Rainbow:

"It is now time. I do think we are past the stage of amends being made. Each individual that is part of the ‘struthers’ movement has had their chance to talk it out and apologise. It is now time for the truth to come out."

This is it in a nutshell. Absolutely spot on.

On a slightly more whimsical note, can we talk about the struthers "prayer voice"? Some must surely know what I mean - that put on, weird voice that is reserved soley for the purpose of praying in public. Presumably when you do this, it makes it a little bit more holy or something?

Or the translation of the speaking in tongues? That’s all rehearsed

Rainbow Wrote:
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> Is it just me that checks for replies lol. It
> would appear the form has blown up in the last
> year. Has anyone got thoughts on why this may be?
>
> Is it because Alison speirs has left?
> Is it because many others have opened up and
> shared?
> Is it just your time and you are ready to share?
>
> I only ask as, I did say, I stayed hidden for many
> years. I could say sorry, but I’m also not sorry.
> I am ready now. I wasn’t then. I wasn’t strong
> enough. I am now. I can stand strong. Right now -
> I can’t say any more. I’ll be back though.

I can just say its just my time to open up to what my experince in SMC was and I do belive they were a wider reason for this whats coming to light to me . I am a better person and Happier person for when I was back then ,

I only kept in touch with one person from those days over the years and they still attend SMC. Folk in my youth have tried to contact me over the years but I was made to feel ashamed and was told not to speak about what happened with 2 of the main leaders so would never speak to them.

I lost many good friends from back then what I regreat and hope to get in contact with once again soon;


I hated my life .I felt worthless. I was told time and time again what happened was my fault and I am angry about this . I was only a child of 14/15 when this did happen these times should have been my innocent years and well it wasn't and it was the leaders of SMC who are to blame for this. I was never asked to leave Struthers and have been invited back many times over the years and thats 40 years of invites of and on. I know I did vist 2 or 3 times more in those 40 years but each time I went somthing happened at each occasion what showed me I had done the right thing .

I went on at a young age to jump out one fire into another.I wasnt till 20 plus years ago I meet somone who changed my life who showed me im Not a evil person and I dont deserve the abusive and let down I had recieved the first 30 years of my life .When he meet me I was a broken person. Coming out my first marriage what all Im saying wasnt a good one.I have went through alot of councilling these past years and thought this was all in my pass till a year ago I looked at my oldest Granddaughter and said to myself Im about this age when this happened to me and I need to wake up and Stop SMC distroying any more young lifes as I know its still going on today.

I know I have not said what happened and dont feel its the right time to do so .But I will one day but at the moment Im trying to come to terms with this all myself .its like watching a film of my life from a very young ages reliving things and having nightmares ect about then I have opened that chapter in my life and need to put it to rest

So anyone who knew or was around the youth group 40 years ago I would love to say hi to you again . Sorry for any spelling or Grammer errors

Would anyone else be willing to speak to the BBC? Please comment below and they will get in touch.

They already have

Brilliant

Blackwatch, “The voice” is an interesting one, isn’t it? It is yet another example of Struthers doing their own thing. (Ironic, isn’t it? Mr Black used to say what a terrible song “I did it my way” was, as we should be doing it God’s way, not our own way, yet the main Struthers defence to things like this is not to return to scripture, but to simply say, “this is they was we do things here, we have a right to do it our own way.”)

Anyway, I remember Mr Black saying that one of the ways he knew God’s Spirit was moving was when a particular timbre came into his voice (although he only did that very occasionally, not every week).

I have no idea where that idea came from, and it certainly is not scriptural. More than that, it is totally unlike anything in scripture. Can you think of any passage in the Bible you could add that information and it would make sense in the context?

And what about verses that are in the Bible, like 1 Corinthians 13? “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” Is that not the sort of verse they should be using to stop this nonsense?

The problem is of course that, since Mr Black said it, it does in the eyes of Struthers have even higher authority than scripture. Scripture can be questioned and interpreted, but the words of Mr Black cannot. They may not say that explicitly, but that is how works in practice.

Many people on this forum know this, because they have questioned things they do not see in scripture. Instead of getting any sort of explanation, they simply get told they are not being spiritual and, if they continue on this path, they are in danger of missing God’s high calling for their life. That is the standard reaction to questioning anything that is Struthers (but not mainstream Christian) practice.

And that ties in with another thought I have been having. I was recently challenged about why I thought so many people were traumatised by their experience of being in or leaving Struthers.

I mean, you can understand why people who have been in wars suffer from PTSD. They may have seen friends mutilated and killed, and may have been in a situation where they did not know if they would be alive the next day. It is no surprise that can lead to trauma, but why would being in Struthers do the same?

I think this may be because of the war mindset they encourage. You are told that you are effectively walking through a minefield, with the possibility of stepping on a mine at any point. They of course have a hot line to someone who knows where all the mines are and will tell you where to walk – three paces to the right, forward ten paces, stop, turn left, go forward five paces, now turn to the right. They even add stories of other people who did not listen to them and as a result stepped on a mine, resulting in a ruined life. And remember, it is even worse than a mine, because it is not just this life you are losing, it is your calling and your eternal life.

(Oh, and if folk have not already been told this, they will soon be told of a devastating new type of mine that the bad guys have invented, one that is so cunning, it activates if you just look at it. It is called the “Cult Education Forum”. It is a particularly nasty device as it is full of people telling the truth - which as we know is a really dangerous thing.)

Oh, and if you do step on an invisible mine, you will not be aware of it, but the leaders will, so you better watch out.

Apart from being very far from what is taught in the Bible, one of the many practical problems with this model for how life works is that there is of course no evidence of these invisible mines or of their impact. There is instead clear evidence from this forum that the invisible mines spotted by the leaders are not real, and that people who decide not to follow the leaders instructions do not end up stepping on mines, but manage to escape from the minefield.

Is it however any wonder that most who leave have a traumatic experience and suffer PTSD-like symptoms?

On another note entirely, a number of people on this forum will have some experience of going through change in an organisation and will probably have seen “the change curve”. If you are still in Struthers and have not seen it, you might want to have a look at this (just google “change curve”). It shows the process an organisation or individual has to go through to survive change.

The details vary, but there is always a downward stage (something like a journey through the stages of: shock, denial, frustration, anger then depression), but there is then an upward stage (experimentation, decision, engagement, integration).

If there is some sort of media interest and public scrutiny off Struthers, I am sure you will see the first half of this curve.

Whether you see the second half will depend on whether people become open to change or not.

This is of course (unsurprisingly) also scriptural. That is exactly what God does with his people throughout history. He tells them they need to change, which leads to a bit of a downward journey but, if and when they do realise the need for change, they start to move upwards again.

The point of posting this is that you may think the purpose of this forum is to drag you down as an individual and an organisation, but I do not see it that way at all. I see it as support for change. The first part of that is painful – denial, frustration, anger etc. The second part is not easy either, but it is possible and very worthwhile. It is also much easier to get support at the second stage, as you by that time realise that you do need to change and can accept help to move forward.

So, if there is anyone out there going through a period of change, there is help out there! A number of people have gone before you, and are willing to offer support. Many people on this forum or outside of it know how painful change is, and that it may well include frustration and anger, but it is necessary if you want to survive.

Interested to know what might be said this morning…

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