With the current state of religious affairs in the country the million dollar question is, how do you know if the church you are in is a cult, dealing in occult practices?
The truth is no one ever accepts the fact that they are brainwashed and that they are in a cult. The other truth is that most churches in Africa have been turned into a cash cow and are heavily business oriented. We all know that the only way to pull this off is to turn your congregation into sheep and force them (albeit using coercion and unorthodox methods) to bring all their fortunes to you. Exit use of common sense, enter the cult. Put in mind that leaving these organisations is not a walk in the park as we’ve recently witnessed with pastor Mackenzie’s followers who after being rescued, ready to drop dead due to prolonged fasting, cried out loud requesting to be left alone so they can finish what they had started; in their quest to starve to death and meet God. We saw on camera children who were barely seven years old confidently say they do not go to school because the “good man of the Lord” told them so – ready with Bible quotes and all to support their claims. When a man singlehandedly convinces a whole community to drop their kids out of school and starve themselves to death, then the occult is strong with that one.
So, how do you know if you are in a cult disguised as a church? Here are ten signs that should open your eyes and slap you back to reality.
1.If you have ever sold your property with the help of your pastor (papa/mama) and taken every single shilling to him or if you are contemplating doing that then you definitely are not in a normal church. Selling whatever little you have and taking it to someone that already owns billions (while you are left with nothing) should have you heading to the nearest mental hospital for a check up.
2. Defending your religious leader and giving them names like Dad and Mum while you call your biological parents only 12 times a year to check on them should be a major red flag. My friend, this is occultism 101.
3. I am not saying consulting is bad, but when you cannot make any major decision in your life before talking to your religious leader, there is a problem somewhere. When your “Papa’s” decision holds more weight than that of your spouse, then, I’m sorry to break it to you but you my friend are in a personality cult.
4. You want to get married. You find a good woman that your heart loves deeply who you believe you cannot live without. You go to your pastor for blessings but he says he does not support the union because the woman is from a different church/ religion than you. You then go ahead and dump the woman. How do I spell it to you my friend, that you are in a cult?
5. I once went to a certain very popular church after my friend kept begging me to. She felt it wasn’t right that it had been years since I last stepped in a church. Reluctantly, I agreed to accompany her on one chilly Sunday morning. From the moment I stepped into that church to the minute I left, something was being sold. If it wasn’t anointing oil then it was blessed water, or blessed handkerchiefs, or wallets, or what have you. Anything that was sellable, they sold. Preaching took less than an hour and boy wasn’t it an interesting “sermon.” If the pastor wasn’t asking you to lift your handbags and wallets so he could bless them for money to overflow, he was talking about a major promotion coming your way at work. A major deal coming your way in a week’s time. In between, the offertory basket would be passed after a major declaration of wealth being manifested on your behalf. It was all about prosperity and I couldn’t help but wonder, where is the gospel that we grew up in? The teachings of the church that moulded us? The preachings that we used to look forward to even as kids. How did we get to this point where it is all about the money? Suffice to say I never went back to that church and I never told her why. Which makes me sad, because I never intended for her to find out this way that she, my friend, is in a prosperity doctrine cult.
6. It’s all about fire and brimstone and hell and punishment to those going against the pastor’s word. When the pastor is always talking about your imaginary (and non imaginary I guess) enemies, when he/she talks about a bitter ending for your enemies instead of encouraging a forgiving culture, you are in hot soup.
7. Leaving the church is met with heavy criticism. Some pastor’s go an extra mile of cursing the deflectors. What then ensues is you being talked about during preachings and being used as an example of what will go wrong in one’s life. It’s like the whole church now wants to see your downfall in life, so that the pastor can be proved right. The rest of the worshippers are then told to block your contact and avoid you by all means. Ladies and gentlemen, if this describes exactly how it goes down in your church, then you are in a cult.
8. If it’s all about what you have; the more you have the better you are treated. If your church practices classism and exalts material success more than anything else, you are in a cult.
9. Without “planting a seed,” the pastor cannot pray for you. Without sowing, your life cannot come to fruit. Your papa/ mama insist that faith without action is dead, and in this case to prove your faith you have to bring to church a whole month’s salary. They insist that giving coins as offering is a sin and heavily punishable, because how dare you disrespect the house of the Lord like that. Cry ye beloved, because I tell you without a doubt, you are in a cult.
10. The Reason you are successful – you are reminded at any slight opportunity – is your pastor. All credit goes to him, mighty Man of God. Brethren, cult it is.
11. Your pastor makes it clear that to seek God you have to pass through him. He is the medium that communicates to God on your behalf. Or -it gets worse – he equates himself to God. He starts calling himself God, or. Jesus of so and so, or the Messiah. Or, wait for it, Jehovah himself. If your religious leader has any of these tendencies, I cannot emphasize to you enough that you are indeed, in the biggest cult of them all.
