This will sound extreme, but I honestly believe before God Almighty that every "church" that I've ever stepped foot in over the course of my entire lifetime was/still is a "cult". Primarily in that none of them even came close to teaching what the Bible actually teaches, but there were a lot of other bizarre things to consider as well.
For example, I got married on the beach in Florida in February of 2001, and then my wife (my ex, now) and I moved back up to New Jersey near the end of September of that same year or slightly after the whole 9-11 Twin Towers thing went down. While we were in Florida, she and I worked for a cleaning company for a few months, and we actually started up our own cleaning business when we moved back to New Jersey. I should mention that I used to preach on the streets of New York and New Jersey before moving to Florida for those few months, and that I also preached briefly on the streets in Florida as well.
Well, when we started our cleaning business, I began contacting "churches" in the area to see if they wanted to hire us to clean their buildings. When I called one particular "church", the receptionist put me through to one of the "church" elders, and he and I spoke for several minutes. He asked me about my business, and I explained that to him while also mentioning to him that I was a street preacher. He, in turn, told me that their "church" was not only looking to hire someone to clean their building, but that they were also looking for an evangelist/street preacher to help bring people to their "church". He then asked me to come to their service that Sunday while telling me that he was going to arrange a meeting between me and the pastor after the service that day.
Sooooo, Sunday rolled around, and I got to the "church" early as was my norm. The very first thing that I saw as I entered the building was a grown man fully garbed in a clown costume. You know, funny hat, orange wig, white face, red nose, polka dot outfit, striped socks, and big goofy shoes. You get the picture. While seeking to console myself, I thought, "Well, they're probably having some sort of event for the children here today", and off I went into the "church" sanctuary. After I endured their so-called "praise and worship", an elder grabbed a microphone, and said:
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our guest speaker today, Koko the clown".
Mind you, this was the regular Sunday morning ADULT SERVICE.
So, Koko did his schtick.
You know, he pulled some lightbulbs out of the "pastor's" ear, and other things like that.
By then, I was starting to get a bit hot under the color, but, don't forget, I had my scheduled meeting with the "pastor" after the service, and I had some real "cleaning" to do at this point.
The service finally ended (THANK GOD!), and the elder who I spoke to on the phone approached me and asked me what I thought of the service.
In his defense, I probably should have had A BIG RED WARNING LABEL affixed to my forehead, but, hey, he asked, so I told him.
He got infuriated with me, and told me that their "church" doesn't believe in things like "repentance" and "the fear of the Lord", and that they REGULARLY bring in clowns to "preach" to the congregation.
Needless to say, I never had the meeting with the "pastor".
THIS is what they wanted me to draw people on the streets to via my street preaching.
Anyhow, that's just one of hundreds of true horror stories that I could share.
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