As I took the 30 Lessons Bible study, I was captivated by the idea that the true, authentic message of Jesus was discovered by Jung, rescued from the clutches of the mainstream evangelical "get everyone saved and throw tracts at them if you have to" church. I still feel Providence has a lot right that much of the Christian church doesn't, and back then I sensed this, and this drew me to Jung and his teachings.
But slowly the shiny veneer of these angels who taught me the Bible study peeled back, and a lifestyle revealed itself that I believe has several self-deceiving aspects. Today I'm focusing on the insistence in Providence that you smile whenever you're around people. In the group I was involved with, they advocated a big toothy grin, and that you do it often to present yourself well and attract people to the new truth.
After I left Providence, I continued having conversations with a member of the group. In one conversation, I asked him if life was hard. He paused for a moment, then finally shrugged and said "not really." For him, life was easy and without problems as long as you have the right mentality. It's all about the mentality, so to ever be unhappy, stressed, sad, depressed, etc. is a breakdown of our mentality and a failure to live in harmony with the new history. With the new truth, we should be happy and full of peace all the time.
I personally believe this is simply not reality. In reality, there is death, pain, hurt feelings, rejection, tragedy, lost opportunities, separation, hunger, torture, etc. To be able to read this blog, to have an Internet connection and food to eat, means we are quite blessed. But no matter how prosperous we are or how many friends keep us company, there is always something lacking. Maybe the person of our dreams turned us down. Maybe we lost our job and don't know how we'll pay the bills or feed our family. Maybe our spouse or child died. Such experiences can bring the human soul to its lowest depths. It's unreal to expect human beings to be perpetually happy and smile their faces off when we go through the difficulties of life.
I like it when people are real, when they are honest with how they feel. There's something beautiful and authentic in that. It gives us freedom when we realize we don't have to be happy all the time, that we're not being ungrateful, whether we're in Providence or Christianity or no religion at all. And this gets to one of the core problems, in my mind, of Providence. Jung presents a beautiful picture of how life works, but it's not how life really works, and it eats you up inside. According to him, the new history has arrived, and with the right mentality you can transcend the problems of this world, become perfect or near-perfect, and live in perpetual bliss. Maybe you feel this is possible once you make yourself well enough through great effort, but I don't believe that's how life works. No matter how much character you have, how noble your thoughts and how much integrity you have, life can really suck and it's okay to cry and be sad when circumstances really get you down. You don't have to pretend everything is okay when you're around other people.
Analysis of the doctrine and teachings of Providence/JMS/Setsuri
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23 comments:
Hi, not knowing if you still check on that blog, but I'll give it a go anyway.
I'm in THE cult in Europe and wishing to walk away from it after one and a half years full of manipulation, lying, brainwashing and utter struggle.... huh.. I think it'll take some more effort now to come back to normal life... I do feel anguished at times, and just wish to talk to someone, but since I can't really turn to my old friends with this problem nor can I speak about it with the cult members nor can I afford to take exit councelling.. then I'm kind of ending up alone here.
Please do reply leaving some kind of detail how I could reach you, if possible.. :)
hey this is sheepgate the author, you can email me at
sheepgate@live.com
I'd be happy to talk to you :)
Please help me.
I'm taking the lessons. they call it SQ (spiritual quotient) here in the philippines. i'm just on the third one. i decided to google providence and i was shocked at what i am learning they sound so believable. the lessons and messages have so much sense. i really wanted to go the spiritual world to meet jesus (i'm christian, you know) and also sung sing nim (the teacher).
please help me. im confused.
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Thank you for your blog posts. I'm a mother of someone who is heavily embedded in this cult and extremely concerned about how involved and misled my son is. I'm encouraged that you have left JMS and only pray and hope my son will do the same.
To Anonymous: We don't have to go to the "spiritual" world to meet Jesus. He's alive and in our midst in the real world. Many Christians miss the reality of this and try to seek beyond to make themselves appear more spiritual or seek something beyond the reality of the Living God. When you do this, you are really trying to put yourself beyond God's level and, as you know, you can get yourself into believing man-made doctrine, especially when the leader of the cult is a wolf in sheep's clothing.
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I was in Providence from 2008-2010. I had listened all the 30 lesson and also taught them (unfortunately). I don't know if you are aware of this, but they changed all the lessons and made it more Christian-like in 2010 when SSM was in prison. Honestly, I learned more about Satan, forgiveness, and the doctrines of Christianity now that I am out of Providence. Read Acts 5:34-39...let God be the judge. If it's not from God, then they will fail!
thanks for this- i was in P for a long time. Leaving this cult is where I met Jesus for the first time. Providence places a guilt upon you for not attending morning messages, etc...but that's not the heart of God. This cult has to make adjustments constantly according to the teachers situation. Thats how you know its bunk.
I have just discovered my son is involved with this cult probably about 1 year now. I am praying for his freedom in Christ. I know he is a Christian but has been deceived. Is there anyone with some tips on talking points to your loved one without causing them to separate from you and hibernate from the family?
I feel that throughout my experiences over the past 22 years that I am qualified to share my piece. I came to know Christ back in 1988 through the Pentecostal Church. I was young and naive but hungry to learn. I always loved the Lord Jesus and tried my best to serve Him. During my early years in the Pentecostal Church, I was happy to know the Lord but I was sad because the Pentecostal movement was not living up to its full potential. I read the bible, listened to many pastors, read many books, but was not able to fill the void I had in my heart. I have heard famous pastors from Nicky Cruz, Mario Morello, and Mike Neville. I have been involved in Praise Chapel ministries in California and also Assembly's of God. During that time I am sad to say that there were many shady characters who shamelessly called themselves leaders who lived a double life. It was very disappointing to learn many pastors cheated on their wife's and had secret families outside. Also other pastors hide their family sins so that they could appear holy but it was a big lie and I also grew tired of all the money they would ask you to pay. When a family is struggling to feed themselves and barely have enough to get by, do you think its fare to make them pay tithes, offerings and if you don't pay them they give you a guilt trip and strip you from your ministries. I prayed to God to help me find the path. Once I studied Providence, many things were clear now. If you believe the Bible is the truth, compare Providence teaching to the Bible and judge for yourself. I have met SSN on two separate occasions. I did not see a shady character, all I saw was someone who loves God and was able to teach me more about Jesus than anyone else. I was sadden to hear the news about him but all I can say that if Jesus Christ was alive today and being betrayed the way He was, and the media got a hold of it and tarnished His name on the internet, none of us would believe in Him. Pray to Lord Jesus to guide your path, we all want to go to heaven and believing in Jesus is the very first step. Now we must act on it and live a good life.
Hi, I hope you still check this blog. I'm really conflicted about my situation. I hope there's some way I can email you. I've created a new email: email.number.ten AT gmail.com . You can email me this way without revealing your email on this blog.
Joshua Jung is definitely a wolf in sheeps clothing. If you've ever been a member you can recall them taking portraits of you. Guess where those portraits of you go if you're an attractive women? To Jung in prison. Jung is central to their message which is total bull, Jung is full of lies and working for the father of lies. His congregation has been brainwashed to believe without him no one will go to heaven even though real Christianity believes only Jesus gets us into heaven. That is the dangerous part, he has placed himself as equal to Christ and you always see that with their imagery. Jung and Jesus are always on the same level, that isn't a coincidence, it's intentional and one of the more subtle ways they brainwash you. Just pay attention of how many times they mention Jung compared to God. You will see Jung is mentioned much more and his personal story is more important than scripture. All their pastors do is read Jung's lies on Sundays, this is not a church but a cult. May God have mercy on Jung's soul and may Jung recant his wicked lies that have led so many into the arms of the father of lies.
If we judged Christianity by many of the scandals and mistakes that they have made over the past 2000 years, we would assume that they are a cult as well. How often do you hear a Christian Pastor give prophecies that the end is near and give a specific date of the end of the world and it does not happen. Why are they not scrutinized? Just look at Benny Hinn, Jimmy Swaggart, Joyce Meyer, and Joel Olsten and many of the ridiculous things they say and people love to follow them and give them money to live a luxurious life. And with Catholism I am not even going into their doctrines. Can we say that all the Christian movement is false? Follow Jesus, pray that God lights up your path. Providence has the best teachings that makes sense of the Bible.
Hi,
I tried the email you had above, but it did not work. Is there some way I could reach out to you? I have some concerns about a friend involved with JMS and your commentary on it is very compelling and genuine. And if we could talk I would appreciate it immensely.
-Joe
Hi guys,
I believe I have been attending this providence church for nearly 8 months now whereby my lessons started in April. Being in this "church" has been very stressful and very demanding. I'm still in it now and is there a way for me to leave it? I do really need help. Do email me at manunitedrockz@gmail.com
Yo real shit I was in the cult for 4 years I left in 2015. Its a brainwashing cult that is very difficult Even today 3 years later thoughts get to me about it
Yo real shit I was in the cult for 4 years I left in 2015. Its a brainwashing cult that is very difficult Even today 3 years later thoughts get to me about it
Please verify all the facts in order to make an informed decision: http://jmsprovidence.com/
You are sickening and was utterly brainwashed my friend eeeek
Is there anyone that i can contact to ask for more information about this?
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