LCC is a cult

[jdee1]

DO you know any LCC members ?

[BIWI]

London Chamber of Commerce?

[skerrywind]

Lancashire County Council?

London College of Communication?

Leeds City Council?

Lightbridge Communications Corporation ?

[skerrywind]

If it is a religious organisation then yes probably.

But I view all religions as cults.

[jdee1]

London Church of Christ as I entered a discussion in Philosophy/Religion saying all religions are cults is not exactly being helpful in my circumstances and I seem to have lost a thread which explained why I started this up.

[jdee1]

Oh well if I have repeat myself...does anyway (knowledgeable and dare I say Learned) would like to offer specific advice on ghis Organisation, which stems from The International Church of Christ.

[thegreenheartofmanyroundabouts]

Is this www.thelondonchurch.org/ the one you mean?

From their website it looks like a Pentecostal church which is probably quite conservative in its teaching. The music is probably first class. What are your concerns?

[jdee1]

Worried that the Church Elders are ripoff merchants

[jdee1]

Most religious organisations appear to have a benevolent nature about matters but the LCC is very money orientated towards it's patrons ; they use 'hard sell' techniques to extort monies and brainwashing edicts to prise their victims away from their normal families. Basically, they consider themselves to be superior and somehow, the words of the Holy Bible becomes a weapon to create confused souls who feed in their wealth or income into the micro-society. It is very clever and I have tried for 30 years to grab a family member back into normality. I came close a month or so ago when he was kicked out for not paying his way. He found another way back in and now he's lost again.

[jdee1]

Most families just give up on their loss and consider the actual reality that the converted LCC are not violent, nasty or promiscuous just disattached from their previous life: born again into a new and better Christianity. Lightbulb moment....... if it is so much better then why have I not been converted or captured when I attended a handful of meetings and hounded until I succumbed ? Was my 'spying' motives so transparent ? I now wonder how many multi-family groups are in this organisation as opposed to isolated ones.

[Anon1234567890]

But all religions are cults. I was forced to go to several different churches when I was a child and there was never a service held that the donation plate wasn't shoved in my face.

[Youzavhawfinchedmaflag]

Some churches are worse than others. They are all a bit cultish.

[thegreenheartofmanyroundabouts]

All churches have to,raise money to pay the bills as we are not state funded. Some churches have halls or property which raises some money but mostly it comes down to the people in the pews to pay for the utilities, flowers, musicians and staff. That is why the collection plate goes round at services.

As part of the Church of England we also pay towards the diocese structure - bishops, training and support staff and although my congregation really don't like doing this it is essential as there is oversight and training and accountability which comes from being part of a larger organisation. In my previous parish there were lots of small independent churches and the danger there is that there isn't the oversight that keeps an eye on the accounts and provides a place to go if a parishioner is concerned that a minister has their hands in till or worse. Most of those small,independent churches were aware of these issues and were part of network organisations.

I suppose I'm saying I'm really sorry that you feel that this church is a cult and have had a bad experience with a family member. Not all churches are like that but some are.

[exexpat]

I had a friend who was sucked into the International Church of Christ in the 1990s, when it was growing very rapidly, and its very controlling discipleship system was ringing alarm bells in a number cult-rescue organisations. I think it had some sort of crisis a few years back and toned things down a bit, but is now growing again.

Their approach is not popular with other more mainstream churches, even very evangelical ones, (e.g. see this critical account here www.gotquestions.org/International-Church-of-Christ.html) but once someone is a member of course they believe that theirs is the one true path to god/eternal life, just like members of many other religions.

Even if it is not as heavy-handed as it used to be, the ICC system probably does still work to separate people from their families and old friends, and demand that people dedicate pretty much all their time and money to the church, but unfortunately if your brother is a willing recruit, I don't think there is very much you can do about it. As far as I know, they are not doing anything illegal (or at least nothing that anyone outside the organisation would be able to find out about).

[exexpat]

Sorry, autolink doesn't seem to work, but try copying and pasting: //www.gotquestions.org/International-Church-of-Christ.html then removing the spaces after the //

[jdee1]

Dear All, I'm not going to close this link/thread as I'm starting to get some well thought responses. There is one major point that I feel some of you are not getting and that is the ulterior motives of the Elders who live a false life and put on their pias hat when it suits them...in their teachings...I fear they live either a hypocritical alter life or are rolling in the proceeds they recieve. This may or may not be in applicable in any of the organisations that we have mentioned but it underpines my major concern and I am seeking pacification.

[jdee1]

ok.... exexpat

Well, I have now read the critique & wow it's pretty much what I have been saying although someone has gone to a lot more effort to present it (very professional), so who would do it , how and why do you know all this and did I actually mention I had a brother ????

[Anon1234567890]

the Elders who live a false life and put on their pias hat when it suits them

You mean like Catholic priests who preach goodness and abuse children in their spare time? Meh, its par for the coarse with religion.

[exexpat]

jdee1 - I don't know any more about this church than what I learnt when my friend joined nearly 20 years ago, and what anyone can find from googling - I wanted to find out why my friend kept going back to an organisation which seemed to me to be taking over her life and pushing her into bad decisions. I've never had any direct contact with them, though.

I just re-read your posts and noticed you didn't say brother - I think I just assumed it was a brother you were talking about, since it was a male relative, presumably close, and he had been involved with the church for 30 years, so I guessed not a child of yours.

[jdee1]

Yeah... you were right it was my brother and of course I have been googling as well....the following link is very good: //www.somis.org/mirror.html

[jdee1]

So now it is clear (who I'm trying to save) but his strong original family links have split him in two. I also have a niece and alas she may be "captured" as for my Sister-in-law she is totally dysfunctional unemployed or unemployable so her work and life revolves around being a ' disciple of Christ'.. but it doesn't pay the bills...muggins (moi) does. I feel we are nearly at the end of this debate sullied let me tell you when I read the triffle about Preists who are abusive...if that is an argument then this thread can no longer go further. I am fully aware of evil but I'm not going to stop going to a football match, watching pointless on BBC or ever go to Church or my GP again because of the minute minority of abusers that are about.

[CuttheHysterics]

OP, it is a cult. Find another more normal church. My experience of them dates back to the 90s. I am from a Pentecostal background, where it can be quite full on and spotted they weirdness straight away. They are extremely controlling and try to segregate members from their families, to the point of finding them new accommodation. When I left their church they rang non stop! They went absolutely nuts, ringing up to 5 times a day! This continued for a few months (I'd only been attending for a few weeks) .

After I managed to escape their tentacles, I bumped into our 'group leader' on the bus one day. After I tentatively greeted her and asked about church, she blurted out she had left! She was living with her sister who was p8months pregnant, and the church were trying t get her to abandon the sister and move in with fellow members. They were both immigrants and had no relatives in the U.K. This is when the scales fell from her eyes, and she left.

[CuttheHysterics]

I forgot to add, the music is amazing though! Truly.

[jdee1]

Nice story ..... very difficult as there is a type of madness (in my opinion) that makes them excellent at arguing... I get the feeling that disciples are harvested from weak minded youngsters with a low self esteem and manipulated in extra superficially confident orators...who could argue the hind legs off a donkey.....basically bully victims who now can verbally fight back. As I said the worry is ..... are the Elders fa.....t cats with no conscience ?? Oh and what is OP





.still my main gripe is members

[jdee1]

Thanks , my Sister in Law came to my Mother's funeral with a totally overly dramatic pretend greiving act...She even brought a couple of her sect to our Anglican church (awesome singers btw !!!) despite a request that they didn't come as they didn't know Mum. My Dad is still insensed by comments he heard at one of their services that boasted how his son was now a Christian. . basically LCC had usurped the CofE.... What I'm against is why their church is the only Christianity worth going to and damn you if you don't fulfill your duties (or line their pockets) abd seek a Church nearer to where you live. In the words of a Clint Eastwood movie...I just gotst to know

[jdee1]

Know what ??? Why these Christians feel that they are somewhat better than the rest of us, am I wrong to have a concern........sometimes I feel that the LCC fully fledged member is a character out of a Sci-fi movie such as the Stepford wives or Invasion of the Body Snatchers and there are moments when my brother comes out of his brainwashed state of mind and part of him is begging me to drag him back to the real world and his daughter is saying : help get me out of here ! Unlike most....I can't just abandon my family. Enough words from me atm , I will just listen to any comments and post a : ) or a : ( until I find a back copy of a Readers Digest Magazine with my brother's photo & 3 other victims under a Headline: Is your Son in a cult.Dad has lost it nearly from the place he put it in some 27 years ago but I have contacted the RD who will try and find it.