Quote:
Originally Posted by UntoHim
I am still really curious about Chicago. Are they still a firm and staunch "LSM" church that is fully in the fold? I understand that Jim Reetzke is a hardliner, but what about the others? I assume their are now "split" families there in the Midwest - kind of like the civil war when brother ended up frighting brother (one in the Confederate South and the other in the Union North).
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Unto,
You are pretty much right. There are split families. I've heard tales of brothers who cannot talk to each other anymore. I know of families split parents to children (interestingly, in one case it's the children who went LSM).
Chicago lumbers on. But there is a contingent, a remnant if you will, who meet outside the "Meeting Place of the Church in Chicago"'s jurisdiction. They call themselves nothing, I believe. They aren't even the church with no name. They're just a collection of believers who once met in the LSM stronghold and no longer do, for a variety of reasons.
We are all brothers, of course. One day these trifling walls of separation will be blown down by the mere nostril breathing of our returning Lord. But today, they stand like cardboard fences, pathetic but somewhat effective.
I've had opportunity to "fellowship" (in my case, simply be with) several who camp on the other side of those cardboard fences. It was kind of like the North serving the South tea during a break in the action (it happened, I'm told). A tad uneasy, but once we had talked past the 800-pound gorilla, rather sweet. I do believe the rank and file saints in Chicago are grieved by the loss of fellowship with others in the region. They're just trying to follow the guidance they're receiving from the leaders. So I credit them there.
Chicago surely was the key for the LSM in making the break. But if I were the LSM, I'd be just a bit concerned about that church. My hunch is that there is an undercurrent there that hasn't bought into this whole LSM thing. It's just a hunch, really, but hunches are kind of spiritual now, aren't they? Time will tell if this one was.
SC