A lost soul

I grew up in a sad family. I was saved through the gospel of a college classmate, moved into a brother's house, and attended the FTTT. In early 2000, I decided to leave it all behind. It was a very very difficult emotion battle, accompany with fear, shame, and regret. Your posts have encouraged me in many ways. I am alone with no friends to turn to, not knowing where I am heading. I started to read the four gospels and hope that the Lord will help me. Thank you again.

[UntoHim]

Thanks for having the courage to put yourself out here and post. I know it can't be easy.

It is a VERY, VERY important thing you are doing in reading the 4 gospels. They contain the direct teachings, parables and works of the Lord Jesus Himself. This will be a great healing and encouragement, and I can assure you that you will eventually find yourself much less "lost".

In the meantime, we are all here for you my friend. Though many of us are older, there are a number of younger ones around here who can relate to your situation and I hope they will come on the forum with some words of encouragement and hope.

[HERn]

Dear brother, I'm on my way out and would like to assure you that your salvation is real, the love you felt for The Lord is real, and the fact that you're seeking Him shows that you are being real. I say " to h---" with the fear, shame, and regret...because that's where it came from! Try and read the gospels without anybody's footnotes (LSM, baptist, etc.) and learn of Him. Before long you will be amazed with this wonderful Person and begin to feel love for Him again! There are thousands of dear lovers of The Lord out there in probably every group, not just the LSM local churches.

Beloved "Lost Soul":

You are NOT alone! You have the Lord, and you have US! I know that the other believers here will join with me in praying for you daily! May the Lord strengthen and encourage you! May He send you other believers to shepherd and care for you soon! Please go to a Christian fellowship and begin receiving encouragement! Father, look down upon "Lost Soul" and his situation! Guide him quickly to green pastures and restore his soul! Shower him with Your Sweetness! Be encouraged, "Lost Soul", He is WITH you and we, too, are WITH you in spirit and prayer!

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I grew up in a sad family. I was saved through the gospel of a college classmate, moved into a brother's house, and attended the FTTT. In early 2000, I decided to leave it all behind. It was a very very difficult emotion battle, accompany with fear, shame, and regret. Your posts have encouraged me in many ways. I am alone with no friends to turn to, not knowing where I am heading. I started to read the four gospels and hope that the Lord will help me. Thank you again.

Welcome to the forum!

Lots of us grew up in sad families too, and that's one of the reasons that we got saved. So that's something we should always thank our heavenly Father for. Our background may have been too dark for our liking, but knowing Jesus can brighten any soul. Thank God He sent His Only Begotten Son Jesus to this sad and sinful earth. See Luke 4.18-19

The dear folks in the LC's do display the love of God to their friends, but unfortunately they have been convinced that LSM and the FTTT are the best way to show that love. Their insistence on LSM is a key reason why many of us have left too.

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

[aron]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I started to read the four gospels and hope that the Lord will help me.

Let me put it simply: if you read the four gospels, and the Lord does NOT help you, then that is HIS problem, not yours.

If you make an effort to come to God, and God doesn't reciprocate, then the lack lies with God and not you. And from what I've seen, God doesn't lack.

So read on, and be encouraged. The Lord is near you. "Your labor is not in vain, in the Lord."

Lastly, I would encourage anyone who is starting out to read the four gospels. Read them until you know them better than you know anything else. Then you will be preserved, from going astray, when you venture into other books of the Bible.

One of the main problems of the Witness Lee group is that they are so fixated on the letter (theology) of Paul that they forget about the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Believe me, that Spirit is quite evident in the four gospels! Jesus didn't go around expositing theology. Jesus went around doing good works, full of compassion toward those who otherwise had no hope. See Peter's testimony to the Gentile Cornelius in Acts 10. Especially verse 38. If anyone was qualified to characterize Jesus' ministry in those words it was Peter, and therefore I take it quite seriously.

And all the details, all the good works of God's mercy, love, tender compassion, are there in the four gospels. All the evidence is there in those four books, that the gospel of Jesus is for real. If you hold those testimonies close, you will never go astray.

[countmeworthy]

Originally Posted by aron

One of the main problems of the Witness Lee group is that they are so fixated on the letter (theology) of Paul that they forget about the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Hey Aron and all,
Yes....... I left right about the time all I was hearing from the 'elders' via WL was 'PAUL' THIS and PAUL THAT... And LEE was today's PAUL !

I got sooo sick in my spirit and stomach...... I came close to hating that name ! and came close to never reading another letter by Paul in the NT !!!!

Sooooooooo glad I left........

So happy to know God's MERCY AND LOVE IS REAL OUTSIDE THE LSM camp.
God's WORD is ALIVE...

I was just telling a friend a minute ago that for the last week or so, the Holy Spirit has been whispering the Word 'Power' to me. So I picked up 2 Timothy and there it is: God did not give us a spirit of fear but of POWER...of Love and of a sound mind. I'm reading 1 Pete and there is the word POWER again...

This morning I got a call from a friend... Holy Spirit had a word for him to give me...and it was MERCY. He told me HS put it on his heart to call me since Sunday and to tell me to have MERCY. He did not know that I had been fuming and wanted to pulverize my brother who was blaming God for all the autrocities of the world...calling HIM a serial murderer....

boy OH BOY.... DID I WANT TO TROUNCE HIM...shred him into mincemeat...
But I held back... because HS reminded me of Peter sticking up for Jesus... and I didn't want to eat crow !!!!

And so I'm reading 1 and 2 Pete ....and there are the words: POWER AND MERCY !

I JUST Love HOLY SPIRIT...as much as King Jesus and Daddy Abba God...El Shaddai.

Love you all too !
Carol

Thank you all for your prayers and kind words. I cherish them very much. Our Lord uses parables regarding the kingdom of God. Can anyone please help me enter it? Also, the Lord asked us to pray for receiving the Holy Spirit. What is it like when you have received the Holy Spirit? And how do we receive it?

[aron]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Our Lord uses parables regarding the kingdom of God. Can anyone please help me enter it?

I was looking at an interesting Bible verse the other day. Paul was writing to the Corinthians and in chapter 13 he was discussing love. And he said we only know love a small bit. The whole love of God, how deep and strong and pure it is, we only have a faint taste. But even in its faintness, we know that it's real. In some sense, it's the only thing that's real.

And then Paul used these words: "We see in a glass, darkly"(v.12)... we look in a mirror, and in ourselves we see a tiny bit of "Christ in us" in faint reflection. We were originally made in God's image, and in our acting out the great and surpassing love of God, toward each other, we may faintly reflect that divine love which sought us, and purchased us back from sin.

If you are the same person who started this thread, and went through the FTTT (Taipei?) then you must already have familiarity with the Bible. Paul uses the Greek root word "enigmatically" for "darkly" or "faintly" in 1 Corinthians 13:12. That means, to me, "like a parable". An enigma is a puzzle, a parable. It is the faint tracing of something much more real, and solid, which you the reader or hearer now have to piece together. It is like a few pencil marks on a piece of paper, which indicate the location of a buried treasure.

Well, the Bible is that "treasure map", and the gospel parables are puzzles, or enigmatic pictures, indicating the way home to the Father. So I'll 'decode' the parables for you in two ways, which I believe complement each other.

1. "God loved the world so much that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes into Him shall not perish, but shall instead have eternal life." (Jo 3:16) The gospels tell us that God loves us. We once forgot the way home to our Father in heaven. A great darkness separated us from God, and instead death now claimed us as its own. Once death takes you, you are gone forever. We were lost, and without hope. So God, because of His great love for us, while we were there in darkness, sent his beloved Son to die for our sins (Rom 5:8). Now when we believe into the name of Jesus we begin to have the way home. The divine light begins to shine. Jesus came into death itself, and presented us with our Father's love, and opened the door to go home.

Never let anything distract you from the fact that your Father God in heaven loves you. Never let sin distract you. Just repent. Come back to the Father. Never let teachings distract you. Just be simple. "My Father God loves me. I want to go home. This is not my home..." focus on the Father's love, and never turn away, not for anything, and the Father's love will cause you to behold his beloved Son, Jesus. Jesus will show you the way home. Jesus said, "Where I am going, you know the way." (Jo 14:4). The parables point you to the the Father's holy righteousness and His saving love, and this in turn points you to the beloved Son, who in turn leads us home. "My sheep hear my voice." You will hear the Son, and return home.

2.The main focus of Jesus' parables, I believe, lies in this simple fact: that how you treat others is how God will treat you. God loves you, but if you hurt others, mistreat others, gossip about others, don't share with others, curse others, and judge others, what happens to God's love? You cut it off. God is righteous, and loves you, so His mercy opened a door for you to come home in the faith of His Son Jesus Christ, who is Lord and Savior of all. But if you begin to mistreat your neighbors you effectively deny that love. By hating your neighbor you spurn God's love, and God's righteousness once again steps in and shuts the door. Don't think that because of God's love, He will indulge you your sin! Don't think that His righteousness is now forgotten! Your every act is placed in a balance, in which you yourself are weighed. And your neighbor is an invitation by God for you to act. You may complain that your neighbor is not a nice person, but is rather a sinner. Still, that is an invitation for you to act. Bless them, and do not curse.

So every time you get a chance to be nice to someone, take it as a divine appointment, sent from the heavens. Love those who don't love you back. Forgive those who mistreat you. Give to those who ask, and don't ask for a return. Then your reward in heaven will be great. Don't think that God is not watching you. Believe me, God watches you; every hair on your head is numbered. Everything is recorded, in fine detail: Revelation 20:12 (ref Dan 7:10) says "books were opened"; don't think that all your deeds are not also recorded therein!

Also, the Lord asked us to pray for receiving the Holy Spirit. What is it like when you have received the Holy Spirit?

This is a hard question, for me. Because if I say, "I have laid hold" then I am of all people most deceived. What I would instead say is, Look at the Bible. It will show you the answer. The Bible is not dead letters, but the gateway to the living Spirit.

I will just give you one example: when Jesus resurrected, the disciples asked Him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" They wanted a kingdom on the earth "even as it is in heaven" (as they imagined heaven to be). They wanted to see the Son of David on a throne, and of course they would get a piece of the action. They all (so they hoped) would each get "ten cities" or "five cities" as a reward for their faithful obedience to, and support of, the Messiah, Jesus.

But Jesus didn't answer the way they expected. He said, "Go, and wait for the promise of the Father."

Interestingly, though, Jesus didn't refute their question. He just said that only the Father knows the timing. But here is what they could expect: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

"You will receive power"... ten days later, when the earth began to shake, and a 'violent' noise came out of heaven like the rushing wind, and tongues of fire began to appear, this arguably was indeed "the restoration of the kingdom to Israel." Or at least a requisite foretaste. And you and I get to participate, by receiving this same Holy Spirit.

All I can say is, when the Holy Spirit comes, you will know it. Just like at Pentecost in the upper room; you will know it. Believe me, when God comes, you know it. So wait, and pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit. You won't be disappointed. Jesus said, "Seek, and ye shall find; ask, and it shall be given to you." Could any invitation be more clear?

And how do we receive it?

The hard part is finding fellowship. There's a lot of weird stuff going on out there. If you try to go and confess the name of Jesus among the brethren of faith, you may find a nurturing and supporting environment, but you may also be dragged into a ditch. So beware. There is a lot of strange stuff going on out there.

In the church of Lee, for example, you probably heard about the "storms" and "rebellions" and "turmoils", all of which probably occurred because the people there, starting with those at the top, forgot about God's love, and confessing the name of Jesus. Instead they got tangled up in teachings and organizational philosophies.

So if you can find a place where the simple confession of the name of Jesus Christ has not been forgotten, and the love of the Father God toward us all (and not just the "good building material") is displayed, then if you go there and confess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to the brothers and sisters assembled, I daresay that "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you". In fact your confession will be a demonstration of that same power. As Peter wrote, referencing the psalmist's declaration, "Just taste and see". God is good.

[awareness]

Originally Posted by aron

The whole love of God, how deep and strong and pure it is, we only have a faint taste. But even in its faintness, we know that it's real. In some sense, it's the only thing that's real.

And then Paul used these words: "We see in a glass, darkly"(v.12)... we look in a mirror, and in ourselves we see a tiny bit of "Christ in us" in faint reflection. We were originally made in God's image, and in our acting out the great and surpassing love of God, toward each other, we may faintly reflect that divine love which sought us, and purchased us back from sin.

Great post bro aron.

And in a sense, when we act loving we make the kingdom of God real on the earth. And vis-à-vis, when we act hateful, we make the kingdom of Satan real.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by awareness

Those long ago smart aleck's, Socrates, Pluto, & Aristotle, 500 yrs circa before Jesus walked the earth, spoke of this sudden drastic change that came over people. They referred to it as a Katharsis.

So, bro Dave and all, "Snapping" has been going on a long long time ... prolly back into prehistory ... archaeology may one day confirm.

Of course it has been going on forever but back in the late sixties and early seventies there was the Jesus/Far Eastern/Mystic etc revolution in the US (helped along by the Beatles I might add--think Maharishi Mahesh Yogi). Not unlike the Great Awakening in the US in the late 1800s where people started experiencing "enlightenment" which ended up leading to Jehovah Witness and Mormonism religions etc. It just so happened that WL came to the US in the early 60s and he hit this "revolution" at the right time among young people. So, it was personal and not something to read about, like Socrates, and it wasn't just "being born again". It was an intense enlightening by the writings and personal teachings of WL/WN and often WL in person (our guru).

I remember the elders sending myself and Don O to Berkeley to meet with the brothers there because they were growing in a remarkable way. We brought back posters (which I still have) stating "this is the generation...what is driving us...it has to be God" etc. It was the boomer generation trying to find themselves and we were 75 million strong in the US. This was especially an issue as the Vietnam War raged on, the death of J. Kennedy in 63, R. Kennedy in 68, ML King in 68, riots in Detroit etc--we were all trying to make sense of it all. The book "Snapping" helped me understand parts of it to begin to pull my mind out of this "Katharsis" if you will. A lot that is going on with this forum is trying to make sense of it all after years of WL’s teachings ingrained in people’s minds. We have all coped in various ways but all have been affected or should I say “infected”.

Awareness--In regards to the lost soul who started this thread who is not a part of the revolution you and I went through---it is still the same process---I felt alone at the time although I did have friends, worked and was married but alone after I left from all of the LC people I knew...it took me time to end the guilt trip or even more that I although I had problems with the LC I still thought that we all had this great deep intense Christian knowledge that was laid on me by the LC/WL---I coped and was able to unload it --- Snapping was just one little step in the process. It takes time and it is not easy---we all cope differently and a lot of it is just part of our personality and why we got involved in the first place.

[Eph]

Originally Posted by Dave

Awareness--In regards to the lost soul who started this thread who is not a part of the revolution you and I went through---it is still the same process---I felt alone at the time although I did have friends, worked and was married but alone after I left from all of the LC people I knew...it took me time to end the guilt trip or even more that I although I had problems with the LC I still thought that we all had this great deep intense Christian knowledge that was laid on me by the LC/WL---I coped and was able to unload it --- Snapping was just one little step in the process. It takes time and it is not easy---we all cope differently and a lot of it is just part of our personality and why we got involved in the first place.

Dave, thanks for the posts you've answered for me. I can safely proclaim that most of your age group (joined the local church in the early 70') are loving and caring. You did things for a cause and I thank the Lord for that.

[zeek]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I grew up in a sad family. I was saved through the gospel of a college classmate, moved into a brother's house, and attended the FTTT. In early 2000, I decided to leave it all behind. It was a very very difficult emotion battle, accompany with fear, shame, and regret. Your posts have encouraged me in many ways. I am alone with no friends to turn to, not knowing where I am heading. I started to read the four gospels and hope that the Lord will help me. Thank you again.

Lost Soul--It's been a couple weeks since you posted this. Are you still "all alone with no friends to turn to"? It's pretty hard for most of us to get on in life without the support of friends or family. Can you identify any people in your life who you can trust and talk to. I don't know if I could have made the transition out of the local church without a support system on the outside. I'm pretty sure that others here have had similar experiences. Hopefully you can find people that you can trust to become your new support system now that you have left the LC.

[Eph]

Originally Posted by zeek

Lost Soul--It's been a couple weeks since you posted this. Are you still "all alone with no friends to turn to"? It's pretty hard for most of us to get on in life without the support of friends or family. Can you identify any people in your life who you can trust and talk to. I don't know if I could have made the transition out of the local church without a support system on the outside. I'm pretty sure that others here have had similar experiences. Hopefully you can find people that you can trust to become your new support system now that you have left the LC.

Zeek, thanks, I am the OP "Lost Soul." I have gained great support from this forum. Hopefully I can somewhat contribute too. When I see many of you are going strong, the myth of curse by God if leaving the local churches is just a trick. I saw a picture of Terry's big family reunion with God's abundant blessing. Isn't that beautiful?

[zeek]

Originally Posted by Eph

Zeek, thanks, I am the OP "Lost Soul." I have gained great support from this forum. Hopefully I can somewhat contribute too. When I see many of you are going strong, the myth of curse by God if leaving the local churches is just a trick. I saw a picture of Terry's big family reunion with God's abundant blessing. Isn't that beautiful?

Mystery solved! Glad you find the forum helpful. Yes, I appreciate your posts. I haven't seen the photo of Terry's family. I'll look for it.