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Here is a very special piece for the 4th Watch cult. Tithing is the giving of money, usually as an obligation such as a tax or fee, and usually consists of the value being a tenth of a total value amount, though it can also be treated as a donation and of any amount. In religion, tithing refers to giving money to the church as an obligation to God, and a tenth is often the minimum requirement. There is certainly nothing wrong about donating money to an organization, most especially a charitable one. In fact, such practice is considered admirable and is welcome in civilized societies. The money given is used to help keep organizations running and to help individuals. In the case of a church, such money is used to help with operating costs, paying the salaries of employees, and perhaps to set up charitable events, or is sometimes just given to those who need it most.
Surely donating money is not a cultic feature, right? While the general idea of donating money to deserving organizations is good and just, church tithing might not be. If someone runs a legitimate church in which such an organization lives off of donations and/or acts as a charity to others with special needs, and tithing does not call for any unreasonable requirements or consequences for not meeting such requirements or for not giving anything, then the practice is okay. However, most churches are not charitable organizations. If giving money is seen as an obligation, with any ridiculous requirements, and if there are consequences to anyone who doesn't give, or if the importance of tithing overshadows charity itself, then such tithing becomes a cultic practice. If you add additional facts such as the money going to a greedy cult leader who uses the money for itself, who also doesn't even pay its employees, then tithing becomes an even more cultic practice.
Of course, all churches are different. In a prosperity church, it is taught that God awards those who he likes and punishes those he dislikes. In order to be awarded, you must do whatever the church teaches to please him. Likewise, you must not do what the church teaches against in order to avoid punishment. One of the more common teachings is that those who tithe will be awarded and those who do not will be punished. Often, the more you give, the more you are awarded. The less you give, the more you will be punished.
The 4th Watch is a prosperity church that teaches tithing as an obligation, and preaches that tithing brings awards while not tithing brings punishment. The church imposes the one-tenth of all your income standard for tithing, though as you will see, this is hardly what satisfies the church. They teach that if you do not give your tithes, bad things will happen to you, as God will not favor you. If you do not tithe, God will see to it that your life will feel empty and that you will experience great losses, or that you will suffer and live in misery, depending on how little you tithe, combined with all of your other sins. Of course, death and eternal torture in Hell are also part of the punishments for not tithing. However, the 4th Watch also teaches that if you do tithe, good things will happen to you, as God will favor you. If you tithe, God will make sure that your life will be fulfilled, provide you wealth and riches and great abundance, and that you will live in joy and pleasure. Just as well, as long as your sins are not too great, a long life and entry into Heaven are also part of the awards you will receive. And add to that, the more money that you give, the more great things God will give you. Basically, if you pay God money, you buy his love, and if you don't give him money, then he hates you. This is also basically paying for miracles. In the 4th Watch religion, God loves money, and apparently, he needs it more than you.
Tithing is the most prominent cultic feature of the 4th Watch church. In fact, the 4th Watch's reputation of their relentless teaching of giving tithes is what makes them most recognizable as a cult. Just ask any victim of this cultic church, and they will tell you that the church is brutal with forcing its members to give money. The 4th Watch church focuses more on tithing than salvation, which is normally the most important aspect of the Christian religion. Most likely, this is because making a profit is the most important thing to the church's Apostle and head pastors, and they will try to get as much money as possible from both members and non-members alike.
You must understand that the 4th Watch cult is not technically a church, but a business, and a scam at that. It's only real focus is to make money and to gain power. That is why they try so hard to extract as much money as they can from you. Sure, much of the money goes into keeping the church buildings working, along with other necessary expenses and the occasional treat, but ultimately, all of the money belongs to the leader and it is he who decides how to use it. On top of that, the kicker is that he demands that all of his employees work for free so that he doesn't have to pay anyone in the cult with the exception of his family pastors. And the leader and his head pastors are free to spend the money on all the expensive and fancy gifts that they want, such as nice houses, fancy cars and clothes, and servants. Or, they buy more buildings to use as churches to make more money.
While ten percent is what is preached as being required, the church is hardly satisfied with that. The only two reasons that they preach only ten percent is because that is what the Bible clearly says, so it is difficult to change it, plus the apostle knows that the higher they make it, the less willing members will be in paying it.
It is not always easy to convince anyone to give you money, and the 4th Watch is so good at it, that it is interesting to know how they pull it off. The cult is a deceptive one, and it employs a large number of tricks to get members to do and believe in ridiculous things. Tithing is one of those things.
First, the 4th Watch labels itself as being a Biblical religion and they teach that it is important and necessary to live your life according to what the Bible says. Although this is not always the case, as the 4th Watch selects which parts of the Bible to follow, as does just about any church, it does so when the Bible gives them the advantage. In this case, the Bible clearly states that all followers of Christ are to give their tithes. The basic requirement is ten percent of all your income. They go so far as to scare their members into tithing, threatening them with misery and Hell if they do not give their tithes, and actually accuse them of robbing God if they do not comply. Likewise, the church entices its members with joy and Heaven if they give, and the more that they give, the more that they will receive. The church uses the following Bible verses 8-10 from Malachi 3 as one of its primary source of imposing the obligation of tithes and the philosophy of prosperity:
We believe this was only put in the Bible to milk as much money out of persons as possible. But regardless, this is what the 4th Watch believes and follows. And just to clarify, the Bible defines the tithe as ten percent of a whole value. Thus, this is pretty much where they get the justification to require money from Christians. But, there are plenty of other verses which compliment the concept of tithing and prosperity.
So because the Bible says it, and because the 4th Watch teaches a Biblical life, it is already easier to convince the weak-minded to give money to the church. Already, not only are they just following what the Bible says, but they are using fear and temptation to accomplish this. But to increase this accomplishment by getting more persons to tithe and to possibly get even more than the standard ten percent, the 4th Watch also resorts to other techniques as well. This is why they promise miracles for money and that is why they preach that the more money you give, the more good things that God will do for you.
Another trick that works well is a delusional distraction. The cult tells its members that they are giving their money to God, and the thought of the money going to the cult or its leaders does not seem to cross any of their minds. But the truth is of course, God never sees that money. That money goes directly to the cult, through the sub-leaders, and into the cult leader's pockets. But the followers never think about that. All they ever hear is how they are giving to God. God of course is a delusion, and the cult is using God as a distraction so that the followers do not think of the truth...that the money is actually going to them - the cult leaders.
The cult you see, is very clever in how it works to get as much money as possible. While forcing its members to give out of obligation and fear, the apostle does not even pay his employees, keeping all of the money that he scams out of members and non-members. He is able to get away with not paying those who work for him by assuring them that what they are doing is for God and they view it as an honor. They also feel as if by taking money, they are no longer serving God, but themselves. And to help make members comfortable with this, they are made to view their pastors who make no money as servants of God, who sacrifice their effort and time not only for God, but for them. We have no problem with volunteer work, in fact we encourage that, but there is a big problem when the thought of being paid for work is downplayed and the volunteers are tricked into working without pay for a false reason, especially while its leader who gets all the money is out using it for his own pleasures.
But what about the general public? The apostle knows that there are always going to be persons who will rebuke the church for being so greedy with money. One way to minimize this, the apostle doesn't try to hide the fact that they are so forceful with obtaining money from members. The church explains that they are a true church because they are simply following the commands of God in the Bible to demand tithing as he did. Here, the church attempts to make itself seen as a "hero" of the Christian faith by not being afraid to teach what the Bible says, even those things which are unpopular. And it works.
Here is what Jonathon Ferriol, the head pastor, sub-cult leader, and son of the cult leader, says about tithing:
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Tithing is something we only reserve for the members of this church and/or this community of believers. This is something that we emphasize and teach un-abashedly and biblically, that if you are a member of this church, you've got to tithe...because tithing is the responsible way to demonstrate that you are a member of this community of believers of this church. But offering is something that is open to all of us, so if you are our guests or our friends, you may freely give any amount in the name of supporting the work of the Lord.
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The 4th Watch cult attempts to extract money from persons any chance they get. The cult performs church services several times a week in addition to the traditional Sunday service. At each one of these, they perform an "offeratory", where each member is expected to give money. Even if it is just a simple Bible study in someone's home, the offeratory bag is taken with and passed along for tithes. At every Sunday service, which they often have two of, one in the morning and one in the evening, tithes are expected to be given. And before they pass around that bag, every time, right after subjecting members to hypnotic attacks, and when they are more vulnerable to suggestion, the 4th Watch cult dedicates a good five or ten minutes to preaching about tithing.
To give you an example of what we are talking about, here is Jonathon Ferriol again, giving one of those offeratory messages in the church:
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...if you are a member of this church, you've got to tithe...because tithing is the responsible way to demonstrate that you are a member of this community of believers of this church...
This is the believer's path. This is the believer's approach and response to wealth. We do not hoard wealth, we do not store up wealth, we do not enrich our lives here on Earth for wealth's sake, but if ever we want to become well off and influent, we always subject them to the dominion and to the authroity of God. And so rather than allowing wealth to corrupt us, rather than permitting wealth to push us away form the Lord. What we do is we honor God with our weatlh. And I think that this is healthy. We must have a Biblical point of view with regards to weatlh. We must submit our minds, we must submit our lives to the word of God. We must honor the Lord with our wealth.
Now to honor is to put the greatest value on somebody or something. That is what we meant by honor. To put the greatest value. To esteem highest something or somebody. And so what we must do is to honor the Lord or give the most valuable posessions we have for the Lord, becasue God deserves the best. And if ever there is something we can honor the Lord with our wealth here, the author of this book elaborates it must be the first fruits of our crops, and that is where tithing comes in.
Tithing is offering to God the first fruits. It's offering to God our very best, not our left-overs, not our hand me-downs, not our spoils. We must honor the lord with our very best. That's the only thing that will bring honor to God. If a believer gives something less for God, God is not honored. God is not pleased. When we are able to give something good or best but rather we give what is simply something that is secondary or something that is inferior, the Lord is not pleased. The Isrealites did it during the time of Malacchi. This is what they did. They had the ability to honor the Lord with their weatlh, rather they chose to give their second best. And because of that, God was displeased with them. And God said you are not treating me right.
And so this is something we ought to remember, that as believers, and as God's children, as receipients and as beneficiaries of God's best...that is our salvation. That is the best gift you could ever receive. Your salvation from the Lord. We have received that salvation. It is something that we do not merit, but God gave it to us as a gift, and it is only worthy that we must give our best unto him. This is the reason that every week we give our tithes and our offerings unto him because our tithes and our offerings represent the best of what we have received from him. To God be the glory. And the promise of the Lord is this: That he will see to it that we're rewarded, that we are compensated...
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Here are some additional quotes from leaders in the 4th Watch that help affirm their belief in tithes and giving to the Apostle.
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Our money is temporal. But where we spend it on could define & impact where we would spend eternity! So spend it righteously & properly!
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And a big part is for God!
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The Holy Scriptures show us, in contrast to the principles of man, the principles of the Bible. For man, in order to receive the greatest return, he must keep all his money to himself. He must use and invest all his finances to benefit himself alone. All for his sake; this is the way to riches. In the Bible, in order to receive, one must give. He who gives more for the work of the Lord, receives more from God, (Luke 6:38). And in doing such he stores for himself great and many riches.
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In conclusion to this piece on tithing, it should be noted that being scammed out of money through tithing and the giving of offerings is the most common way that ex-members of the cult feel victimized and it is the most common and most passionate complaint against it. It makes sense because making money is pretty much the goal of the church and its so-called apostle. The truth is, too many persons have given so much of their money to the cult and its leader because of all of the psychological programming that members go through. When they come to their senses and leave the church, they are left feeling not only spiritually raped, but financially raped as well. In the end, it is not God who is robbed, but the 4th Watch victims.
Okay, so let's talk about prayer. Prayer is one of the most basic activities of all religions. Basically, prayer is a very simple ritual of making a request to a higher power that you cannot communicate with directly. Some might consider simply communicating with this higher power a form of prayer, but in any case, a request is usually the point of praying. Additionally, some see prayer as not only a ritual for making requests, but as a form of worship, as the notion of communicating with this higher power is an act of respect. Most persons pray to deities, but some might pray to other types of spirits, and some might even pray to the universe or nature.
Prayer is hardly to be considered cultic. For the most part, prayer is harmless, and while no gods might be listening or doing anything about such requests, it doesn't hurt to say a prayer, and sometimes, when we have nothing else we can do about a certain situation, prayer might be our only alternative. In addition to this, prayer sometimes helps to relax us and ease our stress.
But while prayer is generally harmless, most persons don't think about or even realize that are potential harmful consequences that can come from prayer. The root problem is that prayer really doesn't work. We're not saying that it doesn't have any positive effects and that we know for sure it doesn't work, but this is what all of the research so far has shown. Since it doesn't work, praying becomes a waste of valuable time. When you are praying, you could be out there instead doing the work or putting in the effort to get what you want in the first place. Only hard work and persistence get you what you want. Sitting on your butt all day praying for it doesn't. If what you request is not something that you can work for, then just think of all the constructive things you could be doing while you're praying. And this is the main problem.
What starts to happen with many cult members, is that when you pray, you start to think of prayer as an acceptable alternative to actually working towards getting what it is you want. Because prayer does not work, you are wasting your time getting nothing while you could be out there trying to actually work towards your goal. Think about if you are unemployed and badly need a job. What you should be doing is going out there looking for work and filling out applications. The wrong thing to do is to only pray about it. This can start out insignificant, but can grow to the extreme. To show you what we mean, consider how some parents actually pray for their sick children to recover instead of actually taking them to the hospital. Many children have died as a result of this exact cultic activity. When this happens, prayer becomes more than simple innocent gesture, it becomes a dangerous tool of ignorance and laziness, and in some cases, even death. Over all, prayer has the potential to increase a person's tendency to become very superstitious.
And when you become superstitious, that's another set of problems. Often, all it takes is for a person to pray and get something they wanted just once, and that sets them up for life in the belief that prayer works. They forget about all the other prayers that went unanswered, and they do not even consider for a moment that it could have been just a coincidence. Coincidences do happen.
Now, in addition to these cultic properties involving prayer, the 4th Watch has some additional practices, behaviors, and beliefs regarding prayer that are also of a cultic nature.
The 4th Watch holds the belief that prayer does in fact work and is a true way to communicate with God. Unfortunately, they also teach that prayer is more important than actually doing the work necessary to get what you want. They teach that God is your provider. They teach that by not praying or relying on something else to get what you want, you somehow are betraying God. By not praying, they imply that you are basically telling God that you don't need him and that relying on yourself is more reliable than relying on him. It's like disconnecting yourself from God, which ultimately of course leads to Satan.
And unfortunately, because of this, there are 4th Watch pastors who actually teach to their congregation that prayer is more important than seeking medical attention. This is because God is your healer and for all of the reasons we just mentioned. We will state that one 4th Watcher has told us that this idea of praying instead of seeking medical attention is not an official teaching of their religion. If that is the case, then we are certainly happy about that. But, it is a fact that certain pastors have preached this in the church to their members. Even if it is not an official part in their doctrine, clearly you have 4th Watchers believing it, and, it is no wonder why with all of the things that they do teach about prayer concerning how important it is in order to avoid betraying God. This is what such superstition does to them. And yes, the 4th Watchers are extremely superstitious.
A cultic feature of the 4th Watch is the way you are supposed to pray. Of course, mainstream religions have special prayers to say and even certain words that are expected in the prayer, such as "amen" in order for the prayer to be recognized. But in the 4th Watch, you have to say prayers in a strict method, otherwise, you are taught that the prayer is not valid and God will not answer it. I don't know if it's because he can't hear it unless you say some magic words or if it's because he chooses to ignore you because you do not follow his technique. But in any case, your prayer is no good.
According to the 4th Watch, when you pray, you have to acknowledge four parts which are followed through the A.C.T.S. model. The A.C.T.S. model is the system used for 4th Watch prayer, and it is an acronym that stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. You are to acknowledge each one of these concepts in your prayer, and in that order.
The first part of the prayer is adoration. When you first pray, you have to babble a bunch of things about how much you love God. Once you're done adoring him, you move onto confession. Here, you confess what things you have done wrong and what sins you've committed. After that, you have one more thing to do before you can ask him what it is you want. You now are in thanksgiving mode. At this point, you are to keep thanking him over and over again for all that he's done for you, whether it's good or bad. After you have adored him, confessed to him, and thanked him, you now have the right to finally ask for something. That is the step of supplication. This is where you can go ahead and ask for that new bike that you've wanted, or anything else such as for your father to survive surgery, or simply for forgiveness of a sin you've committed.
Even after all that, you are still required to say the traditional "amen". We can't be certain if it's a rule, but we know that when most 4th Watchers end prayer, before they say "amen", they say something like "in Jesus' name". And after that, they usually say something along the lines of "To God be the glory". There are no simple prayers in the 4th Watch. Each prayer can last for ten minutes or even half an hour. We have sat through prayers that seemed to have last for a lot longer than that.
In addition to the way you are expected to pray, you also must only pray to Jesus, not to the Father, or to God in general, but to Jesus only. You are not allowed to pray to God or the Father directly, but must go through Jesus first. If you do not do this, according to the cult, every prayer you say, God will not hear or he will ignore you. As far as we are aware, this is common practice for most religions of Christianity, but we highly doubt that God would not listen to you simply because you didn't go through the proper chain of command.
Another strange teaching of the 4th Watch church concerning prayer, is this absurd notion that God will also not heed your request if you only pray by yourself and if you do not pray in a church. Apparently, the 4th Watch doctrine states that when you pray, you must be inside a church with other members praying with you, other wise, God will not listen to you. We have a difficult time believing that the 4th Watch really believes this, but this is what was told to one of us by their pastor and we have yet to hear from any 4th Watchers telling us differently.
Obviously, this is a very weird rule of prayer indeed. It is absolutely absurd to think that God will not listen to you if you are not in a church or if you are not praying with other persons. One of the things that persons love about theistic religion is that whenever they feel the need, they can always bow their head and close their eyes and talk to God. Any atheist would love to do that, to have someone like that they can just talk to. And, if a god is that powerful, you'd think he wouldn't care whether you're by yourself or in a church at all. It shouldn't matter.
As you should be able to see, the 4th Watch is a cult just on their views on prayer.
Moving onto ethical issues; the 4th Watch, as many religions do, teach that morals were given to us by God. While this is a pretty mainstream belief among religions, rational persons of course know that this is just not true. We only mention it here though, because it can be a dangerous thing when persons feel that they do not have control of understanding what is right and wrong, moral and immoral.
Religious groups like the 4th Watch teach you to depend on the Bible's example of morality, which obviously isn't a good thing considering all of the immoral things it teaches. But it makes persons susceptible to believe that all of their moral answers are defined in the Bible, when morals in fact come from our own intelligence and wisdom, and through society, we have come to understand what is moral and what is not.
Persons will always have certain disagreements of course, but we do the best we can as a society, and we certainly can't learn our morals from the Bible. But the main point we're trying to make here, is that morality is not given to us by God, it is something we have to understand as human beings. Because if we don't, we can never truly be good. If we rely solely on others for our morals, we as a human race are endangered.
While there are some moral teachings that the 4th Watch does follow, many are completely immoral. We cannot list them or explain them all here, nor do we know all of them, but in this section, we hope to expose several of them. The first one is that 4th Watchers want you to believe that you do not become good persons by doing good things, you only become a good person by believing in someone, in this case, God...and that's just wrong.
One of the things concerning ethics, is that the 4th Watch teaches its followers to love God more than anyone else. One of the basic philosophies of the 4th Watch is to love God more than anyone else and to put God first in your life. This is sick. How would you like to marry a man or woman who puts God above you and your kids, or above the ones you love the most in life?
And as we touched up in the metaphysics section, members are taught to hate themselves and to think of themselves as meaningless sinners. The 4th Watch takes this even further as it teaches that everybody who has ever been born, regardless of anything they might do in life, are already considered sinners and evil persons. No question that nobody is perfect, but to call a newborn evil is ludicrous. This is the type of extreme belief that such a cult has. Just think, all of your children, your infant sons and daughters are considered to be evil by the 4th Watch church. You are evil and your spouse is evil. Your mother and your father, sisters and brothers, and friends are all evil. It doesn't matter who you are, whether you're a national hero or a convicted felon, you are all evil to the 4th Watch church. Of course, anyone with any degree of rationalism knows that this is not the case. It is without question that nobody is perfect, but to accuse a baby of being evil is radical even for a cult. And to think, with such suspicion of evil by everyone, can you just imagine how uncomfortable it must be to be around all those evil persons?
And if that was not enough, the 4th Watch teaches that all sins and wrong doings are equal to one another. In fact, read everything they teach on salvation, and find what they see as ethically acceptable:
Now sin is usually thought of as a bad thing, and that's the idea...that a sin is some sort of wrong-doing, like murder for instance. But if the Bible is true, then God is a very poor judge of morality, and his rules and guidelines are more often than not, immoral. As an example, you would think that murder would indeed be a sin, yet God commands his people to murder many different persons and peoples. He commands that misbehaving children be put to death for example. An example of what God actually considers to be wrong and therefore sinful would be for a woman to speak in church. Occasionally, God does have a good law, such as not to lie, but for the most part, God can only be described as evil, and his laws and commands immoral. So that's the first thing wrong about God's ethical nature.
Here's a second thing; All sins are just as bad. In God's eyes, no sin is better or worse than another. To God, they are all the same. This is a clear violation of basic morality, but this is the way God sees it. It doesn't matter if you do something as small as lying, or as big as murder. Both sins are equally bad. Because of this, persons who try to be good are brought down to the same level as those who do evil. Because of this, either God is imperfect or he is just pure evil.
Now, when someone does something wrong, they often deserve punishment. This makes sense, but God's views on punishment are very extreme and further shows how unloving he can be. Because a sin is a wrong-doing in God's eyes, sin deserves punishment, and the third thing wrong with God's views on ethics is that sin always deserves pubnishment. It does not matter what sin it is, or who commits it. Every sin must be paid for. There are no exceptions. Despite what many Christians teach, it is clear from the Bible that God is either unwilling to be forgiving and merciful, or that he does not have the ability to be at all. So again, he is either imperfect or unloving. Everytime a sin is committed, someone needs to pay for it and be punished.
So if every sin is the same, and if every sin deserves punishment, then it would make sense for every one of them to bring about the same exact punishment...and it does. And what is this great punishment? It's God's number four reason why he is evil. Every sin, no matter what it is, whether it is lying or murder, both deserve the same exact punishment, and that punishment is often death...to be killed by God himself, and then to be tortured in a pit with a lake of fire, called Hell...for an eternity. This is the punishment for every single sin. When someone commits a sin, no matter what it is, this is what they deserve. Now, being tortured as punishment is one thing, but being tortured for an eternity is God's fifth reason why he is evil. It is completely unjust to apply an infinite punishment for a finite crime. In other words, no one, no one at all...no one who lives now, no one who has lived in the past, and no one who will live in the future will ever deserve eternal Hell. There is not a single person who deserves Hell. You can think of the worst criminal, the most horrific monsters who have committed the most horrific crimes, and they are all far from deserving hell. Ironically, the person most deserving of Hell is God himself, but even he does not deserve eternal torture.
Now notice that for punishment, we said someone has to pay. For God, it doesn't matter who pays for the sin, just as long as someone's punished for it. This is the sixth thing wrong about God's ethics...that he would actually allow someone else to take the punishment instead so that the person who did the sin is not the one paying for what he did wrong. But it's not just that. God allows someone who commits a sin to force an innocent person to take the punishment. This is number seven. That's right. This all loving and perfect God actually allows for a sinner to force an innocent person to pay for the other persons's sins.
And how is this done? In the Old Testament days, a sinner would kill a non-human and sacrifice it as an offering to God. This would place the sins onto the innocent animal, and that animal would then take the punishment. The fact that God would allow such a sacrifice is the eighth thing that shows he's evil. But this was only a temporary fix. The fact is, God feels that all humans are evil in nature, and ever since the original sin by Adam and Eve, all humans since were born as sinners...not because they committed any sin yet, but they were sinners because of their parents' sins. This means that being brought into the world made you a sinner, and you are guilty just for being born. Imagine that; deserving eternal torture in hell just for being born. That's the number nine reason why God is evil. But this means that sacrificing an animal to God was only a temporary save for the person who committed sin, because as humans were born sinners, they could not stop sinning, and since their nature was to sin, no matter how many sacrifices they made, ultimately, they were destined for Hell.
So because God saw every human as sinful and therefore was deserving of Hell, and because God would not and/or could not forgive and show mercy to his people, God came up with a crazy idea in the New Testament era on how to fix this problem and save them from eternal damnation...And it's an idea only our Heavenly Father could dream up. What was this crazy yet divine idea? Well as you know, sin always deserves punishment, consisting of eternal torture, and God would allow someone's sins to be forced onto an innocent person instead so that they would take the punishment instead of the actual sinner. So this wonderful and perfectly loving and moral god sent his own son, named Jesus, a completely sinless and innocent person to Earth, and forced him to sacrifice himself in order to take away the sins of others and to be punished for those sins instead, just like how the animals were sacrificed before. That's right. God forced his own son, an innocent person, to be tortured and killed in order to pay for the sins that have been committed by others. Except with God's son, this was considered the ultimate sacrifice. By ultimate sacrifice, we mean that it paid not only for the sins currently being committed, but also every sin that was committed in the past and every sin that will be committed in the future...sins that were often nothing wrong to begin with. And this wonderful plan would of course be number ten on God's list of evil involving salvation.
It is worth mentioning though that despite God's insistance that every sin be paid for and with eternal torture, God did seem to have made an exception for his son. Where everyone else would have to spend an eternity in Hell, Jesus only had to spend three days there. If God stays so perfectly within his own logic, then Jesus should have been committed there forever, but the fact that God allowed an exception shows that he can indeed stray from his "perfect" logic, and therefore should also have been able to do the same for humans. Also, you would think that God would be even more so willing to do that for the humans because Jesus was still God, and therefore could do "no wrong". Because God knew that humans were not perfect, it would be morally fitting and expected that God would cut them a break and hold them to a lower standard, especially since God is the one who made them so imperfect in the first place...But he did no such thing. Both the imperfect humans and the perfect son of God were held to the same exact standards. With that comparison, it is like perhaps expecting both humans and dogs to follow the laws of society exactly the same and to give them both the same kinds of punishments when they don't. Holding a perfect being to a very high standard, but then holding imperfect beings to the same standard is number eleven on the list.
Anyways, sending his own son to be tortured and killed because God can't or won't forgive and show mercy, to a place of eternal torture which he created in the first place? That is the story of salvation. It is very difficult to understand how millions of persons have been convinced that God is perfect, moral, and loving, and that sending his son to die for everyone's sins was an act of love and goodness, when it was really just an act of evil. But the story of salvation is not quite complete. There are three more things that shows that God is evil here.
When God had his own son tortured and killed as a sacrifice, human salvation was not a done deal for everyone. The plan was for everyone who wished to be saved, they would have to actually accept the sacrifice from Jesus, meaning they would have to believe in him in the first place, and to apologize to God for their sins and for the sins of their ancestors. As the Bible says, when Jesus died, God bought every person and they were now his. The acceptance of Jesus Christ's sacrifice and the repentance their own and ancestors' sins was now the only way to be saved. No one from then on was allowed to transfer their sin onto others. You now had to believe in God in order to avoid Hell. Of course, Christians will say that it is not the disbelief that would send anyone to Hell. It is still their sin that sends them there. Not believing in God just keeps them from being saved. But it's really the same thing, because God set up for humans to fail since they were first created. God knew they would sin and he made it so that they would go to Hell if they sinned, and his ultimate plan was to have his son killed so that they could avoid it, and so in the end, humans would ultimately have to believe in God...and if they don't, then they are still going to Hell. In other words, humans have to believe in God, and he will send them to Hell if they don't. That is the twelfth reason God is evil. Plus, regardless of whether or not going to Hell was caused by their own sins; the fact that they were going there for other persons' sins does nothing to help God's moral character. Anyways, add to the fact that humans have no way of knowing whether or not God is real, and that there is no evidence of his existence to show that he is, and you have your thirteenth reason.
The next and last reason why God is evil in the story of salvation is this: When Jesus died and everyone was expected to accept his sacrifice and to believe that he was God in order to avoid Hell, that was basically the only requirement you needed to go to Heaven and achieve salvation. According to some Christian religions, you also needed to live a life according to Biblical scripture, but that when you sinned, all you had to do was ask for forgiveness, and Jesus' sacrifice would have you covered. This means that every person, no matter who you are or what you do, can get into Heaven, just as long as you believe in God. It doesn't matter if you steal, rape, or murder...as long as you ask for forgiveness, you won't have to be punished for your crimes because Jesus was already punished for you. Because of this, any person is allowed to do whatever they want and no one is required to be held accountable for their actions. It is a complete debauchery of morality. It is absolutely unimaginable that a perfectly moral being would allow a rapist and murderer into Heaven only because they believed in God and asked for forgiveness, and yet someone who lived a near perfect moral life would go to Hell only because they did not believe in God. That is number fourteen.
It is clear from all of this, that God is imperfect, immoral, unloving, unforgiving, unmercifal, unjust, unfair, and all above evil. The 4th Watchers even claim that it is perfectly ethical and okay for God to kill you, because he created you. 4th Watchers need to get their ethics straightened out.
Now here are some quotes from 4th Watchers that show how they think ethically:
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You cannot make sense of the evil in your life if you do not have Jesus in your life.
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Mariah Balaoro “I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like that is why there is the Bible to remind us but know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will NOT ask, How many good things have you done in your life?, rather he will ask, How much LOVE did you put into what you did for him?" (;..
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You should have no other love but Christ, you should have no other world but ministry, you should have no other work, but your jobspec
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it is ONLY by God's love I am able to pass on love to others. 1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us.
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Evil can teach us a lesson about life in general such as the existence of good. Evil proves there is good & if there's good, there's God!
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I used to think the purpose of life was to become the best person I can be through worldly achievements such as career success, influence over others, being a good person, etc. God taught me that being my best can only be achieved by following Jesus Christ.
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Like Hebrews 11:17-19, we all have an Isaac in our lives and like Abraham, by faith, we should offer it as a sacrifice! Glory to God!
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Science of course, is the ultimate methodology in the gaining and understanding of knowledge. The concept of science started with ancient Greek geniuses such as Aristotle and Pythagoras. As time went on, its methods were improved, and Renaissance geniuses such as Galileo and Copernicus helped to create the scientific method as it is today.
The rejection of science and the acceptance of faith is truly a cultic property of an organization. It might not always seem that obvious to those who never think about it, but such behavior is truly dangerous not only to members of a cult, but non-members too, as well as the whole planet.
A long time ago, when we didn't have much knowledge or any concept of how to learn knowledge, we often believed in things that simply weren't true, and we made up our own explanations to answer the questions we had about our existence. This is how many of our religions, which consisted of the supernatural and deities, were formed. Through science, we started to actually learn the real truth, and we could explain things now, and know how things really happen, instead of believing folklore. Through science, most religions today such as Christianity and Islam have been discredited and verified as untrue. It is through science, that we have gone from hunter and gatherer cavepersons to the advanced civilizations we have today.
However, religions still exist, as it has been very difficult to introduce many persons who were raised to believe in the old ways to the new ways of science and true knowledge, and to properly teach them and to inscribe this true knowledge into them. This is because so many persons are still too used to knowing the incorrect teachings they were taught beforehand. They are just too comfortable believing in their gods and goddesses.
Also, many religions teach negative concepts concerning morality. Such as, persons enjoy not having to answer to civilized authorities when doing something wrong. They would rather just pray to a god to forgive them, and this makes their behavior justified in their minds. Basically, this excuses them from having to act in a moral manner. Just as well, many religions teach negative concepts concerning social involvement. Such as, many persons who are still religious are encouraged to pray rather than to learn, and that it is more important to worship than to contribute to the civilization they are a part of. Also, as it was very common in the olden days, persons of dominant religions still believe that if they reject their religion and accept science, that their gods will punish them and that they will be tortured when they die. In other words, there are still so many religious persons who are still just too superstitious to let science give them true knowledge.
In addition to all of this, churches actively teach against science because they know that science will lead members away from them and will no longer want to be members of the church. Because those who are religious must ignore evidence and believe what they do without such evidence, they are forced to base their beliefs on faith instead. Believing in faith means you believe in something simply because you want to believe it, not because there is any evidence to support it.
When you believe in something on faith, rather than evidence, you are simply believing in something only because you want to, and which is not supported by science and thus is probably not really true at all. Accepting religion through faith and rejecting science through evidence is unwise, dangerous, and immoral. It is because of science that we have unlocked so many mysteries of the universe and our existence. It is because of science that we have all of the great technologies we do today. It is because of science that we have reduced the suffering of those who are ill and have extended the lives of so many persons. All religion has ever done is made us believe in things that weren't true, with the addition of making weak-minded superstitious persons starting wars, killing others, making the lives of all persons as miserable as possible, and limiting and even throwing back the progress that the human race has accomplished on this planet. Imagine if everyone believed in a flat earth, talking serpents, and angry gods. Unfortunately, there are those religious fools who still believe in these very things!
The Pentecostal Missionary Church of Christ (4th Watch) is of course, a religion, so it should be no surprise that they still believe in many false teachings and believe in things like deities and magic. Also, as with many religions, they reject science by basing their beliefs on faith rather than evidence. They have the principal philosophy of "living by faith, not by sight", which is very cultic, since it is extremely dangerous to live life with this kind of attitude. While some cults pretty much eliminate all scientific benefits as they possibly can, the 4th Watch does not do this. For instance, some cults refuse to drive cars or use electricity. That is not the case with the 4th Watch cult. In fact, they embrace advanced technologies when they can, using computers and going on TV to spread their message. However, even though they have no problem with enjoying the benefits and knowledge that science has brought them, they still dismiss much of what science has done for the world, while still believing in their religious nonsense, and dismissing the importance of science itself. In other words, they find joy in ridiculing science while enjoy benefiting from it.
The 4th Watch church discourages the use of science for several reasons. Among these reasons is that 4th Watchers like many other religious persons, are just too used to the teachings of their parents which they were brought up in. Many 4th Watchers are just too comfortable believing in what they believe, such as their god and their apostle. The 4th Watch is very cultic in the way it encourages prayer and worship, and they encourage such behavior such as worship over study, prayer over medicine, and church attendance over work. With attitudes that cause these behaviors, science is also deemed not as important, and faith always encouraged over evidence.
Also, as with many religions and especially cults, the 4th Watch teaches that accepting science over religion is behavior which deserves the punishment of their god, and members are threatened with not only punishment, but death and suffering in hellfire for the rest of their lives after they die. The 4th Watch members are just way too superstitious to reject their religion and accept science. Further more, the cult knows that science has the potential to lure members away from the cult into mainstream organizations, particularly secular ones. This is not good for the 4th Watch or their apostle, as the more members learn about science, the less control he will have and the more potential there is for members to leave the cult. And that of course, means less money and power for the cult leader.
We have mentioned how the 4th Watch rejects scientific understanding, and that is made extremely evident in their views on creation, but also on geology as well.
The first thing we will mention here is their ridiculous teaching that the Earth is very young compared to the old age that science has shown it to be. We do not know their official number, but the 4th Watch holds the same belief that many churches do that the Earth is only about 6,000 to 12,000 years old. Educated persons know that this is complete nonsense, and that scientists have estimated the Earth to be about 4 billion years old. Despite all the evidence which verifies such an old Earth, Christians and 4th Watchers know that believing this will harm their religion, so they deny it. Even several mainstream churches today have had to give in and admit that the Earth is much older. Because of this, it has become increasingly unusual to still hold onto this belief that the Earth is only a few thousand years old.
Continuing our discussion of geology, the 4th Watch's superstitious teachings hold that natural disasters are of course the work of God's wrath as punishment. Of course, we've known for a long time now that lightning does not strike just because Zeus gets pissed off at his people, and we know that earthquakes don't happen because God gets angry in a similar fashion. We know that natural disasters have nothing to do with the emotions or works of supernatural deities.
The 4th Watch is the type of cult that will teach you that when a tornado hits or a tsunami strikes, it is because God is angry and has caused the disaster to happen. What things would make God do this? Believe it or not, it's usually homosexuality. Apparently, God hates homosexuality so much, that he'll create a gigantic wave in the ocean to destroy a whole civilization. Or maybe it's because a few persons down south practice Voodoo. Yes, natural disasters are the results of homosexuality and voodoo. We mean, it makes perfect sense right? But their favorite belief behind natural disasters is that they are a sign of the "end times". These are the strange and ultimately dangerous teachings that the 4th Watch cult wants you to believe. Only the most of superstitious persons believe in dumb things like this, but it is these kinds of weak-minded individuals that the cult attracts.
Just look at what the sub-cult leader Himself, Jonathon Ferriol says about this:
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Because of sin, people die...because of sin, people get sick...because of sin, we have all this calamity and devastation, like the one we recently saw from Japan. All of this is brought about because of man's sin.
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Now let's talk about health and medicine. One thing that is typical of cults is how they dismiss science and reject modern medicine. Typical cults would rather believe that illness is caused by demons rather than viruses, that prayer is a more powerful treatment than medicine, and that worship is more important than healing itself. What is the 4th Watch's stance on this?
The 4th Watch does acknowledge that ailments do come from verified sources, such as viruses, bacteria, and problems originating within the body and mind, but they also do teach that demons or the lack of one's closeness to Jesus can also cause such problems. Further more, we have personally seen the church place higher importance of prayer than medical treatment. Many of its users are nurses, which is scary considering that they work within our medical field, but the fact that they do understand how certain medical treatments are useful is encouraging. Still, when you have pastors who preach to come to church when you're sick instead of going to a hospital, that is very scary indeed. Their philosophy is that you must believe that God is your healer, and if God is your healer, then you must pray for his healing when you are ill, because if you seek medical treatment over prayer, then you are in a sense, betraying God. In addition to this, the 4th Watch teaches that you are nothing, and that you are obligated to worship God as your lord. Being sick is no excuse not to worship. If you do not worship because you're sick, then you are sinning. Because of this, many 4th Watch members still go to church to worship even when they are sick. Apparently, you being healed is not important. Worshipping is.
Typically, only cults take a position like this. The dangers of living this way are extremely dangerous and plenty of persons in the past have died because of these very beliefs. Sadly, many of these victims have been children. This is because they are so powerless, and they rely on their cultic parents to do the right thing for them, and unfortunately, the parents feel that asking God to heal their children is more effective than taking them to get professional medical help. Further more, parents drag their sick kids to church to worship their god when they should be home resting and eating soup. I cannot confirm that anyone in the 4th Watch cult has died to due to this dangerous ignorance, but we wouldn't be surprised if it has already happened or if it will some day. This issue has always been one of the most dangerous aspects of cults and continues to be.
The truth is, there is no healing in prayer. When you are sick, you need to get the proper medical treatment you need. Further more, every 4th Watcher needs to understand that their health and the health of their kids come before worshipping their imaginary god. In addition to making yourselves sicker by coming to church instead of staying at home, by doing this, you are putting everybody else's health in jeopardy as well.
Now, we have been told by a certain cult member that this is not an official stance of the cult and that not all members follow this doctrine. If this is truly the case, then this is a very good thing indeed. However, what this member has to understand, is that we have heard with our own ears a 4th Watch pastor preach this very message and we have seen with our own eyes 4th Watch members who have come to church sick rather than stay home to heal, because they felt that worship was more important and that they would be healed through prayer. Even if this is not an official philosophy of the cult, with all the crap that the 4th Watch teaches, this is the kind of thinking that often develops.
As most intelligent persons know, the Bible is almost entirely anti-female, and many cults treat women poorly because of this. Fortunately, the 4th Watch goes against the Bible in this regard and does not preach an entirely anti-female philosophy. In fact, women are treated pretty well in the 4th Watch. Women are very active in the church and it's not just sexual slavery as the Bible would have it be. Women have leadership roles and are not just expected to cook and have sex with their husbands...or the cult leader, which is how it should be.
We will talk about the unbiblical characteristics of treating females equally later on, but Arsenio Ferriol knows that it is not moral or politically correct to treat women the way that the Bible commands him to. If he followed these verses, then his church really would look like a cult, not only to educated persons, but to almost everybody. He would not have very good support of his church and by having females in his cult who are treated equally, he only stands to make more money. After all, women today have about just as much money as men do, so why not take it from them as well?
But we do have a few things to say about females in the 4th Watch. While this particular cult treats women pretty fairly for the most part, the 4th Watch is not completely innocent when it comes to female equality. It is still the church's stance that men are to be the head of the household and families. The women are expected to support their husbands in all of their leadership decisions.
Here are some snippets from the 4th Watch Southbay website that talks a little about men and women in their church. Reading about the men's ministry, you can see how they are expected to be the head of the household. Comparing both the men's and women's ministries, you can get an idea of just how much more important and favored men are over women.
About the Men's Ministry:
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The Men after God's own heart, as King David was given this title, our men in PMCC 4th Watch Southbay aims to know God's revelation in their individual life as well as for their purpose as the head of their household in serving God. Through this ministry, the men are able to fellowship, conduct sports activities and feast upon God's words through public evangelism and outreach. God's word serves as a mirror, a sword, and a refuge; with this they are given to deeper understanding of the scriptures and a wider grasp of the knowledge of God's love.
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Now about the Women's Ministry:
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Women's Ministry was created to give the women time to fellowship with one another. Through this ministry women are able to find someone to be their confidant, a shoulder to lean on or just a friend to talk to, not only during services but even in their private time. Every fellowship consists of meditation and study of the holy scriptures, in various form of activities depending on their celebration or fellowship. Women's Ministry is designed to bring out the best in them; as a woman of faith, as a woman with noble character and a woman obedient to God.
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It is clear from reading the 4th Watch's own website that men are still considered more important than women and that God still favors male over female. Men are still seen as the "leaders" and "warriors" of God, yet the women always are the weaker sex, needing other women to "cry" to and to make sure that they always remain " faithful and obedient". From this alone you can tell that the cult was created by a man. It is sickening to know that young girls are taught this about themselves.
We want to make it clear that we find nothing wrong with a family who wishes a traditional setup with the man being the head and the woman being the supporter. What we do have a problem with is the church forcing this concept on women and families. And we also hate it how Christian churches such as this one attempts to project the idea into persons' heads that men are always strong and favored by God while women are always weak and favored less by God. This kind of treatment is unacceptable in our opinion.
In addition to this, the 4th Watch teaches that in the times of the Old Testament, females did not even "count " to God. Basically, females were soulless and would not have an afterlife or go to Heaven. The 4th Watch does teach that Jesus changed this, but what is outrageous is that both males and females in the cult do not frown one bit on the fact that there was a time when God cared nothing for his female creations. 4th Watch females are just expected to be okay with this and what is most sickening is that they are.
Now, we are happy that females are treated mostly well, and again, there are churches that are far worse, but we find it absolutely disgusting that they are still being viewed as nothing more than "the weaker sex who are meant to be helpers of their husbands". And we also hate it that women in the 4th Watch are completely accepting of their less valuable roles and God's rejection in Biblical history. While females are for the most part treated well, as long as they are still seen in this manner, we do not see the 4th Watch as an entirely female equal church. In other words, they're still second to men and still second class citizens.
Now for everybody's favorite topic...sex. Sex can play a huge role in the world of cults. Some cults embrace sex to excessive and irresponsible levels. Practices range from sexual rituals to mating with the cult leader in order to become a member. But many cults look down upon sex, even considering the act itself to be immoral and sinful. Thus, members are taught to abstain from it as much as possible. So what are the 4th Watch's views on sex?
The 4th Watch church contains pretty common views on sexuality of many Christian cults and mainstream religions. Sex is not exactly forbidden, and can be enjoyed, but it is taught that sex is only supposed to be between a man and a woman, who are married. Premarital sex is forbidden. Homosexuality is forbidden. Multiple partners is forbidden. Pornography is forbidden. Masturbation is forbidden. Sexual fantasies are forbidden. Pastors are not allowed to marry outside the church. All of these sexual practices are considered dirty and sinful. Engaging in them qualifies you to be damned to eternal hellfire. We are unsure about certain other sexual practices such as oral sex and anal sex, or other forms of sexual expression such as bondage and role-playing, though we're willing to bet that all of these are looked at in the same way as the others. We are also curious to know their stance on birth control, which we have not yet learned, though we would also not be surprised if they are also against these things as well.
It is really a shame that the 4th Watch and other religions have these kinds of views on sex. Sex should not be viewed as dirty or sinful, rather as beautiful and wonderful. There is nothing wrong with sex between a man and woman who are married, but there is also nothing wrong with premarital sex, homosexuality, multiple partners, pornography, masturbation, sexual fantasies, or marrying outside of your religion. However, when it comes to sex, those who engage in it MUST do so responsibly. Sex should be fun, and there are many ways to feel sexually satisfied. There is no reason to limit yourself sexually, just as long as you do it safely and responsibly. Just as well, we find beauty in someone holding onto their virginity and giving it away to someone who they wait for to marry. We wish more persons did this. But this kind of life should not be forced on anybody, and that is what we have the most issue with.
Since we have already talked about sexuality in general, we know that the 4th Watch is another religious organization that condemns homosexuality. We make special mention of it because like many cults, the 4th Watch especially despises this particular concept, not only within the category of sexuality, but the 4th Watch views homosexuality as one of the worst sins anyone could ever commit. The sin of homosexuality includes both gay and lesbian sexuality, gay sex, gay fantasies, and gay marriage. Even concepts such as gay adoption and gays serving in the military or as leaders is frowned upon.
The 4th Watch cult firmly believes that homosexuals deserve to die and burn in Hell forever. They view homosexuality as dangerous, sinful, immoral, evil, and an abomination to God. And it is absolutely forbidden by the cult. According to the 4th Watch, homosexuality is so sinful, that engaging in any type of homosexual behavior is worthy of punishment by both God and the cult itself. Of course, they teach that all homosexuals will be punished by God through death and torture in Hell. The cult will deny equal rights within the cult for anyone who is gay. Having gay sex is punishable by being denied communion or public condemnation in the church. But the truth is, homosexuals are not even welcome in the church at all. To be gay means you'd have to be so in secret.
Now, the more you read this, the more you'll know that the main goal of the cult is to make money for their leader, even if that's not what they claim. So if homosexuals can give the church money, why wouldn't they accept homosexuals with as much welcoming arms as everyone else? The ugly truth is, the 4th Watch is not only a cult and a business, but it is also a hate group. While it is true that homosexuals can give just as much money to the cult and to their leader, the fact is, the cult and its leader hate homosexuals. And they use the Bible and their religion to justify that hatred. To them, welcoming homosexuals would just "dirty" their church, as they are viewed as disgusting creatures, flaws of humanity. Also, the cult knows that if they allowed homosexuals to penetrate their church, because of such hatred, so many members would leave the cult, and thus they would make less money anyway. And in any case, since they teach that the Bible is the word of God, and since the Bible specifically condemns homosexuals, to teach anything else would only show the cult members that the leader does not teach from the Bible like he says he does.
Of course, any sane person knows there is nothing wrong with homosexuality. We could write a whole book on why homosexuality is not an immoral lifestyle like the 4th Watch and other Christians say it is. Since that is not the point of this paper, we will not go into all that here, but we will just say a few things.
First, let us restate what we said earlier. There is absolutely nothing wrong or immoral about homosexuality. It is beautiful, healthy, and just another form of sexual and romantic expression. Anyone who is against it is a hater and bigot. Bigots are equivalent to the particles of dirt that gets stuck under your shoe as you step on them. You don't have to like homosexuality, but anyone who wishes to force others to have sex with and to love only those persons that they themselves enjoy being with, don't deserve to live any place where freedom and equality are the rights of all citizens.
It is wrong for anyone to force their way of life on others. If you are straight, fine. But if someone loves someone who happens to be of the same sex, let that person live the way he or she wants to. Imagine that you're a man who loves women and someone came along and tried to force you to be attracted to other men. Just as you couldn't do it if you're straight, a gay person can't be forced to be attracted to someone of the opposite sex. When you add to the fact that there is nothing wrong about homosexual attractions, there is no reason to try to change a homosexual. If you enjoy living a life of love, freedom, and equality, then let homosexuals enjoy the same kind of life.
We know that the 4th Watchers hate gays, and this is only more evidence of the fact that they belong to a cultic hate group. Concerning homosexuality, there is no point that can be made in their favor, and no argument that cannot be refuted. Fortunately, the acceptance of this lifestyle is growing and cannot be stopped, not even by a cultic church that claims to be the one true church of Almighty Bigoted God.
Now to a more global scale. The 4th Watch is so irresponsible in their quest for money and power, that they put so many persons in danger. This is because their irresponsibility extends to putting the planet in danger as well. Remember, cults ruin the lives of its members, but can affect non-members as well, and in this case, the world. It is one thing to teach immorality and to engage in irresponsible practices, but many persons don't realize just how much damage cults like the 4th Watch can do to those who aren't even members. This is why persons who have no interest in religion need to get involved, to help protect the world form cults like the 4th Watch. Because if we sit back and do nothing, we risk losing everything.
One of the principle philosophies of the 4th Watch cult is that the world is "not important". The church's stance is that since this world is just a temporary place before we all enter Heaven or Hell, it is not worth taking care of. Their view is that if you show love to the world, you are not showing love to the lord your god. If you love the world, you are a lover of the creation and not the creator. They believe that if you begin to love the world, you will begin to worship it and they equate to taking care of your planet as worshipping the planet. Can you imagine teaching this philosophy to its most trusting members? Can you imagine the consequences of this? It is enough to make any decent person in this world's skin crawl. They use the following verse as a basis for this environmental view:
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1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
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The 4th Watch denies global warming. Despite the abundance of scientific evidence that tells us that the Earth is getting warmer and why, which includes being caused by human beings, as explained previously, they are taught to ignore scientific evidence. The cult does not care about the planet, or its members. The cult knows that if they choose to go along with what the science shows, then they would lose control over their members. By having its members worship God, praising their apostle, and focusing all of their love and attention on them, members are kept under control. If members were to start taking care of their planet, then that would take away from the leader and his cult.
Because they do not care about the state of our planet, which they consider to be a short temporary home, the 4th Watch irresponsibly teaches that it is not necessary to be careful with the use of our planet's precious resources. They teach that conserving resources is unnecessary, because God will always provide for them while we live our short lives on this temporary home. They believe that God will provide the world with whatever resources we need.
The danger and irresponsibility of the 4th Watch concerning our environment is undeniable. It is perhaps the most dangerous threat because it affects us all. If everyone felt the way that this cult does, our Earth would be doomed. Even if persons do not believe that the Earth is getting warmer or that it comes from man-made causes, any moral person understands that we need to take care of our planet, because at this time, it is our only home. We cannot put our lives or planet in danger because we believe that there is a god who we believe will make everything okay. And this is one of the biggest reasons why Christian cults like the 4th Watch need to be stopped.
Now we have gotten some emails from 4th Watchers who were angry with what we said regarding the 4th Watch cult's views on the environment. They insisted that this is not what they teach. One 4th Watcher who is obviously ignorant of its own doctrines insisted that whenever they talk about not loving the world, they just mean not to love the immoralities of the world; But this is not true. Pastors have been clear about this subject; that because the Earth is temporary, there is no need to worry about it, because some day we'll have an eternity in Heaven.
We found a video of a sermon given by the head pastor and sub-cult leader Jonathan Ferriol himself, where he confirms much of what we have informed you about in this article. So, you can read his own words and see that what we say is the truth, and that we are not merely making up information to make the cult look bad.
In the video, Jonathon Ferriol was giving a sermon about the end of the world, and that it was going to be happening soon. The subject was about the signs that we are receiving and what they mean to us. He stated what we've been saying all along; that the Earth is temporary, and to not worry about it because we're going to Heaven some day. He repeatedly says how the Earth isn't beautiful, and how it is dying. Now in the sermon he gives, he is not just referring to the Earth alone; He also implies about how our dreams and desires are not important either, but that is only part of the message. A big part is all about our planet. Even if he wasn't even referring to our planet at all, any message about not caring about our dreams and desires has a serious impact on the planet, despite what any 4th Watcher might say. Further more, any message about dreams and desires not being important is a horrible message by itself as well. There is no excuse for these kinds of horrible cultic messages.
Here is part of that sermon, coming straight from Jonathan Ferriol's mouth:
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We must understand that this world is decomposing. This planet is decaying. There was a time that the issue of environment is not even an issue in the election, but right now, it's almost impossible to win the presidency or a seat in the congress or a seat in the mayoralty race without having a platform about the environment. There was a time when you could just build anywhere. Right now, you need to pass this stringent environmental codes and laws. The reason is because we are trying to preserve the Earth, because this Earth is being ruined by our flagrant consumption and use.
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Now don't believe that he's talking about th 4th Watchers being concerned about the state of the planet. When he says "we are trying to preserve the Earth", he is only referring to how most persons in developed countries are trying to take care of it. They are not implying that the 4th Watch is actually trying to preserve the Earth. Hearing this at first might give you the incorrect impression, but then he goes on to say:
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Now, if planet Earth is dying, more so the life in the world. Our morality is going down to the dogs. Our spirituality is becoming more flawed, and in many parts of the world, it is no longer there, it has become already void and absent. This world is dying, morally speaking, as well as physically speaking. That is why we need to understand certain things as we see these hardships. If our world is temporal; if our world is passing and fading away and disappearing, why invest in this world? That's the argument there.
If you see the world dying, why would you invest in a dying investment? Why would you invest your time and energy in a project that is gasping for its last breath? The book of Matthew chapter 6 verse 19; Jesus Christ our savior himself said do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth, where thieves break in. Do not; Because eventually whatever you attempt to invest, whatever you seek to invest will eventually disappear, because this world and its system is dying. It is futile. It's vain. You cannot bet on the world, because it's a losing card. You're gonna' end up losing more than you can gain. This world is dying, so you should not invest in this world, rather invest in God's kingdom.
Now I have nothing against dreams for decent living. By all means, find a job, and be able to live a decent life; but do not let your earthly ambitions get in the way of your heavenly ambitions; Because in this world, everything will eventually pass away. So even if you lose your house here on earth, if you have a mansion on Heaven; that's good enough.
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This is true cultic talking he have going on here. You know that you are dealing with messed up and evil persons when they tell you not to invest in the world, to not let your earthly ambitions get in the way of acheiving something supernatural like Heaven; a place that exists only in the realms of our imaginations. This planet that we are on now is our home. We should be "ambitious" about taking care of it.
But Mr. Cult Face disagrees. He concludes this point in his sermon quite nicely with the following:
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And so in the book of 1st John chapter 2 verse 15-17, there the apostle John exhorts us not to love the world, or the things of the world, because this world, the Bible says, this world in its present form is passing away. It says there, the world and its desires pass away. To God be the glory. Do not invest. Do not love the world; Because the world is not beautiful, the world is not pretty, the world is not pleasent; it is a corpse. It's already a cadaver. The ideas of the world are dead. There's nothing you can gain from it. There's no use loving what is dead.
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You cannot deny that the 4th Watch cares nothing for our planet. The world is dying? Don't love something that's dying? There is NO excuse for this. The PMCC 4th Watch is a dangerous cult, and this message given to us by its head pastor and sub-leader Jonathon Ferriol proves it. This is why it is so important that we are exposing the the teachings of this horrible cult. Please do not ignore this. We need to act. We need to keep our children away from these persons who would actually have the wicked nerve to tell them not to care about our only current home in the universe. Don't listen to them. Every one of us needs to do all that we can to protect the environment and to take care of the Earth. We cannot let superstition ruin our world and our lives; but that is what the 4th Watch church is intent on doing.
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Page 5
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