BlessedChild Welcome to the Forum. I suspect you will be like other Stuthers sympathisers who have come on here: you will ask a few questions and expect people to answer, but will make no attempt at all to answer any questions directed to you. You will then get fed up and stop posting. I hope that is not the case and you are happy to get involved in some serious debate, but I will not hold my
Forum: Destructive Churches

Well, quite a response form SMC. Thanks FriendlyFace for passing this on. The first thing that strikes me about this response is the blatant disregard for their own policy. Their policy is very clear, and the follow up to the letter of complaint pointed out a number of implications and requirements of that policy. SMC have however ignored all of that, their answer is basically, “It says tha
Forum: Destructive Churches

H Mulberry, and welcome to the forum (and, by the way, congratulations on making the 2,000th comment on this thread!) I am not surprised the Jennifer Jack told people to stay away from a certain person (who happened to be you in this case!) – that sort of thing is a very common occurrence. I know of others who have been given a similar instruction, and have been really upset by it, but of cou
Forum: Destructive Churches

Daisy, Exactly. If you do a quick internet search (or, unlike those in Struthers, actually study some theology) you will find that: Quote ]Exegesis is legitimate interpretation which "reads out of' the text what the original author or authors meant to convey. Eisegesis, on the other hand, reads into the text what the interpreter wishes to find or thinks he or she finds there
Forum: Destructive Churches

Actually, the paragraph before that is pretty relevant as well: QuoteThe Makin Review paragraph 21.1 John Smyth was able to radicalise his victims, by using his misinterpretation and misuse of the Scriptures. He taught, preached, and exploited children and young people by applying a false theology, based on selected Scriptures, taken out of context. He mis-used the writings and views of variou
Forum: Destructive Churches

I thought I would take the chance to look at the Makin review into the abuses by John Smyth. There are a number of very interesting sections and recommendations including: QuoteThe Makin review paragraph 21.2 There is evidence throughout of 'groupthink', where people are receiving all their influences within a closed group and becoming blind to external influence and thinking, and t
Forum: Destructive Churches

Blackwatch, I think you are spot on in your analysis. There is no interest at all caring for others, their only interest is in empire-building (although they seem to have little success at that). I suspect you are right and the complaint posted by FreindyFace (thanks FF for keeping us all informed) will not receive any sort of response that is kind, concerned, empathetic or gracious. On anot
Forum: Destructive Churches

AmazingGrace, I have been meaning to thank you for you post about safeguarding and child protection for a while. I think that is a very useful distinction, and it is good to understand how some of SMC practices have changed over the years. I fail to understand how this fits with their belief system however – I thought they taught that God was unchanging; that everything they did was becau
Forum: Destructive Churches

Daisy – I am reaching the conclusion that those in the pews are heavily sedated - by years of being told to sit down and shut up. :-)
Forum: Destructive Churches

I was interested to read Diana’s “Thought for the week” this week (dated 20/10/24). It was based on Matthew 18v31, which says, “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened.” It advises readers to go to the King (referring to God), saying things like: QuoteThought for the week 20/1024 Even when you are ‘ve
Forum: Destructive Churches

Oh, and if it want an anti-Struthers quote from the greatly respected (even in Struthers circles) C.S. Lewis, he once said, QuoteC.S. Lewis Aristotle said some men were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery as I find no men fit to be masters. There you go, even C.S. Lewis disagrees with the nonsense about always obeying you leaders and, in his usual
Forum: Destructive Churches

I think it may be destroying itself from within. There seems to be some -well, let’s call it confusion, as you could not possibly have unrest or discord- about the role Diana’s husband has.
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi FriendlyFace and welcome to the forum. Some interesting stuff there. I am particularly interested to see if their response uses this as “an opportunity to learn and to put things right for the individual or organisation.” Blackwatch, like you, I think this is just in their policy so that it is compliant, I think there is no way they will try to use this as an opportunity to learn. If
Forum: Destructive Churches

One other thought, unrelated to the above complaint. I am appalled by the way the leaders in Struthers attribute bad motives to anyone who dares to criticise them. I was speaking to our Session Clerk recently, saying something along the lines of , “I hope people do not think I am doing this for selfish reasons”. The reply I got was, “everyone knows you are like a stick of Blackpool rock-
Forum: Destructive Churches

FalkirkBairn, I am so sorry that you went through such a terrible experience, made worse by those who should have been in a position to support you not being there to help. I am also sorry you received such a poor and defensive response to your complaint, and one that did not actually answer all the questions. I would love to see the full 31:8 report to see what they actually said: I hope
Forum: Destructive Churches

Some brilliant comments and analysis from a wide range of people. I note there are also some new articles on the Latigo site, which you can reach at latigo214.info. Note this does not work if you add “http:” or “www.” however, you have to put latigo214.info by itself into the address bar. I was particularly intrigued by the article on the New Year Word preached in January 2024. The art
Forum: Destructive Churches

The verse of the day that popped up on my phone today was: QuoteMatthew 5v11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Note this is the Biblical version. It is NOT the same as the Struthers version, which is closer to: QuoteHow Struthers interpret Matthew 5v11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you an
Forum: Destructive Churches

TheGreek (and others), Absolutely. There is so much about this that is unscriptural. Apart from the phrase you have quite correctly highlighted, the whole premiss here is wrong. The quote begins with, “When there are troubling things happening in the church of Jesus Christ” Well, there may be troubling things happening in the church of Jesus Christ, but that is not actually what they a
Forum: Destructive Churches

QuoteAmos 5v7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.
Forum: Destructive Churches

Al Duff, Yup, that is all part of the problem with the whole model – no opportunity to question, no need to plan or evaluate, or even to reflect. That is simply not scriptural – and, as we are witnessing, it doesn’t work. It is interesting that many people that left Struthers did so not because they were turning away from God, but for exactly the opposite reason – they felt they were seeki
Forum: Destructive Churches

Amazing Grace, these are some really good questions about the school finances etc. I suspect you are right and most of the congregation know very little about where their money goes. It seems to me this is one of the big problems with the “God will tell us exactly what to do” approach. Apart from being unbiblical (happy to tease that out if needed) it clearly does not work in the case of Str
Forum: Destructive Churches

TheGreek, Well, it is good to hear there may yet be some people in the organisation who are capable of "speaking truth to power". I still think the Risk Manager's professional standing my have been compromised by this however. Hopefully they will have emails that show they have identified the risks and asked for these to be added to the Risk Register, so that will give the
Forum: Destructive Churches

The Greek, thanks for these comments and for confirming last year’s accounts are now available from companies house. I have had a quick look and note that one line in their accounts says, “During the year we have continued to see... restored families and general wellbeing.” I suspect that sometime in the next year or so, they will (unless they take your advice) have to answer questions about
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi TheGreek, and good to hear your insightful thoughts. Yes, one of the features of the controlling setup in Struthers is that they can say one thing to the congregation and a quite different thing to those outside. If you are outside the organisation you can see this contradiction, as you can hear stories and comments from the folk inside and can also see comments from those outside, for e
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi Amazing Grace and thanks for your post. Thanks also for graciously suggesting I may have misunderstood your point. You are almost right, but the truth is perhaps a little more stark - I took your point and diverted it to where I wanted to go. Apologies for that, I should have made any points I wanted separately without trying to hijack your very valid point. I do not disagree with anyt
Forum: Destructive Churches

OK, I did say I was going to post a lot at this point. Here is post 3 of 3! Amazing Grace, thanks for all that info and insight. Really interesting stuff. Your question of whether the leaders of Struthers are sincere in their belief that safeguarding and other matters are important is a good one. I suspect they are not sincere, as their complaints policy says they see complaints as an op
Forum: Destructive Churches

Falkirk Bairn, You are absolutely correct. A lot of Struthers sermons have been the same for decades: Part 1: “God is amazing, look at all He has done for His chosen people.” Part 2: “.. and Struthers are now God’s chosen people in a way that no-one else is. Only we really understand the Bible and hear God speaking directly to us, so you really need to be very afraid of ignoring ou
Forum: Destructive Churches

Quite a lot I would like to comment on here, so I will split my thoughts into different posts. Some probably tomorrow. First, Rensil, I am absolutely with you on all of that – I have no idea why Satan would ignore all the successful churches that are around and focus on one that is basically stagnant. As for them having a unique message about holiness, well, I guess it is unique, but I am
Forum: Destructive Churches

Well, I hear a current theme in the Struthers preaching is how there are “spiritual attacks” on the church because it is getting near to camp. Interesting. I wonder what these spiritual attacks look like and whether there are any biblical examples of this. I am even more interested in what these attacks are trying to achieve. What will the outcome be if Satan succeeds in his attacks,
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi Blackwatch, Yes, all seems quiet at the moment. It may be folks are on holiday, although that may be a big step for some. I know folks who did not feel they should go on holiday when part of Struthers and retained that practice after they left. Some of the folks that preached about how it was wrong to go on holiday then changed their mind however and decided that holidays were OK (for
Forum: Destructive Churches