Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has had any experiance with this church?

The pastor is a very strange person and does not understand what confidentiality means. He has shared personal things with me about other members of the congregation, which are absolutely none of my business.

He also feels he has the right to look into a persons background under the guise of "protecting his flock" I was involved with this church for over a year and i do thank them for turning me back to the bible there were so many signs along the way that screamed " Get Out!"

Thank you.

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Calvarypuppet
Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has had any experiance with this church?

The pastor is a very strange person and does not understand what confidentiality means. He has shared personal things with me about other members of the congregation, which are absolutely none of my business.

He also feels he has the right to look into a persons background under the guise of "protecting his flock" I was involved with this church for over a year and i do thank them for turning me back to the bible there were so many signs along the way that screamed " Get Out!"

Thank you.

This thread caught my eye and I couldn't help but noticing where you said the church is located. Be very careful of anything in the Santa Clarita area because many of the churches operating under the guise of protestantism are actually Lordship Salvation/Nouthetic Counseling churches operating under John MacArthur and his college staff at the Master's College.

The college has a church fair at the beginning of each year and allows students to pick a church that is in line with MacArthur's teachings, and they are all heavily influenced by the Seminary teachers and students of the college, and you will not be permitted to question any of MacArthur's teachings. I can tell you without a doubt that Placerita Baptist, Evangelical Free Church of the Canyons, and several other churches are in reality nothing but satellite churches for John MacArthur, they employ his students and teach only his philosophy, despite what denomination they may claim to be.

For the dangers of this cult, see "Ex-members of John MacArthur's church" earlier in this forum. I don't know if this is what happened to the church you're asking about, but what you describe is very much in line with how the MacArthur cult operates. Friends are constantly made to report on each other to the church and there is no confidentiality. If you committ the same offense three times (what they call "stumbling") the members are told to shun you. Be very leary of any church operating in the Santa Clarita area and ask up-front if they are in any way affiliated with The Master's College, John MacArthur, Lordship Salvation, or Nouthetic Counseling.

I am certainly sorry that you had such a bad experience with this church! God certainly will use this experience for your good...

I am not familiar with that church, but I'll certainly relay this thread to friends who have some interest in attending there.

BJW, I understand you have very justified opinions about your experiences with Grace, but this person was asking about experiences with a specific church, but instead you demonize all churches in the Santa Clarita area? I didn't come to a Cult Education forum to be told what to do....lol. Sounds a little contraindicated.

Having lived in Valencia off and on for years, I can certainly say that there is and always will be a remnant and we must...."be shrewd", but to say that "all churches in Santa Clarita are....." is an unfortunate and hyperbolic statement.

I have friends at all the churches you've mentioned and none of them are "MacArthurites", in fact, they are usually too busy with family concerns to be aware of the current problems in the "evangelical world". They are not sheeple, they are not lemmings...it is where the Lord has led them and if anyone has a problem with where they are, then that's a personal issue between them and the Lord.

I would rather speak of my own experiences re: Grace, John...etc...on the other thread, but I did want to express my sadness that this individual was treated so by this local church.

God is still in control....God bless...

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Beshrewd
I am certainly sorry that you had such a bad experience with this church! God certainly will use this experience for your good...

I am not familiar with that church, but I'll certainly relay this thread to friends who have some interest in attending there.

BJW, I understand you have very justified opinions about your experiences with Grace, but this person was asking about experiences with a specific church, but instead you demonize all churches in the Santa Clarita area? I didn't come to a Cult Education forum to be told what to do....lol. Sounds a little contraindicated.

Having lived in Valencia off and on for years, I can certainly say that there is and always will be a remnant and we must...."be shrewd", but to say that "all churches in Santa Clarita are....." is an unfortunate and hyperbolic statement.

I have friends at all the churches you've mentioned and none of them are "MacArthurites", in fact, they are usually too busy with family concerns to be aware of the current problems in the "evangelical world". They are not sheeple, they are not lemmings...it is where the Lord has led them and if anyone has a problem with where they are, then that's a personal issue between them and the Lord.

I would rather speak of my own experiences re: Grace, John...etc...on the other thread, but I did want to express my sadness that this individual was treated so by this local church.

God is still in control....God bless...

I am fully aware that there are many good churches in the Santa Clarita area and am by no means trying to demonize every church in the area. I was simply telling what does go on in the area. There are many good churches around there and I'm sure you can find one. What I was talking about was only a minority of the churches, but it does go on.

Keep in mind there are hundreds of people at the college training to become pastors that must do some work in a local church to get experience toward what they hope will become their profession after college. They have shown up as members of some local churches (remember the church fair I mentioned) and they bring their MacArthur/Lordship doctrines with them when they join. To top that, many of the pastors of these churches are graduates of MacArthur's Seminary (where they were ordained) and allow these teachings and these individuals into their churches. I visited several of these churches and there was no difference whatsoever with how these were ran versus how Grace is ran, you had the Restoration Process, counselors, Lordship Salvation, same preaching styles, quotes from MacArthur's books in sermons, demonizing of psychiatry, etc. It was everything you would find at Grace, despite what denomination they claimed to be (EV Free, Baptist, etc.)

So, please don't misunderstand me, I am not trying to say all churches in the Santa Clarita area are bad. What I am talking about is a small minority of churches there. I know many believers from many different denominations that live there (in the Santa Clarita area) that wouldn't give GCC or Masters the time of day, and they are fine Christians in every sense of the word.