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Ex-spouse Consumed with Teaching of Dr. Murray
Question/Comment:
----- Original Message -----From: Emailer #272To: Paul StringiniSent: Sunday, July 05, 2015 5:39 AMSubject: Ex spouse consumed with teaching of Dr. Murray
I have had a very negative experience with an ex spouse who does want to reconcile. However, the idea of building upon a friendship to establish a healthy reconciliation and marriage is a volatile subject.
He has been studying via internet and satellite TV with the Reverend Murray. He has become obsessed with the end times and through the obsession preparing for the end times. He is building a compound. Yesterday I talked with him and he was cruel regarding his view points of the Kenites and anyone that does not follow with Dr. Murray's teaching. I was not sure if I was engaging with someone who has lost all sense of reason due to his complete belief that no minister other than Dr. Murray has interpreted the Bible correctly and the only Bible to be used is the original King James version.
It was reported to him I was seen talking with a whore-monger and through that report I was chasing the person down. The real truth is he stopped at a location and I stopped and asked him about an attorney in town. The conversation was absurd and had and held no truth regarding my Christianity. Because I used the words relationship with Christ and Spiritual relationship he has decided he has heard "I am not saved'.
He is isolated, works on his compound, believes that no one who listens to him should be written off.
One day I am his wife based on Biblical principal, then the next time I am to mind him, he is the boss and women are to submit to their husband whenever he wants sex.
Not the divorce was based on his extreme jealousy, faulty thinking, using me to work like a dog in a business that he closed overnight without notifying the staff. I never asked to build the business.
It seems he hears rumors, spies on me and draws very convoluted ideas. We previously went to an evangelical counselor that he refused to hear regarding any of his character issues. Somehow, he has listened to Dr. Murray, views his teaching as the only true teaching, does not work on his character flaws, etc. Cloaks them unless pushed at times. His go to statement is "you are putting me down". He truly believes in the end times, putting any money he has into the compound, furious with anyone not helping him. Yesterday I was attacked for not giving him the money, if I had any, "I will be furious with you if you do not help me" and money will be worth nothing" to build this place here.
He appears to be going into the Dr. Murray teaching deeper and deeper with the 'end times'. I must be a Kenite. I talked with him about some family concern, felt emotionally upset, told to leave, get myself right with God. There was no compassion or Christian words of solace. I left his presence more distraught than any comfort a Christian sister or brother would seem to provide.
He has made up in his own mind, I am not a Christian or a Saved person? He distorts conversations to fit the view of Dr. Murray.
What is happening with the people following Shepherd's Chapel and their narrow black and white ideas? I found the interaction to be frightening, accusatory regarding gossip and repetitive accusations of inappropriate relationships with anyone Dr. Murray does not approve of. He is angry if anyone takes a vacation, or does anything that is not related to preparing for what is coming. Fury for those living in town that should their be a civil uprising with no where to go that they are not prepared to lock themselves in their house and defend themselves. Where I live, it is not realistic to even think it is possible.
He is cold, says go home educate your self about the Kenites as it relates to Eve. I do study the Bible and believe in a relationship with Christ and that just sitting in a church without growth is not a relationship.
I am stunned with the events related to the teaching of Dr. Murray, inability of a follower to grasp without a foundation of true friendship based Christian character that a reconciliation and healthy marriage cannot have a strong foundation.
I do believe what I have experienced and witnessed is a person that has become more lost in their character traits with Dr. Murray to bolster them. A favorite statement regarding others is 'a leopard never changes his spots' but believes he is a changed man of God through Dr. Murray. Yet, there is this relentless cutting those who do not listen to that word out of his life.
Thank you for your time and website,
A reply would be good as this is beyond my understanding. He truly believes only Dr. Murray has an understanding of the history of the Bible and no other Bible should be read.
----- Original Message -----From: Paul StringiniTo: Emailer #272Sent: Monday, July 06, 2015 11:09 AMSubject: Re: Ex husband consumed with teaching of Dr. Murray
Hi Emailer #272,
Since I started my Shepherd's Chapel page in 2007, I've had many messages complaining of bad behavior by Shepherd's Chapel students such as you describe. It is a subject I have had a long time to consider. On the one hand, having been a former Shepherd's Chapel student, it actually surprised me at first to hear that so many of Arnold Murray's disciples would exhibit such blatantly unchristian attitudes and behaviors. And the reason this surprised me so much is because I know, from intimate acquaintance with Arnold Murray's teachings, that he would not approve of the attitudes and behaviors you describe. I occasionally replay old cassettes of his teachings and I am struck very often at the very low-key approach he instructs people to take when attempting to communicate his teachings. He often speaks of using gentleness and patience advising that his students need to love the people that do not have "eyes to see and ears to hear" (Chapel Doctrine) because, as he says, they can't help it, and they don't know any better.
So that really begs the question as to why so many of his disciples (but certainly not all) exhibit such blatantly rude, impatient, and judgmental attitude, towards people that Arnold says, over and over, that they should deal with gently and with patience? I have come to believe that these behaviors are the result of a fundamental contradiction between what Arnold says, and what Arnold does, and also between the explicit admonishments to deal with people gently and patiently, and the many unflattering and degrading things Arnold says about those who disagree with him..
Also, in Arnold Murray's version of Christianity, the focus is on communicating and believing in Arnold Murray's vision and interpretation of the bible. The focus is not on developing the individual believer into the image of Christ. Personal behavior takes a distant back-seat to acceptance of Arnold Murray's teachings. So people who follow Arnold Murray's teachings believe the proof of their election of God is in the fact that they believe the things that Arnold Murray teaches. The idea that the proof of their election would be as Peter describes in 2 Peter 1, simply stated, their exhibition of personal attributes consistent with uprightness, justice, and temperance, is completely alien to them. So it does not matter to someone such as your ex-husband, if they are behaving badly and you are behaving righteously, because in Arnold Murray's teachings (even though Murray taught that people should act rightly) the proof of their election is the fact that they see that Arnold Murray's teachings are true. And the proof that you are not elect, and that you did not stand with God in Murray's "world that was," is the fact that you repeatedly refuse to accept Murray's teachings.
Now I think your situation goes well beyond the problems with Murray's teachings. Like I said, Arnold Murray's teachings simply do not have the same effect on all the people who study with him. But it seems that he attracts narcissistic and unstable minds for whom the contradictions in Murray's teachings, and the unwarranted flattery he bestows on those who submit to his ideas, cause the sort of outrageous self-righteous hypocrisy you have been exposed to through your ex-husband.
Arnold Murray is a proven false prophet, having falsely set a date for the end times to begin back in the early 80's. He continually reinterpreted his vision to compensate for the lack of results. But as far as compound building, Arnold Murray never advised any such actions. Within the cult of personality which Arnold Murray represents, there are many instances of people who claim to be followers of Murrays teachings while reserving for themselves certain exceptions. It sounds like your ex-husband's view of the end times is actually different from Murray's, because Murray taught that the Antichrist would come peacefully and would not be able to harm a hair on your former husband's head. It sounds to me like your former husband thinks he knows better than Murray and thinks "preparation" involves laying up stores of canned goods as opposed to exercising oneself in righteousness.
I was not sure if there was a question in your letter, or if you just wanted to vent your frustration to someone who understands what you might be up against. So, if there is anything else I can assist you with, feel free to write again.
I am at your service,
Sincerely,
Paul Stringini
----- Original Message -----From: Emailer #272To: Paul StringiniSent: Wednesday, July 08, 2015 9:17 AMSubject: Re: Ex husband consumed with teaching of Dr. Murray
Thank you. I did not state a clear question. It does appear Dr. Murray does use the Strong Concordance and uses the interpretation of the word he chooses. It has been my understanding, as we all should know, that words in different languages do have a different meaning and relates to the time in history of the word. However, there seems to be a bias toward the meaning Dr. Murray may chose. As we know in the time we live, words do take on very different meanings. I suppose I am a bit disappointed in the narrow black and white 'truths'. I did some research on Dr. Murray and there seems to be some proof that he did have ties to 'white supremacists'. If this is true, it would indicate he is a false teacher. I believe Christ taught us to love all people that the Lord has created. I also noticed that his interpretation of those who go to hell comes from Jehovah Witness teaching and the belief of humans living prior to Adam and Eve relates to Mormon teaching. I may have not understood this as I did not research this particular belief more.
I do use other versions of the Bible from time to time and it appears that according to Dr. Murray I would be reading a false teaching.
I thank you for your time devoted to writing, recording and teaching. I appreciate your response. If you have the time, it would be kind of you to clarify Dr. Murray's mentors. I find the 'white supremacists' very disconcerting. We are to discern and have boundaries in our lives regarding who we associate with and worship with. I attend an integrated church in the deep Delta and there is opposition from many of the conservative, white churches and racial attitudes.
I agree with you regarding the character issues related to the ex husband. And, do believe a church of love and following Christ teaches we should strive to develop the character traits of Christ.
Dr. Murray's teaching can be interpreted based on a person's own belief system so the word can be 'bent' to satisfy a belief or need. I believe this illustrates the importance of reviewing our daily behaviors and thoughts to ask for forgiveness, recognize our strengths and weaknesses related to our character and to ask the Lord to be with each moment to live in thoughtfulness, prayer and love.
Thank you
----- Original Message -----From: Paul StringiniTo: Emailer #272Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2015 12:02 PMSubject: Re: Ex husband consumed with teaching of Dr. Murray
I would definitely not call Arnold Murray a white supremacist. He has many black disciples, and I have watched him contentedly (even jovially) blessing black babies and marrying mixed race couples. What it is, is that Murray uses some of the same teachings as white supremacists. Namely Anglo Israelism. But that does not make him a white supremacist any more than believing in annihilationism makes someone a Jehovah's Witness or proves that they derived their beliefs from Jehovah's witnesses. It would be like calling the Trinity a Roman Catholic doctrine and branding anyone who believed it a Roman Catholic (as someone I know used to do) These are positions held by people from different groups and you have to judge them on their own merits.
Calling Murray a white supremacist based on the fact that he has a similar doctrine as many supremacists would be guilt by association. I try to limit my criticism of Murray to the actual content of his teaching. Murray states over and over that God loves all the races. Murray is definitely race conscious, but not racist (at least not against most races - except the Jews/Kenites). And in his older teachings he dropped hints that the races should not intermingle. Murray has always taught that the races are separate creations, Murray denies that we are all descended from one man and one woman. But he scores a lot of points with his Black students over his adamant denials that Ham "turned black" and that the curse that Noah laid on Cainan was directed at the black race. Of course, most Christians I know don't believe that either, but that teaching was certainly out there for years and many blacks resent it. So Murray scores big points on that one
with many of them. In Murray's teaching, the elect of other races are "The Kings and Queens of the Ethnos" and are no less exalted before God than the elect of the white race.
So, no, Murray does not teach white supremacism, he teaches Anglo-Israelism, a doctrine you will find among many white supremacist, but which is not white supremacist in and of itself. Certainly, many white supremacists watch Murray, and his teachings can doubtlessly become a gateway to white supremacist beliefs for some. Murray's practice of teaching people to "read between the lines" and use of hints and subtlety in his teaching does lead some of his students to believe his secretly is a white supremacist, even though he behaves in a manner totally contradictory to that (kind of like the way some people believe Obama is a secret Muslim, even though, that would make him about the worst Muslim on the planet). I have met students of Murray's who take the Chapel's teachings to the level of white supremacy. But these are honestly rare.
For the most part, it is the Anti Semitism that people usually worry about. And that is pretty blatant. Murray believes that the Jews are the Children of the devil. You'll never hear him say that, because he denies that the Jews are the Jews. He believes that the people most people call Jews are actually the Kenites, the children of Cain, the sons of Satan. That is a whole can of worms in and of itself. I have a lengthy study dealing with that, but it does not sound like your ex is in the mood to listen to reason.
If there is anything else I can assist you with, feel free to write again.
I am at your service,
Sincerely,
Paul Stringini
----- Original Message -----From: Emailer #272To: Paul StringiniSent: Thursday, July 09, 2015 9:32 AMSubject: Re: Ex husband consumed with teaching of Dr. Murray
Thanks. I will read from your site about the Jews/Kenites. He has spoken about the Kenites a lot. I really do not understand about the children of the devil.
Once again, thank you for the time. Will continue to read your site. I rest on the love Christ has taught and to lean upon the word as the breath of life and strive for a pure heart and pray for wisdom of my relationship with the Lord.
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