New to this Website

Baruch · 12-26-2017, 09:53 PM

I am happy to have found this website 3 or 4 days ago. I worshipped with the local churches in Texas and Colorado from 1975 to 1987. My wife and I very politely left after a lot of turmoil in the churches and in our locality 30 years ago. I had a very strong salvation in 1971 through a college ministry and a good foundation in the Word meeting with some evangelical churches until my last year in college. However, I was not entirely satisfied with my Christian experience and was looking for a closer knit community of believers when I met the local church Christians.

I met some wonderful people and my Christian life was revitalized the first three years. It was very exciting being a young person traveling to conferences in different cities, staying with other believers in their homes, going to the love feast every Saturday night and being filled with joy and peace singing hymns in the young people meetings. Best of all I met and married my wonderful wife of 41 years! I was kind of impulsive in those days, naïve and a little crazy in a good way.

However, over time the control issues, being limited to only Living Stream publications, an underlying current of legalism, the continual disparaging of other Christian groups and the constant upheaval from rumors of rebellions and labeling of dissenters as "poisonous" took its toll on my wife and I. It all began to affect my mental health so we quietly went our own way. It took me awhile to decompress, but we eventually started to meet with other Christians in primarily independent Bible churches. We are still committed Christians and I have enjoyed receiving help from other Christians of many varied backgrounds.

After I retired a few years ago I began to study more church history from the early church through the reformation to the present. I'm reading about the exclusive and open brethren and the various Christian writings which had an influence on Watchman Nee and his mentors. I have already found a lot of very interesting narrative and references listed on these forums. I am here to learn and understand everyone's perspective. I pray that God will pour out his grace and mercy on his so that we can forgive others for past wrongs, give us wisdom and discernment to know the truth, and fill us with love for God and for all of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

12-26-2017, 09:53 PM	#1
Baruch Member Join Date: Dec 2017 Posts: 4	New to this Website I am happy to have found this website 3 or 4 days ago. I worshipped with the local churches in Texas and Colorado from 1975 to 1987. My wife and I very politely left after a lot of turmoil in the churches and in our locality 30 years ago. I had a very strong salvation in 1971 through a college ministry and a good foundation in the Word meeting with some evangelical churches until my last year in college. However, I was not entirely satisfied with my Christian experience and was looking for a closer knit community of believers when I met the local church Christians. I met some wonderful people and my Christian life was revitalized the first three years. It was very exciting being a young person traveling to conferences in different cities, staying with other believers in their homes, going to the love feast every Saturday night and being filled with joy and peace singing hymns in the young people meetings. Best of all I met and married my wonderful wife of 41 years! I was kind of impulsive in those days, naïve and a little crazy in a good way. However, over time the control issues, being limited to only Living Stream publications, an underlying current of legalism, the continual disparaging of other Christian groups and the constant upheaval from rumors of rebellions and labeling of dissenters as "poisonous" took its toll on my wife and I. It all began to affect my mental health so we quietly went our own way. It took me awhile to decompress, but we eventually started to meet with other Christians in primarily independent Bible churches. We are still committed Christians and I have enjoyed receiving help from other Christians of many varied backgrounds. After I retired a few years ago I began to study more church history from the early church through the reformation to the present. I'm reading about the exclusive and open brethren and the various Christian writings which had an influence on Watchman Nee and his mentors. I have already found a lot of very interesting narrative and references listed on these forums. I am here to learn and understand everyone's perspective. I pray that God will pour out his grace and mercy on his so that we can forgive others for past wrongs, give us wisdom and discernment to know the truth, and fill us with love for God and for all of our brothers and sisters in Christ.