The trouble with "feeling close to God" is that it can so easily become a subjective experience that isn't grounded in anything. As a feeling it is remarkably similar to the natural feeling of euphoria you'd get at a music concert, or after singing a lot of upbeat music for an extended period. You know the way a lot of the more charismatic churches insist on starting everything with "a time of worship" which invariably means singing a load of songs, often singing the same verse (or sometimes just the same couple of lines) over and over and over? That sort of thing can create the sense of euphoria that people then mistake for God's presence - it doesn't help when they are actively told it is God's presence they are feeling - and then spend untold amounts of energy chasing another "high" like the one they experienced. If they're really lucky they go around the cycle of huge high at church followed by coming back down to reality on Monday morning, Tuesday at the latest, back to the high at church, wondering what they are doing wrong because God never seems to stay with them, and then come across a really toxic teaching like the serpent seed stuff and end up wondering if they are just one of the tares Jesus described and will never be saved whatever they do.
The way people will believe anything is a classic example why the Biblical call to "test all things" and "test the spirits" (1Th 5:21 and 1Jn 4:1) are so important. It's why Paul praised the Bereans in Acts 17 for the way they studied the Scriptures to see whether things were so. If all people do is nod their heads all the way through a sermon or a Bible study, assuming that everything being said from the front is right, who knows what kind of dodgy teachings they may pick up without every questioning them? If all you do is read pamphlets from a single source, take them at face value, and gloss over any complications or Scriptural contradictions it's easy to see why you might never be confused. If you test the pamphlets against Scripture and find they fall short, sooner or later you have to decide which to believe.
ETA: This may not be the case at your church, but if people are expected to teach only from approved texts that's another really good sign that you should be headed for the exit.
The trouble with so many toxic teachings is that they do appear, on the face at least, to be sound. To take a simple example, a teaching from a self-described "prophet" in his deceptively titled "prophetic activation training" is that "when visions start, we should trust they are from God and accept them like a child" - he goes on to say something along the lines of "if we pray for an anointing in the seer realm we can be confident that the power of God to protect us is stronger than the power of the devil to deceive us". It all sounds pretty good - it's presented in a way that suggests that a belief that the devil might mislead us implies the devil is stronger than God. But it doesn't take much scratching at it to see how it falls short. God gave us his word in the Scriptures and if we go against what God told us he's not necessarily going to step in and prevent it. We know the devil is out there, like a roaring lion, we know the devil seeks to tempt us, we know we face regular opportunities to decide to sin or decide not to sin. To suddenly pluck one single aspect of our spiritual walk out and suggest that somehow God will magically take temptation away from us, when we've actively ignored what God already told us, we really are playing with fire. It didn't work out too well for Adam and Eve and is unlikely to work out any better for us today.
It's funny the things God can use to reach out to us. I've heard some people present arguments along the lines of "if it leads someone to Christ it must be sound" but even that falls flat. One of the things that helped me move much closer to God when I was at that wavering stage was reading through the book "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. In case you're wondering, I am referring to the world-renowned atheist and his book about how he believes God is, well, a delusion. It's not the most obvious catalyst for prompting someone to become a Christian but God can use anything and everything. That said, to argue that "The God Delusion" is theologically sound because helped lead me to Christ is clearly absurd.
before I was really happy in the church but now i am starting to feel like Christianity is a small cult that only a very few will understand, that the resurrection of the dead is the rebirth, that eternal life is not a goal after death but is implied that we are one with God here and now and that we shouldnt worry about death because we are re-alive now spiritually and thus physically (resurrected from certain death). This contradicts the literal hell but at the same time confirms it as I cannot maintain any peace that I had when I first joined this forum.
