My History And My Testimony Today

[JorgeP]

Greetings,

I have been reading the articles on this forum for some time and I thank God for having found it. After having some time investigating the craziness that exists in the external recovery (not the true recovery of the Lord), it is necessary for me to write my testimony. So, I am about to write my story up to my current situation. Sorry if there are mistakes in the translation, my native language is Spanish.

I come from the lowest parts of the world, I was a murderer, thief, idolater and fornicator. At the end of 2012, I reached a point where life had no meaning for me and in my heart came a feeling and I said: I need God. My mother's side of the family is Catholic for a few generations, so what I knew was going to mass. One night I decided to go to mass because I felt an urgent need for God. Then, while I was at mass standing in line to go to confession with the priest on duty, another priest was giving mass and at the moment of giving the word among all the things he said, God used this priest to preach this word: "From dust you are and to dust you shall return" (Gen. 3:19) When the priest said this, divine light entered me and I was impacted in my interior, and I said to myself: I am from the dust of the earth, I am nothing, I repent Lord". From that moment on, after doing the prayer and creeds, which include simple prayers for faith in Jesus, my appreciation for Jesus was compelling because in my heart I had the joy or gladness of knowing that Jesus was the Son of God and had died and resurrected on the third day. When it is my turn to go to confession to the other priest, the first thing I ask him is: Where is it written what that man said? And he answered me that it was in the book of Génesis.

After leaving Mass, I immediately went home and asked my mom if she had a Bible. She said yes and gave me a Bible, God Speaks Today version of the classic versions (very good translation). And I was urged in my heart because I said inside I have to seek God and I was captivated because now I had access to the Word of God. I began to read the Bible through Genesis, in a very compelling way and I was amazed that I could receive the Word of God and seek God and know God in the Bible. The divine light continued to shine on me and I kept searching until Exodus where in chapter 20 God enlightened me again and revealed to me that He was a jealous God and to have no other gods besides Him and not to make me an image of anything because He is a jealous God. When I see this, I said to myself: I can no longer attend mass because they do not obey this word and these commandments of God. So I stopped attending mass. At that time I was finishing a technical career at the university, and a cousin invited me to attend an evangelical Christian congregation. When I attend this congregation, and the brothers had a time of worship where they worshiped, praised and sang to the Lord, specifically to Jesus, that affected me positively and impacted me because it seemed precious to me that a group of people gathered to pray, sing, cry out, and worship Jesus. I spent some months there, and after that, God put in my way an old friend of mine in the university, who had already converted to Christ before me. When we met I told him "Jorge, I converted to Christ! Where are you meeting? (The Lord had already moved him to meet a group of brothers who were meeting in the houses) he answered me that with some brothers in Cabudare (a smaller city very close to the city where I lived) then in the conversation we agreed that I wanted to meet with him and I asked him to invite me to the congregation where he was attending.

A week later I went with the brother to the brothers' meeting one Sunday morning. When we arrived at the address, it turned out that the meeting was in the garage of a house. So we went into the meeting and when he entered I was amazed because there was a table brothers around the table and everyone had a Bible were talking and sharing the Word of God. The first impression I had and my inner speaking was: "This is where I am going to meet, they are looking for God in the Bible like me" And from then on I started to attend the meetings very diligently with the brethren by the houses. Then in one of the meetings, speaking the Word, the Spirit shone in me again because it was revealed to me that the Spirit was within me "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Holy Spirit dwells in you? (1 Cor. 3:16). That word in the meeting that night turned my Christian life into something wonderful which was to be aware that the Spirit was within me (And that empowered my inner spiritual life in a radical way). So, I was newly converted and the Lord granted me the mercy to be saved in Thyatira, spend some time in Sardis, and move to the meetings with brethren who were seeking the Lord in a sincere way by the houses. By the end of 2012 (November) I was already immersed in the house meetings, and at the same time, seeking the Lord in His Word very, very eager to know Him in my personal experience. At the beginning of 2013 (January) seeing the brethren that I was newly converted, at that time they were enjoying and seeking the Lord in Genesis, and were studying salvation by water in Noah. Seeing that Noah and his family were saved from the world and God's judgment to the world, my conscience asked me to come out of the world and I had the need to be baptized. So, I had the blessing that before being baptized, one of the brothers invited me to get into seeking the Lord with the help of the 14 truths for new believers but learning to use the study material, that is to say that first I had to have contact with the Lord with the two or three verses that appeared to me first in the Bible reading and then write down my inspiration but from the verses enjoyed and not from the study material. So I spent three and a half months every day seeking the Lord in His Word and receiving light and illumination from Him.

In January of that year, we went. I still laughed and the brothers baptized me. I had the blessing from the Lord to be baptized being spiritually aware of what was happening at that moment, that my testimony of faith was given by having believed in Christ, I was being buried with Him and identifying with His death and resurrection, coming out of the world, uniting organically with Him, and entering the Body of Christ, because I was burning looking for the Lord in His basic divine truths and beginning to have basic experiences of them. After this, I continued to actively attend the meetings with the brothers, getting to know the brothers, congregating from house to house and they spent 6 or 7 years there, in the town of Cabudare and Barquisimeto where I lived. I want to explain something to you: The Lord gave me the mercy to find a place to meet with brothers who at that time were sincerely seeking Christ. When questions arose about our position as a congregation, the more advanced brothers maintained that we were a group of brothers who were allowing us to be internally recovered by the Lord and that we did not call ourselves by any name, even the name recovery. We were simply Christians who wanted to practice a corporate Christian life as it had been revealed to us in the Bible, especially as in Acts, that the church life was at home. Despite the fact that we were studying the Word with the help of life studies, the Lord kept us, through brothers who had spiritual discernment and the vision that the Lord had given them through contact with Him in His Word, from naming ourselves brothers of the recovery (what today is the outer recovery or denomination recovery) and we were simply learning to practice the local church life according to a revelation that we had received until now.

While we were learning to live the genuine church life in some way, the Lord was keeping us from having contact with leaders from other localities, as we began to have problems of human government and religious enforcement regarding the recovery study materials. We began to realize that things were not right in the Lord's recovery and that there was an outward recovery, a human institutional recovery, which was a human work and not a work of the Lord. Since then we had to face difficult situations with religious men representing the Christian recovery literature and they wanted to force us and govern us with their study materials and progressively we realized that in a parallel way there is the Lord's recovery, but also a work of false recovery, an outward, religious, and confused recovery. In 2018 some brothers emigrated to Colombia due to the situation in Venezuela, and I went to a new stage of experiences with Christ in a personal way, and I was also entering a new stage of experiences with other brothers and local churches in Colombia. In Colombia I had very good experiences in Christ, I was able to meet fraternal sisters and brothers with whom I was able to gathering in brotherly love for the houses. But I was also able to experience the problem of foreign and religious recovery in Colombia. The Lord was giving me more experiences to mature and develop spiritual discernment regarding our Christian life and the local church life. Due to persecution by some leaders, I had to move through some cities. The Lord was giving me the blessing to share the church life in various cities in Colombia and so that I could see His work in His believers, have wonderful experiences with fraternal sisters and brothers, but also the degradation of the church as a system called recovery.

The true recovery of the Lord is an interior work in us in our personal experience but can only be carried out corporately in brotherly love. After spending that time in Colombia, the Lord moved me to Spain, and I went to a new stage of experiences with Him and the Lord also brought me to see the condition of His move in Europe. It saddens me to see the unfortunate condition of the Lord's move in Spain and Germany. I have had very difficult and very hard experiences in Spain, in fact when I arrived in Spain, the leaders in Colombia wrote letters to the brothers of the local church in Madrid to prohibit me from meeting with them. So when I arrived in Spain I had a very difficult experience regarding the church life, starting with the rejection and continuing with the unfortunate condition of the lack of brotherly love, in fact I see the condition of the church in Laodicea here, a lot of theological knowledge but very poor in life, conduct in Christ, spiritual discernment. In Germany I had a similar experience, to the point that I was sharing with a brother the Word regarding Romans 13 and the discernment that the Lord had given me in a proper way, the brother took me out of his house and I was left without a place where to sleep. I also thank God that I was able to meet some fraternal brothers in Berlin, in the local church in Berlin, and that I was able to share with them in a fraternal way through house meetings. There is an urgent need for brotherly love in what they call the recovery, (Brotherly love thrives in the Lord's recovery, Philadelphia).

Due to these difficult situations, I returned to Madrid (My experience in Europe has been from the end of 2018 until today). And on a personal level I have had our successes and failures in my personal Christian life, and I recognize my lack of maturity in life, since Europe is a very difficult scenario, I would say that it is the hardest and final stage of the Lord's move in this era. To be honest, you have to live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit to be in Spain and in Europe, the degradation is on another level, difficult to explain. Due to the vision and practice of the church life in the houses since I converted to Christ, I have been practically alone here, since there is not a fervent church life for the falls as I lived it in Venezuela and Colombia. The situation in Europe with respect to the Lord's recovery in Europe is sad and devastating, and it is not because the Lord cannot do something, it is not because of that, but rather that the religious man, the flesh of the man who wants to rule, the ambitions position in the local church, the enslaving hierarchy system in the local church, Nicolaitans, the obsession with promoting and selling ministry literature without proper balance, the much lack of brotherly love, spiritual sterility, and the obvious Laodicean condition in Spain and Germany has truly been a problem for the Lord to advance in Europe, the final stage of the Lord's move in this age. Currently I continue to live in Madrid, and until now I have not been able to form a vital group in brotherly love, which is why it has been difficult for me to persist until the end. While men are obsessed with virtual Zoom, I still need to meet face to face and physically with some brothers who are brotherly, and practice brotherly love. I keep to the end my vision and practice of physically meeting with two or three brothers face to face with the sole motive of moving forward to love Christ, live him and express our love towards him with two or three brothers in a vital group ( That I don't have until now) but I hope the Lord has mercy on me and provides me with a vital group to overcome like the times of Daniel and his friends.

[aron]

Greetings JorgeP, I'm a long-time poster on this forum, always glad to hear a new voice, yours included.

What touches me most is this: you testify of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. There are a lot of other things that replace this testimony: visions, a so-called "oneness" doctrine, various other theologies, various church models, various works, or ministries. All of them can come in and take over.

But the gospel is this: that God raised Jesus on the third day, made him Lord and Christ forever. Either this is real, or it's not. Either you believe, and seek the Spirit behind this bold proclamation, or you don't. God is either real, or God isn't real, and God is either realizable through faith in the crucified, resurrected and ascended Christ, or not. Either Jesus is the Way, or Jesus is not the way.

Everything else follows that, points to it, and nothing supersedes nor replaces it. We love, but we love in faith, and this is our truth in which we love. This is our reality, this is our hope, this is our joy. God raised Jesus from the dead and gave him glory - this is our unwavering beacon, our shining light. It never goes out, it never gets dim.

[HERn]

“We began to realize that things were not right in the Lord's recovery”

I wonder if that’s the case only in Spain? Is there sickness in the recovery in other countries?

I’m praying you can start a vital group, but you probably should look for saints that are loyal to Jesus rather than to the recovery and LSM.

Keep us informed about your desire to form a vital group, and prayer requests.

[Nell]

Thank you Jorge for your well-written story of God's mercy and grace. Welcome to the forum.

Nell

Hello Jorge,

I'm very much intetested in hearing what it is you mean when you say that you were enlightened and were able to discern the correct interpretation of Romans 13 "in a proper way".

What portion of that chapter are you referring to? And can you explain it briefly to us here on the forum and point out how it so significantly differs from the point of view of the 'Ministry' that you even had to be kicked out onto the street by a brother?

Cheers.

[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by JorgeP

The situation in Europe with respect to the Lord's Recovery in Europe is sad and devastating, and it is not because the Lord cannot do something, it is not because of that, but rather that the religious man, the flesh of the man who wants to rule, the ambitions position in the local church, the enslaving hierarchy system in the local church, Nicolaitans, the obsession with promoting and selling ministry literature without proper balance, the much lack of brotherly love, spiritual sterility, and the obvious Laodicean condition in Spain and Germany has truly been a problem for the Lord to advance in Europe

Jorge, thank you so much and may the Lord honor your seeking of Him and seeking first his Kingdom. Let me assure you that you will be in thoughts and prayers.

The tragic pattern you have described above has repeated itself several times over the history of the Local Church movement. What seemed to be a genuine move of God initiated by Watchman Nee in Mainland China was eventually taken over by "the religious man, the flesh of the man who wants to rule, the ambitions position in the local church, the enslaving hierarchy system in the local church". This dynamic repeated in Taiwan under Witness Lee. In fact, we now know from the testimonies of numerous trustworthy brothers and sisters that the errors and excesses of Mainland China were increased and magnified many times over by Witness Lee and his Taiwanese followers. The sordid history is comprehensively documented on this very forum.

In the early part of the 1960s Witness Lee was forced to leave Taiwan because of the very things you have described, and for some very damaging and grievous financial malfeasance and moral failures. Lee found some new and fertile ground in America. Not long, after what some have described as a "good start", the story repeated itself once again. Eventually "the obsession with promoting and selling ministry literature without proper balance, the much lack of brotherly love, spiritual sterility, and the obvious Laodicean condition" overtook and corrupted the local churches in America. What may have started as something of God turned into a corrupt religious system. To this very day, the errors and excesses remain. In fact, the errors and excesses have been further systematized, institutionalized and codified by the unquestioned leaders in Anaheim, known as "The Blended Brothers".

My advise to you my dear brother would be to pray to the Lord that he would lead you to a group of Christians who are not connected to the Local Church/Living Stream Ministry. I fully understand that this would be a very hard step for you, but let me assure you that the Lord will be with you every step of the way. If the camp has become degraded and corrupt, then God will provide away for you to find fellowship and grace outside of the camp.

Again, we are here for you. We are here to listen and to learn with you.

Your brother who is unto Him.
-

[JorgeP]

Greetings brothers, thank you for taking the time and attention to respond to this message. I want to share with you a little more about my experience and how I see things these days.

Regarding the mention of Romans 13, basically it is the verses related to human authorities. What happened was that I explained to that brother that one as a Christian cannot obey everything imposed by earthly authorities whether institutional or ecclesiastical. I gave him a very simple example that if the German government had issued a law prohibiting the preaching of the gospel, would you obey that? If the German government issued a law that you should throw yourself out of the window, would you do it? As I realized that Germans fear and obey to the letter the human authorities, and he was still under that national and cultural influence, I asked him those questions. As we were in the time of the pandemic, he obeyed to the letter to stay locked up at home, and to meet online by zoom, while I went out almost every day and went to a brother's house and we met and had our Christian meetings and Christian activities around the houses. Because I have this clear vision that the church life is by the houses and there is no life of being a virtual Christian, I stand firm with that to this day. To see this regarding spiritual discernment of when to obey and when not to obey human or ecclesiastical authorities, the anointing of the Holy Spirit took me to Exodus when the midwives of the Hebrew women did not obey Pharaoh's command to throw the children born to the Hebrew women into the river. And God blessed Phuah and Shiphrah and their families for fearing God and not obeying Pharaoh's worldly law in that situation. The same happens with Daniel's friends, when Nebuchadnezzar made a universal law that all peoples had to kneel before his image or else they would be thrown into a burning furnace. Daniel's friends also did not obey this worldly law in order to stand firm as a testimony for God and although they were thrown into the fiery furnace, Christ as the Son of Man came to their rescue and they were able to overcome in that situation. Also in the book of Acts the apostles were sentenced by the Sanhedrin and forbidden to preach in favor of the name of Jesus and they responded that it was necessary to obey God rather than men. So we see that as Christians we need to discern spiritually when we should obey the human, ecclesiastical and institutional authorities and when we should not.

Now, I would like to share with you what is in my heart so far regarding the blessing that I have received so far from the investigation that the Lord has prospered in my personal case as a Christian and member of the church. I recognize that I have experienced positive things in the local church as I commented in the main message. And what was the biggest blessing for me was the house meetings. In Venezuela, specifically in Barquisimeto and Cabudare, we had the opportunity to meet by the houses outside the religion and filtering and defending the meetings when the religious system of the external recovery wanted to infiltrate with its literary system of control and its religious and commercial representatives.

We used as help or complements some life studies and some books from the living stream ministry library but the Holy Spirit taught us how to be balanced with the use of these materials and that when we met we were to share our revelation and experiences in Christ that we had in our daily lives and not to make the meetings a sales room of theological books or Christian literature of such and such author. In Colombia, I also had the blessing of meeting in the houses and my feeling of functioning was the same as the Lord gave me since I was meeting in Venezuela, namely was to function in teaching, preaching, and encouraging the brethren with the promotion of the Word, the Spirit, prayer, fellowship, hymns, and personal experiences of Christ in my Christian life, nothing more.

When I emigrated to Europe, first to Spain, I came with the same idea that I was going to have similar experiences to those I had had at the fraternity level in the positive part of my experience in the local church. After having had my experiences here, and having emigrated to Germany where God let me meet a brother who already had time investigating, and helped me to learn to investigate things better, then the light of God shone much more in me regarding the system of the external recovery or false recovery, (recognizing that if there is a true recovery that is from the Lord, and that is an inner recovery, that is to say of our soul) and considering the situation of the local church where I live, which is just another denomination with the name "church in the city" and they call themselves the church in the locality and it is them and no one else, and to participate in some meetings that they had in houses but where they only promote book after theological book, and the promotion of the ministry of man and the experiences of a certain man in particular and there is no freedom for the Word, the Spirit, the prayers according to the Word, fellowship in brotherlylove, sharing personal experiencies rather than others christians experiences.

I was able to put the puzzle together better and come to the conclusion that I really don't want to be in this type of system. So after leaving Germany and going back to Spain, I'm moving on here. I still need a vital group, I have the conviction that it is the only way to win corporately and practice brotherly love and win like Daniel and his friends. I have been visiting Christian congregations and in observations I have confirmed that there is nothing to do in Sardis. The church in Thyatira in Spain is advanced, it is a serious Catholicism in some congregations, but there is nothing to do in Thyatira either because the Lord has called me to get out of the religious system and not to try to fix it. It is quite hard and difficult not to have a group with whom to meet freely like Philadelphia, but I believe that the Lord will give me two or three with whom to start a vital group and practice brotherly love and somehow live the church in Philadelphia in these final days.

Brothers, I have been researching this website for some time, and I want to tell you in sincerity in Christ, that I am grateful for the useful information that you have put here, but please allow me to share something with you: I do not see yet that you have been able to put together the puzzle of the church life and is missing some basic and essential that are the meetings in the houses. I see many visiting congregations going from here to there, but they do not have their houses open to the Lord, and let me tell you that if a Christian has a house or an apartment of his own or rented and does not have it open to the Lord for meetings in the houses, so that believers can meet physically, that belevier is wrong and they are losing the blessing of the Lord in this matter. It is impossible to have a church life virtually, brothers we cannot have a church life online, whatsapp, zoom, video calls, internet forums, Web page. We need to overcome this technocratic era and return to house meetings. It is the experience that I had and that I want to recover today. So I encourage you to go ahead and be a blessing this little message

[Nell]

Originally Posted by JorgeP

... I do not see yet that you have been able to put together the puzzle of the church life and is missing some basic and essential that are the meetings in the houses. I see many visiting congregations going from here to there, but they do not have their houses open to the Lord, and let me tell you that if a Christian has a house or an apartment of his own or rented and does not have it open to the Lord for meetings in the houses, so that believers can meet physically, that belevier is wrong and they are losing the blessing of the Lord in this matter. It is impossible to have a church life virtually, brothers we cannot have a church life online, whatsapp, zoom, video calls, internet forums, Web page. We need to overcome this technocratic era and return to house meetings. It is the experience that I had and that I want to recover today. So I encourage you to go ahead and be a blessing this little message

JorgeP,

Regarding the "puzzle of the church life", I think that in the Bible, there is no puzzle, no "church life". Just God's life in us. We are only told to "meet"...not "how to meet". I believe we are free to meet and not be limited by man's poor reach of mind. When we gather in His name, He will be in our presence. Lee dictated his personal opinion on how things should be in many facets of following the Lord...and how did that work out?

If you choose to meet in homes, that is your liberty. My freedom is to meet otherwise...however the Lord leads me...personally. It's not our place to dictate to others what the Bible does not.

Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

I have said on this forum many times, that I believe it's more important to "know the Lord" and follow him and obey him, than to find what some believe to be the "right church". By knowing the Lord, following His lead, and obeying his commands, believers will come together, in some manner, and fellowship in the word and in the spirit. Often those who post are concerned with "finding another church". When we know Him and obey Him, the church will find us.

Whether we meet in homes, large assembly halls, Zoom, telephone or whatever, it's not for us to tell others what's "right" or "wrong" for them. When the Lord is leading, we follow him the best we can.

I once had "telephone church" on a Sunday morning, in my car, in the parking lot, before a baseball game. It was very sweet and the Lord met me and the person on the other end of the call. Our desire was to fellowship, not to "get church right".

We do the best we can. As long as our desire is to know the Lord and his ways, he will lead us and grow in us. We give others the freedom that God has given to all of us and trust Him.

Nell

[JorgeP]

Brothers, greetings, I want to write again and share with you what I live in this time. So I am going to write another little post.

Thank you brother Nell for taking of your time to respond to this post and I liked what you mentioned that we are not here to dictate to others what the Bible does not say. First of all I have no intention of dictating to others anything, or trying to rule others, or force others to do anything or impose anything on others. Nothing of the sort, rather I stay away from any group or system that imposes human control over others and seeks to control others with whatever intention. I repeat again that my desire is to be able to practice the vision that I received first from the Bible and then from the lived experience of the house meetings. And if you think it was not appropriate to say the word "wrong" because my desire was to convey the importance of the meetings in the houses, and certainly it is not my intention to point out in a critical way that others do not have their houses open to the Lord or do not meet in the houses, but I wanted to convey how beneficial and profitable and edifying are the physical meetings in the houses, because I have lived it in the past. And I remember this word in my heart concerning it: "The church which is in his house" 1 Cor. 16:19; Rom. 16:5; Phil. 2; Col. 4:15.

I also agree with you that we should not tell others or try to convince them that it is right or wrong for them to do this or that because we all have a free will and it is only the Lord's personal authority in every believer's life. Regarding our desire to congregate with brethren according to the certain vision we have had of the Lord and His Church in some measure in His Word, regarding my personal case, I still long to be able to meet with two or three or more, out of the system of human control, and the government of man systematized with its hierarchical positions or its ecclesiastical organizational system and meet simply as brethren, all equal, all with the same level and position that the Lord gave us in His Body. While this is happening, weekly or every two weeks I am visiting congregations that I have near where I live. I go on a Sunday morning and seek to sit in the back and observe, exercise my spirit to discern and the Holy Spirit will lead me to someone or someone will approach me to see if a brotherly relationship can be started. So far nothing has happened.

I have visited about 7 Christian congregations and so far nothing has happened. But I am also somehow paying attention to my surroundings because I am aware that the Lord is moving around us and He has put people around us so that we are somehow a testimony of Him. I have had some experiences preaching the gospel, the last one was wonderful, but unfortunately the fruit did not remain. I continue with the desire to form a vital group of two or three, to vitalize ourselves, to live in brotherly love, and to bear fruit that remains. Daniel and his friends are the best example I have ever seen of a vital group for life. Until recently I had been sad, frustrated and going through an existential crisis, but today and I hope that from now on I can keep moving forward and the Lord moves His wheel in me and in those around me, little by little I am sharing more of Christ to others in a simple way and as the Spirit leads me. I am being restored more and more inwardly and now I see the picture much better because I am in an interesting place, which is within Europe, and the Lord wants to move mightily here to consummate this era and come soon. So, in spite of everything, here I am, willing to move forward and sincerely I would like to be of value and usefulness to the Lord Jesus in these times.

[JorgeP]

Brothers let me add a response that I felt like writing in another post because it is quite connected to what I have felt like writing here.

Greetings brethren,

because this matter of the church in the house is of great importance to me, let me share my experience in the ekklesia. You can also check in the post I did sharing my story and experience and you will see that much of it, I would say almost all of it was within the wonderful environment of the ekklesia. As a new convert I had the blessing of going into house to house church meetings, so I can share from the point of view of a new convert until today.

First of all I can testify before the Lord that the house church meetings are the best thing I have been able to experience corporately. It is simply wonderful. First of all because the Bible clearly reveals it in 1 Cor. 16:19; Rom. 16:5; Philemon. 2; Col. 4:15 that the brethren met as the house church. The freedom we have as believers to meet by the houses is wonderful. We can all attend, we can all participate, we can all speak, we can all function, we can all serve. The house meetings are so profitable, practical, useful and edifying that in a short time the meeting that began in mid-2010 in Cabudare, Venezuela, (I started attending in late 2012), reached a point where we were actively meeting several times a week and then to a spectacular climate where we met almost every day.

The Word, the Spirit, the person of Christ as the center of the meeting, the freedom to praise according to the revelation we have of Him according to His Word, the prayers, the spiritual songs, the practical coordination, the brotherly love, the practical service to one another, the relationships in practical and human life. Simply wonderful. Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ who has given us a way to really live in harmony as brothers. Certainly harmony is produced by Christ within us because He is the harmonious one, plus the house meetings produce and give the freedom to be able to live Christ corporately together with His humanity among the brethren.

The physical sphere is important and crucial for the Lord. It is so important that one day God became man, with a physical body. He lived a human life, congregating in the houses. The blessed almighty and eternal God became man, with a physical body and congregated in the houses (The house of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, the house of Matthew, the house of Sachaeus, the house of Simon, and others) He also visited people in the houses to save them, heal them, preach to them, minister to them, deliver them. He also sent His disciple two by two and from house to house to announce the kingdom of God. He went through death and resurrection and resurrected, He still has a physical body and we see this clearly at the end of John's gospel.

Another aspect that I could enjoy in the house meetings is the enjoyment that we can have of the brethren in their humanity. Because we are men with humanity and a physical body, we have the need to meet physically. I really do not change this for a virtual online life, because I am not a robot or a machine, I need to congregate physically with my brothers. I really miss the house meetings. I hope that the Lord will give me here soon a group of brothers willing to practice the ekklesia by the houses and re-experience the wonderful corporate life that the Lord presents in His Word and experience in practice the brotherly love, the fellowship of eternal life among the brothers and live what the Lord has prepared for us for eternity, to live together with Him in harmony forever.

[Nell]

Originally Posted by JorgeP

...
Another aspect that I could enjoy in the house meetings is the enjoyment that we can have of the brethren in their humanity. Because we are men with humanity and a physical body, we have the need to meet physically. I really do not change this for a virtual online life, because I am not a robot or a machine, I need to congregate physically with my brothers. I really miss the house meetings. I hope that the Lord will give me here soon a group of brothers willing to practice the ekklesia by the houses and re-experience the wonderful corporate life that the Lord presents in His Word and experience in practice the brotherly love, the fellowship of eternal life among the brothers and live what the Lord has prepared for us for eternity, to live together with Him in harmony forever.

JorgeP,

I can't imagine that anyone here would disagree with what you are saying...with your hopes to find fellowship with Christians that will provide you with what you want.

I only have a point of departure with what you are saying in that you seem have predetermined conclusions about what and how He is working. You have wants, needs, hopes and preferences. We all do. You may have the answers in your interpretation of scripture. Others may interpret scripture to mean otherwise. We all follow the Lord as we believe we are being led. We all worship and follow the Jehovah God who meets all our needs, sometimes in ways we do not expect.

God may change our circumstances to give us what we want. But, He also might change us to be content in the state we are in, knowing and believing by faith that it is He who placed us where we are.

Blessings to you JorgeP
Nell

Originally Posted by JorgeP

In Germany I had a similar experience, to the point that I was sharing with a brother the Word regarding Romans 13 and the discernment that the Lord had given me in a proper way, the brother took me out of his house and I was left without a place where to sleep.

Hi, Jorge. Later, you explain that the discernment you have from Rom 13 was regarding not following the laws of men regarding social distancing during the pandemic and the brother in Germany felt differently than you & followed the human law.

I'll be frank: I would have sent you out of my house, too, if you (or anyone) put me or my family at risk for catching a disease that has killed millions and permanent injured many more. Maybe someone else would have felt that they also didn't need to heed the laws meant to protect people from the pandemic and would have welcomed you to stay with them, but that wouldn't be "brotherly love," just "shared opinion."

Imagine if you had followed Paul's example of not eating meat so as to stumble the weak brother who felt meat sacrificed to idols should be avoided! That, Jorge, would have been an example of you exhibiting brotherly love to the brother in Germany.

While there are many problems with the so-called "Lord's Recovery" and we can agree that many of us have been led to leave the system of the BlendedMen, we need to have an honest look at ourselves and our own overreaching, or we fall into the same presumption we are fleeing.

~ gr8ful (lost my password!)

[JorgeP]

I am going to attach this message, because I also want to write in my experience other details of the good experiences I had when I participated in the recovery ministry. I also want to give credit to brothers who have been a blessing in my Christian life.

One of the things that has surprised me most about this ministry is the diligence in studying the Bible chapter after chapter in an orderly manner. In fact being a new believer, I was so impressed that I bought all 94 volumes of all the life studies because I wanted to do the 5 year program to read them all. Although I was not able to complete this reading, in due time I did get to use various materials to investigate that were truly a blessing in my Christian life.

So the first thing for which I give credit to the brothers of the recovery ministry, for this work of literature that inspires to study the Bible in a serious and sincere way. I am also grateful that I have learned how to connect the divine revelation of Scripture book by book and not take one verse in isolation to draw isolated conclusions or use that verse to justify an argument. I appreciate the diligence, the hard work of studying the Bible that this ministry has had in this part and I learned that we must investigate, read a lot and search if we want to know the truth. I had very good fraternal experiences with brothers from the recovery ministry in Venezuela, Colombia and Germany and these brothers are normal brothers who were not within the leadership structure in the local church of the recovery. Only one brother among these was the most advanced leader in a local church in Villavicencio, Colombia, and I testify to him and his family that they were truly a blessing to me during my stay there. Another thing that I liked and that I give credit to the recovery ministry is the importance of meeting at home. In my experience, it is the best thing that has happened to me in my Christian life in the brotherhood, I really enjoy meeting in the houses, since it is something basic and biblical in the book of Acts. The best experiences with the brotherhood I have had at home. Another thing that I give credit to the recovery ministry is the motivation to seek the Lord personally, and have personal experiences with Him. In addition to having personal experiences, also seeking group experiences with other Christians, one of the things that has inspired me to continue forward is the vision and practice of the vital group, and I truly press on to experience the reality of a vital group to bear fruit that remains. I give credit to brothers Watchmann Nee and Witness Lee, and sincere collaborators like John Ingalls among others who were part of these Christian projects that have been helpful, useful and blessing in my Christian life.

I give credit to brother Franklin Castillo in Venezuela, he is an excellent brother, very studious of the Bible, a man of prayer, a mature man in the divine life who has been quite a blessing in the local congregations of the recovery in this nation.

I give credit to Brother Saturno Renzelli in Venezuela, an excellent brother, fraternal, with an extraordinary ability to serve the Lord. A genuine man with a heart for the Lord, one of the most excellent brothers I have been able to meet in this Christian life.

I give credit to brother Álvaro Calvo in Colombia, a fraternal brother, experienced in the Lord, who truly had a heart for the local congregation where we were sharing, and as of his own finances, he has been a great blessing to the local church in Villavicencio.

I credit Brother Philip Grundman and Daniel Ofoma of the recovery congregation in Berlin, Germany, as fraternal brothers and hosts. They were a blessing during my stay in Germany and I was able to learn and mature in areas of my Christian life when I was with them in this city.