Quote
cbarb
"The claims that are made of being 'annointed' and 'all seeing' are akin to the claims made by mediums and spiritualists all over the world. I'm no mind reader but I do know that not everyone who claims to 'know things' is to be believed and SMC teach strongly against any of this, denouncing it as the 'devil's work'"
I agree, cbarb, with what you posted (above) re mediums and spiritualists, but can I again say that I believe there is a genuine gift of the Spirit which allows anointed people to "see things" and also prophesy things to a person and there is the gift of discerning of spirits which is clearly outlined in the Bible. So in case there's a danger of throwing the baby out with the bath-water and saying that all spiritual experiences are wrong and suspect, I just wanted to give my views. I know that not all the readers/contributors on this Forum are Christians, but many of us are and we follow the teachings of the Bible. How these gifts operate in SMC and how accurate and genuine they are, I do not know for certain, but I do know that a lot of mistakes have been made by the leaders and many hurts caused as a result. Where you get control and manipulation, then you are likely to get a misuse of the gifts.
Yes, there is something amiss when it's only, or mostly the female leaders who operate in these gifts. The only man I've known who did operate in them was Owen Martin who ran the Bridge of Weir church. You're right, the men seem to get shunned and held down.
That was interesting what you wrote about the past male leaders and how their humour and funny stories were frowned upon. I remember hearing your dad. By the way, I thought that leaders spying on small meetings was a recent thing; I see you are saying it happened way back years ago! They definitely lost a lot of good people from the church by setting out these rules and forbiddding humour. No wonder so many got depressed if that's what we were being told: Don't laugh. But, explain this: if you listen to the podcasts, there is a current leader who tells funny stories and gets lots of laughs. How does that fit in then?
There certainly seems to have been a big change at the point when Miss Taylor took complete charge. I think lintar123 is referring to the main leaders since then, when she says the leaders wouldn't stand in a court of law. The youth outreaches on Saturdays with fun activities, I have never heard of and never known such. They must have been stopped. There used to be occasional Barbecues or outings but they were for Sunday School kids. I know SMC hold Youth Weekends in Greenock every few months, because a friend's children used to attend them, when the kids stay overnight in the School or at Cedars house and go to the meetings. On Saturdays they have outings and activities. That's the only stuff I know of. These were for church kids though, not kids outwith the church.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2012 04:25AM by Rensil.