Stories

The Cult

I joined the cult back in 1974.

Having just become a believer, I began visiting churches throughout the Birmingham area, frantically looking for someone to tell me what I needed to do to be a Christian. I was given a book by a good friend from a guy in Houston, Texas; it was just what I wanted. The author was a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel; his teachings were strong, serious, and patriotic.

In this little book, I saw a patterned and straightforward way of instruction. It was an easy way of learning about Christianity. There were tapes I could order; they were FREE! I saved and bought myself a player at Radio Shack and began listening to tapes.

I became a Taper.

In this Classroom of Christianity, I began learning Doctrinal Thinking. I built a specialized vocabulary and learned things only the Doctrinal or Grace Believer could understand. I learned with a process called ICE Teaching- Isagogics, Exegesis, and Categories; the only way I could know what the Bible was saying.

Scary words and terms like Carnality, Divine Discipline, Reversionism, Reverse Process Reversionism, and, the final straw, The Sin Unto Death, kept me in line.

We were The Pivot. "So goes the Pivot, so goes America." Those not in the Pivot were not, could not be, Grace Believers. They were either Apostate or Reversionists.

A friend introduced me to a group meeting in Tarrant City, listening to a young guy, an acolyte of the Colonel, teaching in the same ICE manner. This kind of teaching was for what I had been looking for - Face-to-Face Teaching!

Around this young man, a small group of college kids, young couples, and an older Tapers group formed a church.

We formed our church slowly. We studied what a local church should be before we formed any system or group.

The Pastor-Teacher was the head of the local church, answerable only to God.
There were Deacons for administration.

God gave us Spiritual Gifts at the point of Salvation; your gift proscribed your place in the body.

We studied, believed, and applied Bible Doctrine under a divine system for learning. We learned specialized terms and became more convinced of our exclusive position with God.

I grew proud, exclusive, argumentative, and dangerous. I was a zealot.

Military service was highly encouraged in the church. They told me that I would have a great Christian ministry there. Happily, two years down the road, I decided to join the Army.

The best thing the military did for me was geographically separating me from this group.

Every time I had Leave from the Army, I went back. Each time, I was shocked by the changes in people. They treated me with suspicion. People asked me how my spiritual life was going. Was I studying every day? Did I find it hard to stay spiritual among all my heathen soldiers? Was I attending a Grace Church? They were all in my business. Many wanted to argue about the state of the Army or places I had been.

People there were "in the know;" they had insider information. They lived in a bubble.

The more I studied the Bible, the more inconsistencies I recognized. This church was spreading some out-and-out lies.

My trips home to see Mom, Dad, and my Brothers never stopped, but my attendance at this place began to wane more and more with each trip

.I went back to the place when my parents-in-law passed away. Though these people honored Kady's parents, their distaste for me was evident. They looked scared of me. Outsider!

I will thank this place for a few good things in my life. I came to believe in the need for Military Training and found my career.

I met Kady there. Through her, I continued a great relationship with her mom and dad, pillars of that church.

I met my two best friends there. They have left the church as well.

I still love the Pastor. He is a fine man but aging. He lost his ministry teaching arrogance, pride, and zeal to his congregation, who bought it hook, line, and sinker.

I will never go back.

John is out of fellowship.