An Atheist's Experience with The Local Church

Hello dear members of this forum.

I'm a German atheist who found this forum by following the link of a link of a ...
Please excuse my mediocre English.
After having read through some of the stories posted here I'm incredibly happy to finally have found a place to share and to ask questions.

I'm not sure about the "common believe" of the members of the forum. You are christians, but do you believe that the earth is 5000 years old? Is homosexuality morally wrong? Prematurial sex a sin? Is human made climate change a hoax? Evolution false?
These concepts sound very strange to me and would to 99% of christians in Germany.
I apologize in advance if my believes offend somebody.


Halfway through writing all this I realized that much of it is probably of little interest to you all. But seeing as it is past midnight and I have been writing for the last 4 hours I don't want to spend more time cutting it down to the point. Apologies.
Some parts of my story sound as if out of a bad tear-jerker movie. But everything is real.


About myself:
I'm male, 29 years old,
I grew up in a semi-religious (roman-catholic) family (parents + 2 brothers) in a small town in western Germany. I was baptised as an infant, went to church with my family every sunday, later became alter server and received the sacrament of confirmation. Even though I did the full program I never felt very religious. I never believed that god created the world in seven days, Adam out of mud etc. I also didn't believe that god actively intervenes in human life (or anything really). God was to me always more of a feeling. Love for one, but also respect, open mindedness and calamity. More the teaching of morality than anything "active".
When I was 19 I got my university-entrance diploma and changed city for studying. I stopped going to church and basically didn't think much about religion anymore. At some point I got curious again and for the first time read the bible as a whole (old + new testamony). To be blunt, I was very disappointed and unimpressed by it.
I like the idea of a "creator" who created the universe and the beginning of life on earth but everything that comes afterwards just sounds too far fetched for me to believe.
This marked the moment when I didn't see myself as a christian anymore and instead as an atheist. I guess I had always been one I just didn't know it yet.


Jump to March 2013.
I'm travelling through south-east asia and meet a chinese girl in Luang Prabang, Laos (we are both travelling alone). She calls herself Cici because her Chinese name is rather difficult to pronounce for westerners, comes from a city with 3 million inhabitants that even most Chinese have never heard of, and in short is the most amazing person I have ever had the pleasure to meet. She is funny, lovely, outgoing, kind, open-minded and to top it off beautiful.
I had been in love before, I have had other relationships before. But in just a few days I had gotten closer to Cici than to any other person in my life prior. We talked about absolutely everything without ever having to worry about being judged or ridiculed by the other. We didn't always share the same opinions but we always wanted to hear each other's. We cried together when she told me about her abusive father who often beat her mom and her and finally left them both for another woman because his child was a girl not a boy (one child policy...).
We spent whole days together wandering through the city, visiting waterfalls, watching the sunrise from Mount Phousi...
I don't want to bore you with details so just let me say that I had never felt as connected to another human being and had never felt as happy as I had with her. Even though I didn't tell her at that time I had fallen in love with her.

We planned to continue our trip together and possibly even continue the relationship afterwards. Unfortunatly life had other plans with us and after some unfortunate events she decided that we should rather split up. I continued north, she south. We stayed in contact afterwards, but the time between our emails grew longer and longer while both our lifes continued. I thought I would never see her again.


Jump to December 2014
Cici and I start to have more contact again. Even talking on Skype from time to time. In April I begin my master thesis. In early June my then-girlfriend and I break up for unrelated reasons.

In July Cici calls and tells me that she got a job as a flight attendant and will be flying the China-Germany routes with base in Frankfurt (meaning this is where she will be living). I'm thrilled to be seeing her again. Frankfurt is only 1,5h away from where i live.
When we meet it is as if we had never been seperated. We joke, we laugh, we cry, and we love again.

I help her finding a flat in Frankfurt, help with paperwork etc. In August we are officially a couple. My family (and even my very conservative grandmother) love her. She has a way of making the sun shine wherever she goes.
I have never been as happy in my life than I am at this point in time. Everything is better than I had could have imagined. I've finished my degree, I've found a job that I like in the city I studied in. The relationship with Cici goes great. We are in this "long" distance relationship until January '16. Everytime she's back in Frankfurt I go visit her or she comes visiting me.

One day in January though Cici is told that she won't be kept as a flight attendant after her probationary period. No reasons given. She has time until the end of March to get all paperwork done, find a next tenant for her flat etc. Then she has to leave Germany.
Her Visa is connected to her work permit which she got due to her job and therefore now lost. She can't apply for another job in Germany as she doesn't have a universal working Visa. She can't even apply for a studying or a holiday Visa while being inside of Germany.

We talk about marriage. I know that this is the woman I want to spend my life with, but I'm worried. Not so much that I might be wrong about her, rather that my family wouldn't approve of me marrying so soon after getting together with her. My oldest brother married his wife after 5 years of living together, 11 years after being a couple. What would they say about us marrying after just a few months?
Anyway. I make the biggest mistake of my life so far and don't ask her to marry me.
We talk about our future though: She wants to apply for studying in Germany as soon as she gets back to China (bachelor in another field). The process usually takes half a year. I will visit her and her family for vacation (we get 30 days paid vacation in Germany).

She moves in with me for the remaining two months. But as I have to go to work everyday she spends most of the time at home feeling miserable, making me miserable when coming home from work... We try to enjoy the remaining time together, but as the inevitable day of her departure comes closer and closer we feel more and more desperate.
And then the day is there and she's gone. More than 8000km and 6 timezones away.

We videochat everyday. We are both counting the days until we can see each other again.

Then doctors discover that her mom (whom she lives with at that moment) has cancer. She never remarried after her first husband and lives a quite poor and lonely life.
Cici obviously doesn't want to leave her like this and holds all visa efforts. Then her aunt (whom Cici is close to like a sister) also discovers cancer.
While Cici has to take care of both her relatives I'm in Germany and barely able to help. I have a flight booked for July but in the weeks until then Cici's world breaks apart. Ontop of her own problems and worries she has to worry about her closest family members and feeling the full weight of all responsibilities on her shoulders. To cope with this she starts praying and going to LC meetings.

... I forgot to mention that Cici was an exchange student in the US during her time in high-school. She lived with a family that was deep into LC for half a year and got in first contact with christianity there. She also got baptised during that time. Back in China she continued to believe in God ("Lord Jesus") but didn't attend meetings etc. and soon after religion was just one small aspect of her life.

Her mother and aunt have operations. Everything goes ok.
Even though most of her worries are dealt with I can sense that Cici is getting... weird. Sometimes she links me videos with christian messages or quotes the Bible. A few days before my flight she tells me that she would rather not have sex with me anymore before we marry. If I mind? I tell her that yes I do mind, but (with a heavy heart) tell her that if this is how she feels we can wait until after marriage.
When I meet her in China she is the personification of lust for life again. She is over the moon happy. Her mother and grandparents accept me like their son. I get along great with everybody even though we can not communicate without Cici translating.
Cici and I have a blast. We spend 2 of my 4 weeks of holiday hitchhiking through the mountains, sleeping in small hostels, hiking up mountains to watch the sun rise... Everything is as if we had never been seperated (again...). She is also as physical as she had always been. All worries I had before coming to China are forgotten.

And then the day is there and I have to go back to Germany... See the pattern? :/

And again Cici falls into unhappiness. The videos she sends me get more and more concerning/crazy. "Prophecies in the Bible", "10 Marks For Why The End Is Near", "How to PREPARE YOURSELF For The Second Coming of Christ"... It is happening so fast, that I don't even know what is going on. First I'm worried where Cici got herself into and try to brush it off but then I'm getting scared. And the more we talk and the more I learn the more I'm getting actually terrified of what is happening to this person that looks but doesn't talk and think like the person I fell in love with.
I beg her to stop going to these meetings. To come back to sanity. I try reasoning with her, try to explain why these videos are bull****. But of course she doesn't listen. She tells me without these meetings, without the people there she would have killed herself in the spring, during the time when she was under constant stress. Without her believe she has nothing.
I tell her that she has me! That she has me with all my heart. But she says that I'm too far away. I tell Cici I will quit my job and come see her. I apply for Visa tomorrow and will be there in 2 weeks. But she knows that she has to decide between me and her newly-found believe in Christ (or whatever catchy theories it is she is believing). Around that time she has a big fight with her mother who also disapproves her changes and who knows that our relationship is falling apart. Cici moves out from her mother and in with somebody from LC. She tells me that she doesn't want me to come see her until she has herself figured out. Nobody knows where she is living. I would never find her.
Cici knows that I don't belive in "Lord Jesus" and she also knows that she won't be able to change my believes. Just 4 weeks after me getting back to Germany, after having our happiest time of our lifes together Cici breaks up with me by text message and blocks me from all ways of contact.

I want to contact her family because I know they are as terrified as I am as what is going on with Cici. But all I have is their home address. No phone number, no email address, no wechat contact (the chinese facebook). I ask a good chinese friend of mine (who also got to know Cici when she stayed with me) to translate a letter for me, send it by email to a friend in China and have him send a letter from there. But no reply. We try two more times but don't get answers.

______
It is 1am here right now, I have been writing for the last 5 hours and didn't even have dinner. I cut it short.
Many things happened to me during fall 2016 and spring 2017 that made it impossible for me to go to China in person. My 4th letter in May 2017 finally reached her mother. She also tried finding me the whole time but didn't know where to start looking. We videotalked on wechat with my chinese friend sitting next to me translating.
It is basically all three of us bawling our eyes out. Both her mom and I thought we could find some answers but all we get are more questions. Cici moved back in with her mother, caught and destroyed one letter, the other 2 might have gotten lost (letters get lost very often in China). 1st of February 2017 Cici took a flight to New Zealand without telling her mom in advance. She is doing a 2 year "full time training" course in Auckland right now.
Reading the same biased crap, talking only to people who are just as brainwashed as herself and generally living in an echo chamber.

This could be the end of my story here . I could say that I have tried all I could and try to move on.
For you it might even sound better the way it is now. "At least she isn't in a relationship with an atheist anymore who leads her away from God."
But I can't move on. Cici and her mom still talk from time to time and a few weeks ago her mom told me that Cici still cries whenever they talk about me. She still loves me just like I love her. I hope that some day we can meet again. And who knows what will happen.


Well... That's my story. I don't know where I'm going with it or even why I posted. It felt good to write it all down though. If anybody read this far: Thank you for reading. I can get into more detail about what happened since the breakup tomorrow but for now it is enough.

Good night, and God bless if He is there

[zeek]

Welcome Brother Unregistered guest,


That's a remarkable love story you have going bro. The people here have mostly left the LC and now have a wide range of beliefs. Since everything is uncertain, it's possible that whatever you choose will effect the outcome of your story. The LC, of course, will work against your relationship with Cici unless you become one with it. I won't tell you what to do, but I sympathize with you. You are the answer to your deepest question.

[awareness]

Welcome brother Unregistered. I'm deeply moved that you opened up to us out here. And I'm deeply moved by your story, and the love you and Cici found. And the loss of it ... and the heartache after heartache.

Alas I'm helpless to solve this problem, which clearly is a nerve-racking, to the core, existential crisis life problem for you. And clearly for Cici too.

What can I say? The only thing I might be able to offer is to explain some things about the LC that I experienced, and observed.

My first encounter with the LC was one of love and open arm acceptance by everyone. And everyone was full of joy and radiated happiness. That's what attracted me.

Right away they took me and about a half dozen friends of mine right in. They did this by putting us into service groups, and expecting us to attend meetings every night, twice on Sunday's, and sort of on Saturday's, with service expected in the morning. If you wanted the love, joy, and happiness, it meant all in right away.

Which brings me to this. Another expectation for us was to cut contact with those on the outside of the group, even family, to make a break with your old life. They even had burning's, where you burned everything that your heart was attached to, that prevented giving all of it to Christ AND the CHURCH. The joy and the love made this seem okay, at the time.

So I'm wondering if Cici is going thru something similar. I've read in recent past that apocalyptic-end-of-times Christianity is catching on like wildfire in China. Seems it's attractive to those experiencing hard times.

And the LC offers the best and the latest for those expecting the end times. The local church claims to be the final stages of the preparation of the bride for the coming bridegroom (Jesus returning for his church).

So any day now, it will all be better. Jesus will come back, will take us to heaven, where there will be no more troubles, problems, suffering, hunger, sickness, and the like.

In short, as I see it -- others out here will likely disagree -- when you're down at the bottom, the LC offers wonderful hope. And it's in China. Which unfortunately is just right for Cici. Even love takes a back seat to it ... we're talking God's eternal purpose here.

To me bro Unregistered, and I know other members, even exLCers out here disagree, but to me the LC is a cult. Not a dangerous drink the poison Kool-aid type of cult, but a mind control cult, with high life changing permanently bend the tree impact.

And sorry to say, likely this is what Cici is going thru. But brother, who knows what the future holds. You said Cici was smart. Maybe she'll see thru it. Let's hope.

Thanks again for sharing, and for this wonderful time & labor of love. We're still human, even if we are atheists ... with the same human heart as everyone else.

I wish you well.

[Ohio]

Dear friend,

I got interested in your story because I too was Catholic (altar boy and Catholic schools) and my grandparents were from Germany. By the time I was a teenager, I hated the whole religious system, stopped going to church and confession, but still had to finish Catholic high school, with no girls and a strict dress code. I was not a happy kid. We were quite poor and my parents had 9 children. God was just a picture on the wall. The plaque from my Mom said "Smile, God loves you," but it never made me smile.

I decided that partying was the highest form of life. After several years of this, trying to work and go to university while maintaining my life of party, my car broke down. I met a guy from work who was taking the same Electric Circuits course at night as I was. Tony was going thru a divorce with his beautiful wife, but was the most positive person I knew. To put it plainly, Tony was excited about Jesus, and talked about Him the whole time I was with him. He never pushed me to believe, but did give me an easy-to-read New Testament. For some strange reason, I read it before sleeping. I think the second day I read the Bible, my heart was filled with Jesus' love and forgiveness. He became so real to me. I knew I was no longer going to hell if I died. I could never forget that day. Over 40 years ago. My friends and family couldn't believe how my attitude changed.

Anyways, what happened to your girlfriend Cici, also happened to me. And Tony too.

I also spent time in the LC. Some was very good, and some was bad. I could say the same for every denomination, including the Catholic church where I grew up. After all these years, I can say that people can be good and/or bad, trustworthy or not, but Jesus is always good and trustworthy.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hello dear members of this forum.

I'm a German atheist who found this forum by following the link of a link of a ...
Please excuse my mediocre English.
After having read through some of the stories posted here I'm incredibly happy to finally have found a place to share and to ask questions.

This is my first post here. I am also an atheist. I was never in LC. I am not Chinese, but I find Chinese girls interesting for the same reason you do: full of life and cheer. Their cheer is infectious.

I inadvertently had to live with some LCers for an year in US (I am not an American myself). Prior to that I had not heard of the LC/LSM. I have looked up much information on them since and this forum had been very useful.

Unlike many posters here who left the LC and feel that LC is a misguided church, I actually feel that it satisfied more than enough criteria to be called a cult (as others have called it over time). The asian-american LCers I had lived with were utterly brainwashed to the point of being mere automatons, mindlessly repeating the phrases provided by their mothership - LSM. I had met uber-religious people before, from various cultures and religions, but not like this. They lived in such an information bubble and were beyond any kind of critical thought (it went beyond matters of religion), despite having college education. Radicalization tends to be worse in poorer countries and I expect that LC in China would be much worse than the US based LC I observed.

Within the context of my experiences, I feel that you have a very low chance of ever getting her back, although I do wish the best for you and that my assessment proves wrong for you. You can find happiness with another Asian girl. I don't think it would be difficult for you to find a similarly bubbly girl like her. Many asian girls are. In time, you will heal and you can fall in love again. After all, you only knew her for a short time and had a whirlwind romance.

She experienced the so-called "getting saved" moment. People who have this experience are highly vulnerable and submit to whichever institution they obtained that moment. It would have been less of an issue if she had this moment in a more mainstream religion or church. Unfortunately, in her case, it was the LC. The LC is starving for converts and they will fight to keep her. She will be taught (or rather, has already been taught) to consider any criticism you provide against the church as "poison" that will doom her spiritually. There isn't any logical argument you can provide. The group actually teaches them to surrender logic and thought (the so-called "tree of knowledge").

The LC probably fast tracked her to FTT because they felt that they would lose her if she got back with you. Once in FTT, she will gradually assume a new social identity and will eventually move on. Many LCers when probed, tell stories of how they left their non-LC families behind and continue to keep them at a distance. Their churches, as with any cult, are designed to replace the real family with themselves (the so-called "church life" which is placed above all). You are not even her family yet, but a sinful liaison (in her new conception) to be distanced from. An easy excision.

[Evangelical]

Agree, high chance he won't get her back. But as an atheist, there is no greater chance to get her back if she wasn't in the LC. If she was part of any Christian group, they would likely discourage relations with an unbeliever. So it's not really about whether LC is a cult or not, but about whether she is a believer or not.

[awareness]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

Agree, high chance he won't get her back. But as an atheist, there is no greater chance to get her back if she wasn't in the LC. If she was part of any Christian group, they would likely discourage relations with an unbeliever. So it's not really about whether LC is a cult or not, but about whether she is a believer or not.

So you say bro EvanG. Most Christian churches don't pressure you into breaking all contact with outsiders. So it is about the LC being a cult. In short his sweet girlfriend has been caught up in a cult. Now to get free she's gonna need to be deprogrammed.

[Evangelical]

Originally Posted by awareness

So you say bro EvanG. Most Christian churches don't pressure you into breaking all contact with outsiders. So it is about the LC being a cult. In short his sweet girlfriend has been caught up in a cult. Now to get free she's gonna need to be deprogrammed.

The LC I know doesnt pressure breakng contact. There is pressure to convert them perhaps.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

The LC I know doesnt pressure breakng contact. There is pressure to convert them perhaps.

It always sounded to me like the LC you knew was through highly edited books.

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

The LC I know doesnt pressure breakng contact. There is pressure to convert them perhaps.

Wow! Really? Where are these LC's located?

Originally Posted by Evangelical

Agree, high chance he won't get her back. But as an atheist, there is no greater chance to get her back if she wasn't in the LC. If she was part of any Christian group, they would likely discourage relations with an unbeliever. So it's not really about whether LC is a cult or not, but about whether she is a believer or not.

I will use the handle SA

Hi Evangelical,
I read your posts. You seem to be the sole representative (I don't mean officially) of LC here. But the more interesting thing is, you are nothing like the LC'ers I lived with.

We may not agree, but we can potentially converse. You act like normal and literal Evangelical Christians I know... which is, you won't agree with me, but you can hold a coherent conversation about your religion, while staying within the framework of your own beliefs. You simply have apologetics for LC. I don't think I would put you in a cult category, just in the fundamentalist category.

The LC'ers I know are nothing of the sort. They felt terrified to hear counter arguments. They refused to read any books other than what the ministry provided and their professions required. I cannot remotely imagine them reading any fiction or philosophy. The only non-LC book on Christianity they would have is that one single issue of CRI where LC got a favorable article - that "we were wrong" piece (I got the feeling that LC paid for it, since it did not cover any real issues in LC), which they wave at critics to insist they are not a cult. They were completely insulated from any theology other than that which was spoon fed to them. It is one thing to be unaware, but it is quite another to treat anything that does not come from LSM or its approval as basically poison, their actual term. This isn't about reading some text and disagreeing with it or discounting its validity or worth (we can all have opinions), but to be actually scared to have anything to do with it. And these weren't some rural farmers from middle ages, but engineers in the 21st century. It was bizarre. This is cult behavior that one reads about in books.

This forum has a number of ex-LCers, but no one seems to be asian-born (or perhaps I didn't read carefully enough). Your accounts of your past LC life seem mild compared to the total subjugation to the ministry that I witnessed with asian-born americans. I'd say most people here got out easy, given that you still seem to have your brains quite intact.

-SA

[Koinonia]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I will use the handle SA
The LC'ers I know are nothing of the sort. They felt terrified to hear counter arguments. They refused to read any books other than what the ministry provided and their professions required. I cannot remotely imagine them reading any fiction or philosophy. The only non-LC book on Christianity they would have is that one single issue of CRI where LC got a favorable article - that "we were wrong" piece (I got the feeling that LC paid for it, since it did not cover any real issues in LC), which they wave at critics to insist they are not a cult. They were completely insulated from any theology other than that which was spoon fed to them. It is one thing to be unaware, but it is quite another to treat anything that does not come from LSM or its approval as basically poison, their actual term. This isn't about reading some text and disagreeing with it or discounting its validity or worth (we can all have opinions), but to be actually scared to have anything to do with it. And these weren't some rural farmers from middle ages, but engineers in the 21st century. It was bizarre. This is cult behavior that one reads about in books.

This forum has a number of ex-LCers, but no one seems to be asian-born (or perhaps I didn't read carefully enough). Your accounts of your past LC life seem mild compared to the total subjugation to the ministry that I witnessed with asian-born americans. I'd say most people here got out easy, given that you still seem to have your brains quite intact.

-SA

I am an Asian-American "church kid," the son of an elder/full-timer/coworker, FTTA graduate, etc. I have a good (and pretty standard) pedigree in todays' LC in North America. The FTTA is now about 80%+ Asian (either from Asia or Asian-American), and the demographic of the LC is rapidly moving in that direction. It is very cultural/subcultural and very insular and cliquish. Because of the subcultural component to it, the LC is becoming both more "worldly" and more religiously extreme. Precisely because they are so immersed in a subcultural bubble, Asian-American "young adult" members do not realize how weird their group is. To them, the adulation of WL and extreme religious mysticism are perfectly normal, hand-in-hand with an Ivy League education and a hyper-ambitious, wealthy, boba-drinking lifestyle with big house, nice cars, a fat retirement account, and regular trips to conferences, trainings, and Taiwan/China/Korea.

[zeek]

Originally Posted by Koinonia

I am an Asian-American "church kid," the son of an elder/full-timer/coworker, FTTA graduate, etc. I have a good (and pretty standard) pedigree in todays' LC in North America. The FTTA is now about 80%+ Asian (either from Asia or Asian-American), and the demographic of the LC is rapidly moving in that direction. It is very cultural/subcultural and very insular and cliquish. Because of the subcultural component to it, the LC is becoming both more "worldly" and more religiously extreme. Precisely because they are so immersed in a subcultural bubble, Asian-American "young adult" members do not realize how weird their group is. To them, the adulation of WL and extreme religious mysticism are perfectly normal, hand-in-hand with an Ivy League education and a hyper-ambitious, wealthy, boba-drinking lifestyle with big house, nice cars, a fat retirement account, and regular trips to conferences, trainings, and Taiwan/China/Korea.

That's interesting. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like the LCM has changed markedly since I was involved. Since you are critical of it, I take it you are no longer actively participating in the LC. Right?

[Evangelical]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi Evangelical,
I read your posts. You seem to be the sole representative (I don't mean officially) of LC here. But the more interesting thing is, you are nothing like the LC'ers I lived with.

We may not agree, but we can potentially converse. You act like normal and literal Evangelical Christians I know... which is, you won't agree with me, but you can hold a coherent conversation about your religion, while staying within the framework of your own beliefs. You simply have apologetics for LC. I don't think I would put you in a cult category, just in the fundamentalist category...

Theres different types of people in the LC. Some look like cult people but are just pious like Amish. There are some who are actually in a cult from china who infiltrate. But no different really to how secret societies illuminati masonry etc infiltrated western churches. I think those born in the lc are treated different to those who join from denomination. Some families force their children to wear head coverings for example. Some forbid movies and tv. Others dont. Depends on the family and their culture or background.

Originally Posted by Evangelical

Theres different types of people in the LC. Some look like cult people but are just pious like Amish. There are some who are actually in a cult from china who infiltrate. But no different really to how secret societies illuminati masonry etc infiltrated western churches. I think those born in the lc are treated different to those who join from denomination. Some families force their children to wear head coverings for example. Some forbid movies and tv. Others dont. Depends on the family and their culture or background.

I can believe that there are different types of people in the LC, beyond the types I met. But comparing LC to the Amish is hilarious. I have known pious people all my life, from all kinds of cultures. This isn't piety. But pious is probably the word people would use to describe LCers when they first meet them. It would be a word they would soon discard as they meet them a few more times.

That is how they met students at the local university. The students would come thinking that they are going to pray under the guidance of more pious people. But very quickly, they would find that they were just nuts and stopped answering their phone calls.

I am an atheist, but I like the Amish. I respect them. I think I can learn a thing or two about living life from them. Comparing LCers to the Amish would be like saying Hitler was just a patriot, but was misunderstood because he was acting from his culture.

I don't think anyone is "infiltrating" the LC. That is a pretty big and baseless conspiracy to casually throw around. The problem is exactly the opposite. The LC shapes (brainwashes) naive people into its image. If there was any infiltrating, that was by Nee and Lee. They did the hijacking.

LC is a cult denomination. It was also hilarious that not only did they argue that they were not a denomination, but they also insisted that they weren't even a religion. Who did they think they were fooling?

[Koinonia]

Dear OP, thank you for your heartfelt post. I also greatly appreciate your honesty and willingness to share. I, along with others, sympathize with you--even if our experiences are different. As others have suggested, I would only consider the attitude that you convey to this girl with reference to her (apparently) heartfelt beliefs. If you convey disdain, it will only distance you further.

I am also sorry that your post has been placed in this side-forum, as it makes the discussion far less visible.

[Evangelical]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

And again Cici falls into unhappiness. The videos she sends me get more and more concerning/crazy. "Prophecies in the Bible", "10 Marks For Why The End Is Near", "How to PREPARE YOURSELF For The Second Coming of Christ"... It is happening so fast, that I don't even know what is going on. First I'm worried where Cici got herself into and try to brush it off but then I'm getting scared. And the more we talk and the more I learn the more I'm getting actually terrified of what is happening to this person that looks but doesn't talk and think like the person I fell in love with.
I beg her to stop going to these meetings. To come back to sanity. I try reasoning with her, try to explain why these videos are bull****.

As a current LC "member", I am suspicious of this person, given the parts highlighted in bold. These videos mentioned do not seem characteristic of the LC or the types of videos produced by LSM. I have never seen these types of videos produced by the ministry, about doomsday/end times preparations and such. All the videos I have seen are about some aspect of Christ, or the "crystallization habitation in the New Jerusalem for the processed reconstituted Triune God" and such.

So in my mind either this person is not affiliated with LSM or is perhaps confused with some LC offshoot in China that has degraded into end-times conspiracies and doomsday thinking.

If I was this person and wanted to convert a boyfriend or girlfriend, I might send them a video about "God has a plan for your life" or something in line with the gospel tracts. I would not send videos about doomsday such and such.

So in all to me it's very suspicious.