Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Community Chapel: Was it a Cult?

Was Community Chapel...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Chapel_and_Bible_Training_Center

(Discussion over the content of this wiki page is here ["onesimuss" is me] ):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Community_Chapel_and_Bible_Training_Center




...a cult?




Depends on how one defines “cult.”

Here are some possible responses to the question when considering seven different definitions:

AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS (incomplete list);

1. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.

Well, we had the authoritarian leader and were generally considered a cult by most.

So any group with pyramid government that does poorly in the polls, so to speak, is a cult.

Ergo, the Catholic church is not a cult (scandals over homosexual and pedophile priests notwithstanding) - but the Fundamentalists are a cabal with potential to turn America into an oppressive theocracy.

2. A system or community of religious worship and ritual.

Liturgical churches are cults, too.


RELIGIOUS DEFINITIONS GLEANED FROM COMMON PARLANCE

3. A group claiming to be Christian which denies the doctrine of the Trinity.

That's enough for the Bible Answer Man. Of course Community Chapel was a cult; what further need have we of proof?

4. A group which claims to have revelation from God apart from the Bible.

All non-cessationist (in regards to utterance gifts of 1 Corinthians 14) churches are cults.

5. A group whose members become separate from their families.

Remember the cult leader who came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law?

Excluding those who deserted spouses for "connections," (I knew dozens who did that) Community Chapel members were much more often ostracized by their families than the reverse.

Some relatives not only regard former members as second class citizens, but - as I know from experience - feel complete liberty to interfere in their personal lives. My meddling kinsman (“meddling” - meaning he undermined my efforts to place my wayward son in a Christian program for troubled boys) formed his own sect that, relative to number of members, was more extreme than Community Chapel (more elitist, more sensationalist eschatology – obsessed with proving that Arnold Shorts-n-sneakers {sp?} is the Anti-Christ, and my kinsman even had a “spiritual” relationship with a woman not his wife – over which he mistakenly sought counsel/ support from former Community Chapel members who never endorsed such liaisons.)

My testimony is that cultic behavior towards family members was evinced by a family member towards me, but not vice-versa.

6. A group which falls into sin and deception.

Did you hear about the church which acquired a bunch of gold and followed their leader into the wilderness? Then when the leader mysteriously disappeared, his brother made a golden calf and led the people into an orgy - a cult for sure. Eve was beguiled by the serpent. When our brothers and sisters are beguiled, they don't get set free by being labeled a cult!


DEFINITION (falsely) ATTRIBUTED TO ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET RENO, but which likely describes the beliefs of many statists:

7. “A cultist is one who has a strong belief in the Bible and the second coming of Christ; who frequently attends Bible studies; who has a high level of financial giving to Christian causes; who home schools his children; who has accumulated survival foods and has a strong belief in the 2nd Amendment; and who distrusts big government.”

The term “Christian;” was originally a pejorative term applied to followers of Christ. Could post-Christian America become a place where Christianity is considered a cult?



COMMENTS


In modern vernacular “cult” is a highly charged term with broad implications. I submit that casual use of the term can only hinder effective communication because of the wide variety of connotations. Motives of those eager to label others as a cult are suspect.

The tabloid television show West 57th Street featured former members of Community Chapel in an episode, c. 1989. One of our former elders was filmed as a regular family man, playing ball with his kids and then decrying the cult that he had left. No mention was made that those weren't his kids with whom he was tossing the ball - he had left his own wife and daughter to marry their mother. But who cares about the truth when there's a cult to expose? A member of my brother's cult, who never attended the Chapel, publicly described Community Chapel as JUST [about]wife swapping. Ask Constance Cumby about the Chapel, and I bet you'll learn it was JUST “new age.” Can't other Christians be regarded as “deceived,” or “prideful,” or just “wrong.” Must they be pigeonholed - JUST “wife swappers,” JUST “new age,” etc. God called people there at the same time He led others away..even after connections started. Note - this is important - the level of involvement of individuals ran the gamut - from those who consciously practiced witchcraft, to those involved in “mega connections” to lesser “connections” to those who didn't “connect” at all.

For what its worth, my own definition, subject to change - of “cult” would include some elements of most of the above (not #7) with the qualification that for a group to be considered a “cult” there must be a prolonged and determined refusal to receive clear corrections, warnings, and/or instructions, and an explicitly stated belief that the group alone is chosen by God above all others.

My testimony

I loved Jesus Christ before, during, and after my involvement with Community Chapel.

My heart was right before God before, during, and after my involvement with this church - even when I was in deception.

Spiritual growth continued in my life before, during, and after my time there.

Community Chapel was a great experience that I would not recommend to anyone!

Doctrine: Christology - What I Believe about Jesus

There is but one God, the Father.

God, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son.

The words that Jesus says to you He does not speak of his own initiative, but the Father abiding in Him does His works.

He who has seen Jesus has seen the Father.

In Jesus all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form.

All authority has been given to Jesus in heaven and on earth.

God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ.

God highly exalted Jesus, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.

Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

"And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."

cp. 1 Cor 8:6; Heb 1:1,2; Jn 14:10; Jn 14:9; Col 2:9; Mt 28:18; Acts 2:36; Php 2:9,11; Jn 17:3

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Confessions of a former Christian Zionist

And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. Galatians 6:16

But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
Romans 2:29


During my twenty years as an adherent of Dispensational Premillennialism, I often heard it asserted that Christians, and the United States, have a mandate from God to support the modern state of Israel.

That's Christian Zionism, in a nutshell.

Christian Zionism focuses on God's promises to Abraham: "I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you" (Gen 12:3), and "To your seed will I give this [i.e. Canaan] land"(Gen 12:7).

Televangelists and popular Christian authors teach that these promises mean that Christians are obligated to support the modern country of Israel, unconditionally.

This - I now know - is wrong for several reasons. Here are four:


1. THE GOSPEL IS NOT RACIST

First, the promise to Abraham is to his seed. And Abraham's seed  is Jesus Christ (Gal 3:16,29). Through Jesus, the promised seed of Abraham, all the nations are to be blessed (Gen 12:3; Gal 3:16).

God's covenant has always been about faith, not race (Rom 4:3,9). Believers of all nationalities - Jews, Greeks, and all other races (Gal 3:28; Mat 28:19) are heirs of God's promise to Abraham (Gal 3:29).

This truth stands against the race based doctrines of Christian Zionists as well as the various sects who hold to British Israelite views. These groups devote vast resources and time identifying the physical descendents of Abraham, the "true Israelites," if you will. They come to different conclusions: For instance, the brand of British Israelism embraced by Christian Identity adherents holds that modern Ashkenazi Jews are imposters (and worthy of all demonization),  their own Anglo-European selves being imbued with true Israelite blood. Accordingly, their objections to Christian Zionism are typically framed in racial terms -  they regard Zionists as heretical for supporting Jews who (as they see it) don't have Israelite blood in them. 

Then again, Christian Zionists also promote a race based doctrine, being ignorant of their own New Testament which clearly indicates that a spiritual Jew isn't the same as a physical Jew. Even the outward sign of God's old covenant with Jews, circumcision of males, prefigured the inward sign of the better, new covenant characterized by "circumcision...of the heart" (Rom 2:28,29), applying to males and females, and without regard to bloodline (Gal 3:28). 

Unlike the Identity sect, Christian Zionists claim to love Jewish people. Nevertheless, many of these Christians look forward to a future event called "the Rapture," when they will (so the story goes) leave Israeli Jews behind to die by the millions. Many Christian Zionists believe that two-thirds of the Jews in Israel will die violent deaths just before Christ's second coming, based on a grim, futurist interpretation of Zechariah 13:8.

I have Christian friends in both the Identity and Zionist camps. Clearly, the former have a grievously wrong view of Jewish people. But what manner of dissonance accounts for the fact that many among the latter camp encourage Jews to migrate to Israel...to be slaughtered!? If I accepted the futurist view of Zechariah 13:8 (I don't), I'd be urging all to STAY AWAY from Israel.


2. DO JORDAN, SYRIA, AND IRAQ BELONG TO ISRAEL?

Second, the boundaries of the modern political entity, Israel, entail only a small portion of the land promised to Abraham. The promised land extended from the Nile to the Euphrates (Gen 15:18).

So, when Christians assert that God gave Israel the land it occupies, they ought to be asked whether God plans to give them the rest of the "promised land" too. Should we expect Israel to expand eastward,  annexing parts of Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq all the way to the Euphrates River?


3. THE BIBLE TRUMPS JOHN HAGEE

Third, Israel achieved suzerainty over this area during the height of Solomon's rule (1 Kings 4:21),and actually God fulfilled His promise to Abraham four centuries earlier (Joshua 21:43-45). These facts I found when looking to Scripture rather than to John Hagee.

The promise of land to Abraham's physical descendents was fulfilled. The Bible records the fact.



4. DON'T BE MORE PRO ISRAEL THAN GOD'S EVER BEEN!

Fourth, Christian Zionist support for modern Israel is stronger than God's support for ancient Israel, His own covenant people! Under the old covenant, God severely judged Israel over her unbelief and rebellion, as the epistle to the Hebrews reminds us (cp. 4:6). See Leviticus 26:17; Deuteronomy 28:15; Jeremiah 7:15 and hundreds of other passages.

Jesus "came unto his own, and his own received him not" (John 1:11). Their unbelief resulted in them being cut off, though they are the natural branches (Romans 11:20). Jesus told the Jewish religious leaders, "... the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruit of it" (Matthew 21:43). Jesus wasn't endorsing "Replacement Theology" (Supersessionism), the truly pernicious teaching that God has rejected Jews and replaced them with the church. Jesus meant that the leadership of Israel was taken from the Pharisees and given to the Apostles. The Congregation was entirely Jewish at first, then Gentiles were grafted in, just as unbelieving Jews are grafted back in (to the "olive tree", i.e. God's covenant) when they are no longer in unbelief (Romans 11:23).

The modern state of Israel was founded by unbelieving, secular Jews who were devoted to Marx, not Moses. There is no scripture for an unrepentant regathering (cp. Deuteronomy 30:1 - 3) of unbelieving Jews as a fulfillment of prophecy. The state of Israel worships the same demons that caused ancient Israel to be evicted by God: to wit, over 1 million unborn children killed, and Tel Aviv is world renowned for its embrace of homosexuality. Israel is an apartheid state, treating Palestinians (whether Muslim or Christian), and even Shephardic Jews, as second class citizens - ongoing documentation of this is found at Mondoweiss, a website run by liberal Jews who care more about being human than supporting nationalism of any kind.

Yet, my Zionist friends tell me regularly that Israel (the political entity) is the "chosen people," and worthy of unconditional support. Practically speaking, this means one cannot criticize Israeli policy without being accused of anti-Semitism. It also means that the United States must oppose every foe of Israel, or risk incurring the wrath of God (per the misreading of Genesis 12:3).



CONCLUSION

Most information about Israel and the Middle East is very one sided, eschatology notwithstanding.

I condemn the terrorist acts of Hamas. The PLO contains terrorist elements, but the Zionist movement was advanced by terrorism before there was a PLO.

Denouncing the terrorist acts of one side, while giving a pass to the other side.. is no way to appraise facts.

When Menachem (Nobel Peace Prize winner) Begin's Irgun set off explosives in the King David Hotel in 1946, it was the largest terrorist bombing in history up to that time.

The massacre of men, women, and children at Deir Yassin was also carried out by Irgun.

The attack on the U.S.S. Liberty, during the Six Day War in 1967 was not the action of a friend.

Former Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky's book, By Way of Deception, exposed  the perfidy of Mossad. The Israeli government tried to block publication in the USA. The late Joe Sobran recounted Ostrovsky's story of Israeli complicity in the 1983 attack by Arab terrorists on the US Marines' barracks in Beirut:

It's time for Christians to be consistent in their denunciations of terrorists. Old Testament Israel wasn't given a pass when they engaged in treacherous behavior. The ancient Gibeonites were marked for annihilation by God, but deceived Joshua into making covenant with them. God required Israel to adhere to that covenant, and severe judgment resulted when Saul violated it. Likewise, Zionists and their friends in the British and American governments broke the many promises made to the the indigenous Arab population of Palestine, and continue to treat them with contempt.