Alan R. Warren - Doomsday Cults: The Devils Hostages

DOOMSDAY CULTS: The Devils Hostages

Written by ALAN R. WARREN

Published in Canada

Cover design, formatting, layout, and editing by Evening Sky Publishing Services

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Lets Go to Doctor everythings going to be alright, make everything go wrong - Prince

The only way I can get through writing about such dreadful subjects is by countering it with some fitting dance music. Like what Prince says,

Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today to get through this thing called life.

After all, life is what its all about.

If you have not been raised in a specific Orthodoxy (i.e., brought up in a religion), then you probably grew up similar to how I did. My family always said we were Christian when asked, but didnt attend any church services. My Sunday Service was playing outside with my dog and eating a popsicle.

When I began school, the question Your family is Christian, right? came up. My first-grade teacher asked me as part of her administration work, and I answered her with an enthusiastic, Yes! Looking back, I dont know why I was so excited. But how could I not be happy? Everyone else in the classroom was answering yes to the same question and seemed to be joyous about it too. Power of persuasion, perhaps?

Being a Christian appeared to be great. I was liked because of it, my teachers were happy that I was a one, we had a great life, and I never had to do anything extra to be one, so why not? It wasnt until junior high that I heard anything to the contrary. One day, another student told me that I was going to go to hell. Of course, I answered, Yeah, why would I do that? Im a Christian. She snapped back, sternly, Because you havent been baptized.

I was frozen. What did it mean to be baptized? I became immediately silent and never spoke another word to her. Dont take that the wrong way. Its not like I was hurt; I was just processing what information she gave me and needed time to do that. Remember, Im autistic, and Im told that we are not comfortable sharing our feelings, especially in public. But I differ in this way.

I needed more information; I was going to ask for my mothers perspective on baptism. Later that afternoon, when I arrived home from school, my mother was not there. My older sister was, however, so I told her what had been said to me at school that day. My sister was around 16 years old, used marijuana like most kids of the time, listened to rock music, dated boys, and skipped school a lot. So, her response? She laughed, really hard, and told me that this girl who said that to me just needed to get laid. She also told me not to worry about the little b****. My sister wanted me to give her the name of the student so she could take care of her. I didnt want that. Fighting was not in my nature, so I told my sister I didnt know it, but when I got it, Id tell her.

The question lingered in my mind for several years, Could I be a Christian if I wasnt baptized?

Life moved on until I was college age when there was a new question,

What are you looking for in life? And even deeper still, What does it all mean?

These are questions we all face at one time or another. And sometimes these questions can lead us to great pain or disappointment: from the job, career, or lack thereof, perhaps the mate we chose, or some other superficial thing were told we needed to be a good person. We began the search to find that, whatever that was?

So, what to do?

Buy something! Yes, thats it! Retail therapy. We remember seeing a great advertisement on television, and this family bought a brand new car, and wow, there were all so happy and in love! So that must be the right thing to do. We buy a car and are pretty excited about it. We get home, and the wife doesnt like the color, the kids spill their ice cream on the new seats, and our neighbor next door just bought the newer model.

Well, that didnt work! What now?

We look for something to numb the disappointment we are feeling. Quite often, its some sort of substance like drugs, alcohol, sex, food, or anything that gives us a good feeling at the time of taking it. Its like wearing a cozy warm coat in winter. And everything feels fine. But when that substance wears off, we are back to where we started.

Upon more reflection, we think we have it all figured out! Well go natural. Well start eating the latest in holistic all-natural meatless meat. And join Bikram yoga. We hear hes the coolest guy and has excellent insight. We just need to borrow some money to pay for his $5,000 fee for weekend classes. We get the Bikram yoga mat, only $500, even though we sure it looks like the one we saw at Walmart last week for $30. But theres probably something very magical about Bikrams mat, and it might not work if we dont have it.