Moderator
You asked a question “Were the elders elected democratically by the general membership of the church?

How did they become elders?”

Let me answer it this way. First an elder is invited into the inter-circle because he has become trained to become a yes man through discipleship and SOMA. Once the pastor can trust this candidate then he can be nominated and installed as long as there is a quorum of elders.

There have been pastors appointed the same way.

The elders have become a mindless group of yes men sycophants.

I have been doing a lot of research about the teachings that have surfaced here at Radiant Life Church and many point back to the Discipleship Movement and that has lead me to discover other similarities such as the [b:fffbab7b16]“Apostolic Authority”[/b:fffbab7b16] movement. The spiritual [b:fffbab7b16]“Covering” [/b:fffbab7b16]as it has been manifested at Radiant Life Church and what I see is all too much [b:fffbab7b16]“Spiritual Abuse” & “Manipulation of Authority”[/b:fffbab7b16] it looks like this; when an elder shared this story in Discipleship…he said, there was a lady who was coming up after church services week after week each Sunday asking for specific healing and finally he said to her “I believe the reason you are not being healed is this, you are not recognizing me as an elder and the authority that I have been given here in the church and because you don’t your not being healed.” He said that she walked away and latter came back to him and repented to him and said I have always viewed you as a pier and close friend and not so much as an elder and I am sorry…Then he said that he prayed for her and she was healed. WOW I can’t believe that I let this one pass under my radar as it was presented to the guys in Discipleship that to step into the next level of enlightenment we have to embrace the Devine authority that God has carve out in his church.

As many of you know RLC is what we have been discussing here. First off....I was created by God for His pleasure as were all of us. But what has taken place at Radiant Life is:

You submit to me because you are submitting to God.......First of all.....

[/size:e4778a0338]I DON't THINK SO BUDDY!!

[/size:e4778a0338] What we have going on here is Idolatry...and this is in no way bashing...this is truth that needs to be spoken out of genuine concern for the sheep that are now wounded! I am a Disciple of Christ....I will not drink at Starbucks because the Pastor does, I will not purchase wine because the Pastor does, I will not drive a Mustang because the Pastor does, I will not go to SOMA because I am not a whacko....Get the point people. I have fallen into these misteachings in the past...I am not part of the incrowd.....I have been rejected by many because I speak truth...and I ask alot of questions! I am marked as one who is rebellious in there eyes.....This hurts but I am not going to let man tear me down. Abused: I know how you feel, TMAC: I know how you feel, Abandoned by RLC: Bro...I know how you feel! We have all been victims...but we know that God is greater! It is sad about the marriages we have seen crumble to pieces because wives want to submit to their Spiritual Father Tony......That is wrong! I am very upset and saddened that families have been destroyed yet...The LEadership convinces themselves that they are Yechua's Ambassadors.....They are taught to call God Yahweh......That is fince....That is the Hebrew name....But I am a Mexican American born in the United States of America...I am not Jewish, nor do I speak Hebrew....To me....He is God...and the last time I checked...God understands English perfectly well. I went to SOMA before...I dropped out...I was Discipled before...I droppped that really quick. God is our covering adn to all who have been hurt because of the leadership at Radiant Life......Please know this.....Only God is Judge and everyone will give an account on the Day of Judgement! You, me, Pastors, Elders, Deacons, Everyone will give an account!

You are not forgotten....If man forsakes you..oh well...God will never! I have seen the damage in Sacramento and it is on the brinks of doing the same in Katy, Texas....It is too bad! I choose truth....and I will be TrueFaced with all I come across!

Blessings To You All!

Transparent

"a brother rejected by many, an artist looked down upon by the inner circle because of my message"

Here is my charge to the pastor and to the Elders…Remove the sycophants from your inter-circle that insulate you from the flock..and people. Disband the inter-circle and Prophetic Cadre as it has become the (pathetic cadre) a controlling group at the center of the organization manipulating the direction of this church. The church leadership needs to repent and come back to the first love of Jesus Christ. Shake off the wicked teachings if Balaam and the Nicolaitans. Request that the wives of this church renounce this wicked & false teaching of Jezebel and come back to their husbands. Encourage the wives to concentrate at pleasing their husbands and being the help mate they were designed to be, reconcile the marriages among you. Restore the goodwill and reputation of the people that have become the victims of these good intentioned sycophants who have taken advantage of other believers.

Or…go ahead and build your empire consulting with marketing guru’s and business consultants disregarding people like pawns, launch your ministry to conquer more souls no matter how many get shot along the way. Do it in the name of Jesus to justify your actions and your deeds that ends up looking only a step above demonic.

The reason I am being so vocal is I am not the only person who has been hurt by this arrogant attitude from the church leadership. I have sat back and watched a thriving new covenant church fall away from the truth of trusting God. We would see good and proper relationships spring up among other churches yet some how they got burned up over night. I have seen too many people succumb to the friendly fire of those good intentioned staff and elders. To see people get used and manipulated and hurt buy this diabolical and false teaching in Discipleship. I am asking you all to repent specifically from this false teaching because it is hurting you and your children! Reconcile the harm that has come to so many people. To reconcile with the children of the leaders who have walked from faith in Christ as parents continue to climb up that leadership ladder. When I consider all the people who have been hurt and the pain I have carried. I have come to you with these words of instruction and encouragement that I have set my boundaries and I will only follow Christ.

I read all the posts that Ted responded to and I wish there was a way that we can get Somite back on the main forum, because I just wanna say that yes it is not okay for women to live with "young pastors" and pastors calling them adopted daughters, because when I see this to me they are not daugters but they are actually mordern day concubines, yes the pastors at rlc do really take the bible and twist it because these young girls have left their parents to live with pastors, this is very stupid and very sad. his makes me very sad and angry at the same time but who am I to judeg, all I can say to the pastors and the leadership of rlc that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble". I have not seen the humble part yet, but I tell you that God is not going to put up with this crap to much longer. Pastors and leadership of rlc start repenting and change from your wicked ways because oneday each one of us will stand before the living God and we will be held accountable for our actions. This whole SOMA thing is garbage, how can you as so much money for something that is not accredited, why are people so stupid. I really believe that the spirit of jezebal is moving and I know that there are a lot of good people that attend rlc and they dont deserve this.

"Humble yourself" I agree, you said it quite well!

The Pastor at RLC has boldly preached that all authority is from God. That God has set up divine authority he has taught even the demons are submitted to authority. If you follow the teaching example of what authority looks like it is often with the example of David. In the SOMA class called Heart of David this is taught as David was anointed to become king of Israel yet he remained submitted under the authority of Saul and latter Absolom. David never took his authority he let God set up the authority. This is boldly taught in the “Heart of David” class at SOMA along with the “5 Fold Ministry” class. Part of the authority heresy is that everyone in the body of Christ needs to be submitted under the covering of a man or woman of God. Yet the pastor himself is not submitted to anyone.

There is defiantly a pecking order in the church you have the pastor and his immediate inter-circle these people are weaved through out each level of ministry and all report back to the pastor. Not all staff people are in the inter-circle and if they are still on the outside they are so hell bent to get accepted. They work so hard at making the grade to become accepted often neglecting the time with their children to sacrifice more time to ministry.

Then you have the SOMA students who are condition and persuaded over a 3 year period. They are convince that they are becoming more and more what God is looking for as an individual that they are becoming more like David. These students are being groomed to go out and plant more churches to weave this teaching. It is sad to look at the 40 plus students that start out going to SOMA and end up dropping out to just a hand full of graduates. The attitude of the pastor is this is normal he is willing to sacrifice the many for a few. This is just like the military “friendly fire” and this is where the spiritual abuse is rampant.

The pastor has for year’s boldly pooh-poohed people who get an opinion or insight about the word of God and suddenly they write a book. He has pointed out that they often self promote themselves as experts. But now he has his own book out called “The Moment Of Becoming” and now each Sunday he is promoting it selling it out in the lobby selling it on the web site. Now if you want to listen to one of the sermons now you need to purchase it. Big time marketing has become the motive of the church the very things he railed against back in the early days of the church when it was called Elk Grove Community Church.

[/size:728d78dbb1]
It is very sad to say and with all my heart I say this:

Radiant Life Church has incorporated a Pyramid Scheme of Ministry.

This is very much like AMWAY! It is shameful to even mention what is going on...The adultery, the misteachings, the idolatry, the friendly fire upon their own.........

Quote
AbandonedbyRLC
"Humble yourself" I agree, you said it quite well!

The Pastor at RLC has boldly preached that all authority is from God. That God has set up divine authority he has taught even the demons are submitted to authority. If you follow the teaching example of what authority looks like it is often with the example of David. In the SOMA class called Heart of David this is taught as David was anointed to become king of Israel yet he remained submitted under the authority of Saul and latter Absolom. David never took his authority he let God set up the authority. This is boldly taught in the “Heart of David” class at SOMA along with the “5 Fold Ministry” class. Part of the authority heresy is that everyone in the body of Christ needs to be submitted under the covering of a man or woman of God. Yet the pastor himself is not submitted to anyone.

There is defiantly a pecking order in the church you have the pastor and his immediate inter-circle these people are weaved through out each level of ministry and all report back to the pastor. Not all staff people are in the inter-circle and if they are still on the outside they are so hell bent to get accepted. They work so hard at making the grade to become accepted often neglecting the time with their children to sacrifice more time to ministry.

Then you have the SOMA students who are condition and persuaded over a 3 year period. They are convince that they are becoming more and more what God is looking for as an individual that they are becoming more like David. These students are being groomed to go out and plant more churches to weave this teaching. It is sad to look at the 40 plus students that start out going to SOMA and end up dropping out to just a hand full of graduates. The attitude of the pastor is this is normal he is willing to sacrifice the many for a few. This is just like the military “friendly fire” and this is where the spiritual abuse is rampant.

The pastor has for year’s boldly pooh-poohed people who get an opinion or insight about the word of God and suddenly they write a book. He has pointed out that they often self promote themselves as experts. But now he has his own book out called “The Moment Of Becoming” and now each Sunday he is promoting it selling it out in the lobby selling it on the web site. Now if you want to listen to one of the sermons now you need to purchase it. Big time marketing has become the motive of the church the very things he railed against back in the early days of the church when it was called Elk Grove Community Church.

I totally agree with you .......There is a reason that Christ said..."My Father's house shall be called a house of Prayer....But you have made it a den of thieves"

Here's a question.

What are we doing to help those that need to recover from this madness? What has happened to truly benefiting those who listen? Those that are hurt by the bullet's shot by RLC leadership are still lsitening to something.....Let's help one another recover from this pain...but how?

But all this has turned to IDOLATRY! We need to pray that eyes will be opened and repentance would take place...this is taken from their newsletter....they worship the Pastors....if you disagree with me then I really am sorry!




For 16 years now, Pastor
Tony has overseen, equipped
and nurtured a team of increasingly
impactful leaders.
The character of these leaders
– the model of their lives, the
passion of their hearts, the
truth and intensity of their
teachings – has helped transform
not only the Radiant Life
fellowship, but the community
and world around it.
In 2007, the School of Ministry
Arts (SOMA) has added a
new class for second-year students,
Noble Expressions. Recently
the students were asked
to study the characteristics
and impact of someone in
leadership over them, and to
write a thoughtful appreciation
of that leader.
Appreciation, of course, is
even better if it’s shared – and
so this month, Convergence
decided to bring the greater
RLC body some particularly insightful
excerpts from those
second-year students:
“It is impossible
to
mention all
of Tony’s
qualities because
he is
in constant
transformation. … He loves
everybody and takes care of us
in ways we can’t even understand.
… Tony is one of my heroes
and somebody whom I
want to follow wherever he
goes. I want to learn more and
more and adopt his way of
life, because it is almost similar
to what Jesus wants us to
live.” (Memo Olivares)
“Brandon’s
passion is
never lacki
ng –
whether he
is writing
w o r d s ,
d r a w i n g
arrows, or circling key points
all over the whiteboard, or
tears are pouring down his
cheeks and his face is red from
shouting about the inexhaustible,
unending love of his father.
… Brandon expresses
symphonies of love for Yahweh
and displays divinely inspired
love for His people in the utterances
of his mouth and the
passion that he exudes.”
(Jenna Pang)
“Rose has
a teaching
style
that is all
her own.
There is a
p a s s i o n
living inside
her that has a way of
bubbling up and pouring out of
every part of her being while
she instructs from the Word of
God. From grabbing hold of
the podium and shaking the
life out of it, to yelling at the
top of her small voice, Rose
always seems to find a way to
get her point across. Her face
frequently turns red, and her
hair is often out of place in
the midst of her bouts of desperate
expression. Who would
have guessed by her appearance
that such things could
flow out of her? … Understanding
the meaning of words
is of great value to her. Dictionary
definitions are very
common in her teachings.
Through her encouragement
and example, I have myself
found a new excitement for
language and word definitions.
… If I could affect one life the
way she has affected mine, I
would consider my life wellspent.”
(Michelle Rezentes)
“I cannot
even begin
to count
the many
ways that
Kelli has
shown love
to me or
those around me. She delights
in loving people in many
unique ways. For instance, a
little over a year ago, Kelli[/size:086c355262][/size:086c355262][/size:086c355262]