It doesn't seem like that long ago, but it was half a lifetime. I was at one of the lowest points in my life and was overcome with the guilt of all of the mistakes I had made. I surrendered my life to Christ and committed myself to a new life.

Over the years, I've been in a number of different churches, some of them good, some of them bad, but all Bible believing churches. I've married and raised my children true to my Christian faith.

Having been raised in the LDS church, as a new Christian, I was aware of the word "cult", and used it frequently as I was taught, to describe those churches who didn't measure up to the strict interpretation of the Bible to which I was mentored. I wanted to be sure of my salvation so I studied eagerly in that journey.

But the word "cult" never set well with me for most of these churches. See, I knew people in these churches, and in all of them I knew people with a deep and fervent love of God. Sure, there were the nutcases, the caricatures out there, but those existed even in the "Christian" churches. We just did a better job of keeping them hidden.

Over the years, though, I found out the danger of the so called "evangelical" movement: they eat their own. While they profess to believe we are saved by grace, that "grace" means you damn well better believe as they do or your out the door. In other words, it is a very selective grace, and humans (specifically THEM), not God, do the defining.

There is a certain vein of Christianity that has become a religion of hate in the truest sense of the world. They profess to be evangelicals, but they have no burden for the lost. They actually would prefer the lost STAY lost, as they don't want to see these people's faces in heaven.

I was the Christian of all Christians. I studied the Bible, I worked on street ministry teams, heck, I even worked the phones for three Billy Graham Crusades. But because I dare question not the doctrine, but the manner in which it is delivered, I have been branded a heretic.

Those who know me might observe the new avatar (unless you'rte having the same problems I'm having with JU on some computers where it keeps displaying my old one). You might also note the one letter "X" responses I have left on several threads. The X does not denote "the unknown" as one might suspect, or any other affiliation, but rather the censorship that has been brought about as I've been exiled from mainstream Christianity for my "radical" views.

While I remain faithful to Christ, I refuse to remain faithful to the apostate church (note, please, I am not condemning INDIVIDUALS within those churches, but the churches themselves, who are unfaithful to their calling). My commitment was, and is, to Christ and Him crucified, not to a building or the "esteemed elders" who judge a man's worth by his financial standing. I will have nothing to do with the religion of hate that characterizes so many "Christians"; as my allegiance is with Christ.