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kevinreta
Dear: Tony Cunningham, Radiant Life Church Elders and brothers and sisters in Christ currently at RLC and to those who are no longer currently attending RLC and to any other individual who reads the forum;

First of all I want to apologize for my last post. After It posted and I read it I had a check by the Holy Spirit. As stated in my first post, my intensions in posting on this forum was not to dog Tony or RLC. For who am I to cast a stone at anyone. I am far from perfection and I am learning how to communicate in a healthy manner without being afraid of saying the wrong thing. I am learning to say how I truley feel, not at all validating that everything I says is right and true, but I am learning that keeping things bottled up inside is not good. Thats probably why I tend to communicate on this forum rather then in person becuase there have been occasions when I have tried to say something to people in authority in my life and it gets written off or the other person over powers me with big words and a more skillfull way of communicating. With that said I will work on posting things of heath and not trying pull in my personal issues of life nor try to dog anyone.

As we pick up the pieces and continue to patch up areas of our lives and continue to learn to walk in the grace that God has given us I definitly want to share this with everyone and this I will not apologize for, for I am convinced of this:

On 12/18/07 the Father spoke to me and said this:

"I have torn away the old covenant between you and Bridget. And that your trial is a prophetic trial of what I am doing in the church. I am breaking the old covenant of the flesh. The church is trying to walk with Christ in the flesh. Your marriage is divine and for it to function correctly you need the Holy Spirit.

Why all the division? Why all the drama? Why failed business? Why so many failed relationships including marriages? It is simply becuase the Father loves us so much that He is ok with breaking things and exposing our own sin and bringing our deepest issues to the surface so that his grace can abound and bring about the restoration of us to Him and then us to eachother. Radiant Life Church is not a cult. But a bride who is being prepared for a major outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Think about it has not everyone you have met at RLC really tried with all of thier might to love God with all of thier heart and to love eachother! Yet everysingle one of us has brought about some type of damage to the people closest to us, myself included. God is working on Tony, the elders, the pastors, the people and things are changing. I know its hard to rejoice in the midst of such a major trial for all of us but let me ask you this are you expierencing more peace then you ever have? Are you dreaming again with God? Is he truley becoming your shepard? Although stuff is happening all around you are expiencing Him in the midst of it all?

God is Breaking the old covenant system at Radiant Life Church in Sacramento, CA. It's a system that has been replaced by the new covenant a covenant a described in Jeremiah 31:31-34..... "No more shall each man teach his nieghbor, and every man his brother, saying 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more."

As messy as it can get the Father is restoring all of us, first to Him and then to eachother.

Simply put that is what is going on at RLC.

"Father, thank you, that you love us enough to correct us all in our wrong doing. Please keep us close to you, for there is where we truley find peace and comfort. Please bless Tony Cunningham with the grace to go through the trials you have laid out for Him and please bless the elders of Radiant Life Church as they seek your wisdom . Continue to restore what has been taken away as we invite your presense into our lives. Please take away all the hurt and pain that we have done to those that we love as well as the pain done to us from those who love us. Father, we need you."

Thanks for sending that messg on thru bro!!! I can only put it this way... As you spoke of the Church trying to walk in this old way, this fleshly way and God will break down the shit and expose... it's true!!!

I will have to quote my favorite songwriter (BOB) and for those of you that know how big i am on Reggae music and it's whole as a musical Culture... It's time to "CHANT DOWN BABYLON".... Time to tear down the Babylon Syytem and get back to what God wants... we must live it all on his terms... not ours... and I'm learning that even in the place I am right now... My life is really crazy right now... and I myself ain't poitning no fingers... but I will make it known how much the Leadership of RLC has RAPED THE PEOPLE!!!!

Enough Said,

ANTONIO FLORES
~transparent as glass.... because I don't hide my pain or how I'm feeling~

KevinReta, cmon dude.....thanks for your post and your opinion is yours. Please after being a part of the abuse, I for one do not want to hear what the lord is telling you. Especially after your previous post. We already got enough of that. I disagree with much of what you said but am not going to argue with you. Radiant Life operates very much like a cult. For you to come on here and say what God is doing is acting like the old Radiant Life Poeple who claim they have a direct line to the man. You definately should be able to come on here and express yourself anyway you choose. But I do not have to agree with it. So this post is just to say I do not agree and it seems your last two posts are very inconsistent. i wish you much love in your recovery. We are all at different places and confusion reigns. I am on here to warn people of RLC. The whole reconciliation part. I am not looking to be reconciled with Tony, Beandon, or anyone else for that matter. That is up to them. I want to warn people of a very abusive, cutltish, ,and destructive church that hopefully God is trying to tear down or destroy.

Hello,
I agree that everyone is entiled to their opinion and all of us are at different places as far as healing goes. Mary I wanted to thank you for sharing your heart. I am so encouraged by your faith in our God and your trust in his promises. He is good isn't he? I to am glad that he keeps his word. I am really trying to move forward, yet I feel so alone. I know that all of you have experienced so much hurt and I am grieved by that. I cannot help but feel responsible for my ties to RLC and the support that I gave the leadership in manipulation and wrong teaching and I am responsible for the empty way of life I was living and teaching others to live, I am sorry. I know that I participated in shunning people, thinking poorly of them and talking badly about them, I am sorry. I am at a weird place I feel as if I can't move forward. I was and still am very confused about the definition of a cult. I looked it up and the definition fits. I did not want to admit it but I cannot deny it any longer. I am sharing this because I wonder if anyone else is where I am at? I am holding on to Jesus with expectation of complete healing, I sure hope it comes soon.
Love you all, Heidi

I didn't want to call RLC a cult either. I still hesistate. However when I read the definition of cult or the practices of a cult I can't help but see cult in bright red letters over RLC.

Kind of a general observation, please correct me if this seems off. I noticed that the people who actually accepted Christ and grew up in the relationship with him at RLC, those who have had no background in "church" history are the ones who seem to struggle with the idea that these core issues stem from false teaching of leadership. I know that I was connected to a church before RLC and my parents had knowledge of Christ before RLC. There was a foundation in Christ outside of RLC's influence. I say this because it makes me wonder if that is why it is hard for some to see through the lies and false teachings clearly. Please I am not trying to accuse anyone, I was making an observation that might be helpful to some.
Is what I am trying to get at making any sense?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2008 07:37AM by Escapee07.

I too have struggled in the past with the 'cult' word. While coming to grips with what had transpired at RLC, I recognized that my struggle was due in part to my embarrasment and guilt of having been associated with such an organization. I asked myself, how could I have fallen for this? Why did I let it happen to me and my family? When things were good, I spoke highly of the church to my family, friends, neighbors and coworkers; some of which still attend. Now all of a sudden I can't say anything because how could something that was so good be so bad? I don't want to say anything that could hinder someone elses walk with Christ. When people ask me where did you go, I had been careful to answer in fear of what if I am wrong? Now, if the Spirit leads me to speak; I will hold nothing back. Part of my healing process has been: recognizing that it is a cult, recognizing my own mistakes, learning from them, and moving on. I know that all things happen for a reason and I believe that the testimonies that we all have will be used for His glory and His purposes.

Sorry if I am rambling ~ it's been a long day.

May God bless you all!

Karen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2008 07:56AM by Free2bme.

I have a question for all of the readers:

For those of you who have been healed, what helped you get to that place?

For those of you who are still going through the process, what is helping you get through this time and helping you get healed of your hurts and emotions?

-Ryan-

We were a part of RLC for 6 years.

We served in the Brigades youth ministry and it was our heart, we loved it! My husband was a part of SOMA and he went to the Philippines, we were in line with everybody else that were striving to "be all they can be" for the RLC kingdom. We were drained, never good enough, "great starters, bad finishers", loved when we were good, dumped (or so it seemed) when we were bad, expected to be like those around us that were living the "right" way of life and we left, once. When we left, we actually moved out of the city and things went bad for us from the first day. A few months later we lost a baby halfway through the pregnancy so of course what did we think? We were out of covering and the blessing was gone! That's what were taught, basically. So, we ran back to RLC with our tail tucked between our legs and repeated the whole process over.

I realized one Sunday while singing the song by Chris Tomlin, "How Great is Our God" that I was singing about a RLC God and that that God was great. There was such an arrogance in me and I was sickened. I was shocked that I thought it but I knew it wasn't just me, I knew it was all around me. I knew that I needed to know that God was great outside of RLC and I knew that things were not going to change and I needed freedom. We left in 2006. It sounds so lame that I even thought the way I did, but I was desperate for love and acceptance.

The worst part for me is too know that even though we tried to love people differently than we were being loved, we still poured out the same junk and arrogance onto those youth and our friends. Maybe (probably not) it was watered down some since we were hurting and didn't want to do the same thing to others, but we still did it and for that I am so sorry. We were arrogant with our families and they were treated badly in the process. We were so ignorant.

The other day I asked myself what was so great about the so called "covering" and "blessing" we supposedly had and I realized I cried way more then than I do now. That I felt like a horrible person, daily and now I know God loves me right where I am at. That I never felt like I measured up and now it doesn't matter. That my husband felt like he couldn't be himself and now he is confident in who he is.

I have many people who are there still whom I love and care about. We miss them.

I just know that this is my truth and there are a lot of others with the same testimony and I can't see how that can be ignored. For so many years I felt so alone in my hurting and just trudged along for fear of curses and being the only one that felt this way. I am thankful to not be out of my mind and to know that there is healing and freedom. I am most thankful for God's grace and restoration of peoples lives.

Manderly and Justin Ringor

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Deja Vu
I have a question for all of the readers:

For those of you who have been healed, what helped you get to that place?

For those of you who are still going through the process, what is helping you get through this time and helping you get healed of your hurts and emotions?

-Ryan-

The people who are just being real. no bull shit.

What helped me? Seeing so many others bold enough to expose who they are and tell their stories. It has shown me that I am not the only one.

I know it sounds cliche, but, I think for me it was one of those "time heals all wounds" things. It was also extremely helpful that all of our family left at the same time. We were able to support each other, and pray for each other. I always tell people, Im not going to lie, the first year and a half, were very hard for us after we left. WE felt like we were very alone, We depended on Tom and Michele so much that we didnt really know how to make decisions on our own anymore. Our minds and hearts had to be fully overhauled. We had so many aspects of our life wrapped up in that church, our home, my husbands job, and our only friends. We lost all of it, and for a while wondered if we had made the right decision. But, it forced us into full dependance on God, and he showed up to rescue us.
I think we are just now coming to a place where we are learning to trust people again, but, we will never put our trust in people again. I so badly want that healing to take place for all those who have been hurt, have been decieved, and have loved to a fault. But, I know that it is only God and time that can provide that. Know that I do pray for those of you I know have been hurt, and for those who do not yet know that they are being hurt.
Jen