Recovering a Pure Testimony of Jesus

[HERn]

Originally Posted by JJ

I too sang those "loving the church" songs enthusiastically when I was first in a "local church". But, after being outside for many years while carefully studying the Bible and praying, and asking the Lord "what went so horribly wrong?", when I tried to sing many of those songs on periodic attempts to re-enter the local churches it began to hit me. That is where it goes wrong.

The church never worships its human leaders or itself! Run if you are part of a church anywhere that is doing this, and return to the one, and only one who is truly worthy of our worship.

And lest anyone ask "worship ourselves?", count the "we"s in "hymn" 1255 of LSM "Hymns" "We are for the Lord's Recovery" (9 in the first verse alone) and ask who the object of that song is (we), and do the same for other songs in the same section of that song book.

I think this is so true. LSM and the blendeds with the elders are infected with the spirit of "exaltation of man." Many times I have heard brothers praise another brother for some trait like absoluteness, faithfulness, being constituted. And anyone that has attended an LSM LC can testify to how WL is praised, honored, lifted up, and obeyed. It's true that on the Lord's Day the table meeting attempts to focus on the Lord, but the following prophesying meeting that exalts a mere man and his ministry I think makes the first meeting void. How much of the claimed enjoyment at the table meeting is man's enjoyment rather than the Lord's enjoyment?