I didn’t know how many parts were going to be to this article, and I think it is fitting that it landed on the number seven the number of perfection in the Bible. I don’t know if this testimony is going to be perfect but I will try my best, let me again, reiterate that I do not have an ax to grind, nor do I hold any ill will toward anyone at Calvary Chapel, including the pastors there that did me wrong. I have since forgiven them and left them in God’s hands. My hope is that they one day, they repent, and forsake the teachings of Chuck Smith and that true change would come to the government structure of Calvary Chapel so that safeguards are put in place to hold leaders accountable and so congregants don’t get hurt or spiritually abused by these leaders.

How I got there

I will try to keep this short for blog space so that I can post this on social media and comments.

It all started out with me, leading a family to the Lord that had no church to go to. The church that I attended was too far for them to go, so I tried to help them find a church close to them. I was having a conversation at work, with someone who I had heard was a Christian and I told her my dilemma, and she immediately said that she attended a Calvary chapel and that they were a very good church. I got the contact information and called the Church office and spoke with the secretary, and got the information for my friends.

I went to a Bible study with the husband of the family that I was trying to find a home Church for and it was run by a Calvary chapel assistant pastor, who I will call Pastor a. pastor a was very Charismatic, and friendly we were welcomed into the group quite quickly. I was impressed at the Bible study. They had been going over Bible drills and finding Bible verses about different subjects all over the Bible. It was overwhelmingly challenging to find all those passages of scripture, but I was impressed at the challenge. After the Bible study, I talked to Pastor along with the husband of the family. I was trying to find a church and we both liked Pastor a and we were both convinced that Calvary Chapel was the right place for my friend and his family.

Fast-forward a couple months into my friends, attending a Calvary chapel tragedy struck my family and my wife and I separated. I didn’t feel comfortable going to the same church as her so I started attending the Calvary chapel where I had brought my friends.

Pastor a and many others overwhelmed me with love and attention, and I immediately began volunteering for the setting up and breaking down of the chairs and the PA system for Sunday services because they were meeting in a middle school gym, so everything had to be set up and broken down at the end of each Sunday service.

One thing I noticed, straight away, was that they were very rigid about how things were to be set up. The chairs had to be exactly perfect. Cords from the PA system had to be wound a certain way, which I found silly because with my musical background, I knew how to take care of PA system cords, but I did not mind being humble and taking direction. The first red flag I should have noticed was in the very beginning when Pastor a chastised a couple for not doing the snack table perfectly, and he threatened them that if they could not get it right that they would no longer be allowed to do it. I shook it off as maybe Pastor a was just having a bad day but I witnessed other behaviors like this from other leaders in the ministry. Once, during set up time, I witnessed the worship leader hollering at one of the volunteers. I don’t remember exactly what was said, but I remember feeling that the worship leader was being really irrational and unfair to this volunteer. So me with my bold, big mouth stepped in, and I told him to chill out. He seems shocked that I had confronted him like that and he immediately refrained.

I immediately started sitting under the counseling of Pastor a as well as one other senior church member. I was really in a bad place in my life with the separation from my wife and other emotional issues that I was carrying. I stayed briefly with Pastor a at his home, while I was separated from my wife. While I considered Pastor a to be a good friend, I was not impressed by him as a pastor, because he was single and not the husband of one wife, as the New Testament clearly defines a pastor, but I looked past it anyway, because I considered him to be a good friend. In the short time that I lived with him, which was only about a couple weeks, I witnessed him being manipulative in someways at Bible studies concerning the scriptures and towardsother congregants. He would say things about the scriptures like “we can never really know for sure” “everything is relative” The first statement he made is very similar to what the devil said to Eve in the garden of Eden when he caused her to question God and that’s basically what that statement was doing. And the statement about everything being relative is a secular statement and not biblical at all, everything is not relative it is either true or untrue. Also, while I was living with him, he confided in me that he was purposely trying to manipulate his boss so that he could do full-time ministry. This was a very troubling statement as most mature Christians know that God is the one who opens the doors to ministry, not us. I also found this statement to be very immature but again I was going through my own troubles, so I overlooked it. looking back I was overwhelmed by the false sense of love and acceptance that he and others had shown me, and it clouded my better judgment.

I continue to spend months partnering with Pastor an and other pastors in street ministry and other activities. Pastor a asked me a question that really shocked me and took me back or really it was a statement. He said that I should be a Calvary Chapel pastor because of my evangelistic abilities. I told him that I was in no place to do such a thing because I was separated from my wife and also because I felt that was not my calling to be a pastor. Pastor a did not leave it alone at that point, but persisted by bringing me into the inner circle of that Calvary Chapel. Aside from setting up and breaking down for the services on Sunday morning they put me in charge of counting the tithes. I remember counting the money one Sunday and realizing that out of approximately 40 people my offering had accounted for about 20% of the total offering. It seemed that the attendees here were not very disciplined about tithing. Not soon after that Pastor a and now another pastor I will name Pastor B came to me and confirmed my thoughts. They said that they were going to change the name of the Calvary chapel to Calvary Chapel_______. they said they wanted to do this to create more enthusiasm in the congregation, but implied that there would be a positive financial side to this name change. they charge me to keep this move a secret and not reveal it to anybody.

The beginning of the end

As I was doing street, ministry and Bible studies with pastor a I realized his presentation of the gospel was really weak. Now at that time I had just discovered myself about what the true and proper gospel should be through Ray Comfort videos on YouTube. When I confronted him about his presentation of the gospel he said “we’re all about love man”. When I told him the Bible says to speak the truth in love, which means preaching a gospel that talks about sin, judgment, repentance, and faith, he seemed baffled. One of my favorite preachers who is now deceased named Derek Prince, one said, “if all a group preaches about is love you can be sure there is something wrong with their doctrine” and Derek would be correct, because there were things wrong with their doctrine that I would later question. The thing that we need to understand is that there is no true love without truth, and I found this to be true with other passages of scripture that he twisted or skipped over altogether. One such passage that he skipped over, was the passage and Matthew where Jesus said no one knows the day or the hour that Christ would return. This passage is pivotal because Chuck Smith had made a prophecy in 1978 and one of his books that Jesus would return in 1981 when I confronted him about this at the Bible study. He became very combative and said, “are you challenging me”? It may not seem like such a big deal to anyone else, but Calvary Chapel and their pastors prided themselves on teaching the scriptures chapter by chapter verse by verse, so I found it very odd that they skipped this passage while reading from Matthew. One of the congregants that was helping with the Bible study just blurted out “What about love Rich?”And I explained to him that without truth, there is no love at least not real love anyway. During my time here I witnessed a lot of sinful behaviors amongst Calvary chapel attendees and it seemed that the sinful behaviors were tolerated in the name of love. When I asked Pastor a why this was, he told me “not to judge, and that God would deal with them”. But let’s look at what the Bible says about this very subject of Christians, who are in sin and what we are truly supposed to do, not just leave them on an island but to help them.

Galatians 6:1-2 KJV
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. [2] Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

So, as you can see, this is totally un biblical advice.

Rewind I will share another incident that raised the red flag towards the end, when I started to become wise to the false gospel, teaching, the twisting of scriptures and the emotional gaslighting that I had endured during my time at Calvary Chapel. Pastor a was just leaving a Bible study that we had both gone to, and a female congregant pulled up in her car. she was looking at some apartments and wanted Pastor a to come along with her to look at some apartments. He got into her car, and they went off together a single pastor and a single congregant alone in a car. when I asked him about this the next day, and tried to admonish him that this was not a good idea that he should be alone with a single woman, and that he should’ve taken his own car and met her there, he said “I am a pastor I have special privileges”. This is something a cult leader would say because they feel they are beyond reproach. It was like somehow he was saying that the Bible did not apply to him. I learned this concept from Billy Graham that he said he would never be alone with a woman other than his wife without his wife being present. This is what the Bible has to say about the situation.

1 Thessalonians 5:22 KJV Abstain from all appearance of evil.

This is the verse that Billy Graham had based the integrity of his entire ministry on, and Pastor a just mocked that verse when I quoted it to him.

Fast-forward back to the time I was talking about the Bible study on which I had confronted Pastor a about the passage in Matthew that he skipped over concerning what Jesus said about no one knows the day or the hour. When the person who is assisting with the Bible study interjected, it became a free for all. Both him and Pastor a were very angry that I had questioned Chuck Smith’s teaching and said that I wasn’t being loving. This lead to an uproar of confusion with the family that I had brought to Calvary Chapel, who were in attendance at the Bible study. This is a little bit of a rabbit trail, but this just came back to my memory. Pastor a had given his testimony at a previous Bible study and it was full of gaslighting tactics. He told the story of how he was suicidal, and how sad his story was, and how Jesus changed his life, which was all fine and good but his testimony did not include the gospel or anything close to it. He just said Jesus changed my life. Looking back on that testimony I realize that he was trying to manipulate people into feeling sorry for him so that they would be easier to manipulate, this type of testimony appeals to the emotions, but has no biblical worth, especially when you don’t include the gospel or how the gospel saved your life.

At this time I had already been questioning Calvary Chapel doctrines, and practices, and raising my concerns about them, especially the preaching of the gospel.

One Sunday after we got done breaking down the set up for Sunday service a pastor who I will call Pastor B pulled me aside and invited me to lunch. I had already had lunch plans, but I did not want to be rude, so I agreed to go. When we got to the restaurant, we sat down and he immediately tore into me, saying how dare I challenge Pastor a and the teachings of Chuck Smith and that I needed to repent of being a detractor or negative person. I didn’t know this at the time, but the word detractor is a cult term. I am not saying the Calvary chapels are a cult, but they do have many Cultic tendencies, because of the Moses model, and the danger of narcissistic leaders who answer to no one ruling over the congregation.Long story short, he accused me of being in sin, and that I needed to repent. He even read a scripture that he twisted the meaning of and it was a scripture that I had read many times in my king James Bible, but he read it out of one of the modern versions and twisted the verses meaning altogether to make it seem like I was the one who was an error. When I corrected him he did not like that and he told me to leave Calvary Chapel and never come back or he would call the police, so supposedly I was in sin, the proper protocol for that would have been Matthew 18 where if he thought I was in sin he should’ve brought two witnesses to rebuke me and then if I didn’t listen, they should’ve brought me in front of the congregation and let them judge. But he knew he was wrong, and that’s why they didn’t do that and quite honestly I don’t think they had that kind of government in place because like I said, they practiced the Moses model where one guy made all decisions and was the main guy in charge. I left that lunch, shocked and bewildered and I really didn’t know how to respond. I took a couple weeks off from going to Calvary Chapel and I prayed on it. The conclusion that I came to was that I could not let Pastor a and Pastor b just sweep me under the rug, and the wrong that they had done to me.They needed to be held accountable for their ungodly behavior.

This is when one Sunday I decided I would confront them about this in front of the congregation. I would have tried addressing congregants one on one, but they had already shunned me at this point. In hindsight, I am not sure that was the right thing to do, because it seemed that my friends who I had brought to that church had pushed me away even further after I did it. And instead of being honest about their ungodly behavior, and having an open dialogue in front of the congregation, Pastor B made good on his promise and he called the police on me but the police let me go because they had decided that I had broken no law. From what I have heard this is a common practice of Calvary chapels when someone speaks up and comes against leader ship that they get the legal system involved to try to shut you up. I was devastated at what happened to me and the spiritual abuse that I suffered and it took many years for me to open up to people again.I eventually reconciled with my wife, although the marriage counseling advice that I got from Pastor a nearly destroyed my marriage. Thank God my wife forgave me and took me back.Today I am a thriving family man, evangelist and musician who loves to share the gospel of Christ with as many people as I can. I forgive Pastor a and Pastor B and others that hurt me while I was there at Calvary Chapel. I pray that they will repent and stop hurting people. This is just not my testimony, but the testimony of thousands of people who have attended Calvary chapels across the country. This Moses model system needs to change to a new testament style of government that has checks and balances and holds leaders accountable. Again I am not attacking the people of Calvary Chapel. As a matter of fact, I love them and have so much compassion for them that I pray for them every day, my hope is that true change would come to Calvary Chapel or that people would come out from under that movement and find true Bible believing churches. The reason I waited so long to write this article was because I have been blogging for a couple years now, and really just wanted to avoid the subject altogether out of fear of legal repercussions from Calvary Chapel and hurting people at Calvary Chapel. But sometimes the truth hurts and I really care about those people and that is the reason that I am sounding the alarm, so that no, nobody else has to go through what I went through or even worse. I hope this article bless you in so many ways even if you don’t agree with the content of this article, I would ask you to pray on it and do some research of your own. I have given you most of my resources that I used in each portion of this article. Please check out my sources and know that I am telling the truth. Until then, God bless you in Jesus name.

2 Peter 2:1-3 KJV
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. [2] And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. [3] And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

This is a collection of testimonies similar to my own.

This is an article that contains some testimonies of former Calvary Chapel attendees. The article comes from the cult. Education institute in the article is as named below.

Calvary Chapel Visitor Comments

“I want to let you know that almost all of the info on CC is dead on the money. I was raised in a Christian home and have been saved since the summer of 1987. My family and I started going to a CC outreach church 2 and 1/2 years ago. The authority there is (at best) very secretive and mysterious. When I questioned the pastor, I was told that I was being critical(and I know one of my weaknesses is being over critical). This led me to pray about my critical spirit and certainly I’m a better Christian today because of those prayers. When I raised some questions and concerns about finances & the way money was being taken care of, I was told that I wanted to run the church as a business and not allow God to do His thing. My reason for writing this email, is so you might continue to warn people that this organization(while maybe not a cult?) certainly has a very dictatorship style of leadership (I’m trying to be as uncritical asI can). Thanks again for your info and please continue to keep people informed.”

“I also recently left Calvary Chapel…I discerned for two years that the place was not right but always thought it was in my head. Until others from the church were leaving and I found your website…What complete deception!…I would sit there in complete disbelief, but the Holy Spirit kept prompting me to leave, thank God I left.”

“I attended a Calvary Chapel for a number of years in another state before marrying and moving to my current location. The experience I am having now is completely different and most upsetting. The pastor runs the church like a ‘one man show.’ Many precious Christians with various gifts are not being given the opportunity to use them. The ‘board’ is in name only and the financial affairs are handled by the pastor’s buddy. Only the two of them ever see the books. Nor is there ever a meeting, discussion or vote on how funds are spent. Actually no one has a clue what’s going on. The pastor and associate pastor are also business partners. I’m sick about all this, but what can you do when the pastor runs a church like a dictator except get out?”

“The personality of the senior pastor is the main driving force of the individual congregations. Nepotism runs rampant. I guess the age-old adage of, ‘it’s not what you know, it’s whom you know,’ radiates through the vast majority of Calvary Chapels.”

“I am sad to say that I too am one of the ‘backsliders’ that have been ousted and excommunicated from a Calvary Chapel place of ‘worship.’ They were on a rampage of sin-sniffing, legalism and even fired one of their veteran pastors.”

“I came through the Calvary Chapel system and found Jesus there. But whenever there were problems or struggles, they told me that I was a ‘backslider.’ Attending counseling with the pastors there was not helpful, you walked out feeling more of a load given than a load lifted. They would ask the same basic questions. ‘Have you been reading the Word?’ ‘Do you fellowship with others?’ ‘Are you witnessing?’ I finally was so depressed that went to an ‘outside’ Christian therapist, which they strongly disapproved of. Once in therapy I found out that I was indeed depressed and unfortunately wasn’t getting the kind of unconditional love and support necessary to help me from Calvary. My story would take a few pages, but I did finally find another church. I didn’t know what God’s grace was about until I came there.”

“I cannot support a group that is abusive. At least this experience has opened our eyes and hopefully we can find a healthy church in our area soon. I feel for those who are still there. I know it is only a matter of time before they too will be hurt. I honestly would like to do something to stop it, but our experience is that it is a waste of time talking to leadership. I feel all I can do is pray that the Lord opens their eyes and help those who have been hurt, when they cross my path. I thank the Lord for people like you who will stand up and tell the truth.”

“I have a friend who is attending Calvary Chapel. We were really close friends before he started attending Calvary, we were very much like brothers. Shortly after he began attending the church he started acting strange towards me and tried over and over to convince me to go.I told him that I was quite content with my spirituality and he told me that everyone who is not part of his church would be going to hell and said that included me as well. Since that day I have pulled away from him. I still speak to him, but as time passes it seems that we are drifting further apart. As a friend I feel as if I should do something to help him, but every time I try, he manipulates what I am saying and tries to make me sound like Satan himself.”

“Thank you for taking the time to put together an interesting web site. My heart grieves for those who have been abused by churches that take scripture out of context in order to control, beat down and demoralize! I have seen interpretations of scripture with a twist. And rarely do such church leaders submit themselves for correction after being caught in lies. Instead there is always the escape clause ‘touch not mine anointed.’ A scripture in Proverbs says to run away from evil. This means if you are in a church that preaches one thing, but does the opposite, beat a path to the door. My husband and I recently left the Calvary Chapel. Many of the men at this fellowship think I am too ‘strong willed.’ I will never be a follower of any person here on earth. I am also full of faults, but each fault makes me unique within that fabric of who I am in Christ. No matter what anyone tries to say for Christ, we must know for ourselves what The Word says. I am a Berean by nature, which means I study the Word and take it as the authority. This has been my salvation through the worst storms in my life. God really does love us with all of our imperfections and He longingly desires to bring healing.”

“We used to go to a Calvary Chapel. It was very spiritually abusive and very controlling. There was a Spiritual Elite. We had a bad experience there like many others so we left over a year ago. We just praise God that we left and that we were discerning enough to see what goes on in Calvary Chapels. It’s very sad that they get away with what they do to people. I am praying for them all. I really appreciate the website that you have. It has helped us tremendously–especially when we left Calvary. Thank you and God bless you.”

“After 28 years, I left Calvary Chapel system. But many of my friends are still there–some have sought counseling. Their symptoms seem to parallel those of post spousal abuse or child abuse victims.”

“I just read some of the material on your site about Calvary Chapel and was surprised to suddenly realize that there are others out there who have come to the same conclusions about it that we [my husband and I] have [as former members]. Although they preach grace, [they] bring condemnation for everything–from soup to nuts. They are the Calvary Chapel denomination, as much a denomination as the Presbyterians or the Baptists. We would not call Calvary Chapel a ‘cult’–but perhaps leaning that way in some respects”.

“I would like to thank you for including Calvary Chapel within your Web site. Your doing so has become a major milestone in my recovery from our 12-year involvement with that organization–half of those as leaders. I have been unable to describe our experience with anyone, because Calvary has such a good surface reputation that I figured I would just be labeled as someone with a personal axe to grind. Our former Calvary pastor has blacklisted us with other churches and spread malicious lies about us among the congregation, which I have felt powerless to counter. For four years I have virtually hidden myself in my house or escaped by doing the shopping out of town–alienated, distrustful, and full of the fear of running into the pastor and members of the church. Now, through your Web site I have the beginning of an explanation for others–who in our small town, ask me why we left. Our Calvary Chapel scored 90% on your [‘Warning Signs‘]’Unsafe Group/Leader’ checklist and 90% on your ‘People Involved with an Unsafe Group/Leader’ checklist. This month I have gotten the courage to seek professional counseling. Thanks again. Don’t let anyone ever talk you into taking Calvary Chapel off of your Web site.”

“I am presently a student at [an accredited] school of theology. I was involved with the Calvary Chapel movement for a number of years. I have grave concerns about Chuck Smith’s teachings. He makes it sound as if Calvary Chapels are non divisive and believe only the Scriptures, but then sets up the leaders of the Calvary movement as the sole judge of truth. This is apparent from the last page of his pamphlet entitled ‘Calvinism, Arminianism, and the Word of God.’ He makes it sound as if he can judge true doctrine based on his assessment of a person’s attitude.”

“My wife and I are born again Christians and have not left the faith because of our experiences, but have certainly modified our thinking in some ways so as to not fall prey to these so-called men of God again. I cannot say enough about what an evil philosophy this so called church lives by. I think that you should actually have more about what exactly their guru Chuck Smith actually teaches. You will find that it is a far cry from orthodoxy where Christianity is concerned.”

“Thank you, for providing a site where people with questions can seek answers. In my quest to resolve ongoing mental and emotional pain I have always suspected Calvary Chapel. After three years of attendance, in the early 80s my life has never been the same. I’ve spent years trying to put it back together. It’s been a painful journey. On the surface Calvary appears OK, but it’s what happens behind the scenes that leads one into confusion, despair and fear. Calvary [can] systematically strip one of self worth, family and friends and break down trust–leaving nowhere to turn. You loose the ability to think for yourself. Your taught to distrust your thoughts, and feelings. Other institutions are discredited as ‘cultic’ or ‘worldly.’ It’s difficult to leave, you are always bound–if only by thought. But some of us have escaped and I would encourage those gripped by fear that there is a life beyond Calvary and God too.”

“Calvary Chapels started in California with the Jesus Movement. Since then they have spread across the U.S. My wife and I experienced spiritual abuse from a Calvary pastor who questioned our motives and became quite antagonistic — all because of a simple suggestion we made. The pastors wield a lot of power and there is no room for dissent or discussion. Basically, if you don’t like what’s going on, your only option is to head for the exit. Since leaving Calvary, we have found a church in a denomination where discussion and ‘back and forth’ is encouraged. There are safeguards, and the pastors have received a professional seminary education, in contrast to Calvary where they study tapes at a Bible college. My advice to Calvary attendees who are considering another church is to not be afraid. There are many better churches out there. We were afraid to leave, but are very glad we have.”

Copyright © 1998-2000 Rick Ross

Much like the lady in this article, who said her friend, slowly separated from her, because he was attending a Calvary chapel is exactly what happened to me as I suffered being shunned by friends I had made at Calvary Chapel, and even one family that I had worked with, and brought to Calvary Chapel myself. It was especially hurtful when they shunned me because I had been so close with them for so many years prior to attending Calvary Chapel and I still feel guilty to this day for bringing them there. It was a colossal mistake one that I will have to live with the rest of my life. and as the lady also said, I am sure they spread lies about me too, to get people to shun me.I can also attest to this lady’s testimony about Calvary Chapel pastors and their counseling methods. They were not biblical, and the one pastors advice that I sat under, gave me advice that almost destroyed my marriage.

I could go on and on about these types of testimonies there would be too many to fill this blog, but this lady‘s testimony gave a good example of how Calvary chapel operate.

Chris Lawson

Chris is a former Calvary chapel pastorwho founded spiritual research network. You can look it up on YouTube and Google it as well because they have a website. Chris helped plant the Calvary chapel in Scotland and was later shunned after questioning some of Calvary chapel affiliations with ecumenical teachers also known as false teachers. Chris is a very humble person I have spoken to him over the phone. He is still optimistic that change could come to the Calvary Chapel system even though his attempts to contact Calvary Chapel leadership have fallen on deaf ears, and he has gotten thousands of emails from people who have been spiritually abused by Calvary Chapel but he does not want to cause division so he keeps those peoples emails Confidential, which he should because these victims should be protected. You can hear Chris’s amazing testimony on YouTube by searching Calvary Chapel-the rising storm and the Clarion. And the video is presented by spiritual research network. Another awesome video by Chris is are you being bullied? It’s OK to say something! This video is also presented by spiritual research network. Also, be sure to check out the spiritual research network website.

In part seven of this article, and hopefully the last part of this article, I will share my personal testimony. Until then be blessed in Jesus name.

This is some documented conversations that I have had with people on social media about Calvary Chapel. Let us begin.

This is a conversation I had with a CC member on Facebook I have omitted his name to protect his identity

Him-I’ll give you a quick response thanks man. I’d love to hear yours if you don’t mind sharing. It might do us all some good.

I had only been to baptist churches and I was raised in the church of christ. I started doing bible studies in college and had a friend that had moved here, in Texas from California. He invited me to a bible study. I liked it as it was different from anything I had ever been to. Yes they were all very loving.

I then moved to houston. And went to a calvary chapel there. They were all very loving and this calvary had a very good expositor of the word. People were very very loving, sometimes where I didn’t know what to think, I didn’t understand how people could be so loving, lol.

Me- yes I understand brother . Unfortunately the leadership of all Calvary chapels condition their congregation to do a cult tactic called love bombing. They do this by overwhelming you with love and attention . Most don’t even know they are love bombing because it is so embedded into Calvary chapel culture. When this happened to me I was having a rough patch in my life so I didn’t catch on right away but as we did Bible studies they lacked lessons about sin , Gods judgment and repentance. When I asked why this was so I was told by the pastor that “we are all about love” that’s when I challenged him and said “how can you talk about love when you are not speaking biblical truth”? You see the Bible tells us to speak the truth in love. I attended this CC for over 9months and never heard the gospel preached once never heard a word about sin judgment or repentance all of these are core doctrines of biblical Christianity. Long story short he could not give me an answer. There were other doctrines I challenged him on and he seemed more annoyed than loving as he previously had been months before when he tried to recruit me to be a CC pastor because of my evangelical abilities. One day he had another CC pastor take me out to lunch. It was obvious he told him about my doctrinal challenges because he tried to rebuke me for daring to ask questions about chuck smiths false prophecy in 1981 and other doctrinal issues. This pastor who pretended to be loving to me in the past and told me I was a detractor or negative person and that I was no longer welcome at Calvary chapel. Instead of giving me the Matthew 18 treatment he gave me the left foot of fellowship and told me to leave. Also later that day 13 people who I had made friends with their shunned me by unfriending me on Facebook and refused to answer my emails when i asked why? This pastor even threatened to sue me if i continued to slander them to their congregation. This is another classic CC move as they have sued or threatened to sue anyone who speaks out against them. The Bible says this is a disgrace to believers to take a matter before the courts. Another unbiblical practice. This is what Matthew 18 is designed for. If I was truly in error they should have brought two witnesses to rebuke me and then if i didn’t listen they were supposed to take me before the church and let them judge. But they knew they were wrong so they didn’t do that instead they tried to sweep me under the rug. I was told if I ever returned they would call the police. I didn’t threaten them with violence or anything like that only because I questioned their doctrines and practices. I did return to talk to the congregation that I attended to make them aware of the underhanded tactics that these two pastors had used against me and that pastor made good on his promise and called the police on me but the police let me go when they decided i had broken no law.I love the congregations of all Calvary chapels. I just think that their leaders are pulling the wool over their eyes by manipulating them. I have heard other stories similar to mine from different CCs all over the country. When you practice the Moses model of government where one pastor makes all the decisions it makes for a dangerous cocktail. New Testament churches have deacons and elders to hold leaders accountable. That being said it’s because of this that there has been many scandals within CC that they have done a pretty good job of sweeping under the rug but the dirt is there if you do some research. Listen I know I am probably not going to convince you now but just pray on it and do some research. There is Wikipedia and YouTube videos and articles from BBC and other news outlets about CC. I know it’s hard when you play for the CC team. it’s hard to hear anything negative about them. If they want to get right with God they need to get rid of the Moses model of government and adopt the New Testament model so that leaders are held accountable. Also you guys need to weed out the manipulative narcissistic pastors in your ranks. It’s going to be hard to change a culture that has been broken since the beginning. I say this with great love for you and your congregation

This gentleman seemed reasonable and open to my explanation of why I thought Calvary Chapel was bad. The next conversation I was not so fortunate as this gentleman got really nasty which I understand because Calvary Chapel congregants are usually fiercely loyal beyond reason. It’s like these pastors have an evil spell over their congregations to where they overlook all warning signs and reason.

Him replying to me-you are a Liar. Repent, for bearing false witness on people. Sounds like you have some grudges on these people for some reason. Repent, and learn to honor God’s people. God will judge us harshly for speaking against his children that have sought to honor Him and keep His name holy. We don’t want to fall into that. He might even take our lives for things like this. I understand the pain and hurt that we can feel because of what we believe others have done to us. Just let’s be merciful and understand there is so much power in our flesh and we are so easily deceived as people. I’m sorry that you feel mistreated by whoever it was. That does not go away very easily. But to bear lies upon God’s faithful servants, is a very a dangerous thing. Praying for you my brother!!🙂

Before this person made this statement I had laid out some facts negative facts about Calvary chapel, and I believe some of my own experience. This person didn’t even ask me how I came to that conclusion before he called me a liar. This is a typical response from a Calvary Chapel congregant. Like I said, they are fiercely loyal to a fault, and they seem to take everything their leaders say as gospel even if it isn’t. I don’t hold any ill against this man because I have dealt with this before but instead I have great pity for anyone who is in this situation.

This is another conversation

Him -I went to one near where I live in Oregon City and found out the young head pastor cheated on his wife or something like that and had a big affair and long story short he was removed from his position. I don’t attend that church anymore and that was about 4 months ago. But before that I watched the Jesus Revolution movie cause I knew nothing about the Christian movement that happened in response to the secular hippie movement and after using my own discernment I believe Calvary chapel is a credible church (even though they are based out of secular California). But to each their own don’t let one thing get in the way of your faith and use your own discernment as I have.

Me-what you might not know is Lonnie frisbee would have homosexual encounters and so drugs on Saturday night and then preach on Sunday . Chuck smith couldn’t risk that being found out so he dismissed lonnie quietly. He did a great disservice not bringing Lonnie under Matthew 18 discipline but he was more concerned about his precious church and than he was about a friend that was in moral trouble. I know personally from my own experience at a CC that they don’t like negative attention so they find ways to sweep it under the rug. And that story you told about your pastor does not surprise me because of the Moses model of church government that harbors pastors with narcissistic tendencies to be sole decision makers and not held accountable by anyone. The Moses model is not the model of government for the New Testament church where you have a board of elders or deacons and all major decisions are decided congregationally . This is why there is so much disfunction at Calvary chapels every where. The scandal you are thinking of is not Calvary chapels first scandal there have been many and it won’t change until congregations get wise and manipulative leaders repent and they restructure the whole thing. Calvary chapel was built on a foundation that was meant to crumble from the very beginning. I will be writing an expose on CC based on my research and my own testimony attending a Calvary chapel. It will be a hard pill to swallow for fiercely loyal congregations of CC but I know that there are many people suffering spiritual abuse there like I did. I am doing not because I hate the people of CC but because I love them and someone needs to sound the alarm. Calvary chapel has pulled the he wool over the eyes of the evangelical world for far too long. My little know blog might not make a huge difference but if I can save one person out of that movement that will be good enough for me. By the way don’t believe everything you see in a movie. Jesus revolution didn’t tell the whole story. They only showed Calvary Chapel on a positive light and and left out key elements of cofounder. Lonnie frisbees life story. He did write a biography about his life. I’m sure he can find the book on Amazon.

Him-I was told that he turned his life around toward the end and accepted Jesus again and repented. Plus I personally don’t like churches in general they seem to focused on controlling their congregation. That is only from my experience so I do not attend church anymore. To each their own

Me-I am sorry to hear that you do not attend church anymore but I must tell you that it is vital that you do so the Bible says in the book of Hebrews that we must not forsake the assembling of the Saints the reason for this is that you need people that are spiritually more mature than you are to guide you and help you through your walk with God. Also fellow believers will be there to encourage you along the way. I recommend a good Baptist Church. Although I do not agree with everything Baptists teach, I do agree on the most important core doctrines like the gospel of salvation the deity of Christ, the Trinity, etc. a good Baptist Church is an excellent place to learn the word of God and sound doctrine. If you have been exposed to Calvary Chapel, you have probably never heard the true gospel, I am an evangelist so I will share it with you. God bless.

Then I did share the gospel with him. Please pray for his salvation. This is a prime example of how Calvary chapels destroy peoples spiritual lives. This young man was so discouraged that he stopped going to church altogether. He is so lost. He said he used his own discernment after seeing Jesus Revolution movie. It is obvious that he was not led by the spirit but by his own fleshly mind. If you have experienced spiritual abuse at the hands of a Calvary chapel that you attended and you have left, it will be hard to convince others to believe you, so you must be patient when dealing with them. Listen intently on what they are saying because they might not even realize that they are being spiritually abused themselves. Do not ridicule or marginalized them because they are victims themselves. They just don’t realize it. It is of the upmost importance that we have compassion for the congregants of Calvary Chapel. And even though these leaders can be corrupt, we must love our enemies and pray that they repent, or that God removes them from that position.

This is all that I will share about conversations I have had many too many to fill this blog page, but I feel these two gave the best spectrum of positive and negative conversations we can have with someone from Calvary Chapel.

In part six of my article, I will share a testimonies of other people from around the country who have had similar experiences to myself. Until then be blessed in Jesus name.

Who is Brian Broderson?

Brian Broderson was the son-in-law of Chuck Smith and basically took over Chuck’s role in the church on a national level when Chuck died. He also took over Calvary chapels radio stations and ownership over the name Calvary Chapel. I came across a video on YouTube of Brian giving a message around the time of the covid pandemic. He said “that Christians were more concerned about their rights being trampled on, than loving their neighbors and complying with California pandemic restrictions”. This included the closing of churches, but also excluded the closing of strip clubs and liquor stores. What a hypocritical statement. This is also a typical Calvary chapel pastor, gaslighting session, where he appeals to the emotions of the people instead of biblical truth. I witnessed this type of gaslighting myself when I was a part of a Calvary chapel. To see these statements by Brian Broderson you can go on YouTube and search. This pastor needs to repent or quit.!!! The video is presented by James Kaddis. You will see in this video that Brian is very left, leaning and has favorable opinions of democratic governor Gavin Newsom.

Brian is also known for causing much division within Calvary chapel, by forming his own organization which split the denomination completely in half. Brian is also known for his ecumenical alignments with the NAR movement which seeks to bring Muslims and Catholics into the body of Christ for the sake of unity. Brian and Calvary Chapel has also partnered with speakers and pastors from Hillsong, elevation Church run by heretic Steven Furtick, who says you can breathe in the Holy Spirit and preaches the little god’s doctrine in which he claims that we are gods ourselves and even was as bold to proclaim and say, in one of his sermons, that “I am the Lord God Almighty” referring to himself . Brian is also known to align himself with other ecumenical organizations like creation fest where he has promoted NAR training schools, and partnered with the church of England.You can read about some of these statements on the Berean research website the article is called connecting the NAR dots. And another article on the same site is called Calvary chapels Brian Broderson tells pastors to tone it down. This article is about preaching against homosexuality, and how Brian thinks it is OK to attend homosexual weddings. The article about Brian promoting NAR schools is on a website called emergent watch and the article is called Brian Broderson’s creation fest soliciting for NAR schools.

Brian has also been accused by fellow Calvary Chapel affiliates of being power-hungry and wanting to centralizepower to just a few people. From what I understand the problem is that Brian supposedly owns the Calvary Chapel name, and the radio stations and other types of media so it would be nearly impossible to get him to resign or push him out as some calvary chapel affiliates have tried in the past.

The fact that this denomination cannot come together in some sort of unity just shows that they have no foundation to be a denomination or a church altogether. What’s it gonna take for people to wake up?the money scandals, the sex scandals,the spiritual abuse,the legal power plays.

1 Corinthians 5:1-2 KJV
It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. [2] And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

Do we need to be reminded that sexual scandals should not be celebrated, but those responsible be removed from the church immediately?

I gave a scripture earlier that talked about how shameful it is for Christians to take each other to court but yet Calvary Chapel is known for taking legal action, not only against each other, but against anyone who speaks out against them.

Calvary Chapel has forgotten the example of Christ as the many pastors who practiced the Moses model of government there, Lord over the people, but listen to what the Scriptures say

Matthew 20:25-28 KJV
But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. [26] But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; [27] And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: [28] Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

That is the example of Christ not anything close to what Calvary Chapel does.

No, I am not saying that all Calvary Chapel pastors are bad. I am sure that there are some good ones and I know some good ones that have come out from under the affiliation of Calvary Chapel that are solid. Again, like I said, in the beginning of my article, my problem is not with the congregants of Calvary Chapel but it’s many corrupt pastors.

In part five of my article, I will document some conversations that I’ve had with people from Calvary Chapel about all the controversy. Until then be blessed in Jesus name.

In part three of this article, I will continue with some more of the scandals of Calvary Chapel

Bill Bjorkman

He was convicted of child molestation in 1999 was released in 2000 and then a year and a half later became a pastor at Calvary Chapel Santa Cruz. It wasn’t until 2005 during a sermon at Calvary Chapel Santa Cruz by Dave Johnston that congregants were officially notified of Bjorkman’s history of child molestation. Disturbingly, the crowd broke into applause. Several men told Bjorkman that they had been carrying their own dark secrets for far too long. Another congregate dismissed the concerns altogether saying “I would trust Bill with my children as I would trust my own mother”.

Now years later, Bjorkman is the senior pastor and overseas all ministries at Calvary Chapel Mountain View, including the children’s ministry, which is run by his wife. Unsurprisingly the church does not have even the most basic of child protection policies.To see Bjorkmans mug shot and read the article that I am quoting from google, Calvary Chapel watch Bill BJorkman should not be a pastor.

Other notable Calvary Chapel, pastors that have been accused of or convicted of child, molestation are Bob Coy, Doug DeAndrea, Anthony L. Iglesias, Scott WRIGHT, Matthew, TAGUE, Nicholas Henshaw And there are others that I read about years ago, that I could not find in my recent research. I could not name the articles of all these men that I named because there were too many articles, but I am sure you can Google their names to find out their stories.

I have a lot to say about Bill Bjorkman, and his situation at Calvary Chapel. Although I find it disturbing that when the news of his past molestation of children came to light that the crowd broke into applause. It also does not surprise me. I witnessed great tolerance of sin, when I attended the Calvary chapel that I went to, and it seemed like the leaders had some kind of evil spell over its congregants where they would overlook just about any sin, in the name of love.it makes me sick that one of the people said they would trust Bill with their children after Bill being a convicted child molester. This is why we cannot use Moses model in church government today. We must use the new testament form of Church government, so that there are checks and balances and pastors and other leaders are held accountable.

James Flanders

James Flanders, who was the pastor at Emerald Coast? Calvary Chapel in Florida, killed his mistress by putting her in a bear hug until she stopped breathing. Flanders often joked from pulpit that he would get in moods, where he felt like he wanted to choke someone. I remember watching the story of this on NBC dateline. They said that Flanders had a hair trigger temper, and that congregants were actually afraid of him. In hindsight, I guess they had good reason to. The woman he killed Marie Carlson’s ex-husband reported her missing the search for her went on for quite a while until Flanders finally confessed to killing her and lead police to where her dead body was buried in the backyard of his home. Ironically, Flanders was only sentenced to 15 years and convicted of manslaughter not murder to the outrage of Marie Carlson‘s family.

Ryan Reise

Ryan is the head and founder of Calvary chapels national youth group movement called the “whosoevers”. Ryan believes that you can just love someone into the kingdom. He mentions nothing about repentance and faith in Jesus Christ in his version of the gospel which is loving someone into the kingdom. I don’t know where that is ever been found in the Bible, but of course I am being sarcastic because most Bible, believing Christians know we cannot just love somebody into the kingdom. You can hear Ryan statement on YouTube in the video apostasy report-the fall of Calvary Chapel. The video is presented by Servus Christie. his statement happens around 19 minutes and 17 seconds into the video. Please remember this video because I will be making other references from it not only for Ryan but for other leaders of Calvary Chapel. Ryan is also friends with false convert and off again on again, guitarist for the secular band Korn Brian head Welch. On the Calvary chapel, radio program, Ryan and Brian “Head” Welch joked about Brian being the sinner, who returned to the rock band Korn. This was a blasphemous mockery of the Lord, and the supposed conversion of Brian head Welch. But the most heretical act by Ryan was when he attended a supposed revival in Los Angeles, hosted by Lou Engle. Lou Engle kissed the feet of a Catholic priest, and then apologized for the reformers for causing division with our Catholic brothers. Ryan, while being in attendance posted on social media about this and said that it was such a cool time of prayer and revival and that he had to check it out for himself. This is also documented and the apostasy report the fall of Calvary Chapel on YouTube. you can witness Lou Engles heresy of kissing the Catholic priest, feet on YouTube by searching Azuza now Catholic and evangelical reconciliation. And the video is presented by major change. You can see this heretical act at seven minutes and 38 seconds of the video. This is the heretical act that Ryan thought was so cool. this should make any Bible believing Christian cringe. Catholics are not our brothers. They are not even Christians at all. They are just like any other works based religion in the world.

In part four of this article, I will be asking the question who is Brian Broderson? Until then many blessings to you in Jesus name.