Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
If you ask the saints in Columbus over the years what their "mission statement" included, they would all answer that they were a "local" church, loving the word of God, and desiring to testify of the living Christ, and Him alone.
What we have seen, however, continuously displayed by power hungry bureaucrats in both Anaheim and Cleveland are those who merely pay lip-service to the welfare of the saints, and place their own empires high above all. Whether it was Titus Chu publicly shaming local leaders in order to beat them into submission, or LSM operatives working backroom politics to win at all costs using lawsuits and slanders, neither side would dream of following the actual patterns laid out in scripture by the Lord Jesus and the apostles.
It is tragically amazing to have witnessed for decades so many sincere brothers, longing to know His will and seek guidance of the Holy Spirit, only to have all that regularly shelved by the steady stream of directives coming from headquarters. Call them the "new way," or the "flow," or the "God-ordained way," or some "urgent training," or whatever other deceptive ploy might be used, the real goal was never as stated, but rather always had surreptitious designs to maintain and expand the empires of notable Recovery leaders.
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Agendas. There are always (it seems to me) hidden agendas. The Lord's will is found in the scriptures. His Will is not hidden from us. It has always been the same Will until we reach our Glorified state where there is no sin, no sickness, no disease, no old age, no death.
If you ask me what God's Will is, it is simply Eternal Salvation, followed by deliverance and sanctification.
To obtain eternal salvation, we have to acknowledge our sins, confront them and renounce them. Not just in general but acknowledge, confess and renounce the hidden, personal ones. Sometimes this is a private matter. Sometimes we need to confess our sins one to another. It is easy to say 'I repent of all my sins and forgive me.' But we cannot fool the Holy Spirit who knows the thoughts and intentions of our heart. Often times, we have hidden sin and don't want to acknowledge it.
Sin is hardly mentioned anymore. ANYWHERE. Just "call on the Name of the Lord" and you're saved." Boom. To the tongue speaking crowd it is after repeating the 'sinners prayer' it is "Get baptized in the Holy Spirit and begin praying in tongues". Boom. End of story. Well. It ISN'T the end of the story!!
We need help to be delivered from repeating the same sin over and over. We need to be delivered from pride, selfishness, greed, anxiety, from religious works and from dead works just to name a few sins.
We need to be sanctified, to be set apart unto the Lord. But many people have this notion we have to look 'different'. That is what we did in the 70s in the LC. We dressed the same so we could look different from the world. We forget the way we 'look different' to the world is by shining God's Light, projecting His Love and compassion and offering the world through our character, integrity and most important of all our relationship/connection with the Living Word -Jesus Christ- so that HE will be attractive to them and they will be drawn to HIM through us.
As to the brethren:
we need to be encouraging one another and helping each other out. We need to friends with each other outside of fellowship/prayer gatherings. That is very hard to do because not everyone likes everyone in Christ.
We must pray without ceasing pray.
Get to know our Creator in all His various functions. We need to
be filled with the Joy of the Lord daily. For the Joy of the Lord is our strength.
We need to Worship the Father, the Spirit and the Son. Three in ONE.
Constantly.
We need to study the Word privately and 'corporately'..that is with at least 2-3 people. We have to let the HOLY SPIRIT
lead. We should study topics and apply the Word to our own personal lives. Experience the transformation of the Living Word working in us so we can offer Hope to the lost and to the disillusioned and know how to answer every person with Truth and with Love.
Sorry for sounding off. Perhaps I am 'preaching to the choir here'. It is just that I am a tad frustrated with the condition of the church as a whole.
Blessings to all.
Carol G