lily rose. I like your last post, zooming in on the effects of indoctrination.

Acts 17:11 --- I’m glad the Bible praises the Bereans. This is an authorization to test things. How in the world can a person watch out for false prophets, teachings and Christs if questioning becomes taboo?

If the Spirit searches all things (I Cor 2:10) then it is part of our very makeup to follow suit (I Thess 5:21). Questioning is the Spirit’s nature, a deeper part of God.

Whether intentional or not, the “Walk” took away our objectivity, and when you lose your objectivity you lose your freedom also. No freedom is no fun.

FCSLC Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >
> If the Spirit searches all things (I Cor 2:10)
> then it is part of our very makeup to follow suit
> (I Thess 5:21). Questioning is the Spirit’s
> nature, a deeper part of God.
>
> Whether intentional or not, the “Walk” took
> away our objectivity, and when you lose your
> objectivity you lose your freedom also. No
> freedom is no fun.
________________________________________

I was listening to a child psychologist say that up to age of 8 the brain of a child takes in "everything" they hear as "fact." And our brains do not develop fully until our mid 20's. It occurred to me that maybe I joined the walk because my brain was not fully developed and that maybe my brain developed slower than other brains which may account in part for why I made poor choices and took in everything I heard as fact. This is not to say that bad teacher knew that my brain was still forming and took advantage of my undeveloped brain but losing objectivity and getting it back took a lot of questioning on my part so I too am very grateful for the precedent setting Bereans.

If you came into the Living Word cult while in your teens or early 20's, I'm fairly certain that your adult growth was heavily stunted. Now that I am out, I'm having to learn these adult skills.

Many of us have had to learn the hard way that we can be trained in deception so that something “bears witness” and it’s not true at all. Some radical Muslims are so convinced of their revelation they will blow themselves up or some radical Christians will drink the Kool-Aid and commit suicide. Much of what has been paraded as “words from God” is nothing more than a good feeling about something. I’ve been guilty of following and giving such “words”. The safeguard or plumb line is Jesus’ teachings – not some “leaders” interpretation or twisting of those words to serve their own purposes. Jesus said we have one teacher and it is the Christ, and we are all brothers. It should be a red flag when the teaching of men begins to take the place of the teachings of Jesus. TLWF is certainly not the first group to claim divine inspiration for a body of teaching in an attempt to gather men after themselves.

Like the Bereans, we need to read Jesus’ teachings for ourselves. He said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” One simple test for God’s Spirit is does the individual come to serve like Jesus did, or are they looking to be served. Is there the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) or are they being followed only because they are a charismatic leader that followers can dump their personal responsibility to walk with God on?

“Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracle? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” When “God in the sky” is mocked versus a human taking His place, how are you going to do “the will of my Father who is in heaven”? We were often told that there needs to be a designated relationship who can tell you “No” to ensure your true submission. Try telling TLWF leadership “No” and the claws will come out – not the fruit of the Spirit. Jesus was constantly saying “If any man wants to…” before the requirements of discipleship. He left free will intact without removing consequences for actions. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

I can speak of the fruit of TLWF in my life. After over thirty years of sincerely following the leadership and the teaching, every area of my life was in shambles. Following another human’s will does not produce life as advertised. They want all of the obedience and none of the responsibility when it doesn't work. How many leaders gave the prime of their lives only to be discarded as they got close to retirement? Following Jesus' teaching on the other hand has caused every area of my life to blossom. They are not the same thing – in fact they are the opposite. “But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in man.” We would be wise to do the same. The real violation of those who ended up crossways with TLWF leadership is that they no longer allowed them to take the place of God – something Jesus commanded them to do. At some point it will become evident to everyone that TLWF leadership does not possess resurrection life to hand out in exchange for blind obedience - "If they carry me out feet first, this was not a word from God."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2014 01:38AM by larry bobo.

paleface wrote:

If you came into the Living Word cult while in
your teens or early 20's, I'm fairly certain that
your adult growth was heavily stunted. Now that I
am out, I'm having to learn these adult skills.

larry bobo wrote in part:

Is there evidence of the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness...)
_____________________________________________________________

I think during my time in the Walk I learned to emotionally shut down which stunted my emotional intelligence later on in life. I recognized this emotional shutting down in Invisible's post from a few years ago about what Donna Hargrave must have been going through during the service in which G&M announced their engagement. The fruit of the spirit was not always evident and practiced in the Walk and I think I learned more of a coldness so I wouldn't be found showing sympathy, even if someone was really hurting and needed comfort. I like what Larry posted about hearing and studying the word without a spin on it and learning about the good fruit.

Sympathy was a bad word in the Walk. Still is. The LW followers have evolved into cold, heartless robots.

lily rose Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> I think during my time in the Walk I learned to
> emotionally shut down which stunted my emotional
> intelligence later on in life. I recognized this
> emotional shutting down in Invisible's post from a
> few years ago about what Donna Hargrave must have
> been going through during the service in which G&M
> announced their engagement.

I saw Donna following that service. She was obviously distraught, but at the time I was not able to process how devastating this had to be to her. I had been trained in the no-sympathy mode for so long that I wasn't able, or perhaps willing, to make an empathetic connection.
She was a good gal. Of course, I ended up being on the receiving end of similar treatment, so now I understand.

If I remember correctly, the no-sympathy mode was reinforced by the teaching that if you sympathized you opened yourself up to transference of the person's demons, illness, psychosis etc.

What I took from what was being taught & spoken was - ( if you were sympathetic you could not be altogether objective. If you were sympathetic you would tend to become subjective to what some one else was going thru and not have the objectivity needed in order to be able to help them. )

Today we may find, that we have in a measure, more of a heart of flesh rather than having a heart of stone.

Hebrews 4:15, 16 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but one who has been tempted in all things as we are , yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace in time of need.