Really Warm People, or a CULT?

Long story short, Mike, the kids and I happened upon this really cool restaurant about 30 minutes away from us called the "Oak Hill Kitchen". The place that we wanted to go for dinner was closed so we literally, RANDOMLY choose the next closest place we knew of and were pleasantly suprised with it. It advertised "live music", Chicken Enchalada's were the evening special and the place was packed! Clearly, somethin' is happenin' and "we want in!" The place was eclectic, very earthy, kinda hippy-ish, yet really homey... the first room you get to has all kinds of organic products that they produce/sell...teas, hand lotions, shea butters, etc. I'm into that... the music was great! All kinds of handmade dulcimers, violin's, a base, even an accordian, some wind instruments, etc. playing this celtic-type music... very relaxing... the menu was really cool... it was just a really welcoming environment! The only thing we didn't really like was their beverages. It seemed that most of the beverages had Mate' in them. They listed their teas as Decaffinated which I was lovin' so I tried their Common Ground Tea... turns out Mate' is their herbal replacement for Caffeine which was a total energy boost but kept me up all night... Mike too... Leave it too the hippies to drug you.

The waitress was alittle odd... very nice...just "different". But when the food came, it was BEYOND our expectations... I mean FABULOUS! The kids had homemade organic peanutbutter and spun honey with banana's on this awesome looking homemade multigrain bread. Mike and I had the Chicken Enchilada's which were HUGE... fresh organic salad and a big plate of chips and salsa... Everything was top knotch and not really expensive. We were lovin' every minute of our little adventure at the "Oak Hill Kitchen".

Then we started to pick up on the finer details... hmmm.... everyone that worked there looked alike... like, not just clothing, but hair style, lack of makeup, no jewelry, all women wore either tunic like dresses or these funky genie baloon pants. All men and boys had long hair just enough to pull back into a ponytail. They were all VERY nice... but even the musicians looked like them... infact, most of the patrons looked like them... We began to feel like we were on an island like the one on LOST and everyone around us were the "others"... This prompted a VERY interesting conversation with our kids about how some people choose to live together in a comune and share everything and alot of times it is based on some kind of religious foundation.

When leaving we asked if there was any literature about their restaurant and got a few little brochures and newspapers which we read FEVERISHLY on our way home... LOW AND BEHOLD, the organization was called "Twelve Tribes", from the Commonwealth of Israel. They are "believers" that are trying to live as close to the New Testament example in ACTS that they can. They eat healthy, homeschool their kids, and seek to "love" the world by not being "in the world"... OK...I'm not into that, but it works for some... what got me is that I agreed with just about all of their doctrinal statements except one glaring one... they believe that there are three eternal destinies (not two like I believe). They are: The unjust or wicked, the righteous, and the Holy. OK... so they're nice people... just have their doctrine skewed a bit... or are they a CULT?

Paul was the "man" back in the NT time period. If he said "jump", you jumped. He encouraged the NT church to live communally and to give up all of their earthly possessions. Could these people (Oak Hill Kitchen People) be believers that are merely deceived? or is it deeper than that? I thought I would just throw that out there to hear your input. I have my own point of view but I'll hold off on sharing that until I hear from a few of you on your thoughts. Michael and I were pleasantly surprised to not only happen upon these people but to engage in the followup conversations that we have to grapple with the topics raised by such a meeting. We need to take all things to scripture and discern properly what is before us. What are your thoughts?