WHY I SAID "YES" TO SPIRITUAL PORNOGRAPHY

I read a most convicting blog post recently by Jason B. Ladd. He wrote about the spiritual pornography that many Christians are addicted to. Having written a memoir called How I Was Razed, I recognize all too well how the aberrant house church satisfied my lusts rather than teaching me biblical truth.

When I first visited that pseudo-church in 1971, I became captivated by the lay minister's mystical doctrines. He explained mysteries which most preachers I'd heard never even hinted at being knowable. Like most folks, I wanted power over my life and to possess secrets which the rest of the world's people didn't.

Brother Herald (not his real name) taught about spirits and even appeared to have saints of old take over his body and teach us. I sat mesmerized as he spoke, feeling privileged to be one of the advanced Christians. In fact, I looked down on "ordinary" believers as being stupid for not seeking deeper knowledge.

This faker also said it was permissible for us to listen to spirits, provided we tested them with the question regarding Christ coming in the flesh. The bible is filled with warnings about communication with spirits as they masquerade as dead saints or loved ones. Brother Herald ignored those admonishments and taught us to do so as well.

Prophecy was another satanic deception he used to lure us away from the main and plain things of Scripture. In his view of eschatology, we wouldn't be raptured but would have to go through the great tribulation. Brother Herald further encouraged us to hoard food for the coming mark of the beast when nobody without the mark could buy or sell. Because he said so, a store room in the house church was stocked with many boxes of canned vegetables and jam which, so I was told by the elders, would be multiplied by the Lord's power through the three-and-a-half-year period of the mark.

Brother Herald also told us that we could use the power of Jesus' name to do miracles and teleport from place to place. He boasted of doing miraculous healings, such as putting a girl's brain back into her head and sealing it up after she was struck by a car. He also claimed to have walked on water and announced that he raised Joseph,, the one sold into Egyptian slavery and who later became prime minister under Pharaoh, from the dead. The reason we never did do such things was, according to him, our faith was weak.

I now realize that I was like the followers in the sixth chapter of John's gospel. I wanted what I could get from Christ rather than to be his servant. I also recognize that all these supposed healings and new revelations proclaimed by faith healers are fake. Even the gift of tongues they claim to practice is mere gibberish.

To read more about the wondrous way God led me out of that spiritual bondage and into the light of his glorious truth, visit Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers. You can even use Amazon's "look inside" link to read some of the book for yourself.

THE FALICY AND FAILURE OF TELEPORTATION

I'm ashamed to admit that I fell for the belief that a person could teleport anywhere if he or she had enough faith. Reality doesn't work that way. In fact, miracles rarely happen. That's why miracles are so miraculous. In my new book, How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity, here is an excerpt that shows how gullible I was forty years ago.

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Soon after that meeting, I decided to put Brother Herald's teaching to the test. Sister Eileen failed to pick me up for Sunday school one evening. Since I couldn't afford a telephone and I knew of no pay phone nearby, I had no easy way to discover why she hadn't come to drive me to Terry's. Even if I knew which busses to take, I would arrive long after the lesson ended.

As I paced and fumed in my room, an idea struck me. "Hey," I said with a grin. "Why don't I teleport there?" I closed my eyes, raised my arms above my head, and commanded, "In Jesus' name, teleport me to Sunday school." Concentrating hard and silencing every doubt, I visualized the basement where the children waited.

When I opened my eyes a minute later, I still stood in my room. I tried to teleport again but I remained where I stood. "Jesus," I prayed, "why didn't it work? I need to help Sister Eileen at Sunday school. I tried hard to believe and I silenced all my doubts. Why didn't you help me?"

"It was a good thing you didn't teleport over last Sunday," Sister Eileen said the following Wednesday when I described what happened. "We canceled Sunday school because Terry's kids had the flu. You would have had to take the bus or walk home if Jesus let you travel there."

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I've recently published How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. Use the search box at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm to learn more about this testimony of God's providence.

THE FAIRYTALE OF TELEPORTATION.

Have you ever believed something could be done when it defied physics? I unfortunately believed many ridiculous notions when I was a new Christian in a cultic house church. One of their doctrines claimed that we could teleport to anywhere if we had enough faith. From my newly-published How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity memoir, here is an excerpt that shows how badly duped I was by that pseudo-teacher.

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Though our outreach failed, the fantastic doctrines Brother Herald taught continually excited me. On a Wednesday evening at the end of November, 1972, Brother Herald taught us about teleportation. "Open your Bibles to Acts, chapter eight, verses thirty-nine and forty," he began. Then he read, "And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea."

Brother Herald fixed each of us with his gaze and preached, "Most mainline Christians think Philip went into some sort of ecstasy. This is absolutely false! All members of Homochristus, those who are new creatures in Christ with sufficient faith, can teleport themselves to wherever they are needed by God."

"You mean I could go anywhere just by willing myself there?" I blurted.

Brother Herald gave me a withering look. "This is not for frivolous usage, Bruce. It is to be used only in the service of God. You may have seen envelopes with 'ON HER MAJESTY'S SERVICE' printed on them. Those are used only for communications from the government. What they contain is of prime importance to those who receive them and must be respected. The power of God is only to be used for his service and the furtherance of the gospel."

While he answered more questions, my mind filled with images of how I would teleport to far away places where I could demonstrate the power and reality of God to everybody.

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I've recently published How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity. Use the search box at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm to learn more about this testimony of God's providence..

Please also click on the Bruce Atchison's books link and read about my previous paperbacks.