In a tragic tale from Toowoomba, Australia, the parents of an 8-year-old girl, along with her full-grown brother and 11 other members of a small Pentecostal church have been convicted of manslaughter on Wednesday. The 14 individuals caused the death of the precious little girl by withholding insulin treatment for her Type 1 diabetes due to their religious beliefs.
Theology matters, ladies and gentlemen. Those who have a twisted view of the Scriptures will end up making them say whatever they want them to say and will not have a standard to compare their interpretation to in order to ensure it’s correct. If your interpretation of a biblical passage cannot be found anywhere in Church history, you’re wrong. Unfortunately, Pentecostals practically ignore anything and everything connected with the early church and privately come up with their own meanings, often attributing such insights to the Holy Spirit.
According to The Christian Post, “In a nearly 500-page verdict, Queensland Supreme Court Justice Martin Burns convicted 8-year-old Elizabeth Rose Struhs’ father, Jason Richard Struhs, 53; her mother, Kerrie Elizabeth Struhs, 49; and her brother Zachary Alan Struhs, 22; of manslaughter for her Jan. 7, 2022, death. Also convicted of manslaughter are Loretta Stevens, Therese Stevens, Andrea Stevens, Camelia Stevens, Acacia Stevens, Alexander Stevens, Sebastian Stevens, Keita Martin, Lachlan Schoenfisch and Samantha Schoenfisch.”
Court documents have revealed that the members of Elizabeth’s family, along with the other individuals who were convicted for their involvement in this tragedy, are part of a group that refers to themselves as “the Church” or “the Saints.” Again, the big red flag here is that there is no authority over this church to ensure they are teaching correct Christian doctrine and dogma. When you are not under God-appointed authority, bad things happen.
Court records show that instead of treating Elizabeth with insulin when she got ill as a result of her diabetes, the group prayed. And when she died, they prayed for her resurrection for another 24 hours before calling local authorities for help.
Jason and Kerrie Struhs, who have been married since 1996, have eight children, but only two of them are adults. Along with Zachary Struhs, the couple has an estranged adult daughter, Jayde Struhs, who left the family at age 16. Although the Saints are not affiliated with any particular religious denomination, Jayde Struhs said the family attended the Revival Centres International church in Brisbane before the sect launched. They broke away from the charismatic denomination after the current leader of the group, Brendan Luke Stevens, failed to become a pastor in the church, BBC reports.
“The members of the Church did not ascribe to any religious denomination, simply regarding themselves as Christians who followed God’s Word — that is to say, the Bible — entirely. They believed that, through prayer and baptism by full immersion in water, a person could receive the Holy Spirit and, when received, this would be evidenced by the person’s ability to speak in tongues, which they regarded as a ‘language only God can understand,’” Burns stated in his writing.
One thing that needs to be mentioned about this is that the Scriptures seemingly teach that tongues were a gift that was used to help translate the gospel and preaching of God’s Word into real languages. There’s not enough strong evidence to suggest that there is a special prayer language known privately only between an individual and God.
“Despite evidence showing that all 14 convicts appeared to hold a sincere belief that they should not get medical care for sickness and trust solely in God for healing, each of them is facing a potential life sentence for Elizabeth’s death. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 11,” The Christian Post reported.
"*" indicates required fields
“Until her death, Elizabeth Rose Struhs was a vibrant, happy child with, of course, her whole life ahead of her. She left a lasting impression on many with whom she came into contact on the outside, whether through her schooling or during the treatment and control of a medical condition she was first diagnosed with in 2019 — Type 1 diabetes,” Burns said in the decision. “It cannot be doubted that she was lovingly cared for in almost every way by her parents, Jason, and Kerrie Struhs, or that she was adored by every member of the Church including all other accused. However, due to a singular belief in the healing power of God which, to the minds of her parents and the other members of the Church left no room for recourse to any form of medical care or treatment, she was deprived of the one thing that would most definitely have kept her alive — insulin.”
A similar situation happened to Elizabeth when she was just 6-years-old, again, due to complications from diabetes. According to court documents, it was the zealous beliefs of her mother, who was a diehard member of the church and believed their teachings to the core of her being, that led her to not seek medical attention from a local hospital. At that time, the father wasn’t a part of the Church and he took the girl to the doctor. It’s unfortunate that this happened a second time. Sadly, the entire time that Elizabeth was in the hospital, her mom did not come to see her. Not even once.
I don’t think one needs to be an expert in religious studies to draw the conclusion that this “church” is actually a cult. The brainwashing that took place and how it caused a sort of radicalization that has led to the death of a precious young girl is all one needs to prove this is not a true church reflecting the life of Christ.