Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
I am very, very grateful that not only did I get saved but shortly afterwards I was plunked down by God in the middle of one of the 'local churches'.
... I loved it when I called a song and everybody sang it and enjoyed it. It made me feel like I belonged, like my experiences, my touch with God mattered. Or when I prayed or spoke and somebody would continue in the line of my prayer or speaking when I was done. "Hey, they are listening to ME!" Wow. I loved it.
So I in no way consider myself an opposer, though that is how I heard about people who were "against the recovery". I had a great time, people were very nice to me... it was wonderful. I am very grateful and appreciative for the experience.
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The above is from my originally-placed testimony; I wanted to reference it with comments about what it is like for me today to be a dreaded ''opposer'', even perhaps what I have heard referred to as a ''destroyer of God's building''.
I am just a sinner who one day believed into Jesus Christ. I determined to follow Him as best as I could. One day on that journey I was introduced to the concept of the "Normal Christian Church Life" as promulgated by Mssrs Nee & Lee and practiced in the 'local churches'. I resonated with the concept, and the gathering I met with (everyone got to pray, which I thought was
marvelous!), and therefore went down that road for a pace. Eventually I got sick of what I felt was a willful ignorance of the rest of Christianity, along with the continual negative comments of how "poor" everybody else was but us. I decided that the "normal" christian life would be to embrace
all who have the faith, however "poor" their condition may seem to be at any given moment. God can raise up the poor from the dust, and drop the highfalutin' ones back into the dust. So I began to practice what seemed to me to be a more 'inclusive' christianity and meet others on their turf, however 'leavened' that turf seemed to be.
So I want to go on record (not that anyone is tossing and turning all night wondering) that I am not interested in opposing the legacies of Nee or Lee or anyone else.
The universe contains many things, and one of these things is the notion of "God", or Source, Originator, Creator, etc. That which lies behind all things, that which called all this we see into being. The meaning and destiny of the universe, or at least the chunk of it available to me.
And in all these notions and concepts of God as Reality, there was this person Jesus. Like in the Roman Catholic church, where I met for a while upon entering my spiritual 'quest'; there were all these Biblical characters on the wall and in the stained glass windows: there were Peter and Paul and others, Noah and Moses and Elijah, and Jesus as well. Jonah was getting eaten by a whale (or spit back on the beach in some versions), David was staring down the menace of Goliath, and so forth. A lot to consider there. Well, one day in my considerations of all these things, with all their permutations, I realized that the light shining from Jesus was getting brighter and brighter. It was drawing me, attracting me from my considerations of other persons, concepts, and things. As I began to focus on this person Jesus, the light got brighter and brighter until I couldn't see or consider anything else. Everything else disappeared in His glory. That was when I knew I had found
The One; I knew that my search had ended and my journey home to the Father had commenced. Jesus was the answer for me.
And so my journey hopefully continues. I have no intention of opposing anyone. I just want to follow the Lamb, Jesus, wherever He goes. Naturally the journey is full of failures, but hopefully even more full of repentance and resoration and praises. And
especially full of learning and changing and growing, and not making the same mistakes twice (or seven times, or seventy times seven!
). That's what I love about the journey -- I don't have to wait until the end of the trip to see if I did a good job at it; instead I get to "die daily" as Paul did (I Cor. 15:31).
So this is hopefully an amplification, a reinforcement of my previous statement, quoted and bolded above. I just want to go on. Like I wrote in my comments to
OBW's avatar, "The child is father to the man". In my youth, I was all about enjoyment in the world. Fun, fun, fun, was all I cared about. Party forever. Eventually that dried up, but my 'party', my celebration, continued when I found the living water that never runs dry. Today I don't oppose anyone; I just go on, trying to follow the flowing river. Peace to all who read this.