Some really good and interesting contributions of late.

Falkirkbairn - I would like to add my comments to those that have already thanked you for sharing. I'm sorry that you have been so deeply and profoundly affected. I'm sure there's nothing any of us can say or do to offer you any real comfort but please know that in speaking out, you can massively help others. TheGreek has summarised perfectly what now needs to happen at SMC in response and to that end, I will "join you in watching if these people act in the best interests of the victim". (I have very low expectations).

Clive - thanks for your observations on the SMC 'prayer voice', particular your comments around mediums / seances. Absolutely spot on!

Meanwhile, I wonder how the BBC investigation is progressing.

Welcome everyone who has joined recently, it’s been good to see all the activity and discussion here in the last month or two. Keep talking and sharing your thoughts and experiences at whatever pace suits you best. I have read each post on here and have found them insightful and useful. FalkirkBairn, I’m really sorry to hear about what happened to you, that is truly awful. Thanks for sharing about it here. I have also heard separate murmurings from local filmmakers regarding a possible SMC documentary, I don’t know if this is tied into the recent enquiries being made by the BBC. Either way it seems there is definitely interest in the topic.

Thank you Rensil for the info on AS leaving the church, it's very interesting. No surprises that no one is allowed to talk about it; just another day in SMC.

At age 14 I too received lots of intense, trauma inducing prayer (deliverance I assume?) on a Wednesday night at youth camp. I was told by Diana Rutherford that she could see demons in me, and that this was simply due to my own bad, worldly way of life. I, a normal child, had somehow brought this upon myself. I didn’t feel like I had much choice in the matter when people started to pray for me during the prayer session, loudly praying in tongues and laying their hands on my head and shoulders to expel the demons from within me, in the manner that all of us have experienced. This traumatic experience messed me up for many years; I actually believed that there was something seriously wrong with me and that it was all my fault. I couldn’t understand how I had failed so badly at life, at just such a young age. Only many years later did I realise how utterly absurd and just plain wrong this whole experience was. Among other posts here ThePetitor on 23 April discusses very well how absurd the SMC obsession with demons is, in the context of demon possession being mentioned in the actual bible itself.

I suggest any interested filmmakers reading this forum to investigate this particular matter further; the way that immense pressure is created by adults of SMC onto minors to accept and participate in these types of events that cause long-lasting psychological effects and trauma to them. When you are actually there in that camp situation, there is simply no way to refuse. Your parents are at home, the adults running the show are telling you over and over and over again during the course of a week-long camp that you must accept and do certain things to be right with God. Pressure from your peers is also very much a thing. If you dare skip a meeting, you will get in trouble both with the church and then again when you get home at the end of camp. So you try to play along and go - only to be subjected to this type of behaviour from the very adults meant to be looking after you. If any of these people have PVG’s, they should be revoked immediately.


Newcomers to this forum may not know about the Latigo214 site. It ran for many years and whoever made it clearly put a lot of time into the information they published there. A lot of the content seems to be missing now, it looks like it might be in the middle of a redesign. But you can still view the whole site on Wayback Machine here: [web.archive.org]
I highly recommend a read if you haven’t already.

The SMC website actually has some sermon recordings for all to download on their homepage. I just had to listen to a few from the 2023 camp.

As usual there is a lot of the usual directly instructing the audience to do the right thing, get your life on track, come to God etc. It's not that hard to see even from an audio recording how the congregation, including young people, feel pressured into doing what they are told to do from the pulpit and conforming to the SMC norms of the day. And of course as recently mentioned, the words of former leaders such as Hugh Black seem to be taken as gospel.

The subtle theme of the persecution complex is evident throughout these sermons. Everyone will know the ‘us vs them’ mentality that is cultivated, where the good church of Struthers is the only shining light in a world full of evil, temptation, and people who want to persecute them because they are part of this super holy church. This creates a very insular environment and only serves the congregation to dig in deeper, build more walls around themselves and isolate themselves even further from society, friends, and sometimes even family.

In one of his sermons G Rutherford talks about other religions where there are rules about how many times you have to pray. This is laughably ironic given the Struthers tradition of a permanent exhausting and strict schedule of meetings and camps that one is expected to attend in order to not backslide and stay right with the Lord & SMC leadership.

The prayer voice is still there among some of them even after the departure of AS. It’s very dramatic, as if the speaker is in great distress. It really helps emphasise the alleged importance of theri point - whether it is a story/interpretation of something in the bible, or a lecturing of the audience present. At times one of the speaker’s voice even starts to tremble into sounds mid-sentence for extra effect.

I truly worry and feel for the regular attendees of SMC. Many joined at such a young age and seem to have lost any frame of reference of what the real world actually is. They are told and believe they have been set free, but yet most of the current congregation will be there for life, trapped in their own prison of belief. Walls built in their own minds on top of strong foundations laid by the destructive church leadership. It’s really sad.

FatHippo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------


> FalkirkBairn, I’m really sorry to hear about what
> happened to you, that is truly awful. Thanks for
> sharing about it here.

THANKS FATHIPPO NOT WORD so far from SMC

Then again I'm not surprised..

FALKIRK BAIRN

FatHippo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------


> FalkirkBairn, I’m really sorry to hear about what
> happened to you, that is truly awful. Thanks for
> sharing about it here.

THANKS FATHIPPO NOT WORD so far from SMC

Then again I'm not 0surprised..

Thanks everyone who has contacted me and posted on the forum with words off support and Shock what had happened to us.

SOME OF YOU WILL WONDER WHY NOW
Well the damage SMC done to me has effected me for another 15\20 years .. I meet a great guy who I adore and he made me realise I'm not evil I don't and didn't deserve whati had went through from a younge age.In the pass year. I have went through counciling ect and it's helped loads .



Why I'm doing this is my granddaughters who starts Hugh school asked one day her mum while she was visiting us if it was OK for her to go go a youth meeting at church with her friend .Alarms bells went of I'm my head. Told her no then had to talkb to my daughter about why I was so against it .

Then I started reading this forum.Relising nothings changed there still praying over kids and adults telling them there possed by demons ect ...Also there still brainwashing people and the leaders don't like when someone ask question about the church also they never own up to any there mistakes ..How many more life's this so called church will waste .
So I'm not going to silent any longer I'm not the quiet tennager they knew and blamed for someone rapping me . And done nothing about it . I have found out this guy continued to go to church went out with more of the female who went on and left the church not long after splitting up with him.

I'm not looking for a
sorry I'm asking them to admit they did wrong in loads of things with myself and make sure there's procedures and plans in place any other person adult or child this happens to the do something about it report in the right way.

AT THE MOMENT I am tracing down old school friends I brought into Struthers and apologising for bringing them into that place there's atleast 10 I did and I'm happy to say everyone's left
I know I have nothing to be sorry for but I need to do this and make sure nothing happened to them and there ok

Love

Falkirk Bairn ..


Ps anyone who thinks they know me please say hi as I do have good memories of back then and the one regreàt I do have it's taken me 40 year to do this .And would love to chat to others from back then

I doing it for them in it and the children now in it or are invited there to camps ..meetings ect


SORRY FOR ANY TYPOS AS MY SPELLING AND GRHAMA IS BAD

FalkirkBairn - thank you for sharing your story, and for finding the courage and strength to do so. We believe you, and we have your back. You did not deserve any of that, and Struthers should have done better to protect and support you. I hope you continue to find healing and peace.

Hi FalkirkBairn

As you say - no surprise.

But it is interesting that in the last 24 hours this discussion has been viewed 1365 times. We have always known that it is read widely in Struthers.

There seem to be a lot of people waiting to see what action the Struthers Church leaders will now take to address the horrible situation they imposed on you. For your sake, and now also for the sake of their members, they urgently now need to resolve this.

This is already an organisation in which the folly of the leaders has created an ongoing financial mess resulting in a schism, leadership resignations, shop closures and staff layoffs. People are still leaving and if situations like this are left to fester more will leave and so they should.

Yes, TheGreek, you are right. People may well be reading and watching what Struthers does next, but they are watching you (plural) too.

Did you know there are currently three attempts to legislate LGBT anti-Conversion Therapy laws in the House of Commons, House of Lords and Holyrood. The more ammunition the anti-evangelical BBC can get for lobbyists to gag what churches can say on sexual morality the better.

My guess is the BBC is looking for LGBT ex-Struthers who claimed to have undergone some prayer they didn't want. Pad this out with some other non-LGBT "coercive prayer" and then time the broadcast for maximum effect during the progress of the Westminster bills.

Will the other evangelical churches in the UK thank you for the way you helped the BBC achieve their aims? The BBC does not care what your aims are - ask your transgender BBC contact what they/she/he thinks of evangelicals.

Remember I Corinthians 6:1-8

I have sat back and waited for this to be brought up Basilisk for over 2 weeks and knew it would. I can't answer for the BBC but your comments are total SMC to tea . So I am asking you to go back and ask them why they let the things happen to me what did and do they realise from there action the effect they have over my life.Because they wont put me off speaking up.I am more than willing to listen what they have to say

FalkirkBairn67, neither would I want to answer for the Struthers leadership, my comments were of a broader nature.

Why don't you talk to each other directly? It may lead to a resolution of the matter.

Why not report it to the police? If anyone believes a crime has been committed, it should be reported to the police.
That comment about trans is a little discriminatory. Does it matter what anyone identifies as.