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I realized that I had seen this all before, and decided not to let my children too far out of my sight. Very soon after I left the Message. | I realized that I had seen this all before, and decided not to let my children too far out of my sight. Very soon after I left the Message. | ||
=Love in the message= | |||
The following are examples of love being displayed in the message. | |||
==Notice to Visitors== | |||
There was a man in a message church in Wisconsin who proudly handed out a framed witnessing tool in the form of a declaration of their faith. It was meant for fellow message believers to hang on the wall in their homes. The gist of it was this: | |||
:''THIS IS A MESSAGE HOME WHERE THE TOKEN IS BEING APPLIED! NO WOMEN WITH BOBBED HAIR, MEN'S APPARREL, MAKE-UP OR IMMODEST CLOTHING ALLOWED. ALSO, NO TV'S OR WORLDLY ENTERTAINMENTS IN THIS HOME IN HONOR OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST AND HIS ENDTIME PROPHET! | |||
==Care for those that are ill== | |||
There was a young boy in our congregation who had bad allergies. Throughout the service, he was blowing his nose. Halfway through very long sermon, the pastor looked down and said, "'''Would someone get him out of the sanctuary?!'''" He said it in an accusatory tone, not a gentle one. No offer to pray for the poor kid. Just an angry demand. The family of the child left less than a year later. The man had been a deacon in the church. | |||
:::''Anonymous ex-message follower'' | |||
==No regard for grieving parents== | |||
When our baby died, our first service back at church was completely directed at us. The pastor rebuked and accused us of ridiculous and petty things as being the cause of God taking our baby's life. Then, that evening, he sent the deacons over to rebuke my husband for chuckling during the song service (he played guitar), because he was having trouble getting the timing right with the other musicians. Our baby hadn't been in the ground for more than 3 days! | |||
:::''Anonymous ex-message follower'' | |||
==Blame for childrens' death== | |||
A pastor blamed my dad for the death of my two brothers because he did not believe the doctrine of the church. A deacon told us there was a curse on our family. When my husband and I starting to have a family, the same deacon told me to make sure we had a lot of children just in case some were taken away. | |||
Years later the pastor was electrocuted and died. | |||
:::''Anonymous ex-message follower'' | |||
==Ridiculed for grieving== | |||
When our son died, we were rebuked for grieving. We were told that we should be rejoicing, because our baby was in heaven. | |||
I tried for years to reach my pastor after being abandoned by my husband. He was "unavailable" each time I called either his office or his home. I was passed to other pastors, who told me I needed to talk with him... Endless loop. | |||
Finally I gave up. When I left the church/message, no one even noticed that I wasn't going any more. I suppose that was the most hurtful thing - that I was so irrelevant after 12 years attendance, solo singing and piano playing, no one even noticed when I wasn't there and neither were my two children. | |||
My former husband, now on his 5th wife, is still welcome in many message churches, because every time he wants to dump one wife and marry someone else, he "backslides". Then after a period of time, he returns and "repents" with new wife at his side. | |||
:::''Anonymous ex-message follower'' | |||
==You have to take sides== | |||
When our church split up, I was the treasurer and a trustee. Eventually one of the ministers put the question to me as to which of the two pastors I was going to support. I naively replied that maybe I would attend both churches. | |||
It was then that the minister I was talking to appeared to prophesy to me. He said, "''You will be shot in the legs for being a Yankee... shot in the back for being a rebel''". | |||
And so I left the message. What they did not know was that this was the perfect timing for my Messiah to begin revealing himself to me. | |||
Having died to the message, I began to wake up and see the glory, power and honour of the Lamb of God. It is an exciting chapter in the epistle of my life, I call it, The Great Escape. | |||
:::''Anonymous ex-message follower'' | |||
==You need to move== | |||
We had always been persecuted because we did not move close to a message church and "be at our post of duty". The worst came directly from a big name preacher. We had attended his church, as often as we could for several months. He had never spoken to us, until one day before service we were standing in the vestibule, and he came up to us and asked us when we were going to move. My husband said " We have jobs, property and a home up there" upon which he said , "I don't care, you move!" Every time my husband tried to speak he simply said "YOU MOVE" over and over, louder and louder...each time felt like a stab to my heart. | |||
He finally just walked away, and when we went in to the service I was so shaken I did not hear one word of the sermon. We had been planning to attend a couples banquet, and were called the next day and told there was "no room " for us. Needless to say, we never did go back to that church again. The shock and pure hate I felt is still with me, years later, as I write this. | |||
:::''Anonymous ex-message follower'' | |||
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