I am the Future
Oi Oi Oi !!!
Let us start from the begining....
I was raised Methodist. I was active in the church at a healthy level. I believed in Christ, that he was my savior, and the he was real. Then at teh age of 10, I relised that I didn't actually believe in Jesus, maybe God existed, but i was fairly sure that jesus wasnt my savior, the son of god, and even a real person. This suited me well for 3 years when another incident happened in my life, my Dad met up with his highschool sweetheart. I knew nothing about this woman accept taht she had 2 children, loved my dad with all her heart, and that she was a "Jesus Freak"(her words not mine). Within weeks of my dad and her getting back together he dragged me to a church called "Crossroads". I looked at Crossroads as one would look at any church, with optimism and faith that I would not fall asleep. I was correct that I didnt fall asleep, but waht did happen ws worse.
I had been sucked down a path that I would fallow dilligently for the next year. A path filled with constant prayer, titheing, and reading of that o so holy book. I gave myself to Christ 2 months later, and I thought at the time taht it was the best decision of my life. It consumed me. My evenings were spent in prayer and my days with religous descusions, all of which I can plainly see now that I lost miserably. It had seemed I was lost in my self. I had even written a paper for english class argueing the bennifets of teaching creation in schools. The funny part of this paper was that I avoided the thought of evolution, even though I knew then that it was a readily accepted and highly supported theory. Instead I focused on, "God said this so it must be right," my entire paper was 3 pages of nonsence. Looking back on this now I believe that it should have been a warning sign.
Then, I relised taht I shouldnt be reading a bible in History Class. I relised that some of what I was thinking was nonsence. I told my mom about these thoughts. Later I found out that it was one of the happiest moments of her life to know I was out of what I had relised was a cult.
So I stoped being a "Jesus Freak" a term I had grown to call me own, and I started to be a normal guy that goes to chruch and doesnt believe most of it. Then one day while sitting in church I took a different aproach to what the pastor was saying. It then became aparent to me that he was a brilliant speaker. The words that he spoke were not so much those of a traditional church, one that tells of the bible alone. His words were those of a politician. He would slip certain phrases into sentences in such wonderful ways that his awdience was oblivious. His mastery of the spoken word is without flaw, and it was then I relised that it was Pastor Keith, not Jesus who was the reason for the sucess of the church.
I then asked my father who had been giving away 10% of his paycheck to the church for 2 years, a paycheck taht allready had to go from supporting 4 people to supporting 7 people, how much money the church made in tytheing each year. The number astonished me, over a 2 million, yes this one church in Freeport was a Multimillion dollar corporation. Though it was clear that 1 church was not enough for them, so they branched out. They created a new "campus" in the elementary school of my town, a town with 2750 people. Within a year of that the amont of people who attended the south camus raised from 60 to 250, nearly 10% of the population of my town, a town that allready had 7 or 8 churches.
The number of people in the church has forced one of the two methodist churches to go on sale. That church is the same church that I had attended when I was young. I was one of the original churches in my town and now it is being forced to sell. Why? Because the corporate church is better at brainwashing people into going there, into believeing that they are loved and accepted by all. Createing a sence in them that they are better then others because gthey are saved, it has elevated to the point taht they look down on anyone who does not go to cross roads.
How bad is it getting? Well this one church in Freeport Illinois, that has a campus in Polo, Illinois and one in Joe Davis, Illinois; is now moving its primary church to Denver colorado. That is right. This cult that is designed to consume peoples lives for the purpose of them giving money to the church is going to be in colorado. There I am sure that it will consume the people of the area, while at teh same time getting detached form the original area it consumed. Leaving the mumbleing church going idiots to watch their Savior Pastor Keith On a 10 foot projector screen.
Good thing I got out of that mess.
I was raised Methodist. I was active in the church at a healthy level. I believed in Christ, that he was my savior, and the he was real. Then at teh age of 10, I relised that I didn't actually believe in Jesus, maybe God existed, but i was fairly sure that jesus wasnt my savior, the son of god, and even a real person. This suited me well for 3 years when another incident happened in my life, my Dad met up with his highschool sweetheart. I knew nothing about this woman accept taht she had 2 children, loved my dad with all her heart, and that she was a "Jesus Freak"(her words not mine). Within weeks of my dad and her getting back together he dragged me to a church called "Crossroads". I looked at Crossroads as one would look at any church, with optimism and faith that I would not fall asleep. I was correct that I didnt fall asleep, but waht did happen ws worse.
I had been sucked down a path that I would fallow dilligently for the next year. A path filled with constant prayer, titheing, and reading of that o so holy book. I gave myself to Christ 2 months later, and I thought at the time taht it was the best decision of my life. It consumed me. My evenings were spent in prayer and my days with religous descusions, all of which I can plainly see now that I lost miserably. It had seemed I was lost in my self. I had even written a paper for english class argueing the bennifets of teaching creation in schools. The funny part of this paper was that I avoided the thought of evolution, even though I knew then that it was a readily accepted and highly supported theory. Instead I focused on, "God said this so it must be right," my entire paper was 3 pages of nonsence. Looking back on this now I believe that it should have been a warning sign.
Then, I relised taht I shouldnt be reading a bible in History Class. I relised that some of what I was thinking was nonsence. I told my mom about these thoughts. Later I found out that it was one of the happiest moments of her life to know I was out of what I had relised was a cult.
So I stoped being a "Jesus Freak" a term I had grown to call me own, and I started to be a normal guy that goes to chruch and doesnt believe most of it. Then one day while sitting in church I took a different aproach to what the pastor was saying. It then became aparent to me that he was a brilliant speaker. The words that he spoke were not so much those of a traditional church, one that tells of the bible alone. His words were those of a politician. He would slip certain phrases into sentences in such wonderful ways that his awdience was oblivious. His mastery of the spoken word is without flaw, and it was then I relised that it was Pastor Keith, not Jesus who was the reason for the sucess of the church.
I then asked my father who had been giving away 10% of his paycheck to the church for 2 years, a paycheck taht allready had to go from supporting 4 people to supporting 7 people, how much money the church made in tytheing each year. The number astonished me, over a 2 million, yes this one church in Freeport was a Multimillion dollar corporation. Though it was clear that 1 church was not enough for them, so they branched out. They created a new "campus" in the elementary school of my town, a town with 2750 people. Within a year of that the amont of people who attended the south camus raised from 60 to 250, nearly 10% of the population of my town, a town that allready had 7 or 8 churches.
The number of people in the church has forced one of the two methodist churches to go on sale. That church is the same church that I had attended when I was young. I was one of the original churches in my town and now it is being forced to sell. Why? Because the corporate church is better at brainwashing people into going there, into believeing that they are loved and accepted by all. Createing a sence in them that they are better then others because gthey are saved, it has elevated to the point taht they look down on anyone who does not go to cross roads.
How bad is it getting? Well this one church in Freeport Illinois, that has a campus in Polo, Illinois and one in Joe Davis, Illinois; is now moving its primary church to Denver colorado. That is right. This cult that is designed to consume peoples lives for the purpose of them giving money to the church is going to be in colorado. There I am sure that it will consume the people of the area, while at teh same time getting detached form the original area it consumed. Leaving the mumbleing church going idiots to watch their Savior Pastor Keith On a 10 foot projector screen.
Good thing I got out of that mess.
Wow... That is a really big paragraph. I read it (contrary to belief) and it made no sense except "Jesus Freak" and "My Church". The fact that they are making money is wrong, churches should be for worship only. 
