Ahhhh the "GET OVER IT!" mantra.

Next, it will be "You are just bitter!"

And then it will be "Can't you just move on?"

As I have learned these are the typical CFMisms that you have learned from Scribner and Mitchell to parrot back to those who have concerns about the church and it's direction.

You don't want to deal with the issues!

Can't you intelligently respond to the letter than attack me?

Or do you just want to keep your head in the sand and ignore the fact that Scribner is mixed up with a cultic group?

BTW, I wasn't even in the church at the time, but I do know quite a few people who were there and have shared with me the letters, emails, and even the tapes of Scribner's repugnant sermons during that time.

Open your eyes, lilmissxtian.

TS

Quote
lilMissXTian
its been almost three years since this incident happened...
GET OVER IT!
Are you mad because you were one of the ones asked to leave?

Quote
A Truth Seeker
Frank, what are your thoughts about this "3 days to repent" correspondence that Rob Scribner and Harrison Sommer wrote to those who wanted nothing to do with Wayman Mitchell in their Foursquare church anymore?

Here is that letter again:

*****

The Lighthouse Church

Our church has just been put through a very difficult and divisive time. The difficulty and division has been as a result of a few individuals who were in disagreement with and/or antagonistic to the vision of the church, its direction and its leadership. It became clear that the goal of these individuals was a complete disassociation with Christian Fellowship Ministries and/or the removal of Pastor Rob by the leadership of the Foursquare denomination. Public statements and criticisms were made by these individuals which, in many instances, did not reflect the truth or the motive, attitude or heart of the pastors.

It is our belief that these actions were wrong and were designed to divide with the ultimate purpose of taking the church in a different direction.

We believe that you were one of these individuals either by your statements or associations. * It is unclear as to whether or not you desire to continue to be a part of the Lighthouse Church. If you do, it is our position that you must recognize that your actions were wrong, that you repent of your wrons and that you can, with a pure heart, commit to the direction of The Lighthouse Church and submit to and support the pastoral leadership of Pastor Rob. Anything short of that would not be in keeping with sound biblical teaching.

This is not in the spirit of retaliation, but rather reconciliation, if that is possible.

If you are unable or unwilling to do what is set forth in this letter, then it is our position that you find another church where you will be able to fully support the pastor and direction of the church. We believe that this is the way that Jesus would have it and how He would conduct His church.

Unless you directly contact one of us to discuss your continuing association or membership at The Lighthouse within 3 days, we will understand that you either cannot or will not seek reconciliation and will no longer attend or have any association with The Lighthouse Church. In that case, we ask that you do not continue to speak against The Lighthouse or its' leadership as we believe that would be coming against a work of God. This would be of no benefit to anyone.

When Jesus prayed for His disciples, He prayed that they be one as He and The Father are one. Unless that unity is at the center of the church, we go against the Gospel and His will.

We stand firm on the essential of unity and hope that you can understand its' necessity and importance.

In His Grace,

Pastor Rob (Scribner) Pastor Harrison (Sommer)

* You are receiving this letter because you were at the meeting on June 3rd or if you did adopt the spirit of those that are spoken of in this letter then you too should acknowledge that it was wrong, repent and decide if you are going to stay at the Lighthouse in agreement with its current direction and Pastor Rob.

So Truth, what if you were one of the ones asked to leave? This is just a clear cut picture of how CFM operates! I saw how bitter and angry CFM jerks respond though when the tables were turned in 1990 when the first big split occurred. A CFM pastor was sent to our little town to set up a store front rival church and set about attempting to divide the church I was attending who had split a few months earlier. He sent out teams of people to attack us all in the parking lot with accusations and tried to fight people in order to get them to leave. I found out later that pastor had actually showed up at some peoples home unannounced, just dropped in to call them backsliders and rebels etc. Others he called on the phone and some he even went to their place of work and jeopradized jobs trying to start crap! I don't know anyone in particular who left but everyone I knew told that pastor and his division crew "Get over it! It was three months ago. You're just bitter! Can't you just move on and get a life!" Those people reacted with near violence in the parking lot. One guy almost got his wish and looking back I wish he had. He started a push and shove match with a guy who was gonna whip his a$$ like a red headed step child but several folks grabbed the big guy, who I'll call Cement Mixer and held him off. It was an ugly scene. CM should have decked that idiot! Pastor Division just couldn't get over the fact that these people had left the ranks of Mitchelldom and were surviving very well in spite of it.

CFM is an angry religous cult based on the anger it's leader and founder Mitchell had with Foursquare for a number of reasons. For one he was in a church where he served under two women pastors, which if you know anything about Mitchell, he constantly berates women. The guy is a misogynist on crack!

Plus he hated school which as we all know is another of his "issues" which he harps on almost as much as he blames women for all the ills on the planet since God created the world. Foursquare made him go to school and when he whined and pleaded they let him graduate from their Bible college with an under the table honorary degree from LIFE. He still hated them for it just the same.

Mitchell has been angry with Foursquare since the early 70's when he first started working his way up the ranks in his church to begin the discipleship/church planting scheme within Foursquare's denomination. It was his plan all along that those churches which he "built" would report directly and be responsible to him personally and not John Holland his Dist Sup at the time and not Rolf McPherson, Sister Aimee's son and heir apparent to her throne, who served as President of the denomination longer than anyone else has. Mitchell was rebellious and disobedient and failed to do the things he has insisted others do to and for him since he split from Foursquare. While with Foursquare he never pioneered a church but instead raised up disciples in his program and sent them out to pioneer. He has never pioneered a work before or since in his own denomination. The churches he 'built' in Foursquare were churches these men he sent out had started and in Mitchell's mind, they owed him 10% NOT Foursquare so there was a constant tug of war with them regarding money. He refused to allow any of his men to be educated and any that had a desire to go to school were dropped from the program. In 1983 he was given the ultimatum to either get in line with Foursquare bylaws or leave. He chose the latter and decided to keep the Ruby St church building in Prescott which Foursquare owned and had actually built! They had to get an injunction against him in a court of law to make him pay for the property or to vacate the premises. Again he chose the latter. He claimed he had not known the building was owned by Foursquare!

Since that time he has berated and maligned women, Foursquare and people who are educated with spitfire anger and bitterness from his pulpit. He still does this after nearly 25 years after he split from Foursquare, when he finally got out from under a Foursquare skirt getting completely away from any women in ministry that he might have to respect, report or respond to while in that denomination - especially the two female pastors in Phoenix he served under. He still rails at Aimee condemning her memory and blasting all women making them the villain for all manner of sexual sin! He still rants and rails at Bible schools and Bible colleges and yet he has a sheepskin from one of the finest institues for higher education in the Christian world.

For all of his venom and bitter vetch he has lead one of the angriest religions on the planet. His sermons are strewn with vile language and bar-room talk in matters of bodily function and specific sexual anatomy. He spews all this vitriol and then makes light of it by jesting about it as if it is some funny joke. He isn't funny. He's just angry and bitter. He's a prime candidate for anger management.

Psychologically speaking I believe he has some kind of latent sexual deviant behavior going on underneath his religous guru exterior. He has suppressed anger which he vents at everyone around him. Ultimately he is angry with God. He's mad at all women and most likely hates himself for some kind of sexual appetite he has which he blames womankind for it's very existance. He is mad at those who submit to his authority and even madder at those who do not. He is mad at people who have money and education. His personal history is one of poverty and shall we say, 'ignorance' yet he likes to pass himself off as an informed person and one of meager means yet there are millions on top of millions of dollars that have funnelled thru his denomination for over 3 decades, and 10% of all of it has flowed back to him. So we have sex, women, knowledge and money which are the core issues which his unwavering anger and bitterness revolve around like perpetual gyroscopic motion. It's no small wonder that he and his religion is so angry and condemns everyone! So bitter and so much anger!

CFM just needs to get over it! They are SO bitter! Can't they just move on??

Wow Frank,

As someone who was in cfm for over 10 years, your post is right on target. I couldn't have said it better myself.

nice overview frank

i'll try and chime in with my take on mitchell's business model tomorrow.

Quote
Frank Sumatra
Since that time he has berated and maligned women, Foursquare and people who are educated with spitfire anger and bitterness from his pulpit.

I was just reading last night a long article that Mark Aulson (one of the leaders of cfm) wrote in their "Trumpet" magazine 2 years ago where he basically talks about how destructive women are to the "kingdom" because they are easily deceived by the devil. I was reading it completely sickened by the attitude that these men preach and they claim to be "men of God." I can't imagine the torment and abuse that women in the fellowship endure. What's equally as sickening is that the men turn a blind eye to the abuse that their wives and daughters are enduring.

Thank God that I got out when I did!

One of the comebacks I have heard said when a person confronts a Mitchellite at the Lighthouse is "Why don't you go out and get someone saved?"

This is done in attempt to to make the person who confronts the spiritual abuse, false teachings, manipulation and outright deception to look like they are unspiritual, divisive, and even a non-christian.

However we know that Paul the Apostle confronted the false teachings in the church in Galatia, and the sexual sin and the misuse of spiritual gifts in the Corinthian church. Maybe Paul should have just ignored all the problems in the church and just focused on getting people saved?

The Mitchellite response above is very hollow, because the teachings in the Bible do say to do both. But when you use one of the teachings as a weapon and a shield to hide the sin in your church you are a shameless hypocrite.

It is this type of behavior that gives the Christian faith a bad name.

Truth,

It has been my experience that NO Mitchellite ever answers to ANY charge by former members OR outsiders and they don't respond well to charges within the Org/church etc.

Oh, sure they fume and spew and foam at the mouth with endless charges and accusations of their own, but that is not an answer nor is it a rational or intelligent response. They try like hell to be holier than thou or at least appear to be by answering a question with a question instead of being direct.

Well, I'm sorry... they aint Jesus and they sure don't have the answers except those they are indocrinated with from Mitchell's playbook. The majority of the Mitchellites I have known act like kids on the play ground at any local elementary school. They play games, argue, fight amongst themselves and then take their learned behavior home and everywhere else it's tolerated. I view CFM as a spiritual baby-sitting organization bunch of churches that are full of baby Christians. The reason I believe this is because nobody in CFM's churches is ever encouraged to grow up and be a mature Christian, much less leave the nest. There are exceptions though. A few I have seen have the real deal. Some brought it with them when they entered CFM and a few who got it somewhere along the way after being saved in CFM. They are the ones who can exist as a true Christian apart from an association with Mitchell and his tweaked out discipleship/headship doctrines. These are people who can think for themselves and at the same time read the Bible on their own and arrive at a balance in their faith which enables them to interact with others in the Body of Christ from near and far. These folks really do listen to the Spirit of God to lead them. The proof is in their love. Paul made it very clear that the works were are to do is the love that makes our faith alive. It isn't the works of the flesh upholding the law that makes our faith active - it's the love. The Bible is clear from cover to cover that "no flesh shall be justified by the works of the law" James is correct when he said "Faith without works is dead" which does not contradict Paul who clarified it (and so did John in his love epistles) with his "Faith worketh by love" teaching which include "teaching the Truth in Love" CFM does not teach the truth in love. They omit the love part of the truth and that makes for a bumpy ride in a three wheeled wagon!

So the next time a Mitchellite responds with their obvious lack of gag reflex when they spew their own accusations in reaction to our complaints of spiritual abuse and other inequities that are flaunted in CFM, just remember, that person can't help it. They are spiritual babies and have no knowledge beyond what they have been endoctrinated with at the hands of their CFM pastor, who is a mere reflection of his master, Mitchell whose revelation of love is that of comparing those who leave his churches as human waste.

Any religous idiot can react with a legalistic Pharisee attitude. Even the devil can do that! It takes a REAL Christian who has been enlightened by the Spirit of God to respond in love. The proof is the response is one that reveals that person walks in the Law of Christ which is he or she loves the Lord above all and loves thy neighbor as thyself. So what is their answer? Is it a reaction or a response? There is a difference!

I couldn't agree with you more Frank.

And on top of all that, they think that what they are doing (the name calling, the labeling, the questioning of your faith and salvation for daring questioning them) is all done in the name of God's love.

How does anyone justify hatred - even to the point of calling another Christian "brother" a pieces of crap that needs to be flushed?

Lighthouse people WAKE UP and LEAVE THAT WAYWARD PLACE!

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -Maya Angelou

A well learned tactic by spiritual abusers is the ability to hurt people emotionally. One of things that sticks out like a sore thumb is that when you talk to former members of the Lighthouse you see the depth of pain that was inflicted upon their souls.

I have notice that a few people still think God is mad at them for leaving the church. One person revealed to me that she was told that if she would leave she would be missing her destiny in God.

All of this is complete rubbish!

Emotional abusers who use God's name to get their way with people are the lowest of all of mankind. They should be exposed for what they truly are: religious con men!

Quote
A Truth Seeker
"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -Maya Angelou

!

that's true. and yet, when a pastor speaks lies directly at you, it's as if it happened this morning.

example? how about telling homeowners in the church that having "disciples" in your home is a God-ordained plan to pay your mortgage.

and yet when that same man gets audited for unreported rental income, he rants on about how big a money loser the whole program really is, and how the "disciples" trash the carpet and eat all the food.

so which is it? well that depends who you're talking to.