One of the best ways to objectively consider whether you are in a safe and healthy religious system or not is to take the behaviors that you and your group are engaged in and compare them to a similar group that you know to be a religious cult. So let's do that, shall we?

 

If you were born into Mormonism, would you believe that the original gospel that Jesus delivered was corrupted and so Jesus went to the ancient peoples of America and preached the true restored gospel to them and now your church was the inheritors of these restored truths? Sure, you would.

 

You would be taught this over and over as a young person, from Sunday school and summer camps to Sunday morning talks that subtly, and at times, even overtly reinforce the thought that you have the truth, to the exclusion of most of the rest of the world who claims to be Christians.

 

You would even go on a two-year mission when you were 19 and proclaim this hidden truth to the world. Your training leading up to your mission confirmed what you already “knew to be the truth”. While on your mission you faced the challenges from those with other views and overcame those attacks. Using your pre-packaged rebuttals from your handy church-provided Missionary’s Buddy book, all opposing arguments were soundly defeated with your carefully linked proof texts.

 

On top of that, you had the sure witness of the Holy Spirit and a burning in your bosom that were tangible confirmations of the treasured hidden pearl of truth that you were privileged to know. God was confirming that you were right!

 

You would view others who left your church as deceived apostates who are dangerous to associate with, especially if they start asking you to reconsider certain practices and even beliefs in your faith. You would keep them out of your life, since you aren’t building life in common anymore.

 

You will instead labor on with your focus set on self-improvement and doing good works, mainly to those in your church and occasionally to the outsider, so that one day you may arrive at the center dwelling place in God for eternity, not one of the lesser places, where those that couldn’t stay in the race will dwell or worse, outer darkness for those who once heard the truth and then turned their back on it. 

 

We could give the same story for the Jehovah’s Witness, the Scientologist, and many other groups. But let’s consider the ANTM member.

 

If you were born into Lakeview, or another ANTM congregation, would you believe the story that the original New Testament gospel was lost through compromise early in the life of Christianity and through restoration God slowly restored the truths of the gospel to where your church was the inheritors of these restored truths? Sure, you would.

 

You would be taught this over and over as a young person, from pre-camp Foundations Classes to camp itself, to Sunday morning sermons that subtly, and at times, even overtly reinforce the thought that you have the truth, to the exclusion of most of the rest of the world who claims to be Christians.

 

Once you left the safe halls of LCA for Robert Morris, or another approved college close-by, you would perhaps be exposed to other points of view. But your training prior to college from both Sunday school and Christian Life Class already made you sure that you already knew the truth. You had faced the challenges from those with other views and overcame those attacks that initially produced doubts, by using your Christian Life Book and bible. All opposing arguments were soundly defeated with your carefully linked proof texts.

 

On top of that, you had camp experiences with the Holy Spirit and Sunday morning services with good praise and worship and prophecy. These were tangible confirmations of the treasured hidden pearl of truth that you were privileged to know. God was confirming you were right!

 

You would view others who left your church as deceived apostates who are dangerous to associate with, especially if they start asking you to reconsider certain practices and even beliefs in your faith. You would keep them out of your life, since you aren’t building life in common anymore.

 

You will instead labor on with your focus set on self-improvement and doing good works, mainly to those in your church and occasionally to the outsider, so that one day you may arrive at the center dwelling place in God for eternity, not one of the lesser places, where those that couldn’t stay in the race will dwell or worse, outer darkness for those who once heard the truth and then turned their back on it. 

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Now for the honesty part…when you read the account of the Mormon, it was obvious to you that the person believed what he believed, in large part because he was raised in it. Is the same a possibility for you? Because his outside influences were limited and so much of his life was invested in supporting the church, any challenges to the Mormon’s faith were ready for dismissal because of his learned proof texts and confirmation bias that says, believe the things that reinforce your belief, reject things that challenge it.

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Now, will you be honest with yourself and consider that both groups seem to be operating out of the same playbook?

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The playbook is basically this:

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1) Everyone else got it wrong

2) I am privileged with secret knowledge of the right way

3) I must protect it from outside corruption by staying away from those outside.

4) There is a long list of things I have to do to maintain my state in this special group.

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You may push back and say Mormonism is nothing like the ANTM. Look again at the paragraphs above. See how, overall, they are pretty much the same.

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Oh, the signal caller and the names of the players and plays may be different, but the blocking schemes and routes run ARE the same. They both lead you down the field of pride, elitism and isolation from the rest of the world, and tragically from those who have left that still love you. They make the focus remain on you and your efforts and not on others. They create an “it’s up to me” gospel instead of “it’s all because of Him” gospel. They leave you with, “there is still so much more I have to do”, instead of “it is finished”.

 

Time to admit what your mind refuses to, but your heart knows is true. You are part of something you never intended to be in, a burdensome religious system. Go ahead, whisper that phrase out loud so that your ears can hear you admit what you have been a part of. Say, "I have been in a cult." Say it again, it's ok to admit it. It's also scary to admit it. But once you let the walls your mind has built up over the years come down, you will feel free, because you know it's true and you are finally being honest with yourself.

 

You know this is true because you rarely experience the life that Christ promised to give His people. You loathe the prison of the mind that keeps you from connecting to shunned family, from questioning logical fallacies in your belief system. You can’t stand the echo chamber of your own community anymore that calls all challenges to your practice “fake news” or a tool of the enemy.

 

But please realize this. You will be discarded and forgotten by them soon after you leave there. Their love for you is so deep, so abiding that it vanishes in a flame of judgment the second you exit. They only love you until they no longer have to love you. And that’s not love.

 

It is true, there are those who have left in the past that may not receive family relationships back, the wounds are too deep for some. But as for us, our arms are open wide. We will love you. We have already forgiven you. We will never utter a word about the rejection we have endured at your hands. It’s covered by His blood. Love endures all things, believes all things, hopes all things and our love awaits, without need for explanation. Come, find your way back home, it’s only a phone call away, and that’s the honest truth.

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As we bring this section to a close, please prayerfully consider what we have said. This site is here to free you from the control you are under, that is not of God. Life is too short to give it into the hands of leaders who will toss you aside the moment you disagree with them. It's one thing to give your life to Christ, it's another to surrender it to leaders who manipulate you to give up your God given rights of free will and self-determination.