Grace under Siege 77: Little (malevolent) angel of light--follow-up

     If we had any doubts as to whether there is a spiritual element to this battle for our church or whether there are men with evil motives reading this blog, they were laid to rest last night. I mentioned M. yesterday. Last night she could tell they were slitting her neck. Vindictive little brat, Satan. He deserves every minute of the exquisite agony he will endure--forever--in the lake of fire when justice is finally meted out.

     The thing about the demonic hierarchy is that they lie, cheat, terrify, and they don't play fair. They don't see a damsel in distress and say, "Oh, I'll lay off hurting her for awhile. She's in enough pain." They say, "Oh, goody, we have her down. Now let's move in for the kill."

     Like all bullies, Satan is a coward. He prowls around like a roaring lion, wants people to think he is a lion--but he is not a lion. He's all ego and bravado. Dust and ashes. He can't do a single thing without the permission of Jesus Christ--and he cannot ultimately hurt a child of God.

     The other day I thought, This is hard. We've done what God told us to do. We've been obedient. We've been faithful. Maybe I'll quit. Instantly the oppression intensified. I knew the enemy was hissing, "Yes-s-s. Yes-s-s! S-s-surrender! We'll fas-s-silitate the proces-s-s." I jumped back into God's will and under God's protection. Stand until HE releases us--Yes, SIR!. 

     I don't know what our executive elders do in their secret sessions. It's hard for me to imagine Carl, Lou, Brian, Jim, the other Jim, Bob, Kurt, Dave, and Ted knowingly cursing us and sticking pins into representations of us. But if they aren't, they are empowered by a group of someones who is. They know my father molested me when I was small and they are continuing that molestation of me somehow in the spiritual realm. I know it. Having a millstone tied around their necks and being thrown into the depths of the sea is too kind a punishment for cult members for what they are doing to me in the spirit and for what they have done to other victims, some of whom are friends of ours, in the flesh.

     During EBOE meetings, I see heavy black cords from two sources of cult activity in Long Beach fusing on church property, coming right through the wall of their room and plugging into the back of a leading elder, connecting from there to every other elder.

     There are false helmets (a perversion of the helmet of salvation) on each of their heads, similar to--perhaps identical to--what the pharaohs of Egypt wore: cobras facing forward, with the serpent's body running down their brain stems to wrap several times around their necks and bodies. These helmets, these serpents, are Mind Control. The fangs of the serpent pump venom into their minds so they cannot think for themselves. That's what makes them robotic. They are constantly able only to listen to the lies circulating within their heads. They chose to agree with deception and now they are controlled by it.

     Pray for the truth to free them. Pray for their repentance. We suspect at least one does not even know the Lord, that he was assigned to this church to destroy it from within. Pray for his (their?) salvation. Until then, pray for them to do no harm. Pray for protection for the intercessors who are being cursed and slandered.

Grace under Siege 76: The little girl in the white nightgown

     Everything looks wonderful on the surface. Joy, unity, healthy, happy, whole church now that most of us have left.
     But under the surface, things are very, very not right. We sense this ourselves and many others have mentioned sensing it. Things aren't what they seem.
     M., a friend of ours with a lot of spiritual sensitivity, described a vision she had first at her mother's house and now that she and her family are living with us for awhile, at our house. In the doorway to the bedroom she is in, she sees a little girl in a long, old-fashioned white nightgown. Long blonde hair. When she saw this little girl in our house the other night, the girl walked into the room. M. was scared of her.
     When M. described this to me I couldn't figure out why such an innocent vision would scare her. A little girl in a white nightgown? How threatening could that be? I prayed about it and got nothing.
     M., her husband and two sons are staying in one of our guest rooms which overlooks the local M*sonic temple. In the middle of every night her two-year old, sunny and cherubic by day, had been waking up crying. He would sit up in bed and scream, "Mama! Dada!" making some unintelligible attempts at speech.
     Since M. is pregnant, due to deliver at any moment, and her husband is exhausted taking care of the boys and looking for a job by day, whenever I heard him I would go into their room and try to help calm him down. If it was nearly morning, he would usually let me carry him downstairs and distract him with breakfast or videos.
     Four nights ago, he couldn't be consoled. He was distressed, refusing all comfort. In his mother's arms, he was pushing her away, pushing away the cup of milk she offered him. This wasn't just separation anxiety due to the fact that he is sleeping in his parents' bed and Mommy had left him for a few minutes to go to the bathroom. M. said, "It's like he's afraid of something."
     Fear. Good point. Maybe he had had a bad dream. The moment we commanded the spirit of fear to leave in the name of Jesus, he relaxed into his mother's shoulder and was asleep even while M. was saying, "It's gone!" He slept soundly (and so did his older brother) through the next two hours of some of the most intense spiritual warfare I have ever experienced. M. was sensing evil coming at us from the temple across the street--like "watchers" with binoculars trying to track us. (We have had to continually pray for God to cover all ungodly eyes and stop all ungodly hearing throughout this battle.)
     We prayed against this cult and its agenda, prayed against the pentagrams people keep seeing associated with our church--hidden in the new foundation, formed by the relationship of objects in the sanctuary, and intended to be formed by the locations of the 50 churches to be planted. We saw M*sonic (demonic) and Ku Klux Klan roots in Long Beach (a fact affirmed by the local Historical Society) and sensed contaminated "pockets of power" at every political level of our country right up to and including Washington, DC.
     As M. and I were praying, she said, "I'm seeing the little girl again!" This time I was aware of her, a shadowy figure (in my mind's eye) entering the room. This time I felt fear, too, though I didn't know why. I asked God who she was and immediately got the word "Deception." I remembered the warnings that beneath what seems good is something very bad. Things are not what they seem.
     I asked God to unmask her, saw the sweet innocent facade peel away and behind it, a kind of ogre. I didn't wait to see more. I commanded it to leave--and suddenly evil entered, huge, terrifying, filling the room to such a degree there seemed no room for anything else. When I am in the presence of witchcraft I feel it as electricity on my hands or even up both arms. Now I was feeling it all over me.  M. and I both sensed Satan himself was there.
     Thankfully, I remembered advice we had been given by a friend who does spiritual mapping. She had told me the spiritual entity ("strong man") over Long Beach is Satan Worship. The god of the Freem*asons is Satan (Lucifer). They call him "the architect of the univ*rse," but his identity is revealed in the higher levels of the cult (after members are thoroughly deceived by mind control). We believe the being behind the bewitching of our leadership is Satan. When I asked my friend how to combat this entity, she had said, "Ignore him. Come in the opposite spirit and worship the Lord."
     At the time I had thought her advice naive and impractical, in light of the battle we were waging against the demonic empowerment of our church leadership. Now, though, in that bedroom at four-something in the morning, it was like being hit with a tsunami. No lesser tactics would work.
     So, hardly knowing what I said, I worshiped God aloud, declaring Him the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the only God, the Almighty, God of all. As I did, M. joined in. We declared the Most High God alone worthy of honor and glory and praise. As the oppression of the evil presence lessened, I dashed into our bedroom and woke up Jerry to join us. M's husband had slept through this, on the bed where we had been sitting. I shook him awake too. It seemed important to get the heads of the two families to take authority over this stuff.
     As we praised Him for another hour or more, we sensed strongholds across the country would be affected by our obedience, our standing in the gap. We sensed there would be revival, people on their faces repenting, and we claimed that.
     Then I prayed for the protection of this familyof four, about-to-be family of five. As M's mother had emailed us, "Thanks for taking the little family in under your roof...really helps them out at a time like this....yup, kinda like Mary and Joseph, eh?  Your home makes the perfect Inn!  Glad you let them 'in'."
     The two-year old now sleeps through the night.
     By the way, my friend who does spiritual mapping had a head-to-head encounter with the devil herself once. She cried out to God for wisdom and He told her, "Put him in a box."
     "I'll need an awfully big box!" she cried out.
     God said, "No, you won't."

Names added to Grace under Siege #43 and #46

     Since the Watchmen's names have been released, we have now posted the names of Linda Shields Hart and Taylor van Buskirk who gave their testimonies of personal mistreatment by the leadership on Lou's new views on church discipline (January 3) and We only offend our own (January 7).

Grace Grieving 26: "I had nothing to do with that!"

Some victims of Grace for our Wall of Remembrance date back two decades:

     The Pied Piper had told Jerry and me that he "had nothing to do with" the dismissals, soon after he was called to be our senior pastor, of a series of pastors and other church leaders, including the head of Women's Ministries (let's call her WOW-1).

     He wasn't the one, Lou said, who scuttled AWANA* and the extremely effective and popular Captain Kids' Daycamp program, which brought many children to Jesus Christ--and through them, whole families. He wasn't the one who laid an ax to the root of our Grace Bible Institute, which had made a Bible education possible for inner city pastors--or severed the financial lifelines to our missionaries.
     Lou told us, "I had nothing to do with that! The elder board did that and told me not to tell."

     When I recorded his response on Glimpses of Grace (#3, The Pastor Who Came to Stay), we believed him. We believed Lou had told us the truth, that he had been falsely demonized for something he had no part in and that the elder board had gagged him so he could not defend himself against the resentment of the congregation.
     Since then we have talked to eyewitnesses and realize what Lou told us--to our faces--was a lie. He had everything to do with these cuts and losses. The orders came from his mouth.   
     I would think those who were elders at the time would take a dim view of his blaming those orders on them.


Note: AWANA is a Bible-based, Christ-centered program for children. The word AWANA stands for "Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed" and comes from the Bible verse, II Timothy 2:15: "Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." The goal of AWANA is to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ, and to train them to serve Him.
     When Awana was disbanded, one of Pastor Lou's children reportedly said their dad considered Awana "mindless memorization."

    

Clarifications made on Grace under Siege #52

I talked with the woman who had the vision recorded on January 15 and she clarified a few points: GuS 52: We are not alone

Grace under Siege 75: Members Meeting Results

Member votes tabulated – 438

ELDER AFFIRMATION:

All Elders met the 2/3’s threshold to be affirmed.

ORDINATION OF KURT VICTOR:

Met the 2/3’s threshold (78.3%).

STATEMENT OF FAITH

Did not meet the 75% threshold to pass (70.3% ).

Grace under Siege 74: "The fear of Lou is great."

GRACE: A community of people who do good works living out of the (abridged) gospel for the flourishing of those who agree with them?

(continued from #73) I was remembering Lou's sermons over the past five weeks, stressing love and unity. This morning his voice was silky. "God is love. Our standard is love. 'If someone says "I love God" and hates his brother, he is a liar.'" 
     Love and unity.
     I remembered the bulletin covers we have had during this five-week series, featuring the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 15:7, "Therefore WECOME one another as CHRIST has WECOMED YOU for the glory of GOD." (Their emphasis.)   
     Love and unity. 

     After the service, Jerry and I had gone out on the plaza to get our ballots, weaving our way past elders and their wives who pointedly shunned us, avoiding our eyes and smiles. WELCOME ONE ANOTHER obviously doesn't apply to us. Interwoven with Lou's words and Paul's words in my mind were the cold words of Lou's wife and the memory of her stony face as she told Jerry and me on January 1st, "You are NOT welcome here! YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!"
     Love and unity.
     I remembered Alan Holdich describing Lou as "intensely intimidating" when he was telling Alan not to let the congregation know what he really believes.

      "I accused him to his face of deceiving his congregation.. .  His reaction to my accusation convinced me I had hit the nail on the head. Lou came apart and I knew I couldn't stay [at the church] any longer. I shared this with the other elders and realized that the fear of Lou was great." 
     Love and unity.  

     I remembered Jerry Giles telling my husband and me that we can't pray for our church in our home without his permission. I remembered Dave Parsons refusing to let Rita Wignall speak in her own defense, insisting she sign a list of confessions or face "church discipline." I remembered John Anderson being called before the tribunal of nine executive elders to face charges that he would be removed from membership for sending out emails about them unless he repented.
     Love and unity.

     All these words played a kind of counterpoint in my mind: "Our standard is love. Therefore welcome one another--YOU--with all humility and gentleness--ARE--be of one mind--NOT--showing tolerance for one another in love, WELCOME--preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace--HERE--love one another--NOT--as we are one--WELCOME--as Christ has welcomed you--HERE!--if anyone says 'I love God' and hates his brother--intensely intimidating--he is a liar--for the glory of GOD." 

Grace under Siege 73: Secret ballot

"It's not the people who vote that count. It's the people who count the votes." (Josef Stalin) 

    The vote went civilly enough. Carl LaBarbera, who recently assumed the leadership of the Executive Board of Elders, presided. A number of guidelines had been put into place to assure that only members voted. 
     In the past, members over 18 just stood to indicate they were authorized to vote and the ushers handed them ballots. This time members had to line up out on the patio to be given their ballot--in an unmarked envelope inside an envelope with their name printed on it--based on a membership list we have never seen and didn't know existed, whose criteria were never divulged to us.

     Only members who were on this list were given ballots and only those given ballots were allowed into the social hall where we were going to vote. By the way, there were two police cars outside, presumably to keep order. (One member asked the policewoman, "Why are you here?" She said, "That's what I'm here to find out.")

     Carl had hired a parliamentarian to help us all stick to Robert's Rules of Order but on the whole attorney John Anderson ("Bear") was the one who kept us on track.

     Bear called a point of order when Carl took a motion to close down the debate after a couple of members had made comments, while a third one was standing at the microphone waiting to speak.

     Bear called a point of order to announce that at least seven members had been told they were not eligible to vote. (We heard of more later.) Carl had elder Ted Moncure, on stage with him, quickly check the (mysterious) list and confirm that indeed they were not members. I knew most of these people and have no idea by what criteria they were excluded. A few had been attending other churches lately but had not removed their membership from Grace. Doris Schilling, a member since 1945, attends regularly but hasn't been able to give much money to the church. Did those things count?Yet the leaders of the Watchmen--and we--were acknowledged to be members.

     Bear then pointed out that members can not be removed from membership unless they themselves request to be removed in writing or unless they have gone through the complete Matthew 18:15-20 disciplinary process, the one which had been begun on himself.
     Carl conferred with the parliamentarian and then agreed--but those members were still excluded from voting, at least at that time.

     At the end of the hour, when the debate, which never became inflamed, was over and the ballots were marked, Carl instructed us to put our ballots back in the unmarked envelopes, and put the unmarked envelopes back into the marked envelopes before turning them in.

     My Jerry took the microphone to challenge the "secrecy" of turning in ballots in envelopes with our names printed on them. Carl assured him that the inner envelope and outer envelope would be separated before the votes were counted. He said they needed the outer, marked envelopes to "know who voted."

     He asked Jerry something like, "Is there something you need to keep secret?"

     Jerry asked, "Do you not understand the term 'secret ballot'?" Carl brushed that off with a comment to the effect that it wasn't important, we're all friends, we all trust each other and "everyone knows what we're up to anyway-" hastily changing that to "what we're doing." 
     I see. That's why we needed to have people who claim to be members checked against a membership list for the first time in the history of our church, why we had to hire a parliamentarian and why there was a police presence. Because we trust each other.

    I wanted to ask why, since the envelopes were already separate, we could not turn them in separately, why the leadership needed to know who voted and why they couldn't determine who voted by checking names on the envelopes which had been picked up against names on the ones which remained. But I didn't have an opportunity.

     I wanted to say, too, that no, frankly we don't trust them, that the Executive Board of Elders has a history of declaring bogus results of their votes and that although I trust each of the five individual men doing the counting, I could think of all kinds of ways of abusing the process between "the cup and the lip."

     But we had no choice so we turned in ballots with our names emblazoned on the outer envelope and left for lunch where I had my first solid food for ten days. When we drove back by the church the two police cars were still there. I felt a little better, hoping that the officers were inside monitoring the count.

     Then we went home where Jerry, always unperturbed, bless him, finished reading Nicholas Nickleby and I lay on the bed with pesto pasta and fudge ice cream competing in my stomach, trying not to throw up. I regretted letting myself getting so caught up emotionally in the day. (continued)

Grace under Siege 72: WHATEVER HAPPENS TODAY. . .

Whatever happens (happened) in the church election today: Thank You, LORD! We love You!

P.S. Results will be posted on gracelb.net tomorrow.

Grace under Siege 71: Deep peace, sweet sleep

Dear Friends and Fellow Watchmen,

We are having such deep peace and sweet sleep these past few days and nights. Such confidence in God--not in the outcome of a vote. The vote is hardly a blip on the screen of what God is doing at Grace. Some will see tomorrow's outcome as victory, some as defeat, but that's all irrelevant. It won't make any difference in the long run. It's God's church and He is still actively involved in getting it back. He is in total control of something much bigger than our marking a ballot. What He has begun He will continue to do, the evil He has started to expose and unravel He will continue to bring down until it is utterly crushed beneath His feet. Those who may rejoice tomorrow will still have to face truth and repentance down the road.

Wishing the same (deep peace, sweet sleep,and confidence in God) for all of you tonight!

Jessica and Jerry

Grace under Siege 70: Your right to vote this Sunday

     Welcome to all of you who truly worship Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God. As we approach the congregational meeting Sunday, some are confused about whether they have the right to vote.

     Like all churches, we exist as a church under the auspices of the State of California Department of Corporations, where our Articles of Incorporation have been accepted. As a legal requirement, and in order to remain qualified as a church, these Articles of Incorporation require us to abide by our current Bylaws.

ACCORDING TO THE BYLAWS, YOU CAN VOTE IF YOU HAVE EVER BEEN A MEMBER AND HAVE NOT

A) REQUESTED, IN WRITING, TO WITHDRAW YOUR MEMBERSHIP;

B) REQUESTED, IN WRITING, TO TRANSFER YOUR MEMBERSHIP; OR,

C) BEEN DISMISSED AFTER A MATTHEW 18 DISCIPLINE PROCESS. 

ACCORDING TO THE BYLAWS, YOU CANNOT VOTE IF YOU DO NOT FULLY BELIEVE IN AND PROPAGATE ALL THE TENETS OF THE EXISTING STATEMENT OF FAITH, even if you have been told otherwise.     

    If you don't or can't agree with this requirement, we welcome you to worship with us anyway, but please, as a Christian, be honest with God and yourself, and don't vote on any part of this ballot. Doing so could invalidate the election.

May God's will be done!

Grace under Siege 69: High noon at the Grace Corral

     This Sunday we will be voting on three things: 

    1. The revised Statement of Faith

    2. The affirmation of each of the current 29 elders, including Lou, Hachet Man/Saul, and Jesus Eyes.

    3. The ordination of one of these elders as a pastor.

     
     Personally I am going to vote "no" on everything,* as a vote of "no confidence" for the whole leadership. All but two of the elders have violated Scripture and the Bylaws and are following a man who does not preach or value the Bible. So I will vote "no" on all but those two. *Keith Benson and Chuck Horton have stayed true to the Lord and the Bylaws, indicating so by signing and returning the document sent to all of them by the Watchmen. (I have posted this document below.)

     I cannot in good conscience vote for any of the others as long as they see their purpose (as two of the elders told us--neither of them one of the ones named above) "to make Lou successful."

     If you vote "no" on a candidate, you may have to indicate on your ballot whether the man is not qualified Biblically to be an elder at all or is not qualified for a specific job as an elder (in which case he can remain an elder). If you mark "not qualified Biblically," you can use one of the following passages which list the qualifications for elders, I Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-16, or I Peter 5:1-4. I quoted them in my December 29, 2011 post, grace-under-siege-38-qualifications-for-elders:

    "If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach. . . temperate. . . respectable. . . not. . . pugnacious but gentle, peaceable. . ." (I Timothy 3:1-7).

     "(A)ppoint elders. . .above reproach . . . not quick-tempered. . . not pugnacious. .  but. . . self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. For there are many . . . deceivers. . . They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him. . ." (Titus 1:5-16)                                            

     "Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you. . . [not] as lording it over those alloted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory." (I Peter 5:1-4)

                                                                ---

    As I wrote on that post, "If, at the next annual business meeting, we members of Grace Brethren Church are asked to affirm that these men are qualified to continue as elders, before God, how can we?

Grace under Siege 68: Questionnaire from the Supporters of the Statement of Faith

NOTE: Of the 30 elders, only Chuck Horton and Keith Benson signed and returned this document.

From Concerned Members of

Grace Brethren Church

Of Long Beach

December 16, 2011

Dear Elder or Prospective Elder:

            This letter comes to you from some current elders, four prior chairmen of the elder board, eight missionaries and former pastors of this church, at least sixteen former elders, long time members and concerned individuals that are supporters of the Statement of Faith (the “Supporters”).  There are now well over 100 Supporters.  This letter is sent to you on their behalf. 

            We believe that the pastoral staff and members of the EBOE have not been following the church’s bylaws, which they are required to do by the California Corporations Code.  We believe that one example is their failure to properly qualify candidates for the office of elder.  As a result, some of you do not qualify to be an elder because you do not accept as true all of the tenets of our Statement of Faith.

Article II, Section C, Statement of Faith, has the following introductory statement:

The Statement of Faith under which this church exists, by which its Members associate themselves as a distinct body, and which every Member must accept, is composed of belief in the following:  (emphasis ours)  

Our by-laws furnish the reason that this is so critical: “in order to preserve the doctrinal unity of this local church.” It is this failure, this lack of a thorough examination of potential members and elders that has led to the disunity that our church currently faces.  Acceptance of the Statement of Faith is a covenant of each member to every other member that they personally believe that each and every proposition in the statement of Faith is true.  The necessary corollary is that a person must believe that any proposition that is contrary to or in conflict with any proposition in the Statement of Faith is not true. 

During the nominating process, some of you objected to paragraph 9 of the Statement of Faith dealing with end times.  Paragraph 9 provides as follows:

Future Plans of God.  Jesus Christ is coming back before the Tribulation to remove His Church to heaven.  Following the Tribulation period of seven years, He will return to this earth with His saints and angels to rule and reign for 1,000 years after which “eternity future” follows.  (Daniel 9:24-27; Matthew 24:15-31; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 4:13-18, 5:1-9; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 3:10, 19:11-16, 20:4-6, 21-22).

If a person does not believe that this is true, then such a person cannot be an elder.  Nevertheless, some of you were allowed to become or remain an elder contrary to the bylaws and Statement of Faith.  You were told that you merely had to acknowledge that this is the position of the church and that you personally need not hold this position.  That is not true.  If that is your belief, you cannot sign the enclosed declaration.

Next month you are set for affirmation.  You must get 2/3 affirmative vote to be affirmed.  Enclosed is a declaration for you to sign and return in the envelope provided.  If you cannot sign this declaration in good conscience towards God, you should withdraw your name from consideration.  In the event that you do not sign and return it by December 30th, we will submit your name to the EBOE as being unqualified to be an elder because you do not possess the requisite belief(s) in our Statement of Faith as required by our bylaws.

To be clear, if you do not accept as true all of the propositions in the Statement of Faith and believe that any propositions contrary to or conflicting with the statement of Faith are false, then you cannot be an elder of this church.   Please print and sign your name at the bottom of the declaration and return it in the envelope provided.  You may fax your declaration to [--] or you can scan and e-mail it back to indicate that the original is in the mail.  However, in all events, we will need to have the original with a “wet” signature. 

We will report to the Supporters the names of those who have returned the declaration with a “wet” signature.  We will ask each of them to go before the Lord and ask for His direction in how to vote in the meeting of the congregation.   

John T. Anderson, Richard Byrd, Terry L. Polley*

on behalf of The Supporters of the Statement of Faith  

*[Bear], [Faithful], and [Straight Shooter]

Grace under Siege 67: Peace

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3

Grace under Siege 66: Gathering inward

     Fasting is a kind of dying--a weakening, a shrinking inside, a submitting, a letting go. It is grieving.
     At least this fast is. It is the dog whose master has died turning from his food and flopping across the doorway with a sigh, his head across his foreleg.
     In my case, it is gathering myself inward, silently praying, grieving and listening to the voice of God. It is waiting for God to work, standing when all that is left to do, all that can be done, is stand. It is bearing in my body the rage and contempt of the enemy, letting it batter me until it gives up and Christ wins.

Grace under Siege 65: Why we stood up

    This past Sunday Jerry and I stood up in the middle of Lou's sermon. Some of you noticed and wondered why.
     We have sensed for some time that standing for truth might require us to physically stand against lies coming from the pulpit. Much of what is said sounds wonderful, although it may be extra-Biblical or unBiblical. But we knew if Lou said something ANTI-Biblical we could not let it go.
     For the last four Sundays Lou has preached on unity. This Sunday someone read Ephesians 4:1-16 aloud and then Lou preached on part of that passage. As usual much of what He said was beautiful, eloquent, even true. Also as usual, about 3/4ths of the way through his message he slipped in a one-sentence zinger that contradicted a foundational, non-negotiable teaching of the Bible in a major way. This time he contradicted the commands throughout the Bible to value, seek and know truth.
     His subject was Living into Your Calling. He asked, "What does it look like to faithfully perform our part as God's called people?" Answering the question, he said, "Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:1-3: 'As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. . . . walk worthy of your calling with all humility and gentleness.'"
     Then he said, "None of that involves knowing the right doctrine. None of that involves understanding the correct meanings of theological terms and Greek words." It isn't the first time he has dismissed Bible study as irrelevant and even mocked it.
     So Jerry and I stood up.
     Doctrine means teaching. Lou said in effect that right teaching is not important. He implied that knowing and understanding truth is one of the "non-essentials" of the faith. His repeated negation of the necessity for knowing and anchoring our attitudes and behavior in the truths of  Scripture is appalling.
      Let me assure you, Jesus Christ takes strong exception to that view! He speaks truth, His word is truth, He is truth. He is all about truth.
     The apostle Paul, too, would take exception to Lou's emphasis on the importance of unity while blowing off truth. I can't imagine Paul talking about unity without sooner or later pointing out the need to balance unity with truth--and sure enough, if you keep reading the rest of Ephesians 4:1-16 after Lou stopped expositing, Paul says that church leaders are to equip believers for service not only to bring about unity but to bring about knowledge. Knowledge of the Son of God.
    "As a result," Paul writes in verses 15-16, "we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
     If we have no solid Biblical teaching about who Jesus Christ is, Paul is saying, we will not mature and we will be vulnerable to false doctrines. That is where our church is. Our leaders do not ground us in true teaching so we are tossed about by all kinds of theories and philosphies and can not even recognize false teaching. Teaching truth, accurately dividing the word of God right down to the definitions of individual words keeps us anchored, keeps us from being vulnerable to lies.
     "The plenary [absolute] inspiration of the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit guided men into truth and away from error. In this process the Spirit of God used language, and the units of language are words and thoughts. The thought is the thread that strings the words together. Therefore, our very exegesis [critical interpretation of a text] must commence with a study of words and grammar, the two fundamentals of all meaningful speech." Bernard Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation, pp. 54ff.
     Quoting this passage from Ramm, J. Dwight Pentecost writes, "Inasmuch as God gave the Word of God as a revelation to men, it would be expected that His revelation would be given in such exact and specific terms that His thoughts would be accurately conveyed and understood when interpreted according to the laws of grammar and speech." Things to Come, p. 10
     What is the alternative? What happens if church leaders neglect "right doctrine" and "correct meanings of theological terms and Greek words" regarding the knowledge of the Son of God? Paul says that the alternative is to 1) remain spiritual infants, 2) be tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching, 3) to be defenseless against the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Vulnerable to lies.
     The alternative is where our church is right now. We are not taught sound doctrine. In Life Groups we discuss the Bible, everyone sharing their own opinions and interpretations, which are all given equal value. (Very tolerant, very post-modern. As Jesus Eyes, one of our pastors/edlers, explained to a church member who has since left, "Well, you know, we are in the post-Christian era.") There is no right or wrong, no "Thus saith the Lord!" in our church.  There is no "studying to show ourselves approved to God," no "rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).
     We have no plumb line. A plumb line is "a line (as of cord) that has at one end a weight and is used to determine verticality." To know error we have to have a plumb line, a standard of truth against which to measure ideas. How can we recognize and reject the counterfeit unless we are rooted and grounded in a knowledge of the true? Scripture is the plumb line to which we must compare every teaching that seeks to take root in our minds. If we don't study the Bible and are never taught facts about Jesus Christ, Paul says, we don't grow and we don't fit into our place in the body of Christ so it can grow.
     But Lou gives us no plumb line and indicates that we don't need one, that truth doesn't matter. Once more, Lou is devaluing God's Word by discouraging us from taking it seriously and from devoting ourselves to reading, studying, and understanding it.

Grace under Siege 64: Observation

     This time it only took ten minutes. It used to take a couple of hours before I would feel in my spirit and body Satan's rage against something I posted. This morning within ten minutes of posting "Lions," I saw in my mind's eye a very angry man (whom I recognized) with his hands around my throat and I felt intense pressure cutting off my breath.

     Jerry prayed in the name of Jesus Christ for the demon energizing the man to loosen his grip. It got a bit better. By the authority of Jesus, we cancelled all demonic assignments against me, us, everyone in this battle and claimed Proverbs/26-2: an undeserved curse will not land on its intended victim. 

     The pressure went away.

Grace under Siege 63: Lions

     Christians can't choose their lions.

     I wish we could. If we could I'd choose an old, feeble, toothless one, a benign one.

     I'd choose one that had been used on the MGM movie set for years, one that everyone trusted. You just steer around him when you move across the set, absent-mindedly stroking his fur as you go past. Little kids make a point of visiting that set, tumbling over him with squeals of delight.

     I don't think I'd even mind the fierce ones, the ones that you meet in the arena, the ones that immediately lunge for you and gobble you up and you're home free. It would all be over so fast you wouldn't have much time to be terrified. Besides, I've heard that in the shock of being attacked--by a bear, a shark, maybe even a human--you don't feel any pain.

     But some of these lions look so righteous--a stiffness in the spine, a firmness around the mouth, a determination in the eye that could never be mistaken for compassion. Others look sincere and gently reproachful. Lions that genuinely don't know they are lions, who think we are the lions and they are the martyrs.

     It's these last that are the hardest to face. They seem genuinely sorrowful that they have to eat us--but they will eat us all the same. Grind up our bones and spit out the gristle. And they will tell themselves they are doing it for God.

     That's not why I mind facing them. I regret it because we have known them so long, many of them--respected them, trusted them, served with them, cared about them and their families, sharing a common faith. I regret their decision to give their loyalty to a Pied Piper leading them farther and farther astray, rather than to the unchanging Son of God and His word. I regret their inability or unwillingness to see this, the deception that holds them in bondage.

     They may not be martyrs but they are the captives, not us.

     P.S. If I could choose my lions, I'd choose Aslan.

Grace under Siege 62: Tell. Stay. Stand.

      Tell. That was His command to us. After 21 years of our leadership instructing members of the flock whom they had wounded, "Don't tell," God told us to tell: Bring the deeds of darkness into the light for My judgment.

     At that point we only knew of a few "deeds of darkness." But as we obeyed, other people started contacting us: "That's what happened to us!" "That pastor refused to listen to me, either!" That elder yelled in my face, too!" "That's why we left!"

     Stay and stand. That's the other thing he commanded us to do. Not only is He still saying this every time we check in with Him but others who get discernment for us as they pray for us and for Grace Brethren Church confirm it over and over:
     "You can't be moved.You are to stand. Don't slide from that decision. You've got to do this on your knees. There is an all-out attack. It has been camouflaged. You are feeling the backlash."
     "You are in a fiery furnace--and all that will burn off are the shackles. You and Jerry are going to be able to walk out of the fire into freedom, without even the smell of smoke on you."
     "You two will stand through the test, through the fire. Others will come to you. You're going to come through this because your beliefs are strong. God has got you where He wants you. Both of you have had bold leadership, standing on the Rock. Those around you are beginning to turn. The tide is beginning to turn. You are a beacon in this church. There are those who respect you, who trust your judgment. They look to you for guidance. Some are saying "If they're standing, there must be something to it. What do those two people know that we don't." You'll show the body at church how to stand.
     "Something is wrong. There is a breach of contract somewhere. A covenant has been broken. They are not obedient to the Holy Spirit and there is a Satanic covenant.  Somebody has made a vow to the enemy. They got off track. I feel a spiritual disconnect. There has been a disconnect in the head of the church whether it's the head pastor or executive elders, a disconnect between the pastor and the elders. Something is not right. Something he's been into is not right. He needs to repent or he's going to fall. He's going to his knees on this.
     "Stand strong. They're picking on you because you're willing to stand for the truth. You're the head of the turnaround. God says, 'I'm going to put their feet on that Rock.' You will stay solid on the Rock. You will not be moved. God says, 'Those who've misrepresented you I will deal with at my time. I will give you wisdom and discernment. I will call people to surround you. This church will be restored. My written Word and the work I have done in this church will remain.'
     He's going to expose those who are playing games. Something's going to get tripped up, will pop up--a red flag so big they won't be able to get over it." 

     Stand. What does that look like? Stand when they won't let us speak, stand when they tell us not to pray without their permission, stand when they tell others we are liars, stand when the doctrine (or lack thereof, like the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20, which has become the Great Omission)* coming from God's pulpit defiles it, demeaning Him and incurring His wrath. Stand when they shun us, stand when they slander us, stand when the poisonous fog of deception soothes people with a distorted view of the truth, preventing them from believing God's opinion of this farce. 

     Stand when I am too intimidated by their power and fury to say a word.
     Whatever the results of the vote on the elders and the Statement of Faith on February 5th, we will keep staying, standing, and telling until God tells us to stop.

*Thank you for the way you put it, Jerry.

Grace under Siege 61: Restoration

December 5, 2011

"I see this man getting on his knees

                      like a little boy

                                            crying.

"The LORD is going to humble him.

"It will loosen the chains that are around the church:

                                  major bondage.

"They have no idea 

               what they're dealing with.

"The enemy is right in front 

                                  of their faces.

                        They'll find out.

"God will allow it to be exposed.

"It will work out." 

December 13, 2011

"He stands at the front of the church, 

                                    his hand propped on the lectern.

"All of a sudden something hits him

          and I see him folding right there--

                 on his knees

                         knees buckling.

                                 Down on his knees.

     "I see him crying--

          tears coming from his eyes--

               in repentance and shame.

"I see an arm on his shoulder.

          The LORD has been grieving over this,

                                                                    over him.

"I see the LORD's hand on his shoulder

          because he is truly repentant.

"The LORD is gathering him up

          reassuring him

                                      he will be used."

"This church will be restored."