By Bolatito Adebayo
The Kenyan church in the coastal town of Malindi where several piles of bodies were exhumed by the police has been in the news lately. Well, you might be saying this isn’t happening in your church but those piles of bodies didn’t just happen in a day. It was a gradual process. It took time before Pastor Paul Makenzie Nthenge took over their minds.
The unfortunate thing is that there are millions of such churches in the corners of streets in Africa, waiting to be uncovered by the authorities. Before you become a victim, I will be asking you again: Is your church a place of worship or a coven of cultists?
Here is how to know if you are attending a church or a cult group.
First and foremost, if the church you are attending adheres strictly to a belief system that is around your charismatic leader, then you need to be careful.
If your Pastor uses fear and manipulation to achieve his goal in the church, then you need to sit back and examine your practices objectively.
As Christians, your Pastor messages should be centred on Christ and if you are a Muslim it should be centred on Allah/Prophets and not anyone else.
Usually, cults’ rules are baseless and they exist to get your allegiance to the leader. Sometimes you are told to sell all your properties or you are asked to stop talking to people who are not members. Also, if you are asked to change your lifestyle drastically then you should watch it. There is an instance of an air hostess in the Kenyan Church saga who sold all her properties and moved to the church. If you are being isolated from your family and friends, that is not a church. Being Isolated from friends and loved ones only means one thing, they want easy access to manipulate you.
If you are encouraged to give all your money to the service of the church that will certainly be mired in financial fraud. Wake up! Do not let anyone exploit you. God will not ask you to give up everything. If you do, how will you survive?
Does your church leader lay emphasis on obedience? I know the Bible and some religious text talk about Obedience, nevertheless, this shouldn’t be about losing oneself or being stoic and becoming a placid individual.
Also, if your church is regularly involved in denunciation sessions, where you are being humiliated publicly , then it is a cult and not a church. No one should rob the other person of their dignity.
Check your religious text more often to verify your church leader’s teachings. Avoid religious places where the leader is obsessed with end time.
Yes! You heard me right. Many cult leaders are delusional, they fabricate prophecies that don’t align with churches in the same religion. If your church preaches about scary prophesies or encourages suicide, run! It is most likely a cult.
Another interesting thing about cults is that they feel they are more superior to other people. Some of them feel they are unique and are here to save the world and they will convince their members to feel the same way.
Check the leadership hierarchy, if some of your members are “more superior to others” and are giving preferential treatments to higher members that could be a flag.
What are the peculiarities of your leader’s behaviour? Is he arrogant? Does he require constant admiration? Does he enjoy humiliating his members in public? What is his sexual appetite like? Have you been hearing that he has been abusing or molesting some members of his congregation? If all the answers are yes then you are attending a cult and not a church.
Although, different leaders do have various personality traits but be wary of leaders who have absolute power and grandiose sense of self.
Kindly avoid churches that are into hypnosis or any kind of mind control techniques.
Ask questions concerning the rules and if they become angry and defensive that might be the sign you have been looking for because, a true church based on Christ or doctrines is transparent.
Read up about the church and find opinions of other people about the place. Also, do not trash the experiences of those who were former members of the church, they might be right. Ask family and friends that aren’t members what they think about the church. Their opinions might be unbiased than those who are already members.
Be honest with yourself, if you find anything disturbing, unexplainable, morally corrupt or contradictory to your religious text, then it is a red flag, maybe you should leave.
