When I remember the Assembly I liken them to a very short story that happened in the book of Luke. The Assembly was so concerned with filling up time with "meetings" and "stewardships" and "all nights of prayer" and "service" in general. At least when I was a member there a feeling of guilt would fall upon you if you missed one of these meetings. You had f
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Hi Joe and others, Yes, it is so easy to see now that we are out from under the spell of George's barrage of out of context scripture. It would do good to have an article on Assembly/cult erroneous use of the Bible. Maybe on the new website? Assembly use of the word "faith" vs. biblical usage: The Bible has one understanding of the word faith in regard to salvation and t
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P2 When I approached this leader shortly afterwards, he stated that for him to make such a comment wd. mean he wasn't applying the ministry to himself! "Uh Huh. Well, did you do that?" I asked. " I don't remember," was his only reply. I expect this kind of doubletalk from politicians, not from "spiritual leaders". He was guilty - I cd. tell by the look on
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

An example....When I left the assembly the first time I departed already depressed, and basically an agnostic, which lasted for a time. When faith returned ( in Christ ) I sought out a leader and told him I wd. like to start attending meetings again. He seemed reasonable enough, but the thrust of repentence seemed to be to get right with the brethren. He mentioned that everyone who leaves usually
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Mark--- That's true concerning "Assembly Holiness". I remember always feeling something was wrong when George attempted to alter certain verses in the Bible. I don't have a Bible in front of me at the moment, but I remember a verse in Romans chapter 8 which states "and those he called he also justified, and those he justified he also sanctified, and those he sancti
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Hi Everyone, Joe, David, Brent, Terry, and others: We all should write a book; and in a way that's what we're doing here. We've experienced something in the Assembly that has made us think deeply about the most important issues in life. Assembly Holiness: George's understanding of salvation is split level; there is the beginning of the Christian life, when an indi
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Hi Mark I would just like to relate my own experience in relation to your last post. While "in fellowship" I made the mistake of visiting another church. It was on a Sunday night after "all day for the Lord" (This means I attended meetings with the Geftakys group from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m.) I made the mistake of being very encouraged about the fellowship and told another brothe
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In reply to Mark's post---That is absolutely correct---that's a great point Mark. I never really considered it the way you put it--it being a sin against the "Assembly" even though they call it a sin against God. I will give an example of this as it happened to me. One weekend I had taken my car over to my Dad's friends house to store it there because I couldn't
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Hi everyone, In a previous post I discussed how the term "holiness", as understood in the Assembly, is different from the way an orthodox Christian would understand it. "Holiness" and it's opposite "sin" take on a special meaning in the Assembly. As we previously saw Assembly holiness has to do with sins against the group itself, not against God. Oh, they
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Hi Terry and Joe and everyone else You guys are right on the money with your obervations regarding the mystics like Guyon and Fenelon, and the modern day ones like Solomon. I wrote a book on this topic called, Navigating the Deeper Life , one families journey out of Church Centered Christianisty into a Love relationship with Jesus Christ. Hopefully the title has some meaning for you . I had
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" so when I faced all of the legalism and fear I yearned to return to that Good Shepherd who had called to me softly and blessed my heart with comfort and love. I yearned for the first day of my salvation...." I cd. say the same thing Joe. I too wd. contrast my past adult conv. exp. w/ what I had found thru involvement in the assembly. On the one hand feelings aren't going to alw
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Mark You are an excellent writer and I look forward to your contributions to the website. Look for something to be online in less than a week. I am getting lots of offers for help (free of charge!) from web designers and other geeks , which is really amazing. :) The history you mentioned in your last post is exactly what I have learned, and I briefly wrote about it recently. I also know abou
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Hi Brent and Others, This is great news re. the new web site and whatever I can do to contribute to it would be my privilege. Re. Brethren who have been run off: There was an elderly sister whose husband was big in the brethren movement from England, where T. Austin Sparks was. This Sister was named Harrison. There were brethren she knew who represented the English Assembly such as Br
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Hello Everyone I thought I would take the opportunity to try out the file attachment portion of this forum. Below is an article I wrote that has never seen the light of day. I don't consider it one of my better one's, but it addresses in some detail the topic we are on in the last few posts. Brent
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

Mark Where have you been the last 10 years? I have written many articles on the topic, some of which are quite good, yet I sense that you have the ability to say things concisely, and most importantly, in a way that points to Christ. I, and many others could really benefit from what you have to say. There will be a Christian website, Geftakysassembly.com, in a VERY short time, so please ta
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Hi Terry and others, It is very interesting how a novice is prefered to any one who really knows the Word. This allowed George to maintain control over his satellite groups. Loyalty to the Assembly is the most important attribute in a leader to George. George ran off some older brethren who had some gift and knowledge of the Word because they wouldn't be manipulated by him. I think
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Terry---- It's very interesting what you wrote about the Leadership issue in the Assembly. You know, if you really read the book of Acts you notice that the leaders were "elected" by the church--true--it says "THEY looked amongst themselves for those who were filled with the Spirit." But it doesn't say that one man chose all of the elders. It says that the Ch
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Hi Terry and everyone else Yes, the most important character trait in a Geftakys "leader," is compliance. Leaders are mostly inexperienced because they need to be easily controlled. Instead of real leaders, George, et al is looking for Lieutenants and seargents, not colonels and generals. There is only room for one at the top, and he is head over his house. On another note, loo
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Greetings to all: One thing that was noticeable in the assembly I attended was the great inexperience of the leaders that were chosen, not to mention their relative youth at the time. Often Paul to Timothy was quoted..."let no man despise thy youth...." - yet the Scriptures cont. w/ " he must not be a recent convert "(1 Ti. 3:6 ). All 3 leaders chosen didn't even conside
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Hi Terry, I don't know if we were in the Assembly at the same time as I left 10 years ago or so from the Assembly in the San Fernando Valley ( a suburb of Los Angeles). Your name sounds familiar and maybe I met you if you visited Fullerton for a seminar. Where in the Midwest are you from? Of course you did the correct thing in taking back the gifts as they were decietful and manipula
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Greetings: Just last Christmas season my family and I rec.'d a visit from some carolers. My wife answered the door, and when I heard from the kitchen while cooking I realized this was the local assembly folks. In short they presented my wife w/ a turkey, homemade bread, a gift certificate, pointsetta, and a card and then left. In any case, I went to the closest assembly member's house
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Hi Mark and others: Interesting about your observation about things being more oppressive than ever in the SF Valley. Up in SLO, since so many left, they are trying real hard to be a kinder, gentler Assembly. Perhaps this will occur in SF Valley as well, especially if major sin in the "Chief Leader's" life becomes public. I remember the child discipline policies as well. Incr
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Brent, Thanks, I am glad that there are those who can profit from what I post. I am also glad that there are current Assembly members who read here and I hope that they are blessed as well. From the contact I have recently received regarding the Valley I would say that things are much more oppresive then when I left! I was told that they don't have fellowships any more because the Le
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Mark I really like what you have to say in your posts. Please consider writing an article expressing some of your thoughts on grace and contrasting it with the Geftakys teaching. It is very helpful indeed. The current membership is addicted to this site and the RickRoss site. They are currently "washing the outside of the cup," and are making external changes regarding all of the
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Hi Brent, Joe, and others. Joe, you remember Tom Vessi the same as I do. He was caught in a classic double bind of the Assembly's making. The more he tried to "lay hold" on "the victory" the more depressed he got. The more he got depressed the more he wanted to drink. "Are you rejoicing brother?" Yes, I remember being advised that every time I got up
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Mark--- Wow!! When I read your reply it brought back a bunch of memories. I remember Tom Vessi--a very quiet, kind person. He stayed at Al Hartman's house for a couple of weeks while I lived there. I remember Al saying "the brother just couldn't get the victory over alcohol". When I asked what he thought had happened in eternity he said that Tom had "lost his inh
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Yikes!!! I re-read my last post and to my embarrasment and horror noticed that I indicated that a teenage son of a leader in San Luis Obispo killed himself. This is a MISTAKE! What I was trying to communicate was that when someone did committ suicide, as recently happened with the teeage son of a leader in Madison, WI, people always hear about it with an Assembly spin, or not at all. It jus
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Hi Joe, Brent, and Others, The Brother's name was Tom Vessi. He was a very kindly brother who loved Christ, but was very self conscious. He felt deeply his own inability to overcome sin. I think the teaching of the Assembly re. holiness was what caused him to become so depressed that he just gave up. You see this teaching (for those unaware of it) taught that "real" Christ
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Hi Joe I was around at the time of the suicide you mention, but up in SLO we never heard about it. Last year, one of the "leading brother's" from Madison, WI teenage son killed himself. No one heard anything much about that except, "pray that the family would remain strong in The Lord, and that The Enemy wouldn't use this." Great Assembly logic here; as if ev
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups

I remember that brother committing suicide, but I can't remember his name. I also remember being amazed that no one would attend his funeral. But many times the "Cult" mentality is like that. In order to keep the "letter of the law" they forget the Spirit of the Word. It's like the Jehovah's Witnesses who will let a child die rather than accept a blood transf
Forum: Recovery from Destructive Cults and Groups