I May Have Been In A Cult

Lately, I have been doing some reading about various Bible-based cults and one group that has stood out is the IFB which stands for Independent Fundamentalist Baptist. The reason was I attended and was a member of an IFB congregation for two years. I just figured they were another Christian denomination and never thought of them as a cult but there are some issues bought up the make me believe it is a cult.

How I got involved the IFB was there was new Baptist church near a grandmother’s house that held services at an Inn. I was disgruntled with evangelicalism particularly my former denomination and was seeking and looking for a new church home. Although the piano music was not my cup of tea the fact that they used the KJV Bible(King James Version) was to my liking. Also, it was a lot different from most of the evangelical churches I attended (I would later there was a reason for that).The pastor was a Hyles-Anderson graduate.

Like most IFB churches it was KJV only and there was the belief that other Bible versions were corrupt as they didn’t use the right manuscripts. This of course is known as the Authorized 1611 version and initially I accepted this but soon questioned it. I love the KJV version but I also like to use the NKJV (New King James Version) which I used during my Bible College days. Plus the KJV has undergone several revisions as the English language changes and some words have their definitions change(eg gay used to mean happy and now we know it’s primary and current meaning).

Something I later learned was that I was considered a youth because I was unmarried even though I was fast approaching 30 years of age. I should have clued on in this as I had attended a youth conference that had mostly with teenagers in attendance that was sponsored and consisted of different IFB congregations. I didn’t realize that I was considered a youth until I read this online years later.

I also should have clued on this as I did a couple of things that I found myself being rebuked for. The first was going on a trip to Costa Rica for an adventure tour and despite being a grown man this was something  I was not to do. And the other was I was dating a woman I meet online (who also happened to be A Salvation Army officer) and of course was a no-no. The pastor was basically trying to police my life.

Books to read had to be my certain authors and you wouldn’t find anything written by Max Lucado or John Piper at the book table. There was the no tobacco and alcohol use and watching Tv was frowned upon. As well as going to this movies. We were also to live separate from the world which also included evangelicals who were considered too liberal. It was also was political conservative as we had candidates from the Conservative Party of Canada come to speak during the 2004 election. Being liberal or socialist were almost seen as sins. were also encouraged to only associate with those inside the church.

There was a lot of emphasis on soul winning as we went door to door in the area to invite people to church and tell them about Jesus. The preaching reflected this as there was emphasis on soulwinning and there was little or no expository preaching meaning not a depth into the text . More about dos and donts than about Christian growth. The theology was rather thin.

I never saw any or heard of sexual assault, abuse or severe child rearing that I heard about in IFB churches in the US but the structure was definitely patriarchal. Women had no leadership roles or any type of roles in the church. There weren’t a lot of young families as it was a new congregation. The vibe was legalistic as it almost seemed salvation by works rather than grace. Racism was non existent or swept under the rug  as there were quite a few Filipino people there and it is in the Toronto,Ontario area  which is one of the most multicultural areas in North America.

I eventually quietly left although my pastor showed up at my house unannounced wondering where I was. I attend an evangelical church after until I moved away from the area and have not looked back since.

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