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Rensil
when I wrote about DR's discernment and the accuracy of it compared to that of the other leaders, I wasnt meaning that I thought it was ok and that I believed her discernment was always accurate and from God.
Pointing out people in a public gathering and speaking about their sin and need of deliverance, which has been discerned by a leader, is very upsetting for people. In most other churches where discernment and revelation gifts are in operation, the person in need will be taken quietly aside and counselled and ministered to in private.
Sorry Rensil, I did realise that in no way were you endorsing the view that DR had wonderfully accurate discernment at all times. I should have made that clearer in my post.
In regard to the public exposure of people and their sins, I believe Mr Black would have agreed with your point 100%. In my opinion, Mr Black was not against "words of knowledge" being used in meetings, as long as people weren't specifically identified. He was happy to see God move and people challenged to total committment. However, I think he was conscious of the dignity of the individual and the possible accusation of bullying. This area - that of identifying specific people - was one of the reservations he had about the ministry of Pastor Di. How do I know that? Well she admitted it in her preaching on at least one occasion saying and I roughly quote "Mr Black doesn't like it when I identify people in the company when I'm talking about specific issues".
As I wrote before, I believe Mr Black had real reservations over her ministry style and while he was around her platform speaking at conferences was VERY limited. I remember on one occasion she was asked to speak at a morning meeting and she was very impressive. Many people started going on about how wonderful she was - particularly the Cumbernauld people! So what did Mr Black do? During the evening meeting he spoke about the morning meeting and basically (in a very gracious way) told the people not to be concerned with the channel that God was using, it was not all about DR, but the focus must always be on God. He finished by admitting it had been a lovely occasion and that she would get a chance to speak again at the next camp. In my view, although he respected and endorsed her gifting, he didn't always like the way she did things and I think, often had words with her about it. (My view on this was formed with limited, but I believe compelling, source material - if I am proved to be wrong in this assessment I do apologise). Does anyone else have any insight on this?
What is the point of sharing this, anyway? Well, if the behaviour of one, or more, of the struthers leaders which was previously being kept in check, continues to get worse it is the people in struthers who will suffer and the church becomes even more "cult-like".
I was shocked at the post from Religionless about the wedding she attended, because one of the things struthers always used to be concerned about was their public perception. Mr Black was very conscious of the need to APPEAR reasonably "mainstream" - they always put on a good show for outsiders. Everyone was meant to think they were the perfect church - friendly, kind, caring and deeply spiritual - everything a good church should be. I think that to have had this kind of outburst at a public wedding would have been a step to far for leaders of a previous generation (as cbarb suggested). This tells me two things about the Cumbernauld leader: 1st - she is not being properly supervised; and 2nd - she cares more about her own agenda than the good of the so-called "movement".
Clive,
I think your idea about note taking is a good one, and I hope some people in struthers start to do it. I think the problem will be that the prophetic words given are mostly generalisations, but hopefully if people pick out the specifics and then look back...
One previous prophetic word I would like to bring to the attention of everyone now attending the Cumbernauld church is the "10 Cities Prophecy" If you started attending struthers Cumbernauld before the mid-1990s you'll know what I'm talking about....
For everyone else... DR got up one Sunday night in the mid to late 1990's (sorry I don't recall the date or even the exact year) and excitedly preached this word that God had given her. She (yes DR!!) was going to be put in charge of ten cities. God had given her the Word (from Luke 19:17). I remember she was upset that people weren't getting more excited... this was AMAZING!!... God was raising her up over an entire region - the whole of lanarkshire, so it seemed. Of course it wasn't 10 literal cities, it was some towns and possibly some large villages accross the area. Well, we are now in 2012, and while there was no date put on this 'revelation' you would surely expect to see some sign of it coming to fruition by now. As I understand it two of these "cities" were to be Wishaw and Hamilton (struthers at one point had outreach meetings in both), at the time of my last contact with people in Cumbernauld there was NO ONE regularly coming to struthers in Cumbernauld from either Wishaw or Hamilton. As for some of the other places like Motherwell, I think there was 3 or 4 people attending. DR is still not known by 99.9% of people in lanarkshire and is most certainly not the spiritual leader of the region!
If you go to Struthers Cumbernauld... I have some questions... what do you think of the failure of this prophecy to come to pass? Are you still holding onto it for some point in the future? Is it one of the promises of God you are still praying through? Has it not come to pass so far because of a failure of the members to pray enough, or people like me who have been disloyal? How do you rationalise it? Is she a false prophet or isn't she?