In Reply to: My review posted by Thinker on January 17, 2003 at 06:53:44:
Greetings. The article appeared to yours truly to have been put together rather quickly, tried to cover too broad an area (for a short book) and assumed that the reader had already accepted God's Word as the source and foundation for all true reason. (A logical statement considering that God in creating man would also be the author of healthy human reasoning.) His presentation, I admit is over complicated, appearing pseudo intellectual but that is primary due (In my opinion.)to the vagueness of the psycho-babble he was forced to use. The crux of the matter revealed; revolves, around the deliberate creation of a mind set that assumes God's wisdom and authority itself can be questioned (doubted) while still maintaining a spiritually healthy intellectual freedom. Which is not logically possible. The level of intellectual pride involved in such an exercise (IE. Questioning the wisdom of one's Creator.) is absurd, satanic, and is of itself condemned by God. (Who as God, requires faith from man, in His wisdom and ways.)There are many wise men (?) sitting in Hell who no longer consider themselves to be wise, yet were hailed as such during their earthly existence. There are two kinds of wisdom, one comes from below and is centered on man getting his own way, and the other is from above and knows that God's way is right and that any departure from such actually distorts man's ability to reason. A departure from God, the source of reason can lead only into a self destructive delusion. Pure logic. Your definition of cult is far too wide and has destroyed its original meaning which was already vague enough in itself. (The word formally meant a religious movement based on heresy.) (Heresy is sectarianism formed around a departure from Jesus Christ and a scripturally based faith.) The linguistic waters have been severely muddied. To the best of my knowledge the author is not attempting to form any sect using his research and is simply sounding out a warning, of a complex and severely flawed structure of mental programming (With a proven record of dire consequences.)that is being deliberately infused into society. The state of mind produced can appear outwardly, even to non Christians, to resemble a drugged amoral state. The world certainly doesn't need a UN sponsored program to produce morally challenged individuals. David Berg knew that individuals trapped in a similarly confused moral condition were easy to manipulate. The Devil knows his stuff. I agree with you on the matter of exercising caution that the subject is not used to fuel a similarly foolish political-religious movement. (Actually, attempting to prevent God from turning the world over unto the control of the, 'antichrist'.) It is my belief that such a movement will in part, actually propel him into power, while those attempting to stop what God is allowing will destroy themselves in the process. Your inability to trust is exhibited in your writing (A common ex-COG trait; thanks to Mo.)and is a good thing, in spiritual matters, except when such extends to the point where distrust in Jesus Christ (Who has never lied.)is added. The Lord Himself grants us the freedom to choose whether we will believe Him, or not. But is it logical(wise), not to trust, Him who has never lied? Lucifer was once, one of the wisest angels created by the Lord, but when he departed from His Lord, his wisdom became twisted so as to produce only corruption. He has no choice in the matter, and he hates us because we can return to God through Jesus Christ, while he is forever, 'locked' into his own self destructive nature. You know that old saying, 'Misery' loves company'. There are alot of deluded individuals working feverishly to insure that Satan doesn't want for company, in the, 'Lake of Fire'. David Berg certainly wasn't working alone, he was just one little cog (pun intended) in a vast conspiracy designed by Satan himself, to rob individuals of faith in God and consequently, eternal life. (ps The fact that you didn't have one good thing to say about a man who is risking his life exposing communist mind control techniques that threaten intellectual freedom of thought, indicates a paradox.) Communists governments in power are notorious for disposing of intellectuals who dare wander outside their flawed system of thinking,and no wonder, a government founded upon lies is dependent upon maintaining those illusions for its very existence.