The unwritten rules

Also about a month ago I spoke to a preacher about the teachings. When I mentioned extra-biblical rules such as pantyhose wear being taught earlier this year, his reason for that was twofold:1 did the teacher SAY you were sinning by not wearing pantyhose? (I could not recall but asked if it wasn't a sin WHY did she spend 10-15 min of ladies class on it when I could have been learning something profitable); and2 Well if she didn't say it was a sin then she was just teaching on the high standard of dressing properly for God.This is how… Read more »

Yes, you have a prison record and then they make sure you have no visitation rights.. They keep everything recorded on member's withdrawls etc.. Im glad I'm in a book of notes somewhere LOL

How can ANYONE sit back and destroy families like this.. when I was in the church it seemed like they spent more time on all these weird rules then they did actual studying.. what I see on this blog makes so much sense and it's just common sense on how Kevin and many explain the Bible on the places they are so wrong.

The jehovah witnesses do the same thing too on shunning family.. But not as bad as Merie's church

Child abuse back in the day would of got them. But people are free to be foolish if they want to. If I was a parent in a battle for my children in the church I'd get a good lawyer and be showing the judge this blog. I'm wondering if they knew they could get away with it if they would still be tieing kids hands etc. Anyone this sick in the mind to do this in the first place needs to be put away. I'm sure alot of the abuse has tamed down so they don't have anyone coming… Read more »

Anon 3:24 for me it's not about money it's about having my name cleared from any association with this cult. To continue to call me a member when I am not is slander, it's a lie. Im not fallen away, I'm not withdrawn from as they claim. I'm a nonmember think goodness however at this point it affects my family. This is total wickedness executed by this cults so called leadership.

Also don't think they are all poor. I'd be for whoever wanted to go after them for money as well. A lot of mental and emotional abuse has been executed by this group.

Sounds like good advice. Hard to get busy teenagers scheduled but will try harder. Thanks

Should screen shot all her friends incase she hides them, get a fake Facebook account and send them all the blog, titled PP's church and Be warned it's scary LOL

I just read this gem from Paul and had to share it in this thread: Colossians 2:20-23 – Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules? 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh… Read more »

I started studying psychology and specifically the psychology of religion. In studying the common tactics of cults I saw the same methods in use in the SCOC. A religion teaches general principles to be followed by its members such as: no fornication/ adultery and then the consequences of the particular sin are taught to keep members on the straight and narrow. A cult teaches to keep the leader happy and enslaves it members, the general principles change according to the moods and whims of the leader, I saw both fornication and adultery condoned by the Phoenix church under the preacher… Read more »

The courtship and romance between Christ and the church is as sweet and wonderful to watch as any romance between man and woman. When a man considers a woman ugly or unattractive she is called a "dog" and their is two account of women outside of the nation of Israel asking for Christs gifts and he tells them straight out they are dogs, that is spiritually unattractive to him but the women persist and he grants them healings but tells them his beloved is who he is after not them.

A preacher, sharing or teaching, may be asked to (order to) sit down for any number of reasons. If the preacher is stubborn and refuses to sit down, he will be withdrawn from for one reason or another. This is done to bring the preachers under the control of the national leaders. Setting a bad example will get you sat down, as will any withdrawable offense, and I saw many men sat down for various reasons. If a man is respectful and obedient (calling out for council regularly and obeying the council given) then he can preach indefinitely even if… Read more »

Oh the things I could tell you when I was in Portland . Plus I would have loved to be a fly on the wall listening to all the gossip fluttering around

Have they ever explained why they gossip so much and assume things that are not true? Then turn around and think all of that is okay? Or do they ignore the fact of what they do?

Yes gossip is treated like a lesson when they do it. But think about it. Isn't a public reproof just gossip? When they are publicly getting after people over their kids, the way they raise them, their relationships, their choices, isn't that what gossip is?Like in a home, where the parents teach the kids how to behave, so do the leaders in Merie's church, starting back with Merie. All she did was talk about other churches. Then she talked about the people in them. Then when she started her own she got wives and husbands to gossip about each other,… Read more »

Real moral teachings were indeed lacking. With the problem with pornography it should be taught that it promotes the wanton and chambering thoughts; the effect of the whore/whoremonger is to encourage evil thoughts. Learning to resist the lust of the flesh starts in the mind with the decision that I am not going to be wanton; that is, thinking about other possible sexual partners, but rather as God laid it down from the beginning only one spouse and resist and reject all desires for others as many of the righteous did in the bible like Job in Job 31:1 I… Read more »

ANNE NON I could see some comments might be viewed as that. But here's the major clincher: it's not being done in a religious leadership capacity or from a pulpit. It's also a place where people are learning about the deceit of Merie's church and how she started it with divisions and how her legacy is just that – more divisions. Even in the Bible people who were fakes were called out and exposed.

Anne Non: Also consider the biblical meaning of murmuring.What you may not realize is that most of us just took Merie's group at their word. After all, aren't Christians suppose to be honest and trustworthy? So when we were taught that murmuring was defined as speaking against teaching and/or teachers, we accepted that!Go back into your bible and study murmuring. You will find it to be very different, especially in context.God does NOT speak to the teachers/leaders in this group. Most of them shouldn't even be teachers/leaders. Christ spoke against the religious leaders/teachers of his time, was HE murmuring? He… Read more »

Murmuring? Well I think you are straining at a gnat. When my two year old daughter has bruises across her backside in straight lines from the babysitter using her fiberglass rod on my child without my knowledge or permission saying Merie said use the rod. (The baby sitter was a long time member of the SCOC sitting at Merie's feet and having one of Meries bibles)I have had to overcome the camel of wanting to go to her house and do her some harm. The attempt to stifle dissent with the false accusation of "murmuring" is easily seen through. Just… Read more »

I was always amazed at the silence at certain ones egregious behavior and the outrage at others simple actions; one was ignored and the others made into a mountain; certainly a double standard. I watched as one member committed felony child abuse and nothing was said no reproof, no rebuke, nothing said at all his wife at the time being one of the teachers in the Phoenix congregation and if I was on time for personal work it was said "you were almost late!" Another time I was with the Volkswagen mechanic and the tow truck preacher when the Volkswagen… Read more »

If I were to ask the teachers/preachers in the SCOC I believe they would say the same thing. So it appears to me it is a matter of how things are perceived. The SCOC certainly wouldn't judge the conversations they have about certain Christians as destructive but rather as constructive. i.e. to clear the church of masturbation, fornication, sowing seeds of discord within the brotherhood and a host of other transgresions they consider a threat to their own spiritual clearity. So. I believe it is one of those comparisons that is equal on either end of the spectrum. Either both… Read more »

RJ, I didn't know the preacher and teacher in Minnesota, so I don't know how they were with the other folks there in that congregation. I just thought that his withdrawal was unwarranted. If the counsel he was receiving wasn't right, they should have addressed it with the person who was giving out the counsel! But instead, they withdrew from him. But that was also the same time that the teacher and preacher in Pensacola were in trouble-she was sat down and he was withdrawn from. They were raised up to be teacher and preacher while they were in Iowa… Read more »

I think it so interesting Portland was known for gossiping. I never heard any gossip from my family when they were in the church. Actually they were very quiet about what was going on in the church

unless I would ask a specific question such as is anyone getting married or when talking about graduation parties. No gossip. I would ask my son or daughter In law about a scripture or something like that which is certainly not gossip in my mind. Oh if only they were all in a healthy church. We continue to pray for them every night.

M Long- Yet you do it all the time

M Long: Why isn't anon 533 supposed to be on here? Because he remains anonymous? I hope you didn't mean that so I'll just hold there. Anonymous is a place that protects many from abuse.

Anne I'm curious. From your perspective, what kind of abuse is staying anonymous shielding people from?

Anne I know exactly what you mean! I met the biggest wolf in sheep's clothing and he was a product of Merie's church! My ex, who is 10 yrs older than me and was already a member when I met him during my last year of college, was just that. He had his large family already, and hiding another kid with another woman (and he and his whole family knew it and no one told me) . I got stuck with that one, paying child support to 2 other homes and then later when he took us all back with… Read more »