Will this tattoo be their mark of shame? Fear is a stupid liar and I praise God that Hes given us a spirit of a sound mind and Love!!! Ive tried to cover everything in prayer but I dont feel God right now. Then God led him to Harvest Bible Chapel. In another incident at Camp Harvest, MacDonald reportedly stabbed a photo of a former Harvest pastor with a butter knife. Women are not silenced: This model is not original and is old but it is appropriate for the megachurch and also for the persecuted church. Dont stand in the middle, dont seek to mediate. The environment is as ahw stated, fear James, make James happy I have wondered if Harvest Bible Chapel (the organization) is worth the cost its taken to try and save it? I left the church 4 years ago, the week after 3 elders were publiclyex-communicated on a cheap home made movie not worthy of one wasted second of the worship service. Pastor James made it political when he compared the era of President Trump to the era of Stalin the era of Hitler. The current model for pastor directed churches says that the senior pastor is the priest this is Old Testament. James ended up sending me a copy of the new approved blog post, and out of fear, I complied. I still would like to read the blog on tattoos. This pastor couldnt have been more wrong. Harvest Bible Chapel Naples and its landlord have reached a settlement, ending a court battle to evict the church. The first one is in the magazine Relevant and looks at the allegations of Anne Green being inappropriately touched by James MacDonald. Does It Matter Where Your Clothes Come From? Nellie, Nice to hear from you again! Id encourage you to read the prophets again, and ask, what upsets the heart of God? And then maybe its time to ask whether those things should upset you as well. What blessings are flowing at Harvest for those who stand firm! I pray that moving forward, His love will control me no matter the consequences. What does the Bible say about debt? Churches Still Depend on Clergy Housing Allowance, No Celebrities Except Jesus: How Asbury Protected the Revival. Brave. According to Roys extensive research and interviews, changes didnt occur at Harvest; instead, questionable treatment and practices continued. Now the Chicago-area megachurch is sharing details of the settlement and has apologized to its former pastor, who was fired in February 2019. At the moment were seeing the effects of a down cycle away from God. She did not claim it was her trurh , but opinion. MacDonald later admitted doing so but claimed it was all in good fun and misinterpreted. Hi Sally, Anointing: Every believer is a priest in the new covenant. 3. Im very certain you do not understand narcissists and how manipulative they are I recommend Dr. Ramani on YouTube as she is a great resource to gain understanding but the only chance to fight their evil is to bring it out into the light, expose them for what they truly are. Now he is disillusioned and wants to go back to Catholicism. Thanks again, Lina, for being courageous in the midst of these difficult days. blessings. This young lady has done the work and is doing the work of the great physician. If you like harvest and the culture of hidden abuse and The narcissistic system in order there- by all means, stay! I was recovering from the deep wounds and hurts from when we left when this all came rushing back in and opening old wounds. Blessings to you! Before the article was even printed, Harvest sued Roys, plus two bloggers who've been critical about problems at Harvest. We just determined to treat the circumstances as a loving God giving us a different direction. The church has responded by hiring Lawrence Swicegood, the executive director of communications at Gateway Church, who was also hired by Harvest Bible Chapel when facing its scandal involving James MacDonald. Though MacDonald has been granted the rights to his Walk in the Word ministry, he and Harvest remain at odds. I love who you are and what you do. Besides, pastors charismatic enough to gain large followings frequently have the ability to effectively deflect criticism and keep their elder board firmly on their side. Rita, be encouraged. It was simply not possible. I will not blame those who suffer spiritual starvation for wolves like the James McDonalds, Joel Olsteens or Creflo Dollars (to name but a few), however designer churches and their false teachers are the direct results of people who refuse to be obedient and submissive to Gods will. This man is a smooth deceiver and believes his own lies. By the time I left, I had discovered something dark about myself: I was a woman ruled by fear. I didnt know you personally, but was a part of and benefited from the many programs that you offered through womens ministry. Did you know that Satan and his minions come to Harvest? There are people there I thought were my friend and as soon as my life takes a left turn and happens out of order (first came baby then came marriage and then another baby) I get ousted out and judged and hurt. I didnt want to be rebellious against authority. Im praying for you. 2.) Christ followers are saying enough. I still had friends on the inside that I longed to remain friends with. You are Loved I think I am gonna throw up. I was always greeted with a kiss by a cute missionary girl that went there. Lina, I know that you did not take writing this lightly, and that it was preceded by much prayer and asking for the Holy Spirits wisdom and guidance in order to strike a balance of truth and grace. We have seen this very truth of Jesus teaching publicly demonstrated by Mancow and many other witnesses. Thank you, Lina. Truth heals. Sign up for our newsletter: Only time will tell whether Harvest can outlive its founding pastorand the scandal that has enveloped both him and his elder board. My heart breaks for the people that have been hurt by this on both sides. I dont appreciate you getting political this has nothing to do with it.. Are you referring to the Democratic Party? I left Harvest CL 3 yrs ago after being forced out of a ministry and other thingspart of the membership indoctrinationyou are not allowed to say anything disparaging against church leadership or the church. Love for God, relationships, and the church. In announcing MacDonalds termination, Harvest elders stated they are committed to fulfilling our fiduciary duty as the leadership of this congregation, knowing that at times the outcome may be misunderstood or emotionally painful. Thank you for adding your voice to the now chorus of voices calling for a time of judgment and reform. Lina, thank you for your post, and thank you for your honesty and transparency. The question is, how many pastors/leaders are actually GIVING AWAY the ministry and equipping others for it? For a great many, it's time for the cult of personality of James MacDonald at Harvest chapter to close and the actual Bible to be opened again., Today on his edgy radio show, Muller said while he felt MacDonalds firing had to happen, he also had wanted nothing to do with any of it and now my part is done., I feel like God was using me in this, he said. Wake up this tragedy has been in the works a long time. A friend sent a link showing a video of a former Willow pastors return to that church to speak after leaving a decade ago for similar reasons as you left Harvest. God loves his Church and we can trust hell do what is necessary to preserve it. So the Harvest Bible Chapel elders fired him, fired him from pastoring his own church, which of course was no longer his church to make decisions for, but theirs, as a wholly owned subsidiary. You are open to correction, feeling hurt when it comes. Lina, Kenny Foreman, Founder of Cathedral of Faith, Passes Away at 88, Millennials Cant Buy MeaningLets Talk the Meaning of Life. Sheri and her husband Gary attended Cornerstone in the 1980s while attending Azusa Pacific and in their first few years of marriage. Subscribers receive full access to the archives. Please anchor in on John 7:24. Just goes to show, pride goeth before a fall. James is (was) a powerful force which could and did destroy people with his power and influence. While only a handful showed up, the range of their pain was wide. Others had old wounds that had resurfaced and were hurting, having never felt closure to their stories. Amen. Pastor was not happy and tried to convince us that we were wrong. This scandal that were going through has really rocked my world. Prayer works as we understand to be HIS humble servants. You followed what God would have instructed you to handle this situation.you started by going to the leaders of the church for answers and none were given. My daughter was also at that service when they showed the video. We are the Church! Abusers groom their community and a spiritually abusive church grooms its members to not rock the boat, to gaslight themselves, and to leave quietly if they should ever refuse to submit to abuse. He was a very good speaker and teacher of the Bible but was forced to resign from our church a few years back. Constantly made to feel stupid, the youth had had enough so the mom called a meeting with the pastor. Your willingness to sit down over a cup of coffee in your home with women of God and get real about our hurts, our fears, our dreams, or whatever is going on in our lives. Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Last November, Harvests new elders (all those who served under MacDonald stepped down) declared that their former pastor failed to meet the elder qualifications laid out in Scripture and could not return to their church. How important it is to pray pray pray and check on our leaders also of their growth in Christ and what our church mission is and to stay biblical, not political but biblical. Lina has every right to speak her truth . Truth is truth. Praying for a healing and refocus of all Gods churches, Mary, Lina, thank you for your honesty. These are the same elders who signed the letter of unconditional support for James, and then they fire him? Then, a famous friend of his, Chicago shock jock Mancow Muller, spoke out in a local newspaper against the manipulation and ego he observed around MacDonalds cult of personality at Harvest. And a few days later James MacDonalds sons, Luke and Landon MacDonald, also announced they are resigning. And in 1 Corinthians 5, we are told to judge those within the Church). I just knew I wasnt supposed to be there anymore. Nellie-What you might not know. What are you authorized to do? The reason why people are coming out now or again is because finally due to being outed on a National Radio program something is finally being done. Hi Hurting in Davenport, When the Church becomes the organization instead of the people, then it ceases to be the Church. I think Nellie and others are genuine in their questions of why now and why kick him when he is down. Its by an unbeliever, but wow, is it eye-opening. Thanks for being so honest. Humility, repentance, confession, forgiveness, reconciliation, mercy, love, compassion, healing, serious prayer and so much more for and by everyone should be given top priorities on our agendas soon if not now. for what its worth, the timing of the writing is His perfect timing. A defamation lawsuit by the church against the website, and Julie Roys, a reporter for the bi-weekly Christian World magazine, who investigated Harvest, was dropped last month. In his statement released this week, MacDonald continues to criticize the church for its treatment of him and cites the successful arbitration as confirmation that the truth has been on his side all along. Thank you for teaching even in the midst of giving your testimony. Both can be messy, but in the latter case, responsibility for that mess must be laid squarely at the feet of the abusive Elders who are sinning, not at the feet of Christs little ones, the oppressed members of Christs flock, who are being caused to stumble, nor at the feet of those attempting to triage the wounded and sound a warning to others who are in danger of being Hearing these stories has helped me to realize I left just when I was supposed to. I dont really care what someone else thinks. Thank you for having the courage to write what you did and for your ministry Lina. Like the unsaved around us we fight for positions of prestige to lord it over one another. And I find it odd that someone would have an opinion on that. Prevent these types of money exchange corporations, I cant imagine a person alive who couldnt look at their life and say the same thing in some area of their dealings with people. If the church treated Lina this way, they will do it to you and others without a second thought. This did not happen to James, he did this, by sinning repeatedly. In the midst of efforts to reconcile with longtime critics, Harvest Bible Chapel fired its founder and senior pastor James MacDonald for engaging in conduct contrary and harmful to the best interests of the church.. I am thankful that timing of other circumstances in my life led me to a new city to grow and find a faithful, healthy, growing, biblical church community. Truth is healthy. Not saying thete arent strong christians in leadership at this church but it does always seem that when pride gets in the way of leadership it hurts that person and everyone around them. Agreed Sheila. Perhaps we can do something like that here in Davenport, too. He went recently, saying the time had come. And where I live that mostly rules out every English speaking church there is! I have replied, I would have probably, as most have done, put my head in the sand and carried on doing the work God gave me to do. Whatever is wrong in Gods eyes He will bring someone to reveal it. These being the facts of my simple, uncomplicated, and naive experience as an attendee and member of Harvest, the last several weeks of revelations, discoveries, denial, anger, grief, victims, conjecture, embarrassment, hurt, stories, gossip, cover-ups, accusations, defensiveness, lawsuits, maliciousness, divisiveness, blame, threats, and even some name-calling as of late I have begun to realize that those of us who are just the congregation, the blessed and appreciative recipients of the God-given talents of all those involved in running and ministering Harvest, we are now in the painful position reminiscent of children involved in the divorce of parents, both(ALL!) I didnt want to risk any negative impacts on my own growing ministry. I have a Patreon! Have you sought the Lord in prayer and fasting?Exposing sin is not hurtful then you would be against every prophet in the Bible. The ungodly jockying for power and control is still an issue in all our churches. Hoping you come back and teach a book of the Bible. Open your eyes and feel the heat of the refiners fire. Even people who were very close to us turned silent. The pastor took the opportunity to lay into them and basically tell him that he was the one in the wrong. Hannibal Harvest Bible Church (EIN# 862793399) is an tax exempt organization filed with Internal Revenue Service (IRS). If you know anything about abuse it can take years to come forward. A year or so before leaving Harvest I had written a blog post about holiness in which I had referenced the growing fad of tattoos in our culture. They helped to create this culture of fear. With so much gaslighting going on and public take-downs of those who would speak truth to power, and your investment in the church industrial complex, I can imagine how difficult it wouldve been to speak out publicly at the time of your leaving. Ezekiel 22:27 Please have your Passports Ready. It was not supposed to be that way. Like in Ezekiel, many people are trying to sound the trumpet of warning!! Every weekday, get RELEVANT's top five articles delivered to your inbox! Sadly, this cancer has spread to other churches that were once part of the fellowship. Vicki Stevenson, I have not read your blogs for some time but the Holy Spirit caused me to stop and read this post. Your sincere desire to move us further in our relationship with Jesus Christ. whos fault is this? Im not on FB, so I didnt see your post where you extended an invitation to us to meet with you again. Hidden things have come to light. A former youth pastor for Harvest Bible Chapel in Aurora has been charged with the sexual exploitation of a 16-year-old boy on allegations he sought nude pictures of the boy and repeatedly. Laurie Newman, a Harvest member, told Christianity Today that she believes the church's current leaders, like Bradshaw, are "good people who want to lead the church the way God wants it to. Come together at part of the body of Christ called Harvest Bible Chapel and pray that Gods will not ours be done. We continue in prayer for all those affected near and far. I appreciate the Biblical distinction you made Sheila, in relation to the Bible calling us to be good ; which doesnt always mean being kind and nice. And I do want to state that MANY of us have made every effort to address the problems prior to leaving. I speak as one who has gone thru it, like you. 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harvest bible church scandal
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