Great book, Jane!

[RalphDaveWestfall]

Hi Jane:

I sent this to the TheThreadOfGold@verizon.net address but it bounced back.

I really enjoyed your book. I was never a Local Church member although for a while I had some dealings with a couple who were. I also visited The Church in Cerritos when Hank Hanegraaff made a guest appearance a month ago. (BTW do other local churches have a big bookcase of books by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee at the front of the meeting room? It kind of reminded me of a shrine.)

My relevant background was five years in an independent fundamental Baptist church in the 1970s. There were a number of similarities but it was really a one-man-show controlled by the pastor. As such, it wasn’t organized well enough to cause as much damage to individual members as the LC does, but it did significant harm to my faith for a while. Anyway I learned from that experience to go with what the Bible says rather than what people say it says.

I think your book has the potential to be a Christian classic. There are a lot more people who have been hurt by authoritarian church situations outside of the LC than in it. If you could figure out a way to get more people like that to hear about the book it would be great. I’m planning on doing an Amazon review on it—see my previous effort at https://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1VKOKDZMCBEKA?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_cr_pr_pdp—but just one more book review isn’t going to have a big impact.

May God bless your ministry.


In Christ,

Dave (my father’s name was also Ralph David, so I go by Dave at home and church)
Best regards,
Ralph Westfall
Help Save Lives in Darfur
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/world_refugee_day/

Oppose relativism!

[Thankful Jane]

Hi Dave,

Someone brought your post to my attention or I would have missed it. I am sorry about the email bouncing back from our website email address. We are in the middle of a move and the Thread of Gold Verizon email address no longer exists. We thought we had updated everything with new email addresses, but we missed this one. We'll get it fixed on the website soon. You can reach me directly at TheThreadofGold@gmail.com, if you wish.

I have been surprised by the number of readers I have heard from who were not former LC members who also said the book helped them make sense of their bad experiences with authoritarian Christian churches/leaders. My hope has always been that it would help strengthen people's direct relationship with the Lord. Without that, we don't have much we can really depend on, and we can be easily hurt or led astray by those who are self serving men that take advantage of God's sheep for their own gain.

Thanks so much for your kind review of the book. We prayed that God would put it in the hands of everyone He wanted to read it. It looks like you were one of those!

I continue to be daily amazed at what a wonderful Lord we have. He is very much in control of all things, even though it sometimes looks otherwise. I have had many evidences of His involvment in the details of our lives during this move (stressful isn't a descriptive enough word for uprooting after 23 years of living in one place!!).

As soon as I get a chance, and we get our feet a little more on the ground in our changing lives, I'll try to post a little about some of the ways He has shown Himself to us in this move. I want to give Him glory! He is teaching us to live by faith, not by sight, more everyday as we go forward feeling a little like Abraham ... not sure where we are going!

Jane

[RalphDaveWestfall]

Hi Jane and everybody:

I just posted my review at Amazon. See http://www.amazon.com/Thread-Gold-Jane-Carole-Anderson/dp/0976983508/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344994635&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=%22jane+anderson%22+%22The+Thread+of+Gold %3A+God%27s+Purpose%2C+the+Cross%2C+and+Me%22.

In Christ,

Dave