[Cal]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If there is a recovery on the earth would not that recovery stand on the shoulders of all of church history? If it is not with this group where is it? Is it a division of this recovery? How could that be when God is a God of oneness?

I don't know "co-workers" in the recovery but from listening to their messages they don't lead me to anything extra Biblical. When I read Lee's writings (which is a lot of the time his speaking transcribed) there is a whole lot of Christ. You can use the Bible to argue nearly anything, you can use Lee's ministry to argue many things too...but the Lord's recovery today is prevailing as a place of oneness, despite any trash you want to sort through here.

I've been around the churchlife over 10 years now and am confident that though some here on this site have bible truth and knowledge, the prevailing factor here is division. How am I wrong in these observations?

Hello,

Thanks for having the boldness to post here. But you are quite mistaken on several levels.

The LR is high-control, undo-influencing, abusive religious group, aka a "cult." It practices most of the classic techniques all cult-like groups use to control members and keep them in the group. None of the ostensibly positive things you mention excuse those abuses, so they are really irrelevant.

The LR puts fear of leaving in its members. That alone is reason enough to steer clear of it, though there are many more.

No cult admits to being one. No cult members believe they are in a cult, until the light goes on and they leave (at which point they will be considered deceived, poisoned, worldly, ambitious, etc, by the group and its members). Every cult member thinks their group is wonderful because deep down they are afraid of "thinking differently." It's called mind-control and it's real. There are thousands of such groups in the world. The LR is just one more.

By the way, we are the Church. It is completely unbiblical, not to mention divisive, to consider one's group "the Recovery." The Bible does not authorize viewing a subset of the Church in such a way. Every abusive group considers itself a special, unique movement above all others. It's nothing new, the LR has just put its own spin on a very old error.

I suggest you do some research on these type groups and ask yourself if the LR follows the same pattern of control. It is this abusive control that led directly to the death of Greg Casteel. That was not directly your fault I'm assuming, but it is the direct fault of those leaders who put that abnormal fear in him.


Video series on LR abuses: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2f...BIm2iFahxfe8Lw

Characteristics of High-Control Groups aka "Cults" - http://cultresearch.org/

• The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader, and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law.
  
• Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
  
• The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (e.g., members must get permission to date, change jobs, or marry—or leaders prescribe what to wear, where to live, whether to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth).
  
• The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and its members (e.g., the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar—or the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity).
  
• The group has a polarized, us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.
• The leader is not accountable to any authorities (unlike, for example, teachers, military commanders, or ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations).
  
• The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (e.g., lying to family or friends, or collecting money for bogus charities).
  
• The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and control members. Often this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.
  
• Subservience to the leader or group requires members to cut ties with family and friends, and radically alter the personal goals and activities they had before joining the group.
  
• The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.
  
• The group is preoccupied with making money.
  
• Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities.
  
• Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.
  
• The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group. They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave—or even consider leaving—the group.