The Church of the Great Lakes

4 Pillars:
1. There is no one God, only the Five. These Five make up the one.

2. All other faiths are false. These heretics shall drown in the drinkable waters of the Five.

3. All living things came from the depths of the Five.

4. Followers of the Five shall bathe in her waters at least once in their lives.

Do you not have anything more to say on your subject? It would help to flesh out the meaning of the message if you added some background, or maybe some thoughts of your own. If not that then perhaps you could give some indicindication of what motivated you to start this thread.

What you have initially posted does not give very much to think about, or discuss.

a reply to: CulturalResilience

I don't know what it is. I found this stuff written on a piece of paper on the inside of a library book about cults. I think maybe it was someone coming up with their own? I don't know. I posted it on here to see if anyone had ever heard anything, because I couldn't find anything on the internet about it. But now that it's posted, I feel like I'm not gonna get an answer, even on a site as diverse as this.

a reply to: thesolartruth2013

I love the Great Lakes, however, your OP doesn't hold water.

a reply to: thesolartruth2013

Nice little mystery you found in your library book. I love those.
Also, I must get round to reading The Great Lakes Triangle by Jay Gourley again sometime.
Seems like an area that has more than its fair share of mystery.

And I'm giving you a star for nonpolitical content!

originally posted by: thesolartruth2013
a reply to: CulturalResilience

I don't know what it is. I found this stuff written on a piece of paper on the inside of a library book about cults. I think maybe it was someone coming up with their own? I don't know. I posted it on here to see if anyone had ever heard anything, because I couldn't find anything on the internet about it. But now that it's posted, I feel like I'm not gonna get an answer, even on a site as diverse as this.

I see. That bit of background has added some more interest for me. I will do some checking around and some thinking.

a reply to: thesolartruth2013

If you posted the title and author of the book there's a slim chance it may be helpful.
Also, what year was the book published and what date was it last stamped out as on loan before the date stamped for your loan?
If it was last taken out in sometime in 1976 or something, that will tell you its been sitting there for a long time.

On the other hand, if its been regularly stamped and looks like a popular book then that may also help you. Does the piece of paper that's been written on look old? Wrinkled and handled a lot, or is it a crisp new looking piece? Written in ink or pencil?

I'm not saying that I will be able to help but if the information I've just asked for was posted it may give an amateur Sherlock Holmes on ATS somewhere to start.
As much of a description as possible will produce a better result for your searching.

Hope that helps.

Adding.
Which cults in particular are featured in the book or was it a book on cults in general?

a reply to: thesolartruth2013

Duh okay

originally posted by: thesolartruth2013
a reply to: CulturalResilience

I don't know what it is. I found this stuff written on a piece of paper on the inside of a library book about cults. I think maybe it was someone coming up with their own? I don't know. I posted it on here to see if anyone had ever heard anything, because I couldn't find anything on the internet about it. But now that it's posted, I feel like I'm not gonna get an answer, even on a site as diverse as this.

probably an example of how cults start. it does sound erie-ly familiar to traditional cults that have managed to disguise themselves as churches...

a reply to: Tulpa

I have already turned the book back in, but I do remember it being older. 70's maybe? The piece of paper didn't look that old, but then again, it was really thin, the way that older notebook paper is. So I'm assuming that it is older. I can't remember who the author of the book was, or the name of the book. But it was about cults in general, and it also gave examples of various cult practices. Most of the cults were Christian based, as odd as that is. And even a lot of larger Christian denominations now-a-days are called cults. I'll see if I can contact my library and find out the name of the book.

a reply to: thesolartruth2013

why is that odd? most major religions are cults.

a reply to: thesolartruth2013

So far I'm drawing a blank in my books about cults.
The Great Lakes Triangle mainly contains information about mysterious sinkings of craft on the lakes and light aircraft losses.

The only reference to church is Capt. Hector Church who piloted the Sachem, a tug which was last seen afloat on 18th December 1950. When found there was no obvious reason for the sinking as everything was found in perfect order with the exception that all the windows of the pilot house were broken out.

A single, empty lifeboat was found but all crew perished.

We need more info.

ETA
Aha. I see you replied while I was slow typing my response but yeah, see if you can't get more for us to go on.

Okay, so I found the title of the book and author. It's, The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin. It was originally published in 1965, but I think my copy was a 2nd edition. The more I think about it, it does seem like someone was coming up with their own idea for a cult.

a reply to: thesolartruth2013

You're probably right.
I love things found in old books, though. Very intriguing.
Guess we'll never know unless the bodies of loads of drowned "heretics" start turning up!
Ritual sacrifice in the life-giving waters of the five.

Letting my mind run away with me there.

originally posted by: thesolartruth2013
4 Pillars:
1. There is no one God, only the Five. These Five make up the one.

2. All other faiths are false. These heretics shall drown in the drinkable waters of the Five.

3. All living things came from the depths of the Five.

4. Followers of the Five shall bathe in her waters at least once in their lives.

Finally! A North American original faith with global reach! No more need to make pilgrimage to other continental holy lands or holy houses of prayer, be they once in a lifetime or once a year. Bonus! No need to harmonize the faith with faiths originating in and developed in other parts of the World, sustained by written and compiled holy scriptures.

I've read the comments so far, and tend to agree with the opinion that this scripture is likely an experiment in creation of a cult. Many cults, sects, schisms, and heretical departures from the accepted norms of established faiths refer to their distinct teachings as pillars, thus elevating their differences above the commonalities they share with the Mother faith.

The number four also is used as a completeness; eg. Four Spiritual Laws, Foursquare Gospel, and etc. If the Four, is doubled ie. squared, then the result is eight(taken by many as completeness), the number of points needed to form a cube (which many people get outright giddy over). As above, so below is the typical rational used to form a cube out of a square.

Once a sacred text is scrutinized in order to derive meaning, the process of schism occurs, because no two people interpret exactly the same. Having stated that, I will proceed to establish the preliminary interpretive basis for The First Moderate Church of The Great Lakes(FMCTGL) in opposition to The True and Evangelical Church of the Great Lakes(TECTGL)

1. There is no one God, only the Five. These Five make up the one.
On this pillar, the FMCTGL and the TECTGL are agreed. Furthermore, we have also affirmed that the meme as above, so below is valid for both factions, not as an affirmation of faiths adopted on the other side of the World, or the scriptures thereof, but as meme in and of itself.

Therefore we find:


We leave it as a mental and spiritual exercise to superimpose the constellation known as Cassiopeia over the Great Lakes. We do not dare do it for anybody. No doubt the Evangelical schismatics will do so. We do not endorse such, it may just turn out to be blasphemous, replacing faith with sight.

2. All other faiths are false. These heretics shall drown in the drinkable waters of the Five.

This pillar is self-explanatory. The heretics who are to drown will be drowned for their failure in accepting the First Pillar, and the first sentence of the Second Pillar. The schismatics are in error when they insist that those who are to drown will drown for failure to believe the Third Pillar, or act upon the Fourth Pillar.

3. All living things came from the depths of the Five.

We Moderates accept that this Pillar is open to interpretation, whether taken literally, metaphorically, or spiritually. The Radical schismatic evangelicals hold to a literal 10,000 year emergence of life. We moderates accept that life may have emerged in the physical location which the lakes occupy at this time, millions of years ago, or even from an asteroid or spaceship which passed through the Cassiopeia constellation.

4. Followers of the Five shall bathe in her waters at least once in their lives.

Again, this Pillar should be self explanatory. But what does the TECTGL do? They fill syringes with the water and spread out across the World. They confront people and demand immediate decisions. They reason thus: "If heretics are to drown and all must bathe, the two can happen simultaneously, when the syringe is jammed down the throat and the water is injected straight into the lungs of the potential convert."

No, no, no! The Church of the Great Lakes is a peaceful faith. The only physical requirement is to bathe, not proselytize, not evangelize, just believe as much as you can and bathe in the water.

Some may say, "But there have been millions of autopsies performed on people who did not drown, how do you explain that?"

It's a mystery.

a reply to: thesolartruth2013

I'm still thinking about this one and here's an idea...

Role playing games.

I don't do them myself but, having an interest in cults in general, I've occasionally done a vague search and a couple of times I've been taken to sites where people are discussing campaigns and creating backgrounds for little groups to include in their storylines. There's probably loads online.

They take them pretty seriously so maybe someone took out a library book, did some research, got what they needed then forgot the bookmark once they'd finished.

Another long shot but thought it worth adding.