Acts
4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common
4:33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.
4:34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
4:35 And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.
4:36 And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,
4:37 Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
5:2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet
5:3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
5:4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things
5:6 And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.
5:7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.
5:8 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.
5:9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
5:10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
5:11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

Reading Acts 4:32 – 5:11, you see a typical cult where the members share communal property (shades of the 1960’s) and the leaders controlled all the funds! We can identify with this, we have seen this quite often in the last 30-40 years, ranging from the Hippy Communes to Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate. The early Christian church seems to meet all the requirements of a cult of the 20th and 21st century. Now we also have the possibility of a 1900 year old double murder reported in this block of scripture. It is rather doubtful that two people would just drop dead on being confronted with the knowledge of keeping some of their own money, and then to be hurriedly taken out and buried (these two, by their names, were Jews by birth and the early Christians still practiced the Jewish burial customs) instead of having the normal tomb burial ceremonies, smacks of at the very least some sort of cover up. Could it be that Peter and the others in control murdered Ananias and Sapphira as examples to the others of what happens to holdouts?

Yep you’re right Mako there’s murder, incest, genocides, adultery, idolatry and a lot s more nasty things in the scriptures that would possibly be why it’s a best seller. You are correct that the early Christian church could have fit the definition of a cult. My interpretation of a cult is when one man takes them same scriptures and manipulates them to suit his/her own ambitions of leadership and control along with special inspirations from an “divine source” making themselves appear as a prophet with special rights over every one else.
The Bible contains 66 books, divided among the Old and New Testaments.
There are 39 books in the Old Testament.
There are 27 books in the New Testament.
The Bible was written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek.
The Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by over 40 different authors from all walks of life: shepherds, farmers, tent-makers, physicians, fishermen, priests, philosophers and kings. Despite these differences in occupation and the span of years it took to write it, the Bible is an extremely cohesive and unified book. It was written over a period of some 1,500 years, from around 1450 B.C. (the time of Moses) to about 100 A.D. (following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ).
So in conclusion one either accepts what is written within them or not. But because Christian believers are not required to follow an earthly leader it in itself is not a cult but is the perfect tool to create one.
All the Best
Irish

Hi Mako,

We talked about this couple at church and that God struck them down dead because they were lieing about their tithe. But once Peter asked they were dead. The reason that God may have done this is because the couple were selfish and what God had given them they did not want to return to the church. This makes perfect sense. God gives and you give back to him. It is a give and take relationship. We are given gifts from God and take them from him but then expect to harbor all of the gifts for our selfishness. This is bad. We should gibve back to God and the Church.

At least this is what I think.

But if someone who does not have possessions or is in a financial bind. God will understand and he doesn't want you to do what you cannot do. He only expects you to help out with the church in any way you can Finacially or by volunteering your services. Ex: I work with the Missionettes at my church and this is a way of Giving back to God.

this is a great example of how religon thinks of "god"as a larger more awesome version of their selves meaning imperfect sort of a super version of themselves what they are actually creating is a Human image of god,
Then there ar those that think of god as life as the process as a metaphore for the universe, this pulls the plug right out of religions or cults i see no difference, because everything becomes included in the process and your relatiionship changes with all things
then these cults or religions become literally useless because they are ignorant in their understanding, (the first sign of ignorance is having all the answers)
Also the stuff that many do in the name of religion would not be done nor justified unless you think of yourself as seperate from that which created you, The problems we have are of a religious nature not anything else ignorance generated by religion and those that are stuck in that mentality. namaste sheri

Isn't this one obvious? The Hebrew only asks 10%. These people were killed because they wouldn't cough up everything to the cult. Why is this even a question. YHVH wasn't even involved.

Gideon I thought all that they were to give was 10 % and they had more and horded the goods. And they said that they only had so much and that was the 10% of that bundle?

And that made it all right to kill them?

Why does one need to be told to give it should just be something you do its natural to who we are, I say find a way to do that in your life on a daily basis just do it, After about 5 or 6 you should be able to handle this . namaste sheri

Zandore I don't know.

Sherri, Money is usually where a man's heart is. This is why the Bible states to give money to Christ's church.

If money is the "root of all evil" why do the Church's all want you to give 10% of what you make?

Because it is God's money.

We give to the church for missions, benovalance, the pastor and the church leaders-For they are workers, and for homeless ministry. Also for the spanish community, the children, the poor, and the sick. We help people with God's money.

101 are you saying money is the measure of a man????? Granted we live in a world that worships money for its own sake and that is very true of religion, When you have a healthy understanding of "god" you have a healthy understanding of money also and alot of other things, according to my philosophy, Namaste Sheri

And if you do not give it to him he will kill you!

As I have said before....It is a sad religion Christianity.

We have a homeless ministry Sherri. I help out sometimes after church to feed them in our gym.

I agree about the money thing. But a lot of men do not understnad this. Because they are misguided.

Ok, so it's God's money. But if you don't give it then it's still your money. But God has a right to kill you for it (or is it the Church's job to do that?)

Eh, confusing.

Well God hasn't killed a lot of people here and now. He does not because of his grace.

If so I am sure some of the church memebers would be dead.

Thats all they do 101 they feed them garbage to i also know that, The shelters are run by the average person and those that were homeless giving back, The church doesn't want you to know it means less for them, the biggest line of bull is the only thing the church is wanting is money and saving souls is big buisness, If you haven't noticed we are built on capatalistic ideas and the church is in the front getting theres. i found it interesting that your church didn't give your daughter shoes or do alot more for you if you were mormon they actually do take care of there own. my mother is Catholic if she misses donations thye call her . again you are only seeing what you want to see. namste Sheri

OT compared to the NT?

I still say the cult murdered the couple for holding back. If it was in the news today, would you say god killed those two people, or the cult did it? Tell the truth, 101, you sould have to say the cult did it.

Zandore I meant now. As in the time period we are in sweetie.

Sherri, My church goes and gets the homeless and they are brought to church and eat afterwards. The church gives them clothes, good food(I have ate it and my mom cooks it)
Also the church gives the poor food so they can eat and money to pay their bills. I also know of a particular time they have found jobs for the homeless or broke. I know we have a pyschologist who sees people fopr free and helps them with emotional problesm. So whatever kind of church you attend I do not know. But mine is very good. They help out a lot. I have recieved nothing but kindness from the workers of the church. I just haven't asked for shoes because Mackenzie's Aunt bought them for her before I even had to ask anyone.

Agreed.

All charitable organizations ask for and receive operating capital from all donations, usually from 5% to in some cases 60%. This is not a practice reserved for church organizations and one has a choice in whether to join and support or not.
The bottom line is if you wish to take part in say “the world wide hunger relief Program” You should contribute to it either monetarily or by volunteering your time or chose not to support that cause.
All the Best
Irish

101 reread your shoes for Mckenzie story you have told it a few times also reread your posts on how you weren't embraced by your church because of your daughter, Pm me on the name of your church and where it is I'd be interested in talking with them maybe they have churches in my state that I can recommend my homeless to thanks Sheri

you know what i don't get...
why is it that every time you go to church they always say they need more and more money, but the minister always has a nice house a caddie... nice clothes....
those guys are making a killing just by telling you what to do everyday, so they not only have money they have power over people also...

i grew up in a baptist church i've seen it first hand and yeah sure they help out some people but it still doesn't make sense for some one to preach about giving money to god but then keep most of it for him self...

lets face it god doesn't need money he's all powerful right?

in my opinion this is just more proof that men were behind the bible and everything else to do with christianity
it's made to control people and take their money

if you don't believe me just look at the catholic church....
they use to sell forgiveness and a free trip to heaven when you die for gold.... what did they do with all the money? or better yet where has all the money they've been collecting for over 1500 years been going?

there's something to really think about...

Ghetto my Pastor and wife wear the same clothes every 4 weeks. I swear. They only drive one car and a beat up truck. And our church is huge.

Kind of reminds me of an old joke about a Catholic priest that was pocketing the collection plate, he explained his method was to take the plate into his back office and toss all the money toward heaven. Then he claimed that God would take His share and the rest would fall back on his desk for him.
Irish

well i visited alot of churches in my day and if what you're saying is true then it's the only one i've ever heard of....

Irish that is funny.

Manapa- I guess it may be because the pastor and his wife are not real materialistic.

she does have quite the amazing church namaste Sheri

Thank you. Did you read the web page about it?