[Curious]

Originally Posted by Trapped

Calling on the Lord is practiced in a few different ways in the LC.... But they also practice at least three other ways that I don't agree with:

1. The repetitive 7th inning stretch type calling: "Let's call on the Lord 5 times" which to me is just like doing jumping jacks. stand up, pump arm, yell out, repeat 5 times. Both are to get people out of their seats, to "get the blood pumping" and to wake people up. I think I would almost consider this an instance of taking His name in vain, because it's not giving it due honor, but simply using it as a tool rather than in recognition there is a Person behind it.

I am not totally sure because I haven't watched the whole thing, but I think this particular practice is also used in instances, say, where LSM holds a kangaroo court, and then gets everyone out of their seat to call on the Lord together, which is simply a form of group control to unify the whole room together in a common action. It produces implied agreement with whatever was just spoken. Bad news all around.

2. They also call on the Lord to shut people up or to express disgust when looking down their noses at someone. This is also using His name in vain, IMO.

3. They also, as the last spate of posts covered, teach people to call on the Lord 3x as an effective form of salvation.

All of these use the exact same three words, but only differ in volume, tone, context, and, well, "heart" to put it one way. Hard to convey those particular nuances over a forum. My calling on the Lord is like the first one, in prayer, but not like the numbered 3.

Trapped I like this post very much.

I want to add something that helps to create a context for the right and wrong ways of practising or interpreting something, according to my greater observation of life.

Life is not a clear matter of opposites clashing against each other, good and evil operating from opposite sides. Rather, evil comes alongside good and impersonates it, while being motivated by the opposite form good.
To make sense of that statement I will illustrate it with some examples:

-Love is of God, so is good. Lust can seem like love yet it consumes its focus and uses for its own gratification.

-Admiration (appreciation of someones achievement or success)/ jealousy

- Good natured humour/ mockery (humour used specifically to shame and hurt)

-Righteousness(based on God's standard)/ self-righteousness(based on one's own self-interested standard)

-Childlikeness (delightful sweetness of a child)/ childishness (immature, self-centeredness)

-Introspection resulting in correction of behavior and attitude/ egocentric navel-gazing which bolsters a victim mentality and self-righteousness.

All these and many other things each have their healthy, wholesome expression, and their fallen counterpart, which can sometimes look the same at first. That is because evil is not creative, it copies. Its copy is motivated by its own character, so in essence, expresses itself.

Trapped has given a good example of a straightforward way of practicing ‘calling on the name of the Lord’, and three clear examples of the misuse of the same concept, expressing very different motivation, and for various ends other than communicating with Jesus: i.e. to ‘wake people up’, ‘shut people up’, ‘express disgust’, control the group, and the outcome, and as a cheap version of salvation. Some of those uses of the practice being more overtly sinister than others.

‘Calling on the name of the Lord’ and the other practices of the LC are presented to the ‘seeker’ in a healthy form at first. But over time, as one meets, these practices slowly transfer from an expression of one thing, to another. I was told, at a certain point along the way, that we should not give our own personal testimony, but testify only words of scripture verbatim. (After I had testified on a personal level, many times, with their full encouragement). The new instruction is now the standard of how you ‘testify’. (Further along the track I’m sure the written words of WL would be added to this directive). So, to ‘testify’ had just changed its meaning, lost its freedom and spontaneity, become impersonal and an expression of words of scripture (from the book of revelation) alone. A matter to be expressed in rote form only. And a change, a shift, in what is acceptable. These statements expressed the beginnings of a new, restrictive and authoritarian flavor, creeping in. The creeping very deliberate, and I was expected to comply with this change, delivered in small increments. If one is not watching on in an internally detached way, you and I could miss these subtle shifts. That is the confusing aspect of the LC experience, and the way they slowly ‘switch’ after the ‘bait’ has been successfully fed.

I realized that as I observed all these things silently, I did not react outwardly, they did not perceive my internal response and the question marks that were forming. Even then, its hard as there has been such a foundation of pleasant experiences that has formed, over time and been consistent till this unexpected new rule, and this alone is just one detail. It takes some thought to realize what these new ‘restrictions, corrections and conformations’ are, and a shock to discover that they are being administered to you in a very calculated and conscious way, with a coherent goal that binds these all together. Topped off with the lie that they are not doing any such thing at all! We are just Christians meeting together!

That is the dishonest intention behind their methods and a clever way of deliberately using the good, Godly and the fallen, distorted versions of a particular reference in scripture, to deceive and entrap an unsuspecting soul.