Audio recording to FTTA alum meeting re: Jo Casteel

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kdmv77z2ht...02019.mp3?dl=0

Sent out today to some FTTA graduates:

During the recent July semiannual training in Anaheim there was a special time of fellowship with around 900 former FTTA trainees in response to some recent negative writing online. During this gathering, brothers Minoru Chen, Chris Wilde, James Lee, and Albert Lim shared their testimonies and their heart for the next generation of the Lord's recovery. Afterwards, a group of graduates of FTTA testified of their encouraging experience in the church life, their appreciation of the Word and the ministry which opens up the Word, and of their one accord with the older generation.

In these days, the Lord is moving to close this age. As the army typified in Numbers is being raised up, the enemy would try and drive a wedge between the generations of the Lord's recovery. This blended speaking, given in an atmosphere of love and tenderness, was a testimony of the oneness among us and our stand against the enemy's divisive work. Rather than be distracted by the enemy's tactics, may we have the heart of those with Nehemiah to "rise up and build, and strengthen our hands for the good work" of the building of God's house (Neh. 2:18). May the Lord richly bless His recovery through this speaking!

The audio recording of this meeting is now posted on www.livingtohim.com. You can also directly access it here. As a point of clarification, the tremors of a distant earthquake were felt during the previous evening's message and were referenced in some of the brothers' sharing. Also, we strongly encourage the saints not to search out the referenced online negative writing out of curiosity.

[Adelphos]

Originally Posted by FTTA graduate

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kdmv77z2ht...02019.mp3?dl=0

Sent out today to some FTTA graduates:

During the recent July semiannual training in Anaheim there was a special time of fellowship with around 900 former FTTA trainees in response to some recent negative writing online. During this gathering, brothers Minoru Chen, Chris Wilde, James Lee, and Albert Lim shared their testimonies and their heart for the next generation of the Lord's recovery. Afterwards, a group of graduates of FTTA testified of their encouraging experience in the church life, their appreciation of the Word and the ministry which opens up the Word, and of their one accord with the older generation.

In these days, the Lord is moving to close this age. As the army typified in Numbers is being raised up, the enemy would try and drive a wedge between the generations of the Lord's recovery. This blended speaking, given in an atmosphere of love and tenderness, was a testimony of the oneness among us and our stand against the enemy's divisive work. Rather than be distracted by the enemy's tactics, may we have the heart of those with Nehemiah to "rise up and build, and strengthen our hands for the good work" of the building of God's house (Neh. 2:18). May the Lord richly bless His recovery through this speaking!

The audio recording of this meeting is now posted on www.livingtohim.com. You can also directly access it here. As a point of clarification, the tremors of a distant earthquake were felt during the previous evening's message and were referenced in some of the brothers' sharing. Also, we strongly encourage the saints not to search out the referenced online negative writing out of curiosity.

Just a few question for you LC members...

When people are hungry, thirsty,
a stranger, needing clothes, sick and in prison does the LC you attend meet those needs in thier communities? Does LSM with its abundant resources do so or direct the Local Churches to do so? Is this practiced by your group or do they just meet, pass out books at colleges, attend conferences and urge people to attend FTT? Pretty vital because we can read plainly in Matt 25:41 there is eternal fire, the devil, his angels and not doing so are the characteristics of goats put on the left side in preceding passages of Matthew.

Psalm 23:3 God makes me walk in paths of righteousness for HIS namesake.
Psalm 25:11 we see iniquity pardoned for HIS namesake.
Psalm 31:3 For HIS namesake am I lead and guided.

Is there another name that keeps popping up at your meetings other than God's name?

Isaiah 42:8.....I AM THE LORD, that is My Name. My glory I give to NO OTHER.

Forget curiosity, are red flags streaming by your conscience? Do the LSM explanations hold water?
It took me some months but I saw red flags and to me the explanations did not hold up against scripture. Could God be calling you out also?

Hi FTTA graduate
Audio @ 06:30
"The recovery with MILLIONS of saints and THOUSANDS of churches on the earth".

???
What is the speaker referring to? 'The recovery' is what?

The recovery according to "God's economy" has millions of saints and thousands of churches?

[Jo S]

Originally Posted by FTTA graduate

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kdmv77z2ht...02019.mp3?dl=0

Sent out today to some FTTA graduates:....

Not trying to stir up anymore controversy but did anyone else catch all that "father" talk in this recording?

In one sentence one of the speakers rejects the Pope comparisons on Jo's Facebook post, yet further on they repeatedly portray themselves (those in leadership) as "fathers" to the students.

If I'm not mistaken, it's the Catholics that insist on their priests being called "father". I'm surprised you didn't catch that one Ohio.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Jo S

Not trying to stir up anymore controversy but did anyone else catch all that "father" talk in this recording?

In one sentence one of the speakers rejects the Pope comparisons on Jo's Facebook post, yet further on they repeatedly portray themselves (those in leadership) as "fathers" to the students.

If I'm not mistaken, it's the Catholics that insist on their priests being called "father". I'm surprised you didn't catch that one Ohio.

Huh? Who do you think made the Pope comparisons?

[aron]

Originally Posted by Ohio

Huh? Who do you think made the Pope comparisons?

And to his credit I think Ohio was the one who pointed out that TC went on record calling WL his "spiritual Father" and that they all "owed him their lives" and so forth.

And the comparisons with the RCC are apt. Just as the RCC based its standing on self-serving, non-biblical legends, so did/does the LC. In the RCC, supposedly Peter was the first Pope and Rome the de facto Jerusalem. Nowhere in the Bible is either suggested. But "Church tradition" supported this.

And in the LC, even though Peter and James in Jerusalem never were "under" Paul, since the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70 that (in LC lore) was "God's judgment" on them, and that Paul was "really the MOTA all along". Oh, really? How convenient. Something like this should have scriptural support, not merely your fantasies imposed on Church history.

And I haven't heard the audio but evidently Minoru Chen gets all choked up, repeating how much they "love" the young ex-FTTA'ers. Maybe since they see their millions, even tens of millions of dollars in recruiting costs going up in smoke before them, this is causing tears to come to their eyes? Because there surely isn't any "natural affection" there.

I think that it's worth considering: here's a group spending huge sums, untold millions of dollars, to create a "pipeline" to suck young people in, and a now-young-adults a former church-kid and ex-FTTA'er, gets miserable and wants to know what's going on, and looks up the history of the group, and then sends out an open letter to the saints with her findings, the whole thing can be destroyed? This constitutes a 'rebellion'? A 38 year-old Registered Dietitian mom? I mean, this isn't Dallas Theological Seminary putting out a broadside. This is one former church kid who can't take it any more, and publicly wants out.

And that's enough to threaten your Lord's recovery? Methinks you've been building with wood, hay, and stubble all along. It's now becoming evident, and thus the emotional outpouring.

[UntoHim]

Not surprising, Minoru, after admitting there are "abuses and immorality" (without admitting much of the abuse was perpetrated by leading brothers against young sisters) went with the ole "nobody's perfect" blast. So he gets points for FINALLY admitting that there are abuses and immorality (of course, he had no choice) but he negated any good faith and credibility by going with the tried and true Witness Lee "nobody's perfect" slap in the face. I guess since the blended brothers consider themselves as "brother Lee's continuation" we shouldn't expect anything else from Minoru, now should we?

The second brother who speaks makes a big issue about the need "for covering but not to cover up". (Local Church double-talk at it's finest!) He then goes on to say that there will be action taken against those who "endanger children, saints, anyone". Then he says "they will bring the full force of the law" (paraphrase)
Could someone please identify this brother?
-

[Trapped]

Originally Posted by UntoHim

The second brother who speaks makes a big issue about the need "for covering but not to cover up". (Local Church double-talk at it's finest!) He then goes on to say that there will be action taken against those who "endanger children, saints, anyone". Then he says "they will bring the full force of the law" (paraphrase)
Could someone please identify this brother?
-

Chris Wilde.

In order it's Minoru Chen, Chris Wilde, James Lee, and Albert Lim.

I guess even the LCs will change their tune about "not caring for right and wrong" when they realize that the local and federal authorities they are subject to care about right and wrong and can prosecute them according to the law......

Even regarding "covering" the NT is not about covering. It is about what is in the dark coming to light, it is about telling it to the church, it is about publicly not associating with people who won't repent. The NT writers' letters spoke openly about the sins and failings of the churches ....... where is even the principle of "covering"?

[awareness]

Originally Posted by UntoHim

Not surprising, Minoru, after admitting there are "abuses and immorality" (without admitting much of the abuse was perpetrated by leading brothers against young sisters) went with the ole "nobody's perfect" blast. So he gets points for FINALLY admitting that there are abuses and immorality (of course, he had no choice) but he negated any good faith and credibility by going with the tried and true Witness Lee "nobody's perfect" slap in the face. I guess since the blended brothers consider themselves as "brother Lee's continuation" we shouldn't expect anything else from Minoru, now should we?

The second brother who speaks makes a big issue about the need "for covering but not to cover up". (Local Church double-talk at it's finest!) He then goes on to say that there will be action taken against those who "endanger children, saints, anyone". Then he says "they will bring the full force of the law" (paraphrase)
Could someone please identify this brother?
-

"Nobody's Perfect" is antithetical to any MOTA claims. In fact, it should be a caution to hooking up to any such leaders.

But seems we all know that nobody is perfect, but still can fall into the trap of believing that someone, whoever they are following, is perfect. This seems to be as common as nobody is perfect. Must be some hard-wiring going on in human nature.

[HERn]

Originally Posted by aron

And to his credit I think Ohio was the one who pointed out that TC went on record calling WL his "spiritual Father" and that they all "owed him their lives" and so forth.

And the comparisons with the RCC are apt. Just as the RCC based its standing on self-serving, non-biblical legends, so did/does the LC. In the RCC, supposedly Peter was the first Pope and Rome the de facto Jerusalem. Nowhere in the Bible is either suggested. But "Church tradition" supported this.

And in the LC, even though Peter and James in Jerusalem never were "under" Paul, since the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70 that (in LC lore) was "God's judgment" on them, and that Paul was "really the MOTA all along". Oh, really? How convenient. Something like this should have scriptural support, not merely your fantasies imposed on Church history.

And I haven't heard the audio but evidently Minoru Chen gets all choked up, repeating how much they "love" the young ex-FTTA'ers. Maybe since they see their millions, even tens of millions of dollars in recruiting costs going up in smoke before them, this is causing tears to come to their eyes? Because there surely isn't any "natural affection" there.

I think that it's worth considering: here's a group spending huge sums, untold millions of dollars, to create a "pipeline" to suck young people in, and a now-young-adults a former church-kid and ex-FTTA'er, gets miserable and wants to know what's going on, and looks up the history of the group, and then sends out an open letter to the saints with her findings, the whole thing can be destroyed? This constitutes a 'rebellion'? A 38 year-old Registered Dietitian mom? I mean, this isn't Dallas Theological Seminary putting out a broadside. This is one former church kid who can't take it any more, and publicly wants out.

And that's enough to threaten your Lord's recovery? Methinks you've been building with wood, hay, and stubble all along. It's now becoming evident, and thus the emotional outpouring.

Yertle the turtle was king of all he could see, and stacked them to heaven as high as could be, until a young turtle named Mack had enough and said my shell is going to crack. So, he let out a small burp and Yertle the king came falling back, and all the turtles were free, as I suppose all God's creatures should be. My apologies to dear Dr. Suess.

[Trapped]

Originally Posted by aron

I think that it's worth considering: here's a group spending huge sums, untold millions of dollars, to create a "pipeline" to suck young people in, and a now-young-adults a former church-kid and ex-FTTA'er, gets miserable and wants to know what's going on, and looks up the history of the group, and then sends out an open letter to the saints with her findings, the whole thing can be destroyed? This constitutes a 'rebellion'? A 38 year-old Registered Dietitian mom? I mean, this isn't Dallas Theological Seminary putting out a broadside. This is one former church kid who can't take it any more, and publicly wants out.

And that's enough to threaten your Lord's recovery? Methinks you've been building with wood, hay, and stubble all along. It's now becoming evident, and thus the emotional outpouring.

Minoru and James use phrases like "this little rebellion" or "minor rebellion" or "little tremor" to try to downplay the situation.....but Minoru betrays things by saying the co-workers have been "on it almost day and night for weeks". The whole thing has classic doublespeak scattered throughout.

[aron]

Originally Posted by Trapped

Minoru and James use phrases like "this little rebellion" or "minor rebellion" or "little tremor" to try to downplay the situation.....but Minoru betrays things by saying the co-workers have been "on it almost day and night for weeks". The whole thing has classic doublespeak scattered throughout.

Minoru should have gotten with Ron beforehand to get their stories straight. Because Ron wasn't speaking like that in message 5. Too bad both recordings are publicly available for comparison.

Originally Posted by Ron K

although Satan rebelled against God's authority and although man violates his authority by rebelling against Him, God will not let this rebellion continue when I just read it, I read it in principle now I will read it again, addressing the rebellion taking place right now. God will not let this rebellion continue. a deputy authority we will see does not deal directly with rebellion. We'll see the cases and numbers. Moses did not wield his authority and smashed those who revile him, rather he and Aaron fell on their face before the Lord. They deferred everything to God and we will take the same way and we will see not just at the end of this age not just in the Millennial Kingdom we will see it, I believe, in the near future we will see and we will learn that God will not let this rebellion continue.

I think we should just keep repeating it: the Great Rebellion of 2019 is one 38 year-old former FTTA ex-church-kid mother of 2 Registered Dietitian who's taken a course in ethics, posting an open letter on Facebook and some people hitting "like" and commenting. And that's it.

If that's all it takes to shake your house, what kind of house do you live in?

[Jo S]

Originally Posted by Ohio

Huh? Who do you think made the Pope comparisons?

I assumed this was the comparison of the position of MOTA to the Pope. In the audio recording, however, they were conditioning the students to view the entire clergy as "fathers". It was extremely bizarre.

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by Jo S

Not trying to stir up anymore controversy but did anyone else catch all that "father" talk in this recording?

I heard about it on facebook. Much less than "father", I could not even regard the brothers as shepherds.

[countmeworthy]

Originally Posted by FTTA graduate

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kdmv77z2ht...02019.mp3?dl=0

Also, we strongly encourage the saints not to search out the referenced online negative writing out of curiosity.

Hmm... Communist leaders do not want their people to listen to Voice of America They don't want people to read the bible. Why? The TRUTH sets the captive prisoners free.

If we are truly walking with the Lord, His Holy Spirit cautions us and even yanks us away from danger. On more than one occasion The LORD has nudged me 'not to go there'. And on a few occasions has even pulled me out of a dangerous situation.

While God does raise teachers, our true TEACHER is the Holy Spirit Who opens our eyes to understand God's Beloved WORD, which is living and operating in us.

Originally Posted by FTTA graduate

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kdmv77z2ht...02019.mp3?dl=0

Also, we strongly encourage the saints not to search out the referenced online negative writing out of curiosity.

Why? Because we are stupid, God is not protecting His chosen oneness outside of LR? Because we can learn the truth or other side of coin? Or because it is easier to manipulate brain washed saints? I do know language of religious people and real honest brothers and sisters.

I'm still in the church as I have been a church kid for many years. We are in the middle of the winter training and guess what they still haven't forgot about Jo.

James Lee was sharing about Amalek, about the self and flesh. During the message he said in the last rebellion, two years ago some one was possessed and energized by a demon to write and speak so well and aggressive in attacking.

Hope all is well and happy holidays my brothers and sisters.

[Trapped]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I'm still in the church as I have been a church kid for many years. We are in the middle of the winter training and guess what they still haven't forgot about Jo.

James Lee was sharing about Amalek, about the self and flesh. During the message he said in the last rebellion, two years ago some one was possessed and energized by a demon to write and speak so well and aggressive in attacking.

Hope all is well and happy holidays my brothers and sisters.

Welcome unregistered church kid still in the church, (fellow church kid),

Thanks for this interesting update. Curious how you found this site, and what you think about your experience growing up in the local church.

It's fascinating that they think one facebook post is an "aggressive attack". I watched the responses to the post as they unfolded, and too many other church kids and saints resonated with what she had written for it to be considered an attack, but rather, a concerning consolidation of the truth.

I never understood the co-workers' viewpoint on this, in light of what the Bible says.

(I hope it is not insensitive to talk about this....if the feeling here is that it is, please delete this post. The co-workers are making public claims about something that is one of the most painful things anyone can endure, and I think it's important to talk about it so they don't have the monopoly on their version of the story.)

If Jo Casteel was possessed and energized by a demon, then the other reports that Greg was possessed too and was thus driven to commit suicide make no sense. This is would be a situation of a house divided. If their driving force was demon-possession, the demon would be thwarting its own work by causing Greg to end his life......thus stopping its own attack in its tracks. This is nonsense.

The other "explanation" I have seen from the local church is that Jo was possessed and God stepped in to stop her actions by taking Greg's life, because the "sin of rebellion" is, as Ron Kangas so eloquently put it two years ago, "THE SIN".

Except, the Bible doesn't say it's THE SIN. The Biblical record is actually of God having extreme patience year after year and century after century of His people in rebellion against Him. I mean, you have legitimate concerns about the safety of saints in the church and God gives you just a couple months before He kills you because of it? Doesn't sound like the God we know.

The explanation that fits the most with the Bible is that Jo was one of numerous prophets moved by God to speak up about a situation God has had longstanding patience with. Her concerns were real, legitimate, and echoed the experience of many people, including me. The devil has gotten way too comfortable running the show in the local church, and he didn't like the truth being shined in a dark place, and the devil is the one who acted in the suicide. The devil is out to steal, kill, and destroy. And that's what he did.

Hope you'll post more or pass along any additional updates.

Trapped

[Zezima]

Trapped, while your logic makes sense you’re forgetting a major point. The Lord’s Recovery is Gods move on earth, it’s the only place on earth that God is working & operating. It’s the only place that has The Vision, given to us by the Minister of the Age. The Lords recovery simply cannot be wrong, and everything negative spoken against it is an attack. Every other Christian group is wrong because they don’t have the vision that witness Lee received from God, a vision no other person in history has received or will received.

[Trapped]

Originally Posted by Zezima

Trapped, while your logic makes sense you’re forgetting a major point. The Lord’s Recovery is Gods move on earth, it’s the only place on earth that God is working & operating. It’s the only place that has The Vision, given to us by the Minister of the Age. The Lords recovery simply cannot be wrong, and everything negative spoken against it is an attack. Every other Christian group is wrong because they don’t have the vision that witness Lee received from God, a vision no other person in history has received or will received.

What was I thinking.....how could I forget!?!

[I tell the truth]

It was the winter training of 2021. I'll have to remember the message number. Yes, James was the speaker. Only the audio is on the lsm webcast site. And it's probably in the book too that accompanies the morning revival. I highly doubt it was edited out of each. As it was just another opportunity to attack her two years later.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I'm still in the church as I have been a church kid for many years. We are in the middle of the winter training and guess what they still haven't forgot about Jo.

James Lee was sharing about Amalek, about the self and flesh. During the message he said in the last rebellion, two years ago some one was possessed and energized by a demon to write and speak so well and aggressive in attacking.

Hope all is well and happy holidays my brothers and sisters.

[I tell the truth]

Two years after this happened, Jo was attacked in the semi annual training. JL, said that she allowed a demon to enter into her in which he claims the recovery was attacked by it.

[ACuriousFellow]

Originally Posted by I tell the truth

Two years after this happened, Jo was attacked in the semi annual training. JL, said that she allowed a demon to enter into her in which he claims the recovery was attacked by it.

Makes sense. Every now and again they love to remind people of how wicked she is. It's quite a shame. She seemed so earnest and heartbroken in her letter. She seemed to have a sense of desperation and hope that the others would at least hear her out, but many of them closed their hearts to her. Now she's simply a talking point for the leaders to bring up to the "saints" of The Lord's Recovery about a person who offers nothing but "trash," "poison," and "death." I guess wanting to have an earnest conversation about how to make your church a better, safer place for the next generation simply isn't on the minds of those mighty "blended brothers." No doubt it's simply another aspect of the "low gospel" that us lesser Christians so desperately cling to.

Well, if you ever manage to find some audio for this, feel free to share it on this thread. It's always good to catalog as much information as possible seeing as how the leading ones in the Local Churches are always hoping for saints to simply forget all the shameful and foolish things they do and say.

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by I tell the truth

Two years after this happened, Jo was attacked in the semi annual training. JL, said that she allowed a demon to enter into her in which he claims the recovery was attacked by it.

JL (would that be James Lee?), is taking the approach better to blame than to be blamed. Much is the Recovery approach of not wanting to accept nor acknowledge accountability.
Instead we have a sister Jo was speaking according to her conscience and conviction.
Maybe not always, at at least for the last 30 years the The Lord's Recovery, reflex reaction is to claim being attacked.
Was there truly an attack? Who were the witnesses to the physical altercation?
If JL's comments is rooted in objection to Jo Casteel's letter, it's not really an attack after all.