I wish I could say something really clever in reply, but in truth I find deeply perplexing.
I come from a very poor family and grew up on a dairy farm in Moruya, but I never felt poor and the great superpower derived from living a country life with good, solid, ordinary people is that you end up with a fully function Bullsite Detector.
As far as I'm concerned all TV evangelists, preachers and their ilk are conmen and women. Why people cast their lot in with these crooks is more likely for psychological reasons, rather than seeker some deeper meaning in life. I can see the potential of religion, but have never experienced it working even remotely as a force for the progress of humanity.
Now as wafflehead I could go off on a tangent here, but I believe there are a couple of markers that will let you know if you are on the right track.
!. Any religious teachings that contradicts proven science is not of G.d.
2. Any religion claiming to be the only path to G.d, the only truth of G.d, the only accurate knowledge about G.d, is not of G.d.
3. Any religion that denigrates other true religions, calls them pagan, that they are run by Satan, are not of G.d.
4. Any religion that does not have oversights, fully disclosed accounts, or has highly paid practitioners, is not of G.d.
5. Any religion that has religious experts and claims infallibility is not of G.d.
6. Any religion teaching a prosperity doctrine is not of G.d.
Nobody can be wealthy and claim to be Christian.
Now your friend may have specific reasons why he needs to find some niche of belief. Why he needs to subjugate his own worth and value into the compliance of some so-called religious expert. I'm guessing he has linked up with an American religious group. They are the most contagious.
Religion is the black death of this age, that's why the Bible called this age, The Abomination of Desolation. That's why you can be certain that everybody on HC claiming some religious truth is wrong.
Sorry about your friend. One day they'll hand his ass back to him on a plate and only then might he wake up.
