Uncategorized

/Uncategorized
13 September

Rabbis, Teachers, and Freedom of Conscience

By |2019-08-20T09:08:36-06:00September 13th, 2016|Uncategorized|23 Comments

Where do our rights, like the freedom of conscience, come from? The Bill of Rights? Government? Church leaders? The Bible? God? The real question is do they come from God or from man? If from man, they can be taken away, because what man has a right to give, he has a right to take away. If our rights, on the other hand, come from God, mere mortals cannot take them away. Politicians, kings, and despots may come and go, and may very well infringe on those rights. But they lord illegitimate authority, not God-given authority. The rights that unprincipled men usurp, in a proper worldview, can still be returned to their rightful owners by rejecting the usurpers. This is the concept of "natural rights." [...]

8 September

The hypocrisy of the murmuring charge

By |2019-04-11T06:59:07-06:00September 8th, 2016|Uncategorized|9 Comments

The charge of murmuring is an easy weapon in the hands of Stanton teachers and preachers to strike fear into the hearts of the flock should they get the crazy notion of disagreeing with them. The cleverness of the charge is its easy adaptation to any situation. Nearly any disagreement can be twisted into an accusation of so-called "murmuring," complete with vivid imagery of Korah leading his insurrection against Moses. "We must keep the church pure," they say. Indeed. Pure of reasoned discussion and honest inquiry. Pure of anyone who dares seek truth more than the approval of men. Of course, God did actually speak audibly to Moses and put him in the position of being his spokesperson, and Korah did actually lead the people [...]

3 September

My story, by Tracy Geautreau

By |2019-04-11T06:59:45-06:00September 3rd, 2016|Uncategorized|65 Comments

My name is Tracy Gautreau and I was a member of the Stanton, Chino and San Antonio Church of Christ for nearly 30 years before I left in November of 2005. Where to begin? I was baptized in December of 1977 into the Stanton Church of Christ. I was 17 years old, believed in God, but was totally ignorant of the Bible and had never heard of the Church of Christ before. I was dating my boyfriend John Gautreau at the time. John was baptized 6 months after me and we were married in December of 1978. In 1983 we had 2 sons and moved to Chino CA to help start the church there. 1996-now with 9 children, we left our home and moved to [...]

1 September

When the revolutionaries become the establishment

By |2019-04-11T07:01:04-06:00September 1st, 2016|Uncategorized|36 Comments

Back in 2013, an anonymous commenter left the following quiz in the comments: Today's Quiz: Who wrote the following quote? "The members of the church have a right to question and ask for Bible answers from those who are doing the preaching. But this is considered almost tantamount to heresy by the preachers of today; and if a member persists in such he is usually slandered and called a trouble-maker...We should know our Bible and we should be ready and willing to take a stand for the truth. We are commanded to 'contend for the truth.' But this can hardly be done seeing that the church is ignorant and the preachers are content to have it so. Individually and collectively we should take scriptural stands upon all [...]

30 August

The attempt to crash my dad’s funeral

By |2019-04-11T07:01:31-06:00August 30th, 2016|Uncategorized|37 Comments

At first, I did not want to post the story of what really happened on the day of my dad's funeral publicly, but then I found out that other Stanton-affiliated congregations were slandering me and the Ezell kids for "causing turmoil." To set the record straight, here is a short account of what really happened. First, to honor my dad, here is a link to the program for his memorial service. If you knew him, or want to know a little more about him, this is a good place to start. Also, at the end of this post is a short video tribute I prepared. It's about 10 minutes of photos from different time periods of his life, set to some great acappella songs. He loved [...]

23 August

For those of you who knew my dad, Jerry Harper

By |2019-04-11T07:02:05-06:00August 23rd, 2016|Uncategorized|3 Comments

Many of you knew my dad, Jerry Harper. He passed away at 3:05 am on Saturday, August 20 at the age of 88 years old. He attended with me every Sunday in Boise as long as his health allowed (not the Stanton sect's Boise location, but a mainline Boise congregation). During my dad's last years on earth, he always loved to come to church, even when he really wasn't strong enough to do so. His memorial service will be on Thursday, August 25, at 1:00 pm at Zeyer Funeral Chapel in Nampa (83 N Midland Blvd, Nampa, ID 83651). Here is a map: https://goo.gl/maps/hEnacWkqoMB2 There will be a graveside military service (he was in the Navy) at 3:00 pm at Idaho State Veterans' Cemetery, at [...]

29 March

Threats of a lawsuit? Really?

By |2019-04-11T07:04:12-06:00March 29th, 2016|Uncategorized|44 Comments

Yesterday, someone posting as "Gary" commented threatening a lawsuit against me. Wow. If true, that is sure to backfire. Click here and search the page for Gary to find the comment on March 28, 2016 at 2:49 PM. Here is my response to this ridiculousness. 1. I'm not even convinced this comment is from Gary in the first place, but I will offer the benefit of the doubt for now. The phrase "church leadership" doesn't sound like Gary, IMO, and I find it unlikely that he would ask his followers to suddenly read through thousands of comment that he says are false or libelous. But that's just me. Nevertheless, in the spirit of love and good faith, the offer has always stood here to correct [...]

12 October

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated

By |2019-04-11T07:05:23-06:00October 12th, 2015|Uncategorized|109 Comments

"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." ~Mark Twain I have to apologize to readers (again) for being absent from responding and moderating the blog for so long. I know there are some things I need to clean up, and inappropriate comments to delete. I intended to do that this past weekend, but here it is my lunch hour on Monday and it's still not done. I started a new job last Spring and had a daughter get married over the summer, so family time has become a lot more scarce, and therefore a bit more precious.  I have some reading to do to catch up, but I'm looking forward to reengaging with the conversation. P.s. - Just as a reminder to newbies, [...]

18 July

Q&A

By |2019-04-11T02:09:47-06:00July 18th, 2015|Uncategorized|267 Comments

In the interest of generating more Biblically-based dialogue here, I thought it would be useful to post a Q&A blog where readers can leave questions in the comment section and I'll provide my take on it from a Biblical standpoint. I'm really not interested in who said what to whom, which is easy to fall into when you're having a historical discussion. Nevertheless, that's just not why I started this blog. Instead, I'm interested in having Biblically grounded, spiritually mature conversations about the church and the Bible with those who are sincere in trying to sort through the many issues raised by the SCOC sect. I'll provide my point of view and you can provide yours. Rules of the road for this exercise: Questions must [...]

5 June

My Story, by Debby Stevens

By |2019-04-11T02:09:47-06:00June 5th, 2015|Uncategorized|64 Comments

I'm really glad that Debby Stevens found the blog recently. There are a lot of good people who love God who have left Stanton's ranks, and I'm thrilled that some of them have found this blog to share their story. My prayer is that by uncovering more voices from Stanton's past, we can show current members that (a) they're not alone in their secret doubts about Stanton's presumptuous "authority;" and (b) there is such a thing as a relationship with God outside of Stanton's walls. Debby, thanks adding your voice to the discussion here. My Story by Debby Stevens I first started with the Stanton group in Portland, OR in 1985 when I was baptized. In 1989 I was asked to move to Lakeland, FL [...]

30 March

My Story, by Matthew Ezell

By |2019-04-30T09:54:30-06:00March 30th, 2015|Uncategorized|53 Comments

Matthew submitted his story back in 2013 in a series of six comments. In an effort to reorganize stories like his into a more useful and findable format, I have compiled his story into a single post. Full disclosure: Matthew is my brother-in-law, and currently "withdrawn from" by the Anchorage, Alaska congregation. Jill is my sister, whom I love very much in spite of our disagreement over the church. They have an awesome family, and I've respected that they've been able to maintain a loving relationship. August 29, 2013 at 3:36 PM The option of "Anonymous" allows us to speak without anyone having any preconceived ideas about us and shields us from anyone bringing up our past. We all have one, don't we. I choose [...]

25 March

My Story, by Jeff Hernandez

By |2019-04-11T02:09:46-06:00March 25th, 2015|Uncategorized|239 Comments

Thank you, Jeff, for your letter detailing your story. I'm sorry for your experiences. If believers are to show Christ to one another as well as to a lost world, this certainly doesn't seem like the way to do it. Thank you for being discreet (proper usage of the word) about names so this doesn't become about personalities, but about the church's culture. I want to encourage you to find a church family who will take the time to get to know you, and with whom you can share your struggles freely without fear of retribution. My name is Jeff Hernandez and Lynn is my middle name. My wife and I are still married. She left the church because it was too hard for her [...]

3 March

My Story, by “K.F.”

By |2019-04-11T02:09:44-06:00March 3rd, 2015|Uncategorized|157 Comments

A reader emailed me this letter and asked me if I would post it. I've been a little reluctant because of the underlying bitterness that is still there, but we agreed that I could make a few introductory comments about that. While I don't at all endorse the bitterness, I do understand where it's coming from. My hope and prayer is that KF can defeat this bitterness, and I believe that can only happen by experiencing God's love and forgiveness in a way that he's never seen in the Stanton churches. EDIT #1 - In the spirit of clearing up confusion about the purpose of posting this letter, I think it should be clear by my history on this blog that it was not to [...]

17 February

Loving those still in Stanton

By |2019-04-11T02:09:44-06:00February 17th, 2015|Uncategorized|14 Comments

I get a lot of questions from people about how best to have a relationship with those still in the Stanton churches. Many feel castigated and judged after leaving, whether they left for Biblically principled reasons, or because they were running from the mistaken view of God they had been told about by Stanton, and wanted nothing to do with him. What a shame, either way. The dysfunction that has arisen in so many families as a result of Stanton has been written about extensively in these pages and in readers' comments. It's truly an awful legacy, considering that the family unit was designed by God to be a beautiful thing, something that protects and nurtures children's and spouses' faith in God. Nevertheless, many find [...]

31 January

A “Jesus Take The Wheel” kind of faith

By |2019-08-29T10:07:44-06:00January 31st, 2015|Uncategorized|29 Comments

Several people have sent me audio files from various meetings since I started this blog, and I just happened to browse some of them recently. One caught my eye called "Standing in the Gap" from November 2013. It sounded inspiring enough, so I imported it into my iTunes and started listening. It was rather lengthy, and I recalled having started listening to it before, but never made it to the end. After awhile, I remembered why. It took some time to get up to speed, wandering a bit aimlessly for the first 40 minutes. Eventually, though, there were some valuable points made. Most it was charming prose, though maybe a bit too self-conscious. From one story to another, the first 40 minutes of the talk [...]

22 January

My Story, by Donna Bennum

By |2019-04-11T02:09:44-06:00January 22nd, 2015|Uncategorized|56 Comments

I appreciate Donna's willingness to share her story, and hope that others are emboldened to do the same. More importantly, I hope that her experience inspires others to take action! My Story, by Donna Bennum In August of 2014 I made my decision to leave 'the church' (Stanton churches) which I had been a member of for thirty-six years. In the weeks that followed I found Rising Sun church of Christ. I sat in their sanctuary and listened to their hymns, as they were accompanied by musical instruments of all sorts. I listened to the preacher speak about God's love for us and about His GRACE, and how there's NOTHING we could do to work for that grace of Christ dying on the cross for [...]

2 January

A public confession

By |2019-08-30T12:41:16-06:00January 2nd, 2015|Uncategorized|21 Comments

I have a public confession to make. I believe the church's practice of public confession, and all its associated rules, are simply more assumptions which have been mistakenly inferred and bound by men, not by the Bible. These manmade rules include: A weekly time of public confession. Private sins confessed before public ones A confession must be as public as the sin was Must stand for public confession A prayer must be offered after said period of public confession asking for the forgiveness of the people who confessed. You can't take the Lord's Supper if there is "sin on your soul" as a result of not confessing a "public sin" publicly If any one of these rules is violated, your sins are not forgiven. Start [...]

23 December

This one little problem with the “One True Church” claim

By |2019-04-30T09:47:57-06:00December 23rd, 2014|Uncategorized|14 Comments

Does the Holy Spirit guide Stanton alone into all truth? Ahh, this is the $64,000 question, isn't it? Wouldn't everyone nod their heads in agreement with Stanton's claims to be the "One True Church" if this could really be proven true? Of course, but it can't. Thankfully, the opposite is actually possible. It is easily provable that this central claim of the church is not true. All we need to do is demonstrate clearly that the Holy Spirit has not, in fact, led either the church or any individual in the church, into all truth. Wouldn't that lay an ax to the root of this tree that has produced such divisive fruit for over four decades now? Of course it would. Which is exactly why [...]

6 December

A Biblical look at so-called withdrawal

By |2019-08-30T09:48:04-06:00December 6th, 2014|Uncategorized|148 Comments

The subject of "withdrawal" is of huge importance within the Stanton churches, because it is so grossly misunderstood, taught, and practiced. In its current form, it is unscriptural, unloving, and unjust, and the fear and dread it brings to those under its threat can silence even the most honest of questions. Some of you reading this have been "withdrawn from" (an unscriptural term, how Stanton uses it) and others have spouses, mothers, fathers, or siblings who have been, thereby creating an intricate web of rules you or they have to live by. Others of you have remained silent about your dissent from official church teachings due to the threat of withdrawal, and the dysfunction it would create in your relationships with your spouse or children. [...]

26 November

Can we call it Thanksgiving, please?

By |2019-04-11T02:09:43-06:00November 26th, 2014|Uncategorized|3 Comments

Why won't anyone call the "November Meeting" the "Thanksgiving Meeting?" Oh, that's right, because Christians don't celebrate "religious holidays." Birthdays...fine. Anniversaries...fine. Nothing spiritual there. But a holiday with a spiritual component to it? We can't have that! Logically and Biblically, this is nothing short of absurd, of course. I'll get to the scriptures in a moment, but think about how silly this rule of men is. We can choose to set aside a time to honor the day God brought a person into the world, or the day God joined a couple together in "holy matrimony" (remember, marriage is not just a social institution, but a religious one created by God). But we can't set aside a time as a nation, as a society, as [...]

Load More Posts