Quote:
Originally Posted by countmeworthy
I wandered in the wilderness for over 20 yrs, w/o attending a church service. I confess I was a closeted, secret defender of the LC ministry.
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Same here. I had not paid much attention to the late '80s storms because they happened to someone far away. I remember reading the "Fermentation of the Present Rebellion", and it talked about some guy in Germany that supposedly had ambition. Or something like that; I didn't care. John So - who was John So?
When I left I also had a "pickled brain". I couldn't read the Bible, or any Christian author, without the accompanying LC commentary running in my head. Even though I wasn't active in the LC ministry it was active in me.
Only lately, little by little, have I begun to hear the Shepherd's voice. It is there in the Word, of course. But it is also in the fellowship of the Word, which has been flowing unabated over the centuries: Polycarp, the Didache, Ignatius, Irenaeus of Lyons, the Shepherd of Hermas, Clement of Rome, Clement of Alexandria, Origen of Alexandria, Cyprian of Carthage, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, and so forth.
What really interests me is that there were also Christians who came centuries after, and who continued along the lines of what these first ones were writing about! The conversation continued! And it has arguably continued unto this day.
Today, of course, I have heard of the Titus Chu and Dong Yu Lan quarantines. Today I know something of Daystar and Philip Lee. But my conversation with God is no longer dependent upon the speaking of the LC ministry. It turns out that the speaking, the ministry, and the body of Christ is much bigger than that. The conversation continues.