I can say, from experience, that what I said is true to a greater extent than anyone who has not been there would ever imagine.
I was a Mormon for about a year while in the military, young and dumb. I was raised Southern Baptist, and crossed over to Mormonism. Why? Because I was not discipled by anyone, and I was ignorant of the deeper beliefs of the Mormons. As they drew me in deeper into their fold BECAUSE they were willing to disciple me, which they did, I began the slow transformation into their beliefs...up to a point.
What threw me for a loop is when I began to study the Bible on my own, trying to discover the beliefs I was learning, and couldn't find them in there. I asked questions about all that, and they "lovingly" encouraged me to not study the Bible on my own, but rather do it with them. (shrug) Ok. Whatever. I was too much a troublemaker to take that to heart, so I continued my study, and asked more questions. That got their goat. That was simply my being a loos cannon, and they weren't going to have that. It got to the point that they got angry, demanded that I simply accept what I'd been taught, and stop questioning.
Being the personality I am, that was the WRONG thing to say to me, and that was the beginning of the end for me. Those people gathered together ALL the time. We were like family. I never had that anywhere else in all my experience. Major, never underestimate the sheer power that unity has. It makes all the difference. I was amazed at how stupid I had been, and how easily I was deceived. I allowed the familial relations to overshadow my better sense about what I knew to be true.
I'm not suggesting that we use relationship like a family to dupe anyone. As long as we continue to point ONLY to the Lord, and that those we disciple continue their personal study and prayer relationship with the Lord, we avoid the cultic trappings over the minds and emotions of those whom we disciple. I tell people that I'm not looking for a following; that I want them to seek out and follow ONLY the Lord. It's all about Him. The Mormons in my circle of influence didn't do that. I could clearly see it was all about being a Mormon. Christ was somewhere way back in the back seats of the buss. It was all about being true to the apostles and the prophet and the stake.
So, having been there and done that, I can say with every qualification that it has much more to do with discipleship and relationship than what most people realize. We can teach all the truth in the Bible, and people still fall through the cracks because of our seeming cold indifference to their need for discipleship and familial relationships.
MM
We are so very much alike it is scary. I was at one time in the Assembly of God as a teenager and just like you.....I began to actually read the Bible instead of taking for granted what I was being told. They "worked" at discipling the young and now that I look back it was like being brain washed. I truly believe that is why so many AOG believers can not accept the Bible when it comes to prosperity, miracles, and tongues.
Reading the Bible was like turning on the light in a dark room. What I thought was right was wrong.