Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens
Date: December 18, 2017 10:25PM
"We strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel" is a good description, Larry. Even with the coming of the Christmas Truck, I've heard Rick say that we can go out and bless other people on Christmas Eve because "we don't celebrate Christmas". I think the real meaning of this is that TLWF doesn't celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas.
I would even argue that the birth of Jesus has not been celebrated in the group at all for decades, if ever. Whether it be at Christmas or during the Feast of Tabernacles, the name of Jesus was seldom spoken, in my memory. If one wanted to reference Jesus, the term "Christ" was normally used. Christ is a more de-personalized title meaning Messiah, or anointed one. And rather than referring to Jesus the Saviour, the term Christ can be a more nebulous idea, as in Christ in the flesh (manifest sons).
I'm looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my family and friends in a few days. Of course I know all about the research regarding pagan holidays and such. But in this case, I am hoping that the state of the heart is more important than the correctness of the head.
"The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught." Isaiah 29:13 NIV
larry bobo Wrote:
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> Before and after leaving TLWF, I researched the
> origins of Christmas many times. I came to the
> conclusion it was not as simple as “Babylon
> Mystery Religion” would lead us to believe. It
> really is a mixture of many things, including
> Christianity, paganism, tradition, materialism,
> and family – but so is life. Apparently there is
> still enough of Christ in Christmas to offend some
> - so it's not a complete loss. :) In TLWF, I
> think we strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel.
> The idea was that God’s people did not forsake Him
> and worship other gods. We didn’t celebrate
> Christmas but allowed a human to take God’s place.
> The outcome was the same as if we did worship
> other gods – as well as the damage.
>
> Here is where the teachings of Jesus provide such
> health and safety. Much of the “warfare” we
> experienced in TLWF came from opening our spirits
> to the occult, and thinking it was God. When you
> close the openness, much of what we were fearful
> of becomes a moot point. Christmas stops being a
> time of oppression. Greater is He that is in us
> than he that is in the world. Darkness is
> actually afraid of the light.