The R

Alright, so for those of you who don't know what the R is, it stands for Restoration, which is short for Church of God Restoration, and that is where I decided to go last night. I went for a few reasons, firstly, I wanted to understand Gloria more and what kind of background she came from, secondly, I wanted to compare this church to my own, both are quite cultish. I don't really know what I was expecting going in to the service, but before I left from Gloria's house I was quite scared to go. I was scared because I knew that I would have to sit through what may be a very uncomfortable two hour service, hearing and seeing things that would make me very upset. Before I left Gloria's house I asked Gloria for a Bible to take along (to help with my appearance as a Christian), and Chad gave me one of his, which was green and a bit beat up. I started on my drive heading south... heart pounding... palms sweating, eventually I saw a bend in the road up ahead, and I knew that that was probably the corner where the church was on. I slowed down and saw the sign, and slowly and quite reluctantly turned into the parking lot which was already full, (apparently they changed the service time, so I was half an hour later than I should have been but arrived just as the singing was finishing). I sat at the back of the church because there was no room left anywhere else, and I felt more comfortable there. After singing, they said "let's pray" and instantly everyone turned around, (this frightened me I must admit, it almost seemed as if they were going to jump me or something, then i saw that they turned around to kneel so I very quickly did the same, and tried to duck my large self behind the pews, flattening myself as far as I could go, so they wouldn't see the striped shirt I was wearing which was quite different from the sea of black clothes which initially had me worried as i walked in the door). After a long and quite loud period of prayer in which one of the women of the church was thanking God for their new school, (apparently the church started a school, so that the children never have to leave the church), and there was also prayers just thanking God for his forgiveness and other things.
After prayers the sermon began *amen,* and a man with a beard (much like the rest of them) started preaching *preach it brotha,* he talked, *amen* about how the whole law was summed up in the words "be kind one to another," which in a way sort of shocked me because that is what I have been searching for in christianity all the time, a faith that just desires to be kind one to another and treats others how they would like to be treated. However, I soon caught on that the pastor was not being as open with his love as I, or Jesus, would want him to, (not that I know what Jesus thinks on every situation, but this one I am sure he is on my side). The pastor always just talked about love amongst the "saints" meaning the members of the Church of God Restoration. Throughout the message I found that I was much less nervous and noticed that there were many things that were similar between my church and this one, I couldn't really name them per se, but even things such as the way the pastor spoke, emphasizing certain words and syllables, (though my pastor does not have a german accent), and the "Amen"s which littered the sermon, which happens in my church occasionally. Throughout the sermon, I noticed that many of the examples given were examples that encouraged the congregation to be good docile followers of their leaders, (though I may be reading a bit into this). I also noticed that the major emphasis was getting to heaven. Heaven was the goal for them, everything was phrased in "if I want to get to heaven, I have to show love to my brothers and sisters, if one of the saints comes up to me..." etc. Following the sermon, there was a time for singing and prayer, many of the followers went and kneeled with someone at the front and prayed with them, kissing them on the lips when they were finished, (I must admit, the sight of two guys kissing was not something I expected to see at the front of this church).
After the sermon, or "after service" as they would say, I quickly tried to put on my jacket and make my way to the foyer, but sure enough, as Gloria and Chad warned me, things would not be so easy. Instantly after we were dismissed I was surrounded by 8 men all introducing themselves to me, first and last names, all of them quite German sounding, and all of them oddly enough were from Mexico. Gloria warned me that they would quiz me and try to find out how much of a Christian I was, and if there was any sin in my life and to make sure i was "saved." They asked me where I was from, So I told them Gimli, and then they were a bit confused that I had driven out from Gimli, but I told them that I was a student at Providence College, (I did not want them to associate me with Gloria so I told them that I had only been here for two years). They asked me how I heard about them, and I said that I used to go to a Church of God in Gimli, (which is true), and so I was looking up churches on the internet and found out that there was a Church of God near Steinbach and thought I would come and check it out. Gloria was a little skeptical about them buying this story, but it did work very well, and I don't think they made the connection between Gloria and I, which, seeing as Gloria is kind of a blacklisted person in the church, having become a "horrible sinner" I did not want them to make a connection between her and I. (don't worry Gloria, even though you are a sinner Jesus still loves you, and I do to). They asked me if I was a Christian and kind of wanted a testimony from me, and so I told them that I had kind of gone to church my whole life, and then before they could question me further, I turned the question back to them, and then listened to eight very similar testimonies. On the topic of me going to Prov, all of the men who talked to me seemed quite impresssed that I was "educated" and each of them said "well... you must read a lot" so i told them that I did, they tried to get me on their mailing list, but I declined gently. They then asked me what I planned to do after i was done school, and i told them I want to teach English in Japan. "Where is Japan in relation to Germany" some of them asked. I was quite shocked, and then opened the Bible Chad lent me to the map of the world and pointed out Canada, Germany and Japan to them. Eventually, after we talked for quite a while, I wanted to get on my way and leave however I was still boxed in by eight of the men of the church, I started jingling my keys in my hand and i think that they started catching on. On my way out one of the elder men of the church noticed the bible Chad gave me and commented that I must read it a lot. Eventually I was able to get on my way, only to have my car stopped by one of the men who was talking to me earlier, I rolled down my window and he invited me back, telling me that I can bring friends with me too if I want to.
Overall, my experience was a good one, and I am very glad that I did go, it helped to remind me to "hate the cult, and not the culters." So many times it is easy to talk about people trapped in a cult as if they are malicious, and to think of them poorly, but I was reminded by this experience that they are people too, real people, people capable of love and hate, they have desires, wants and needs, I don't know why I couldn't see this before visiting the R, my church is quite similar, but perhaps it is because I know the people in my church, and grew up there which makes the experience different.

~Justin Goodman