Recently I was invited to attend a new church. My first question was if this was a Christian church, as from what I’d heard it sounded like a new-age cult. I was assured that it was very much a Christ-centered place. Super. I’m there.

My first inkling of trouble was when I entered the sanctuary and spotted this on the wall behind the podium. Being a semi-scholarly sort of doofus I recognized the symbol. It looked to be a pre-Mosaic symbol of worship, common in many ancient religions. It is often called the “winged sun disc” in literature.

After a second glance to make sure that I had not stumbled into a place of worship for Naval Flight Crew members (joke.) I decided to keep my pie-hole shut and observe.

Well, color me dumbfounded. I listened to first song, a modern Christian pop song that just doesn’t happen to mention the name Jesus. There are a few of them, no harm no foul. But what came next really bothered me. Not because it was hideous – no children sacrificed, no birds torn asunder, no invocations to Satan – but because it was so much what the Bible predicts in Revelations – false prophets who deceive.

I realize that last paragraph will lose some of the readers and this may lose some more – I firmly believe that churches like this take people who are not of strong faith in the Divinity of Jesus Christ and lead them away from Heaven. I think they are probably an instrument of the Devil.

Anyone left out there? Good. Here is my reasoning and my observation of what happened in their service.

Following the worship song there was a period of meditation that lasted about five to ten minutes. The speaker just led the group through some relaxation stuff and asked them to be open to the spirituality surrounding them. I cheated. I looked. About 500 people all with their heads bowed being led in this meditation. No prayer to the Father, no request for reflection on their sins, none of the things I’ve experienced in every Christian church I’ve ever attended.

This was followed by the Our Father which, in some ways, is the most widely known and least specific prayer in the world. I won’t say that it doesn’t speak directly to God, but the version they recited in this church was on the outskirts of my knowledge of the prayer. It was just a tad bit “off” from the request and plea to God that I view the prayer as making. It was more of a co-equal recital of our rights, not our gifts, from God. Not really a supplication – more of an account sheet.

Next up was a lovely violin solo by a young woman who played Mozart quite well. Perhaps the piece was of a religious nature, but not that I’m aware of in my limited musical lexicon (yeah, Amy Grant, AC/DC, Elton John, Casting Crowns… but not Mozart.)

And now we come to the Sermon – or what should have been the sermon. It was in fact a non-sermon. It was a lecture and an interpretation of Christ’s seven last words. A traditional Good Friday topic. But it wasn’t. And it never will be in that place.

For Jesus Christ is not treated as divine in that building. He was a rabbi, a great teacher, a philosopher – but not God. Nor would he be the Son of God. As a matter of fact, he isn’t even mentioned in their “about” page on the website. There are a series of statements about the wonder and spirit within all of us and how the power to grow closer to God is up to us.

But there is no Cross on the wall.

Not even a blank space – but a winged sun disk in its place.

There is no Jesus Christ at the heart of the proceedings. There is a deadness of the soul in this place. I listened to the “lesson” and then listened to it again later on the website. The lecturer (preacher would be an overstatement) gave a very charming talk about how they have no cross on the wall, it wasn’t a Christian symbol for the first 400 years of the church, and how it would have been viewed as blasphemous. Instead it was explained that the fish was the symbol associated with the early church. Strange, I didn’t see a fish on the wall. Nor did I see any other Christian symbols of any sort. Just the Egyptian Winged Sun Disk where Cross should go in a real Christian church.

The talk continued with a delightful explanation of the seven last words and how they, and the Crucifixion were the conclusion to Jesus and his earthly teaching and body. He had to do it to make the point stick home for his teachings. He won’t be back, he taught us all we needed to know 2000 years ago. Why would he come back? To blog? Maybe he’d tweet – the Pope tweets!

I sat in utter revulsion at the triviliaztion of my Lord and Savior’s death. The demeaning of his sacrifice. The real meaning of his taking on all our sins so that we could find a place in Heaven. Nope, he was just a teacher who was so dedicated to his teachings that he accepted a death sentence to make his point.

Is this not precisely what the Bible warns us about? Is this not false prophesy? The person I went with certainly finds comfort in this “church.” They enjoy the Buddhist meditation sessions, the Reiki healing lessons, and they are missing the gentle sale of their soul. And that’s what it is – it’s Satan taking advantage of lambs that have strayed and leading them away from the divinity of Jesus Christ. It’s done with some flexibility, some love, some gentle words, and the utter corruption of His message to all of us.

I’m troubled by this place. I spent the time to really research the “church” and its foundation and teachings before writing this blog today. It claims 900 branches worldwide. It claims to be based on the teachings of “The Christ.” The divinity of Christ is acknowledged – wait, I was reading that again and I’d have to say, “Not really.” The statement on their website, when you parse it, is that we all have God inside each of us and we should strive to follow the teachings of Jesus in our lives so that we can be more like God. I did a little thinking on that topic – I only remember one fellow in all of the Bible who felt that he was able to be like God and just as good as Jesus – his name is Lucifer. Gee… that’s sort of perplexing, eh? We can all be like God if we just work on our spiritual enlightenment. Jesus isn’t really God, but just a super teacher. Communion is in our hearts, we take from the spiritual energy of the symbols. Etc.

I weighed my words and gave it great thought and prayer. And then I listened to the message given on Easter Sunday.

Foul. It was an explanation, or more accurately a demand for an explanation, of how resurrection would be possible within the laws of science. In his pseudo-scholarly way the speaker went through historical explanations of the Apostles stealing the body of Jesus and fooling people with the corpse. It might have been wishful thinking because with the high death rate and most dying at a young age you need something to cling to, don’t you? And we all need hope, even if it’s a lie. It might have been a manifestation of “The Christ” within Jesus being brought forth by his higher spiritual level. Yes, He attained a level of spirituality that caused Him to transcend this earth and transition to the next phase, wherever that is. The burst of energy left behind the relic that is known as the Shroud of Turin. But it wasn’t His body being resurrected. It just transitioned.

The whole thing ended with a marvelous anecdote about how the speaker’s grandmother contemplated suicide but didn’t carry through with it because of Jesus Christ and her faith in Him. This was revealed in her diary. The speaker interpreted this as her having a resurrection of her own by not taking her life, knowing that she had much to live for: for the Christ inside of her. For don’t we all have that spiritual link with God inside of us?

He skirted, danced around, dismissed, and disparaged the single most important event in the Christian year. He brought up how damaged the apostles, especially Paul, were and how this wasn’t written down for years afterwards so it was certainly open to mistakes. Never once a mention of the possibility that it was the bodily resurrection of a man named Jesus, born of Mary in a manger in Bethlehem, on his way to Heaven after he stopped back in our world to enlighten his apostles about who He really was and what was coming. No mention of Him descending into Hell. No mention of the rising into the Heavens to take his seat at the right hand of His Father, God Almighty. Nope. Instead a snide comment about “Who’d want a resurrected body? Why if you were resurrected in 50 years Medicare would have changed!”

I can’t even make up this stuff. Jenkins and LaHaye covered it all in the Left Behind series. They predicted this guy and brought him to life. Just like the Bible did. You see, he is a false prophet. And the saddest part is that the people in that building (won’t call it a church) laughed and mugged right along with him. Aren’t they all so smart? So enlightened? So much more aware and spiritual than those drones who buy into the old Christian myths? The pitch is intellectual. Nobody’s spirituality should be dismissed, we just have our own interpretation!

I really hope that instead of being upset with me for putting the spotlight on what this place is, and what it threatens to do to their soul, that the people in this congregation are appalled at the hook that the Devil has gotten into their flesh. It’s not too late to run from this evil, this deception, this gilded path to Hell. I know that in many cases they’re not happy with their traditional church. I wasn’t either. But you can find a place that will be good for you and that means something to you without having to abandon your soul.

This place is like a pond that forms around your home. If your foundation is solid, and waterproof, you have no problems. You just take a boat up to the door and wait for the flood to subside. But if there are cracks in the basement walls and water starts to get in, it will rot you from the inside out. Your home will crumble and you will drown in the mire that remains. Places like the one I described are the spiritual equivalent to the pond around your house.

I say this as a man who left God’s grace for over 20 years. A man who attended a church that devolved into a personality cult after a time. But also as a man who understands that if it’s not based in the Bible, not based on Christ Jesus as our Messiah, it’s not right.

And if you’re still with me at the end of this piece I will ask you to pray as hard as I am for all the people who are in “churches” like the one I attended that day. Their souls are in jeopardy.

Are you in one of those churches? Are you aware of someone in your life who’s soul is in jeapordy in a place like that? What will you do to bring them into the light of Jesus? This is not an idle blog post with a neat series of questions meant to provoke thought. This is a deadly serious question you need to answer to survive eternity.

Is your church honoring Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, Born of Mary, as the Savior who died and was resurrected three days later. The Jesus who ascended into Heaven to be with God and the Holy Spirit as part of the Triune God? The one whom we honor as our personal light in this universe? The one who’s sacrifice carried away our sins to open the door to heaven?

If not, what part of that is missing? What does your church believe? Are they skirting the question? You can answer that pretty easily – Here are some questions that should have yes/no answers. No dodging the issue:

Does your church celebrate physical Communion using wine and bread? (or the equivalent.)

In the afterlife will you find physical locations known as Heaven and Hell?

Is Jesus of Nazereth the Messiah?

Is Jesus of Nazereth the Son of God who came to Earth in the flesh and returned to Heaven to rule?

Do you have think that you have the potential within you to be the moral and spiritual equal to Jesus of Nazereth including any divinity He did/did not have?

Ponder those questions. They provide your answers. Pray on this. If you find you’re in a place that cannot answer those questions with a yes/no choice you need to leave. Salvation is digital – it is a yes or a no. Make sure you are on the right side of that equation. After all, you are with the One or with the Zero. I’m going with The One.