[aron]

Originally Posted by OBW

I have never heard any of those songs. Was I already too old when they came along? I graduated high school in 1973 just after joining up with the LC. And was gone in mid-87. Or was I just in the wrong city/region?

It was from the Grey Song Book, from Bellevue WA, a spiral-bound version of the 3-ring Supplement from the 1970s. This song is also on the LSM hymnal site, ascribed to a T.R.

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/ns/98

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

And nothing wrong with that song per se, but when you overlay it with certain LC ideas like you point out (e.g., "get out of your mind"), then I can understand your issue with it.

On the contrary, there's something wrong with the song - it's an extract of WL's message, and is a vehicle for his "just eating" theme. Those words convey the core of his Mind Control Programme; the words "just" and "simply" are essential. There's no overlay, here.

NOT HAVING METHODS BUT SIMPLY EATING THE LORD JESUS

The Lord Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly.” The Lord Jesus came to be eaten by us. But what a shame it is that there are many who read the Bible, many who listen to sermons, and many who give sermons, but there is none who eats the Lord Jesus! May I ask you, How much of the Lord have you eaten today? The tree of life is not for studying but for eating. Where is the tree of life today? It is the Spirit of life in your spirit.

Forty years ago, the newly married young men always liked to come and ask me, “Brother Lee, please tell me how to be a husband.” At that time this was the kind of question I liked the most. I immediately gave them at least five commandments and told them, “Take these back with you and do them accordingly!” In doing that I also was helping people to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But today if you go to the United States and inquire of the young brothers and sisters, they will say, “If you have problems in your married life, don’t bother going to Brother Lee. He will not give you any method but will say to you, ‘Just eat the Lord Jesus, and that is good enough.’” Their word is true. Now I have no methods at all. This is not a joke. Simply eat the Lord Jesus. Dear brothers and sisters, no matter what question you bring to me, I can give you only one answer. There is only one way. There is no need for you to prepare to do anything. Simply say to the Lord, “Lord, You are in my spirit, and I am one spirit with You.” This is good enough; do not say anything more.

https://www.ministrysamples.org/exce...ORD-JESUS.HTML

These words ''just" and "simply" mean, do only this, or risk censure, being labeled vanity, or fallen, or natural, or eating from the wrong source, the TOKOGAE. In the FTTA, when we asked about "remembering the poor" as the Jerusalem brothers had asked Paul, we were told, "Don't waste your time." There was a categorical division, of what to "just" and "simply" do, and all else was negated.

And WL's "we don't have a method, we just eat" was itself a method, a focus on enjoyment, so-called. The conceit behind the "inner life" stress is that outward expressions, or doings, or works are vain. StG tells us that "works without Christ'' are unprofitable - but who's to judge which work is which? You're left to subjectivity. Is that infallible? Instead of relying on Jesus' command, we rely on our feelings, which are ripe for external manipulations.

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

...much of the system of Christianity tends to practice the Christian life by "denying the power thereof." Therefore the Bible just becomes largely a set of outward principles, philosophies and ideas to follow, often without the joy of knowing Him and His resurrection life. Paul and other writers, as has been pointed out, include both. Some gravitate more toward one side or the other. I see the so-called "inner life" teachers, such as Sparks, as trying to point out that works without Christ working through us is not profitable.

Jesus told of the Good Samaritan helping someone and then said, "Go, and do likewise". Is that "largely a set of outward principles to follow, without the joy of knowing him"? If you obey Jesus' command, is that outward and joyless works? I say it's relationship through faith, obedience through faith.

The Bible tells of humankind being disobedient to God, and cut off from God as a result. Then the Last Adam came, and was obedient, and through this One, humanity's relationship to God is restored. His obedience is stressed continually in the NT. And our connection to God is through his obedience. Is that an alien concept?

"I will obey your word." Is that vain? Fallen humanity trying to be good? Or is it the Christ, in unbroken relation with his Father in heaven? A set of lifeless rules, or the Author of Life himself? Hebrews 5:8,9 make this explicit: it's the latter. He obeys, now we obey him. In Psalm 119, the "I" is none other than Jesus Christ. He obeys, and we by faith apprehend, and and believe, and confess, and live. And now as disciples we obey him. He is the King.

I will obey your teachings forever and ever. So I will live in freedom, because I want to follow your orders. I will discuss your rules with kings and will not be ashamed. I enjoy obeying your commands, which I love. I praise your commands, which I love, and I think about your demands. Remember your promise to me, your servant; it gives me hope. When I suffer, this comforts me: Your promise gives me life. Proud people always make fun of me, but I do not reject your teachings. I remember your laws from long ago, and they comfort me, LORD. I become angry with wicked people who do not keep your teachings. I sing about your demands wherever I live. LORD, I remember you at night, and I will obey your teachings. This is what I do: I follow your orders.

When Jesus came, he did the Father's will. This, he said, was his food. Then he told his disciples to obey him, even as he obeyed the Father. This was the bread that came down from heaven, to obey every word that proceeds from the Master. We have his teachings. They are not lifeless rules. As he obeyed the Father, and lived, so we obey him, and live. In John 14, v.20 "I am in you and you in me" is followed by v.21: "keep my commands". Outward obedience to commands equals inner ongoing relationship. They're not separate things, to choose to stress one or the other, as if they're somehow appositional.

Jesus told them, "Feed my sheep" and then in Acts we see Peter and Paul feeding the sheep. Obedience. Similarly, we see James' epistle repeatedly stressing to share food with those who are hungry, clothing with those who are naked. In this command/obedience framework, we can now fully appreciate the fellowship given in Galatians 2: "Remember the poor", to which Paul immediately gave eager assent. Later we see Paul writing to Romans and Corinthians, telling them to lay aside something for the poor of Jerusalem. There's here a continual unbroken narrative, should one choose to look, stretching back to the gospels, of obedience to God's specific and direct command, to love one another, not merely in word but in deed. According to Paul, the gentile churches are meant to obey, and share from their riches, just as Jesus had commanded his Galilean disciples. This obedience, and sharing (love expressed) is a sign of discipleship. Without the outward sign, there's no evidence of any inner life.

This is so completely different from ritualistic noisemaking. So completely antithetical to WL's teaching. The song lyric, "Just eating and drinking" was about ritualistic noisemaking, nothing more. The song is conceptually wrong in orientation, and is error, and a stumbling, a turning-away.