the Holy Spirit? In the old Pentecostal Holiness ways it would come through in the character. And if they could not discern the Holy Spirit within they would, as they were often in revival... Tell you to come back tomorrow night! And smile a little as they said it! I can imagine Abner Blackmon Crumpler's concerns over the Holy Spirit being too much about tongues and his decision to leave the denomination he himself started. I believe George Clark Rankin came through to the Holy Spirit in the revival described below....

"During these forty-five long years, with their alternations of sunshine and shadow, daylight and darkness, success and failure, rejoicing and weeping, fears within and fightings without, I have never ceased to thank God for that autumnal day in the long ago when my name was registered in the Lamb's Book of Life." - George Clark Rankin

I believe George Clark Rankin walked in the innocency of the Holy Spirit until leaving for the university.

George Clark Rankin - Rockytopva Testimony

I believe that the university life exposed George Clark Rankin to all the intellectual evils that would threaten his faith and walk in the Holy Spirit

Think that 1906 was not of the Holy Spirit, but we are to be continually refilled by the Spirit, evidenced by fruit and witnessing and lifestyles!

 

[1689Dave]

Jesus stated the Kingdom will still be for Israel, just future, but that now the church into great Commission!

The Church IS Israel. The unbelieving Jews are not.

 

[Yeshua1]

The Church IS Israel. The unbelieving Jews are not.

National israel still has their time with Him yet to come!