Different strokes for different folks. I think for some of us the teaching was a snare. Larry Bobo once posted that many of the folks who contacted him some ten years ago said they lost their communion with God. I think in some way we are trying to share what worked for us to set us free from the snare.

I hear ya.

lily rose wrote: “Now I realize that won't be my role in heaven” & “I think for some of us the teaching was a snare.”

--------------------------------------------------

There are some good “Replacement Principles” contained in: Full text of “Anointing – or Apostasy? The Latter Rain … found on Google………….….just as lily rose said.

Matthew 13:15: Better understanding brings healing -------- According to the critique on the Google site, we can dump the whole “army” mentality with its ridiculous “cult” chain of command and instead hang out in the “General Assembly” and watch God and His angels run/put on the show.

I think 10,000 weights have been removed from my life----------pretty good, indeed.

I know, digging deeper and understanding the LW wasn't what we thought it was is truly healing. Couldn't agree more that the army mentality cult chain of command is so ridiculous.

lily rose Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But, if John were here to speak for
> himself could we even ask him the tough questions?
> I'm not so sure we could because it would have
> been viewed as having a critical spirit.

Yes--there was/is definitely a double standard. To question certain ministries was considered blasphemous, grounds for being ostracized or worse. Yet there was a general acceptance that these same ministries could scrutinize every aspect of a person's nature and behavior (by the Holy Spirit, of course), and if found wanting, confront them before the congregation. Try to imagine John...or Gary...or Marilyn, allowing themselves to be subjected to that. Yes, I've heard them say that behind the scenes they've experienced the same type of dealings, often worse, but I think that is just too convenient a stance.

p.s. I didn't really want to post this comment, but God threatened to kill me if I didn't. So don't blame me if you don't care for the message. Check your own spirit.

To quote Clint Eastwood, you just made my day.

Paleface said, “I had read that too. “The First Principles" were (so we were told) given to John from God as some new revelation. I understand that nearly all of it was already out there as Latter Rain teaching. John had merely collected it into one book and called it his own. Seems a bit like biblical plagiarism to me.”

I think there was definite plagiarism – I’m not sure how biblical it was. I posted a lot of info on the Latter Rain on Factnet. Here’s some basic Latter Rain teachings and you decide if there is any similarities to TLWF: The Latter Rain, Restoration of the Church, Restoration of the five-fold ministries, Pre-rapture spiritual second coming of Christ, New revelation and prophesies, Manifestation of the sons of God, Overcoming death before Christ’s return, Dominion now theology and spiritual warfare, Mainstream Christianity referred to as “old order” or Babylon, Personal ministry with words from God from leaders to congregants, Emphasis of Feast of Tabernacles, Manchild doctrine, Joel’ army and militancy, Deeper levels of revelation including altered states of consciousness, Incarnation of Christ in a many-membered body, Spiritual evolution to perfection, Divine order, Enforced unity, Shepherding, Father/son mentoring etc, etc. The only original LWF teaching was that John was the Door Opener Apostle to the kingdom and Marilyn was the Lamp of Israel.

I’ve heard many say that it only shows God was speaking the same thing to many groups. It might be good for those in TLWF to be aware that one of Martha’s family members emailed me to say that after Martha died, they carted boxes of John’s Latter Rain tapes out of the house. In John’s case, I would suggest God was “speaking” to him through those tapes instead of directly in the remodeled chicken coup as we were led to believe. I’ve talked with several national leaders in the body of Christ who noticed how the Latter Rain movement and its spin-off groups started in what appeared to be a genuine move of God. After a number of year though, the fruit was very destructive. TLWF is no exception.

Satan comes as an angel of light to deceive us into thinking God wants the same thing as our old nature does - it started in the Garden of Eden. Lust for power and money is not what Jesus taught. “God will make you a Christian super hero if you will give your life to me” or “Send me money and God will make you rich” are both ways thieves and robbers play on the old nature for personal gain. Perhaps it’s a much easier sell than, “One way or another, you are going to lay down your life and die.” That’s the real door to the kingdom – not John. "At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible. See, I have tolde you ahead of time." - Matt. 24:24-25

I do like it when the big guns show up in these posts because we should test all things by the Scripture, even God's "anointed". The Bereans were praised for scrutinizing even the words of the apostle Paul (Acts 17:11). I don't think that anyone's teachings and actions are beyond scriptural examination; it's so Biblical.

lily rose posted: I do like it when the big guns show up in these posts because we should test all things by the Scripture, even God's "anointed". The Bereans were praised for scrutinizing even the words of the apostle Paul (Acts 17:11). I don't think that anyone's teachings and actions are beyond scriptural examination; it's so Biblical.

-------------------------------------------------------

larry bobo’s post blessed me also. Intelligence and knowledge trumps authority because an idiot can pull rank. Jesus won the debates in the Bible. If He had lost those debates then how could He have been credited with creating and possessing all intelligence?

You can’t be God if your teaching is faulty.

FCSLC Wrote:
You can’t be God if your teaching is faulty.

_______________________________________________________________

What a good way to sum it up. While one is in a cult questioning any of the teachings or practices is no different from questioning God himself. That's part of the indoctrination. Disobedience to the cult teaching and practices is considered disobedience to God. If you were amputated from the cult you might think God rejected you or if you amputated yourself you might think you were rebellious to God. When you can see that the teaching was faulty you cannot equate amputation with being rejected by God or being a rebellious blow out.