Hi Jasmine,

I would rather not give his last name, as I don't have his permission to do so, and I want to respect his privacy and appropriate boundaries etc. He is in the group photo of the website along with his wife. The group picture where they are in front of a nice older house. I don't think he has written any articles or testimonies for the site that I am aware of. He is a fine young man and is easy to talk with. He works from time to time at the restaurant/gas station that the group owns in town. Again, I hope to see him and his wife and their child Ruth Ann when I visit in March Lord willing. I am also anticipating have a follow up talk with the elders of the church. I pray for them daily and want the best for them.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
David

If the Bible were so easy to understand, why would it refer to mysteries? I Cor. 2:7; Rom. 11:25; Eph. 1:9 and many other passages. These discussions on this thread relate to mysteries in Christ Jesus, our Redeemer. When we don't understand -- because we see darkly, as in a glass -- we just need to remind ourselves, what matters most is love coming from God and flowing through us and being shown to our neighbors (in our home or in Texas or where ever).

Who has a corner on the mysteries of God? What qualifies a person as being one who surely understands what God portrays as mysterious? Isn't there something in the Bible about men being sent, after having certain ones lay hands on them? Who laid hands on the 'elders' of the group in Wells?

From my heart, I desire that God's peace should reign amongst us. Peace is not a friend of lies and deceit. Jesus exposed lies, and we should do the same. When we all agree with God, there will be peace. Do we all agree with God? Do the members in Wells agree with God, and do we 'others' (outsiders, according to members in Wells) agree with God?

I'll leave it at that. I'll save my other thoughts until after waiting before the Lord God Almighty. He is my King. He is my Judge. He is my Lawgiver.

Pastor in Missouri-Have you ever even met your granddaughter? Just asking. I love that you included verses that the Wells group seem to have missed, but it would probably be better to just send them straight to them, I'm not sure how often they get on here.

Hi Justin,

Yes, I have said earlier that I have seen my lovely granddaughter. Shortly after she was born in December. A true gift from God. My wife and I spent several days in Texas getting to know the people at the church. Regarding the other part of your question, I'm not sure what you mean. The Scriptures I have shared are well known to most people including the church @ Wells. I have a relationship with the elders at Wells and have shared several Scriptures and concerns of issues wirth them. We are having an ongoing discussion of these mattters as we are able. I plan on continuing my interactions with them in March. Before going down I plan on having several phone conversations with my son and the elders in order to make good use of the time we have together. I am desirious of helping this group in any way I can. I don't agree with everything they do but am seeking ways to bring spiritual maturity and Biblical growth and recconsiliatiation to families. The ministry of reconsiliation and healing of relationships according to God's word is something I have been involved in for many years. Thank you for your prayers in this regard. I pray God's best for you and yours and your family as you draw close to Him.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
David.

Church of wells just posted a new fifty page document on their website. It will take a while, but I am going to read it. I still haven't finished reading the last thing they posted.

One thing that is really bugging me is how COW is complaining that people are criticizing them even though they have not sat down and talked with their members or gotten to know them and such. If they won't allow us "false converts" to attend their services or spend time with them, that is if they are not willing to have relationships with people, how are we supposed to get to know any of them? Furthermore, it seems to me that they are doing everything they can to hide, to be illusive, to limit exposure to as few as possible. The dealings I have had with some of their members... it was like talking to a wall. The closest I ever came to punching through that wall was one night when I was actually spending some time with two of their young men (yes, I have spent time with some of them). I listened to a tale that one of them told. I then quoted scripture that directly contradicted what he was saying and I asked him how then, given what that chapter in the bible said, how could he possibly say what he had just said? He was speechless for about three seconds. I thought perhaps I had gotten through to him... but after a few seconds his mouth opened and he continued on with his rant. That is the closest I have ever come to impacting them through reasoning from the Scriptures. That is the most progress I made by playing their game. This new document that COW has posted (50 pages) is offensive to me. Are they charges levelled against the Deans true? I know not. I do not need to know. Even if they were true, they had not business posting something like that on the internet. I believe that COW has dishonoured God and I am very angry. I was in tears this evening as I read the opening pages of this paper. I know nothing about Mrs. Dean aside from the fact that she is counting on the completed work of Christ for her salvation. What more can anyone count on? Mr. Pursley said in this paper, on page 8, "The truths contained herein set me free from sin and saved my soul from death." Apparently Mr. Pursley believes that there is more required than absolute reliance on the blood of Christ for his salvation. Apparently the "truths" that he is writing in his papers are setting him free and saving his soul from death. This sounds to me like adding to the gospel. The Apostle Paul said that anyone preaching another gospel, let him be accursed.

Response to the recent paper at TCOW.com (the paper is "His Road is Strait and Narrow", located on the Blog page, Section I:

I will not (today) address all things which caused me concern in that paper. Only consider these two items:

Pg 10, last para : " ... because of the clear absence of the presence of God in their life." Authored by Mr. Morris

My response: How can the author know this? He himself has NOT been in the presence of several who post on this internet forum. His information is not much better than "the simple passerby who believes every word". He does not see angry frowns or glaring eyes or fist shaking jestures (things with might indicate lack of God's presence in the communicator). Nor does he see sorrowing hearts or eyes showing concern or prayers offered up to God while the communicator keyboard pecks the outpourings of what God leads him to write (the sincere who have God's presence do such things and more ... and with humble hearts, they do it to serve God). He sees text or he catches hearsay from his members who spoke on the phone with the communicator. This is scanty evidence.

Rather, let us remember, God Himself knows with whom He abides, and fallable mankind is not qualified to make such bold determinations ... particularly when he has insufficient evidence for it. ... As for me, you should be able to pick up on it within moments of talking with me face-to-face, but come spend a week with me at my house, if you really want assurances that God's presence is in my life (yes, He dwells in my heart, in fact).

In the pages leading up to Page 10, I did not find grace being shown to acknowledge the possibility that the parents grew stronger in the Lord through the experiences of their current trial ... which trial is due to the event of the author of the testimony and his wife joining with those members who now reside in Wells, TX. People change when they are put under pressure by the hand of God. His Hand is mighty.

I believe the parents of this couple have changed for the better, during the recent years ... and they are not done changing, as God continues His work in them. Let Him do His work! Do not tear it down!

Yes, also .... let Him do His work among the people in the Wells TX group. God is working among them, and He is not finished with them.
Yes, also .... let God do His work in my life. He is not finished with me yet.

Let's be careful not to be destructive. Edify, by sharing the Word of God.

am now here you can ask me what you want to know about me am not acult like i saw posts that am teaching cultism in uganda
i joined trumpet call of God through christopher underwood and they started supporting my orphanage but after some misunderstanding about some issues they said that were not Godly like taking kids to school they stoped to support the ministry and that is when i started to know it was acult its now 2 years with out hearing from them and people that are in that group are not there because they know the truth but because they have no body to show them the truth about what christianinty and cultism

senhome: Amen! I am so encouraged by your words. I wish I could have put it that way myself. Praise God! I think that all of us who are believers have grown in the Lord as a result of this whole thing. In addition to that, we are all flawed people. There needs to be some flexibility to deal with people who are not perfect. I think that the COW paper has failed in that. There is no flexibility.

I agree with God!