I’m really excited that Donna Bennum was brave enough to record and share this video about her time in the Stanton Church of Christ. I think God is using her and her family to share the grace-filled message of Jesus with current and former Stanton members.
She has come out of it and rebuilt her relationship with the God of the Bible, and I’ve been privileged to see—only through online interactions, so far—the fruit of her new life. Her daughter, who was previously turned off to God, was baptized. Donna’s story has impacted a lot of people, and everyone reading this blog ought to invest 15 minutes to watch this to the end. Also, please subscribe to her YouTube channel and comment to encourage her.
I’m personally going through a season where the blog has to take second place in my prioritization of time. We’re adopting a 15 y.o. into our family, bringing the number of kids to eight (mostly adults now, BTW). I love you all, but my first ministry is to my family. After them, you come first! 
All I can say is WOW! My husband and I watched this video, and Donna you are spot on. Thank you for being brave enough to share with us! May God bless this and may it get out to ones who need to see it!
Thanks Debbie. There is so much more to say. Please share
Great job, Donna, and I am grateful for those like you and others, who have been brave enough to share their stories!
Donna, What did they have to say about all of this after your baby was born early etc? I was reading back where women had to get permission even for a hysterectomy, and that makes me physically ill. So sorry this happened to you. I was married to one still in Stanton and can not wait until the day it all goes poof! I was in the church also for a short time and watched how the preachers wanted you to tattle on each other.. They thrived on that
Anon 9:17 We went to the preacher later on- he said he didn't remember ANYTHING about it. I had gone to him after he preached the Epaphraditis sermon and he did not deny it was said for me. And yes, when a woman feels she needs to get her tubes tired or a hysterectomy- she has to get "counsel" from a counselor of the cult or she will feel the repercussions. A month after this baby was born, we were at our house and the men were getting ready to go on personal work, my baby turned blue. My husband,… Read more »
Debby you should do one too. I always like your comments and have a good way about you. Think about it.
Thank you Donna for making these videos. Sometimes it feels much more powerful when people share these things with their own voice instead of typed words.
I havn't heard anything on my end about anyone talking about these videos. My guess is they know but don't want to say anything or they are talking about it but it hasn't spread far yet.
I will pray for both you and your husband!
Congratulations on your new adoption. You are quite an inspiration.
Thank you Donna. I’m sharing this with my Facebook friends. I may do one of my own.
I hope you do Craig. There is so much more that needs to be said. It’s amazing that some young people who still attend are in such great denial. There is so much more to God and life with Him in FREEDOM.
Very interesting, Donna. While I largely agree with what you have written, calling them a cult seems over the top, and I was there for the first 32 years of my life. The doctrinal issues we largely agree on. Teachers saying and doing anything they wish, with absolutely no SEPARATION OF POWERS AND CHECKS AND BALANCES, leads to arbitrary decisions, and huge conflicts of interests, where evangelists who are paid by wealthy preachers who run congregations, are expected to have oversight over them. How does that work? Also, they don't agree in self-defense or the military. How can this be… Read more »
Let’s see where the children are in twenty years. Most of them leave at 18 or soon after having all that oppression during their growing years. Some have no emotions haven’t you noticed while others go to drugs and alcohol to numb their pain and get in trouble with the law. They have been dumbed down so they will stay with the church or go back because they fear the outside. I hate to sound so negative but it is true. By Donna’s exposure maybe more will come forward like so many others on cults for documentaries. I sure hope… Read more »
Children need adults to find solutions for their problems and to provide protection for them. In the SCOC an adult is discouraged from using their intellect that God gave them but rather to "seek counsel" so the leaders can solve your problems for you. This leaves the child minded adult open to exploitation by others. It is better to teach moral laws and have others apply them in their own lives and develop their own understandings on how to live a Godly life rather than be an ignorant follower of others.
AnonymousFebruary 7, 2019 at 10:51 AM Profoundly well said. Stanton taught so often about 'receiving instruction' from your teachers, and 'receiving counsel'. Nothing wrong with that as long as following it is not a commandment. But in Stanton, it was a commandment, and if you didn't follow it, often, you'd get rebuked, and publicly humiliated. I personally was rebuked for going to counsel in private, being told I had done everything fine in a situation, and was then blasted out for being covetous in public at a November meeting. Since some may question if what I did was covetous, let… Read more »
Exactly what makes these so called “counsels” so wise? Surely not their education as the church does not promote education. How does the preacher/teacher have enough time to take care of their own families if they are so busy sticking their noses into everyone’s business and marriages. Just asking?
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They represent they are the only messengers on earth for God. According to them, if you want to know God's opinion on any topic, they are the only ones on earth that can give it to you. GP routinely started May Trips off by saying the people in the room were the only leaders on earth, out of 7 billion humans, that were on their way to heaven, with their churches. No pride there. I seem to remember similar sentiments about being the spokesman for God about 1,400 years ago, from a man, and I'm having a hard time remembering… Read more »
The first sentence about being the only messengers on earth,etc. is a clue that this is a whacked out church. And I would have left immediately. I visited several churches before I chose my home church and some had a not a good fit for one reason or another and some were strange but after reading this blog this is the strangest I could have ever imagined and so sad my daughter in law is still in it����������. She is a wonderful person and so deceived.
Monte Cristo- I appreciate your input but I think cult is an acceptable description for a religious group that had caused so much destruction on individuals and families. One of the areas I want to address is how Stanton holds men from supporting their families mostly due to the manditory schedule they hold. I don’t know if you are aware that Bill got a degree in Forensics and Law Enforrcement but was never able to pursue it because Stanton told Bill he could not carry a gun, much less, be in a position to have to kill someone with it.… Read more »
Holy Moly!! Monte Cristo, I find myself agreeing with what you just said about the structure and direction of the SCOC oppression. Please make your own YouTube and repeat the words you just used about them
Donna's YouTube is a Great Sword put up against the evil SCOC cult. Give her your support from your own 32 years of oppression.
Donna Bless You for your courage.
From a dedicated Heathen
KF
What mental morons we have been in this struggle with the COC and now Donna has show everyone here what we all missed. The COC keeps all their communication private and forbids it's cult members to use modern worldly methods.
You nailed it Donna. YouTube will finish off this evil cult. You are brilliant and so brave. Be prepared for their wrath and reach. You will have protection also from those who see the video. Your words are so pure and exact.
Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou
Ken- Lol! Thanks for the comments. My hope is to help others leave and support those who have. There is SOOO much more to tell! Let's all tell our stories on UTube. I really want to make a video about how the cult keeps men from supporting their families, and takes authority from the men in the cult (as well as the women) by determining the self-worth of individuals by whether they are accepted of the teachers. Take care Ken! I will always remember the pilot announcing our anniversary in flight! We have been married 40 years now, Bill is… Read more »
Donna that whole topic of taking authority from men and determining the self-worth of people is spot on. I know people in the cult who have felt completely worthless because their teachers found everything wrong with them (and then made sure everyone else spotted that person's flaws as well). Never good enough for marriage, not helping others enough, not enough personal work, not sacrificing a number of things enough, you're not good enough for God to love you, basically. These are the same people the world was beating down and they come for love and at first it is given… Read more »
That is very true, Donna. I experienced that first hand. I was in the Navy, and had a great career in front of me. But, when I joined, they put a lot of pressure on me that Christians don't fight wars, and we don't use guns. I read Merie's book 'Put up thy sword', and it made sense to me then, not now. For, if the world had followed her silly advice, Hitler, Mao, and Stalin would have all conquered the world and never been stopped. Of course, avoiding senseless violence makes perfect sense. But, there are evil people in… Read more »
Paul said if a man doesn't provide for his family, he is worse than a heathen. But the church encourages dependency on the government and teachers. Also, if God said to provide for your family, why would he not also expect you to protect your family with guns, if necessary? Makes zero sense. The men become emasculated. I remember in Stanton, for the longest time, they had a woman teacher, and she was quite a powerful figure. She had and has many good attributes, but being in subjection was not one of them. She dominated that church. She didn't realize… Read more »
Montesquieu: Where I was in Florida, it was the men who were not instructed to treat their wives with respect! One woman came for counsel, she had found her husband in the baby's room with another woman, kissing her. What did the teachers do? Rebuked the woman (the wife) and accused her of not pleasing her husband to the point that he had to look for affection elsewhere! Can you imagine? It was turned around on her, that she wasn't in subjection, etc.Another incident was one woman left her non-member husband. He was bringing illegal drugs into the house, and… Read more »
Wow, Debby, never heard of anything like that on the West Coast. But to excuse a man's lasciviousness by blaming his wife for not being sexually available is a totally bogus excuse. Yes, the Bible does say not to defraud, but a man is never to sin sexually, no matter what. If Joseph could stay faithful in prison, with no outlet, than no man today has any excuse. That incident with the teachers excusing the non-member husband drug-dealer is totally bogus too. Under no circumstances should a woman be forced to stay, with kids, with a man who is involved… Read more »
Montesquieu 11:11 you handled that situation perfectly. Sounds fair to me. Which preacher came at you like that. I can only imagine which one. Terrible. Both the main preachers where you were at have had enough problems of their own. You’d think they would learn from their own errors.
Thank you, Craig! Quite sad, because before this I had a lot of respect for this preacher. He had even taken me into his home for a year when my father and I weren't getting along, at age 16, and I really enjoyed it. But, when this happened, from a trusted figure, that was among the final straws. To trust and confide in someone and to have it blasted out in public, when privately they said you did the right thing was an unconscionable abuse of power, and I simply can't follow someone like that. I'd never dream of doing… Read more »
About MM in Portland-He is not only following the example set him in the group, he is also following the example his own father provided for him. Craig, I don't know if you know MM's history or not, but he was raised by his father. His mother has been in the group for as long as I can remember, but she didn't have custody of him. I remember when he and his brother first came to Portland-MM looked a lot like Michael Jackson! But I remember being told that his father was VERY strict. And I have to wonder if… Read more »
I don't know if HB was one of the preachers you dealt with. I have found him to be so limited in his ability to preach or speak for that matter! How does anyone sit listening to him for Sunday sermons? It was enough having to sit through visits. He literally was difficult to understand and I could not comprehend his words. He's very uneducated in any sense of the word yet teaching others. Sorry, some people just should Not be preaching and he was one of them.
It was definitely difficult to understand him, but Stanton, like all authoritarian organizations, promotes those who it can control. He seemed decent enough to me, and I have friends who he helped out tremendously. It could care less about God given talents a person has, if you can't be controlled by them, you have no future there. It also is very dangerous to learn anything in the Bible that your teachers, GP, or TC have not learned. You will learn to regret it. The pain of trying to explain what the Bible says different from their current teaching has never… Read more »
Montesquieu, Well spoken preachers that teach salvation. Neither will you find in Merie’s cult,
Thankfully there are plenty of preachers to be able to hear without resorting to either the extremes of people who just aren't able to get a message across or those who use the gospel to swindle people. The Bible has plenty who were able to get the message God wanted them to. But it also says people have different talents, and sometimes you gotta face the obvious. Craig, you make a great point that they have been desperate. HB came in long ago when they were even more so. Correct, he was a nice man. They are different points.
Anon 6:34. Agree. Very desperate when they put a guy who questioned their baptism multiple times. Turns out he preached for them for six years as a nonmember. Lol. That’s myself I’m speaking about. Portland also had a few teachers in my time who turned out they also were teaching as nonmembers later deciding their baptisms were null and void.
Anon 9:36 Agree HB great guy but hard to understand. I feel for all who had to listen to me as well. I wouldn’t want to listen to me ughhh. Most of the men were unqualified to preach as they have like myself no speaking skills. You’d see many in the audience falling asleep. You don’t find that where I’ve attended since leaving the cult. Well spoken preachers I’ve encountered. Merie’s cult is desperate for preachers.
Montesquieu, quite a bold statement that HB would be preferred by God above the men you mentioned. I’m aware of HB and issues he has had within the cult. Again desperate for men. They throw men up to the pulpit to preach that should not be preaching. Let’s not excuse the biggest lie they preach. That they are the “ one and only true church”. That alone disqualifies all of them. God accepts that?
That may be so, Craig. However, if you compare the churches today with the early American church, the New Testament church, Martin Luther's church, and Alexander Campbell's church, you'll find HB and the preachers in our church, despite the shortcomings amply noted on here, are far closer than 98% of other churches here in America. It's ok to disagree strongly with Stanton while not joining the Biblically ignorant mainstream churches in America. 90% of Christians in America know their hellivision more than their Bible. Not interested in their criticism of Stanton at all. What you find is people complain about… Read more »
Montesquieu I greatly agree with you about the teaching of the church, but that is not today's problems. It is in how they are using that teaching and their actions towards their own brethren. Even GP used this phrase in a talk, "Only Christians shoot their wounded", and they do. The last part of this verse is how I see how to many preachers and teachers are handling their positions. Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, "who hold the truth in unrighteousness"; There is a great lack of… Read more »
Very true, Lynn. 'Who hold the truth in unrighteousness'. Stanton insists on draconian (Mr. Carr used that in a meeting lesson, and I thought a riot was going to break out on a trip in one of the Southern California congregations) measures, that negate the law. But, isn't faith the hallmark of salvation? 'In your patience, ye possess your souls', said Christ in Luke. Also, Paul in Hebrews said, 'But without faith, it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek… Read more »
We had an excellent sermon yesterday on false teaching at a church we are visiting while on vacation. After reading the blog tonight I would say that things are closing in on the cult and especially MM. Thanks to the Internet and blog.
No church is perfect and Merie’s cult is far from it. Funny story about the only preacher in Portland MM. This follows along with the unqualified preachers that are rampant in the SCOC. I always noticed at meetings how MM would hide behind someone or get up and walk out of the room when prayer requests would be made knowing that a man would be called on to pray. MM didn’t want to be it. I mentioned it to him at times. Lol. It was the May meeting 2014 in Mobile when MM while hiding behind someone was called to… Read more »
Hi Craig yes I agree that prayers are an issue. One thing I noticed after attending a healthy church is how different each man's prayer is where I go. Some are nice, but I have been really touched by some very humble prayers. In Merie's church, they pray pretty much the same. It felt like a lack of real meaning in the prayers. Most, not all, but I can say in general that was the case. Since they are aiming to be "united" and all "the same" that is what they want, so I guess that's the result.One thing I… Read more »
M Long, I saw some of this too. A lot of prayers felt like they weren't really directed at God, but just made to sound spiritual. There would be lot's of showy and unnecessarily long prayers even for simple things like praying for the food. So much so, on some occasions after the prayer people would point out they had to redo it because they prayed for everything EXCEPT the food. Also I didn't understand how a man had to be "spiritual enough" first to even lead a prayer. Or if there wasn't a "spiritual enough" man at a fellowship… Read more »
AFP, I was raised in a religion where we prayed on knees often, so it was odd to me that it was done only on special occasions. My husband actually had to redo his first fellowship prayer because he didn't "bless the food". I was sooo mad that a young Christian lady stopped him right after in front of everyone in our own home, to redo the prayer. To me, it was a woman usurping a man, felt like being too picky also, and my intuition was just that the whole thing was off. I later talked to my husband… Read more »
Montesquieu 6:01 you nailed it with that comment. Btw not our church. Not mine thank goodness. I agree with much of what you said with your prior comment as well. Especially no church or organization on this earth will bring us the peace we can alone get when our conscience is in harmony with God’s will. Lynn MM backs up your point with his comment. All the good that they do is null and void with their wrongs. Love and mercy being two biggie’s.
For those who may not be convinced that this "church" was started by Merie Weiss, or even that she was withdrawn from when she started her church, here she is in her own words: “I know what he means because I have been cast out of the church. You don’t go around crying about it, you just go and start a church. And save people, teach them and baptize them and we have a church. And a lot of them now. In the next six months we should have four more states." From a July 1, 1979 Merie Weiss teaching… Read more »
M Long, great share. Very much the cult founder and leader. She could not endure her SCRIPTUAL withdrawal. So she starts her cult. Funny how you here those that teach their nonmember classes bring that exact point up conceding other religions. If only the members of the cult knew the truth. Her ideas of how her cult would grow has fallen far short of her predictions.
M Long, I wonder if it’s possible to get that audio of Merie and the comment she made on this blog.
Craig I pulled it off DCs old blog which is still up. Haha. I don't know her or where she is now but wow she totally worshipped Merie. I'm sure a lot of people felt that way about Merie, that things were revealed to her, that she basically knew things like her church was the only one going to Heaven.I'm really trying to learn to not beome them and say 'So and so is not going to heaven' because God tells us He decides all that. But it's sad that a place that teaches they hold truth could not possibly… Read more »