It has come to my attention that one or more of the members of the Elder board of TPC have asked individuals to post on this forum for the sole purpose of causing trouble and causing past members of TPC more upset, hurt, and pain. I have received more than one message or email who have indicated they had knowledge of this request. This is the actions that a cult would take.

I have never thought of TPC as a cult – until today.

It has been brought to my attention that TPC is driving wedges between husbands and wives and interring in marriages. I have also been advised that TPC leadership is telling members who are choosing to leave because they realized that their was a wolf loose and preying of the TPC flock that they are possessed. The only thing they are possessed of is good common sense and better than average intelligence which has heard our Lords still small voice telling them that TPC is a dangerous place and that they need to leave -- this is sinful. Refusing to pray with someone because they are possessed to try and make them stay out of fear that only TPC can save them -- this is sinful. These are the actions of a cult or a very desperate group of Elders and Pastoral Staff trying to stem the exodus of “butts in seats” and their checkbook and wallets.

Question – Will the income from United Global Ministries based on the mandatory 1/10th of all tithes from each of the TPC churches be in excess of Pastor Mike's salary? This is no longer about God this is about greed. Pastor Mike is only in this for the money. He doesn't care about the souls of those he pastors. He only cares about his bank account and making his first million. Pastor Mike said that years ago he heard God tell him “all or nothing” well now we know the end of the story – Mike chose nothing for God. So if this is really all about Mike and has little or nothing to do with God. TPC really is a cult.

Calling Mike pastor would then be an abomination. No wonder Mike needs SOMA students to tell him how wonderful and great he is. He knows he is knowingly and willingly committing sin. He is causing the TPC Elders to sin right along with him.

Daughter of Dorcas

No one put me up to this - I guess you will just have to trust me.

Personally I don't believe it. The church leadership is united on one thing. Don't respond or talk to anyone who is supporting disunity, it will give there message credibility. Leadership is elders and pastors and whoever the have authority over and instruct them not to.

Surprise, surprise, huh? If you can't handle the truth, try to silence it by scare tactics, diversion tactics--or whatever tactics will help the money to keep flowing. Where are those prosperity teachers when you need 'em? Oh, yah! They're on their way. Hope TP can hold out until the false teachers can get the offering buckets filled up again. (Groan!)

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Daughter of Dorcas
It has come to my attention that one or more of the members of the Elder board of TPC have asked individuals to post on this forum for the sole purpose of causing trouble and causing past members of TPC more upset, hurt, and pain. I have received more than one message or email who have indicated they had knowledge of this request. This is the actions that a cult would take.

I have never thought of TPC as a cult – until today.

It has been brought to my attention that TPC is driving wedges between husbands and wives and interring in marriages. I have also been advised that TPC leadership is telling members who are choosing to leave because they realized that their was a wolf loose and preying of the TPC flock that they are possessed. The only thing they are possessed of is good common sense and better than average intelligence which has heard our Lords still small voice telling them that TPC is a dangerous place and that they need to leave -- this is sinful. Refusing to pray with someone because they are possessed to try and make them stay out of fear that only TPC can save them -- this is sinful. These are the actions of a cult or a very desperate group of Elders and Pastoral Staff trying to stem the exodus of “butts in seats” and their checkbook and wallets.

Question – Will the income from United Global Ministries based on the mandatory 1/10th of all tithes from each of the TPC churches be in excess of Pastor Mike's salary? This is no longer about God this is about greed. Pastor Mike is only in this for the money. He doesn't care about the souls of those he pastors. He only cares about his bank account and making his first million. Pastor Mike said that years ago he heard God tell him “all or nothing” well now we know the end of the story – Mike chose nothing for God. So if this is really all about Mike and has little or nothing to do with God. TPC really is a cult.

Calling Mike pastor would then be an abomination. No wonder Mike needs SOMA students to tell him how wonderful and great he is. He knows he is knowingly and willingly committing sin. He is causing the TPC Elders to sin right along with him.

Daughter of Dorcas

not really a surprise. the elders have been dancing all over the place. anytime they have been questioned about Tony's relationship with the church they have been inconsistent and never forthright.

unfortunately they sit in a seat of mockery...sadly they believe they are mocking you and I. but in reality they mock God. Kim, Jeff, Rick, Ron and Jeff along with the remaining deacons are in a dangerous place. And they dont seem to realize it.

Hang in there.

God fights the battle!

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tpcwocattender
Read Ezekiel 34

Thank you for starting this thread.

I would like to assume that it is okay to challenge one another here if it is necessary?

That said I would like to say that I am here as a part of a journey. If you are thinking 'how can he stay after reading what he has?' I will simply say that though I value everyones opinion here and elsewhere it will be a collaboration of all the data I collect that will help me make my decision.

You know, *I* think that it's okay to challenge one another. I think that we all do, to an extent. I think the thing to remember is that we are all in different places in this journey, and we need to be careful not to *de-value* (I liked that term) the experiences and hurts of one another. We all have to go through this process, at our own pace, dealing with our own unique experiences. I say unique, b/c they are all different, to our own personalities and that of the people we experienced at TP, dependent on our own circle of influence. However, they are all similar in that the abuses were all rooted from the same faulty doctrine and authoritative leader. I believe that the abuse that many of us have experienced has come from someone who has experienced it directly from pastor Mike and/or other core leaders. I'm even sure that some posters here have experienced it directly from Mike!

There are posters who are here as part of the healing process, and the *debate* is upsetting for them....that is one reason that this thread was started. Anyone who is using this forum as a support, and would rather not get into the debate process, can choose not to read what's posted in this thread. The "share your story" thread was intended for support, not debate.

I hope that helps.

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tpcwocattender
No one put me up to this - I guess you will just have to trust me.

Personally I don't believe it. The church leadership is united on one thing. Don't respond or talk to anyone who is supporting disunity, it will give there message credibility. Leadership is elders and pastors and whoever the have authority over and instruct them not to.

TPC attender:

Please define:

"I dont believe it" You mean D of D's post about the Elder asking people to come to this site to argue,etc. If not, please explain.

"Unity"

"Disunity"

Once again, anyone who has legitmate questions and concerns are labeled "supporting disunity" and they are shunned as leaders tell the sheeple "do not talk or respond" to anyone who has questions or concerns. THIS is unhealthy and it IS CULT like behavior.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2009 01:19AM by TurningPointReject.

You and others have mentioned inconsistency - that is my biggest problem. TPC does some amazing things for the Kingdom of God. I hate to through out the baby with the bath water (so to speak). I am sure I won't get much disagreement with that statement. I have found that I here one thing, go to the person and ask for clarification and get a slightly different story. I then go back and say 'are you sure you heard that?' and the answer I am given is 'well that is what I thought they meant.' Then I go back to the person and say did you intend this to be how we interpret what you said and I get 'no, I don't mean that at all.' Then I am left with a big question mark and from an purely objective position I can not put that situation or experience into investigation, it lacks merit. Very frustrating and unfortunately I have run into that quite a bit. Seams like I could chalk it up to either bad teaching or not hearing correctly. That does happen, as you all know.

Now, I have to assume that some of you are thinking 'that might be true but what about this....?' - I know. There is a lot to take in and the sources are credible. I may give grace to easily, I can accept that. I don't think I am ignoring though. Maybe for me it will take 10 incidences to get me to accept something where someone else it took less.

We all know about the leaders/pastors that are mentioned in the OT who led their people astray and as a result the whole group was judged by God and dealt with as a whole. It's the followers not asking questions that concern me. I read the analogy that was posted about a house on fire. I think there is enough smoke that it won't take long before everyone will see or smell something.

TPR,

I too was trying to figure out what he meant by that. Again, it appears to be one of those, *it hasn't happened to me, so it must not really happen* types of things.

'I don't believe' meaning the elders are united around the position that they are not to look at, post on, talk about this web site because it will give this web site credibility. I have spoken to elders who because they were asked have no idea what is on these threads.

Both TPR and Brokenhearted have stated in one form or fashion that I don't believe something just because it has not happened to me. Or that I have questioned something just because I have not seen it. I think we can all agree that our past experiences effect how we process things. It can be quite dramatic too. I have seen one person flit out over something that someone said and I perceived something completely different and was not offended at all. I have been told that it is hard to be completely objective. PLEASE don't read into this that you are not objective that is not what I am saying. That said, I am trying to be completely objective and it is hard. Not only for me but when I post something it appears that I either don't care, don't believe or am blind to something. That something to someone else is as clear as the nose on your face. I KNOW that there are some things that don't take a world-class detective to see and you don't need to have a PHD to understand what you saw.

I asked if I could 'ask questions and if necessary challenge' people on this new thread in a post I made. That might be something I want to do, challenge your perspective or thinking. Not to tear you down or discredit you. That is not what healthy debate is about. If we can keep emotion out of it as best we can and just talk about stuff you could help me and possibly I could help you.

Thank you

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tpcwocattender
No one put me up to this - I guess you will just have to trust me.

No, can't say that I can trust you about not being sent here to run interference. I don't believe you're really "collecting information to make a decision," either. Part of my profession has been to know when things "ring true" and when they don't. You're not "ringing true," and it's silly to pretend things that aren't true. I won't pretend. I wish you wouldn't either.