just know wizeone im on your side and i HATE HATE HATE cults and SA! And it just tickles me to see people from these cults come and defend themselves cause they know they are suspect ya know?

Wize, I dont want to judge your church or its people, but whenever I see spiritual elitism, abuse or cults i just LOSE it.

Im glad you feel OK, with whats going on. But I dont! This forum infuriates me sometimes. ESpecially when I see the DEFENDERS OF THE ANOINTED!

lol...you know im abbey on the other forum right kiddo???

Take care...

((((((Hugs))))))))))))

Uh huh......... Take care

And finally to this topic. W, I hope brisbance is treating you and your family well.

As for L, V, C reading my blog, if I didnt want people to read it, then I wouldnt have made it public nor would i have submitted it to search engines such as google and alta vista or made changes to the coding that ensured that search engine spiders would pick up my blog

The ironic thing was, when I left I thought the reasons why I left were unique to me, however after speaking to many ex members about the reasons why they left, I discovered my reasons were actually quite common

City Impact may or may not be a cult. through out this thread the only one who has assumed we were saying cult is you Kemo. City impact does have many cult like characteristics including information control, information goes up the church, it never travels down. Spiritual eletism, a belief that City impact along with Destiny are the only churches in New Zealand that are doing it right. relationship control, That one could have been easier to understand if I was talking about going back and hanging out with my former wicca or BDSM crowd, however the people in question were christians, all be it, they didnt go to city impact or destiny so therefore they werent true christians...

Twisted teaching on tithing and giving, the funny thing is once a person takes the time to actually read what the bible has to say about tithing, I wonder how I was sucked in for so long. The biblical principle of sewing and reaping in itself does work, however 2 corinthians 8 mentions that when a person gives it is to be between them and God, and they are to give not grudgingly or under compulsion, but because they choose to.

Am I bitter and twisted about my time at Impact, I was, however now I feel sadness for the many who are leaving thinking if that was God then he can get stuffed..... and so another inocculated embittered backslider

Hello Wizeone,

I would just firstly like to appoligies for attacking you earlier, it was irrisponsible, childish and un-christian like of me to do that to you.

I am humbly sorry.

I am just a teenager and have my whole life ahead of me to make mistakes and learn from them.


Well W, is doing fine, she is not working at the church here, she is working at a public school 4 days a week. And we dont go to Destiny Church Brisbane, We go to COC.

One thing that i have learnt over the past year here in Australia, is that i dont have to go to church to have a relationship with God, although its great fellowship, and "where two or more are gathered, there the lord will be".

I dont regret going to CIC at all, but it is great to experiece other parts of the body of christ.

I hope everything is going fine for you Wiseone back in NZ at the moment. And i am glad that you are able to still have a relationship with God no matter where you are. Thats something that i am learning as i go along.


I hope you accept my appology, and i pray that you have a fantastic week



Kemo

kemo1321:

Exactly how old are you?

Are you living with your parents?

I am 18 years old, and yes i am living with my parents?

Quote
kemo1321
Hello Wizeone,

I would just firstly like to appoligies for attacking you earlier, it was irrisponsible, childish and un-christian like of me to do that to you.

I am humbly sorry.

I am just a teenager and have my whole life ahead of me to make mistakes and learn from them.


Well W, is doing fine, she is not working at the church here, she is working at a public school 4 days a week. And we dont go to Destiny Church Brisbane, We go to COC.

One thing that i have learnt over the past year here in Australia, is that i dont have to go to church to have a relationship with God, although its great fellowship, and "where two or more are gathered, there the lord will be".

I dont regret going to CIC at all, but it is great to experiece other parts of the body of christ.

I hope everything is going fine for you Wiseone back in NZ at the moment. And i am glad that you are able to still have a relationship with God no matter where you are. Thats something that i am learning as i go along.


I hope you accept my appology, and i pray that you have a fantastic week



Kemo

Kemo

First of all a big kudos to you. Admitting that a wrong takes alot of guts. did your mum make one of your posts, coz it sounded like her

Dropping you a PM

Cool, yea i just had to write this one coz i needed one more post to be able to write you back a PM, so once this is approved, i can send you my reply.

Thanks Kemo

kemo1321:

You should discuss your participation on this message board with your parents.

Quote

A democratically elected church government means that each tithing member has one vote. Then typically there are elections by secret ballot through which all members vote for a church board that serves fixed terms.

The board then has the authority to hire or fire a pastor if they wish. They also set the budget, salaries etc.

There should be a published constitution that specifies this through its bylaws.

An independently audited and annually published financial statement, doesn't mean the church simply has an accountant on the payroll.

It means that there is an annually published budget with very specific details listing each and every salary, any compensation and expenses paid out, which is distributed annually, to all church members.

Independently audited, specifically means that an outside accounting firm has gone over the church's financial records and certifies that everything reported in the published budget or financial statement is accurate.

Impact must be incorporated and probably has tax-exempted nonprofit status. But it appears the pastor may have no meaningful accountability and the church finances are not transparent.

I must ask, without any offense meant, if you know what a biblical worldview entails, and whether you believe that this practice is within the constraints of a biblical worldview. More simply, is it scripturally correct?

Because to me, it seems you are subscribing more to a secular humanist - or even socialist worldview in this particular line of belief.

Long story short (I'm not really in the mood for the whole explanation here) read a few books. Battle For Truth by David Noebel, as well as How Now Shall We Live by Charles Colson. Those should sort a few underlying doctrines out at least.

No this is not the way a church should run. God appoints the leaders of a church. You don't believe me? You think I'm brainwashed? IT'S IN THE BIBLE! (Romans 16:1-2)
And yes I do believe in the complete and utter infallibility of the Bible, before you ask.