@blackwatch

Oops! Sorry about that, so you have. Still good to have your comments!

(And has this forum really been going ten years? That is absolutely amazing, especially when new people are still coming forward.)

Have a look at the attached - first post was actually 2005!

Finally got round to writing another blog post!

[nicolacasey.wixsite.com]

The bailout it terrible. The vote is counted in secret so who knows the truth there.
There was even talk of the church getting a loan to help at Christmas. It was meant to be a one off.
The church claims to have cured serious mental illness too. Which is a serious claim. People coming off medications is an unwise thing to do.
Listening to the miracles in testimonies you have to think it’s a bit dodgy.
They also claim to have cured stage four cancer too through prayer. And cure many health problems through praying with cooking oil over people.
If they really are anointed prophets, how don’t they see when serious illness is on the way or disasters.
Rainbow you have done the right thing! You have seen the light.
The church is really an offshoot of the Plymouth brethren. They use similar tactics. Brethren use a method called shutting up and snub too

Escape to France. I’m in tears reading your blog.

Wow!! This Forum is buzzing! Welcome to the new contributors to the Forum, Standbyfive, Rainbow and Escapesoon, and great to hear from others who have posted before, either recently or in the past.
ThePetitor, this Struthers forum took off in a big way in 2010/2011, so it has been going for 13 years! This coincided with the launch of the Latigo website - latigo214.info - with detailed posts exposing various aspects of Struthers church.

There are so many comments I want to add re all the recent posts, so I’ll try to separate them out.
FatHippo - You asked about the reasons for Alison Speirs leaving SMC. It was because of a long-term dispute taking place at the Cedars School. Although Alison Speirs retired from her Head Teacher post several years ago, she seemed to be unable to let go of her position of being in charge and clashed with some of the other teachers including the Head. One issue was her favouritism towards her own family members who had teaching posts in the School. Eventually the dispute went before the School Board of Management and they voted against Alison. As a result of this, she decided to leave SMC, taking some of her close followers and family with her.
What she is doing now, I do not know. It is laughable that Struthers folk have been told not to say anything about Alison leaving and about what happened. One person said to me, “We have been sworn to secrecy.” Very odd indeed.

Standby five - I hope you decide not to return to SMC. After the way you were treated for innocently going out with a girl, I hope you’ll realise that you wouldn’t be happy in Struthers and wouldn’t have any freedom to make your own decisions. The correct course of action would have been to talk to you privately and gently explain why it wasn’t ideal to go out with a girl from the Mormon church. You were only 16!! Do the Struthers leaders not understand the normal behaviour of teenagers when they start to take an interest in the opposite sex? They should understand, since the majority of the leaders are secondary school-teachers! It was a bit extreme to hustle you out of the book-shop and not want to talk to you! (And they lost a CD sale, ha!)

Andrew Jewell is indeed a leader in the Greenock church but Diana Rutherford is the overall head of the Struthers movement, as they call it. Yes, Standbyfive, he is a nice guy, but he is just as indoctrinated as all the others in SMC so he can’t really be his own person. He was trained for leadership by Mary Black when she led the Youth Work some years back.

Rainbow - Yes, Mary Black developed a serious cancer and died about two years after her diagnosis. I cannot remember a sermon where cancer was specifically mentioned but I did hear sermons which alluded to sin or “darkness over a life” as being the cause of someone’s illness. As a result, there was always intense pressure to receive healing by the laying on of hands by one of the leaders. But many folk in SMC were not healed and some carry terrible guilt about not being healed.

Daisy69 - Many in SMC suffer from depression, SAD and anxiety but prefer to keep it secret, most likely because they fear being labelled as unspiritual or as harbouring darkness. Nonsense! I guess a leader off their own bat might say someone should come off their medication but I don’t think it’s a universal policy. It is indeed very dangerous.

Please, everyone who has posted, share more of your story. We want to hear of your experiences: telling them could help other people who are currently wondering about whether to remain in SMC or leave. And the stories can definitely help people who have left but who think they’re the only one who has suffered abuse in Struthers.

escapedtofrance Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Finally got round to writing another blog post!
>
> [nicolacasey.wixsite.com]

Wow - thanks for sharing. Your writing is so articulate and hard-hitting. Please write more!

Rensil - thanks for your comprehensive update.

Here's a question for you (and others). I often wondered how Chris Jewell seemed to be able / permitted to operate in 'both worlds'? He'll attend secular events / functions and in general does a fair bit of mingling with non-christians. Obviously he's a big financial steer in the organisation and wonder if that buys him a free pass. . .

It's really interesting to hear everyones stories and experiences, and to see the updates on what is happening in the organisation now - Certainly the cracks are showing!

Thank you escapedtofrance for your writing and words, such a painful story but you tell it beautifully,

Hi Rensil
They proudly tell you how serious mental health conditions, have been cured through shouting over people in tongues. And how they don’t need meds for them.
They tell you they ‘cure’ it another way and not with meds.
When someone ends up in hospital they aren’t open about why.
The whole not watching tv nonsense is rubbish. The leadership watch it.
There is a whole other element, the fact that there are members who work high ranking roles in the civil service, who are seen at Scotland