[NeitherFirstnorLast]

Oh Lord, I want to speak something here that is very likely going to offend some members. While I do not wish to offend, neither can I be responsible for how what I feel I need to share will be received. You told me that Father, and I will be faithful to You. I don't want anyone to think I am 'coming after them' - that's never been my intent; and while I'm certain many Corinthians felt the same about Paul's first letter to them - yet he (Paul) never regretted offering them the Truth in Love. After all, did Christ not say: "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets" Luke 6:26

Let me start by saying that I value you all, and have appreciated the fellowship I have received these past eight months. Over the course of these months I have learned many things - but in truth, I haven't grown in my faith or my walk with God because of anything I've read here: and that, I believe, is equally applicable to my time in the so-called Local Church.

Brothers and sisters, it seems to me that for those of us who come here who are no longer members of LSM, there ought to be agreement that we made it out of that system for a reason. We may have different reasons for leaving (or being removed from fellowship, if that is the case), but regardless of what the particularities of those reasons are, we ought to be in agreement that we are in a better place now than we were then. If we don't feel that way, then surely we ought to follow our conscience and make whatever concessions we must in order to be 'restored to fellowship' with LSM.

We - and by “we” I don't mean myself and anyone else in my life outside of this Forum - I mean us: those of us who come to this website: we have spent time going through the sordid details that fill the unpublished annals of LSM history. We have broken through the false teachings of the man who called himself the Minister of the Age, and agreed, have we not? - that this man and his ministry was WRONG. Seeing how wrong LSM was should put us on a path to righteousness – back to the narrow way to and through Christ Jesus our Lord, but I do not see that happening here: and I don’t believe that any current members of LSM who come here will see it either.

This place has become an infirmary for the wounded, but one without a Physician. A kind of counselling centre without the Wise Counsellor Himself. Friends, do you not see we need to “look intently at the perfect law that gives freedom” James 1:25, for “His Word will not return to Him void” Isaiah 55:11. Where is the preaching of that precious Word here? No friends, too much time is spent here re-living the past, that there can be no Living in Full, as Christ promised us (‘I have come that you might have Life in Full, and have it more abundantly!’) John 10:10. Friends, we reap what we sow… and too much of what is sown here is pain. Pain, heart-ache, regret, anger, despair… but no hope, no truth, and no life. Our eyes are turned inward, not upward. Seeing that Lee was wrong has not lead all of us to see that we too were wrong. For some it has become a pick-and-choose of Lee’s theology, without the realization that the entire ministry was built upon false pretences and is therefore corrupt.

Lee taught that learning his interpretation was our highest call. Eat, drink, enjoy Christ – breathe deeply the pneumatic Christ and sing a hymn of Lee’s about what Godmen we are to become… for He came to serve us, didn’t He?

How could Lee not see that Christ came to serve us to give us an example while He was among us… and not to serve us throughout the ages. Christ is God in the flesh – and while He came as the meek lamb over 2,000 years ago, the time draws nigh when He will come again in Glory – and I think we gravely underestimate the lateness of the hour.

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not DO what I say?” He asked (Luke 6:46). Are not those who come to hear His Word and do them likened unto a man who digs a deep foundation to build his house upon a Rock. Built on that rock so that even when the storms come – as they inevitably do, they cannot shake a house on so firm a foundation.

Have you been shaken my friends? Where then did you build your house? In whom did you trust? When the night is dark and you find yourself in the valley of the shadow of death. What do you fear? The Lord is with you.

Have you not heard that you are to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling?” Philippians 2:12. Have you considered what that means? You went through what you did for a purpose – and Praise the Lord He called you out of that… now TRUST HIM. FOLLOW HIM.

Who is it that came to raise the dead? Who gave sight to the blind and caused the lame to walk? Who healed the leper and embraced him? It was our Christ, our King who did this. Do you not know enough to seek Him for the healing you now need? Have you become so blinded by anger, resentment, and self-pity that you have forgotten Him? If you want to walk, friends, then take up your mat and walk! Why do you lie here where there are only the rest of the wounded, and no Physician to heal you? He loves you still, and is only waiting for you to turn to Him!

Do you think the wisdom of this age ought to apply to your circumstance? Do you think that support groups, and psychologists, and self-help gurus and ‘getting it off your chest’ will get you back on the narrow way? That is foolishness, and that is the foolishness I’ve been hearing here lately.

Friends, imagine you were alive in the age when Christ walked in the flesh. Imagine you were the Pharisee called Nicodemus. Here was a man who came to Christ seeking answers, answers that would tell him that where he thought he was right with God, in truth he was on the wrong side and needed to be born again. Leaving the Sanhedrin, abandoning his friends and the beliefs he'd been taught as a Pharisee, that must have been a tremendously difficult task for him (for he certainly didn’t do it... at least, not right away, if at all) but the Lord didn't give Nicodemus an easy out. He didn't say, 'listen.... you've learned a lot of good things too, in your time in the Sanhedrin. Take your time with this, it's going to be tough. Therapy might be the answer – perhaps a support group with fellow ex-Pharisees here.' No my friends, that's the worldly foolishness I’m talking about, and where it might work with psychological issues, it doesn't work with Spiritual ones. Christ's call was clear: 'Come out of her, My people.'

Imagine the Jehovah's Witness who comes to cling to Christ’s rugged cross. Born into a Kingdom Hall, he learned their own New World Translation backwards and forwards... but suddenly, Christ gained him... and transformed, he realized that he no longer belonged in a Kingdom Hall. Imagine how tough that is. If anyone can imagine it, you can. The lifestyle and the teaching methods of JW's don't differ so much from LSM's. Now, could you, as a Christian, tell this former JW that 'you learned a lot of good things with the JW's, and since leaving is hard, then please continue to work through the pain and hurt - and try to sift out the good from the bad so that the abruptness of the change isn't so difficult for you?’

Imagine you were a Mormon, who is suddenly born again! You walked the streets in the white shirt and black tie, and vainly tried to gain followers for your movement rather than followers for Christ. You had learned a lot of good things from the Book of Mormon, and laying it down now is painful. It means you need to admit that you were wrong - that you followed the false prophet Joseph Smith - and lead people not to salvation but to damnation. Could any of us, as Christians, tell this former Mormon that he need not abandon the Book of Mormon? That he could reconcile the true Faith with a false one, and thereby escape the pain of leaving. Could we?

Too close to home? Imagine you were a Hindu - a good man, even one like Gandhi. Have you ever read the Baghavad Gita? A beautiful book that teaches many intellectual 'truths'. Perhaps you would be okay with telling a Hindu who embraced Christ as his Saviour that he needn't abandon the intellectual wisdoms of this book in favour of the Truth and the Way?

I hoped dear ones, that you couldn't. But that’s what you’re doing here.

I have spent time outlining that according to Scripture, Lee was not just wrong - not JUST a misguided minister of another color, who erred on some points or with whom we might disagree on the finer points of doctrine - rather he, Lee, was something more: A False Apostle. A False Prophet.

Scripture is clear, and I've quoted it many times: we are to turn from such False Apostles and leave their teaching.

Matthew 7:15-23 (the Sermon on the Mount):
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."

From 2nd Peter we read: "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them – bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping"

and from 1st John: "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

Now, if you disagree that Lee was a False prophet, then I have nothing more to say to you here. It has been expounded long enough – the evidence which we’ve ALL contributed is absolutely overwhelming. If you don’t believe it, then perhaps you don’t really believe there is such a thing as a false prophet. Perhaps you don’t even really believe in the inerrancy of Scripture. If the only nourishment you got from God’s Word came from LSM, then perhaps that wouldn’t even be surprising. This is hard speaking – but so is our Lord: We are to stand to defend the Faith. Did He not say, “You think I came to bring peace? I tell you not peace, but the Sword.” Matthew 10:34
Saints, have you noticed the conspicuous absence of certain men here? Where is John Ingalls? Where is this brother who saw so much and could have revealed to us sooner the folly of the path we were on? Do you know where that Brother is? He’s out pursuing the Lord. He took up his mat, and he walked.
Should we not do likewise?

I will.

Mike, in a recent post you said (and I paraphrase) that we can either stay here or we can leave and leave our ‘cave paintings’ behind us. That, brother, is the wiser of the two choices. Christian living is about living first – and that is something that LSM never taught. It is about faith IN ACTION – We are Saved b y Grace through Faith, it’s true – but True Faith produces work, and Faith without works is dead - and where here is the action, where are the works? Where in LSM was the action and the works? Have you heard that ‘God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong’ 1st Corinthians 1:27. I would rather be foolish for Christ than ‘wise’ in the Word as those in LSM and those who hold to their teachings believe they were. Consider Saints, ‘and a little child shall lead them.’… ‘of such is the Kingdom of Heaven made’.

I pray for us all. I pray that we grow and that one day we really can be One as Christ and the Father are one. I pray His will be done, I pray that you choose to follow Him and take the healing He offers. I pray for those still in LSM, that eyes and ears be opened and hearts softened to the Truth. I pray, brothers and sisters, that you can finally move on too… I pray you do not forsake the physical and spiritual gathering together with fellow believers. I pray you do not despise ‘lesser’ learned members of the Body, and thereby miss their portion of grace. I pray you learn to hear the words of the saints who’ve come before us throughout the ages… for God is the same yesterday, today and forever . I pray that even as I was not the first to come here, neither will I be the last to leave – and that those who do leave do so to follow Him. Be overcomers.

Your brother in Christ,
Ray Krohn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDd7XvmvtOM