Clive, Yes we ARE both very cool people!
As far as I know, there are quite a number of male posters on here. You don't have to feel alone!

I still find it hard to believe the lies we were told by leaders re the church growing in the 80s and nothing about the times you describe in the 70s, Cbarb. Of course, I know why they couldn't tell us; it was because they had got rid of many good leaders and pastors like your dad and they had to justify that by making up or embroidering convenient explanations and airbrush certain times and people out of the SMC history. It doesn't seem right, though, for christians who claim to walk in holiness more than other christians, to make up explanations and run people down once they have left SMC. That kept being done over the years, as you can see from lintar123's story and I think it still happens.

We got the impression that the rules about no television etc had been in place from the very beginning, i.e. in the 50s. It seems not, from what Cbarb tells us. As for Christmas, Mary Black made a big thing of Christmas and wrote songs and dramas about it and encouraged the giving of gifts and cards. I guess that if she had been against Christmas, then we would all not have celebrated it either. Another inconsistency.

Hi guys

Thanks Clive and Rensil, nice to be thought of as cool! :-) And, yes Clive I am also a woman but I'm sure there are quite a few other males here to keep you company. :-)

Hey, Lintar123 your story reminds me just how much control the few have over the many. We also spent every day of the week in church (except Tuesdays - coz that was the men's prayer meeting but my brother had Wednesdays off coz that was the women's prayer meeting!) and three times on a Sunday (coz we'd Sunday School as well).

I don't believe any of the people who gave every spare minute, not just to attending the church but to helping with the catering and cleaning and helping others to attend the meetings also, were ever even acknowledged for the tireless work they did [Ma Jewell being a prime example]. The van drivers and car drivers who made trip after trip to ensure everyone could attend and these folks also had regular jobs where they'd be coming home from work, gulping down some dinner and straight out to start their church runs - pretty much evey night of the week, every week of the year. That's some dedication and they all deserve a medal, in my book.

The most upsetting thing about the whole leadership mindset is that instead of thanking and acknowledging the committment of these people, they are ignored, shunned, and in most cases pretty much run-out of the church. Then to add insult to injury, the remaining congregation are given a continuous stream of verbal diarrhoea regarding the very people who GAVE so much to such an unworthy organisation.

Haven't the current leaders even begun to wonder why the revival is still not happening in SMC? Perhaps they have stuck their heads in the sand for so long they no longer comprehend which way is UP. Come on you guys, I know some of you who are current leaders and you will have no doubts about who I am on this forum. I'm asking you straight.

1. How can you justify your banning and shunning treatment of fellow human beings (in biblical terms) and how can you justify spouting drivel about the reasons, for the banning and shunning, to the rest of your members? At least one of you used to be a really nice person when I was young, what happened?

2. How do you justify waiting around for a revival promised over 40 years ago? God didn't hang around and wait for SMC to catch up, he moved on and he is still moving on all over the world if you guys just had the common sense you were born with to see it.

Things went badly wrong on all fronts but if you guys just got more of the grace, love and humility of Jesus it could all turn around completely. Or am I being too optimistic?

As always biiiiig love and huge huggggs to all
God bless
xxxx

PS. Rensil, when I was young the only fast rules were the no drinking one and the no secular music one. I remember we got rid of our telly when I was about 6 or 7ish but telly became OK again around the mid 70's. The 'No Christmas presents' wasn't observed by everyone but it was around the early to mid 70's and only seemed to be effective for that particular year (although some may have observed the rule for longer, I don't know). The sermon it was based on was to do with how commercial Christmas had become etc. etc. and God wanted people to remember what Christmas was really about and that was not about gift giving. Although, I did wonder about that at the time, since giving gifts is supposed to be a good thing. However, I was young at the time and it was just one more confusing thing that adults do which kids just can't get their heads round. Although I can't say I'm any wiser about the reasons for it now than I was then. :-)

Clive, I am not a regular, but I reckon that I am pretty cool. I am also a male.

I have just gone back to page 1 and scanned forward to the latest page, and am amazed at how this site has evolved and the FANTASTIC contributions of so many people. I realise that there are many people who have been severly hurt by this cult, unlike me, who just had his fingers burnt, bt lved to walk away with my own little stories. If writing things down and sharing anecdotes helps and heals then do keep it up, one and all. If just one or two people reading this come to a realisatio and leave the cult then that will be a great thing.

quote

Over and above that, we were genuine people. [lintar123]

It's the genuine people they don't seem to know what to do with, it's very, very strange. And if the history you've shared with them becomes inconvenient to them for whatever reason then they rewrite it to suit themselves or conveniently forget it! Must be great.


ps am very uncool and also not saying what gender I am

Quote
Stephen
I have just gone back to page 1 and scanned forward to the latest page, and am amazed at how this site has evolved and the FANTASTIC contributions of so many people. I realise that there are many people who have been severly hurt by this cult, unlike me, who just had his fingers burnt, bt lved to walk away with my own little stories. If writing things down and sharing anecdotes helps and heals then do keep it up, one and all. If just one or two people reading this come to a realisatio and leave the cult then that will be a great thing.

For those adults who have become so conditioned and dependent on the comfort blanket that a sect like this can provide. One that encourages you to delegate all ones major life decisions to a group of "anointed leaders" so that they are actually perfectly happy just to stay "exactly where they are" - I don't so much care for or worry much about.

They've made their beds and can lie in it.

But it is the children of such people that concern me.

Made to go to meeting after meeting after meeting, encouraged subtly or not so subtly to avoid friendships or social connections with "worldly" peers, discouraged from listening to certain kinds of music, certain movies, TV programs, encouraged to see everything through the cult-tinted lenses of the leadership - even dragged out of schools where they have started to make friends at a vulnerable time in their lives , and made to go to a different school, simply because some supposed spiritual aspect of it doesn't meet SMC approval or is accused of SMC urban myths and scare stories. This should concern us.

When children are discouraged from making friendships with those from different churches - where children are having the future direction of their life, the kind of career they will end up in, the kind of interests they are allowed to pursue or not, decided by SMC leaders or culture, particularly those that have so much potential, so many possibilities quashed - so many possible paths of things tp pursue, interests to follow, causes to take up, but who are getting their wings clipped, their mental feet bound up as the japanese mothers used to do to their daughters feet...

its those people that need to be warned :-

AS SOON AS YOU ARE OLD ENOUGH AND ABLE TO DO SO,

GET OUT AS QUICK AS YOU CAN !



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2012 07:35PM by Clive.

Hi guys

Yes, Clive, I couldn't have put it better myself. Squareone, I think you're very cool as is everyone who has had the guts to post on this forum. It's extremely difficult to RE-learn everything once you realise you have been following lies and rubbish for many years of your life. It's like losing everything that once was YOU and beginning again from scratch, no longer sure what to believe and feeling like you're sinking in the mud with no life-line to hold onto.

For some the revelation is enlightening and gives a sense of utter freedom to worship God without all the constraints and fear of SMC but for others it can drive you into the deepest depression and coming back out of it is like facing a climb to the summit of Mt. Everest and can sometimes feel like an impossible journey.

But God is GOOD, he doesn't abandon his children (in or out of SMC) and he's there to give you the strength and companionship you need to help you make the long journey back to a HEALTHY walk with Him. All you need to do is walk in LOVE, the more you reach out to others, with the love and grace of God, the stronger you become in your own walk with Him.

You are so right, Clive, about the children especially those at Cedars school. I worry greatly for them because, having been brought up in the church all my young life, I know first hand what being brought up in this environment does to you and it's not pretty. It took me the best part of 30 years to recover and come to a place of understanding the REAL Word of God and his boundless love for all his children. The realisation that I can still get to heaven without having to attend SMC was the most amazing moment of my life so far. The children now attending SMC and the school are still being subjected to the same hogwash we were as youngsters and this is not a good place to receive life-coaching.

I well remember Ma Jewell, on several occassions (when she attended the same church as my folks down South) voicing her terrible worries about her grandchildren being subjected to SMC lunacy. I believe, from what I overheard, that Joan did not like her children visiting or being visited by their grandma and, if that's so, they missed out on a whole heap of real life-coaching from one of the strongest most level-headed women I know. Those of us who remember her will always miss her for being the 'rock in the storm'. Yes, she could be scary if she was telling you off for misbehaving but she was also very fair and gave some very sound advice to those who asked for it. She was also no stranger to taking any of the pastors to task (even Miss Taylor and Totty Black) if she disagreed with something said from the pulpit and she was usually quite right but of course, for the most part, she was sadly ignored by them.

She and Fiona McConnachie were the ones who did all the cooking at the camps and that was no mean feat with so many hundreds of mouths to feed every day. There was no holiday for them, up in the early hours to prepare breakfast then as soon as that was over they would have to start preparing lunch and when that was over there would be the evening meal to prepare and finally supper before either of them could take a break! Did they ever get any recognition for this? Not that I ever heard of (except that they MAY have gotten a discount on their camp fees but I'm not entirely sure about that). In fact, quite the opposite, both were 'invited to leave' (at separate times) after DECADES of tireless work for the church!

SMC leaders take everything and everyone for granted because they think their brand of Christianity doesn't have to include having a concience or loving their fellow man or acknowleding the precious time given by so many people, to help with the running of the church and it's various other ventures. The worst of this is that, having no concience, they don't have to worry if they ruin young people's lives because god will absolve them from the need to worry about whether or not they teach the kids the truth. Obviously they will be teaching the kids in the school according to current curriculums but, knowing the mindset as much as I do, I know for a fact there will be quite a bit of SMC teaching going on too; although it won't be blatant but will be done by insinuations and subtle manipulation because that's what's at the heart of SMC. And it's a very black heart that they have; the power they have over other peoples' lives is phenominal and it's taken gradually by breaking people down slowly until they get to the point they become utterly dependant on the church for everything in their lives.

Right now, the congregation are being told that the church is growing but what they're not being told is how far the membership has diminished over the years and just how many outlying branches of the church have disappeared since the 70's and early 80's. There are still some people attending who attended when I was young and either these people have forgotten the huge membership back in the day or they are so hoodwinked by the current leaders that they choose to ignore this fact and are happy to wallow in the SMC mud and be comforted by the wool over their eyes.

Nehemiah 8:10

Then he said to them, 'Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy unto our Lord; neither be ye sorry, for the JOY of the Lord is your strength.

Where is the JOY of the Lord in SMC?

No JOY, no STRENGTH - how very SORRY!

Biiig love and a 10G hugggggggggg to all :-)
God bless xxxx

thanks cbarb, but nah, am pretty uncool :)
I wasn't part of things deeply enough there or for long enough to become entrenched in the teachings and I feel very lucky to have had the good foundation of bible teaching that I was raised with, I think it saved me lots of times. I don't feel any freer since stopping going than I did when I started, my experience has just added to the confusion about why Christians- across the board- aren't really any different than anyone else and I include myself in that. The call to holiness at Struthers was very attractive to me but, while I found some nice people, with hindsight there was no-one about whom I thought 'I want what they've got' and in any case, eventually the person I was closest to hurt me so profoundly I stopped going. And that was that.

Having said that I STILL find it hard to believe that there are 'goings on' in the school. I really think we'd have heard something, other than that their outside caterers aren't quite up to scratch, by now. But maybe in another few years there'll be another forum just like this one......I so hope not

love to all

Have since remembered the post about the wee girl at Cedars who became pregnant. Do we Know there was no support from the school? or are we just supposing? A girl in my kids' local authority school became pregnant recently, she's no longer at school but I supposed that was in order to care for her baby as that's what I see her doing and not because she was banished....