Lakeview Christian Life Church

\r In Luke 10:25-28 an expert in the law asked Jesus “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answer was “Love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself’.”\r I believe when NJ, Sr. had a zeal for God and began this church out of love for the Lord. I believe he did love the Lord with all his soul, strength and mind. The love the Lord, however, has turned into pride within the entire family and therefore idolized himself as well as his family. \r God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Exodus 20:5 states “You shall not bow down to them (idols) or worship them; for I, the LORD your GOD, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,”. \r NJ, this is not the Lord’s church, it is your empire and is collapsing and will soon be gone. It is because of the pride, idolatry and the hate instilled in your church member against their families and friends who have left the church. God has been patient with you and I sincerely believe He wants you to repent and put GOD back on HIS THRONE. God wants HIS work done, not yours. \r more

Find another church.\r more

“And they were astonished at his teaching, for [Jesus] taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” (Mark 1:22.)\r Awe and amazement should astound you when you hear God’s Word preached! \r Friend, is that how your teacher at Lakeview comes across? Hardly!! \r Your pastor has God saying one thing one week, and something else the next! \r C'mon, God is immutable. Find a better teacher. Find a real church. more

You can have a small mansion in the hill country.\r With flat screen televisions in the master bath, \r and getaways with flights first class. \r But at least I will sleep soundly \r through your long night\r of the soul.\r Amen. more

Let’s take a moment to discuss this church’s “Remnant Theology.” I’m not going to waste anyone’s time and take it apart biblically. There’s not space or the interest for that here. Let’s just reboot our common sense and approach it that way.\r First off, google “Remnant Theology” and look at the Wikipedia page. Well: would you believe it, guess who else thought they were in the Remnant? Anglicans. Catholics. Seventh-day Adventists. \r Each of these groups had people who were fascinated with the notion that *even in the fold of believers* there are better, purer people. You know, the good ones, the ones we can trust. In short, us. \r \r There are serious theological problems with this since so much of the Remnant stuff hails from the Old Testament. But just on a purely academic level, look at the hubris required to even preach this stuff.\r First, you have to believe there is such a thing as an inner, inner circle. \r Second, you have to believe you are clever enough to discover it exists.\r Third, you have to believe that you’re lucky enough to BE in it, or at least have a chance to.\r Only it’s not luck is it? It’s that you’re smarter, more faithful and obedient. You’re BETTER. Basically Remnant Theology is about being better than others, even avowed Christians. And not just that there is a group that is better, it’s that IT’S YOU. Or it CAN BE YOU. \r And there we go. The beating heart of this church, the legalism. Of course the core of their theology would line up with their strivings, their actions-based system.\r Everyone thinks they were somebody famous in a past life. Everybody wants to be special. It’s not enough to just be you, humble, accepting God’s grace, working with Him to show His love and mercy. \r Other elephant in the room: if your church is tiny and shrinking by the week, of course you claim Remnant Theology. Just like the unlovable buffoon who confronts his glaring singleness by claiming that he’s “an acquired taste.” No friend. At some point you have to come to terms with reality. It’s not us. It’s you. You’re not in some mystical group of 3,000 that you wrenched out of its scriptural context. You just need to stop being you.\r more

The people at Lakeview are intelligent, rational men and women—created in the image of God—who are responding logically to what they are being taught. The root of the problems at Lakeview lies entirely with the pastoral staff whose hearts are deceitful and who do not understand Truth. \r The teaching at Lakeview is distorted because of the leadership’s basic erroneous premises and faulty reasoning. Consequently, their conclusions are heretical. Christians must understand that the Holy Bible is the final authority for the rule of faith and life. The so-called “prophecy” at Lakeview has often been demonstrated to be incorrect. In our post-apostolic age, a truer definition of prophecy is simply “sound expository preaching.” Prophetic direction can be helpful to the hearers only to the extent that it is backed up with proper application of scripture. \r Use your heads, beloved! Our faith must be grounded in the Word. The Bible takes amazing pains to prove itself, so that we can safely stand on its correct application. We NEVER need to walk by “blind faith.” If you hear something from the pulpit that doesn’t jive with scripture—whether at Lakeview, or anywhere else—investigate it carefully with all the reliable resources that you can find. \r Doubt is the opposite of Faith. If you can’t reconcile teachings at Lakeview with the inerrant Word of God, then search for, and find the wrong premise or bad logic in the teaching which has led to the faulty conclusion. Our relationship with Jesus must be our primary concern. Correct doctrine is vital because it enables us to understand His attributes and who our Lord really is. At Lakeview, bad teaching distorts the message or our precious Savior, and has catastrophic consequences.\r That’s reason enough to leave. more

Dear Daenarys T,\r I really appreciate your post here. You nailed the sentiments that we who remained were programmed to have--treating you and others as though they were dead; We were told to “pick up and move on,” just as you said. We closed our hearts. You summed up expertly the dynamic that drives this cult, and we obediently followed the leader. What a sad commentary.\r But not all have continued the downward spiral. Many eventually began to realize the deception and brainwashing that we were being exposed to. As Lakeviewers have become bold enough to think for themselves, there continues to be a trickling out of remaining members. It doesn’t excuse our treatment of you and those who left before us, but now that we are out we are free to extend love to one another and healing. May our mutual goal be to move on and hopefully even forgive those who remain in that awful darkness!\r Each one of us who is bold enough to leave opens the door a little wider for the next one, and the next…\r I do pray for your healing and for the healing of all who follow us out. more

Sixteen years old is the most emotionally vulnerable you will ever be. If you have been 16, you know what it is like. It’s not easy to live through, and it’s probably tough to be around. But if you have any illusions about being a caregiver, it’s your responsibility to show the highest level of compassion and empathy when you encounter someone this age who is in trouble. Because you were 16 once. And you should remember.\r I was sixteen when I was in this church, and I was not treated right.\r I was treated like my feelings were shameful, something to be hidden away.\r I was sixteen when my best friend and boyfriend left this church in rapid succession. 100 people left Lakeview in less than a year, including their families. Everyone lost a friend. But everyone around me, as far as I could see, picked right up and moved on. They closed their hearts the moment those who left walked out the door. The shunning was in full effect. \r The people who left were worse than dead. I know this because I got in trouble for grieving for them.\r \r When I was 16 and my best friend and boyfriend were forced out of my life, I was incredibly sad. I was sad for a very long time. I was sad the way that you would be if these things had happened to you when you were 16.\r \r I was diagnosed with depression and given drugs to treat it. And I was kicked out of this church’s school. The reason given was that I was dragging everyone down. To be clear: those charged with my care, religious leaders who spoke for God—decided that the way to deal with my sadness from losing my friends was to remove me from my remaining friends.\r And that is the theme of this unholy cult from beginning to end. People—they are useful as long as they attend. As long as they give. As long as they smile. The minute they are gone, their very memories become profane things, to be cut from your heart, never mourned. If you dare to mourn, you become as disposable as those who left.\r Only the church matters. Only the Jameses matter. Only the façade, the hollow claim that excuses all this blasphemy, that the “Lord’s presence is here every week,” matters. What godforsaken things they do to others, to their sons and daughters, to themselves, in God’s name. How He must weep.\r \r If you are still in this church, and you can help it, never be vulnerable. Never be hurt where they can see it. Don’t be 16.\r more

Anyone can discern the integrity of a ministry by examining its fruit. \r Good hermeneutics is “rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” Unfortunately, the pastoral staff at Lakeview has no formal theological training, and the leaders are known for wrongly interpreting scripture and wrongly applying its divine message. Misinterpreting scripture results in confusion and wrong conclusions, which reap disastrous consequences! The fruit of Lakeview is TWISTED truth which is more damaging than outright lies!\r The fruit of Lakeview’s ministry expresses a sorry testimony. Countless families have been damaged, separated, and destroyed as a direct result of errant preaching and flawed counsel. The pastor continually skews Holy Scripture to deceptive ends and manipulates the flock in a manner that kills relationships and drains the life from the congregation. \r If you’re a member of Lakeview, you’ve seen this bad fruit as you’ve experienced the manipulative practices that are going on. The best thing for you to do—whatever the cost—is to get out. Though your family may forsake you for a time, there is a real hope that you can eventually be reunited. Each member who leaves weakens the forces that bind your family to that ungodly system.\r Please don’t try to go it alone when you leave. Renewed faith in the God of the Bible is essential to replace residual bitterness with forgiveness, so it is vital that you find a church that is committed to careful and informed Biblical preaching. You will need to replace your former idolatrous devotion to a false apostle with sound theology. You will need help with this. My own search for Truth has been difficult and I continue to UNLEARN the false teachings by which I was brainwashed. \r My own healing has been greatly aided by many godly saints who have patiently nurtured me, loved me, and corrected me. The “Five Solas” of the Protestant Reformation help keep me focused. In summary, they are:\r ""Sola Scriptura"" (the Bible alone is our highest authority);\r ""Sola Fide"" (We are saved through faith alone in Jesus Christ);\r ""Sola Gratia"" (We are saved by the grace of God alone);\r ""Solus Christus"" (Jesus Christ alone is our Lord, Savior, and King); and\r ""Soli Deo Gloria"" (We live for the glory of God alone). \r Remember, the Bible alone contains all the revelation that is necessary to be reconciled to God. It declares that our justification is by faith alone in Christ alone—all initiated by God’s grace alone in our regeneration, and solely for the glory of God! \r Good preaching by men of integrity—coupled with the Holy Spirit’s faithfulness to breathe life on His Word—has been an invaluable asset in gaining a better understanding of God’s Perfect Word.\r My prayer for you is that you find a church with a pastor who rightly divides the Word of Truth; a church that produces good fruit, which is evident to all. more

I know that members of the association at Lakeview feel that they are being persecuted. I am sorry that they feel that way- however, at some point they- or should I say YOU who are reading this have to ask sooner or later if everyone who has posted on this website is being false. We are not. Most of us are hurting or have been seriously hurt by the leadership. YOU know of many families torn apart. I for one have letters, dated and signed by the highest members of leadership and members of the congregation that tell me that I am no longer welcome, that the pastor is ashamed of me because I stood up for my family. We are telling YOU the truth and eventually the house of cards will come down. It is true- by their fruits you will know them- look at the fruits in the leadership. Read Toxic Faith or Churches That Abuse. Those books will help. Also, many of us are still here waiting to help. more

Your children get married. Your children start families of their own. Your children get sick. \r \r It is your privilege, it is your right, it is your job, to experience these things with them. \r \r You have forfeited your privilege, squandered your right, and failed at your job if you have willingly cut off your children.\r \r If you have done this out of a ghastly misinterpretation of the Scriptures, please, by all that is holy, reacquaint yourself with the Founder of your Faith, and as you meet Him, ask for humility and the grace to undo the damage.\r \r If you have done it out of fear of the James family and their henchman extraordinaire Chris Otis, etc., you are a coward. And I'm sorry to say, you are a fool. \r \r Leave now. And begin the work of reclaiming what should have been yours this whole time. Jesus will guide you. Trust him. Believe in Love. more

Isn't it interesting that Thank Y and Christian S don't have one single ""Like"" on their comments no matter how many times they repost? Hmmmm. I find that very interesting. Interesting indeed.\r more

Thank Y, do you ever get finger fatigue from hitting 'Refresh' and 'Edit' to keep up with all this? Just curious.\r \r I have to admit, I pop a bag of popcorn every time I sit down to catch up on my CitySearch. This has achieved the same entertainment value as any show on Netflix. \r \r Sometimes I feel bad though. I feel like former members of this place are doing little more than poking fun at current members, mocking their lack of reasoning abilities and common sense. It almost feels to me like making fun of a cripple for the fact that he can't walk. Does that make sense?\r \r Do you think that these people in this church don't know their own regrets? That they don't regret the decision to drop out of college? Or skip the promotion that would have paid the bills? Or the chance they had to marry their true love now living outside the walls? \r \r Of course they do. \r \r They live those nightmares every day of their life, and it eats them up inside. I know it. Because I lived it. I knew what it meant to swallow my own intuition without a word of protest. It was terrifying at times how much my mind raged against the machine. I knew better, and yet I could not rise. \r \r Let us continue to show grace. Not because we are better human beings, but because we were once slaves to a very powerful mind game ourselves. Sometime I imagine how we would feel about our own life's regrets if we could, but for a moment, envision in our mind's eye our own selves, laughing at how easy it was to defeat a less knowledgeable child at the game of chess. more

Rhymestone Coyboy Y, your poem made my week. :-) more

I believe this is a cult. Please don't visit, but if you do, please go in with your eyes open. more

Lakeview Christian Life Church practices a peculiar form of idolatry. It has made gods out of its own set of beliefs and practices, its community life, and its leaders. Loyalty to that organization is more important than real love for God and more important than any real understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ. The love that many of the older members once had for their Savior has cooled to lukewarm and has been replaced by a sort of dogged determination to endure there to the end, as if that will yield a greater reward or position in heaven. The whole place is quite ingrown by now, and I imagine many of its members are more depressed than ever. I was once a member there. I used to say to myself, “If God has you in a prison, make friends with the walls.” Then one day I really listened to the things I was thinking and realized I had lost the joy I once had in Christ. It had been replaced by an oppressive environment of neonomianism, constant scrutiny, and endless work in the church and school. The forced shunning of departed friends and family members just added to the sadness. And the ever-changing tone and content of sermons and so-called prophecies spoken at Sunday worship meetings made God seem like He was moody and irritable—NOT the same yesterday, today, and forever and certainly not the holy, awesome, amazing, wonderful and loving God that He is.\r \r As I’m writing these words, I’m all too aware of all the idols my own heart manufactures and how often I need to ask for God’s forgiveness and repentance, so please don’t think I take joy in throwing stones at Lakeview. But if you’re contemplating visiting there, I would have to say, give it a miss. And if you are a member there secretly reading these posts, please consider using the good sense and intelligence God gave you to think about what you’re doing there. A healthy church will hold up under your internal scrutiny as well as outside scrutiny. Talk to Christians who are outside of Lakeview. Do some serious reading. Contact old friends who left and listen to their stories. And know that if you love and serve Jesus Christ, no one can snatch you from your heavenly Father’s hand. You have many brothers and sisters in Christ praying for you, so take heart and take courage! more

Morning! God gives us children. Children leave LCLC. Children become dead to their parents who remain. And, parents raise children in LCLC. Parents leave LCLC. Parents become dead to their children. This is pathological. It requires no scripture to understand. To believe God commands this pathology is an abomination. Yes, grace is available, to those not beyond repentance and sanity.\r \r Hi Guys! How durable is love! And valuable! To chase the elusive dream of my place in the Jamesian Kingdom of God, while shunning and avoiding my own family, those very people God gave me who taught me what love is, is quite a feat. But I was able to do it for 12 years. Thank you Lord, for opening my blinded eyes! I wonder where all my tithes and offerings really went? \r \r Good Morning! It was agonizing when I began waking up. I could no longer support the brutality, the shunning, the invisibility of those deemed ""not of us"". Grace was whatever Norman and Becky said it was at any particular time. Jesus wasn't there. I saw it. Many saw it. The implications were terrifying. Grace brought my family through. Jesus will help you through, too.\r \r The life blood of any tyranny is the control of information. The internet has democratized access to info. Once the propaganda stream is breached, the regime has only brute force. Expect the beatings to increase. As closing ones hand around sand causes the sand to escape, so will a tyranny's response to perceived threats hasten its collapse. \r \r Good morning, Christian S! Finally warmer temps! I remember I would advise folks,""Just have a good Holy Spirit blow-out with your family and get on with the Kingdom!"" At 63 I ask::how do parents functionally murder their own kids? I know the verses that are trotted out, but how do the parents purge themselves of the love for these gifts God has blessed them with? We oppose abortion but support killing our grown children?\r \r Dear Whosoever Believes, your story has been repeated many, many times. As you found your own spiritual feet, the only power they held over you were the friendships and relationships inside the walls. The withdrawal of the love and support was to starve you into returning. Your courage and faith to embrace freedom beyond the walls is an inspiration and a source of strength for us. We have all been here. God bless you and your husband.\r \r \r Good morning Thank Y! I was thrilled to see your comment with the edit. This means we are talking, and this is very encouraging. Your admonition is welcome. Fighting God is not wise. \r \r These reviews reflect the individual experience of each writer, each who loves and serves God as you do. I guess the fly in the ointment is the shunning, How does one turn love on and off? We both know when we have our conclusion, we can find many verses to substantiate it.(the rules of exegesis notwithstanding) But love is less amenable to being ""convinced"".I can't see Jesus sanctioning shunning. I understand you can., but don't you wonder? Power can be corrupting. Heavens, if the Sanhedrin couldn't recognize Jesus why are we so sure we can? But love, that silly notion, keeps us honest.\r \r Christan S, thank you for your defense of LCLC. I encourage you to hold fast to your love of Jesus. His grace is amazing! I hope you have a wonderful day. With respect, negative reviews on an internet site by folks with many years of experience at LCLC, may not rise to the level of persecution. \r more

After reading the other reviews from those inside, I am actually even more concerned with the line that going after a church may be warring against Pastor James himself. Oh wait it was God himself. The simple phrase of a good tree does not bear bad fruit is ridiculous. There is no good fruit. read the reviews, ask yourself all of these people attacking for no reason? we attack the tyranny at work , the spirit of Jezebel, the spirit of control and manipulation..which may i remind you is as of witchcraft. All this is done from a gleaming unattainable pulpit set in the costume of an apostle. I pray for your blind eyes to be open to the truth. This church ruins lives. I attend a Church now, that has massive outreaches. In the local city, in the schools, middle and elementary. They provide lunches for underprivileged children so they have food all weekend. They fought for, and achieved, permission to do bible studies in the schools. This church is completely cut off from society. They have no outreaches, save for a food fair or garage sale, in which no witnessing or outreach goes on, just to fill the coffers of already overstuffed fat cat pockets. The shunning, as already explained happens frequently and often. The shunning is loosely based on misinterpreted scripture on church discipline. It also is done on a whim and based solely on whether or not you attend the ""home"" church. The leadership makes the decisions as to who marries and who does not, who stays married and who divorces, then who remarries whom. The ""divorcee"" then is publicly scorned and horribly maligned from the guise of the pulpit. The leadership has no formal training, nor do they have any credentials spare their own and the pastors are children, or ""prophesied"" into positions. The armed security should be another red flag. Why would a church need cops and security on platform? I could go on ad infinitum about the spirits of Jezebel and control that run rampant there. the members ""clothed in white serving their lord"" who are so steeped in the most perverse of hidden sin. The thing that worries me? ""It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin."" The false doctrine is calling down judgment upon themselves. I pray that this evil will soon be exposed, and the dark places laid to light. Families restored, and that repentance and forgiveness abound. \r more

As I have stated before, I am a Catholic. Curiously, my parents were both Catholic and complained about the abuse of nuns and priests as kids. I guess those were different times, but it is ironic that they still had no problems raising 4 children in the abuse of LCLC. It may seem strange to some that I have chosen to become Catholic, but I was shown love and support by this church throughout several trying times in my life. Always remember that God works in mysterious ways. Matthew 18:20 ""For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."" It seems like a pretty simple formula to me. I understand the folks at Lakeview may disagree, but anywhere that 2 or more are gathered in His name, He will be there. It kind of makes all that talk about LCLC being the only chosen people of God seem a little presumptuous, don't you think?\r \r I have been fortunate to belong to an active, young Catholic parish where the presence of God is felt. Now don't get me wrong, I know that Catholicism probably takes more criticism than just about any other Christian based religion. We've had priests that have done terrible things to children, popes that have clearly been wicked men, etc. But we've had some good ones, too. Our current pope really seems to get what Christianity is all about with his continual outreach. The point I am trying to make is that I am not going to defend every part of my church. I am not going to deny some of the actions of priests and former popes. So why does LCLC feel the need to deny their practices? Shunning is what you do. It's really the cornerstone of who you are as a people. Why deny it? If you truly want to partake of His kingdom and if you think that you need to shun in order to get there, then why wouldn't you just own up to it? Wouldn't your God be disappointed in your lack of loyalty? Luke 14:26 ""If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple."" Even though you misapply this verse, this is where it all comes from...right? This is what you believe, is it not? I am astounded that you are so cowardly as to not stand up in your beliefs. But maybe that's good...it's got you thinking and starting to challenge and question what your faith is truly all about. As I said before, I am proud to be a Catholic. It is very encouraging to know I am part of a church where I can question things and in some cases even outright disagree and yet they still welcome me with love, understanding that I am ultimately responsible for me own salvation. more

Something to think about...If you look at other churches on this website you will not find information like this. Sad part is LCLC will just see this as persecution that they are to endure for the sake of the kingdom instead of - maybe we should look at this. I remember hearing growing up that the Lord was looking for the remnant, and in a nut shell they were the remnant and everyone else did not have the truth. That is how they explain either their dwindling numbers or their small congregations to begin with in the other churches of their association. Just a little something to think about...\r \r -Prior post\r The parable of the Tares among the Wheat, I think every Christian is familiar with this writing found in Matthew 13:24-30. I personally have read it several times, but after the things that have been brought to light in the last couple of weeks I felt a huge release from them. So many of us have lost love ones and that is the reason why we are voicing our opinions on this website. We are trying to save others from having the same thing happen to them. Some of us have been hurt badly and it is hard to heal and others have been pressing on by the grace of God and we are better than we have ever been. The bottom line is this I wanted to share this with my brothers and sisters who feel the same pain that I feel and the loss that I have and that is this. Verse 30 says “Allow both to grow together until the harvest and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” It also says in vs. 41 The Son of Man will send forth His angels and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness and will throw them into the furnace of fire in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” For so long after we left the church this is what I knew the church was saying about me, or anyone who has left the church. But today as I read His word, I found so much comfort in knowing that it is He is the one who does the separating between the tares and the wheat. He is the one who will claim me in the end if I am faithful to walk in His paths. Today I want to say to all of us who are where we are today, there is hope for us because if we belong to God and follow His ways we know where we will be in the end. Those that have been “stumbling blocks” in our walk with Christ, will have to answer for that. I give my love to all of you who have been hurt, lied about, and have just wanted the truth to be revealed, one day it will be. Maybe not on this earth, but when we stand before Christ He is our bottom line. Fear no more, they are the ones that are missing out not us. Why do you think they are looking at sites like this? Why do you think they know about our lives when they are told to forget about us? more