An oft-repeated exhortation growing up in this church was Jesus’ piece of wisdom: “By their fruits you will know them.” Of course, it was always recited using the King’s English, “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Here is one such passage in context:
Matthew 7:15-20 – Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (KJV)
Jesus here was warning the flock against false prophets, people who would come in sheep’s clothing, but inside are ravening wolves. Such leaders were common in the first century, as history shows. People came into the church or into the Jewish community claiming to be the messiah long after Jesus had ascended to heaven. Some claimed to be a prophet of God. One led a revolt against the Romans in the desert and was wiped out along with his followers. So it made sense for Jesus to give his flock some advice: See if what they teach leads to something good. Watch for the fruits of their efforts.
It’s been over 45 years since the introduction of this sect into the Christian community–or should I say, it’s separation from the Christian community–and I think that’s ample time to examine its fruits. When I look at the fruit of the church’s divisive and authoritarian teachings, I see fear and intimidation used to maintain power over the flock, clearly lording power over the people, with a wake of carnage and crushed souls left in its path:
- Marriages dissolved over perceived unscriptural marriages, only for the teaching to be later recanted and the family told “We’ve grown in our understanding and you didn’t have to separate after all.”
- Husbands emasculated by their wives and by other female teachers.
- Reputations smeared by false and/or unscriptural allegations and speculations of a sexual nature. This, by the way, continues to this day.
- Wives becoming the de facto heads of household.
- Husbands estranged from their wives when one or both can’t take the church’s oppressive teachings anymore.
- Children estranged from one or both parents when someone is withdrawn from for dissenting from the prevailing group-think of the last May Meeting.
- Members, ex-members, and children of members and ex-members disenchanted with God because of the darkened view of God’s nature that is promulgated by the church.
- “Biting and devouring” of dissenting members and ex-members in various “witch-hunts” in order to silence dissenters.
- A culture of gossip, evil surmising, and slander against dissenting members and ex-members.
- Very little real Bible knowledge, with a culture of pulling scriptures completely out of context to justify unbiblical doctrines.
The weight of evidence from many, many sources who have experienced these things firsthand is undeniable and crushing. The fruits of this sect have not been the fruits of the Spirit we read about in Galatians 5:
Galatians 5:22-23 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (KJV)
Instead, we have members being taught the following:
Those that you share a common bond with and like interest, are those that you most likely get along with and are able to share with, when that bond is broke it is because of some out side thing that make breaks up those like interest. IE differences in opinion such as pc or mac, Ford or Chevy.
Opinions and expressing them strongly is what will break that bond of brotherly love. As long as God is leading the way in my life and discussions then things will be alright with me and my brethren.
1) Original Source: http://whatisthedoctrineofchist.blogspot.com/2012/01/brotherly-love.html
2) The above anonymous blog was removed shortly after this article was posted. For several months, the site existed in Google’s cache, but as you can see by the broken link, someone went to great lengths to get it removed from there as well.
3) Fortunately, I anticipated this and saved an archive of the entire site. I wasn’t going to re-publish it, but since I have no other way to reference the material, here’s my own personal archive.
What an ungodly understanding of brotherly love! Having opinions and expressing them strongly are what breaks the bond of brotherly love? Where do you find that in the scriptures? Our bond is based upon what Jesus Christ has mutually done for us, not upon our shared opinions.
Is it any wonder that dissenters and unbelievers feel so little love, and often feel flames of hate, coming from those in the sect? Of course not, it’s to be expected. That’s what they’re taught. Love, to them, is not unconditional, as Jesus lived and taught. Instead, it’s very much conditional: If you’re in step with them on their opinions, “everything will be alright with the brethren.” If not, you better put your flak jacket on. Is this what Jesus and John taught about love?
1 John 4:11-21 – Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No man hath beheld God at any time: if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us: 13 hereby we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have beheld and bear witness that the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God. 16 And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him. 17 Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, even so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love: but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath punishment; and he that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love, because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen. 21 And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.
Where does this say that love is only for the brothers we agree with? Why is it okay to get out the long knives when we find that a brother doesn’t agree with us on something?
That is not my view of Christlike love, nor of the fruits of the Spirit. As I see it, we ought to be able to see God in our life by the love we express toward God and toward other people, especially those we don’t agree with. It’s easy to love the ones who march in lockstep with our own doctrines, who share our opinions. The true test of the Spirit is whether you love even the unlovable. That’s where the rubber meets the road in Christianity.
As testimonies from numerous sources have shown, the fruits of the Spirit…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…these are not a common experience in the church. There is a song that used to be popular in Christian circles:
They will know we are Christians by our love
What fruits to do you see in the church’s 45+ year history? Are the fruits of the Spirit…patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness…evident in everyone’s lives, especially when challenged on anything, or do the knives come out from time to time? Let the record speak for itself.
I have a question; are the main teachers in there still Kim Smith, Tom Cornforth, Gary Preman and Paula Preman? I have lost track of them.
Yes.
So as yet they have not established elders and deacons? That is what needs to be addressed here, the very fact that their central power is totally unscriptural. But you know what? I don't think they can change it. They can't even think of the church without Gary Preman, Kim Smith, Tom Cornforth and Paula Preman. They must believe this is what keeps them united, not the Holy Spirit.
You're right. Go read the "Moyer Letter" written by Merie Weiss on this website. She was totally against "Elders/Preachers" having the "rule" over the congregation. She thought very little of their capabilities as demonstrated in her letter (murmuring, complaining and slandering them). She wanted to be able to judge men and teach men in the church etc. publicly (when they gathered together) and the only time she thought she shouldn't is during worship. She believed they discriminated against women. Everything she was withdrawn for she speaks about herself and it's clear in her letter (false teacher and perverting the scriptures). Because Merie's "special understandings" were what built this sect, it's not surprising that no deacons and elders have ever been put into place. Elders and deacons would effectively eliminate Kim Smith and Paula Preman from taking over entire classes by admonishing, teaching and rebuking the preachers, men, and women, thereby usurping the authority of the male preachers. Because Merie's foundation is kept in place, it's not surprising all of the bad judgments, oppression and false teaching has occurred. Merie Weiss unfortunately was filled with pride. Read 1 Tim 2:12.
When I left the coc years ago I really thought I had left the true church and was condemned to hell. I thought I may as well be happy in life now. . As time went on "by their fruits you shall know them" came to my mind and I realized I had not left the truth. I thought back on all the harsh rebukes, the speaking evil the surmising and lack of love , there was not help when you stumbled or could not keep up only rebuke(especially when you had been in for a while and did not meet expectations) , we were stressed and on guard about what we did and what we did and on and on. I would hear the term good news meaning gospel and I would think this isn't really good news its a burden. Fruits is the test of truth. Thank you Kevin, for posting this
Thank you Loraine. I can attest that the good news really is good, it's not the oppressive rule-keeping it's been made into.
And God really is a good God. Most members of the church will give lip service to that, but not without a few caveats about the Fear of God thrown in there for good measure.
There are times when the goodness of God doesn't need caveats. I want my kids to know that I'm good, and to have the security of feeling my love deep in their soul, even when I'm angry about something. Yes, there are times when I need them to fear their daddy, but as the Psalmist says:
Psalm 30:5 – For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Loraine, I felt the same way, totally condemned being in the sect. I finally decided to trust myself and use my own judgment and I saw all of the bad fruit too & finally got the courage to leave. I kept thinking there just had to be something better than this! And there was, I just had to be open to the possibility. This scripture in John 3:17 helped me: "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."
Kevin, brilliant, articulate, courageous. These are the words I wanted to say for so long. You're helping us to see it's not just "me." It's "us." Some of us capitulated and just "took it." I drew the line when a teacher counseled us to put newspaper on our children at night so we could tell when they were moving. I wouldn't tolerate the harshness anymore. Things started to break out for me at that point. But I was in good standing. I did not stir up trouble, thinking they need to live their lives as they choose. But so many have been hurt…
Thank you Anonymous 5:16. I can't take credit for any courage. As I've said, courage would have been doing this blog 10 years ago, and I chickened out of this task once before. 🙂 Now, my kids are safe from the reach of the church and growing in their faith nicely, so I can speak without fear of retaliation or social repercussions for them.
I'm glad you severed ties when you did. I hope you are able to pursue God more freely now!
Anonymous 5:16pm- Newspapers on your children?! Just when I think I have heard the craziest stories, I hear another one to top the last. How sad is it that I believe these instances really occurred? Because I lived in their ever- changing rule world also as a kid.
Thank you for sharing. I agree with your statement that through this blog, we can see it isn't "just me".
Yes, newspapers on the children at night. To be fair, it was put to a stop. But this was a trusted "teacher" sent by the older ones. This type of oppressive spirit did not come from one individual. It came from the massive purging of all things unclean. It's a wonder how some of you kids can have normal relationships after experiences like that.
One of the strict brothers counseled me to tip the bicycle seat downward, towards the front, so my daughter would not be unduly stimulated by the bicycle seat (that's how he prepared his own daughter's seat). At night during "contacts" he would rush from door to door so all the 25 names could be checked off – I couldn't keep up with him so he chided me pretty good. After his marriage broke up (because their understanding of Matt. 19 was incorrect), he lived with us. He counseled me to have more intimacy with my wife, because I was studying (he studied so much he neglected his own wife). I went to a teacher later to point out it was my wife's time of the month. If you examine these things, this was a man who was conditioned to teach his conscience to others. We were always taught not to teach our consciences, but the example was often opposite. This brother was highly respected in the brotherhood, but not so easy to live with. His kids came out pretty solid, but are they adjusting the bicycle seat for their kids?
Well that just about takes the cake Anonymous at 7:20. For the love of all that is good,that is ridiculous. Tipping the seat toward the front. I'll freely admit I was threatened with losing my mind at 4 before I had a prayer of understanding what uncleanness was. Then you were subjected to teaching in every single nonmember class about the perils of uncleanness. I had it timed, and could tell exactly when the teaching was going to come. I happened to doze off one class when they were teaching on uncleanness and another preacher nudged me awake. Wanted to be certain I was completely edified:) I am grateful though. Should the Good Lord ever bless me with children, they are going to have a marvellous time being children, being innocent, being watched, and kept busy, but understanding their parents love them unconditionally. When they are disciplined, they will know it definitely was to make them better, and not just because Dad's frustrated. They will be complimented, they will be made to know they are fearfully and wonderfully made, and since love is stronger than fear, they will thrive.
Also, Kevin is spot on on men being emasculated. Because their natural drive and ambition is castrated, they become just like men who are castrated, listless, dejected, frustrated, and shells of what God designed men to be. We were born to be fighters of some glorious cause, to seek to please God, to have ambition to be the absolute best man we can! When we do not achieve we wither and die. Our sense of self depends on accomplishment. When women doubt the very fact if we have a mind, well that is a supreme degradation and humiliation. The tragic thing is that 99% of men have dealt with uncleanness as one time or another in their lives. But men not in the church get help from wives and communities. They are able to marry and have normal lives. Boys raised in the church on the other hand are conditioned to doubt everything good about themselves because they dealt with something every other man has!! Shocking and terribly saddening:( When they look for help and support to the church, the church looks haughtily heavenward and decrees that this is your "punishment". Seems that was the exact kind of Love Christ wanted his church to show!
Ryan, what you did was courageous and true! I think unless they all have a complete change of heart and see their arrogance and pride this sect will disintegrate entirely. They have mocked God by their withdrawal from you in my opinion and God doesn't take it lightly.
Ryan, that is totally perceptive! Pride blinds people from seeing themselves as they truly are and their own short comings. I’ll tell you, if they truly saw themselves and their own short-comings they would be merciful and humble with others and love them considering themselves. But they run from the truth about themselves by projecting on you their own fears or things they actually have thought of in their own heart! So instead they stand behind pulpits and sit in teachers' seats rebuking others which makes them feel very much in power. What a great way to run away from looking at your own self! Part of what is a horrible misuse of power is "… do everything in decency and order." This verse prohibits being able to stand up and call them out right on the spot when they’re pulling off an unjust public rebuke (and I’m totally okay with rebuke for sins such as adultery or serious sins in the bible that are not repented of). But how “indecent” is it to yell and scream at people with false accusations through evil surmising? Their doing it in a forum in which you can’t respond does not leave room for a person to stand up and confront them in the moment when it should happen. It's all about ego Ryan and I mean extreme ego. That’s why I find it all so totally hypocritical.
A recent thing I witnessed (and not in the sect) was a preacher talking about how he doesn't like testimonies given by people in the religious world. Then he continued on giving a testimony about his own life, which just contradicted his stance about giving testimonies (guess it's ok for him but not others)! Totally hypocritical! I know he can't "see" it though. From past experience I have learned there's gotta be pride there and I've seen a lot of it. Believe me I have my own shortcomings too but it seems to me the people that point the finger the hardest are usually the biggest hypocrites.
Yes, I have personally witnesses many of the "fruits" you have listed like:
-Reputations smeared by false and/or unscriptural allegations and speculations of a sexual nature. This, by the way, continues to this day.
-Wives becoming the de facto heads of household.
-Members, ex-members, and children of members and ex-members disenchanted with God because of the darkened view of God's nature that is promulgated by the church.
-"Biting and devouring" of dissenting members and ex-members in various "witch-hunts" in order to silence dissenters.
-A culture of gossip, evil surmising, and slander against dissenting members and ex-members.
-Very little real Bible knowledge, with a culture of pulling scriptures completely out of context to justify unbiblical doctrines.
-Family relationships sacrificed on the altar of church doctrine.
Your last point about family relationship sacrificed on the altar of church doctrine is excellent, and just illustrates how the Church has become an idol of religious devotion, not a gathering of the saints for the purpose of encouraging one another in our mutual faith. Family relationships get thrown under the bus anytime a teaching of the church is challenged. It's probably happened to most of us who have dissented privately or publicly.
Here's the rub…their church doctrines are very clearly of human origin, to wit, their constantly changing "understandings." So in essence, they're sacrificing family relationships on an altar of their own making. It is idolatry in the purest sense of the word.
Twisting Scriptures: One of the most abusive use of scripture in this sect is Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
This sect changes it into:
1. Trust in your teachers/preachers with all your heart because you're largely incapable of using your own mind, conscience or God-given heart correctly (because you’re carnal). Doesn’t matter what is done, however abusive you think it is, they are always correct and you’ll be wrong; They have the worst case of “I am right-itis” I’ve ever seen.
2. Don’t lean to your understanding by using your God given conscience or mind because you just aren't "spiritual" yet; (Their use of the term “spiritual” also is totally inconsistent with the biblical scriptures; being devoted to man-made doctrines is not being spiritual, though they commend themselves by calling themselves spiritual all of the time);
3. In all your ways acknowledge them by trying to maintain all of their added rules and schedules they've set in your path, because if you miss a step, God will get you and they’ll make sure you never hear the end of it.
Ryan, Glad you related enough to find it funny. 🙂 What you did really is standing up for the truth of the gospel! May God give you a thousand blessings to make up for the evil done to you. Stay strong, you have a father in heaven that loves you. You are totally inspiring! Read Deuteronomy 30:3-13
Galatians 5:22-23 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (KJV)
When it became harder for me to make it to all of my classes, instead of being treated like these passages describe, I was met with much opposition and castigation. There were a lot of classes and sermons that were about me in not "pushing the flesh" enough. Instead of the brethren entreating another member with empathy and reaching out to help fill the gap it was taught that I was being selfish for looking to them to help me in sharing scriptures and letting me know what I missed. What I am guilty of is looking to my brethren for the support, understanding, empathy, and help in what I was missing. Even though my physical health was growing worse my heart and soul was still hungry for the gospel. I pleaded many times if they could come to my home and share the scriptures with me. I was told that they couldn't do that and when they did come by almost the entire crux of the visit would be to convince me to push my flesh harder to come to class. When I wasn't living up to their expectations it was being taught and spread around that I was kicking against and/or ignoring the teachings.
Matt. 25 specifically states that on judgement day that Jesus is going to separate the sheep and the goats and goes into detail as to why. Everything that is speaks we are to do was taught against here. If you looked for this from your brethren then you were classified as being selfish. I would rather be a sheep than a goat.
I was threatened with withdrawl if I didn't quit bringing it up and the brother who made the threat denies they even did it. I was told that way before I came in in 1999 that that congregation was known for their lack of love. Yes, they are in good spirit when visitors come, but the real test is when nobody is looking how do I treat my brethren or how much do I put myself out. I am no hypocrite and have on many occasions bought groceries and clothing for families and older one. I have given rides and pick ups without asking for gas money. Every chance I got, where I saw a member in need, I was there to help. I would even call brethren who were sick or some other ailment kept them from coming.
God is watching.
"Offenses will come, but woe unto him by who they come".
There was a guy named Dominic Sereno, or some such, who was a textbook case-study in masked hostility and passive aggression. I never figured out what he was so angry about, and why he always seemed to be simmering with some form of hatred just under the surface, and yet he was exactly the type of person who was esteemed and held up as a prime example of a Godly man, when he was anything but. He always seemed to be seething with contempt for someone or something, and yet his very poisonous attitude was considered to be exemplary. Everything in that sect was upside down and exactly the opposite of what it was supposed to be, and he was a living and breathing personification of it.
Please tell me when and where and what congregation you were exposed to Dominick Sorino. DS is the text book Dr, Jeckel and Mr. Hyde. Dr, Jeckel is the nice guy and Mr. Hyde is the mean spirited one but the truth is Mr. Hyde is always there and Dr. Jeckel is just an act. DS is able to deceive the evangelist in Spring Valley by worshiping him and offering him personal checks as a kind of bribe.
It was many years ago that I met him a few times in the Stanton congregation, and from the first time I encountered him, my instinct told me that something about him was very "off." He seemed to be fueled by sadistic rage, and would make random comments about people that were just irrational and/or insane. I suspected he was some kind of "loose cannon," and avoided him as best I could whenever he was in town. he once told a group of us that any man with a "large forehead" was most likely a homosexual!
DS is an interesting man to study. I watched him worship Dianne White Collier, (DWC) praising her for her suffering and wisdom, and when DWC and her husband Thomas John Collier (TJC) was exposed for murmuring against GP and kicked out of the church he didn't miss a beat and just went on worshiping the next authority figure and never mentioned DWC again. It is very seducing to be worshiped by someone else, it blinds your eyes to the persons real behavior. Peter said stand up I am a man just like you and refused to be worshiped. DS likes to scream and rail. I have seen him in many a bible class scream at someone for the whole two hours of class; and DS holds the church record for longest rebuke at four and a half hours of non stop screaming when he was sent to San Antonio TX when GP found out that 22 of the 25 members there were falsely withdrawn from for uncleanness. I don't know how you can scream for that long unless you really like screaming at other adults. If you take what DS teaches and apply it to him you will easily see his hypocrisy, he does not practice what he preaches. You are not studying he would say and he himself lacked basic knowledge about the bible or the moral lessons contained there in. He goes around to different meetings listens in to others understanding and then return to his home congregation and presents what he hears as his own understanding, really deceiving unless you know what he is doing. When he was here in Prescott he ran his wife into the ground and she started saying "I need more space here" and DS said "no, this worked out perfect for me" and showed her no mercy, his cruelty knows no bounds. Everyone here had great doubts about God, the church, and our fellow Christians because of his abusive behavior. If this is the one true church how can it be so abusive? It can't be the real church is the thought many have.
Like most cult leaders DS is a master at using fear and or guilt to get people to submit to him. Any man with a large forehead is most likely a homosexual is one of the guilt trips because no man want to be thought of as a homosexual in the church, and I could see every man asking himself "Do I have a large forehead?" (DS himself has a large forehead) You can imagine the relief that you have a small or medium forehead and therefore must be though of by others as a heterosexual. This kind of made up teaching is almost funny until you see how many men would run to the bathroom to look into the mirror and check the size of their forehead after hearing such nonsense. Guilt trips are a great way of getting others to jump through hoops with complete ability to deny that is what you are doing. Every masterbater becomes a homosexual is another guilt trip because everyone that reaches adulthood will masterbate themselves yet less than three percent of the world is homosexual. Every person will have a fear of masterbation for fear of becoming a homosexual, a great guilt trip. The ways of an oppressor are domination, control, and exploitation. DS does all three very well and makes life for the oppressed just miserable. A brotherhood or sisterhood is great for support and terrible for hatred. DS can turn the whole church for you or against you with just a few words, he has incredible control over his followers.
I see you know DS well. Many people were driven out of the churches he has ruled over thinking they were going to hell but the truth is nobody goes to heaven in the cult of Dominick, he dams everyone under him.
Any man with a large fore head is probably a homosexual may seem to be just a bizarre comment at first, but it is not. What DS is doing is planting seeds in peoples minds,(seeds of discord in this case.) To understand this method of influence it can be explained with a story about weeds. Every year I have weeds spring up in my front yard and I have to go and pull them out. I finally asked where these weeds were coming from and was told that the seeds are already in the dirt and sprout when the conditions are right. The same can be said about planting seeds in peoples minds. Because people trust their teachers, they accept and believe everything the teacher says as true, and the teacher can plant seeds in the minds of the followers. One day you will meet the man DS is talking about, (who is a church member) and the seed of discord will sprout and you will believe that this large forehead man is an homosexual and not know why this thought is in your head. This is very subtle and you can have seeds in your mind for years and not realize it. Now seeds can be good and seeds can be evil, you must look at the end results to figure it out. Now to neutralize this seed of discord let me say that I have a large forehead but am not a homosexual. DS and I have been enemies since my second week in Christianity, he say I have no humility, and I think he is a cult leader within the COC. Is he talking about me? I don't know but lets not take any chances lets kill this weed before it has a chance to grow.
Steve Hassan in his book combating cult mind control mentions the story of a woman who was in the "Moonies" unification church for a short time, about three month, then left. Twelve years later she wanted to have children but was afraid of getting pregnant and did not know why. Steve Hassan explained to her that one of the stories the unification church tells is that every woman who falls away will only have still born children. The unification church had implanted this phobia in her mind and it had sprouted up twelve years after leaving the "Moonies" This is the power of suggestion, and it is very powerful indeed. What seeds are planted in the minds of COC members? If you don't do what I say something bad will happen to you, If you don't humble yourself down, and submit to your teachers God will kill your children, and many many more. The COC speaks and teaches only in the pejorative language. The pejorative is only in the negative, and this is very deceiving because God has a good side, but it is seldom spoken of in the COC. One day I stopped and asked myself "does God do anything good?" That is the day I realized that I had been greatly deceived about the true nature of God and left the negative COC. There is a great God full of love and mercy but you have to leave the Merie Weiss cult to find him.