“Can the Local Church Leadership Say, ‘We Were Wrong’?” (An Open Letter)

[Thankful Jane]

Originally Posted by rayliotta

Ohio, I appreciate learning about the past events....So let's talk about the past. Let's talk about how the past shaped the LRC, and shaped its leadership. I'm all for it. But how can we talk about 1988, as if it were 2008, and think that our conclusions will fit the context of what's really going on?

This is a good point. I think we show care and respect for those who read on this forum when we take time to write in a way that conveys our points, minimizes misunderstandings, and leaves the reader with good information (in proper time context) to think about. I know this is not easy to do, but I'm just saying ... you know ... love thy neighbor.

Originally Posted by Ohio

I never heard a leader say that the real "treasure" in the recovery was the believers themselves. They might teach about God "selling all" to buy the pearl of great worth, but their "treasure" was the vision and the testimony, code words for the ways of her leaders. When saints left the recovery, it was often considered to be their loss, rather than our loss.

I agree that leaders like Benson didn't considered individual believers to be the "treasure." Instead, the believers have been treated more like the slaves who built the treasure cities for Pharaoh. Such leaders have used word whips to drive people to serve the Living Stream Ministry, a ministry which has become the one face of the Local Churches today. The leaders have barely stopped to take serious note of all those whom they have killed in the decades-long process of building up their ministry edifice. They describe those who have left as being inferior in some way.

Time Period : Late 1980s

Somewhere around 1989-1990, (a few years after we left OKC), a sister from there, who was troubled at the number of people who had been leaving, got up the nerve to ask Benson why this was happening. His answer stunned and upset her. He told her not to be troubled because God was just "weeding some out." She was too afraid to say anything back to him, but what she wanted to say was, "Weeds? God sees the brothers and sisters as weeds??"

This conversation marked a turning point for her in her loyalty to the program, and it was only a matter of time before God had "weeded her out," too.

Benson should rethink his weed analysis in light of Matthew 13:30. God doesn't even "weed out" the real weeds, tares, sown among the wheat in the field of the world until they are ready for harvest. How much less would He find it necessary to weed out believers from other believers.

Benson needed to remove the wax from his ears if he wanted to hear clearly what God was speaking by the fact that so many were leaving. God wasn't saying, "I am weeding some out;" He was saying, "Come out of her my people, that you be not partakers of her sins and of her plagues."

Time Period: Present to Future

One day Benson may be standing, looking out with pride over what he thinks is a field of wheat (already weeded), only to be surprised by the reapers putting in the sickle, bundling the black fruited plants that have been thriving there, and throwing them into the fire.

(To be clear: I'm not implying that those remaining in the Local Churches are unbelievers, just saying "saved, yet so as by fire" (I Cor. 3:15); and, wicked servants (who produce bad fruit) being cut asunder and appointed a portion with the unbelievers (Luke 12:46)).

Thankful Jane