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Floyd The Fornicator's Next Home.

We continue our effort to keep up with local cults and movements.      If you are a member of the local cult (Lipan cult) please contact us and allow us to defend our position. (Here)                                

National Cult Movements

The Early Jim Jones (not Flyod Jones)Cult                                                                     

The Marks of a cult on Kent's Blog

Moral Bankruptcy Plagues the church

We live in times with some of the most financially successful people who have ever lived in America. They have nice homes, vehicles, and all the amenities one might ask for on this earth. What we don't notice when we look at these people who appear to be doing so well is the destroyed family they left in the ruins of their success. These are what we generally call, "good people" and write their "family problems" off to just bad luck, but that view no longer works. These people who have had "family problems" have brought the effects of those problems to church with them and have changed the nature of the church. Recently a study group I was involved in noticed how the apostle Paul writing in 1st Corinthians 5-6 addressed this very problem. 

     The question must be asked: What does 1st Corinthians 5 have to do with 1st Corinthians 6? After all, chapter 5 is about judging the sexually immoral person who is living with his step-mother. Chapter 6 is about brothers taking brothers to court outside of the church. In fact, chapter 5 and chapter 6 are about the same subject. The church at Corinth has lost the ability to pass judgment on evil or as far as that goes, make any judgment at all. In chapter 5 they can't pass judgment on the sexually immoral man and in chapter 6 they can't even judge matters between two brothers. The results of this inability to pass judgment is that the body of Christ has been contaminated (see 5:7-8 and 6:12 to the end of the chapter). 

You then ask; what does that have to do with us? We see the same problems in the church today and the symptoms of this disease manifest themselves in lower moral and lifestyle expectations of the preachers and elders. All of these people who had so many problems in their own families have lost the ability to pass judgment on anyone else. How else could we end up with a preacher who has been married four times (at least) or an elder who has three daughters, none whom are members of the church or much worse. Guilty people tend to pick from the bottom of the barrel rather than the top. The idea then is to not have anyone who is too good. It makes us look bad. The church has given up on the "idea." I am often reminded of the Constitution of the United States and the statement that "all people are created equal."  Well, that isn't literally a true statement but it is an idea that the framers sought for us to attain. The church has given up on the idea and lapsed into moral bankruptcy. Instead of striving to do the "best" we can do, our lowered expectations have made the church look just like the outside world, and yes__it is contaminated.  

Source: Ronald Enroth, "What Is a Cult?" in A Guide to Cults and New Religions, e.d. Ronald Enroth (Downers Grove, Ill,: InterVarsity 1983), p14

A religious group as a cult:

A religious group originating as a heretical sect and maintaining fervent commitment to heresy. Adj.: "cultic" (may be used with reference to tendencies as well as full cult status).

Source: Robert Bowman, A Biblical Guide To Orthodoxy And Heresy

A Cult within Christianity:

Source: Alan Gomes, Unmasking The Cults (Zondervan, 1995). Quoted in this extended look at the theological definition as seen from a mainstream Christian point of view..

The Sociological definition is a description of cultic behavior. Authoritarian leadership, loyalty to a individual or cult leader (i.e. as in Jim Jones). They practice sanctions against those who miss the assembly more than a few times and I am sure that other forms of public intimidation is practiced. The Religious group or Cult within Christianity is about what is taught. As one can see from the short list below there are some strange doctrines advocated. I might add that these types of cults very often have their formation in the self-educated evangelist. There is a group that  is becoming more dominant in the church of Christ that is very anti-education. They, (this group) receive their knowledge in some other manner besides study. Most will say that in fact they do practice Bible study but as in the Lipan cult, they only study prescribed cult member approved teachings. The really scary aspect of this cultic behavior is how people follow the "preacher" from town to town.

1) They teach that a person is saved by "works" and not by faith. We know that people who teach salvation by works have already been severed by Christ(Gal. 5:3-4ff). In the preachers exact words," you are saved by what you do and not by what you know."
2)  They teach  that the King James Version of the Bible was the version the apostles used?

See King James Only Cult

3)  His lifestyle is a tacit statement on an acceptance of immorality. (The preacher has been married 'at least' four times, by his own admission and we suppose he  sees nothing wrong with it since he acts as if it never happened). Even to the point of telling others as to how to have a successful marriage. 

4)  With complete impunity,the preacher splits congregations and moves on to another during his divorces .  There is one congregation only a few miles from here that the Reverend split and it has taken nine years for it to recover. Many of those members at the congregation that he split came to Lipan and remain here.

5)  His method of Bible interpretation is ungodly to say the least. He uses a pre 1980 Hermeneutic and often times a antiquated allegory system. He consistently assigns meanings to Bible passages that the writers of those biblical texts never intended when the letters were written. 

6) His complete literal interpretation of passages often contradicts the rest of the Bible.

7)  He uses the church building to support groups who endorse homosexuality and abortion.

8) He has a cult following. Members follow him around from town to town.

9) He uses intimidation from the pulpit to keep cult members in line.

10)  There is more at stake here than just what people think. This man has managed to stay long enough and run enough people off until he is left with the church property under his complete control. Meaning, he actually gets the nice home and building free. And who said we ought to work?

These are just a few things off the top of my head. I am sure I will think of some more.

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