Teen-Challenge-The Ministry Of God

Today, our young people are growing up faster than ever. Smoking, drinking, druging, and sexuality to name a few. Alone with school drop-outs, younger people are faced with adult problems at an earlier age. Teen-Challenge is a 12-15 month discipleship.
Very strict on disiplining not only the troubled teen up to 17 years of age, but the troubled adult also. Broken families, sexual problems, disfunctional relationships turned around leads to GOD's Love and understanding and self-worth.

My 24 year old son was in Teen Challenge, and he was mentally abused, ostracized for not "speaking in tongues", and also once they found out he was requesting a "real" substance abuse program, was told that he was "spitting in the face of Jesus, and now you're going to prison!" If an attorney was not hired, I am certain that they would have given probation a bad report so that he would end up in prison where they feel he needed to be "broken for Christ". They adamantly abhor any secular substance abuse counseling, or psychological counseling. I pity those that are court ordered to this "program."

John Rapier wrote:

Today, our young people are growing up faster than ever. Smoking, drinking, druging, and sexuality to name a few. Alone with school drop-outs, younger people are faced with adult problems at an earlier age. Teen-Challenge is a 12-15 month discipleship.
Very strict on disiplining not only the troubled teen up to 17 years of age, but the troubled adult also. Broken families, sexual problems, disfunctional relationships turned around leads to GOD's Love and understanding and self-worth.

At the Shafter and Riverside, CA Teen Challenge locations, Jesus is used more like a modern-day Sword of Damocles than a loving and understanding savior.

These two locations employ "discipline" in such a way that crosses into civil rights violation territory. The abuse that "students" are forced to endure (or leave and be put back in jail or state prison) motivated me to put together a web site:

http://www.teenchallengeexposed.com

You can pray until your tongue is dragging on the ground, but you'll never turn a pickle back into a cucumber. Never.

If the Rock Falls on you, you will be Crushed-Moses
If you Fall on the Rock you will be Broken-Jesus

Do not carry(force) any Vessel into the Temple.
"Soul Molesting" will make them Resent...
The 10 Commandments were replaced with 2 New.
Love (it) OUT of them, do not BEAT (it) out; this kind only comes/goes OUT with prayer and fasting.

Holy Charity in all meekness.

When religion feels justified to harm others "in the name of Jesus" i.e. send them to prison or jail instead of referring them to a program that is a better fit (i.e. a secular substance abuse program),then religion is guilty of damaging souls. And this kind of civil rights abuse that IS taking place in some of these "faith-based" rehabs is VERY disturbing in our society... What's worse, is that I have heard that some Probation officers are CHOOSING Teen Challenge and demanding graduation OR else their "person on probation" goes to prison / jail. In other words, sign onto the "Assemblies of God" religion, walk the walk, "speak in tongues" etc....or you'll go to jail. Doesn't this smack of civil rights violations!!!??? The experience I personally experienced with my 24 yr. old son was an attempt on Teen Challenge's part to sabotage his program change. Teen Challenge blatantly told my son that he was "spitting in the face of Jesus" for even thinking about attending AA meetings....Kinda sounds like Jonestown mentality to me....Stay away from the Kool Aid!.... One of my son's roommates was Bi-polar. Teen Challenge took his meds away, saying that Jesus heals everything. Teen Challenge teaches hyper-religiosity to replace addiction. Then they tell you that you are "healed" by Jesus...If I hadn't personally experienced this nightmare myself with my son, I would have not believed that this kind of stuff actually was going on....

John Rapier wrote:

Today, our young people are growing up faster than ever. Smoking, drinking, druging, and sexuality to name a few. Alone with school drop-outs, younger people are faced with adult problems at an earlier age. Teen-Challenge is a 12-15 month discipleship.
Very strict on disiplining not only the troubled teen up to 17 years of age, but the troubled adult also. Broken families, sexual problems, disfunctional relationships turned around leads to GOD's Love and understanding and self-worth.

I went 2 a teen challenge centre in the uk and left after a week! I feel i was given false info which lead me 2 give up my flat, leave my family and job, all 2 return 2 nothing. It was nothing like i expected and very religious and strict. I was told i could leave anytime i wanted but wen i tried my money was with held, i was not allowed 2 phone home and was told if i left the front gate i wld be goin in2 satans arms once more!! Also they said i couldnt have any love for my boyfriend if i left. Thank goodness i managed 2 get away. The girls there were all clones who ended up not bn able 2 think for themselves in fear of goin 2 hell. People really should get as much info as poss b4 goin and really think it through.

i just wondered why Michael stayed at teen challenge for a year if the teen challenge programme was such a horrifying experience? Teen challenge must be some sort of success otherwise there would not be so many organisations worldwide. It's not teen challenge, it's the power of God that IS the success!!

May I share this with you,?

LOL, I hope you said yes (c:

1)
Praying is awesome, praying for others and self betterment.

2) Don't be so quick to pray for your own comfort. Instead pray what ACTION you might take in order to do as God asks YOU to do with YOUR knowledge of hardships.
Our OWN discomfort is HOW we learn what others are going through~ experiences that MAKE our Faith and KNOWLEDGE larger, so that we MAY use those hard times to help Gods people. Help with ACTION .

3)
GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS BY PUTTING PEOPLE IN YOUR PATH, that are willing to take the brunt for speaking up. EVERYBODY has to be willing to implement Gods will, by putting their own comfort level to the bottom of the list.

Recognise when God places a person in your path that has been told to give you a truth. Even if it makes you uncomfortable to here it. If God does NOT lie~
~~~~then believe Gods word that prayers are answered.

4) Reading and memorizing the Bible is great, however it is NOT the only part of Gods plan.... memorizing the Bible and praying for our own comfort are a bit selfish sounding, it seems like we are ONLY out to help OURSELVES.

5) We are NEVER so perfect that God will quit sending messengers to help our own personal Journey~ Only God can call us a completed masterpiece. Therefore, leave it to God to decide YOUR hardships. He NEEDS people of all experiences to REACH all others.

6) Judge not the actions of others, even when the sin is against Gods teachings. It is NOT our job to form an opinion about anothers sin.
IT IS our JOB to bring COMFORT to those THAT have sinned, NOT take it personally and dismiss the person from there church, by making them uncofomrtable.

7) ALL have sinned, and it is a sad day when a church JUDGES the deeds of others, it shows a lack of spirit and grace that GOD gives us!

8) If we have sinned against OTHERS by passing judgement, then it is IN GODS BEST INTEREST that we reach out AND BE UNCOMFORTABLE with the admission we did WRONG~ ONLY then can a church move on and increase Gods fold~ Only THEN are we IMPLEMENTING what we read and know as truths.... Why bother reading if we are NOT acting as God mandates. If God does NOT lie and we PRAY for eternal peace and rest with Jesus and God, Then why do we try and hide the sin of gossip and JUDGING from God?

10)
Do NOT LIE to God! He KNOWS what we have done. To correct the problems we must first:
1)Admit mistakes... we may be uncomfortable in doing so, but so was the PERSON or persons you scared away from Christianity by being hypocrites.

2) MAKE apologies to the persons you dismissed as sinners. They are the people that need our support. PLUS we ourselves became sinners when we JUDGED the others. God TELLS us to UNDO our sins in order to be saved ,we must do right by all.

3) Make ammends for the crime against God, to THE sinners you dismissed. Set up programs of SUPPORT and conversation.

Many Blessings and prayers to repair damaged hearts and souls~

mrs r wrote:

i just wondered why Michael stayed at teen challenge for a year if the teen challenge programme was such a horrifying experience? Teen challenge must be some sort of success otherwise there would not be so many organisations worldwide. It's not teen challenge, it's the power of God that IS the success!!

Teen challenge is a wonderful programme that offer people a haven to be able to break free from there addiction. The programme is very structured and discipined, and thats what people find horrifying not to mention the power of God within these centre.
Addicts find it very difficult coming under authority because there are used to rebellion against it. And when they are asked to be responsible they cant cope and run away, also having to face the root issue in there life that is causing them to find comfort in drugs and alcohol.i was a student for 18 months and it has totally given me a new life i would be dead without it..God bless

Hi there all. i just wondering if i knew you, follower if Christ? I went through the programme in year 2000 and graduated in year 2001. God totally transformed my life, using Hope House as a tool to do this, and it is God that keeps me from day to day. I had absolutely no hope, but Teen Challenge offered me hope and i thank God for the ministry. I was able to face up to many issues in my life, many of them i had never been able to face up to with secular counselling, and afterwards i was able to help other girls that were in the same position that i was once in. i am now married, have to beautiful children and a personal relationship with Christ. Teen Challenge is an excellent ministry, but JESUS is better.

For more on Teen Challenge, please visit- http://teenchallengecult.blogspot.com/

ALl that reach out to teens are a HUGE BLESSING~ Ket these kids know people do care (c:

i went to victory outreach which is a break off from teen challenge. i had seen things there that made me not to ever step in a church again. if teen challenge is like the outreach... do not go there. they inslave your mind to worship your pastor. they tell you if you ever leave their church your gonna backslide and fall, youll never ever find a church like ours. they have caused divorces, threaten and also beat up people when they have said they will expose them. i seen over a million dollars disapear, and reapear 2 years later,pastor with new cars, big fancy houses. i know of things that will blow your mind...all i can say be warned and always, everyday pray if where your at is not of GOD, lead you out of there...you never know when the pastor will take a turn. never be comfortable..
sorry to be so negative... just things never are seen until you experiance it....
GOD BLESS all

Ok, yeah.. Soya!!!!!!

Eureka City Council to Look at Teen Challenge Appeal This Evening: Lamberson said his other two facilities in Arcata and Eureka operate without a state license and without medical staff and, although 80 percent of the residents are recovering from drug or alcohol abuse, the facilities are “Christian discipleships,” not “drug and alcohol programs.” Read the full articles here- http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay....

This is PROOF that Teen Challenge is not a treatment center!!! They are only out to CONVERT people to their religion!!!

its just away to lure people in. also to keep them from going to jail. im telling you ...it looks good from the outside...but the inside.well, like i said victory outreach is a break off, these people can be dangerous.

Hi - mixed feelings about some of the posts here - I am one of Teen Challenge Uks earlist graduates going back to the 80s and can really say that TC is a great organisation but not for every one and certaqinly the turn over of admissions I knew justifed that. Yes it did encourage a very strict and regimented view of life and didn't encourage free thought or a challenge to the leaders when you disagreed but it gave me a foundation. I'm not know a practicing evangelical and I do think for myself and work everyday with addicts as a criminal justice professional and can say hand on heart that some of the practices of the trained substance reduction programmes are as well meaning as that as TC and are as un=sefull / useless as TC. If someone wants to come off the drugs don't bitch about how they do it if its with the help of Jesus or Methadone just be grateful your son, daughter or firend isn't in a gutter with a needle in their arm or in a body bag as both friends of mine have been and so have some of those I work with.

I am a member there...not all the churches are like that.

Cherokee lady wrote:

My 24 year old son was in Teen Challenge, and he was mentally abused, ostracized for not "speaking in tongues", and also once they found out he was requesting a "real" substance abuse program, was told that he was "spitting in the face of Jesus, and now you're going to prison!" If an attorney was not hired, I am certain that they would have given probation a bad report so that he would end up in prison where they feel he needed to be "broken for Christ". They adamantly abhor any secular substance abuse counseling, or psychological counseling. I pity those that are court ordered to this "program."

I was on smack and crack and every other drug i could get my hands on for six years. I lost my whole family ten of my friends over dosed and died. I was homeless smelly begging stealing i had been to jail five times you could say things were not going to plan !! I went into teen challenge in scotland for two years and have not looked back it was not easy but i was datermined to change my life. I am now married to the most amazing women in the world I have a good job have just bought a house and am so happy I am free today and its thanks to JESUS and teen challenge . I am soory this event happend but you need to be at rock bottom and really want to change your life these people would never do anything bad against you try again and dont stop trying till you crack it.It is possible but with JESUS to help you it will be alot easyer GARY HATFIELD ESSEX

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/arti...

You're ruining our country one church at a time.