Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
And are you really following the Berean example? God is willing to be tested. If any ministry is not it should automatically put us on high alert.
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The testing has gone on for nearly 2,000 years: the Hebrew scriptures had indicated the resurrection from the dead (tho the Saducees demurred), and the coming Messiah; the Christian testimony (the NT &c) was that Jesus the Nazarene fulfilled both. This testimony has been examined by scoffers and skeptics alike, and it's still here, with power undiminished.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nell
By its fruit. You objectively assess this group by its fruit.
Fruit: pain and suffering caused by the practices of "the ministry"
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The fruit of the "recovered extras" of the Little flock/Lord's recovery restoration movement are all too evident, from "the ground" to "the high peaks". But I thank God because this turning-aside-to-vanity experience made me value the simplicity and the purity of the gospel all the more.
With Dorcas in Acts 9, there's no mention of her theology. But the testimony of the faith and love of Christ operating through her is palpable. It is beautiful and real. This is the testimony of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead: "...she was full of good works, and acts of charity" (v.36, ESV), the very things spoken of Jesus (Acts 10:38), the very things I heard dismissed at FTTA as "a waste of time". Instead, we were supposed to fill our lives with two things: burrowing into one man's abstruse, idiosyncratic theology, and recruiting others to do the same.
Again and again "the testimony of Jesus Christ" (cf Rev. 1:2) has been sifted, and again and again it's validated itself. It's come through the proverbial fire, wind and rain. It's capable of expressing all "the power of an indestructible life" (Heb 7:16), and doesn't need our recovery.