I used to consider this church home. I attended here for more than 16 years and believed everything the pastor, Chuck Moore, taught. During my time there, I was brainwashed into believing this was true Christianity and that no other church had solid teaching or the “truth.” However, Tree of Life Ministries teaches Word of Faith doctrine that focuses more on what you can get from God rather than on the good news of Jesus. Man’s desires are centered instead of Jesus Christ, and as a congregant you are taught that you are to honor the pastor to the point of man worship. Do they say this directly? No, but it is implied. Many messages hold common themes like submitting to the pastor, walking in love and not being offended. Basically, obeying Chuck means obeying God, and for 16 years I submitted to a man who controls his congregation through fear. In churches like this one, you are taught that you have to earn God’s love and approval after you are saved by living a sinless life, which is not the message of the Cross. I was taught there that if I was truly “walking with God,” I would have little to no sickness, be well-off financially and never have suffering. Basically, I should always be healed and never have any problems at all. If something was wrong in my life, it was “an attack of the devil” because I was in sin and didn’t have enough faith. These teachings caused me a great deal of emotional pain. No matter how hard I prayed, how often I read my Bible or attended church “every time the doors were open,” my life did not reflect the success promised by the prosperity gospel. In fact, being a part of this church only took me farther way from the Lord and molded me into a self-absorbed and entitled believer with little to no empathy for others. The characteristics of Tree of Life resemble a cult more than they do true Christian fellowship. People are told there that they can ask questions and study what the Bible says rather than just taking the pastor’s word for it. Unfortunately, once you do that you are marked as a target and labeled a dangerous person within the congregation. I know. It happened to me. I began questioning the teachings there nearly a decade ago. As I began to read the Scriptures I released many verses Chuck uses in his messages are ripped out of their context. I realized much of what he taught was designed to manipulate others into following him, with Jesus being a mere afterthought. Much of the preaching is directed at insulting others and putting people down without directly naming who they are. I recall a three-week span when Chuck mentioned at least once during a sermon that “90 percent of people are too stupid to own a dog.” Once he made fun of someone’s tie during a message. And he constantly used vitriolic language about people who had left the church and used them as sermon illustrations, calling them names like “Brother Bucketmouth,” as well as words like “idiot” and “moron.” What in the world does that have to do with the gospel? All these things pointed to an obvious truth that I was not part of a “strong, stable, healthy local church,” and upon following the Lord’s leading, I stopped attending there in January 2021. Once I left, I was lied about to the congregation during a message and was labeled as a wife who “carries her husband’s masculinity around in her purse.” Chuck told his people that I tell my husband where we are going to church, which is an outright lie. Our family’s decision to leave Tree of Life was not just mine. My husband and I both had the same convictions and concerns about staying. Chuck Moore lied about us, plain and simple. Since leaving, I have lost all my friends there. People quit talking to me almost immediately, which does not surprise me because they are following what they have been taught—that anyone who leaves Tree of Life is a “Christ betrayer” and should be “marked and avoided.” I know. I’m guilty of doing this to others who left before I did. After leaving Tree of Life more than two years ago, I would never consider coming back ever again. There is no amount of money that could ever make me go back to this cult.