Out of Egypt

LifeGoesOn · 08-28-2017, 07:24 AM

My Testimony - Part I

I am very encouraged by this forum and its ability to help me see the depth of the deception that I was a part of for close to 40 years in the LC. I am not bitter. I just want to see all the members of the Body who meet in the LC freed from the religious system known as the Lord's Recovery. I want them to experience all that God has for them, with members of His body outside of the LC, and know how amazing He is!

I was born and raised in the LC (Midwest). I was a member of the LC from the time of my birth in the late '70s until about two years ago (2014-15).

I was a "church kid" and truly believed in the Lord and His love for me ever since I was very young.

I got involved in music and playing in bands during junior high and did that throughout my young adult life. I went to all the SSOTs and many young people's conferences.

I never doubted Jesus' work on the cross or His love for me. I just didn't develop a real relationship with Him until at least my latter college years, and a very limited one at that.

In college I "did the college thing" and partied. Still went to meetings, but not having a solid relationship with the Lord, I wasn't "going on". However, the Lord never gave up on me.

After college I moved to the South and met with LC saints in the city I moved to. I lived with one foot in the world and one in the LC. I religiously went to meetings, read the Morning Revival and even the Life Studies. The Lord used my difficult work environments to cause me to seek Him. Eventually, as I sought Him more and more, the world started to lose its appeal. I needed reality and peace. The world couldn't offer that.

I continued to go to conferences and meetings. I served in the cleaning of the meeting hall. I even had a "vital group". There were times that I truly enjoyed the Lord with the saints and even at conferences (although not many).

In spite of doing "the rights things" and going to the meetings, my joy just slipped away. The "church life" was very superficial to me and I wanted LIFE, JOY and REALITY. I read about these things, listened to many messages on them and attended conferences about them, but they were not my reality. These things were, for the most part, just theory.

I got married to a sister in the LC, who had grown up outside the LC, in an unbelieving home. She was brought into the LC when she came to know the Lord. That was the only form of Christianity she knew. We pursued the Lord together and were content with our "church life" for a while. Eventually though, we became disillusioned and had spiritually flatlined.

We knew that there was more to the Christian life than what we had experienced up until that point. But, what could we do? Attend more meetings, more conferences? "Pray the ministry into our beings"? Do more "stuff" in the LC? None of it satisfied us.

The big meetings were DEAD. Even our home meetings, which we thought might be the answer, were DEAD. They were just a mini version of the big meetings (spiritual deadness in a small package).

My wife and I talked about this and how much we just dreaded going to the meetings. We even used our kids as an excuse to meet less and less often, especially when they were babies. We felt bad, but couldn't keep living in spiritual deadness. We wanted LIFE!!! We constantly heard about how bad "poor, degraded Christianity" was, but by the Grace of God we started doing the one thing that a LC'er is strongly warned not to...we listened to what christians outside of the LC had to say and actually started to study the Word of God without using the Recovery Version and its notes! Woah!!! The Lord speaks through members of the Body outside the LC....and it's LIFE too! We were so excited to see this and we're lead to watch and read many amazing things that He is speaking.

The thought that there is only ONE UNIQUE MINISTRY and one MOTA is LUDICROUS to me now! But, I believed it unquestioningly before. What spiritual blindness!

My wife and I were soooo happy to get life from a host of sources outside the LSM that I began to share my joy with members of the LC. I mean, if you had medicine for someone you loved who was dying, wouldn't you want to share it with them?

Well, let's just say that our sharing was not well received by the saints who I shared it with. I was told that it was "another Gospel" and "I don't need that because we already have all the 'high peak truths' in the LC." After a while I just stopped sharing. I did have one breakthrough though (my dad), which is awesome! Thank You Abba!

We knew we couldn't continue to go to dead meetings and read the LSM materials for much longer. For a while we would go to LC meetings for and share our new found joy with the saints. We would not tell them the sources though.

. We wanted to encourage the saints and maybe change the system from within.
Eventually, we realized that we couldn't. We had to leave.

It's one thing to feel that way and want to do something about it, but quite another to break free from a lifetime of conditioning, culture, vocabulary, self-righteousness, (amongst a host of other things) and overcome one of the enemy's biggest obstacles to leaving the LC, the lie that "There's NOTHING for you if you leave the LC. Just outer darkness. You may as well not even meet." I believe that many in the LC realize all the reasons that they should leave, know that they are dying inside spiritually, but get stopped from leaving because of this satanic lie/roadblock.

The short version of my story is that Holy Spirit made it so clear to my wife and I that He was leading us out of the LC. As most of you who have spent a decent amount of time in the LC know, especially if you have family in it, it can be very difficult to leave. However, the Lord is awesome and lead us out without resistance from the LC leadership. No elders even reached out to us to see why we no longer attend the meetings. We only had a couple of saints invite us over for a meal after we left, but they didn't even ask about us leaving. It was if we didn't even leave. The Lord made it really easy to leave.

I found out later from my mom that, "the saints wondered where we were", but none asked us about it.

That was the first stage of our new Christian life. Now what? We were told that everything else was "the outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth."

What lay ahead next was our "Out of Egypt and into the wilderness" stage. I will leave that for part two.

08-28-2017, 07:24 AM	#1
LifeGoesOn Member Join Date: Aug 2017 Posts: 85	Out of Egypt My Testimony - Part I I am very encouraged by this forum and its ability to help me see the depth of the deception that I was a part of for close to 40 years in the LC. I am not bitter. I just want to see all the members of the Body who meet in the LC freed from the religious system known as the Lord's Recovery. I want them to experience all that God has for them, with members of His body outside of the LC, and know how amazing He is! I was born and raised in the LC (Midwest). I was a member of the LC from the time of my birth in the late '70s until about two years ago (2014-15). I was a "church kid" and truly believed in the Lord and His love for me ever since I was very young. I got involved in music and playing in bands during junior high and did that throughout my young adult life. I went to all the SSOTs and many young people's conferences. I never doubted Jesus' work on the cross or His love for me. I just didn't develop a real relationship with Him until at least my latter college years, and a very limited one at that. In college I "did the college thing" and partied. Still went to meetings, but not having a solid relationship with the Lord, I wasn't "going on". However, the Lord never gave up on me. After college I moved to the South and met with LC saints in the city I moved to. I lived with one foot in the world and one in the LC. I religiously went to meetings, read the Morning Revival and even the Life Studies. The Lord used my difficult work environments to cause me to seek Him. Eventually, as I sought Him more and more, the world started to lose its appeal. I needed reality and peace. The world couldn't offer that. I continued to go to conferences and meetings. I served in the cleaning of the meeting hall. I even had a "vital group". There were times that I truly enjoyed the Lord with the saints and even at conferences (although not many). In spite of doing "the rights things" and going to the meetings, my joy just slipped away. The "church life" was very superficial to me and I wanted LIFE, JOY and REALITY. I read about these things, listened to many messages on them and attended conferences about them, but they were not my reality. These things were, for the most part, just theory. I got married to a sister in the LC, who had grown up outside the LC, in an unbelieving home. She was brought into the LC when she came to know the Lord. That was the only form of Christianity she knew. We pursued the Lord together and were content with our "church life" for a while. Eventually though, we became disillusioned and had spiritually flatlined. We knew that there was more to the Christian life than what we had experienced up until that point. But, what could we do? Attend more meetings, more conferences? "Pray the ministry into our beings"? Do more "stuff" in the LC? None of it satisfied us. The big meetings were DEAD. Even our home meetings, which we thought might be the answer, were DEAD. They were just a mini version of the big meetings (spiritual deadness in a small package). My wife and I talked about this and how much we just dreaded going to the meetings. We even used our kids as an excuse to meet less and less often, especially when they were babies. We felt bad, but couldn't keep living in spiritual deadness. We wanted LIFE!!! We constantly heard about how bad "poor, degraded Christianity" was, but by the Grace of God we started doing the one thing that a LC'er is strongly warned not to...we listened to what christians outside of the LC had to say and actually started to study the Word of God without using the Recovery Version and its notes! Woah!!! The Lord speaks through members of the Body outside the LC....and it's LIFE too! We were so excited to see this and we're lead to watch and read many amazing things that He is speaking. The thought that there is only ONE UNIQUE MINISTRY and one MOTA is LUDICROUS to me now! But, I believed it unquestioningly before. What spiritual blindness! My wife and I were soooo happy to get life from a host of sources outside the LSM that I began to share my joy with members of the LC. I mean, if you had medicine for someone you loved who was dying, wouldn't you want to share it with them? Well, let's just say that our sharing was not well received by the saints who I shared it with. I was told that it was "another Gospel" and "I don't need that because we already have all the 'high peak truths' in the LC." After a while I just stopped sharing. I did have one breakthrough though (my dad), which is awesome! Thank You Abba! We knew we couldn't continue to go to dead meetings and read the LSM materials for much longer. For a while we would go to LC meetings for and share our new found joy with the saints. We would not tell them the sources though. . We wanted to encourage the saints and maybe change the system from within. Eventually, we realized that we couldn't. We had to leave. It's one thing to feel that way and want to do something about it, but quite another to break free from a lifetime of conditioning, culture, vocabulary, self-righteousness, (amongst a host of other things) and overcome one of the enemy's biggest obstacles to leaving the LC, the lie that "There's NOTHING for you if you leave the LC. Just outer darkness. You may as well not even meet." I believe that many in the LC realize all the reasons that they should leave, know that they are dying inside spiritually, but get stopped from leaving because of this satanic lie/roadblock. The short version of my story is that Holy Spirit made it so clear to my wife and I that He was leading us out of the LC. As most of you who have spent a decent amount of time in the LC know, especially if you have family in it, it can be very difficult to leave. However, the Lord is awesome and lead us out without resistance from the LC leadership. No elders even reached out to us to see why we no longer attend the meetings. We only had a couple of saints invite us over for a meal after we left, but they didn't even ask about us leaving. It was if we didn't even leave. The Lord made it really easy to leave. I found out later from my mom that, "the saints wondered where we were", but none asked us about it. That was the first stage of our new Christian life. Now what? We were told that everything else was "the outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth." What lay ahead next was our "Out of Egypt and into the wilderness" stage. I will leave that for part two.