The following is a response to an original post made by Derek in the Rick Ross "Institute" which he asked Mr.Ross to delete so that he could move on with his life. Ross refused but Derek was allowed to post the following statement (see ScreenShot here) which has been reproduced from an archived source in case Ross should later decide to delete it:

I'm the OP (original poster) of this thread and I wanted to clarify a few things. I want to make it clear I'm not a "cult apologist" and while the group definitely has "strange beliefs" when compared to mainstream society, I think its classification as a cult is more a polemical argument from the personal life of NCCG Concern (which I will leave out of this post) and less because it fits any pre-defined criteria. In fact, I believe if we were to place Christianity and Judaism under the same criteria, they would be deemed just as "cultic" as NCCG.

First of all, I have serious doubts that this group can be defined as a cult. This group (from its own site) has materials where it openly ADMITS its "mistakes" (such as its origin in Mormonism to its eventual evolution to "Messianic Evangelicalism" [embracing some of the core tenets of Messianic Judaism and Evangelical Christianity]). While I personally as a Christian do not agree with all of its doctrinal tenets, I cannot qualify them as a cult on the criteria that they will openly admit when they are wrong.

Another reason I cannot consider them a cult: they do not care about building membership numbers. After re-contacting the group after 3 three years of campaigning violently against them, when I finally hit a brick wall myself and apologized to them, they readily forgave me and told me I did not have to re-join. This was a breath of fresh air.

Another observation I made personally from conversations with Christopher Warren is that the group is pushing for a more ecumenical bent (they maintain relationships with Christians of other denominations) without compromising their own theological beliefs. Likewise, since my departure, they are extremely cautious against turning down medical treatment, even once telling me that I should ask my doctor about quitting medical treatment instead of recommending it directly. So this initial criticism I had against them has been addressed.

Finally, the group does not require you be a member of their group to be "saved". They hold to the Protestant belief that salvation is through faith in Christ, coupled with obedience to the teachings of Christ and the Bible.

So that it is clear I'm not "crusading" for them, I do have issues with what I view as their over-reliance on Torah, since they still observe and require the ceremonial laws (kosher, Festivals, Sabbath, tzitzit, etc.), where I personally interpret Colossians 2 as stating that those things are not needful for a Christian. But since that is more of a theological disagreement, I do not wish to enter into it here. Instead, I'm using this one post as a place to publicly retract my criticisms. If the moderators could delete this thread (or even my OP), I would be more than happy, but if not, I would prefer that I'm allowed to post this.