CHAPTER 1

Finding theright church

April 29th 2009 was the last and final straw for me.I was put out of the church that I belonged to fortwelve years. I was 23 years old when I first startedthere, and a single mother of two young children.The pastor was very mean, nasty and hard to dealwith. He had a very controlling and manipulativenature about him. I didn't understand this type ofbehavior because I had never encountered anythinglike it before. I am a believer of God and alwayswanted a closer walk with him, but I really didn'tknow how to do it. I was a member of Baptistchurches so when I joined a Pentecostal church, thiswas a whole new experience for me. Most peoplemay say "Why did you stay so long?" As I tell mystory, I am going to explain my journey as to howthis cult experience changed my life.

It was about fourteen years ago in 1997 thatI was confused, hurt and didn't know whichdirection to go in. I had just gotten out of aphysically and verbally abusive relationship andI needed some guidance. An older lady fromanother church to which I belonged, told meabout a new church on the corner. She braggedvigorously about this church saying "he is a newpastor he believes in holiness, cares about souls and heis a good leader." I was glad to hear that, knowingthat I had come out of an abusive relationship andwas feeling scared and alone. The old church that Iwas in promised to help me, love me, and teach mehow to live a clean righteous life, when all they didwas do the total opposite of what they stood for.There was gambling, witchcraft and fornicationgoing on in that church. When I found that out, Isaid to myself, "I'm not coming back here!"

I left the old church and began my journey onfinding another. I finally got up enough nerves tovisit the church called "The Church of Holy Living."I felt strange at first because I didn't know what tothink or say. I wondered if they would like me orif they would look down on me for being a singlemother or they would say anything at all. It wastime to find out.

My children and I walked up to the newchurch because it wasn't far away. This churchwas a former church of another Pastor who haddied some years ago. The church had been aroundfor many, many years and numerous respectedleaders had come out of this church. On a hotsummer day in July on a Friday evening, myselfand my children decided to take a walk to thechurch. As I approached the door the Pastor,Pastor as I will call him, walked up to me andgreeted me warmly. He said to me, "I am veryglad to meet you and happy to have you come to ourservice." I thought, "Wow!" maybe these peopleare nice and loving after all. Pastor immediatelyshowed me the church's sanctuary. He explainedto me, "We are just starting out and look forward toseeing more of you." It felt good knowing that you'reneeded and wanted.

As I came into the sanctuary, it looked likemany people were trying to change their lives justas I wanted to. There were single mothers therewith their children as well as me. Many peoplestood up to give their testimonies telling about thetests and trials that came their way. It encouragedme because they gave reverence to God saying, "Ifit wasn't for God being by their side, they would nothave made it." It was very uplifting to hear that Iwasn't alone and other people could relate to me.I started to feel comfortable and thought maybe Ican get used to this atmosphere.

Right before Pastor got up to preach, hiswife Asst. Pastor got up to sing a beautiful andtouching song. At first I didn't know she was hiswife because she looked so young and innocent.He made reference to her as she sat on the frontrow so that is how I knew she was married tohim. She was short in stature, medium to lightcomplexion and stood about 5'2 inches tall and hada petite build. Asst. Pastor had a really young face;anyone who didn't know better would think shewas about sixteen to eighteen years old. After shesang her lovely song, she expressed her love anddedication to the lord.

I really felt full and believed that I could go onfrom that point on. I had made up in my mind thatI was going to make it my business to get to knowAsst. Pastor the first lady of the church. Once thepraise and testimony service was over Pastor gotto preach the word of God. I can't remember whathe preached about, maybe because it was sometime ago, but I remember Pastor jumping overchairs and being able to move the people. I was soimpressed with what I saw, that instantly I wantedto join the congregation. It seemed finally I couldgo somewhere and be accepted for me and nothave to worry about being looked down upon.

After Pastor got through preaching his sermonhe asked "could you wait a little bit after the churchservice, so that you can meet my wife and children".He offered us a ride home because it was too lateto walk. I agreed Pastor and Asst. Pastor hadfour children three girls and a son. They were allone year apart from each other. The children allseemed nice and acted as if they liked me. Theyseemed to take a liking to my children as wellmaybe because my kids were young and they wereolder.

As my children were getting to know thePastor's children, I began to get to know the Pastorand First lady. They were positive about thechurch and the new and exciting things they hadplanned for the future well-being of the church. Iwas happy and excited and was looking forwardto being a great asset spiritually and naturally tohelp up build the church.

CHAPTER 2

Getting to knowone another

After that, I began to call this church my churchhome. Everything seemed to be good. The Pastorwas nice, the other people in the church were niceand I felt good about it. As I began get closer to thefirst lady, I felt a strong connection between us.She was nice to me and showed me love and I feltspecial. I looked at her as a big sister that I...