Another Disturbing Calvary Temple Story by Ellen Kusar

Your body is a temple, not a daily dumping ground for another person’s pain, anger, betrayal, judgment, hypocrisy, denial, games, jealousy or blame. When you are being psychologically, spiritually or emotionally abused by a person, and they don’t care how it hurts you, then it is time to leave what is polluting your relationship with God.”  ― Shannon L. Alder link

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I want to thank Ellen for her willingness to transparently share the story of her family and Calvary Temple. The abuse this family endured is unbelievable. May this story open up the eyes of those still attending Calvary Temple. For those who are considering attending this church: Caveat Emptor!


I used to say I came to Calvary Temple kicking and screaming.  I first attended a service in 1982 – my husband had started attending some time before at the invitation of a Calvary Temple church member.  I immediately disliked everything about it. The pastor seemed arrogant and very prideful and I felt intensely uncomfortable. I hoped there was some way to convince my husband to find another church. In addition, I was working for a man who had left CT the year before and he had warned me against CT several times.  He said he knew of abuse done by the pastor to family members.  There were rumors that he had abused his nieces and his half sister.   So I was extremely reluctant to attend.  But in the end, I attended because my husband loved the pastor and had become close to one of the families attending.

Exhausting church expectations

After a very difficult adjustment period, I settled into Calvary Temple and accepted the good and the bad.  My husband was appointed a deacon, I was involved in numerous ministries, and we seemed to thrive.  But it took a toll on our lives, my husband and I had little time with our children and we all devoted endless hours to the ministry. There were services 3 times per week, prayer meetings 2 nights per week, Friday night "family" night, monthly fellowship meetings, outreaches, cleaning of the church and a variety of other activities.  Because I did not work outside the home, I was called on frequently to do everything from working in the classrooms, organizing and catering church-wide events, photographing weddings and basketball games, cleaning the pastor's home, and numerous other obligations.  Often I felt honored that I was called upon, but often I just felt exhausted.  

No financial accountability 

There were many red flags that we ignored.  For example, there is absolutely no financial accountability at Calvary Temple.  Star Scott teaches that the entire tithe belongs to the pastor and it is sin for it be used for anything other than the sustenance of the "priesthood".  This convenient interpretation of an Old Testament principle has enabled Scott to amass hundreds of thousands of dollars of luxury vehicles, race cars, motorcycles, other possessions as well as first class vacations multiple times each year. It is said that he owns real estate in several other places – places he says he will flee to in the invent of persecution.  Scott controls all the finances while telling the congregation that he owns nothing.  We gave tens of thousands of dollars to this man and never knew where it went.  He had convinced us that we were "giving to God" and had no biblical right to question where the money went.  I can't believe we were so gullible, and yet we thought we were being obedient to the word of God.

Poor treatment of those who left the church 

Another red flag came in the form of our own observations of the treatment given to people who had left CT. The offending individual (or family) was ALWAYS portrayed as rebellious, confused, lost and even mentally unbalanced. It seemed unlikely to me that every single one was now in complete rebellion to God only because they had left CT.  Many of these people had been very well thought of just days or weeks prior to their leaving and now were being called reprobate, residue (as Scott said "we have filled a lot of the local churches with our residue"), backsliders, unsaved, lost, confused, etc. Their families were being divided and  destroyed. He spoke of one very godly woman in this way:  "that's the kind of woman I would like to punch in the face".  I heard one of the associate pastors say "EVERY one who has left Calvary Temple is not serving God."  Scott referred to some that dared to question him as "too big for their britches".  He called two women the "daughters of Satan".  Scott had no trouble maligning anyone who had dared to disobey him and he did it frequently.  

Families were broken up

Of major concern and huge red flag was the breaking up of families.  I watched parents lose their children (they were put out of the house if they were "not serving God"), children lose their parents (children were told to have nothing to do with a parent who might want to leave CT or was considered unsaved), husbands and wives divorce (because one wanted to leave CT), and friends be cut off from lifelong relationships. Some children left their homes and went to live with other people in the congregation at the insistence of the pastors.  Some of my closest friends have not seen their children and grandchildren for many years. This is the motivating force for my stand against Calvary Temple – the destruction of families.

The remarriage of the pastor to a young woman raises questions

One of the most disturbing events occurred when Scott married a member of the church, 20 year old Greer Parker, less than 3 weeks after his wife's death. He stated from the pulpit that God had spoken to him in prayer one night shortly AFTER Janet Scott's  death that he was to marry Greer. "Out of the clear, like a lightning bolt Thursday, a few days ago, God spoke to me and He pointed out in our midst one of the virgins among us that's to become my wife." And yet a friend in leadership told me that Scott had spoken of marrying Greer the week BEFORE Janet Scott's death.

The pastor refers to himself as the High Priest 

In the teaching entitled "Ruth" in which Scott referred to himself as the High Priest.  

"A very interesting thing that was upon the high priest, however, he couldn't mourn anyone. He wasn't allowed, as you read this, to mourn mother, father, children, and as you read into this, even, the implication being, the wife." and "He talks about the high priest and He says if you've lost a wife, you take a wife. It has to be one that's a virgin, it has to be one that's out of your midst. As you study the context of this, let me read to you starting at verse 10. It says,  And he that is the high priest among his brethren, [Now catch this, this is the key to the whole thing.] upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, [upon] and [he] that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes.  Uncover his head, you see, this is the high priest. This is the miter of the high priest. This is the garment of the high priest. This is what it's saying: The ministry goes on. You can't mourn to the place where you can't function in ministry because of the anointing. There's a grace that goes with that. It's not saying that you don't have emotional moments. It's saying that–the key–your life is different than everybody else's. I think that's obvious."


Besides the fact that his explanation of these verses was somewhat rambling and incoherent, it was a ridiculous application for a pastor in the New Testament church.  There were many explanations as to why he referred to himself this way ("he chose to identify with the priesthood, he didn't mean it that way, etc").  But ultimately, he placed himself as High Priest that needed to marry a virgin right away. 

He described his marriage proposal (via his daughter) to Greer. I listened to the following emotionally loaded statements such as:

  • ALL THE PASTORS, there's been discussion;
  • ALL THE BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES have been gone over, everyone's at peace…" and
  • I just encourage you that between myself and the pastors, we have thoroughly covered the scriptures to make sure that every things that's done is according to the Word of God". 

I knew he was manipulating this young girl, I knew this was wrong, and yet I helped with the wedding preparations.  All the while, I was sick inside.  Most of us didn't say a word to each other.  There is such a high level of fear in Calvary Temple – we were all afraid to question anything for fear of being found questioning leadership.  I don't even think I knew that was my reason – I just knew I would not speak up. 

Marriages were controlled by the leadership

Marriages in Calvary Temple are strictly controlled.  A member can only marry another CT member, the marriages are sometimes directly arranged and always subject to the approval of leadership, and engagements are restricted to 2-3 weeks (to keep the couple from succumbing to their "fleshly desires".). Consequently, though the couple has probably known each other most of their lives, they are not allowed to date or even get to know each other in a romantic way prior to marriage. Everything is done in a group setting to be sure there is no "giving in to the flesh".  I believe many marriages would not take place if the young people were allowed to spend time together and find out they may not be compatible. 

Marriages in CT are for the purpose of  "serving in the ministry".  For a time, marriages had to take place in the gymnasium and be performed by the fathers or a stand-in deacon.  Their explanation?   Marriage is a civil ceremony and should not take place in the sacred sanctuary and the pastors should not take part in the ceremony.  This continued until Scott married Greer Parker. His wedding took place in the sanctuary and a pastor performed the ceremony.  Some friends questioned the attendance and  honoring of his unsaved brother when we could not have our family members attend a wedding and Scott responded that they were being "picky". This type of hypocrisy was seen again and again and if challenged – we were told we were being rebellious or out of order.

Wedding attendees were restricted to Calvary Temple members only. (Except for Scott's own wedding and the chosen few.)  My mother was not permitted to attend my son's wedding because she was not a Christian (according to CT standards).  We had little choice but to break the news to my mother and break her heart.  This supposed "non-Christian" forgave me and my family and still blessed my son with a very generous wedding gift.  At this point, I was ready to walk out but we were forced to comply.  Our son was marrying a pastor's daughter and though we offered to have the wedding at an alternate location so our family members could attend – we were told that if we did so, none of the pastors would attend.  Since that included the bride's father, we had no choice but to comply. We also knew if none of the pastors attended, most of our friends would not attend either. Of course, now in retrospect, we should have run for the door.  

It was always clear to us that questioning the pastor was venturing onto thin ice. Once it became known that you were questioning things, you became a target of leadership.  Most likely you would hear your legitimate question being ridiculed in the next teaching.  He might mockingly say something like "We've already had someone questioning why Aunt Millie can't come to my precious baby's wedding….".  You sat in the congregation feeling belittled and embarrassed because everyone in the church knew who he was referring to.  During my son's (3 week) engagement, Scott made the following comment from the pulpit: "these people that want to send their kids on a cruise for their honeymoon – they are paying a lot of money for something that they can't afford". (probably not the exact quote – but very close). 

We were very upset – first of all – my son had saved money and paid for his own honeymoon – and could easily afford it and second – it was none of Scott's business what we chose to do.  But that kind of attempt to control personal lives was commonplace. His favored method is to weave your personal life into one of his teachings – again, everyone in the congregation (of approx 300) knows everyone else and it is almost impossible NOT to know who he is mocking.

Interference with careers

Excelling in the world is discouraged.  Some have had job opportunities or promotions offered to them and have turned them down "for the sake of the ministry". I know of 3 different young people that desired to go to law school and were strongly "encouraged" to turn down the opportunity. They did so.  Another had an offer to work with a NFL team – his dream job – and turned it down for the sake of the ministry.  One young man dropped out of college because he was "thinking too highly of himself" and making school a priority.  Promotions were routinely turned down.  Their reward?  Scott saying form the pulpit something along these lines:  "we are blessed to have those that will turn their back on the world's treasures for the sake of pursuing God."  Anything done outside of Calvary Temple was taking us away from our pursuit of God and causing us to be a lukewarm Christian.  The bottom line was if it took you away from activities at CT, you knew you had to walk away from it.

 Spiritual elitism

Elitism is one the most valuable and powerful tools in the pocket of Star Scott. He CONSTANTLY puts down other churches, especially those in our immediate area.  He has pet names for some of the other ministries in the area ("Sandstone" instead of Cornerstone, for example).  He sneers at churches that don't have the number of services and meetings that CT has – as if that is the barometer of Christianity.  We were told  that CT is the only good church in the area and going to another church is akin to backsliding.  It is constantly planted in your mind that any other church will cause you to lose your salvation.  We were convinced that unless the church family was more important than your own natural family and unless another church met nearly every night of the week in some form or another, they were subpar and even dangerous.  

Pastor worship

One red flag that we were unable to ignore was the absolute worship the congregation had for Star Scott.  It was highly encouraged by the other pastors as well as Star Scott himself. There were entire services devoted to "honoring" Scott.  During one such event, the children's ministry sang a well known worship song to Scott, substituting the name of Jesus with Scott's name. Some teachings by other pastors were filled with accolades for Scott to the point that even die hard CT members were questioning the constant praising of Scott.  Star Scott never attempted to quell the continual stream of exaltation.  We often went home after such an event and felt sick but never had the nerve to leave. 

Heavy handed authority

In January 08, Scott began a series of teachings on the authority of the church leadership .

He stressed that "God PREDOMINANTLY speaks to men that are placed by Him in roles of leadership" He stated "leadership hears the Word of God from a different perspective and on a different level than you hear it".  He taught the he was the "man of God" and the head of the church. (always carefully stating that Jesus, of course, was the head). As the high priest, we could only be obedient to God if we were obedient to him.  We were to follow after him as he followed Christ.  And of course, he followed Christ in a way none of the rest of us could match up to.  It would be a few months after these teachings that we left Calvary Temple, but first there were two more events that pushed us out the door.

The beginning of the end: Two disturbing incidents

1. As part of his senior year requirements, our son went on a missions trip.  We had been questioning more and more of what we were seeing at CT, but had not quite made the decision to leave, nor had we told our sons what we were thinking.  When our son returned home from the missions trip, he had just gotten off the plane when he was called into a meeting.  The leadership informed him that they were very concerned about his father – that he was "struggling spiritually" and having problems.  They advised him to be very careful – essentially warning him to not listen to or obey his Dad.  We were beyond upset that leadership was actively trying to undermine and even destroy our son's relationship with his dad.

2. Star Scott has said that often people don't leave Calvary Temple until they are personally affected and I think there is truth to that. The incident that was very personal to us was "diploma night", the night Scott stripped our son (and others) of his diploma, awards, and godly reputation. He stated that these young people were not fit to represent Calvary Temple and he included our son in the group.  Later, he admitted our son was considered a godly young man (he was), and though the congregation had been told to consider these young people as wolves, he refused to inform the congregation that he had been mistaken in categorizing our son as "leaven among us."

Leave-taking, shunning, and unbelievable accusations

Thus began a very difficult time for me and my family. We left (thankfully all four of us) knowing we could lose every relationship we held dear. And we did. (save my life-long best friend that left days after us). From the time we left CT until this very day, almost 7 years later, we are shunned by the vast majority of congregants and all the pastors and deacons.  (The ironic thing is many of these friends we have lost would themselves like to leave Calvary Temple but they know the cost could be greater than they are willing to bear.) The night we left CT, every member of our home group (of which my husband was deacon) was called into a meeting at 10PM.  They were advised to not speak to us. The were "given opportunity" to freely speak against my husband.  
  
Not only is it devastating to lose friends and even family, it can be difficult to adjust to life outside of Calvary Temple. We struggled to make new friends (every single one of our friends were CT members) and were unable to find a new church home.  After years of being told there were no other churches like Calvary Temple and that all were compromising the word of God, we drifted from church to church.

Our younger son was being bombarded with text messages from his friends, telling him to leave our family.  One young man told him that he was in rebellion to God because it would be Pastor Scott that would stand before God and answer for him and not his Dad. The stress on our family was unbelievable. Our lives were filled with turmoil, questioning, and heartache. My husband, who had been a deacon for 18 years, took it particularly hard. He found it impossible to believe that none of those he had ministered to would even call to see why we had left.  (Of course, we had tried to talk to a few friends before we left, but they "reported" us.)  We knew if we said much of anything, it would only make it worse.  My husband was categorized as trying to form his own church loyal to him alone.  Scott told the congregation that my husband had called all of them idolaters "and I don't know about you but that makes me MAD that someone calls you an idolater".  A panel discussion was devoted to dealing with us defecting from the faith. 

A few months after we left, our family fell apart.  Though my husband did not return to CT, he filed for divorce. He has stated he needed to start life over again.  I know he feels he wasted 30 years in Calvary.  He admits I was "a good wife and a great mother" but he can no longer live this life.  I have been attending a small church for the past few years but I have little desire to become involved.  I prefer to stay unattached to members in the event I decide to go to another church.  I never want to experience the shunning and abuse again.  Nearly all my friends are ex-Calvary members, we are a close group of survivors.  We offer support, comfort, understanding, and love to one another.  No one else can relate to what we have gone through.

I have a long way to go, I still feel sick when I hear certain scriptures that were used to manipulate us. (forsake not the assembling together…, obey those that have the rule over you…, touch not God's anointed…) I have had to work at de-programming years of twisted scripture and I admit my faith has been badly shaken. I am very wary of organized religion and will most likely refrain from ever becoming deeply involved in a local fellowship.  But I am thankful every day of my life that I am out of Calvary Temple and away from the culture of fear, control, hatred, and legalism.
 
One huge comfort in my life are my two sons.  Both of them are amazing and have been a source of strength and comfort to me.  I sometimes feel I am spiritually drowning, but I continue to pursue God.  He has gently guided me these past years through many trials, some as a direct result of Calvary Temple and others related to life itself. I can only pray that  He that has begun a good work in me will complete it.  

Comments

Another Disturbing Calvary Temple Story by Ellen Kusar — 118 Comments

  1. Dear Ellen,

    Although you and I know each other’s stories well, my heart is broken all over again upon ready yours in total…I am thankful for you, Patty, Gary and Marsha…and all other ex-CTers…our hearts have been broken, yet still we stand for Jesus and His Word…against Calvary Temple and Bob Scott. I also must say that although fear is a very important tool in Bob Scott’s tool chest (among many others: chaos, confusion, lies, manipulation, twisting Scripture)…while many others who left prior to 2007 feared BS (and thankfully, those chains are being broken too!)…those of us who have left in recent years do not fear him…Bob Scott is being exposed for the wolf, con-man, and grifter that he is…We are “standers” against this evilness…I count it a privilege to stand with you.

    Love you!
    Michelle

  2. Thank you Ellen for sharing. The opportunity for others to know the abuse you have survived will hopefully help any who are currently suffering, or have suffered in a similar way. As well I believe this will help others see red flags that may arise in their situations and thereby avoid the heartbreak they could otherwise be headed for. Blessings and prayers for you.

  3. Ellen, this is heartbreaking and tragic and somewhat personally familiar. I am thankful you have an opportunity to tell your story and to warn others. I am thankful you have a group of survivors who truly understand what you have been through and how it happened. People who have not been through this do not believe it, but it happens when men set themselves above others in the place of the Lord and when well-intentioned people who desire to serve God become ensnared. I am happy for you that you are free and hope that you enjoy every day of your freedom in Christ!

  4. Ellen!! It was a pleasure to protest with you this morning!! I’m proud of you! You are very courageous! Each person who comes forward inspires others to come forward. And its another dink in the armor of Star Scott. His days are numbered as a pastor and you are helping to do that by writing this heart breaking story.

  5. Ellen, I’m so very sorry for the turmoil and sorrow CT has caused you. I’m happy that your sons continue to be a source of comfort and strength.

    My hope for you is that you continue to lean on Jesus as He has promised to be there in your difficult times.

    “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

  6. If any of the readers here live in the Washington, D.C. metro area it would be cool if we could come out and support the weekly protests against CT on Sunday mornings. I’m going to come to once a month. The bigger the crowds the better. For me I can’t go about my life and know stories like this and read of the pain that Ellen, Molly and all the Michelle’s (squared 😛 ) have carried. Its like the parable of the Good Samaritan where the priest left the person alongside the road to get to the temple. That’s how I feel about this issue.

    But these ex-CTers are like the people I have known who were from SGM. They are kind, loving, and amazing in their heart. They need love and support and it would be great if we could do that for these people.

  7. Ellen, Michelle, Patty, Molly, Amy and others…I feel honored to be your friend even though I have not met most of you I feel that I am. I only hope to be as godly and brave if trials come my way. I know I will never understand your terrible pain and the wounds you have. But I am here to help if you need someone to apply a little ointment! Love you all!
    Sydney

  8. Eagle wrote:

    But these ex-CTers are like the people I have known who were from SGM. They are kind, loving, and amazing in their heart.

    People who haven’t gone through this type of thing are generally kind and loving but it seems those who are survivors are especially so. The experience is not something I’d wish on anyone but the result can eventually be a deep sense of what really matters. There is also a strong sense of kinship with those who have similar experience.

    A blog post feels insufficient to express sadness over the torn marriage and torn relationships. I am encouraged there are survivor groups in the area that can reach out to those who were tossed out and abandoned by Calvary Temple. I’m also encouraged there are others not from CT that have joined in.

  9. Re

    the marriages are sometimes directly arranged and always subject to the approval of leadership, and engagements are restricted to 2-3 weeks (to keep the couple from succumbing to their “fleshly desires”.).

    This is bunk. I was in a long term relationship for several years to a guy, engaged to him for the last few, and there was no hanky panky because I told him up front I was waiting for marriage.

    So, no hanky panky took place (and we spent lots of time alone at his apartment, too). It’s a fable that people cannot control themselves in this area.

    But this thinking that people must marry young, or soon after meeting, in order to avoid premarital sex, is thinking that has also crept into ordinary evangelicalism, not just weird Christian cults. I see it all the time in pages about marriage, dating, etc, by evangelicals or Southern Baptists.

  10. Re

    Interference with careers

    Excelling in the world is discouraged. Some have had job opportunities or promotions offered to them and have turned them down “for the sake of the ministry”. I know of 3 different young people that desired to go to law school and were strongly “encouraged” to turn down the opportunity

    This sounds similar to this, From The Gospel Coalition site:

    “2 Factors To Consider Before You Move”
    http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/2-factors-to-consider-before-you-move

  11. It’s pretty obvious who the wolf is / who the wolves are in this story. “Star” Scott will have a lot to answer for one day.

  12. Pingback: Inside Calvary Temple | Civil Commotion

  13. Star Scott teaches that the entire tithe belongs to the pastor and it is sin for it be used for anything other than the sustenance of the “priesthood”.

    I’m beginning to think that ANY emphasis on tithing beyond “if you feel led” is a red flag of a potential sanctified guilt trip/money grab. Which is why I’m pretty much automatically suspicious of any theology that teaches tithing as mandatory under the New Covenant. The pastor of the PCA church I attended for 3y started doing this a bit at the end. He was NOT pleased when he found out I and my family didn’t believe tithing was mandatory.

    There were entire services devoted to “honoring” Scott. During one such event, the children’s ministry sang a well known worship song to Scott, substituting the name of Jesus with Scott’s name.

    Well that’s just creepy-deepy blasphemy right there.

    Most likely you would hear your legitimate question being ridiculed in the next teaching. He might mockingly say something like “We’ve already had someone questioning why Aunt Millie can’t come to my precious baby’s wedding….”.

    My PCA pastor did this too, though not from the pulpit. Some background is needed here.

    He brought in a closet Christian Reconstructionist, who was involved at the PCA church in West Hartford, to preach/teach from the pulpit one Sunday. I was absent that Sunday for some reason, but my parents were there. When she got home, my mom told me the guy’s name and some of the strange things he had said. I looked him up on the internet and found a truckload of information in about 5 minutes, includ. some bizarro statements he had made about tithing – again, see why I’m suspicious of tithing? – which strongly implied that tithing 10% is a basic sign of regeneration. Also, my understanding of pulpit sharing is that pulpit sharing implies pastoral endorsement of the speaker, and therefore, agreement with anything he could possibly teach. Ergo, you as a pastor have to be EXTREMELY careful who you allow into your pulpit (you are, after all, a shepherd, right?). So I processed this as pastoral endorsement of Christian Reconstructionism, dominion BS, and this wonky stuff about tithing. And basically lost it, because Reconstructionism is poison and I will NOT attend any church meddling around in it.

    We figured the pastor had to have not known the truth about this guy. So we scheduled a meeting with him to talk about our concerns. I started to wonder if something was wrong in the lead-up to this meeting, because the pastor claimed he had looked the guy up and hadn’t found anything like that. (I had managed to find this tithing stuff in less than 5 minutes on Google.) Now I will grant that some people are bad at finding things on the internet, but I figured I had the citations and the quotes, so I would show it to him at the meeting. So I typed them up on a piece of paper with references and printed them out.

    We met at a pizza restaurant a few blocks from the church, about an hour and a half before my handbell rehearsal at the UCC church across the street. Now the pastor had been told ahead of time that I was the one with the concerns and the information about this guy. Except we passed all of dinner not talking about any of the concerns I had; he only brought them up after I left for rehearsal. And my parents do not have the requisite theological background on these issues, and so were left to try to defend my position without me present.

    They stated we don’t believe tithing is mandatory. He defended the guy’s statements by insisting that it was. After that they got to talking about one of the other issues that was peripheral to this, which is that the pastor and elders had been bugging us to officially join the church and take membership vows after attending for a couple years. (They had a thing about long-term attenders who don’t join. They compared it to cohabitating rather than getting married. My problems with that are a topic for another time.) I was considering joining, but my mom told him that she wasn’t going to join because she was Lutheran, not Presbyterian. She would keep attending, however, because I was going there and she wanted to worship as a family.

    So the meeting ends apparently amicably. When I get back from handbell rehearsal, my parents tell me how it went and what happened. I’m not happy and wonder why he waited until I was gone, but think that we could talk again. Then I go on FB, and on the church FB I find a quote from the Screwtape Letters about “connoisseurs of churches” who go to multiple churches without ever joining any. I was completely livid. First, because it’s pretty hysterical to apply that quote to my family, because we’ve collectively attended only about 4 churches in our entire collected lifetimes, and never for a shorter period than 3y at any given one (usually more like 7-10y). Second, because it was astonishingly rude, covert aggressive, catty and immature of him to do that and frankly, I expected better of an adult, esp. an adult working as a pastor. My relationship with that church was basically severed from that point forward.

    BTW, the covert Reconstructionist teacher was Henry Krabbendam, just to make sure you all know who to avoid.

  14. Elllen, you have done a courageous thing. I am so glad you still have a good relationship with your boys and with fellow survivors of CT. How awful this all was for your family.

  15. Ellen

    Yesterday, Eagle sent me some pictures of the protest. He even sent one with him holding up a sign. he cuts a good figure as a protestor. There was something in those photos that deeply touched me and I dreamt of them last night.

    I know you do not see yourselves this way but you need to know that you are heroes. Even after years of indoctrination, you figured out that you were in an abusive church. Many people live a lifetime and do not get to that point.

    Then, instead of going on with your life, you decided that you would go back and rescue others. You are doing something that is hard. It is difficult to stand out there with signs when you could be out to breakfast with your families. You are sacrificing your time, privacy, and peace to help others. You are laying down your lives for your brothers and sisters. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

    You encourage me. Your passion strengthens me and causes me to want to continue to expose abusive churches and abusive teaching.

    I look forward to meeting some of you this June when I come to your area. Until then, know that your actions and passion invades even my dreams. You are all incredible!

  16. Bill M wrote:

    . I’m also encouraged there are others not from CT that have joined in.

    This is an important point and it is a goal of this blog. It is important that those who stand against abuse in a particular church not stand alone. What hurts them, hurts all of us. Look at the numbers of people fleeing the church in America. Some leave because churches like this are allowed to stand unquestioned.

    Sadly, pastors and churches in the localities of these abusive churches stay silent. There seems to be a pact between pastors “Do not speak ill of a fellow pastor.” By staying silent, they allow the abuse to continue and are accessories to ongoing sin.

  17. These stories from Calvary Temple are among the most disturbing I have read so far. Each story of a family blown apart is heart-breaking, and that each has been (1) engineered intentionally by (2) church leadership for (3) the glory of God, must be a stench in his nostrils.

    Ellen, you are indeed brave and you are surrounded by a family here that you cannot see (except for Eagle 🙂 …I love that guy) and you are loved and remembered in prayer from a distance. I don’t know what the status of your marriage is, but I am remembering it to God in prayer today.

    Daisy, your link to “TGC 2 Factors To Consider Before You Move”
    http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/2-factors-to-consider-before-you-move
    is a must-read. That attending the “local church” is considered the pinnacle of service by TGC is laughable. Don’t be led by the Spirit, let us tell you where to spend your life (and dollars).

  18. @ Daisy:

    TGC is doing whatever they can to make the local church specifically run by their kind to be the central focus of the entire lives of people.

    Why are they writing this? My guess is people come and go and they cannot control them. They are schizophrenic in their posts. Here s an example.

    They fuss and moan about real men caring for their families, even if it means working two jobs. However, when a man gets a new job that allows him to care for his family while working one job, but it involves moving across the state, they have a cow.

    There is nothing wrong with moving to make a better income if it means the family will have fewer worries about finances. And, how does this guy know that God isn’t orchestrating this whole situation.

    We moved to Texas because my husband had an opportunity to work with some interesting people in his research. We didn’t worry about Texas when it came to churches. We left a church which we loved very much.

    9 months after our arrival, our daughter was diagnosed with her brain tumor. We called all of our medical friends who advised us to go with the group Neurosurgeons for Children at Dallas Children’s Hospital. We lived 20 minutes from there! her neurology doctor was already our friend because he lived in our neighborhood and our kids were friends. I could run my daughter over to his house to take a look at her.
    He even would go down to the MRI room as her frequent MRIs were concluding and give us instant *unofficial* yet accurate reads, saving us days of waiting.

    Through the years of visits, we met many who had travelled from all over the world and needed to stay in hotels, etc. The few times we needed emergency visits, we went directly to that hospital and were seen immediately by her primary neurosurgical team. And she survived! That was the right group to care for her!

    So, we thought we were moving for my husband’s research. God was placing us into the hands of the best care we could have imagined. He cared for us and the trial we were going to have.

    Some of these guys are hung u on their own importance. I say leave your local church. Move if you want to live in a prettier part of the country or you want to make a better living or you want to be closer to family or you want to live further away from your extended family. 🙂

    God can use your feeling and opportunities to bring you to a better place for your family even if you don’t realize it when it is happening.

    Short response to that post: Shortsighted!

  19. From Ellen’s story:

    During one such event, the children’s ministry sang a well known worship song to Scott, substituting the name of Jesus with Scott’s name. Some teachings by other pastors were filled with accolades for Scott to the point that even die hard CT members were questioning the constant praising of Scott. Star Scott never attempted to quell the continual stream of exaltation.

    Lemme guess. The minions, uh, sub-pastors were saying something along the lines of: “THE WORDS OF A GOD, AND NOT OF A MAN!!”

    My husband was categorized as trying to form his own church loyal to him alone.

    I believe this is called “projection”.

  20. “Your body is a temple, not a daily dumping ground for another person’s pain, anger, betrayal, judgment, hypocrisy, denial, games, jealousy or blame. When you are being psychologically, spiritually or emotionally abused by a person, and they don’t care how it hurts you, then it is time to leave what is polluting your relationship with God.” ― Shannon L. Alder

    This is so fantastic. I wish I could have read it back when I was dealing with an abusive relationship a long time ago.

    “But in the end, I attended because my husband loved the pastor and had become close to one of the families attending.”

    I wonder if the “wives, submit to your husbands” thing also came into play here. When we had completed the membership class at our first PCA church, I knew from talking to some other wives that some still wondered about doctrines such as infant baptism, but decided to go ahead and take membership vows at the same time as their husbands, as an application of Biblical submission.

    “…cleaning the pastor’s home,”

    Unpaid maid service, I’m guessing? Just Ellen, or other women as well?

    (as Scott said “we have filled a lot of the local churches with our residue”),

    That right there indicates something is seriously wrong with a church, regardless of how reformed or “orthodox” they supposedly are.

    Finally, I sincerely hope that Star Scott is being investigated by the IRS.

  21. dee wrote:

    @ Gram3:
    You know, i don’t think we have heard your story in the form of a post. Would you consider writing one?

    I would consider it except for the fact that there are some people I care about who are in positions which make them vulnerable to retribution, and I do not want to be responsible for that in any way.

    The short story is that we got into a church that was a takeover target and foolishly disregarded warning signs that are discussed here, primarily because we had been through a very difficult extended period in our personal lives with various family and church issues, and the trials occurred on multiple fronts. When someone wants something too much, it is easy to overlook what they don’t want to see. But then it happened that we couldn’t ignore something truly outrageous that we know will hurt a lot of people and that actually has hurt people that are near and dear to us in another church that was the product of a church split caused by another takeover artist. So we brought our concerns privately to leadership and quickly learned that the public face is not the private reality. We got keyed out of the Kingdom for rebelliousness and put under a shunning order.

    Prior to that we were in a church that has a history of being very missions-minded with solid expository teaching. Then there was a leadership meltdown and the church languished for several years before a new pastor was called. Things seemed OK until we found out that this pastor was connected to other well-known persons who have been discussed here and elsewhere. We were totally unaware of that until one of the more notorious Usual Suspects came up in a SS class and was discussed favorably. One of the leaders of the SS class is affiliated with another very popular Usual Suspect. Then the pastor became more involved with another of the Usual Suspects. Time to leave because this is not going anywhere positive, including doctrinally.

    Let’s just say that many of the stories here are familiar and that we have been, at various times, within a couple of degrees of separation from several of the Usual Suspects discussed here and some others that are not discussed so much but which I have commented about. If it is nuttiness occurring within the conservative Protestant churches, we’ve seen it. This is certainly not a Calvinist/Arminian thing for us since we have been in both types of churches and seen problems in both. Both can be man-centered in different ways. The common denominators are a pastor who is a control-freak, either outwardly or covertly, or a pastor who is caught up in a Movement that is no longer of the Spirit, if it ever was.

  22. Dear Ellen,

    I am very familiar with the experiences you and the others have had. Although with a different group of abusers. In my serch for answers,I found a very good website with many good resources. As with anything being taught,always consult the Word. Truthforfree.com speaks to all those who have had a horrible experience with those churches teaching error. Every subject is covered,such as tithing,shunning,authoritarian leadership,mind controll,etc. All the articles have been written by people with firsthand experience,for and to those of us trying to understand how supposedly good Christians can be so cruelly wrong.

    Although I did try to go to church after my encounter,and did like you,keeping to myself,I eventually gave up trying to find the right group. All of us still Love the Lord,read and study the word,minister to others,but,we just do so without the institutional churches. God bless you,your family and friends.

  23. dee wrote:

    God can use your feeling and opportunities to bring you to a better place for your family even if you don’t realize it when it is happening.

    Dee, it’s so refreshing to read this quote from you after this article full of people manipulating others by what they insist that “God told them”.

    Having had a very close friend early in my faith walk who was always saying “God told me xxx, and God told me yyy”, I was able to see the destruction this way of thinking brought on her life. She actually believed that God had told her the exact person she was to marry, even though there was no relationship there, nor hope of a relationship. The “intended spouse” was in a position of leadership, very good looking, and I’m sure the object of many’s affections! Now, some 40 years later, my friend still cannot let it go, still talks about the person, still thinks the person “sinned” by marrying someone else, and quite frankly feels that their own marriage was “God’s second choice”. The difference, I guess, is that she did not try to manipulate anyone else as the “pastor”(!!!???—he can hardly be called a Shepherd, can he??) in the article did.

    The idea of direct revelation from God, particularly when it comes to what you think someone else should do, is diabolical. Our Great Shepherd works exactly as you described in the case of your daughter, through our experiences and opportunities, that He has provided.

    I’m so sorry for the suffering this family and so many others have endured at the hands of these men. “Did God actually say….” (Genesis 3:1) is our warning to not think we can out smart God. What we should be saying, instead, is “Did Pastor so-and-so actually say?” and questioning anything and everything like the Bereans.

  24. dee wrote:

    Sadly, pastors and churches in the localities of these abusive churches stay silent. There seems to be a pact between pastors “Do not speak ill of a fellow pastor.”

    i.e. “One hand washes the other…”

  25. Sad wrote:

    Dee, it’s so refreshing to read this quote from you after this article full of people manipulating others by what they insist that “God told them”.

    “Men of Sin” will cite any Cosmic-level Authority — God, Jesus, Bible, Koran, Marx, Freud, Darwin, Nature, you name it — to get Cosmic-level justification for what they were going to do anyway. “BECAUSE I WANNA!”

  26. Gram3 wrote:

    So we brought our concerns privately to leadership and quickly learned that the public face is not the private reality. We got keyed out of the Kingdom for rebelliousness and put under a shunning order.

    “SP Declare from Flag — DISCONNECT!”

  27.   __

    “But?”

    but but but but…

    SKreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch!

    (any given Sunday…)

    —> The parking lot is still full.

    ( …thankful that every day of their lives that they are in Calvary Temple, imerced in the culture of fear, control, hatred, and legalism… )

    No better way?

    hmmm…

    There is no better way to be happy in Jesus…Than “The Star Scott Way!”

  28. @ Bill M:

    Bill, this is why I wrote the following post a few weeks back.

    https://wonderingeagle.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/fellowship-of-the-wounded/

    There is a unique bond that is shared by those who have gone through hell. Yesterday morning I was speaking with one of the Michelles. I told them briefly about my situation and the false accusation I endured. I had a person from the former Sovereign Grace’s Redeemer Arlington who made a false accusation against me. In all likelihood he did when he realized that I would not go to Redeemer Arlington. And like that he took aim at my name, my reputation, and did something that also could have threatened my employment. If you knew more about this individual you would also understood how he abused is authority to pull off the false accusation. It sent me into the darkest season of my life, and I am still trying to deal with it. Its part of the reason why I blog, and write about it.

    So when I was speaking with some of the people from CT and they tell me about some of the false accusations they endured – sadly I know what that is like. In churches like CT, just like Sovereign Grace, false accusations are a tactic, a means to an end to achieve a goal. That’s why I love some of these people so much…they have been through so much. And it goes beyond that…what I also love about some of these people is their character and resolve.

    Some of the people I have met whether it be Michelle Freeman to Ellen Kusar are dedicated and have a resolve to shut down CT. They don’t want other people to be hurt like they were. Their resolve reminds me of the resolve Dee Parsons has when she got that from Providence Baptist in Raleigh, or Happymom or Pam Palmer who have their resolve from their pain from Sovereign Grace Ministries. That’s part of the reason why I respect and admire Todd Whilhem. Its hard to take a stand especially when it costs you friendships, family, and adjusts your life. In the end its about principle. Principle is lacking today BUT especially in many parts of Christianity. But that’s another factor why I love the people who are protesting CT. They have principle and each Sunday they stand upon it.

  29. Sad wrote:

    The idea of direct revelation from God, particularly when it comes to what you think someone else should do, is diabolical.

    “Nowhere do we corrupt so effectively as at the very foot of the altar!”
    — Screwtape

  30. Eagle wrote:

    So when I was speaking with some of the people from CT and they tell me about some of the false accusations they endured – sadly I know what that is like. In churches like CT, just like Sovereign Grace, false accusations are a tactic, a means to an end to achieve a goal.

    Make an Example of one and you silence a hundred.”

  31. I agree with you, Eagle. This story made me think of Sovereign Grace. Bob Kauflin’s song of adoration to CJ Mahaney is just nauseating, but nobody says a word.
    I married into a cult much like Calvary Temple. It was called “The Kingdom” and the leader was Frank W. Sandford. After one too many scandals, it has now become KCM or Kingdom Christian Ministries and, unfortunately, continues to spread its perversion of Christianity. My family was greatly harmed and, although we left 10 years ago, we are still affected. Sadly, after leaving, we fell right back into the same pattern by joining Sovereign Grace. After 7 years there, I finally had the courage to leave. My husband left me, and my children struggle with finding anything good in Christianity. I know that God is good and he is caring for me and my children but it is a battle that makes me weary.
    God bless you Ellen. I will pray for you and your children when I pray for my own.
    Thank you, Eagle, for sharing your experiences. It has been encouraging and validating to read them.
    Most of all, thank you, Wartburg Watch. I stumbled upon your website a couple of years ago and it is what opened my eyes to the abuse going on in my own church when I was a member of SG. It has been a lifeline to me. Thank you for all of the work you do. It is so very important. @ Bill M:

  32. It is so hard for me to imagine and understand the mercy and forgiveness of God. As a Christian, I understand that sin is sin to God. There are no degrees of it. My little white lie is the same as Star Scott’s “If anyone causes one of these little ones–those who believe in me–to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Matthew 18:6”. The thing is, that if Star Scott would truly humble himself and ask forgiveness with sincerity, God would forgive him. I wonder if that sickens the heart of God? To know that he has to forgive someone like Star Scott (or me). After we repeatedly abuse His love and care, he would still forgive us as if we never sinned against Him. What a costly price for Him to demonstrate the extent of his love and mercy. As a human, it is beyond my comprehension!!
    Thank you Lord God!! Thank you Jesus for your precious blood that covers my gross sin. As well, I know that your blood would cover Star Scott if he but asked.

    To Star Scott:
    (Everyone, please forgive my inability to maintain a merciful tone here. I want to. I will try.)

    So Star (because I refuse to refer to you as “Pastor”–which is a farce),
    If you have the guts to read this and respond, maybe you would take it a little further and look in the mirror. Of all people, you know what Hell is like (and I will let people interpret that as they may). You may refuse to admit that you have directly created this horrible breach of trust in all of these people who have been hurt by your “ministry” but even if it was indirectly done, you are certainly certainly responsible. Are you so prideful that you can’t take yourself down from your throne to recognize what you have done? Do you truly believe that this controlling method of religiosity is of God? Are you truly that possessed that you are unable to do anything under your own strength anymore? You do know that Jesus did cast out demons…right?!! It isn’t an impossibility for you to have eternal life with the Lord. Is that what you need…for us to lay hands on you? It is a scary thing to think about because the demonic influence that you are under is so very powerful. However, I want you to know that Jesus’ blood was shed for you too. You know the scripture (even though…it says that the demons know it and shudder). Are you afraid? Are you so deluded by the false teachings that you have been passing off for so long that you can’t recognize the real Godly truth from the false teachings? Is there anything left of a man in there or is it all just demonic possession? I feel sorry for you. I do. That you would forego what is true, honest, just, lovely, noble, right, pure…for what you have…remember it is only temporary. Do you not think that God can overcome the evil that is within you? I’m here to tell you that MY GOD IS ABLE!! I learned that when I left Calvary Temple. Not to feed into your sense of conquerability, but it took me a long time to get past the lies that I had been led to believe when I went there. I, for a long time, really did believe that “everyone had shaken the dust off their feet” and that there was no more mercy or forgiveness left for me because of your teachings. I soon found out, thanks to how I had been raised, to believe in the true merciful, loving God whose mercies are new every single morning, to know that grace abounds, that life goes on. God forgives and love is extended to even the worst of us, because after all, while we were still sinners, He extended that love to us. It’s the same love that is extended to you. You are a deceiver and manipulator. You are boastful and prideful. You take what is intended for good and you do evil with it. So I am speaking to whatever little piece of humanity is still left inside you and hoping you will let the Lord come in and release you from the possession you are under.

    Yes. His mercy and forgiveness is even extended to the likes of you. You already know that it will not be easy…huge sacrifice on your part…to do justly and love mercy and to walk humbly with God… It will be a very different life for you. If what I think is true, your window of opportunity is narrowing. The possession gets stronger with each passing day until there is no more Star Scott at all…

    Reach inside yourself with all the strength you have and cry out to God, Star. He will hear you. He will have mercy on you. He will forgive you. And He alone can release you.

    I hope you make the right eternal choice.

  33. Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:

    “Nowhere do we corrupt so effectively as at the very foot of the altar!”
    — Screwtape

    Father Sean O’Connell to his nephew Quinn O’Connell on the Church:

    “Evil men attend church,” he went on. “Evil men pray in synagogues, and evil men perform mutilations on women to the glory of Allah. Evil men pay large sums for us to renew the leases on their consciences. Men invented the system because they needed it, and the system, faulty as it is, works.”

    From ~A God in Ruins~ by Leon Uris

  34. Hester wrote:

    Then I go on FB, and on the church FB I find a quote from the Screwtape Letters about “connoisseurs of churches”

    This MO fits my experience. I saw similar passive-agressive tactics and abuse of a forum to attack the positions of others who disagreed. When I brought it up to others that this was a wrong way to deal with disagreement I was told, repeatedly I believe, I was mistaken, it wasn’t meant that way and should we give the benefit of the doubt.

    I don’t recall where I ran across it at the time but a joke clarified it for me, “if you have to keep giving someone the benefit of the doubt, after a while you should doubt their benefit.”

    @ Eagle:
    Thanks Eagle, I’ll check it out. I have gone by your site a few times, sorry the only time I’ve posted was a disagreement, we have much where we agree.

  35. @ Daisy:

    The last paragraph of that article is an outright twisting of Eph. 3:10. No surprise that the authur is from CHBC and the article was published with the Biblical Counseling Coalition. The local church gets pushed as “highest priority” if you go for counseling as well. No one is encouraged to make a prayerful decision based on their individual need and conscience.

  36. Bridget wrote:

    The last paragraph of that article is an outright twisting of Eph. 3:10.

    No kidding. That misuse/abuse of Ephesians 3:10 could go on the other thread about Peter Wagner and his exercise of authority over the principalities and powers. Not to mention the conflation of the local organized church with the Church Universal which is the Body of Christ. Those two are not the same thing, though it is certainly useful to conflate them. Just like it is very useful to conflate “God says” with “I say this is what God says.”

    9Marks has made “the local church” their idol. When the local church becomes more about the local church than it does about the Christ who is Lord of the Church, then we have a very big problem. And we do have a very big problem. I know of instances in the 9Marks-influenced world where people have been directed away from churches that are “apostate” because they have women in leadership. In another instance, a young couple was required to have mandatory follow-up formal counseling after 1 year of marriage. Not sure if a spiritual colonoscopy was included, but Dr. Fundy might have some insight into that.

    In yet another instance a young person informed the church that they would be leaving and the elders informed demanded a meeting to know which church said young person would be joining and insisted that they have input into that decision. I suspect that the verse that proves that the elders of the local church are the Holy Spirit is lurking somewhere near the one where God ordains patriarchy. They must be since the Gospel Glitterati flog those ideas so much but I haven’t been able to find them.

  37. Vickie wrote:

    Reach inside yourself with all the strength you have and cry out to God, Star. He will hear you. He will have mercy on you. He will forgive you. And He alone can release you.
    I hope you make the right eternal choice.

    Or he ends up falling into the Crack of Doom clutching “MY PRECIOUSSSSSSS!!!!!!”

    “For the hearts of Men are easily corrupted,
    and a Ring of POWER has a Will of its own.”

  38. Gram3 wrote:

    Those two are not the same thing, though it is certainly useful to conflate them. Just like it is very useful to conflate “God says” with “I say this is what God says.”

    My Dear Wormwood,

    I refer you to my previous epistle on Semantics, specifically the redefinition of words into their “diabolical meanings.”

    Your Ravenously Affectionate Uncle,
    Screwtape

  39. Eagle wrote:

    Some of the people I have met whether it be Michelle Freeman to Ellen Kusar are dedicated and have a resolve to shut down CT. They don’t want other people to be hurt like they were. Their resolve reminds me of the resolve Dee Parsons has when she got that from Providence Baptist in Raleigh, or Happymom or Pam Palmer who have their resolve from their pain from Sovereign Grace Ministries.

    “We have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with terrible resolve.”
    — Admiral Isokoru Yamamoto, 8 December 1941

  40. Have just had time to reread this post and rethink the other ones related to CT.

    Wow. What can I say? So much hurt, so much heartbreak, so much hate in Jesus’ name. Humanity is really messed up, and that includes many churches. Tragically, many don’t expect that, and don’t see the warning signs. Churches can be very dangerous places. If all of Christianity were like this, its organisations would have to be outlawed.

    The Deebs are performing a most valuable service to Christians everywhere.

  41. @ dee:

    I agree with everything you said.

    I also just found the amount of ego and controlling going on in that article astonishing, that these guys think it’s their place to tell grown adults how, when, or if they can move to another location! Adults can make their own choices.

    It’s not the church’s place to micro-manage’s people’s lives, not when it comes to things like when or where to move or take a new job.

  42. @ Daisy:
    I agree with what you and Dee have said. This kind of thing was/is characteristic of heavy shepherding. I know that C.J. and Larry Tomzak were, IIRC, part of Maranatha or at least influenced by them. So it makes perfect sense how SGM was so heavy into shepherding.

    What I do not understand is how that heavy shepherding ideology jumped from C.J. to Mark Dever. Who brokered that marriage or how did they meet up and why would they expect to have anything in common? Their cozy connection does not add up.

  43. Go Daddy is upgrading their system and it is wreaking havoc with our ability to write our post in WordPress. We may not be able to post this evening. I apologize for any problems with access to our website.

  44. My antennae went up at this:

    “And yet a friend in leadership told me that Scott had spoken of marrying Greer the week BEFORE Janet Scott’s death”.

    Can it be confirmed that Janet Scott received adequate medical care? What is the church’s position on healing?

  45. Headless Unicorn Guy wrote:

    Make an Example of one

    I have used the analogy that they don’t put one person against the wall and shoot them to silence the one person but to silence everyone.

    When I used this analogy to describe the way some people were being treated, the former pastor objected to the “violent imagery”.

  46. Hester wrote:

    Star Scott teaches that the entire tithe belongs to the pastor and it is sin for it be used for anything other than the sustenance of the “priesthood”.
    I’m beginning to think that ANY emphasis on tithing beyond “if you feel led” is a red flag of a potential sanctified guilt trip/money grab. Which is why I’m pretty much automatically suspicious of any theology that teaches tithing as mandatory under the New Covenant. The pastor of the PCA church I attended for 3y started doing this a bit at the end. He was NOT pleased when he found out I and my family didn’t believe tithing was mandatory.
    There were entire services devoted to “honoring” Scott. During one such event, the children’s ministry sang a well known worship song to Scott, substituting the name of Jesus with Scott’s name.
    Well that’s just creepy-deepy blasphemy right there.
    Most likely you would hear your legitimate question being ridiculed in the next teaching. He might mockingly say something like “We’ve already had someone questioning why Aunt Millie can’t come to my precious baby’s wedding….”.
    My PCA pastor did this too, though not from the pulpit. Some background is needed here.
    He brought in a closet Christian Reconstructionist, who was involved at the PCA church in West Hartford, to preach/teach from the pulpit one Sunday. I was absent that Sunday for some reason, but my parents were there. When she got home, my mom told me the guy’s name and some of the strange things he had said. I looked him up on the internet and found a truckload of information in about 5 minutes, includ. some bizarro statements he had made about tithing – again, see why I’m suspicious of tithing? – which strongly implied that tithing 10% is a basic sign of regeneration. Also, my understanding of pulpit sharing is that pulpit sharing implies pastoral endorsement of the speaker, and therefore, agreement with anything he could possibly teach. Ergo, you as a pastor have to be EXTREMELY careful who you allow into your pulpit (you are, after all, a shepherd, right?). So I processed this as pastoral endorsement of Christian Reconstructionism, dominion BS, and this wonky stuff about tithing. And basically lost it, because Reconstructionism is poison and I will NOT attend any church meddling around in it.
    We figured the pastor had to have not known the truth about this guy. So we scheduled a meeting with him to talk about our concerns. I started to wonder if something was wrong in the lead-up to this meeting, because the pastor claimed he had looked the guy up and hadn’t found anything like that. (I had managed to find this tithing stuff in less than 5 minutes on Google.) Now I will grant that some people are bad at finding things on the internet, but I figured I had the citations and the quotes, so I would show it to him at the meeting. So I typed them up on a piece of paper with references and printed them out.
    We met at a pizza restaurant a few blocks from the church, about an hour and a half before my handbell rehearsal at the UCC church across the street. Now the pastor had been told ahead of time that I was the one with the concerns and the information about this guy. Except we passed all of dinner not talking about any of the concerns I had; he only brought them up after I left for rehearsal. And my parents do not have the requisite theological background on these issues, and so were left to try to defend my position without me present.
    They stated we don’t believe tithing is mandatory. He defended the guy’s statements by insisting that it was. After that they got to talking about one of the other issues that was peripheral to this, which is that the pastor and elders had been bugging us to officially join the church and take membership vows after attending for a couple years. (They had a thing about long-term attenders who don’t join. They compared it to cohabitating rather than getting married. My problems with that are a topic for another time.) I was considering joining, but my mom told him that she wasn’t going to join because she was Lutheran, not Presbyterian. She would keep attending, however, because I was going there and she wanted to worship as a family.
    So the meeting ends apparently amicably. When I get back from handbell rehearsal, my parents tell me how it went and what happened. I’m not happy and wonder why he waited until I was gone, but think that we could talk again. Then I go on FB, and on the church FB I find a quote from the Screwtape Letters about “connoisseurs of churches” who go to multiple churches without ever joining any. I was completely livid. First, because it’s pretty hysterical to apply that quote to my family, because we’ve collectively attended only about 4 churches in our entire collected lifetimes, and never for a shorter period than 3y at any given one (usually more like 7-10y). Second, because it was astonishingly rude, covert aggressive, catty and immature of him to do that and frankly, I expected better of an adult, esp. an adult working as a pastor. My relationship with that church was basically severed from that point forward.
    BTW, the covert Reconstructionist teacher was Henry Krabbendam, just to make sure you all know who to avoid.

    You were fortunate that the pastor wasn’t more clever, might have been drawn more deeply into their poison. Thought he was being clever, I’m sure, but obviously a dolt. That place was ugly, and it sounds like your former pastor was a full blown disingenuous creep. Glad you shook the dust off the feet and got out.

  47. @ Gram3:
    They were Catholic charismat7cs to begin with, heavily influenced by the Ft. Lauderdale Five via their New Wine magazine, and likely by some 8f the charismwtic Cstholic groups that had “communities” in places like Ann Arbor, MI. Tomczack’s 1st book, Clap Your Hands!, is written from a Catholic charismatic pov. That was bafk whrn SGM was TAG, short for Take and Give. I had a friend who was patt of the group at that time, back when i lived in the D.C. area. My ftiend left because things were overly weird there back in the 70s…

  48. I’m really suprised that “Star” has been able to continue down this path for so many years whithout a serious ass whooping…i cannot believe that there hasn’t been one father to step up to the plate and just clean his clock…

  49. @ numo:
    I’ve heard about the Ft. Lauderdale Five and other shepherding groups that were active in the 70’s, though I was gone from Florida at that point, and I knew Mahaney came out of that. But what hath Mark Dever, the Reformed Baptist, to do with Mahaney, the out-there charismatic? I do not get that at all.

    Shepherding and Gothardism and Reconstructionism just seem to be perennial weeds in the church that keep popping up in various forms 40 years later.

  50. Gram3 wrote:

    But what hath Mark Dever, the Reformed Baptist, to do with Mahaney, the out-there charismatic? I do not get that at all.

    I was looking for bio information on Dever and I am thinking that the Mahaney thing may not have much to do with some Mahaney/Dever relationship but rather somebody that Dever wanted to help (or owed for something or other) asked him to do it for the other person’s sake. For example what I read said that Dever used to be a trustee of SBTS. Maybe it was necessary to solve the Mahaney thing for reasons we do not know but pertaining to Mohler and/or SBTS. But his bio shows links to every big name in that crowd that I have heard you all talk about, so no telling who needed help. He may have tried to stabilize the Manhaney issue in order to bail out some third party or some institution from some problem.

    I don’t think that Mahaney’s charismatic-ism would necessarily be a big deal compared to money issues, or what somebody may know about somebody that would be big trouble or that sort of thing. They can have all the fits they want about charismatic practices, compared to power and prestige and money I doubt if hands in the air and tongues would go to the top of the list of concerns, regardless of what ‘strong stand’ they may have taken on the subject in public.

  51. Matt wrote:

    i cannot believe that there hasn’t been one father to step up to the plate and just clean his clock…

    That’s a good point.

  52. @ Nancy:

    And while looking for bio I got the CHBC site with its pictures of the congregation. For crying out loud. Where are the children and the old people?

  53. numo wrote:

    They were Catholic charismat7cs to begin with, heavily influenced by the Ft. Lauderdale Five via their New Wine magazine, and likely by some 8f the charismwtic Cstholic groups that had “communities” in places like Ann Arbor, MI. Tomczack’s 1st book, Clap Your Hands!, is written from a Catholic charismatic pov.

    I was a big Bob Mumford fan and subscribed to the New Wine magazine myself. I also read Clap Your Hands. I identified with Catholic Charismatics at the time since I was Catholic. 🙂 Now I’m an independent… 🙂

  54. For new readers who wanted to read about churches that abuse, I wanted to post these valuable, FREE, links to Dr. Ronald Enroth’s books about same. Dr. Enroth researched and wrote some well-known books about abusive churches and he can tell people about the dynamics of their abusive church before they can.

    Bless Dr. Enroth for making these books available for free online.

    1. Churches That Abuse by Ronald Enroth, here: http://www.ccel.us/churches.toc.html

    2. Recovering From Churches That Abuse by Ronald Enroth, here:
    http://www.ccel.us/churchesrec.toc.html

  55. @ Gram3:
    The Ft. Lauderdale Five were the chief proponents of shepherding, and their ideas permested the charismstic renewal groups. I lived through that and its inevitable fallout.

    As to how Mahanry went neo-Cal, i honestly don’t know. The last i was actually around SGM people, they were still charismstic. Since moving out of the D.C. area, i havent had any exposure, and what i did havd was secondhand, anyway. Mahanry went neo-Cal around the time i left the area, which was a little over a decade ago.

  56. For those who have left, do you remember when Bob Scott said the church was going to grow and they were collecting more money for a balcony? People were doing a special offering but then some time later-he said if God were to redirect them the money had to be put into the general fund/not the special one (designated). Greer walked around with the paperwork for us to fill out, so we could change our designation. He continually spoke of the pastors who had gone to prison for mishandling money. So convenient, indeed. Dan is as big of an asset to him as everything else. I can’t help think of how the church was 2,000 people strong, enough money to build the education building and then he kicks them out afterwards-who really did the split? How can they say they are not a school if they give out Diplomas?

  57. numo wrote:

    As to how Mahanry went neo-Cal, i honestly don’t know.

    Here’s my totally speculative hypothesis: Mahaney could draw an adoring crowd, and cultivate a cultic following, no doubt. He knew how to put together a conference/media package because, IMO, he is basically a showman. But Mahaney is no scholar, by his own admission. Dever would seem to be very Complementary to Mahaney in that he is not a showman, but he is a scholar. I think that one of them or some other people realized that Complementarity and the possibilities that could follow from the synergy and that and a marriage of convenience was arranged. Mohler comes with Dever, and Duncan brings the conservative Presbyterian/Reformed market segment.

    Grudem had primed the pump for a soft-continuationist aka “open but cautious” stance by the Reformed3 toward Mahaney’s charismatic practice and Mahaney had a come-to-Calvin epiphany, and BibbityBobbityBoo we have T4g. With that alliance there would be contracts between various entities related to them and with others, like Crossway, and…the rest is history that no one dares whisper.

  58. 1withHim wrote:

    How can they say they are not a school if they give out Diplomas?

    Mmm, I thought of that. Do they receive government education funding or have to abide by some education regulatory authority?

  59. Matt wrote:

    I’m really suprised that “Star” has been able to continue down this path for so many years whithout a serious ass whooping…i cannot believe that there hasn’t been one father to step up to the plate and just clean his clock…

    “Touch Not God’s Anointed! (Upon pain of Eternal Hell…)”

  60. Nancy wrote:

    @ Nancy:
    And while looking for bio I got the CHBC site with its pictures of the congregation. For crying out loud. Where are the children and the old people?

    Visitors to North Korea NEVER see any old people…

  61. A few months after we left, our family fell apart. Though my husband did not return to CT, he filed for divorce. He has stated he needed to start life over again. I know he feels he wasted 30 years in Calvary. He admits I was “a good wife and a great mother” but he can no longer live this life.

    With tears, from someone who has also experienced spiritual abuse and shunning, thank you for sharing your personal story.

    I don’t understand why some families have to go through such horrific experiences. I just do not get it. My heart grieves for you and your family. I’m so sorry, Ellen. I agree with Dee, that you are a hero. For you to leave took incredible strength and sacrifice.

  62. This isn’t a Christian church in any sense of the word. Seems to be well run by the evil one. I feel for anyone snagged and drawn into it’s gaping maw. No different than Mormanism or Jahova’s Witnesses who will tell you lies, lies, lies to suck you in.

    It is easy to say that it will never happen to me…I sincerely pray for those survivors and the others trapped. For the others, they’ve made their choice to reject Christ on favor of their crazy theology of the flesh…I hope they come around but I doubt they ever will. Sad.

  63. Victorious wrote:

    I was a big Bob Mumford fan and subscribed to the New Wine magazine myself. I also read Clap Your Hands. I identified with Catholic Charismatics at the time since I was Catholic. Now I’m an independent…

    The trouble was these 5 could be very ‘charismatic’ (in the secular sense) speakers. They could be worth listening to. I’m glad I heard Hobart Freeman’s complete demolition job on the teaching of these 5 before getting ensnared.

    I am going to enter Now I’m an independent in the records as Now I no longer have any unbiblical religious and denominational allegiances. You have 30 days to object … 🙂

  64. Haitch wrote:

    My antennae went up at this:

    “And yet a friend in leadership told me that Scott had spoken of marrying Greer the week BEFORE Janet Scott’s death”.

    Can it be confirmed that Janet Scott received adequate medical care? What is the church’s position on healing?

    Yeah, that is seriously creepy, isn’t it?

  65. zooey111 wrote:

    Haitch wrote:
    My antennae went up at this:
    “And yet a friend in leadership told me that Scott had spoken of marrying Greer the week BEFORE Janet Scott’s death”.

    Can it be confirmed that Janet Scott received adequate medical care? What is the church’s position on healing?

    Yeah, that is seriously creepy, isn’t it?

    Like Janet might have gotten a little help to clear the way for fresh-meat Greer?

  66.   __

    “Staying Connected To All You ‘Love’ At Calvary Temple?”

    Huh?

    —> Why is it we hear nothing from these fine upstanding folks until Star Scott turns the tables on them?

    What?

    Everything is fine as long as you are of the “In Crowd”?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOWO–z1S8A

    hmmm…

    “…The only way to be happy in Jesus, is ‘The Star Scott Way!’ ”

    🙂

  67. Sopwith wrote:

    Why is it we hear nothing from these fine upstanding folks until Star Scott turns the tables on them?

    One sees what one knows. If one ‘knows’ that Scott or whoever is called and annointed and appointed and all by God himself by direct personal revelation, and one does not ‘know’ what is going on behind closed doors with other people in the church one would assume that the leadership was right in whatever it was they did. But then they turn on you, and you do ‘know’ what goes on behind closed doors at your house and you know that what is happening is not right.

    I think that we all tend to do that to some extent in various ways. I have heard patients swear by some health care provider that I knew to be telling them the wrong thing, and whom I knew to have been in trouble before, and whom the whole community knew to have been in trouble before. But they still had a following who just did not believe any of it. Until it happened to them-the misdiagnosis for instance. It is called who ya gonna believe?

  68. __

    “Going Off Da Reservation, Perhaps?”

    hmmm…

    The fore-runner Washington D.C. Tuesday night Christian ministry (T.A.G) to the church of many names: GOB/POD/PDI/SGM/SG, was started by Catholic Charismatics as part of the Catholic renewal program. In the begining, white collars were in the back of many an event…

    Flip-it!

    FLIP-It-GOOD?

  69. Nancy wrote:

    One sees what one knows. If one ‘knows’ that Scott or whoever is called and annointed and appointed and all by God himself by direct personal revelation, and one does not ‘know’ what is going on behind closed doors with other people in the church one would assume that the leadership was right in whatever it was they did. But then they turn on you, and you do ‘know’ what goes on behind closed doors at your house and you know that what is happening is not right.

    And I would add that one sees what one expects to see and wants to see and disregards contrary evidence until it can no longer be ignored or tolerated. Straws and camel backs. In my case, that is what happened. I was certainly not unaware of certain red flags, but due to personal vulnerabilities, I convinced myself that those red flags were actually a lovely shade of rose.

    I believe that fallen humanity is fundamentally economic. We want the greatest personal benefit at the least personal cost. As a result we are able to overlook costs to others if we believe there are benefits to ourselves. All the way up to the point where we can’t.

    Different people value different things, and there is a con artist for every vulnerability. Once inside the system, the personal costs of putting your head up and speaking out grow, and that is especially true if there are children or other people you love involved in the system.

    Now to get personal, a particular member of my family was able to recognize a problematic pastor because of something that person had heard. I refused to listen because of other contrary “evidence.” Likewise, I was able to see that the family member was in bondage to another kind of problematic pastor. Neither of us could see what the other could see because there were other factors in play. It is not a simple matter of paying attention.

  70. dee wrote:

    There is nothing wrong with moving to make a better income if it means the family will have fewer worries about finances. And, how does this guy know that God isn’t orchestrating this whole situation.

    Of course, that guy doesn’t know, he can’t know aside from a special revelation. But from the paradigm of these local church advocates who are listing into idolatry of their own power, God cannot speak to another Christian who has placed themselves under their authority without also having confirmed it through them. That lists not just towards idolatry, but blasphemy.

  71. @ Sopwith:

    Hmmm. You seem to be saying the perhaps it never happened to you and saying that if it ever happened to anybody it is their own unforgivable fault? Maybe I am not understanding what you are trying to say. But it happened to me. I married a man and trusted him. Silly me. I got snookered into a job where I had all the responsibility and none of the authority. Sillier yet me. They lied of course and did not deliver what they promised, but that happens. The only way that I see that people can avoid this sort of thing is to refuse to do anything at all with anybody at all. Some people do that. I do not. Incorrigibly silliest me.

  72.   __

    “Sometimes People Ask if Star Scott is ‘real’?”

    What?

    Of course he is!

    And this ‘pastor’ is as ready as anyone to ‘enjoy’ the same ‘treats’ he dishes out…

    RIGHT?

    (When ever he getz da chance…)

    huh?

    Over a period of forty years, Star Scott has developed and perfected his ‘secret’ recipe for proverbial ‘manipulation’ and ‘control’ of his 501(c)3 in Sterling Virginia church?

    SKreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetch !

    hmmm…

    if you sêê him walking down the street…

    “…walk on by?”

    Might be a ‘good’ idea…

    The tears and the sadness he has brought to others make me want to hide.

    (sadface)

    Sopy

  73. __

    “Snookered?”

    hmmm…

    Knowing Jesus and hiding his words in your heart go along way ta keep from being bamboozled by these 501(c)3 ‘religious’ con men…

    yes Sir eeeeeee !

    (smiley face goes here)

    YaHoooooooooo!

    Sopy


    @ Nancy

  74. @ Sopwith:

    Sopy, what tha…gave you the remote idea it might have been a religious job? Give me some credit here. If there is one thing I am not not not is a religious professional. Or am I still not following what you are saying?

  75. ___

    Nancy wrote:

    @ Sopwith:
    Hmmm. You seem to be saying the perhaps it never happened to you and saying that if it ever happened to anybody it is their own unforgivable fault? Maybe I am not understanding what you are trying to say. But it happened to me. I married a man and trusted him. Silly me. I got snookered into a job where I had all the responsibility and none of the authority. Sillier yet me. They lied of course and did not deliver what they promised, but that happens. The only way that I see that people can avoid this sort of thing is to refuse to do anything at all with anybody at all. Some people do that. I do not. Incorrigibly silliest me.

    Nancy, I am so sorry you were injured by the thoughtlessness of others…

    (sadface)

    Sopy

  76. __

    “Live, Laugh, Love?”

    hmmm…

    Nancy, to answer your question, in this life, (as you know) ereybuddy getz snookered, and taken for a ride at some point in their life…
    The sixty-four dollar question is did you learn anything?

    ATB

    Sopy
    __
    Comic relief: Clay Walker – ” LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE…”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9mcroP1zUE

    🙂

  77. Sopwith wrote:

    The sixty-four dollar question is did you learn anything?

    Indeed so. Well, I came away realizing that I was a lot tougher than I had perhaps thought I was. And I learned that if one crawls under the bed and hides just to avoid snookering then one is a coward and needs to address that because snookering is not fatal but the bible has some things to say about cowardice. I don’t think that I was a coward prior to that, but it is good to experience the non-fatality of something. And sometimes when you engage in battle and win you learn how great it is to win, and you may have to watch yourself in the future lest you fight battles that do not need fought just because of the thrill of winning.

  78. __

    Coward?

    Hee Hee Hee

    hmmm…

    He who runs away lives to fight another day…

    Cheeeeeeeeeeese!

    There is no shame in retreat,
    Regroup and double your efforts,
    Concentrate your efforts as well,
    and Win.

    (grin)

    Sopy

    @ Nancy

  79. They do not receive any outside funding, but also because they cannot get accredited the students have trouble getting into college (because they are not a “school”. Haitch wrote:

    1withHim wrote:
    How can they say they are not a school if they give out Diplomas?
    Mmm, I thought of that. Do they receive government education funding or have to abide by some education regulatory authority?

  80. It seems like though everyone is talking about him, we haven’t spoken of those who are his “hunchmen”. The deacons, the assistant pastors, and his daughter…who is more concerned with keeping rules than keeping souls.

  81. It seems like though everyone is talking about him, we haven’t spoken of those who are his “hunchmen”. The deacons, the assistant pastors, and his daughter…who is more concerned with keeping rules than keeping souls

  82. I have wanted to respond to the many wonderful comments. But I went out of town for a couple days and my laptop ‘s hard drive crashed. It is being replaced-hope to be back in business soon. So much I want to say, I am so thankful for all of the support and encouragement. And so sad to hear of other people’s similar stories. Many are far worse than mine.

  83. Hester wrote:

    but think that we could talk again. Then I go on FB, and on the church FB I find a quote from the Screwtape Letters about “connoisseurs of churches” who go to multiple churches without ever joining any.

    Hester, this is so familiar. To your face you are told one thing, from the pulpit or at another time, you are told another. It shows they are actually cowards with no real convictions. Thank you for sharing your experience.

  84. @ dee:

    Thank you Dee. I hope all of the ex-CTers can have a positive effect on those still in CT. Those inside are so conditioned to distrust anyone who has left and to believe they are backslidden and bitter. (oh that word bitter – it is one of Star Scott’s most frequently used weapons). I hope they can remember that when they knew us we were loving and serving God.

    I look forward to meeting you!

  85. Janet Varin wrote:

    I don’t know what the status of your marriage is, but I am remembering it to God in prayer today.

    Thank you Janet for praying – the divorce will be final on June 3rd. I know there is always hope, but at this point it seems restoration is very unlikely.

  86. dee wrote:

    Some of these guys are hung u on their own importance. I say leave your local church. Move if you want to live in a prettier part of the country or you want to make a better living or you want to be closer to family or you want to live further away from your extended family.

    Yes, The steps of the good man are ordered of the Lord.

  87. NJ wrote:

    I wonder if the “wives, submit to your husbands” thing also came into play here

    The submission definitely was an issue as the years went on. Many times I wanted to leave CT, but I knew my husband would put me out if I left Calvary. (And I knew I could possibly lose my children). Most women in CT are the same – it has been drilled into their heads that the church always comes before the family. And Star Scott has said that the husband’s/father’s role is to enforce what is spoken from the pulpit. So leaving was out of the question if you wanted to keep your family together.

  88. @ david L:

    David, thank you for your comment. I thought I had seen every possible website dealing with abusive churches, but Truthforfree was new one for me. I took a quick look, I can see I will be spending many hours reading it. Thanks very much.

  89. Laurie wrote:

    God bless you Ellen. I will pray for you and your children when I pray for my own.

    Thank you Laurie, I don’t cry very often but this brought me to tears.

  90. Haitch wrote:

    Can it be confirmed that Janet Scott received adequate medical care? What is the church’s position on healing?

    Haitch, Janet Scott had been dealing with health issues most of the years I attended Calvary Temple. I know that they saw many many doctors, so I don’t think lack of medical care was the issue. He taught healing all the time, especially in the earlier years. He still teaches healing by the stripes of Jesus – but had to soften his stance on doctors when he had to get so much medical care for his wife. (He would make it more palatable by telling about a wonderful miracle of God bringing the very best in the field to be Janet’s doctor – as if it was ok for them to see doctors all the time because God orchestrated it) He is very critical of any mental health care – though it is said he has been on an anti – depressant himself. Another hypocritical part of his life.

  91. Julie Anne wrote:

    With tears, from someone who has also experienced spiritual abuse and shunning, thank you for sharing your personal story.
    I don’t understand why some families have to go through such horrific experiences. I just do not get it. My heart grieves for you and your family. I’m so sorry, Ellen. I agree with Dee, that you are a hero. For you to leave took incredible strength and sacrifice.

    Thank you Julie Anne, I hope you are recovered/recovering from your own experience.

  92. Laurie wrote:

    Sadly, after leaving, we fell right back into the same pattern by joining Sovereign Grace.

    Oh boy. Been there and done that several times. Each time we thought that This Concern cannot possibly be That Bad Thing we learned about last time. It finally came to me that the reason, in our case, was that we wanted good things too much in the sense that the desire for very good things made us blind to the Big Problems. The odd thing is that as I fell out of love for the “church” I can see Jesus much more clearly without those filters.

    I am thankful that there is finally a way to connect with people who have somewhat similar stories but who thought we are outliers. Maybe it helps others, like it does me, to be able to share and warn and encourage others.

  93. Gram3 wrote:

    The odd thing is that as I fell out of love for the “church” I can see Jesus much more clearly without those filters.

    Same here, Gram. Perhaps it’s that we’ve finally got our priorities where they should have been all along and the distractions are out of the way as well.

  94.   __

    “Available Seats?”

    hmmm…

    Wartburg, 

    You thought SGM was bad? This ‘church’  is aparrently completely insane… 

    (sadface)

    Sopy

  95. __

    “Never mind the little man behind the pulpit?”

    huh?

    “Many times I wanted to leave CT, but I knew my husband would put me out if I left Calvary. (And I knew I could possibly lose my children). ” ~Ellen, 40 year member of Calvary Temple, in Sterling, Virginia

    (sadface)

    How many more feel like this?

    Sopy

  96. 1withHim wrote:

    How can they say they are not a school if they give out Diplomas?

    Hasn’t stopped the Godly Gospelly Glitterti from giving out all those Honorary Doctorates to each other.

  97. Ellen, why again did your husband divorce you? The half-truths in this “testimony” is unbelievable.