Gleanings From The Past Posts

[testallthings]

If you think something on this forum is worth repeating (EVERYTHING!!, I hear) please use this space. Just copy and paste your favorite posts (or maybe few sentences) down below.
I'll start (and if no administrator is against it, you can continue).

Originally Posted by djohnson

A voice Norm. Just a voice. Welcome to the non-LCS world - where you won't hear amen after ever sentence you utter!

[testallthings]

Originally Posted by SpeakersCorner

I was born to rant. I had so many good diatribes at lunch during my 33 years of teaching that I started numbering them. "Wanna hear #623 today?" I'd ask and before anyone had the presence of mind to object, off we'd go.

Three years ago my wife and I visited London. Speakers Corner was on our list of things to do. It's at a corner of Hyde Park, a huge park in London, and it's open to all. People get out there soapboxes and stepstools, stand up and rant.

Hecklers abound. The Christian ranters (there were several that day) attract a lot of them. The Muslim ranters not so much ... mainly because nobody wants to get a Muslim ranter really riled up, I suppose.

One Christian was a former Texan who had emigrated to London to save the godless Brits. He wore a cowboy outfit with stars running down the sleeves and pantlegs. Embroidered on his sleeves were the words, "Jesus Is Lord."

This guy could've taught all of us a thing or two in how to take on opposition. It was a beautiful thing. A couple college age American tourists, females, were outraged by his statements that Jesus is the only way to God. They challenged him with their mush logic. Zip, zap, zing! ... they were drawn and quartered before their clacking tongues hit the pavement.

I yearned to climb up on one of the stools and have at it. But I was too chicken, even when invited. I have lived long enough to realize that this skill as any skill takes practice to master. And courage.

I doubt many lives are changed by Speakers Corner. But I know some are. To enter the arena of debate and have your words handed back to you like sliced cucumbers on a platter, well, that stings. And most people, after being stung, go back and think about the encounter. Of course, most of that thinking is rationalization and after-brilliance and self-justification, but sometimes a seed gets in.

Much as I love debate I have sadly come to realize it doesn't work in many settings. Feelings get hurt, tempers flare, words get said that cause lasting damage. I'll not soon forget the great Global Warming Debate that took place at around midnight in my family room a couple years ago. I was all "read up" on the subject and ready for bear. Unfortunately, my foe -- a couple in-laws -- were equally "read up" but on the other side. Nobody convinced anybody of anything that night but I fear I took the greater hit because I'm pretty sure we raised the earth's temperature a degree or two. (Though, it must be admitted, the next day there was a decided "cooling" in the air.)

I have tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to swear off debating in friendly settings simply because I want to keep my friends. But in places like Speakers Corner -- or here -- let the verbal epees flick. Though much of the jousting is pointless, self-justifying, and weak on logic, the back and forth does make a difference if for none other than you yourself. You learn the limits of your skill, logic, and position.

And a humbler man is a better man.

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[countmeworthy]

Originally Posted by testallthings

Speakers Corner was on our list of things to do. It's at a corner of Hyde Park, a huge park in London, and it's open to all. People get out there soapboxes and stepstools, stand up and rant.

This experience reminded me of Paul at Mars Hill:

"While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city. He went to the synagogue to reason with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and he spoke daily in the public square to all who happened to be there.

He also had a debate with some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. When he told them about Jesus and his resurrection, they said, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up?” Others said, “He seems to be preaching about some foreign gods.”

Paul had his own 'Speakers Corner' for

(It should be explained that all the Athenians as well as the foreigners in Athens seemed to spend all their time discussing the latest ideas.) Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands;.......

Originally Posted by testallthings

Hecklers abound. The Christian ranters (there were several that day) attract a lot of them. The Muslim ranters not so much ... mainly because nobody wants to get a Muslim ranter really riled up, I suppose.

yeah... nobody wants their head on the chopping block!

originally posted by Speakers Corner:

I'll not soon forget the great Global Warming Debate that took place at around midnight in my family room a couple years ago. I was all "read up" on the subject and ready for bear.

While Global warming seems to be the hot topic of the day, I think the Mastermind of Global warming is none other than God Himself. I recently saw this Truth in Revelation 7 where God says: “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”

[testallthings]

Abraham humbly and meekly received Abimelech's rebuke

Originally Posted by kisstheson

. . .

2) I really appreciate your comments regarding Abraham at the end of your post. I have been spending a lot of time lately considering the encounter between Abraham and king Abimelech recorded in Genesis chapter 20. This episode occurred right after God's judgement on Sodom and the other sinful cities for their sexual perverseness. Despite what Abraham had just seen God do to Sodom, Abraham was such a coward that in order to save his own skin he was willing for Sarah to engage in adultery with king Abimelech! Praise the Lord for His timely intervention in this matter!

The fact that Abraham readily confessed and admitted his mistake when he was quite soundly rebuked by Abimelech touches me very deeply. After receiving such a sharp (and well-deserved) rebuke, consider what Abraham did not do: No declaring of Abimelech to be a "rebel", "an opposer", "a leper", etc. No pamphlets denouncing Abimelech. No quarantine. On the contrary, Abraham confessed his mistake and a sweet fellowship between Abraham and Abimelech was established. Look at everything Abimelech gave to Abraham in Genesis 20, and look at how generously Abraham gave to Abimelech in Genesis 21! Look at how sweetly the two of them worked out the problem of the disputed wells in Genesis 21. All this sweet fellowshp arose because Abraham humbly and meekly received Abimelech's rebuke.

When Abraham was confessing his cowardice to Abimelech, he said something very interesting: "Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place; and they will kill me because of my wife." Abraham was surprised that there was indeed a fear of God amongst Abimelech and his people. Yes, Sodom and the surrounding cities had no fear of God, but over in Abimelech's lands, there was a fear of God. Abraham had too quickly judged all the peoples of Canaan. This is quite sobering and really helps me to not "paint with too broad a brush". How can we be so proud when others who truly love the Lord, perhaps more than we do, can be found in even the unlikeliest of places? There are lots of Abimelechs and Melchisedecs out there! May we be willing to receive them according to Christ and according to God.

from the blog:Rants from Speakers Corner

[testallthings]

OBEYING THE FIRST TWO COMMANDMENTS IS THE KEY

Originally Posted by Igzy

Guys, I wasn't an LC kid. But I did join the LC when I was 19. I left in my late 20s. I didn't get married until I was 44. Now I have a beautiful family and many good friends. It just takes time to get normalized. But it can happen. I'm living proof.

But don't make the mistake of just running and trying to bury the past. That won't work. You can exist that way, but you can't really live. The strongholds have to be smashed, and they are spiritual in nature.

What got me through, eventually, was God. That's the odd thing about all this. The LC is supposed to be all about God. But if it was, why do the people who leave seem to need to start from scratch to get to know the Lord? The answer is they didn't know him in the LC, not really anyway. They just had a religion, a very insidious, mind-controlling religion.

As I've said before, you have to learn to pray. You have to genuinely get to know God and rely on him. That's what eventually breaks down the mental strongholds and sets you free. As they say, the best way out is through. And the best way through is prayer.

Relationships turn out to be pretty simple, too. Just love people. Don't think about yourself first. Treat people with genuine appreciation as God does. Learn how to let them shine. You'll then begin to notice that people actually like you and like being around you. But you'll also realize it isn't about you, and never was. It's just that a little of the glory rubs off on you as you serve people God's way.

So, surprise!, it turns out that obeying the first two commandments is very powerful and key. Love God and love people. It's no more complicated than that. Then you'll begin to enjoy that the kingdom of God is everywhere, because you are bringing it with you.

from:*Lurkers Only*: Now's Your Chance

[testallthings]

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY.

Originally Posted by Ohio

An old LC friend of mine, whom I was with last weekend, recently did a study in the N.T. on MONEY.

This was the conclusion of his exhaustive study -- Every single time MONEY is mentioned, the instruction is to "give to the poor." Let me repeat for those hard of reading: Give to the poor!

And for anyone out there who thinks that the Recovery still has "Christianity Baggage" from past generations, let me politely inform you that the Recovery, and specifically the LSM, has as much or even more "Christianity Baggage" than the rest of Christianity.

Local Church Discussions > Practice What He Preached? > Christianity Baggage

[testallthings]

Originally Posted by NeitherFirstnorLast

Thank you Ohio.... Thank you.

I was writing a follow up to my first post here last night, and somehow it got dumped off the system before I was able to post it. Praise the Lord, there was some bitterness in it that needn't be spoken.

You are right, of course - the Lord did place me here to shepherd me and my family; and I love the saints in Christ dearly. They have become our family in every sense of the word. After being Saved, my wife completely lost her family; they rejected her utterly. Funny, they didn't mind her when she lived in sin, but now as a new creation in Christ the Enemy has really put a hate in their hearts for her. If it weren't for the Saints in our Local Church, we would likely never have made it.

And yet I struggle, as so many of you did.

Maybe my issue is, I have always seen 'problems' in the Church, and my response has ALWAYS been to leave, because "my relationship with the Lord was greater". When I've had a chance to stand for the Lord, I've sat down, and said nothing. This isn't humility, as I sometimes like to think, it's cowardice. It has no place. We are all to speak as we feel lead, and I need to give Him the headship to speak as He would.

Saints still in the Local Church, Stop regarding man, whose life breath is in his nostrils. For of what value is he considered to be? Isaiah 2:22

Saints, Watchman Nee - whose work we regard and whose work we publish, said "Anything that comes from the hand of man is dead, it is finished and it cannot give life. Only the Word of God can give life."

As much as we can enjoy a life study, a message, it is no different from a sermon, is it? It is something that may be good, but it is not the Word of God.

Will you be like the Lutherans, who followed Luther - or the Christians, who followed Christ?

Saints, if you a consider a brother to be wise, and admire him, and want to grow to be like him, then you need to consider how you can honestly achieve that. The wisest men among us did not come to such wisdom by self-contemplation, studying their own thoughts and works. No, by their own testimony they grew up in Christ through the Word. When we speak of eating and drinking Christ, we do not mean that we fall upon His person as ghouls to consume Him - we mean that we drink the pure, guileless milk of the Word! We eat the meat of the Word! Christ is the Living Word! This is no mystery!

If a brother grows up in Christ, and gains some maturity by feasting at the Lord's Table, should we who wish to also gain not want to feast at that same Table with Him? We are called to, Christ wants to YOU to know Him so well as that too! Do not settle instead to lie beneath the chair of the brother who is feeding, and to eat only what he has already processed and digested. Saints, please - Christ is calling: Will you be an Overcomer? There is no such thing as an exclusive club of Overcomers... only a remnant will make it.

The Church in Philadelphia was warned, because they might lose the crown they had already gained. That is not an idle warning. The Church in Laodicea resembles Philadelphia in many ways...

If you haven't read Watchman Nee's "The Orthodoxy of the Church", published by LSM, then I encourage you to. See how Nee identified the characteristics of the final Church to appear before the Lord's return... the Church (which He still calls His Church) at the end of the age. Ask yourself, who is Nee describing here?

http://www.ministrybooks.org/books.c...2%2BI%20%20%0A


There are overcomers from each of the seven Churches, Saints; and there are also a lot of tares sown in with the wheat. We cannot judge who is who, because the Lord told us that we might tear out the wheat with the tares if we do not let them first mature; and only then will the tares be gathered and burned.

Only Jesus Christ is Lord!

In Christ,

Neither First nor Last

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[testallthings]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SpeakersCorner
Much as I love debate I have sadly come to realize it doesn't work in many settings. Feelings get hurt, tempers flare, words get said that cause lasting damage.

I have tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to swear off debating in friendly settings simply because I want to keep my friends. But in places like Speakers Corner -- or here -- let the verbal epees flick. Though much of the jousting is pointless, self-justifying, and weak on logic, the back and forth does make a difference if for none other than you yourself. You learn the limits of your skill, logic, and position.

Originally Posted by aron

I myself love to rant, exposit, and pontificate. I am well read (relatively speaking) and opinionated. My saving grace is that I don't take myself too seriously. Remember that comedienne on tv 30-odd years ago, named Gilda Radner? She did a character that would be doing an "editorial" on the fake news show they were doing. The news anchor would roll his eyes and eventually lean over and correct her glaring errors, and she'd realize that maybe she was waaaay off, and she'd just shrug and go, "Never mind."

Well, that's me. I'm pretty well entrenched in my position, but I can be got to, with time, persistence, skill, and a little luck. PeterD's word on "elders who serve" really was an eye-0pener for me. Also YP's "ekklesia". Occasionally I do learn a thing or two. Possibly I do likewise to others. Often I merely opine. My friends all know that I have a speech ready at pretty much every occasion, and eventually I'll get tangled up in my own words or trail off, and go, "Never mind". We all chuckle and life goes on.

But it's fun when somebody says something and I go, "Hey, good point." And also occasionally when I get to do the same.

What's been a real God-send (pun intended) here for me is the "Preview Post" function. I get to pare my comments down, sometimes drastically.

[testallthings]

Originally Posted by countmeworthy

I want to know who made Hank the barometer of cults or the barometer of acceptable "churches"?

There may be books and opinions that define what a cult is and what religious institutions are considered cults.

Ultimately each born again believer needs to develop an intimate relationship with their Creator. The true mature believers should be responsible in nurturing, teaching and praying with new or young, immature believers. We (non LC as well as LRC) are leaving the pulpit preachers or Lee's messages to "teach" them. Most want their membership and $$$.

If we would ALL do our part in praying, asking God the Holy Spirit to reveal and give us understanding of the Living and Glorious Word of God -Jesus-, He would be more than Happy to guide us and lead us in Truth.

Sadly the church as a whole is so divided among the protestants, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Catholics because people do not take the time to study the Scriptures for themselves.

One thing I credit the LC for, is pointing to me there were no denominations or non denominations in the Bible. I do not remember if they ever pointed the divisions in the church and mistakes made, evidenced in the book of Acts but God's plan was never to have the church divided.

The majority of the church is lazy or zealous to become something in the eyes of the world or the church. I confess to being lazy and I do not know why. I love the Word of God. I love talking about Him and His things. I love leading people to Christ, encouraging them, yet shame on me!!! I have not yet read the entire Old Testament!!! It is part of the Bible. So now the forum knows something about me you all did not know.

I have read Revelation several times and discovered in chapter 1 vs 3 that those who read the prophesy (of Revelation) are blessed. :-)

I do study topics of the Bible and to the Credit of the Holy Spirit have received much revelation and understanding!

If we read the Word prayerfully, ask the Lord to give us understanding and revelation, study the scriptures, fellowship with each other, God is not going to allow us to be deceived. He will not permit us to start our own "church"...or a new church.

And if Lee truly knew and understood the Word as he claimed, the local church would not have gone the way of another denomination, sect or cult.

God have mercy on us all!!!... Especially ME!!!

Blessings to all,

Carol G

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[testallthings]

Originally Posted by aron

RIP brother Tom. I remember Ohio's story about him: "I'm not late, I'm married"; even Titus Chu had to laugh.

Oh that we could all get to the other side of this damn thing, where we could laugh together and not fight over names and doctrines. May God have mercy, "until we all arrive together..."

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