Toxic Faith, Arterburn & Felton

[Nell]

Elders' Training #7, p. 55

...A wife could say to her husband, "I love you and I take you as my husband, but whatever you say I have to bring to the Lord to see if it is really His leading for me. I need to pray to find out whether I should take your word wholly or in part and whether it fits in with my situation." If a wife had this attitude, how would her husband feel? Her attitude is a kind of subtle dissension, and her husband would not be able to tolerate it forever. I have been tolerating such an attitude from some, though, for the past fifteen years, but my toleration has ended.

p. 79 . . . This helped me to realize that although we are holding the proper ground, possessing many divine truths, and enjoying all the divine riches, we have lost the morale. We have become a weak person with germs. . . I not only have to be faithful to the Lord and faithful to the churches, but I also have to be faithful to myself. I sacrificed my whole life for the Lord's recovery. I have passed through different kinds of sufferings in my ministry for the sake of the Lord's recovery. This is why I must speak the truth regardless of whom I would offend. I must do something to kill all these germs.

(p. 80)... The Lord started something new in Taipei, and I originally had no intention to start something among the churches in the United States. Instead, I intended for the churches in the United States to wait for a time so that they could see something as a model in Taiwan. I do not want to have a start when so many old poisons remain. Because I realized that the poisons still remain in the United States, I felt burdened to call this urgent training.

. . .The army is here, but the morale has been lost. We must get the morale back before we talk about the army. . . .

. . . The citizens of the United States may say many things to criticize the government and the commander in chief of the Armed Forces. But when you get into the army and become a soldier, you lose your right to say anything. It is possible to argue, debate, and even fight in the Senate, but even when the senators get in the army and become soldiers, they have to be quiet. There is no uncertain (p. 81) sounding in the army. The ministry is not like the Senate. The ministry is not a Congress for anyone to come here to express his opinion. The ministry has no capacity for that. The ministry is altogether filled up with a fighting spirit. I do not control any church. All the saints who have left the denominations, the divisive sects, and stand on the proper ground are a local church in their locality. They can express their opinions, but they may have nothing to do with this ministry.

After I read in "Toxic Faith" the section on "control", I read the book Elders' Training #7, quoted above in part. I finally got it. I can't quote any more of ET#7 because of the "fair use" clause about quoting the material of others. Some of you may have this book. It's a real eye opener about the events of 1984 and the thought process of the man who believed himself to be in condrol as the "commander-in-chief."

I read ET#7 side by side with Toxic Faith. What a help that was!

The "I do not control any church" quote reminds me of the Nixon quote "I am not a crook!"

Nell

Note: If your page numbers do not match mine, there was a later reprint with repagination. The reprint is not acknowledged by the publisher in the cover pages.