UNITED STATES
The Evangelical Pulpit
Warren Throckmorton recently did a series of posts regarding the alleged bullying tactics of Faith Christian Church. In addition to reports about bizarre teachings on spanking infants, former members have described feeling forced to give money to the church. One Former staff minister Jeff Phillips said that “tithing is strictly enforced. We were taught that if we did not tithe, we were cursed.”
Phillips recalled FCC pastor Steve Hall saying, “‘I WILL NOT pastor cursed people.’”
Phillips related the following account:
“There was one occasion when some of the staff, including me, were caught not tithing soon enough. We were waiting until we had deposited our checks into the bank to tithe to the church. Steve found a verse in the OT about paying late fees for late tithes, so we were forced to pay extra for our lateness. So, essentially the ministers raised their own salaries and gave 13% of that and beyond to the church, which went to pay Steve’s salary along with the other members’ tithes.”
In another separate incident close to 100 people attended a protest across the street from Sterling’s Calvary Temple church in an effort to raise awareness to practices they say have gone on for decades behind its closed doors. The protest was sparked after an article broke where two women said they were physically and sexually abused for years by the church’s leadership and teachers.
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