Hello everyone. Another Thankyou to escapedtofrance, for the link to the beliefnet article which I also found to be very apt when thinking of Struthers. The “5 signs of a Cult masked as a Church” all apply to SMC, as Chesterk55 has outlined above. These signs are definitely the attributes of a cult or a cult-like church. I know that the Struthers teaching is gospel and orthodox, as you say AlDuff, but the leadership do also add on to the Bible with their own approved prophecies and visions, and we are instructed by God not to add to the Scriptures. Many people in Struthers lean on these prophecies and visions and on whatever the leaders say, more than they rely on reading the Word of God. In my view, this is dangerous and strays into the behaviour seen in many obvious cults. But there are definitely some Christian-based cults in existence and perhaps SMC could be in that category.

Welcome to regtree1234 and shar80x. It’s good to hear about what’s going on in the Neath branch in Wales because we don’t often get people posting about it here. I am glad that you’ve both got out of Struthers and that you’ve found this Forum helpful. It sounds as though the Neath leader is not a very caring or good pastor. I believe that when the branch started up, Mr Hugh Black said to the group to talk amongst themselves and appoint someone to be the leader/minister. So this is how he was appointed. The group is of course under the oversight of Diana Rutherford and they all come up to Camps and Conferences, so they’re just following the same Struthers teaching and ethos as is present in SMC in Scotland, including belief that Struthers is better than and superior to every other denomination. Not caring about older people is very remiss, but Struthers always had a huge focus on youth. Favouritism has always been evident in SMC, with some people chosen for special attention and many others basically ignored for no reason or even shunned. Chesterk55 has described the results or lack which are evident in the lives of people who have been stuck in Struthers for many years. I hope that more members will see the light and realise what kind of church they are in and will get out.

Hi Rensil. Just catching up. You are indeed right in what you say about the Neath Pastor. He is very unapproachable and intense and has been a principal reason for many departures from the church which includes my own too. As soon as you leave it as if you 'die' and friendships are encouraged to be ended. One of the leaders even told me one time that they would rather me not attend church at all than attend the church that I now attend. I do not think this would be a loving, Christian response to a situation like this and since leaving you are able to see the bigger picture and close in on just how introverted their vision is for Christianity. In a nutshell they believe they are the only church of worth in the world (of around 8 billion people). True Christians would be happy that you have found God in a church, even if it has meant departing your church. So many red flags there. And the immediate family typify all of the above. Stay away!

Thanks for your post, regtree1234. I hope you are happy in your new church and that your child will get the support he/she needs. Struthers folk always take that view that there is no other church which is following God or is living in holiness, as much as they are. This is patently untrue as we have all found out after attending other churches after we’d left Struthers. We’ve experienced what Christ spoke of and commanded: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Coincidence or not, but I noticed from the SMC Cumbernauld Instagram feed that Diana Rutherford had recently got the Neath Pastor to give testimony about his baptism in the Spirit. His testimony was mostly about how he’d first met Diana and how she’d said she knew him already in spirit before meeting him and that she also knew all his sins before he told them to her. Is that possible? She’d prayed with him and a special bond had been formed which is there to this day. A bit of a weird story, I thought. What do other folks think?

Anyway, is the giving of his testimony a coincidence or deliberately done due to the recent posts here from people who have left the Neath Church? We all know that the Struthers leaders ask for a testimony when they have a purpose behind it and want to get a message out. Hugh Black himself admitted that he did this. Also, there was a testimony at the recent Easter Conference (now on YouTube) from a young woman in the Neath Church, who had come out of addiction. I do hope that she will get the support she needs in days to come, by the way.
Anyway, testimonies to counteract any seeds of criticism or doubt which may arise after reading the posts on here? Perhaps