What Made Me Leave the Group?

Here are the issues that made me decide to leave the group. It was a tough decision to make because I have made some friends during my stay in the ICC. The guy that baptized me has left the group about two months before and have talked to him about what's going on. After discussing the problems we've had with the group, I decided to do some investigating myself.

• The leader assigned over you only wants to hear what he says. They will used the scripture in Matthew 10:38-39, take it out of context, and use this to manipulate you into giving in because if you don't, you're not disciple material.
• Conditional relationships - one thing I remembered is that all these relationships are compromised the moment you sway away from what the group believes. I remembered one person decided not to be friends with me anymore because of their claim that I didn't have the heart of a disciple. I felt like I will be rejected by others for disagreeing with them for a good reason. This put a question mark on the integrity of your friendships with the members of the group.
• Deadly distractions - The moment someone leaves the group, you are instructed not to associate with them any longer or get kicked out of the group. When someone leaves the group, the leadership usually mark them not to be contacted. This happened to several leaders that left the ICC, they were marked not to be contacted because these marked people are deadly distractions. I remembered Rick and Sara Bauer, who were long time leaders of the group, Rick was disfellowshipped by the group for pointing out the flaws that the ICC practices. Although Sara stayed a little longer, she eventually left the group for good.
• I didn't agree that ICC members are the only ones saved. This is not for them to decide, as Matthew 7 states. Kip McKean claims that only ICC members who plug into his program are saved, a great deviation from Matthew 7.
• Matthew 28:18-20 is the biggest cover up that the ICC has pulled on current and prospective members. Verse 18 states that Jesus Christ is given all authority on heaven and on earth. Verses 19 and 20 are used to cover up the real intention of verse 18, but I don't disagree that verses 19 and 20 shouldn't be practiced. All I'm saying is that they used it to put a blur on verse 18. Matthew 28:18 makes shepherding unbiblical since that verse state that Jesus is the sole authority. Additionally, John 14:6 states that Jesus is the way to the Father and no one else comes through him. If that was the case, the ICC has pulled a slick sales job on you, a sale you'll probably regret. Furthermore, Matthew 28:18 and John 14:6 didn't say that Kip McKean, your local leaders, or your discipler has that authority over you.
• Special contribution is compulsive. This usually takes place around June of every year. They expect you to give up to 25 times (or even more) your tithe. If you're giving $100 for your contribution every week, you're expected to give around $2500 for the special contribution. I don't simply approve of a church forcing me to give a dime of my money as part of my contribution. I know that a lot of the masses in the group has given money and the ICC announced it with trumpets and such, which goes against Matthew 6.