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Free2bme
Welcome Tammy1019,

You had asked specific questions about false teaching. There are several to name. Especially if you are involved in the 'extended' program which includes SOMA, the Gap and Friday Night Worship. Prior to my leaving a year and a half ago, I found that the teaching on Sunday was, for the most part, benign. However, I noticed this starting to change. For example one Sunday Tony taught that if you do not forgive someone their sins against you than God will heap back all of your sins on you. Well I do not see where this is Biblical supported. (He casts them into the sea of forgetfullness.)

According to the General Assembly meeting that was held on October 19, 2008, the teaching that the leadership was apologizing for is:

1. [b
Discipleship[/b] - This started with good intent. However, people started to look at their discipler for the answers. The practices were to provide blessings to those who teach you and to emulate their actions. People became so obsessed that they couldn't even go to the bathroom without checking with their discipler first. (Okay, a bit of exageration but you get the point)
2. Spiritual Parenting - This was taken out of context. The scriptures that were used to support this was Paul calling Timothy his spiritual son. So, children would go their parents and say that they could no longer receive from them but would have to find someone else to pour into them because their parents were but 'filthy rags'. (Do I hear honor your father and mother in this teaching? Nope!)
3. Casting out demons - Another blame shifting technique. In other words you have demons that have caused you to do certain things so you need to make an appointment and have the elders pray over you. Your typical, "The Devil made me do it" scenario.

To my knowledge, Tony to this day has not apologized for starting this teaching. He has, however, apologized for allowing it to get out of hand. None of the 'apologies' can be found on line so all of the people he has offended, hurt, mislead, misguided, etc. have yet to receive any apology.

The above is just a recap of what they are apologizing for. The one thing I hope that people would consider is that the structure that allowed this teaching to happen still exists. The elder board has the same members (though less of them) and Tony is at the helm directing them. Nothing has changed to prevent false teaching, aberrant or abhorrant teaching from happening again. That, to me is why this church is dangerous.

Regarding church attendance, there are many great churches in our community. If you would like additional information about how to find a healthy church, PM me and I would be happy to share what I know.

Free2bme,

Thank you! I appreciate that you took the time to write that out. I just wanted to give one verse (and I hope this is not preaching) where what Tony said about forgiving others to be forgiven is Biblically supported. NOT that I am defending Tony at all, but truth is always important. This is from Matthew 6:14-15, from The Sermon on the Mount:

If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. (NLT)

I don't know about heaping them all back on you, but I think the point he was trying to make is valid. Please let me know if you see this a different way. But that's what I mean about Tony on Sunday mornings--I could never find anything wrong, and I check everything! Perhaps it's like you said, since I didn't get into the extra stuff I didn't get to see any of it. I am just glad I found this forum before I got in too deep. Many thanks!

Tammy

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tammy1019
I have attended Radiant Life since March of this year. I really like the worship, and I have never found anything in the teaching to be unbiblical (and I know my Bible pretty well). However, I am the type who comes on Sunday morning, never speaks to anyone, and leaves as soon as service is over. I am not involved in any groups. I had heard the rumors about RLC, and even called and spoke to a pastor (Kimball, I think) about the "discipleship" program, which he adamantly denied existed. I found this thread recently and read through most of the posts, and believe that there's no way all of you are mislead. If this many people have doubts, plus the existence of the lawsuit I found online, there must be a problem. My question is this: what exactly does Pastor Tony preach that is unbiblical? I have heard the phrase "Tony worship" but was wondering if anyone could give me examples. Also, what is the "hired hand?" And what happened to Brandon Miller? I believed him to be a decent guy and all the sudden he was gone. What kind of cult behavior goes on behind the scenes there? I guess I was totally fooled because I never saw any of this. I thought Tony was a good preacher. Another question for you is this: if you've all left RLC, where do you go now? I don't think I will go back after what I've learned, even though I personally was not burned or brainwashed or anything like that. I am now without a church. Any insight anyone can give me would be appreciated.

Tammy,

The hired hand is a reference to John 10 and Jesus' teaching on the difference between the Good Shepherd who cares about, tends to and watches over the flock under his care and the others, including the hired hand who need to intimidate the sheep or who run away when the flock come under attack. Tony is not interested in the flock only the spoils that the flock can bring to him. His teachings along with the interpretations of those who carried it out and taught others;
"Modeling"; based on the "follow me as I follow Christ" message from Paul but has been taken to the extreme.
"Spiritual Parenting"; based in truth, but used as an excuse for young adults and youth to cut ties with with families and has led to destruction of marriages.
"Discipleship"; based on truth but turned into a manipulation tool in order to keep track of folks dirty laundry, where it was used to manipulate and control people and then if people asked questions the dirty laundry was aired in Leadership Development, SOMA classes, Prophetic Cadre and even some Saturday Nights.
"Honor"; based in truth but twisted into a way for the hired hand and his merry men to garner more and more "blessings" from the congregation and used in buisness dealings to take advantage of the flock, and when questioned people were told how un-honoring they were to question the "Apostle".

There are more examples but you really need to read from about pge 40 up to the present to get the whole picture, do your due diligence, do not expect everything to be boiled down and put into readers digest form for you. That robs people of their testimonies.


Here are 8 indicators of a destructive/mind controlling culture the leadership has demonstrated all of these on some level;

· Milieu Control – The control of information and communication. (interpret - "read my new book on leadership, don't read that forum or don't talk to those people, they are DANGEROUS")
· Mystical Manipulation – The manipulation of experiences that appear spontaneous but in fact were planned and orchestrated. (interpret - "My eyes have been healed, the hurricane was diverted, the kidnappers let me go...")
· Demand for Purity – The world is viewed as black and white and the members are constantly exhorted to conform to the ideology of the group and strive for perfection. (interpret - "Live as I live, do as I do, do as I say or model my life")
· Confession – Sins, as defined by the group, are to be confessed either to a personal monitor or publicly to the group. (interpret - "Share everything with me or your man or woman of G-d so we can know your failures what buttons to push when you get out of line or we/I can gossip about you to your remaining friends or others in SOMA class, Prophetic Cadre or Leadership Development!")
· Sacred Science – The group's doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute. (interpret - "I am an Apostle, I have a direct line to G-d or The blessing of the Lord flows through me to you or I have a special revelation from G-d... He tells me, I tell you... no questions!")
· Loading the Language – The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand. (interpret - "All of my kooky acronyms during my sermons and the almost real definitions twisted to match what I am teaching at the time")
· Doctrine over person – The member's personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group. (interpret - "My teachings are the be all, end all and your objections or concerns are a sin against me, your leader.. I deserve a double portion of respect and honor, oh and let's not forget your wife, daughter and a major portion of what's in your wallet!")
· Dispensing of existence – The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not. (interpret - "As long as you abide by my rules and are of use to me we will have some kind of relationship... but if you question me or my vision for your lives, I will disown, disavow, disrespect and destroy you or your reputation or write your names on sticks and break them in an effort to curse your life")

Tammy,

You speak truth and it is appreciated. The essense of that teaching, however, was that our sins would be heaped back on us. We are to forgive but if we choose not to forgive his teaching stated that our sins would be heaped back on us. Jesus does say that he will not forgive us but he does not say that our (forgiven) sins would be heaped back on us. So in other words anything that we had been forgiven for is on us again. That to me seems directly opposite of the spirit of grace and creates a 'works' mentality. Since we all sin and fall short of God's glory could you imagine the implication for sinning for a moment in the area of unforgiveness and having all of your sins heaped back on you? Anyway, I hope that makes sense.

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tammy1019

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Free2bme
Welcome Tammy1019,

You had asked specific questions about false teaching. There are several to name. Especially if you are involved in the 'extended' program which includes SOMA, the Gap and Friday Night Worship. Prior to my leaving a year and a half ago, I found that the teaching on Sunday was, for the most part, benign. However, I noticed this starting to change. For example one Sunday Tony taught that if you do not forgive someone their sins against you than God will heap back all of your sins on you. Well I do not see where this is Biblical supported. (He casts them into the sea of forgetfullness.)

According to the General Assembly meeting that was held on October 19, 2008, the teaching that the leadership was apologizing for is:

1. [b
Discipleship[/b] - This started with good intent. However, people started to look at their discipler for the answers. The practices were to provide blessings to those who teach you and to emulate their actions. People became so obsessed that they couldn't even go to the bathroom without checking with their discipler first. (Okay, a bit of exageration but you get the point)
2. Spiritual Parenting - This was taken out of context. The scriptures that were used to support this was Paul calling Timothy his spiritual son. So, children would go their parents and say that they could no longer receive from them but would have to find someone else to pour into them because their parents were but 'filthy rags'. (Do I hear honor your father and mother in this teaching? Nope!)
3. Casting out demons - Another blame shifting technique. In other words you have demons that have caused you to do certain things so you need to make an appointment and have the elders pray over you. Your typical, "The Devil made me do it" scenario.

To my knowledge, Tony to this day has not apologized for starting this teaching. He has, however, apologized for allowing it to get out of hand. None of the 'apologies' can be found on line so all of the people he has offended, hurt, mislead, misguided, etc. have yet to receive any apology.

The above is just a recap of what they are apologizing for. The one thing I hope that people would consider is that the structure that allowed this teaching to happen still exists. The elder board has the same members (though less of them) and Tony is at the helm directing them. Nothing has changed to prevent false teaching, aberrant or abhorrant teaching from happening again. That, to me is why this church is dangerous.

Regarding church attendance, there are many great churches in our community. If you would like additional information about how to find a healthy church, PM me and I would be happy to share what I know.

Free2bme,

Thank you! I appreciate that you took the time to write that out. I just wanted to give one verse (and I hope this is not preaching) where what Tony said about forgiving others to be forgiven is Biblically supported. NOT that I am defending Tony at all, but truth is always important. This is from Matthew 6:14-15, from The Sermon on the Mount:

If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. (NLT)

I don't know about heaping them all back on you, but I think the point he was trying to make is valid. Please let me know if you see this a different way. But that's what I mean about Tony on Sunday mornings--I could never find anything wrong, and I check everything! Perhaps it's like you said, since I didn't get into the extra stuff I didn't get to see any of it. I am just glad I found this forum before I got in too deep. Many thanks!

Tammy

RADIANT LIFE CHURCH IS NOT A CULT!

Radiant Life Church is a body of people who believe in Jesus Christ, who are not walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The church is trying to walk with Jesus Christ without the Holy Spirit. Tony is not a cult leader. I know EVERYONE is or has expierenced Major loss just as I, and we all have so many questions and hurts, trust me I know. Who is perfect? None of us!

What GOD is doing is breaking covenants that were made of the flesh rather then the Spirit. He is breaking all of us so that we could be restored back to Him via the Holy Spirit. That's why so many who have left are expierencing tremendous freedom with God. Many who have left feel they can be real with God, just be themselves, and that's what our Father wants. He is shattering a house of believers.

This is the Hand of God, not Satan or Tony or anyperson. He is breaking things apart! And He is restoring people back to himself and to eachother in the way it should be. This process hurts and is diffucult, but the outcome will be better then we could have planned or imagined!

No human can do what he is doing. I know I might have made some of you mad, but just like all of us, I too have to take a stand and believe, and this is mine.

A couple questions to those outside of RLC?

Besides all the pain and grief and questions and anger (don't forget i too have gone and go through this too) ARE YOU EXPIERINCING MORE OF HIS PEACE, LOVE AND FREEDOM? DO YOU FEEL HIS COMFORT MORE THEN EVER? ISN'T HE WALKING WITH YOU IN THIS WHOLE PROCESS? DON'T YOU HAVE FREEDOM TO BE AND EXPRESS WHO YOU REALLY ARE? ARE YOU NOT FREE FROM RELIGION?

That's the love of our Father, to correct all of us and restore us back to Himself through the work of His Spirit, so that we can actually have a real relationship with Him and then with eachother based on genuwine love.

Kevn Reta

Kevin,

I don’t have the time to go back through every post and article placed here regarding a cult and what makes a cult… but really you need to do some homework bro… RADIANT LIFE CHURCH IS A CULT… it demonstrated practices and teachings consistent with cults. Tony Cunningham is a dangerous aberrant teacher who, exactly like a cult leader, refuses any responsibility of what has happened and therefore continues in all of his teachings and attitudes… you endanger people when you stand up and proclaim a dangerous place and man as Christian or seeking G-d… at the same time I realize that not everyone at RLC is aware of Mr. Cunningham and the truth of what he is and the leadership who allows him to continue in this path, and they are innocent… however I encourage you to actually do the research on cults and destructive churches and then tell me otherwise…

Side note: when the churches surrounding the church in question say that it is a dangerous, abusive ministry or a cult, you might want to look a little further in to why….

You know I love you bro but this place needs factual representations rather than opinion… and the fact is that RLC meets all the requirements of a cult. its not a matter of opinion its just the fact.

I appreciate everyone who has replied to my post about specific teachings. I want to clarify: I HAVE read this forum, and I can tell you that a lot of what is on here is in very general terms, and a lot of it is just plain Tony bashing. I understand the feelings behind that, but it was not helpful to me. I wanted specific examples, and some of you have been gracious to give them to me. I am not trying to rob anyone of testimonies, my goodness. I simply wanted more specifics to wrap my mind around, especially since I have to explain to my family why I am choosing to leave the church. Thank you all for the helpful information.

Hear hear and amen - Thanks for calling it like it is Ring barer.

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Ring barer
Kevin,

I don’t have the time to go back through every post and article placed here regarding a cult and what makes a cult… but really you need to do some homework bro… RADIANT LIFE CHURCH IS A CULT… it demonstrated practices and teachings consistent with cults. Tony Cunningham is a dangerous aberrant teacher who, exactly like a cult leader, refuses any responsibility of what has happened and therefore continues in all of his teachings and attitudes… you endanger people when you stand up and proclaim a dangerous place and man as Christian or seeking G-d… at the same time I realize that not everyone at RLC is aware of Mr. Cunningham and the truth of what he is and the leadership who allows him to continue in this path, and they are innocent… however I encourage you to actually do the research on cults and destructive churches and then tell me otherwise…

Side note: when the churches surrounding the church in question say that it is a dangerous, abusive ministry or a cult, you might want to look a little further in to why….

You know I love you bro but this place needs factual representations rather than opinion… and the fact is that RLC meets all the requirements of a cult. its not a matter of opinion its just the fact.

Sorry Tammy1019. If you in fact have read everything including the lawsuit then you have some very specific examples.

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tammy1019
I appreciate everyone who has replied to my post about specific teachings. I want to clarify: I HAVE read this forum, and I can tell you that a lot of what is on here is in very general terms, and a lot of it is just plain Tony bashing. I understand the feelings behind that, but it was not helpful to me. I wanted specific examples, and some of you have been gracious to give them to me. I am not trying to rob anyone of testimonies, my goodness. I simply wanted more specifics to wrap my mind around, especially since I have to explain to my family why I am choosing to leave the church. Thank you all for the helpful information.

Dear Kevin

I believe God gave us all the ability to reason and debate to learn and gather facts.
The Art of Education is just that, gathering and presenting all the facts and letting the student discover the truth. In a society that discourages free thought and expression of ideas (RLC) you end up with a twisted form of truth. Yes there are forms of truth present but the deceit and lies are cleverly weaved into the truth, teachers become dominating, education is merely memorizing what the student is told. Leaders impose control and lord over the accomplishments of the student. What I just outlined is the difference from conservative thought and liberalism.
Yes Tony is a cult leader!
He also lines up with liberalism.

All My Best
Dan

My. My. My Nacho lives again! RADIANT LIFE IS A CULT! You have just discounted hours of research and experience to come here and give your opinion. Look at the facts again. Look at the history of cults. Just cuz they dont drink the coolaid doesnt mean it is not a cult. I hate to deal with your statements on a public forum but you have made your statement public. I love you but I have never seen you careful to speak or well thought out.

As for you Tammy, I think you may not be taking the time to really get into the posts there are specific examples through this forum. How about this one, Is it biblical for an able parent to give up a gift that was intended for them. Paul and Christine Childs gave away a child just because Paul felt god wanted him to bless the Guillons. Paul was so messed up during this time and shortly thereafter had domestic issues and ran away for awhile. Tony celebrated this act of giving in church several times. Do you really think God gives a gift to you so that you can play God with it? Especially a human life. Only god gives and takes life. Tony was on board with this the whole way. What a selfish act for Paul Childs and the Guillons and Tony for celebrating it. Has anyone ever thought of the child. So Tammy there is one specific example. there are many other examples on this forum especially regarding spiritual parenting, covenant relationships, honor, submission to authority, and other things. Examples and scriptures are given. So I appreciate you on here seeking the truth but your approach is a bit confusing. This forum has 163 pages with over 100K views. That is for a reason. You have to do your own legwork as it is of no benefit to repeat and start over with all of it at this page and point. Tony is a very manipulative, scheming, lying, controlling, narcissistic (refer to forum) person who masquerades as Pastor. And Tammy, if you read your word which you say you know well then you will see that it is not Tony bashing for us, it is exposing a false prophet and apostle which the bible commands us to do publicly. Tony wants to manipulate the remnant that is left to lead them to believe we are all whacked out and just bashing him. I had a life before Tony and will have a life after Tony. It is about preventing others from being used and abused. And Tammy if you are having to work so hard at wrapping your mind around things in order to justify you leaving to your family then maybe you should stay longer and check it out. We will continue to warn people on here. It is your choice to receive it and possibly save yourself much time. But the deeper you get the more your mind will be controlled by the doctrine of Tony not Radiant Life. Did you know that Tony boasted to the Prophetic Cadre (Pathetic Cadre) that those involved are blessed because they get more of him (why not Jesus). This also happened to third year SOMA classes. You can stay an keep treating sundays like going to the movies. A little entertainment and some socializing afterwards. But if you get deeper, in time the truth will be revealed.

Kevin, I wish you the best bro. And again, i personally don't want to hear or receive on here what you think God is doing (i am not saying you dont have a right, i just dont receive it from you). You are like a prophet gone haywire, too much bad crank. I still love you though, I just know you too well. What I say of you on here is not personal it is doctrinal. I have no intention to argue with you as I never had a voice with you anyway. Love you bro. We'll talk soon and I am not discouraging you from posting your view but I will respond if needed. I wont sit back and receive your word blindly.