Hi everyone, my name is Martha.
I've got a great story -- while I didn't always enjoy it, I do enjoy telling it!
At 17, fleeing from traditional Christian doctrine, I joined a cult for 30 years, and left in 2009 with a troubled arranged marriage, three magnificent teenage daughters, and a brutally crushed spirit.
The doctrine of the Unification Church, I've come to believe, is a demonic construct from the pits of hell (really!! -- OK, Sheol), and its founder the late Reverend Moon is one who surely hopes that hell is not a place of eternal torment!
Less a year after abandoning the tightly knit organization that demanded every waking minute and every conscious thought -- to which I was literally enslaved in body and mind -- Jesus scooped me up from the bottom of my despair, showed his eternal (really eternal, not aionios!!) glory to me, and set my feet upon a rock. I landed in a Foursquare Church, Charismatic Pentacostal, where they taught me everything I needed to know about the Bible, Christian life, being grounded and rooted in Him -- and Greek exegesis.
I was overjoyed to come to know Jesus and the freedom granted by his gift of forgiveness -- especially since I had been laboring for three decades to carve out and secure my own redemption by practicing a very elaborate and exacting theology of "indemnification of sin." Over the last few years all the false beliefs and strongholds that had crowded my psyche were rooted out in a process that was less than joyful and more like a series of root canals.
As I became free from the false doctrine, I made peace with the things that I really didn't understand and that really aren't that clear, like the rapture and the end times. But, as I told the Lord frequently, I really did miss one of the central tenants of Moon's doctrine, which resembles Apokatastis -- that all things, included Satan and his angels, will be restored to their original position of glory. I asked God, "How could Moon's evil beliefs be more magnanimous than Christianity?"
At first, in an attempt at doctrinal obedience to my home church, I reasoned that since Unification Thought was from demons, the restoration of even the devil was wishful thinking on their part.
But as I continued to wrestle with this, I finally broke down and told the Lord that there was no way I could witness to someone about His love, if in fact there were limits and restrictions to it, with regards to Eternal Conscious Torment, or Annihilation. It made less sense to me than the belief I once had, that Moon was the Second Coming of Christ.
After stumbling upon words of Isaac of Nysaa in a devotional, I googled him to discover to my great awe and amazement that such an ancient dude could hold the belief of "Universal Reconciliationism." I had thought it was pure heresy. But to find a godly man -- a true Christian by anyone's definition -- who argued for the restoration of hell and salvation of all creatures? It opened a floodgate of relief to my soul and I declared on a beach in San Francisco, on May 17, 2016, that I am a Universalist, and that if the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a God of Eternal Conscious Torment for the damned, then I did not want any part of that salvation.
I had taught myself Korean in order to study Moon's "holy" words in the original language years ago; it seemed perfectly obvious to me, when I began seriously searching the scriptures after Jesus yanked me out of the depths, to learn Greek to study the NT in its original form -- and so I had been doing for the last five years.
It didn't take more than a New York minute to understand that aionios had been horribly mistranslated and that the gospel had been brutally distorted by translators and their leadership.
Up to that time, I had told people who ask that the differences between English and the original Greek text were subtle, that it was enriching to read scripture in the Greek but that there were no significant differences.
Now I can't stop thinking about what happened?? How did the Church get hijacked? It's not one verse or even one word that got mistranslated: EVERY VERSE that refers to this topic has been twisted!! How did I just stumble upon the greatest conspiracy of all times??? How has this vestige of midieval madness managed to thoroughly dominate and saturate the beacon of the Gospel over the last century? And what about all the thoughtful people of our day who have rejected Christianity outright because of this barbarous quality attributed to God? The butchers of ISIS can be seen as more merciful; they only kill once.
I have been so distracted lately -- almost unable to perform my daily tasks because my attempts at concentrating on anything are interruped by an overwhelming urge to inhale Internet references on these topics, journal about my discoveries, and research verse after verse in two languages and many translations. I usually go on a 20-mile bicycle training ride in the mornings, where I get some of my best praying done. Recently I can barely get 9 miles in because I keep stopping to look up verses on blueletterbible.com...
I was so excited to tell my three best friends: now they are praying for me to be delivered from disobedience and delusionary thinking.
So yeah. That's my story.
So excited to come to believe this in a time when i'm able to find like-minded saints on the Internet.
Sincerely,
Martha
Hello Martha! :hiya: I'm very excited that you are here! Every new brother or sister who is shown (gifted with) the full victorious gospel is an awesome event and spreads that victory.
I loved your story and your descriptive phrases.. like "midieval madness"! And how the hell myth makes our Heavenly Father appear to be "worse than ISIS, who only kills once".
Yes, the greatest conspiracy! And so baffling as to how His own children (of this age/present life) could possibly believe it! :faint:
Welcome to this wonderful forum! I hope we shall hear lots from you around here! And bless you for telling your story!!
:banana: :smile:
WELCOME, MARTHA!
Welcome, that is, to the best site in the www!
My own researches into the origins of Hell have led me to conclude that masses of pagans entering the church came in with some intellectual and theo-illogical baggage. The Greeks brought in Hades, the Latins, Inferno, and the northern Europeans had their Hel, Helheim, Helle, Hella, etc. So "Hel" is pagan, but "Hell" is Christian? It makes no sense. It all began by seeing in a magazine, a depiction of the Tibetan Buddhist hell - it was very much like the "Christian" Hell, except for the artistic style. It gelled in my mind: "Where did our ideas of Hell come from?" Now I've written Heaven, Yes - Hell, No, which you can find in Hellbusters Hallow. I spent over a year in research and writing.
BTW, I thought "Unification Church" before you said it. Earmarks, you know.
Welcome! :friendstu:
Very interesting and inspiring story Martha. Glad that you came to the tent. :dsunny:
Enjoyed your intro, and glad you're so Jesus-centered and scripture-respecting. Amen, and welcome! You can add things to our efforts here.
Ah the journey and the glory. God is so gracious. Blessings, and Welcome to Tentmaker!
Hello Martha,
As I read your post, this verse came to mind:
Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. [Phl 4:7 NLT]
Glad you're here,
Pat
Welcome Martha !!
May God continue to bless your heart , with more of Him. :HeartThrob:
Hi Martha,
I love your enthusiasm and commitment!
I look forward to our conversations, here on Tentmaker.
Be blessed!
D. :girlheart:
:welcome: :girlheart:
Welcome Martha!
Welcome to the Tent Martha. Thank you for sharing your testimony and God Bless You :welcome:
Thank you all for your warm welcome and kind comments, I'm still trying to figure out the board, and I'm not sure if each of you will see this?
But I really appreciate it!
Thanks again,
Martha
Welcome, Martha. Nice to have you here.
You tell a painful and somewhat familiar story. I suspect the only reality 'Hell' has is in stories like this. Wish it didn't even have those, of course but at least they tend to end with escape - although sometimes with flames licking at heals so to speak.
Hope we can help put out that fire. :smile:
He'll save :laugh:
Of course, I was referring to the pain, anger, baggage etc. this horrid doctrine can produce. That's the fire I'm hoping we can help with. But we may be talking at cross-purposes.
Amen! 🙂💕
Quote from: marie glen on July 01, 2016, 08:04:42 PM
Amen! 🙂💕
:smile: Are those two faint little squares meant to be there at the end of your post, Marie? I don't recognize or understand them.