Hmmm...weary's presence is a fine distraction from concentrating on weighty matters such as Struthers' finances and their schools.

Not too weary to post here, so yes, this congregation is right to take an interest.

The admonition to turn the other cheek a convenient way to guilt trip persons who have a legitimate social justice project that has affected their lives.

John 2:13."And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves"

If Jesus had turned the other cheek at all times, he would have died in bed.

This text is not about turning the other cheek. It is about the evil of turning spiritual matters into possessive grip of power and money by a small and exclusive elite.

And the need to take action.

And the first step in taking action is to discuss it as is being done here on this thread.

Hello Weary, and welcome, of course! It is good for balance that you offer other quotes (though we mostly are aware of these and have already given them great thought.)
As for causing offence...well it happens, but we are adults and can work things out (often amicably!).
Still, I think if you want to post here, perhaps some acknowledgement of cbarb's (and Corboy's...just saw that) rundown of why we persist might help you. Or even a defence of the mismanagement and behaviour recanted on this thread?
Weary, I made no assumptions and will not be offended by your posts. Some might, for varying justifiable reasons. But we can have differences here. Can you same of those within smc?
Regards all, and happy days, Cornelius Dredd (Once Ifellaway)

Thanks everyone for your posts am sorry, I didn't see them at the time I responded to Happy Survivor.

I don't think I said posters on the forum shouldn't be doing so or that your cause is not valid, I think what I said both times was that other people who may still take to do with people from Struthers may do so for the reasons in those verses.

Hi guys

Sorry, Weary, I think I may be at fault for reading too much into your message. I really just took, from your post, that you were understandably weary of the struggles against SMC. We here have all been completely and utterly wearied by them at some point in our lives and sometimes, when we are opening our hearts here, it can become too much to bear. Raking over old memories and past hurts, opening old wounds which, till now, have never properly healed but this is how the healing process begins. It's a bit like going to a psychotherapist but I believe it's much better because, whatever doctor you visit, it's highly unlikely that they will have any first-hand knowledge of what it means to have been a member of SMC for any length of time.

Some time ago the Petitor mentioned that most people, including friends and colleagues just didn't understand the enormity of what SMC does to your mind, spirit, soul and heart. People who have not had the first-hand experience think the whole thing is no worse than having a bad tooth removed and it's almost impossible to explain the pain and confusion to someone who has never experienced long-term mass hypnosis. Make no mistake about it because that's exactly what it boils down to and this is provable, as shown by Derrin Brown, whom we discussed at great length during the times the programmes were aired.

This, I believe, is the cause of the mental strain everyone has felt and some have needed medication due to the severity of this stress and the metal strain is due to the constant hypnosis (where key words and phrases are used again and again until they are implanted in the brain - like a software program) - the effect of which is cemented by the mass hysteria used to induce the release of endorphins - the resulting euphoria is then portrayed as a spiritual experience. I personally had one during a Red Arrows Fly-past, but that's another story on another page :-)

Tell me if I'm wrong: - All the people deemed to be 'Holy' in SMC have the same condescending and affected way of speech and the same stuck-on plastic (and somehow unsettling) beamy smile, not only do they all talk the same way but they also walk the same way and use the same phrases while talking to other people. If I was a betting person, I would just bet that they are still spouting the same tired old phrases from my day: such as the standard phrase used by a single person regarding whether or not they will get married: "I told God that if he wanted me to have a relationship he'd have to slap me in the face with the man/woman". I first heard that one in 1968, I wonder how many times it's been used since.

Getting back to the psychotherapy, since finding this thread on the forum all of us have found comfort just in the knowledge that we were not alone and we are all here now for two purposes:

1. To try and help each other to heal - since we can empathise with each other because we have all had first-hand experiences of the damage caused by being under the mass hypnosis of this unscrupulous organisation.

2. Make people aware of what's going on behind SMC walls and warn them of the corruption in the organisation, with a view to ending the influence and control these few people have over so many.

When I made my last post I was trying to say loving your enemies is extremely hard, if not almost impossible without some real strength and soul-searching and that contrition has to come before forgiveness can be given. I was making the assumption that you didn't know how to take these verses in light of the behaviour of SMC leaders which has been exposed at great length on this forum. I think the combination of your handle and the verses may have given the impression that you felt we should all just turn the other cheek and get on with life. I don't actually know if that was your intention or not - it's a very short post and you don't really explain whether you quoted the verses as a question about how you can relate to them when you feel spiritually damaged by SMC rather than as an admonishment to us.

Sometimes it's easy to make assumptions - but, as my dear friend is fond of saying "assume" makes an ass out of you and me and sometimes, as Cornelius Dredd says, we make the wrong assumptions from someone's post but we admit to getting things wrong and make our apologies (which is more than can be said for the leaders of SMC).

So if my assumptions were wrong, I do apologise profusely and ask you to forgive me.

If you posted the verses as a question rather than as an admonishment, my answer to you would be that God doesn't require this behaviour from us where spiritual leaders are concerned because THEY are more accountable, to God and the people, for their actions than we are and the Bible is quite clear about how we should deal with such false prophets. So, in these circumstances, I don't believe these verses actually apply to us but they most certainly apply to the SMC leaders who should (if they are as holy as they claim to be) be loving everyone and not just those members of SMC who choose to sit in the pews and revere the leaders more than God. In fact, the verses actually show - yet again - just how UN-Christian the leaders of SMC are when they can't follow the letter of God's word themselves but claim to have some divine power which makes them so much more holy than everyone else. That just doesn't make any Biblical sense at all.

Anyway, I do apologise if I upset you in any way - folks here (especially Clive :-) will tell you that once I start on a certain line I find it very hard to stop.

Of course, Corboy is completely right to remind us that the issue of loving your neighbours and your enemies is not really an important one here because we are talking major corruption in an organisation which holds itself in Holy-high esteem, while lying to and hoodwinking all they come in contact with - including school boards, the charities commission and any other organisation which pokes it's nose into SMC's business. One of the leaders even preached a character assassination of a certain person who was required to work in the school at one point, as part of their assessments by relevant outside bodies - that was completely against everything the Bible teaches and reinforces what we've been saying all along about the UN-Godliness and UN-Holiness of these so-called leaders.

It would be good though, Weary, if you could share your experiences with us, whether positive or negative. I actually didn't think your choice of handle was facetious in any way, I just thought you were expressing your weariness with trying to cope with the conflicting messages and outrageous demands, of SMC, on your life and time. But I hope that you will stay with us and accept my humble apologies for any wrong assumptions I've made.

Happy Survivor, the damage is deep and I know you have a hard time ahead of you. You will heal eventually but right now your brain will be experiencing a sort of withdrawal because it's been so used to getting regular massive hits of endorphins and this is likely to affect your health in other ways too. But keep your faith in Him and, with the help and support of a doctor or counsellor, you will eventually learn to live again. Incidentally, I would advise if possible to find a counsellor who has some knowledge of the effects of long-term mass hypnosis on the brain - not because I'm in any way qualified to give the advice but just because I think they will better understand the problems and confusions and may give more adequate help.

Of course, it's not so easy to treat the spiritual damage, but that's where God comes in and He will be your strength and spiritual guide on your road to recovery. In addition, we are all here to support you, love you and pray for you.

I've come to the conclusion, that no matter what the outcome of all this is, we will never hear the SMC leaders acknowledging the damage they have caused so many much less get any apologies from them so that's one cross I think we will all be bearing for a long time and will probably have to give up on eventually, with God's good grace. But if we can prevent them from causing any more harm, then we will have at least saved some other poor souls from the same fate.

Biiiiiiiig love and huge hugggggs
God Bless xxx

weary:

Why are you posting here?

Paul in Galatians warned against leaders that lorded over people with excessive authority. He also condemned them.

Your biblical recitation is not directly applicable as you seem to think. But reading Galatians would be directly to the point.

Are you here to spin for the group and its leaders?

Hi guys

I think what Weary was really putting to us was that some of the people who may not currently attend SMC, but don't want to be seen to be negative about them, are reacting this way because they themselves are trying to live up to the verses Weary quoted, from Matthew.

There is a lot of sense in that, since Christian people should try to live by what the Bible teaches and I understand how many people may be trying to do just that and be gracious, as they believe God would have them be.

This is admirable but also, to my mind, misplaced in a situation where the Bible is equally clear about the abomination of corrupt spiritual leaders. Unfortunately it shows just how brainwashed and hypnotised these people have become because they still believe that they should not speak ill of the leaders of SMC. This is heavy indoctrination from SMC.

There is a time to stay quiet but there is also a time to speak up and, while the Bible preaches love your neighbours and your enemies, it also gives quite clear instruction on how corruption in the church should be dealt with.

It is classic indoctrination from SMC, for the masses to stay meek and mild and this is part of the conditioning - these people probably don't even realise is happening to them - but they need to wake up and properly read the Bible regarding the responsibilities of church leaders and ask themselves why such 'Holy' people find it necessary to lie in public and to give one version of events to their members and another version to various individuals, legal, charitable and other outside organisations.

They need to ask themselves why the church preaches one thing but the leaders practice another.
They need to ask themselves - would they be happy if they were dealing with a normal company they owned shares in and they saw the annual accounts (for the past three years) reflecting massive losses and a large sum of money marked as 'Restricted Funds' mysteriously vanished, with no reference to its use. In addition they have been led to believe that all of the various ventures were paying for themselves and none of the money they contributed was being used to bolster any of these activities.
When the truth of the matter is quite clearly shown in the church accounts and it is not the picture they are prettily painting for the members.
They should ask themselves who is actually benefitting from their tithes and contributions, if they make or have made any.

If these people who are trying to live up to the Bible just take a bit of time out and remove the rosy specs, the corruption is quite blatant and, no matter what way you cut it, the leaders of SMC cannot possibly be 'Holy and anointed' if they are not telling the members the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

It's all in black and white and indisputable and the corruption spreads beyond the finances.

So, I would tell these people to read their Bibles for themselves and see how ANGRY God is at leaders of men who use his name for their own gains.
As the moderator said, Galatians is a good place to start.

I understand the mentality you are referring to, Weary, I guess at one time I felt the same way and didn't want to speak badly of anyone but then I began to read my Bible again because I started to question certain things I'd been taught were wrong but seemed to be OK for the leaders (such as stock market gambling). When I started reading my Bible and truly understanding it - without the twisted version from SMC - I clearly began to see the inconsistencies and outright mis-interpretations which I'd been led to believe all my young life.

So, even if these people want to continue to sit on the fence or remain in silent support of SMC that's their choice and we respect that (I hope) but if they don't do anything else, they should at least start reading their Bibles with open eyes for a bit.

Remember leaders have a RESPONSIBILITY to their members (one of which is to keep confidential matters confidential - we know that they frequently break member confidentiality). I'm not going to list them all here but the Bible even covers commercialism and church funds, not to mention people who lead you away from the correct spiritual path in order to exert control over your life.

As a company, because that's what SMC is, the directors (who are also the leaders) have a responsibility to legal bodies, the charities commission, the local community, the tax payer and the general public etc.

This is what these people need to be thinking about although I would never condemn anyone for supporting SMC or sitting on the fence because we all need to follow what our heart tells us is right. I also believe that many people who may have left SMC may not have had any lasting damaging effects from their time in the organisation or may have put their experiences at rest and are unwilling to go back there; again that's personal choice and we respect that.

But sometimes God needs warriors to ensure there is some sort of damage limitation.

Again, if I were a betting person, I would bet my plastic Tupperware set that very few normal SMC members have even read the church accounts. They simply take it for granted that the 'Holy and anointed ones' would never try to pull the wool over their eyes. This again is due to the heavy indoctrination from SMC leaders - "Thou shalt not question us because everything we do and say comes directly from God!"

But they can't hide the truth from those who seek it. We sought it and we found a nasty wee can of worms and, since these people have regular access to young people, through the school, it is right and correct that others (especially parents) should be made aware of their doctrines and teachings and the potential harm these people can cause.


Anyway, I think that was the angle Weary was coming from, have I got that right this time? ;-)

As always, biiiiiiiig love and huge huggggggggs to all
God Bless xxx

Thanks for the post Cbarb. I get what the issues are :) my post was about a specific thing that someone had said.

I'll try responding to the moderator again, I either didn't send it properly 2days ago or something else his happened...

Rrmoderator
No i am not spinning for Struthers leaders but thankyou for asking.
My post was actually in direct response to what Happy Survivor said about those who don't shun Struthers people but I'd be thrilled never to speak of it again

Weary never did respond to requests to give his/her reasons for posting on the forum despite being asked on numerous occasions....very revealing!

But no doubt weary will never want to speak of "it" again...just what the Struthers folk said to me when I asked awkward and inconvenient questions.

We have all been upfront and honest and shown our hand and revealed something of ourselves and why we are posting. Not so with Weary...just a few sound bites and cryptic comments and she's off.

Weary; you only answered one of the rrmoderators questions...was the other not relevant?

I responded as I did because I felt both of the moderators questions were the same and that it's already been decided why I'm posting here. Just my opinion.

I read the forum because I'm curious, that's all. Not much of a reason but there you have it. I think there are a few more who read it for the same reason. I thought that was what you wanted.

Posting my small query/suggestion about why someone might respond the way they do to Struthers people was a mistake, not because I think I was wrong to speak but because, in my opinion, it's been blown out of all proportion with meanings and reasons attached that just weren't there. This turning over of every word to look for hidden meanings or slights coupled with the tendency of some to think they know more about me and my motives than I do myself seems a bit like SMC to me.

weary:

This thread has had its share of trolls and supporters of the group posting here for the purpose of subverting the thread.

People posting here are rightfully wary of anyone that seems sympathetic to the group.