Hi everyone,

I feel sickened and afraid. I have offended someone by the things I have said in my posts on this thread. Yesterday my fiancé and I were threatened by the partner of the person I have offended, the threat took the form of this man threatening to pay us a visit at our home.

I can no longer post here. I have to think of my fiancé and my own personal safety.

It is tragic that a voice of truth on this thread has been silenced by an aggressive threat and by yobbo behaviour.

I have opened myself to this danger by posting here and by being so open and candid in my posts. Most of you are commenting from a safe distance of many years. I am bang up to date and that is a problem for me.

I would urge you to be very wary of those who post here and who, when challenged, give seemingly innocent and plausible reasons for their interest in this thread. They may well be hiding their history with SMC and their involvement with current members.

I have informed the RRModerator of this threat and of my suspicions as to the source of it.

It has stunned my fiancé and I as it has come out of the blue.

I hope you will all understand that I can never post here again.

Thank you for your friendship and support. You have strengthened me through some very dark and lonely times.

Keep yourselves safe.

Happy Survivor.

Dear Happy Survivor,
I am full of admiration for you.
I know it will be difficult however you will be a better person for leaving SMC.
In relation to the present threats I would suggest if you have the slightest concerns you are being threatened you report the matter to the police.At least there will be a record if action is required in the future.If you do not want to do this now I would suggest telling the person concerned you will do so if there is any further threats.
I, like many I suspect ,am not a regular poster however I could not let go the appalling way you are being treated without comment.
I wish you well and peace as you begin your journey away from SMC.

Happy Survivor, You have to do as you see right, but effectively you are being bullied. Call the police and make them aware of this, please. It doesn't matter that they will deny it...it will be on record.
And to that person who threatened you: Want my address??? Do ya really? Thought not you bullying scum. Wanna give out yours? Again, I think not. You are pathetic and delusional if you think this kind of intimidation will be accepted. And one day you'll threaten the wrong person.
In truth I already think you did...
Regards all, and keep telling it like it is. Happy Survivor, fear not. Your God is not going to desert you and will protect you and allay your fears. How he will do this is not for me to judge or say. At ease, friend, Cornelius Dredd.

To the leaders of SMC

If you read the above posts, you will see that a member of your congregation has intimidated someone. That may have been accidental or it may have been intentional, it may have been a bit ambiguous or it may have been totally 100% unambiguous. Whatever the memory or intention, it has clearly been seen as a threat.

(Happy Survivor, please do not read any doubt of you in this, I am simply trying to be totally non-judgmental in what I say so that I can be really clear about my point.)

Grace Gault, Bobby Cleary, Jennifer Jack, Dianna Rutherford, Chris Jewell and Pauline Anderson, Trustrees of SMC, I charge you to do something about this. There are many, many testimonies on this website to the fact that the approach favoured by your organisation includes standing up in the pulpit and telling people what they have done wrong. Well, here is a man who has done something wrong - he has threatened someone and caused fear and alarm. It is probably relatively easy to identify this person, so you can have a quiet word with them if so inclined or, if you really believe that it is what God would want, then you can call them out in front of the congregation and tell them they need to apologise and sort this.

If the person denies it, then you will presumably have a blinding flash of revelation that tells you the truth of the matter. I for one would like to see that published here.

If for some reason your normally infallible blinding revelation is quiet on this matter, and you cannot get to the bottom of it using the more convention means available to us mere humans, then you could presumably print a statement, or even just preach about, how wrong it is to create fear or to threaten others. That would not admit to any guilt, but would make it very clear where you stood and, given the unswerving loyalty of the congregation, I am convinced it would lead to an apology. Indeed, if you remember the story of the cross and the switchblade, you will remember that some of the gang - Israel and Nicky, I think, went into the police station the day after the rally to confess their crimes. Perhaps a suitable sermon will encourage this particular offender to do likewise. That I would be impressed with!

(Believe it or not) I try to be very measured in my comments, and rarely pass judgements, but I really cannot stand bullying. Can I therefore be 100% clear on this: if any one of you reads this and takes no action, you are a coward and a person unsuitable to be a Trustee of any charity, and should therefore immediately step down from your post.

Oh, and on another note entirely: Weary - welcome to the forum. Sorry that you have felt subject to a bit of scrutiny (quite reasonable in my view) or that your views and motives have been added to and interpreted (not so reasonable in my view) but welcome anyway. I think it is great that you have contributed and hope you will continue to do so from time to time. We all need to be challenged. And, remember, even if you are not happy with the comments made, at least people are listening and thinking about what you say. Seems to me that is better than ignoring you!

It was not a member of SMC who threatened us.

It was the husband of a Struthers sympathiser. I offended the girl by being so critical of Struthers.

This man who threatened my fiancé and I has no faith position as I understand. His wife is a Christian yet she saw fit to give her aggressive husband my mobile phone number.

I never said it was a member of SMC.


ThePetitor:

I repeat that I would be very wary of those who are posting on this thread and who claim to be posting and following the thread because they are curious. I have my doubts and suspicions.

Happy Survivor

Sorry - obviously picked that up wrong. Still some relevance perhaps, but happy to apologise to you and to the SMC leadership for suggesting this was within their sphere of influence.

It really was not my intention to mislead anyone regarding the source of this threat.

I want to stop posting on this thread because the comments that I have made on this forum have resulted in us being threatened.

By revealing personal details I have identified myself and made myself a target. That was my mistake.

Being anonymous on this thread protects us. Unfortunately it also means that when a new poster arrives on the thread you don't know who on earth you are dealing with. They have been protected but I have not been.

I feel aggrieved that someone can follow this thread, read the latigo website, thereby witnessing our anguish and suffering and then snipe from the sidelines because I do not appear to love my enemies. In my opinion, they are missing the whole point of this thread and whether they realise it or not are distracting us from focussing on dealing with the terrible wrongs of SMC.

But I am not going to be critical of anyone on this thread again. I don't want my fiancé and I to be threatened again.

Once again, it is the good old SMC effect.

Happy Survivor.

Happy Survivor, the only mistake you have made is called freedom of speech. A Christian "sympathizer" has taken offence. I'm sure you didn't mean it personally. Either way, your number was passed on to a bully. If you have received a menacing call or a threat, it is an illegal act and I sincerely hope you have reported it. His Christian other half surely won't support him in his bullying. And remember the police can and do trace malicious calls, which he can deny but the trail remains.
ThePetitor, I still count this as smc influence (outer sphere..) and the leadership could prevent this. They choose not to and so now smc will fall into the category of a bullying church. Your questions raised to the trustees are still very relevant. Inaction is the same as condoning this bully. More complicity. Maybe they think they can say, "It's not us." Reading through though, it still is. Yet another example of how this organization runs...
Regards to all, Cornelius Dredd

Quote
rrmoderator
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.

I am not exactly what one would describe as in any way an SMC sympathiser - but I have to speak out here rrmoderator. I get the sense that your moderation is acting in a manner to effectively censor anyone from SMC or sympathetic to SMC on this forum.

I dont know exactly why you blocked some recent pro-SMC person who appeared here but if you really want
to promote open and free speech then please simply try to moderate with a light hand here.

Otherwise your forum is no better than the cults your organisation claims to expose. Is no dissent allowed on here ? I mean lets be honest here - many of us posters here - me included have not exactly held back in our invective and rhetoric concerning SMC. Yet I dont recall myself or others here ever being censored, being brought to task for that.

And yet as soon as any one bravely, brazenly or whatever - decides to comment from a pro-SMC perspective it doesnt seem to take long before you rrmoderator step in.

What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Do you not think the regular posters here are capable of speaking for themselves and responding to whatever an SMC person posts here ? Is debate to be allowed ? or is this simply to be a talking shop for the choir - who'se side I may be on ?


frankly nothing will be achieved positively if so.


Let me give you an example of what I mean. A certain pastor here- Diana Rutherford - has been the object of
a considerable amount of highly tinged emotional language here. Many posters here hold her personally responsible.

Now right or wrong - everything that has been written here concerning her could very reasonably be viewed as personal and in effect - an attack on her. And this is all allowed by rrmoderator. And yet as soon as anyone from within SMC posts briefly in response what is the response ? censorship.

didnt take long.

A word of advice rrmoderator:
Just stay out of the way.

Let all who want to defend SMC post here freely and let the ex SMC-ers here respond as they see fit.

The phrase glass houses comes to mind.

The cry has gone out time and time again here to SMC leaders etc to respond.

Yet it seems to me as soon as anyone pro-SMC raises their head above the parapet to give THEIR take on the situation - they are quickly "sent on their way"? blocked ?


Nice.

Have to disagree Clive. As I think was explained, Bingowings was binned for rule-breaking, end of.
Unless I am missing something no one else has been excluded and no censorship has occurred,
Possibly there's a lot of paranoia afoot (doesn't mean they're not out to get you..) which results in people wanting reasonable answers regarding motives for posting.
Of course I am not suggesting you could be so easily subverted away from the topic, being the level-headed voice of reason that you are. But that was not censorship, just asking about a posters reasons. (with Weary, I mean).
Anyway, back to the here and now, lest we get sucked into a pointless debate about censorship. RR offers many a level of security/protection and is often the first safe haven in which people feel free to speak. The moderator seems to watch over and is certainly there to help the vulnerable. I know we can defend ourselves, but trolls are not welcome here and if rrmoderator gets an instinct about a posters motives being to distract us or derail the thread; I welcome the intervention from someone clearly more familiar with cultic tactics.
I do see your concern but disagree that this is censorship. Bingowings was acting like a petulant kid and trying to insult people in a very "authoritative" way. That is breaking the rules of the forum, simple. Bye-bye then.
We exist here to raise awareness and let people speak of the damage done by smc. They have had time to answer on a square basis but they choose not to. They are censoring themselves. N'est pas?
Regards one and all, Cornelius Dredd (Once Ifellaway)