Interesting reading on the forum. Lots of you are able to go into the finer details of things because you know the people concerned or were SMC members for a certain time, or still are. (I came into contact with SMC and their teaching through a third person who was/is herself an avid follower. I went to 1 conference and that was enough!!) I was just wanting to say that what stands out
Forum: Destructive Churches

I was wonderng how many of the SMC leaders are also school teachers either at Cedars or elsewhere? It seems, having read cbarbs last post, that there is an overlap between work-place and pulpit. A mixing up of roles and interaction, between class and congregation. What maybe appropriate to say to a class of giggling children if someone falls off their chair, becomes unacceptable and overbearin
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As I leave SMC, I'm also leaving pentecostalism. So much of what we do is one big wind up. The hysteria, the singing, the whipping up a frenzy, the obsessessing after holiness (to the detriment of self and sometimes loved ones) I feel I've outgrown it and ready to move onto something a bit more credible and adult.(No offense). These words from blackwatch rang big bells for me. I wa
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I havent posted for a while, but i still read the forum and i just wanted to say that i am reminded that God is exceedingly Gracious, not only to the hurt and confused in the congregation of SMC but also to the ones in leadership who may be in error. Only God knows what is in the heart of each one and Gods forgiveness and Grace is available to them if they come with humility , just as much as
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In my opinion , they dont defend themselves because they dont believe its necessary. In their opinion, its we who are the poor, weak, unspiritual ones, in the error of our ways. They believe they are the ones who have God's ear so to speak. If there was ANY true humility amongst them they would address our issues. Do not constantly look for qualities that arent there, you will always b
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Being in agreement to all the above and in short they believe in their own infallibility, which is what makes them dangerous .
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Clive , i didnt realise from your other posts that you had become a non-believer. SMC and pentecostalism almost did that to me too, in fact for a very long time i have not been to 'church', and still dont. ( not that going or not going to church is the measure of my belief ) It took me a long time to realise that God didnt begin and end at Struthers and that hyped up wailing dancing
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About the yelling in tongues business:- If you are not a very extrovert type yelling at all can be a challenge ,so yelling in tongues was near impossible , so by their understanding deliverence was therefore impossible .( thats assuming there was anything to deliver in the first place, which is not sure either as many will attest) So you were doomed to fail AGAIN (by their standards) So mu
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Maybe it appeals to the younger generation but I am not in favour of the facebook page, please , lets not reduce the serious issues here to the level of "face-book" This forum is quite adequate . If the SMC leaders dont have the common decency to reply to letters sent to them personally, they are certainly not going to reply on here, Latigo, and" never in a month of sundays&quo
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Anthony, in your first post you say that you regard SMC as a " highly dangerous cult" , yet in your second post you claim not to have been offended in any way and to be still partially connected with the church. Would you like to explain a little more because it seems contradictory .
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Lets not forget that while on here we are busy speculating about how they manage other peoples money and what they do with it, they are unconcerned as long as they keep to charitable status "rules" which they must do, or by now they would have been investigated. I have just read a very good little book called "In sheeps clothing" - Understanding and dealing with manipula
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Soul -Ties The subject of soul-ties has been mentioned . I think its interesting to consider that soul-ties dont only relate to male/female relationships. My brief reading on the subject suggests that a soul-tie can be formed with objects ( idols) animals, virtual characters like in "second life" or " world of warcraft " online games. Places, and of course other people
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Could i make a small point. I have been reading all the posts about the L and M story and more interestingly the friction between Clive and others. Having read Clive's first posts here it seems that he is giving opinions from a more objective view point rather than a subjective one and this seems to be if i am understanding correctly because his personal involvement with struthers was not at
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The feeling of not being good enough seems to be common to a lot of posters here, not good enough for what? for whom? The world in general likes achievers. Families like achievers. Parents often make the mistake of favouritising the achieving child. Church likes achievers. Church often preaches achievement.( Struthers like achievers, as long as you follow the company "line")
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Having stumbled on this forum ( thankfully) and realised that the reason SMC left me "cold"ultimately was maybe not MY fault but things THEY are doing wrong, it makes me wonder how many others that i have assumed to be genuine representatives of God are in fact "in error".
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Rensil, hello, I realise by reading your post that i tend to have an oversimplistic attitude and that what might seem like the obvious to me is not necessarily do-able at grass roots level. My contact with SMC was mainly through a woman leader of a house group in England. She was heavily into them. I cant of course claim the same experiences as a lot of you BUT i can promise you that the same
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One reason the SMC leadership carry on as they do is simply because they can. They remain unchallenged. You know how sometimes you feel compelled by the Holy Spirit to stand up and pray, or say something , you know its Him because your heart beats like the clappers , etc what if He asked you to stand up in an SMC meeting and challenge a point of the "word" or just ask a question
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Agreed on the "effort" part, tremendous amount of work went into all that research and commentary.
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I think the Latigo creator is Covlass, oups! was that already obvious ? Well Covlass your posts on here have the same well thought out, well researched and passionate arguments .
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Well fellow" posters" i just went to the Latigo site and read enough to convice me that , what i first thought is true , its up to each person here to come to terms with what has happened to them at the hands of struthers and find a way to move on with Gods help. In my opinion an apology would be an empty gesture . Who are the authors of the site? is it some of you guys? May i confi
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Clive could you choose another film? i'm sure you are not being flippant but i have only seen it once , i dont remember much of it ( grin) I get the feeling from the short time i have been reading everyones posts thats its not as simple as just making an apology, either here or at camp or Greenock. There would be doubt of its sincerity, it would be dissected to shreads and wouldnt close
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Maybe the fact that all the sermons are gone from their web- site means that they have decided to examine themselves. Humility , would demand it i think. If they are sincere but mistaken, they should also seek contact with the people who have been damaged by the church/leaders, to find out what their grievances are. I find mixing church with business always a little suspect, the "Ceda
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Well i read loads of everyones posts,I find all this seriously disturbing when i think back to how much i revered the leaders at struthers and admired them as Godly people. I went to a house group lead by a woman who was part of struthers although this group was in the midlands, england and in no way a branch of the church. I admired her too but was always feeling confused and often hurt . But
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Being a leader of anything puts a particular responsibility on you to be open to srutiny, have maybe higher than average standards of conduct , and especially to set the example, to live , what you preach. Being a leader of a church puts an even greater responsibility seeing as they are dealing with peoples souls. We put a lot of pressure on our countries leaders to be squeeky clean and o
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Struthers women in leadership would say its because there arent enough Godly men around to take the leadership roles, so its you guys fault in the first place ! but i agree entirely with your comments too.
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Just a little footnote to my last post, the problem about religions as a whole is the people who follow them . God , Allah or which ever name you give him isnt the problem here, so we should get our eyes off people and onto Him.
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Hello the "petitor" and "covlass" i have been reading your entries with much interest and recognition . I too had an experience of so called deliverence at their hands where nothing happened after a lot of speaking in tongues . I felt stupid actually, embarrassed to have divulged something very personal and then nothing happens. No-one was wise enough or had sufficient discer
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Hello everyone , i stumbled on this forum after googling Struthers so i was intrigued . I go to their site from time to time to see the New Year Word . I think it would be useful if i share my evaluation of the church but i can only give an opinion as it related to me and my personal path. I always found the speakers very inspirational , but i always felt also that i fell short of their standard
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