I heard a rumour that the AGM is this week. I wonder if that is correct and if so, what sort of reports/ decisions will be presented.
I am convinced that 80% of the Members think not making any effort to respond to this forum is an unscriptural and embarrassing failure on the part of the leaders. Whether that is even debated will to me give a very clear indication of whether the leadership are serious about allowing the Members to have any say in important matters or if they are being treated like children from a century ago who were told to be seen but not heard.
I have already made some suggestions as to what might be asked at the AGM, but I would settle for one simple question.
Do the leaders believe in Matthew 5v23 and 24?Quote
Matthew 5v23 and 24
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
This very clearly says that, if your brother or sister has something against you, there are two things you need to do:
1) Go and be reconciled to them, and
2) Come and offer your gift
The whole point of the verse is that
they must be done in that order – step one followed by step two.
What Struthers has until now taught is the opposite. They have taught that, if your brother or sister has anything against you, do step two first.
This is totally the opposite of what scripture says.They then take this even further, telling folks that, if they do step two properly, they will not even need to do step one, because they will just forget all about step one.
That has been their teaching –
they have deliberately taught people how to ignore the needs of others. They have even gone as far as having people stand on the platform and say how wonderful it was when they did the opposite of this verse, and how much God blessed they for disobeying His word.
Could someone please raise this at the AGM –
Do the leaders believe in Matthew 5v23,24 and will they change their teaching and practice to comply with this scripture, encouraging, supporting and directing people to implement these verses and will first go and be reconciled (Note by the way, it does not say “wait until they come to you to be reconciled", but GO and be reconciled. Leave your gift behind. Do not say, "well, they could come to me, so I may as well get on with step two while I am waiting for them to initiate step one.
That is NOT what the scripture says. Stop making things up and
do what is says on the tin.)
Is that too much to ask?
If you want an example of that teaching, I unashamedly repeat below my post from October 23 2024:
QUOTE FROM MY EARIER POST
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I was interested to read Diana’s “Thought for the week” this week (dated 20/10/24). It was based on Matthew 18v31, which says, “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened.”
It advises readers to go to the King (referring to God), saying things like:
Quote
Thought for the week 20/1024
Even when you are ‘very upset’ as in this story, take the matter to the King. It will help enormously as you talk to Him about it all. He may lift the burden, give you a deeper understanding of the situation, or suddenly fill you with compassion for the one causing the upset. He may even ask you to deal with the situation.
There is little wrong with that as generic advice, especially as it includes the possibility of action. I am less impressed with the conclusion however, which is:
Quote
Thought for the week 20/1024
This is what God wants for His church. And so when you are very upset, take it to the King and tell Him everything that has happened. I guarantee it will lead to peace.
The problem here is that the idea of action has suddenly been dropped, and the message is that what you do when something upsets you is take it to God and you will then feel better. This is very far from the message of this passage.
First of all, this is a parable that Jesus told. The message of the story was about how you should treat others, not about how you should take things to God. As is often the case in Struthers, they take a single verse out of context and use it to say what they want to say. I know this is a "thought for the week" not a full-blown sermon, but it is still mis-using the Word of God, as it is using a verse to say the opposite of what it actually says in context. This is exactly the kind of thing that is done in sermons, where it is totally inappropriate.
The story is in fact not about taking things to God at all, it is about taking things to a human ruler and the human ruler taking action as a result. There is nothing about anyone feeling more peaceful.
It is also about a person who did things wrong. The servants were “very upset” because they saw injustice. They took this injustice to the person in charge and that person acted to correct the injustice. So this would be like, oh, I don’t know, someone noticing something that was wrong in the church and taking it to the leaders - who would immediate tell them they were wrong to criticise. Oh, sorry: I don’t know how that slipped in, I thought for a moment that was what happened in the parable – the servants went to the King and the King told them they were wrong to criticise him because he was the king and so he threw them all into prison.
I think I may have to back and read that passage again.
Seriously though folks, this is not Biblical teaching. This is taking a single verse out of context and teaching exactly the opposite of what it says. This passage says it is OK to tell Kings they are wrong and, if the King is wise, they will listen and act to correct injustice. Struthers never seems to preach about the Biblical requirement to ensure justice in the here and now and they say it is wrong to be critical, which is exactly the opposite of what Jesus is saying here.
There is also a huge part missing here, which relates to that justice question. The servants were upset because what they saw was unjust. They did not need to be comforted or made to feel better, they needed to see justice.
Take the case of David being confronted by the prophet Nathan. I am sure that he was “very upset” at what Nathan had just said. The answer in that case was not to “take it to God so that God would make him feel better”. It was to realise he had been in the wrong and to repent. Seems to me that is the kind of thing the leaders should be stating in their “thought for the week” – “I was wrong: I need to repent”. Not “you are wrong to be feeling upset or depressed and it is all your fault because you are not doing things right”.
What would have happened if David had reacted this way? He could have said – “look folks, I am really upset here, I need to take it to God and tell Him about it” then returned an hour later and said, “it is OK, I am much more peaceful now”.
This is not scriptural folks. This is not a good shepherd feeding the sheep, this is a bad shepherd who has lost a number of sheep over decades and, instead of doing what the Bible says and going out to find them, is barricading the doors so that no more can escape.
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END OF THAT QUOTE
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And as I said on 22 May 2011
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QUOTE FROM MY POST May 2011
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CovLass, you are (once again!) spot on in your analysis. The Leaders in Struthers can go around saying “yes of course we make mistakes” all they like, but until they take action to correct these mistakes, no-one is going to believe them. As I said on 22 March:
“Confusion and upset, and it is always the fault of the people, never the fault of the leaders. That is why I think Matt 5v23 is so important. It shows that Christ did not say to people – ‘ignore any wrong to those around you, just go into a corner and pray. As long as you can feel My presence in meetings it will all be fine.’ He said that you were accountable TO OTHER PEOPLE for your actions, and you had to respond to their concerns. Mr Black frequently confirmed this when he spoke of Cain and Abel, "Cain asked 'Am I my brother’s keeper' and God's answer was yes, you are."
You know, I have just read over the last 18 pages of comments (took a while!) and there is just so much clarity and consistency there. So many people that did not settle for accepting someone else’s second-hand belief, but wanted a direct relationship with God. People that could not be trapped in delusion but, often through real trauma, broke free of the oppression.
That is why I don’t entirely agree with your comment Clive,
“Naturally attempts by Covlass and Petitor will fall on deaf ears in such a situation. It is part of the human condition to defend ones own beliefs and loyalties, regardless of being confronted by new facts that contradict things.”
In many cases, they will. I take your point entirely as far as the leaders are concerned. They and the favoured few who get all the attention have stopped their ears and have no interest in the truth, only their cosy delusion. I am not so sure about others in the congregation however. The situation is very much the Emperor’s New Clothes. Almost all of the congregation know in their hearts that they are getting nowhere in Struthers. All it takes is for one or two to ask some questions, for example asking the leaders whether they believe in Matthew 5v23. They will discover that the leaders are hypocrites who put their own discernment before scripture, as their reply will be something like, “yes of course I believe in that verse, and if God ever told me to apply it, I would, but he has told me not to apply it to people I have hurt or to those nasty people on RickRoss”. That puts them above scripture, and in direct conflict with God, and most people will see that.
It will take time, but the leaders of Stuthers are not more powerful than God. They are not even more powerful than human nature, and they cannot keep people trapped forever. One small breach in the dam, and the floods will open. The leaders know that, and that is why they are closing down, no longer publishing sermons online and removing the testimonies to healing form their website. If you want an idea of how it might develop, read some of the other threads on this forum, for example, the first few and the last few pages of Turning Point World Outreach Centre. Many, many other churches have claimed the same unique access to God but reality catches up eventually.
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END OF THAT QUOTE
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Hmmm. "the leaders are not more powerful than God", “reality catches up eventually” Dozens of folk leaving, finances in a mess, having to close the bookshops and the school, rumours of all sorts of safeguarding issues... It is almost as if ignoring the Biblical teaching to seek out your brother or sister and be reconciled and instead following the totally unbiblical teaching that all you need to do is come to the altar and offer your worship has not led to good outcomes.
As the Greek asked recently, “what happened to the person who built their hose upon the sand?”
I do not think for one minute any of the leaders will open up questions like Matthew 5v23,24 at the AGM, they are far too busy trying to shut down questions and teach people their favourite doctrine of hiding your head in the sand. Would be very interesting if an ordinary member raised this though. Ordinary members of Struthers - you need to know whether your leaders accept the authority of scripture or are just making up their own belief system. Ask them about Matthew 5v23, 24. Tell them they have to obey scripture. That is what Nathan had to do to David, at risk to his own life. You are not being asked to risk your life here, you are just being asked to risk the disfavour of the leaders. Should that matter to you?
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2025 12:49AM by ThePetitor.