Hi, ArmyMom, and welcome to Walk Away.

I've heard of Calvary Chapel.  I think I read a few books by Chuck Smith in my time as a Christian, and in the late 90's a radio station was started in Northern Indiana that picked up feed from other CC stations and broadcasted different services from CC churches, so I listened to that too.  I seem to remember that they claimed to use a verse by verse teaching method, going straight through a book of the bible.  To me, they looked like a lot of other Charismatic type churches.  They were very rapture oriented also.  A Calvary Chapel, and also a Vineyard congregation have been started in my town within the past 5-10 years, so they are expanding out from the west coast.

Your description of them also reminded me of the churches I used to attend, as (especially when the denomination was originally founded in the 1880's) they also stressed they were following the early church pattern, and were the "true church".  The more modern churches downplayed this part somewhat, but it still floated in the background.  I've come to believe that the majority of American Christianity has not so much to do with any early versions of the faith, but more to do with the national hubris and the development of individualism in this country (for all the talk of unity, look at all the church splits!).  Calvary Chapel and other fundamentalist faiths are more based on teachings that cropped up within the past 100-200 years than with anything that Jesus and his disciples may have taught.

Hiya...ArmyMom

I haven't heard of the specific CC chruch you are referring to ......but I'm quite familiar with penticostism from researching the web...and a very short personal experience with a very small group in Aust. where my sibling and family still attend. I'm not 'of the spirit' and therefore don't have contact with them......you probably know that set up. ? I recon there are countless self run pastor or so called pastor less groups all over the world who practise similar tenets but different. (sarcasm)..but basically its control & fear..oh and never ever being good enough. ..that's to justify the need to follow the leader?

Yes..and like Shadow says...they are all similar in that these new chruches sell the same idea that they are the 'true' chruch. I've observed that when someone disagrees and becomes disgruntled with this kind of set up (charasmatic/pentie)...but want to proceed with their 'faith'..they either join another pentie or form another new group.(off shoot) same thing but with a difference leader......hence that's how it spreads....

Anyway...even though you may not find someone here at WA who's has direct experience with Calvary Chapel ...you'll find some who can relate to the overall story.

Look forward to reading and responding to more of your posts!

Hello ArmyMom,

http://www.rickross.com/reference/calvary/calvary5.html

This is a link to an article I have bookmarked.  Not sure if it will be of any help to you or not.  Might be a major trigger though, so my apologies if it is not what you were looking for.

Hi Imzoe,

Thanks for the link. Several years ago when we were starting to figure out there was something VERY WRONG, we found a book called The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse. It helped us so much because we felt that the authors must have been the proverbial "flies on the wall" in every room of that church (plus in the pastor's home!). Then we, along with a few others in the church, started to realize that the way things worked was like what we knew about cults. When I started checking into that, I found Ross's website, and his info confirmed our suspicions. It helped us have the courage to leave.

In fact, I posted a comment to him, and he put it on the site. You can read it at

http://www.rickross.com/reference/calvary/calvaryvisitor.html .    My comments begin "I would like to thank you for including Calvary Chapel within your Web site."

Thanks to everyone. I would love to have private discussions with any ex-Calvary Chapel-ers.

Over at ex-christian.net, there is a thread about a gal who's boyfriend dumped her for God--and he's going to Calvary Chapel.  You may want to check it out.  http://www.ex-christian.net/index.php?showtopic=7006

Also, here's some criticisms of the movement from Wikipedia, plus links with more info.  Concerns/Criticisms

ArmyMom,

The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by Johnson & VanVonderen is an excellent resource. 

Thanks for the link. 

Hi to All,

Thank you for all of the wonderful feedback! I have tried for several days to reply to you all, but everytime I did, Internet Explorer crashed. I finally found out what was wrong - I had a Malicious Add-on that I needed to disable.

 The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse was a tremendous help to us. See my post, 2-6-06.  It was hard - after being told for 12 years that if you left for another doctrine - even a Christian one - that to WALK AWAY you would be forsaking God's call, took a lot of courage and time to get over.

Thanks for the tips on "triggers." It has helped me understand a lot of the things I am still working out.

Yes, Calvary Chapel is VERY into the End Times doctrine ( Premillennial Dispensational, for those who have Been There Done That ), and link the Second Coming of Christ to the establishment of the Israeli state. Chuck Smith had "prophesied" that it would be in 1988 because the establishment of the nation of Israel is the greatest "sign" of the End Times. ANd Jesus in Matt.24 said "this generation will not pass away until all these [signs] take place." Since the Bible mentions that a generation is about 40 years, so that means after Israel is 40 years, the Rapture will happen. So Chuck SMith is very much into whats happening in Israel and thinks we should blindly support them.

BTW, Calvary Chapels also predicted the end of the world at Y2K. I had old CC friends in town who were actually going door-to-door to tell people about it. Well, we all know how that turned out.

Thanks again for all of your help and tips. Very much appreciated.

Paula