Quote:
Originally Posted by awareness
This came to full light in the C. in Ft. Lauderdale when I discovered that the lead elder, Mel Porter, was seeding the meetings with a group of 14 loyal brothers, to control the flow of the "Spirit," and direct it as Mel Porter wanted.
That was the end of my enjoyment of the meetings. No longer could I believe the meetings were spirit led. I realized that I was deluded about spirit led meetings. It was all man led and manipulated at that point.
And once the human side of the double-speak was discovered, that was the end of the local church for me.
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This was a standard practice in Houston, less so while in Irving because of the chaos caused by the construction and virtually non existent in Odessa. It also took place to some extent during trainings. This didn't sour me on the spirit being part of the meetings, instead I saw it similar to Galatians how Abraham had two children, one of the flesh and one of the Spirit.
I considered these brothers (I am not aware of any sisters that did this) to be flunkies (I think those in the world might also use the term brown nose). Anyway I think this is where EM discovered the use of the footnotes because imagine how hard it is to speak in the meeting when you have no leading of the Spirit. To help these brothers I feel strongly, though I have no firsthand knowledge, that they were told prior to the meeting what was going to be shared.
KR and EM were two of the key ones, but there were about 5 or 6 in Houston. 14 seems excessive.