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Door Church in Minneapolis detail out a description of false spiritual authority within the
church. I'm saddened to say that this book details out a complete description of the ministry I
just left in Elk River. The ministry is marked by a strong charismatic leader whose congregational
needs are not served very well. Rather, instead, it is the needs of the pastor and his family that
are served by the congregation. If you disagree with the pastor, you become the problem. You
(the problem) "have difficulty with spiritual authority and need to repent and pray about it."
There is even an elitist atmosphere in the ministry that those outside of the congregation simply
"won't understand."So, at the very least, spiritual abuse is going on at this ministry in the name
of God. It is described in detail in the above book. Community warning: There is a spiritually
abusive system in Elk River that is harming people and their families! And, there is no warning
sign at the front door of this ministry. So, spiritual community, consider yourselves warned.
The second answer I found is even more disturbing. I have heard it said, from the pulpit no less
and by the senior pastor himself, that "some people have called us a cult."Now, I haven't given
this a whole lot of thought before. Nor has anyone came up to me and said: 'Did you know you
were going to a cult?'Quite frankly, I didn't even know what all of the attributes of a cult were.
So, I decided to research the issue to get better informed. I quickly located an Internet site in the
United Kingdom called the CIC or Cult Information Center. I found that there are five common
characteristics of all cults.
The CIC information states: "Every cult can be defined as a group having all of the following five
characteristics: 1) It uses psychological coercion to recruit, indoctrinate and retain its members; 2)
It forms an elitist totalitarian society; 3) Its founder leader is self-appointed, dogmatic, messianic,
not accountable and has charisma; 4) It believes 'the end justifies the means' in order to solicit
funds and recruit people; and, 5) Its wealth does not benefit its members or society."I'm
saddened to say that this ministry exhibits all five of these characteristics. By CIC definition,
this ministry is a cult. There is no warning sign on the front door of the church! So, spiritual
community, consider yourselves warned.
What is important for this community to know is simple enough. If you are going to a church
and you are starting to feel worn out and it's getting worse over time--it is time to leave. It is
also important to stick with all of the written Word of God without perverting it. I find it often
amusing to hear Christians proclaim that they don't believe this or that about what the Bible has
to say about a subject. I find it amusing because I wonder, if that's really the case, what makes
these same people then think they can believe what the Bible says about their salvation through
Christ Jesus. Hebrews 10:26-29 has a clear warning for all of us. The Amplified version reads.
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