The LCS Factor

[Thankful Jane]

Originally Posted by Igzy

Matt,

I encourage you to read the last chapter of "The Torch of the Testimony" by John Kennedy, a book your mother has recommended. There Kennedy makes the very important point that the testimony of the Church is mainly a testimony of positive truth, not a testimony of exposing evil.

As I've said before, this is one of the problems of a forum such as this. It tends to get us on the track of exposing evil. Our main testimony should be to the Person of Christ. That should be our focus.

I'm sure you have encountered self-appointed "error exposing" ministries on the Internet. Don't they seem a bit contentious and weird to you? Once one starts to think one's calling is to expose every error (as one sees it) one has gotten off track. Our main focus should be to bring people to Christ. Yes, we sometimes reprove, but reproving shouldn't be the meat of our ministry.

Besides, I doubt all the leaven is purged out of your or anyone else's life. But we still have to get along as best we can. We don't wait to be perfect before we the praise the Lord.

Dear Igzy,

Just a quick note before I'm gone for much of the day. The testimony of the church to the world is a "positive" one preaching and lifting up Christ. However, if there is evil (leaven) among believers, it must be purged out or there will be no testimony to the world of who He is. He is holy. The lump must be also. Purging out leaven is not one person's job, but all of ours. God will hold us all responsible for leaven in our midst. We all should be looking at the scriptures and measuring our beliefs by them. He gave us the capacity and the tools to do this.

The Bible refutes a system of hierarchy that lords it over Gods people. It also refutes the idea of our submitting to dark authority. It refutes the idea of one man's ministry being "the" ministry all should follow. It also condemns establishing a oneness definition that is smaller than the whole Body of Christ which excludes real believers. These things are leaven.

We participated to varying degrees in this leaven while participating in the LC. The changes that occurred in our hearts' attitude as a result of being involved in all these things do not evaporate somehow. Our heart is healed as we purge them out of ourselves. We need to let God expose every remnant in us of thinking and practice that came from such leaven. We need to help each other do this also.

Thankful Jane

[Cal]

Originally Posted by Thankful Jane

Dear Igzy,


We participated to varying degrees in this leaven while participating in the LC. The changes that occurred in our hearts' attitude as a result of being involved in all these things do not evaporate somehow. Our heart is healed as we purge them out of ourselves. We need to let God expose every remnant in us of thinking and practice that came from such leaven. We need to help each other do this also.

Thankful Jane

Dear Jane,

Your point is well-taken.

But I would add that our testimony to each other should also be as positive as we hope it is to the world. A testimony which is chirpy to the world, but beats its own up in private is creepy. As a rule, we should preach the positiveness of Christ to each other, that's part of being gracious.

It's not that there is anything wrong with pointing out sin in others if one feels compelled to do so and does it humbly, always considering "there but for the grace of God go I." It's just a matter of degree and emphasis. You can look at your face in the mirror and see it as a whole being reasonably attractive, or you can look for the flaws and see only the ugliness. Then you can focus to a pathological level on fixing the flaws and end up with a face like Michael Jackson's.

There are serious errors in the LC mindset and I don't mind pointing them out. I don't mind your doing it either. But if I myself focused on those and never saw or commented on the positive, well, I hope no one ever does that to me.

John Nelson Darby, as Kennedy points out in TTOTT, was a seriously flawed leader. He had a mental stronghold of perfectionism that needed overthrowing and apparently never was. As Kennedy wrote, Darby would rather destroy the church than give in on a principle he thought was right. Lee had a similar problem, which led to a similar intolerance. Both of them probably thought they were just trying to purge out leaven, too.

Let's just be careful, that's all I'm saying. As Waylon Jennings sang, what goes around comes around.