Article by Velour/ ©MtnShepherdess

Cartoon courtesy of David Hayward/©NakedPastor.Com  http://nakedpastor.com/

Dear Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley pastors/elders (Cliff McManis, Sam Kim, Tim Wong, Bob Douglas, and others) and church members/attenders:

In July 2016, Cliff McManis sent out an email about me to hundreds of church members. It’s all lies as the GBFSV pastors/elders desperately try to control the narrative, two years after I’d stopped going to Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley in 2014. The GBFSV pastors/elders have spiritually abused countless former church members (and probably current ones too). You spiritually abused Christians are not alone. When the GBFSV pastors/elders crossed me, they met their match. I’d seen them excommunicate/shun too many people (including a godly doctor in his 70’s), destroy peoples’ reputations, disrespect church members, interfere in other peoples’ business that is NONE of their business, order people to ‘obey’ and ‘submit’ to their ‘authority’ [they seem delusional and don’t deal with reality in the real world in Silicon Valley, that we’re voters, tax payers, adults, and we don’t have to ‘obey’ them].

The GBFSV pastors/elders have enabled their friend a Megan’s List sex offender/child pornographer to come to church, gave him church membership, leadership, access to everything and invited him to be around other peoples’ kids and the GBFSV pastors/elders told NO ONE.

They also invited him to volunteer at the children’s basketball camp with other peoples’ children who didn’t know that they were handing their kids over to a church that would give a Megan’s List sex offender access to their kids. The facility owners weren’t told either. I emailed the recent school that GBFSV rented a school gym from and said that if it all goes wrong and a child is abused on their property, they can get sued for it and their reputation can be harmed. Best not to rent to GBF.

In 2014 the Chairman of the Elder Board of Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley (“GBFSV” http://www.gbfsv.org/)  Sam Kim banned me from attending Sunday church services, banned me from attending any church events, banned me from having any communication with any church members (including my friends whom I’d known for nearly eight years), and told the Seventh Day Adventists who rent to GBFSV in Sunnyvale, California, (Silicon Valley) that I was banned from stepping foot on church property (just like the godly doctor, a senior citizen in his 70’s, faithful and loving husband to his wife of nearly 50 years, who was banned from church property and ordered to be excommunicated and shunned on trumped up charges by the spiritually abusive, dishonest, unethical GBFSV pastors/elders).  I was then excommunicated and ordered to be shunned before hundreds of church members.

My “crime”? I had not committed any act of immorality.  I would not bow to the authoritarian dictates of the chairman of the elder board who demanded that I apologize to all of the pastors/elders for telling him that I had a problem with their repeated threats to me about a Megan’s List sex offender at church whom I had discovered while doing a research project for a former sex crimes prosecutor.  Sam Kim, Chairman of the Elder Board, closed a meeting in which the four of pastors/elders who were present including Cliff McManis, Tim Wong, and Bob Douglas had bullied me for wanting our children to be safe in light of their friend who is sexually attracted to children and is on Megan’s List of sex offenders. They said I was “destined for Hell” and “not one of us”. They also defended child pornography and said it “wasn’t a big deal”. It’s a violation of federal and state laws with serious prison time for those convicted of it.

My name joined the “banned from church property” list with the wonderful Dr. Luke (not his real name), a godly doctor in his 70’s, loving husband to his wife Mrs. Luke (not her real name). The Lukes have been  married for nearly fifty years. Dr. Luke is also a loving father to grown children and a faithful evangelist at his office. The Lukes have accused the GBF pastors/elders of lying about them. Before them, it was a middle-aged professional woman in finance who left GBF for a saner church. She was ordered to be harassed by Cliff McManis and the elders (including Sam Kim and Tim Wong) for not “obeying” and “submitting” to her husband. She said the pastors/elders screamed at her.

Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley pastors/elders have invited their friend a Megan’s List sex offender, convicted for child pornography, to volunteer at the summer children’s basketball camp, unbeknownst to trusting parents and owners of facilities (like the Seventh Day Adventist School in Los Altos, CA). Parents who are members of the church, as well as those in the community (GBFSV advertised the basketball camp in a community newspaper) entrusted their children for five days to the church. They weren’t told straight up, and it wasn’t on the fliers, that a Megan’s List sex offender was invited. What parent in their right mind would trust their child(ren) to a church knowing that a sex offender could show up at any time? The pastors/elders said that “child porn wasn’t a big deal.” He was their friend and they would “trust him with [their] children.” The pastors/elders said their friend “was coming off Megan’s List” because “he said so”. The California Attorney General’s Office, which maintains California’s Megan’s List, called the GBF pastors/elders’ stories “all lies” and total lies”.  The Seventh Day Adventists could get sued if a child was abused on their property. The SDA’s are a self-insured denomination with strict child protection policies and trainings.

I contacted the school that GBF most recently rented a gym from for the basketball camp. I advised them of GBF pastors/elders casual attitude about sex offenders, disrespecting everyone from the California Attorney General to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s sex offenders’ task force [the sex offenders’ supervising law enforcement agency]. I said that it would be wise for the school to discuss this with their attorney, since the school could be sued if a child is harmed on their property, and best not to rent to GBF  in the future. Additionally, if a child is sexually abused then the other organization’s reputation is toast once it hits the news media and whatever sterling reputation they had will be in tatters because of the irresponsible, incompetent GBFSV pastors/elders who pride themselves on a whole host of Dark Ages’ policies.

The GBF pastors/elders found out that I had warned the Christian school in Los Altos.

Since July 2016 enraged pastors/elders then sent this email out about me, none of it is true. I’ve highlighed the problem areas, the lies, in red to make it easy to understand. I’ve refuted it point by point. Again, I hadn’t been to GBFSV in 2 years, since 2014, when pastor Cliff McManis sent out his lying email about me. I was tipped off about the GBFSV email by church members who didn’t like the controlling, authoritarian, bizarre GBFSV pastors/elders and they said they had NEVER experienced this bizarre conduct at any of the churches they had been members of in other communities.  

 100% lies:

“Dear members-

[From This Lie] One of our former members who is in the final step of church discipline, has recently been aggressively harassing some of our current members.  She has been spreading malicious gossip The Mountain View police [GBF church deacon works for MVPD and DOES NOT SPEAK FOR DEPT.], the Sunnyvale police [GBF church secretary’s husband works for SPD and DOESN NOT SPEAK FOR THEM] and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department [supervises Megan’s List sex offender/child pornographer and has ALWAYS called GBF pastors/stories “all lies” and “total lies”] all say she is unstable and should be ignored and or avoided.  So if she sends you a text or email, they suggest you ignore it and delete it with no reply.  They believe if she receives no attention, that in time she will stop.

In the meantime ask God for protection over the Body of GBF [to this lie. This email is 100% lies.]
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Cliff

• Sentence 1 – Former Member or 3^rd Step of Church Discipline Process?

 How can “a former member” be the subject of “final step of church discipline”?

The chairman of the elder board banned me from church property, Sunday church services, church events, and communications with members two years ago. Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley’s pastors/elders told the Seventh Day Adventist pastor who rents space to GBFSV that I was banned from church property, along with the good doctor before me.

• Sentence 1 – How Does Not Contacting Any Church Member = “Aggressive Harass[ment]”?

I have NOT contacted any church members via text, email, phone, in person or by any other means.  My ex-pastor lied.

I have, however, been contacted through social media by church members who want to leave Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley as those members know something is terribly wrong with those pastors/elders.  Worried members said the way they are treated at GBFSV is not how they have been treated at other churches.

• Sentence 2

 “malicious gossip”

My ex-pastor claims that the police departments said that three law enforcement agencies said that I was “mentally ill”, not having met me or interacted with me.  How can a “mentally ill” person be guilty of “malicious gossip”? [My ex-pastor/elders were fond of calling any honest conversation “gossip”.]

The Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley pastors/elders (Cliff McManis, Sam Kim, Tim Wong, Bob Douglas, and anyone new since then) are fond of using the “gossip” word to shut down honest conversation. According to them, we’re not supposed to have adult conversations. It’s all dismissed under the term “gossip”. They also casually accuse people of “slander” who discuss the truth. And “bringing an accusation against an elder without cause.” In the real world, at real jobs, people have to answer questions and not cover up via name calling.

• Pastor, Provide The Names, Titles, And Dates Of Police Officers Who “All Say” She Is“Unstable”.

 Law enforcement officers from three separate agencies who’ve never met me “all say” that I am “unstable”?  They all got together and said this to my ex-pastor? When did they communicate that to him? What are their names, titles?  How did they determine this?

I contacted the Mountain View Police Department, the Sunnyvale Police Department, and The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. NONE of them know what my ex-pastor Cliff McManis is talking about and NO they did not say that I was “unstable”.   And NO, I have not contacted ANYONE AT CHURCH. 

Additionally, I have worked in law offices and legal departments for years, have a paralegal education and graduated at the top of my class, and I’m earning an Administration of Justice degree. My department chair used to work for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department and knows all of the higher-ups. I am the top ‘A’ student in my department chair’s classes. I have also earned A’s in all of my other AJ classes, where I am also the top student taught by long-time law enforcement professionals who’ve worked at local law enforcement agencies for decades. All of them have vouched for my sanity and credibility. So has my next door neighbor, a long-time law enforcement professional for many decades, who has vouched for my sanity and credibility and is glad that I’m out of the bizarre, abusive, authoritarian Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley.

I’ve also changed California law in the legislature for high-risk crime victims and I got an entire body of law and a special program passed into law after four years of hard work.

•  Omission Of Conflicts Of Interest: Two “Yes-Men” At Church Work For Two Police Departments Listed In E-mail

 The church secretary’s husband is a police officer for the Sunnyvale Police Department mentioned in the pastor’s email.  A church deacon is a police officer for the Mountain View Police Department mentioned in the email. Neither two church members speak for their respective police departments in this situation and both can be the subject of Internal Affairs’ investigations. My ex-senior pastor omitted these conflicts-of-interest.I provided the pastor’s email to each of their Internal Affairs’ investigators. I also notified each of their City Attorneys’ offices, since at Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley I was ordered to use hate speech against gays, which is illegal in California and a firing offense at my job.  I refused. The pastors/elders ratified hate speech as ‘being ok’. For those of them who work for corporate employers, they’ve obviously never told their employers about this as they would be fired for it. Since the hate speech many of these members ratify, including these law enforcement officers at GBF ratify, is a firing offense with their cities, I turned them in to their City Attorneys’ offices. 

The third law enforcement agency is the Megan’s List sex offenders’ supervising law enforcement agency, the Santa Clara County Sheriff.  They have repeatedly stated, along with the California Attorney General’s Office, that my ex-pastor and elders’ stories to me that their friend the sex offenderis “coming off Megan’s List” was “all lies” and “total lies”.  That law enforcement agency has defended me, not my pastors/elders.

• “unstable” , “she should be ignored or avoided”

 Oh, Cliff McManis…you wish. 

“ ‘Can’t Talk Rule’.

The most powerful of all unspoken rules in the abusive system is what we have already termed the ‘can’t-talk’ rule. The ‘can’t-talk rule’ has this thinking behind it: ‘The real problem cannot be exposed because then it would have to be dealt with and things would have to change; so it must be protected behind walls of silence (neglect) or by assault (legalistic attack). If you speak about the problem out loud, you are the problem. In some way you must be silenced or eliminated.” The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by David Johnson and Jeff Van Vonderen, page 68

• Sentence 3

 “So if she sends you a text or email, they suggest you ignore it and delete it with no reply.”

 It is a crime in my state (California) to file a false police report, either orally or in writing. A person who does so can face arrest and prosecution and time behind bars if convicted.I forwarded my ex-pastor’s email, given to me by insiders at church, to the Santa Clara County District Attorney, the San Jose Mercury News editors, powerful women’s and child protection groups in Santa Clara County (that are well-funded and have attorneys on staff), and all of the law enforcement agencies and their respective Internal Affairs investigators.

I wrote in my email that since my ex-pastor and elders have made these fabricated accusations about me to please make certain they put them in police reports. Then arrest them and prosecute them for filing police reports.

• Sentence 4 “They believe if she receives no attention, that in time she will stop.”

 Oh, Cliff McManis has such a hard time with logical thought. A person can’t “stop” something that they’ve NEVER “started” or done. Cliff McManis, however, is not known for his intellectual rigor.  His “advanced degrees” including a “Ph.D.” –are FAKES —  he bought from a store-front diploma mill in Independence, Missouri called Faith Bible College.  His “Ph.D.” (cough) costs $299 from the diploma mill. Faith Bible College is NOT accredited according to the U.S. Department of Education. The bible college’s one “accrediting agency” (cough) was brought up on fraud charges by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and banned from doing business in the state of Missouri. The fraudulent group simply moved to Arkansas, set up the same business under a different name, and re-accredited all of the fake diploma mills in Missouri. I recently notified the Missouri Attorney General, “The fraudsters…are back! Go get ’em.”

A real Ph.D. from an accredited university takes about eight years of very hard work to complete.

Sentence 5

• My (Ex) Pastor: “ask God for protection over the GBF [Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley] body.”

A better prayer: Pray for protection for all of the children that they have endangered, their parents, former church members who’ve been lied about, excommunicated and shunned, those current church members being subjected to false teachings including NeoCalvinism, Authoritarianism, Complementarianism/Patriarchy, and other soul-crushing teachings that have NOTHING to do with The Gospel of Jesus Christ.

• Those Of Us Who Work In Conservatorships Handle People Who Lack “CapacityProfessionally, Ethically And With Dignity

 I have worked in law offices for many years, including on conservatorships for people who lacked capacity and needed a court-appointed conservator such as a licensed social worker to supervise their care.  Everyone involved in a conservatorship – judges, county government attorneys, court investigators, physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, and private attorneys and their staffs – has displayed professional and ethical conduct. No one has ever ridiculed a person who lacks capacity.  No one has ever sent out an email to hundreds of people ridiculing a person who lacks capacity.

My ex-pastor should choose one story and stick to it. If it’s the “unstable” and “lack of capacity” argument than Cliff McManis and the GBFSV pastors/elders should be consistent.

 “Lying is like a boomerang. About the time you think ‘all is well’ it hits you in the back of the head.”  

If anyone at Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley would like to stick with this bogus story about me, any claim that you make that I’ve contacted members when I have not is FILING A FALSE POLICE REPORT, A CRIME IN CALIFORNIA, that you can be arrested and prosecuted for and land in jail. Think very carefully about the consequences of lying.

From The San Francisco Police Department's website.

http://sanfranciscopolice.org/california-penal-code-section-1485-pc

“California Penal Code Section 148.5 PC