Re: Struthers Memorial Independent Pentecostal Church
Date: April 28, 2024 05:10PM
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?