I came out of a Cult Church

I came out of a Cult Church

This Friday, at FGB Jaya One, we were privileged to have brother Gary share his stunning testimony of his experience and escape from a powerful Cult Church.

Now brother Gary grew up as a Non-Christian who went to a missionary school as a young child and learnt Christian songs in Chapel, but never became a Christian at that time. However, looking back, brother Gary realized that his early exposure to Christians planted important seeds that would help him in the days to come. Many times in the past, he had come to close brushes with death.

Once, swimming in a monsoon drain, he and his friends noticed a sudden change in the current. Immediately, he called to his friends, “let’s get out now”, and within seconds, the drain filled up with water right up to the top. Another time, Gary was electrocuted but survived, and in his young days, when he loved to ride up to 100 miles on his motorcycle, he had two very dangerous accidents. In one, he fell to the ground in front of an oncoming lorry that somehow managed to stop in time. In another, hitting a car at high speed, he was thrown across the divider. Somehow, he felt warm hands lift him up and carry him at a certain point, and though he was injured, he was not seriously hurt, to the surprise of the doctors. At that time, being a Buddhist, he did not realize it was the Lord’s grace preserving his life. As a staunch Buddhist, brother Gary went to great lengths to follow rituals, superstitions and Feng Shui, but somehow he felt his life becoming worse and worse until he accepted Christ at age 38. Some may consider be late, but for brother Gary, he felt it was God’s time for him, not too early, not too late.

His wife had gone to church for a month and encouraged him to follow her, and so he did. After 3 months, he responded to the message. It was as if the Word which spoke that God heals came like a ray of light into his heart, and he realized that he wanted Jesus. He was a chain smoker, smoking up to 40 cigarettes a day and he prayed to God for help. At a deliverance session, the prayer to break bondages had immediate effect on him and the cigarette stick looked foreign to him. Drinking and gambling also no longer appealed to him. In his spirit, he felt enlightened, free.

And through God’s grace, he received a deep hunger for God’s Word. Reading it was like cool drinking water to him. He understood this was a gift from the Lord, acknowledged it, received it and thanked God for it. His reading would later have a profound impact in helping him escape from the cult church.

Now the cult church had begun as a very good church. People were healed, lives were changed, the church was growing and God was glorified. It was very organized and there was an AGM, with very detailed accounting. People in ministry were selected according to the Pastor and 6 accountants were selected to audit the church accounts. Initial preaching was good, and the congregation enjoyed every word. Sometimes, the service would last from 11am to 8pm and Bible Studies on Tuesday from 8pm to 12pm. The Holy Spirit was moving and active in the church.

And then evil came in, and man’s doctrine entered the church. Pride came into the Pastor, and he began to act like he was very special. He started to claim to be the high servant of God, like Moses of old. No one was allowed to judge him. First, there was the destroying of antiques. Some members destroyed up to RM60,000 worth of antiques. Now some antiques have spiritual connotations and caused some health problems to brother Gary’s wife before they were taken away. However, there soon followed the disallowing of fellowship with other brethren from other churches. Then, the Christmas tree was banned, and then the cross was taken away.

With a wave of the Pastor’s hand, there was a reaction in the members and some would manifest, possessed by demons. In one such meeting, brother Gary saw a dragon before him in the sanctuary. During prayer, thoughts would come into his head, and he would speak about his ancestors and how his ancestors had died. Soon, the Pastor was preaching that only if you believe him could you have salvation. The “Word” of the Pastor became like oracle, and cursed you would be if you did not follow his words. He often said that just as the Israelites who did not follow Moses were cursed, so too, any who did not follow his word would be cursed. All thoughts had gradually turned from Jesus to man.

People in the church started dying prematurely, at 18, at 21. The death rate in the church was almost 1 per month. The Pastor started a program to check the speaking of tongues by the members to see if it was from the devil, and he would cause manifestations in his members. Soon people stopped speaking in tongues. And soon they were banned to read the Bible for Pastor said the Bible was only to trap Satan. . The Pastor began saying that he was a High Priest of God, like Jesus Himself. Then he spoke about a higher miracle where he would send people to “heaven” at a wave of his hand. The people who went there would return and speak of meeting dead members and being told of the sins they had committed. Fear gripped the hearts of the people. Again and again, the Pastor would tell his people “Question me, and you are questioning God” He would warn the church to “Prepare themselves” before entering the sanctuary as at any time, the holiness of God would strike someone dead right there in the service. The entrance of the church hence became walls of wailing as people would plead for forgiveness before entering fearfully. The last straw for brother Gary was when the Pastor started saying that Jesus was a dead man.

In those days during the Bible Study, there seemed to be a spirit of slumber that caused members to doze off and brother Gary too. One faithful night on December 27,2005, as he was starting to doze off, he heard the Pastor say very adamantly that whoever believes Jesus is God will have no salvation. After that, brother Gary and some similar-minded brothers and sisters, decided they would put aside their fear and leave the cult church. In fact, they would run away as fast as they could. If Jesus was not God, if there was no salvation from believing in Jesus, Gary understood his entire faith was meaningless.

From the outside, Christians can easily see the blasphemy and error in doctrine preached by the so-called Pastor who was a wolf in sheepskin. However, inside the church, being under your spiritual leader and Pastor, it was not so easy. Members were naturally afraid to challenge the Pastor, and in fact, he would constantly threaten them and rule over them with fear. Those who continue to attend the church are trapped by a spirit of fear. It was like the minds of the members were filled with darkness and they could not see light. Darkness had come not into their minds, but into their hearts.

Looking back, brother Gary realized that those who manage to come out did so because they continued to seek the truth. He had often prayed for God to open his eyes to see the truth. Members who had come out would carry great bitterness, rejection and hurt in their heart. Some wanted to turn back to their old religions. They had heard of other cult churches and were so afraid they might accidentally join one again. They had been damaged on the inside.

Through God’s grace, brother Gary found himself in Pastor Raymond Mooi’s church and was ministered to by a lady who herself had come out of a cult church. Brother Gary realized that he had to relearn everything again, and forget all the erroneous teaching that he had been taught. So he joined the school of Acts and was a course mate of brother Damien. He was cleansed and reformed and began to walk in faith again. When he left the church, brother Gary lost his job but he was led to start a business in faith. It did not go so well, but he continued to pray and trust God in faith, and a business opportunity came to him. He got his first assignment, and then another came and another. Through it all, brother Gary saw that God had never failed to bother brother Gary, even as a young boy.

Now, after all this, brother Gary decided that he would not look at his experience with regret but rather as an opportunity to warn the body of Christ. Even from Deuteronomy, Moses warned the Israelites of false prophets and following them would be rebellion to God.  Hence, brother Gary had to confess the sin of rebellion.

One of the great truths brother Gary realized is that vessels of God must stay humble all the time. The sister who ministered to brother Gary shared that once when praying for someone who was slain, she was told by her, “You are very anointed”. At first look, that comment seemed pretty harmless, but the Holy Spirit warned her, and she rebuked the spirit of pride. We must never touch God’s glory but leave it for Him alone.

As the Word of God says, even the elect can be deceived, as such we must be extra vigilant and know the Word for ourselves. We must look to Jesus and not to man as our Lord and strength. About a year ago, the pastor died very painfully at a young age with his flesh rotting away with worms. The cult church although losing members is still active and blaspheming.

In closing, we are warned to always, always be humble before God, to look to Jesus and not to man, to read and mediate on the Word often ourselves to really know it. The cult rules by fear, but perfect love drives out all fear. If we are in Jesus, we will have the peace of Jesus. May God give us peace and help us discern right and wrong and remain true to our Lord Jesus always.