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Originally Posted by Igzy
One of the central themes of Lee's ministry was the transformation of the believer into the image of Christ, meaning the changing of his inner being, spirit and soul, into something that matched Christ.
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Finally ! A fresh new thread !! 'bout time guys
Actually, I haven't had much time to pop in. But I found this to be a great topic for discussion just as I was going to raise this very subject to some friends of mine.
From the top:
Initially, when I heard this message taught in the LC, my heart and soul rejoiced! I was a young girl who did not have direction in her life, had poor self esteem and was a 'people pleaser' to compensate. For the first time, I had HOPE for my life to change!!! I truly believed w/all my heart (as I still do) God gives us purpose and changes our 'stinking thinking'.
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Lee had an unusal take on this, however. According to him simply the act of "adding the element of God" through fellowship, prayer and other spritual experience "automatically" led to transformation. Although Lee stressed obedience, he rarely directly tied obeying the Spirit with being transformed by the Spirit. Rather he often seemed to imply that transformation could take place without being obedient, simply by taking in the Spirit.
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And that's where his message became convuluted. Lee stressed 2 points throughout my time in the LC:
ENJOYING the Lord and the
'vision of the church' (which we all know meant the vision of the LC or LRC). He seemed to convey all you needed to be transformed is to 'enjoy the Lord' & the church life as we knew it. What a disservice he did to the saints. He's responsible for screwing a lot of peoples heads.
We can't simply 'enjoy the Lord' if we have not been
convicted by the Holy Spirit to repent. Repentence is not simply 'I repent of all my sins. end of story.' Repentence,
I PERSONALLY have learned is an on going process. Until we receive our Glorified bodies, the Holy Spirit will always bring out some dark crevice into the LIGHT. That's been my experience thus far !
An example: the Holy Spirit has convicted me enought times for calling every knucklehead that plucked my last nerve an 'idiot'. I finally got to the point I had no peace until I said to the Lord. " LORD. I'm sorry for calling them knuckleheads and idiots. They may act that way, and in my eyes, they ARE but I probably act that way too at times. You're very patient with me and have forgiven me. Forgive them and have Mercy on them as You have had Mercy and forgiven me.' There's been times when He made me apologize to the person and sometimes it's just between me & God.
"Enjoyment of the Lord,"
especially the way we did corporately did more harm than good and has damaged or destroyed many lives and marriages. Add to that, Lee instilled in us the 'vision'
(more a 'belief'
) that 'there was nothing better out there than the glorious church life. That 'church life of course was the LC we knew. And had we all learned to abide in Christ and yield to His Holy Spirit as we are instructed to, the church life indeed could have been a most Glorious experience. God's promise to us is old things pass away & HE makes all things new. HE is the Healer of our souls, and HE IS.
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So LRC faithful would do all kinds of things to get "filled with the Spirit," hoping that the simple fact of "enjoying the Lord" would change them.
In my experience, this is something of a false hope.
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Igzy my friend. You hit the jackpot! BINGO.
I want to share some highlights from 2004 that began restoring my relationship with the LORD and thus transforming my life.
1) For many years, I was in a very dark place in my life. Out of desperation I did
some deep soul searching I needed answers to questions I had about myself. I needed to know why most of my life people controlled me, manipulated me, walked all over me, used me and verbally/emotionally abused me. I needed to know WHY I allowed this to happen over & over & over again.[/B]
2) I found those answers when I learned Satan used
familiar spirits, soul ties, and transfer of spirits to destroy peoples lives (both believers and non believers.) I had
never even heard of such things. But once I did, everything made sense to me! I learned somewhere intentionally or not, perhaps even as a child, I opened a window to demonic forces. [B]Windows I never shut because some windows
I did not even know they were open much less how to shut.
I learned that even after I was saved, really saved, these strongholds still controlled and wreacked havoc on my life, even while I tried my best to 'Enjoy' the Lord and the church life. Lee's answer to people's emotional problems was 'enjoy the Lord. That is how you get out of your mind and into your spirit.'
But we have to get rid of the strongholds first ! And we did not know how.
3) Now that I understood the strongholds of these evil spirits, I
Repented from the deepest, most heartfelt part of my gut, my spirit shedding buckets of tears
for having opened those windows inadvertently. I probably opened those windows as a kid and did not know it!! I also renounced those spirits out loud. I didn’t scream or yell. But with a true heart and full assurance of Faith, I renounced those spirits, naming each and everyone of them. I asked the Lord to wash me in His Precious Blood
anew.
It was then I began to experience complete Deliverance. Emotional healing and complete Deliverance does not happen over night. But I did feel a heavy weight lift off from me immediately. It was the beginning of my healing process. Within a month, I felt stronger in the Lord and my relationship with HIM began to be so restored, people at work noticed the change in me. I said to the Lord (in a condensed version) this:
“Lord Jesus. You've been so incredibly Patient and Loving towards me. I am soo sorry for hindering Your Work in me. With YOU nothing is impossible. Will You bring me up to speed to be the person I ought to be in Christ had I not hindered what You began in me 25 years ago? Thank You Lord.”
As the saying goes:
I may not be where I want to be but Halleluiah. I'm not where I used to be.
Thanks for reading my testimony and my experience friends !