[RambleOn]

Aron,

I am also very interested in those sorts of questions. Due to the atmosphere of fear and anxiety present in the LCs, people don't feel liberty to openly discuss doubts, if they have any. The ones who leave generally do so quietly. This benefits the status quo because it is easy to shape the narrative that way. "He left because he was unclear" or "those who leave are slaves to sin" or "they've gone back to the world." It's almost a necessary component to maintaining control of the congregation. The ones who leave are instructive cautionary tales to frighten everyone else to get back into the "diamond lane of the church life."

I'm reminded of the famous "clapping" anecdote from The Gulag Archipelago in which an assembly gave a standing ovation to Stalin for 10 minutes straight, long past the point of absurdity. Finally, in the 11th minute, a manager at a paper company decides he has had enough, and he sits down. Very quickly the rest of the room follows suit. The next day, that manager is arrested and charged with some other crime, with a sentence of 10 years in the gulag. But in the interrogation room, he is told, "never be the first to stop clapping."

I don't mean to make a false equivalency here. Clearly no one (outside of FTT) is being sentenced to labor for insufficient outward shows of conformity. But hearing some of the recent official "Oracle of God" comments from RK about repenting for liking and commenting on social media, or for repenting for things you have agreed with or participated in, I can't help but draw parallels. Instead of threatening 10 years hard labor, they threaten 1000 years of teeth gnashing outside the wedding feast. Same emotional trigger though. The fear of standing out too much keeps people from saying something simple and personal like, "you know dear ones, I love you all and I value the relationships here, so I have no desire to leave, yet I must admit that I am having some definite struggles with some of the teachings here, both in this ministry and in the Bible itself." Just imagine the awkwardness and the tension! The accepatable options one such person would have include 1) quietly praying alone and 2) fellowshipping privately with the brothers. But there's no forum for openly debating or even just exchanging ideas, so there's no model to the saints at large for how real emotional and intellectual maturation occurs. Publicly no one wants to appear disgruntled, so they parrot the lines they are given. It's all received, prepackaged, processed ideas (reminds me of Kraft Singles "Prepared Cheese Product"). We don't need to do anything, just receive. It's like we are holding a Dixie cup under Niagra falls here, when we are under Brother Lee's ministry. Why try to do your own thing when it's all been done for you. And if you ask too many questions, it must be because you're ambitious. So don't be ambitious, don't try to do too much, or anything really, just abide in the vine, allow your edges to be worn down so you are good building material, nothing natural does the body life allow, deny the self, Satan dwells in your flesh, do not trust yourself, follow the sense of life...

And the responses from saints to those who have spoken out, it's striking how they all follow the same habits of argumentation. Ad hominem attacks ("she's a wounded sister...she has been harboring bitterness and offenses...overly emotional...mentally unstable...") None of these are actual arguments; they simply allow you to ignore the issues by discrediting the messenger. Like, let's assume all of the above is true, does that mean Daystar didn't happen? Or that phony false flag rebellions weren't concocted to justify excommunicating disloyal voices? But rank and file "saints" just ignore all that and stick to the below the belt irrelevant personal attacks. Hard to respect people who do this so readily. Then there's the classic term "opposer", which is so weak and also creepy Orwellian sounding. Everyone is an opposer to something right? Christians oppose Satan, right? So that's a meaningless term without context. But no one wants to be included in the smear, so don't do anything which might be perceived as opposer-esque. I remember growing up as a "church kid" (hate this cutesy term the more I think about it too) we used to joke about how if you miss one meeting that's understandable, if you miss two you're a backslider, and if you miss three in a row you're an opposer. Point is it's a term that is so embedded in "recovery" culture that children can make joking ironic references to it. So to hear people use it to refer to people who click "like" on a public post is so gross to me. It just demonstrates an infantile, unnuanced worldview. Quick, get thee to the semi annual so you can be told how to think about this new threat to the Lord's unique move upon the Earth, and then quietly apply dour, passive aggressive social pressure to the saints in your locality to make sure they aren't spreading poison.

The only time "the" "brothers" even acknowledge dissent is when it serves their purpose. Just like the only time they reference any other Christian institution is when they twist their arm into running a cover story called "We Were Wrong." Now suddenly this is a worthwhile publication and all the saints should avail themselves of its riches too. I mean don't get me wrong, there's still just the one trumpet in the Lord's army, but Hank Hanegraff and Gretchen whoever are totally right about this one thing and we are going to make an ostentatious show about it so the saints feel validated by the very same people we usually say have nothing to offer. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. It's so self serving and ridiculous, and it's the same dynamic with this sudden "burden" to address rebellion and Miriam in the semi annual. It seems we are having more trouble than usual controlling how people talk to each other online. Let's name drop all the dead people opposers might be reading about from 40 years ago, but keep it vague and ominous sounding so nobody asks too many questions. And even sort of imply that the reason they are dead might have to do with the fact they "touched the delegated authority." Also make sure that they know God knows their Twitter password and can read all their tweets, and liking a post under a pseudonym is wicked too, so don't think you're fooling anyone. You will stand before the judgment seat with your browsing history in full view. So scary oOoOoO.

Anyway, so sorry for the tangents. I think you're right that it's practically impossible to say what percentage of church kiddos end up in various categories.