Interesting to re-read these old posts, ThePetitor. I don’t think much has changed in SMC since then, judging by their recent YouTube videos. The preaching seems be the same old, same old as it was, with the same content about living in holiness and always ever seeking that deep place with the Lord, using a Bible verse or verses about Israel from the Old Testament. Despite outward cosmetic (liter
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi everyone and thanks for all the recent posts. Like The Petitor, I say a big welcome to new contributors and thank you for having the courage to post. I believe that Phoebe2 already posted on this forum a few years ago. Phoebe2, you mentioned Andrew whom you had watched preaching via YouTube. As The Petitor has explained, he is Andrew Jewell, nephew of Chris Jewell, and his family have a lon
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Welcome to this Forum, escapedtoFrance. I am so glad that you managed to leave Struthers after you took a study Year abroad. Getting out of Struthers took great courage as did posting on this Forum and writing a Blog about your experiences in the church. You will also help other young people who are confused. I have read all three of your blog posts: they are very well-written and explain exac
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Hi everyone Thanks, ThePetitor for your piece on "counter-attitudinal argumentation." That was well done and the comparisons are spot on! I hope you'll receive some more responses. The only inaccuracy I can see is that there is now no rule in SMC about women wearing hats. That went out sometime in the 90s, I think. The rules are always changing. At this time of lockdown when
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Hi ThePetitor The big green van belonged to Jock. It was his work van for his outdoor tree work. It only picked folk up in Glasgow. I remember a van coming from Falkirk too, transporting yet another group of young folk who were giving everything to follow God (or a church?). Yes, we did have fellowship during these journeys but I remember the SMC leaders instructing us that we should be travelli
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi everyone! I've been continuing to check this Forum for new postings and always read all of your contributions with great interest. I'd like to also welcome the new contributors: Jock, Enkrateia, and just recently, #thisisme. Sorry if I have missed anyone out. Thank you also, Petitor, for your informative posts. I did watch the YouTube video on spiritual abuse: it is excellent and ver
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No, it doesn't have any links with Destiny churches or ministries run by Andrew Owen. SMC leaders and members do not mix with other Pentecostal groups/churches nor do they involve themselves with other church-related ministries, as a rule. There are some exceptions in recent times, such as attending Aglow, Street Pastors, Teen Challenge, e.g. but they wouldn't link with another Pentecos
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Hi West of East and Phoebe2. Welcome to this Forum and thank you for your very interesting and detailed posts. West of East, I'm glad and relieved that you had a good school experience at Cedars School. I wouldn't want any child or teenager to have an unhappy or pressured time at school. You must have been at the school from when it started as I think it opened for the first time in
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Happy Survivor, I agree that It's always good to ask forgiveness if we feel we've done wrong and to keep in right relations with fellow-believers. However, I tend to agree with The Petitor's view that perhaps you are experiencing a "Struthers mindset" type of guilt. I have experienced this and that's why I know what it's like. Now that I am out of SMC and in a
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I totally agree with you, C-barb, about the Jezebel spirit being in operation in and through people, especially the leadership, in Struthers Church. I read some time ago, the article you have outlined and quoted above. It is spot on, re what is taking place in SMC, including the emphasis on women being in control. Please, I recommend that folk read the article as it's very informative and ex
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Thanks for all your recent posts, folks. And for the up to date information, Truthseeker9001, on what the leadership are concluding and saying regarding the OSCR investigation. Honestly, they just never seem to change! The still believe that everything is OK and they turn things round to make themselves look good by saying they are celebrating the fact that OSCR is investigating them. I doubt
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Thanks, Cbarb-again, for posting the YouTube link, entitled "16 Ways to know your Pastor is acting like a Super-Spiritual Controlling Puppeteer". Quoting Cbarb-again, "I think this girl's been to Struthers Memorial Church!" Here's the link:- " I watched it and, yes, totally identical to the way the pastors/leaders behave towards their sheep in Struth
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I'm totally with you there, Happy Survivor, re what happens at Struthers Memorial Church prayer-meetings. Yes, I and many others have been through it, been there, done it. A lot of loud tongues was the norm and, most likely, still is. Yes, you were expected to speak loudly in tongues when someone came to pray with you. Sometimes you were expected to sway or shake, or be swayed or shaken b
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Hi Cbarb-again I have to disagree with you on some of the points you wrote about. Re the experience of Baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, I believe these to be genuine experiences with their source in the true and living God as outlined clearly in several places in the Bible. Many, many Christians have experienced these things all over the world. Actually there are probably m
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Happy New Year, everyone! It's so good to have an SMC-free Christmas and New Year, when one can choose what they want to do or not do at this season. It's good not to have to listen to a verbal lashing from the platform at New Year, telling us how we had slipped off the sharp edge whilst spending Christmas with our families and that we were thus unprepared to meet God at the New Year c
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I don't know if anyone watched Newsreader, Huw Edwards, interview a spokesperson from the Cult Information Network, on BBC News 24 the other day. The interview came about as a result of the recent case in London, where three women escaped from a house where they'd been kept as slaves for 30 years. Huw Edwards was asking the man, who said he himself had got out of a cult some years ago
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Cbarb I don't know why the links to this Forum aren't coming up in a Google search because I noticed this a wee while back, before the recent quietness on this Forum thread. Perhaps one of our technically minded contributors or the Latigo team might be able to enlighten us? And get it back on? Anyway, to go back to your post from 3 November, Cbarb, where you wondered about the &quo
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I would re-iterate what Cbarb-again has written above. Thank you for your clear analysis and explanations, Cbarb. Happy Survivor, take heart and please don't stop posting. Yes, we would like to hear what you have to share about your experiences in SMC and your observations concerning Cedars School. I don't see anything wrong with you doing that on here. If you look back to the ve
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I'm glad to say that my skin is in much better condition now than it was when I was still in SMC. When I was still in, I developed a thick skin so that I wouldn't need to feel the pain of others or think about people who had left SMC and were badly hurt. My skin is now much thinner, so I am now able to sense the woundings and pain in other people's lives. My emotions now functio
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Clive We are quite willing to have people from SMC posting here or to have them answer our questions which we have been asking for over two years now and, on a personal basis, for many years in some cases. But we can't accept postings which have an aggressive, intimidating tone towards those of us who were once in SMC and have suffered abuse whilst we were in this church. We welcome conve
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Clive I think this newspaper link is to do with a story that was in the Scottish news last week concerning a primary school where local church-workers were involved at the school and some parents complained. However, I don't think it is relevant to our cause here. Others may disagree with me, but I don't think the issues to do with Struthers are relevant to this. I am not an athei
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Welcome, SaturdaynightFever. I am glad you are yet another survivor after, I presume, being brought up within SMC along with your family, some time ago. You've got us all dancing, I think! I'm thinking that it's a bit ironic that Bingowings has been banned, when it's the SMC leaders who go around banning folk from the church! Happy Survivor, I can re-iterate what The
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Welcome to the Forum, Happy Survivor. And I am so glad that you are indeed a happy survivor. From what you've posted, it looks like you have been attending recent meetings at SMC. So, from reading your posts, I am in a way surprised to learn that nothing seems to have changed regarding the preaching and teaching that is being given out by the leadership. I've heard it all in years g
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Thanks for all you've done, Clive, in getting previous posts back on. Much appreciated!! I am sure that all is not lost, though, in the loss of the many posts. This Forum thread has been so effective at exposing the error and bad practices which are going on within SMC. So much so, that the news about what SMC is really like has spread widely and now, as a result, many churches, counse
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Yes, Clive, you have a point there. I appreciate your humour too. Yes, all of the current leaders, in the eyes of SMC, fall into that same category of being held up as "chosen (by other leaders) and anointed" and therefore eligible to lead and preach to the humble others beneath them. Most were chosen by Miss Taylor, not just D. Rutherford. It is quite scary, really, that, because th
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Covlass, re what you posted about the SMC Bible Study report about Galatians Ch 6 etc, I sadly think that this is yet another example of preaching one thing and doing another in practice. I haven't seen a lot of gentle and restorative support given to church people who fall into a sin either. The usual practice is to rebuke or give a telling off, then to let a person sit in the pew and i
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Clive I totally agree with your point that people deep within SMC are more gullible, possibly more ignorant, and the least sceptical than those outside of it, which you have observed from your family members who are in SMC. I know what you mean, because this was something which used to frustrate me no end when I was in SMC. People weren't willing to have discussions about anything, or rea
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Our posts have appeared on here at the same time, Cbarb, so I hadn't read yours before I posted mine. In case you thought I'd ignored yours. I am going to read it through thoroughly now, OK?!
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I am in agreement with what Covlass has posted (July 7th above) and it is actually similar to what I was going to post myself, but haven't had time to, then I came on here and read her post. I agree that the debates on whether God exists or not are indeed a distraction from the main purpose of this Forum thread and serve little purpose. There are other Forums and sites where atheism can be
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Welcome to the Forum, FilthyBackslider. Thanks for posting. I'm glad you've enjoyed reading the contributions on here and that it's made you realise you weren't the only one to experience such things. I hope this has helped you. I actually found it hard to write your name, FilthyBackslider, because I don't believe anyone should be called Filthy. I understand where
Forum: Destructive Churches