CULT - World Mission Society Church of God

My sister and brother-in-law were recently approached in Walmart by a man carrying an NIV who asked them if they were familiar with the “Church of God.” After they responded that they were Baptists, he proceeded to announce that God is also female and that the Bible talks about a “Heavenly mother.” At first, they thought the female he might be referring to was Mary or maybe even “Shekinah,” but it was something even weirder.

They rebuked his strange doctrine with scripture and schooled him on some other things including the Bible version issue. They tried to give him the gospel throughout the discussion, but he kept going to back to the female God thing. They challenged him to show them that from the Bible, and he took them to Galatians 4:26.

"But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." - Galatians 4:26

This seemingly intelligent, well-spoken young man actually believed that "Jerusalem" in that verse is God and felt that he had successfully proven that God has a female persona. The guy’s beliefs defied logic, and my brother-in-law even got him to admit that he believed only people who go to his church will go to Heaven—a textbook sign of a cult. The cult member also admitted to believing that Old Testament saints like King David burned in Hell until Jesus visited them after the crucifixion and told them how to get out.

He denied the simple truth of John 3:16, stating that you also have to also keep the Passover and Sabbath to be saved. Admittedly, that part of the discussion was kind of a moot point since the guy believed in a female God, but at least they hit him with several verses in an attempt to get through to him.

Apparently, a couple of verses in Galatians that mention "Jerusalem" are the basis of a cult called World Mission Society Church of God, which was founded by a man in Korea who they believe was the second coming of Jesus Christ! If you’ve ever wondered how Jim-Jones style cults recruit people, apparently, they might approach you while you’re out shopping.

Poor people in third world countries often fall prey to bizarre cult leaders and antichrists, but it’s surprising that a seemingly educated American was worshiping a woman in Korea as God! He said that Jerusalem IS a woman and that she lives in Korea. At one point, he even had the audacity to say that she is God's wife! This already brainwashed person was not interested in hearing the Roman’s Road.

We aren’t the only ones out there proselytizing, so we need to try to reach people before someone else does. Unfortunately, there are gullible people all over the world who might be just as receptive to joining a cult as they would be to getting saved.

“The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.” Proverbs 14:15

Here is a video to go along with this story

Jim Jones' Cult vs. True Christianity

People often accuse fundamental Baptists of being a "cult" or "like Jim Jones." Jim Jones was actually a communist liberal, not a fundamentalist Christian. Here is a video of him singing the Soviet Union national anthem.

The following excerpt from this Wikipedia article on Jim Jones shows just how politically liberal and anti-God Jim Jones was:

“According to religious studies professor Catherine Wessinger, while Jones always spoke of the social gospel's virtues, before the late 1960s Jones chose to conceal that his gospel was actually communism.^[15] By the late 1960s, Jones began at least partially openly revealing the details of his "Apostolic Socialism" concept in Temple sermons.^[15] Jones also taught that "those who remained drugged with the opiate of religion had to be brought to enlightenment — socialism".^[39] Jones often mixed these ideas, such as preaching that, "If you're born in capitalist America, racist America, fascist America, then you're born in sin. But if you're born in socialism, you're not born in sin."^[40]

By the early 1970s, Jones began deriding traditional Christianity as "fly away religion", rejecting the Bible as being a tool to oppress women and non-whites, and denouncing a "Sky God" who was no God at all.^[15] Jones wrote a booklet titled "The Letter Killeth", criticizing the King James Bible.^[41] Jones also began preaching that he was the reincarnation of Mahatma Gandhi, Father Divine, Jesus, Gautama Buddha and Vladimir Lenin. Former Temple member Hue Fortson, Jr. quoted Jones as saying, "What you need to believe in is what you can see ... If you see me as your friend, I'll be your friend. As you see me as your father, I'll be your father, for those of you that don't have a father ... If you see me as your savior, I'll be your savior. If you see me as your God, I'll be your God."^[10]

So as you can see, it’s not like people thought they were in a Bible-believing church until they were suddenly asked to drink the Kool-Aid.

People need to realize that some practices are preferences as opposed to convictions. For example, the reason my wife chooses to do home birth and we eat an organic diet is because I believe that a natural lifestyle is beneficial, so that’s our preference for our family. We may bend those rules from time to time since doing so would not be sinful. For example, some pregnancy complications could obviously necessitate a hospital birth in the future, and we do eat at restaurants from time to time.

Don’t assume a church is a cult just because people tend to rub off on those around them. This is human nature. It’s just like at your job when a lot of the men start growing beards at once or when your wife suddenly wanted to buy a maxi skirt with a chevron print. People are influenced by trends and get ideas from whoever they hang around. If you attend a good soul-winning church, then chances are your pastor has some practical wisdom about life, and some of the members just might decide to adopt some of his preferences. If that’s you, don’t make your church seem like a cult by “majoring on the minors.” If another family chooses to do some things differently, that’s perfectly fine, and nobody should confront them about those differences.

Jim Jones hated the Bible, called himself Jesus, and admitted to being an atheist. Stop comparing independent Baptist churches to bizarre cults. Cult members blindly follow a man, but, as Baptists, the Bible is our authority for all areas of faith and practice, which is why people should bring their Bibles to church.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:11

Here is a sermon on Convictions vs. Preferences