Re: **Possible_Spam** Re: [TruthTalk] differences

[Terry Clifton]

Michael:   Sounds as though you agonized over your decision in much the same way that we did.  Some in our group are still unable to break away from the institutional setting.. We meet on Tuesday evening, so they can come to home church without missing the traditional Sunday morning thing.  Last night I painted a picture of home Church and institutional Church that was a fair comparison, but I fear it made the institutional Church look like the villan in the plot and that was not my intention.  I have no doubt that it is far from what God would have the coming together of the saints be, but at the same time, He has used what He had to work with in a powerful way.  I was saved in a church, I was a teacher in a church (Sunday school), and I was a deacon in a church.  I was even allowed to fill the pulpit a few times when they were really desperate for a warm body.  I Know that these are not bad people mocking God.  They are good people (as good as people ever are) who do not know any better.  It is what we are all taught, and until you start digging for answers in God's word, you live in ignorant bliss.  I think that because most of these folk are operating in ignorance, and not in deliberate disobedience, the Lord continues to bless them and use them.  Because He does, missionaries are sent all over the world, and Bibles are distributed wherever they go.  People are saved that we in the home Church could never reach.  I am not at all sure that the leaders even know how far off course they are.  They have been taught to think what they think, by people with titles, who they respect.  If a doctor of divinity doesn't have the right answers, they figure, who does? I have been privileged to have a close relationship with a few pastors in my life, and sadly, some of them are more ignorant than the "Lay" people, and are determined to stay that way.  Some cannot see the error, and some do not want to. It would end their employment. Because of these relationships, I can tell you that some would keep preaching if they never got a dime for their effort, and some would seek a new job tomorrow if the paycheck stopped.  Some have a calling, and some have a career. There is no person in the world that I respect more than a street preacher,  and no one I respect less than the televangelist that keeps asking for more money.  The first is following in the footsteps of John, the Baptist and Peter and Paul.  The second is an abomination. All the other preachers are in between, on a sliding scale, from humble servants of the Lord to real weasels.  From what I have seen of home church groups though, there is a lot of room for improvement there too.  Some of them seem to have an air of superiority, as though they are more spiritual than those who need a pastor, and others are straight out anti-authority, anti-denomination, anti-government, anti-everything.  Sort of a group of bad tempered hermits.   As for our group, it will probably be summer before we are perfect.   Terry Michael D: Very well said, Terry. The Lord has a very specific mission today, and that's to get the Church back to the NT realities that have long deserted its 'corridors'... I talk about these things often with believers, but it is not easy to apprehend. Even when one sees them, it takes some time to get accustomed to. It took me about two years, at least, of God 'sticking my face in it' and repeatedly affirming to me that the traditional system is all wrong,before I made a full psycholigical adjustment to it. Now, I knew they were right from the first moment He revealed them to me. The problem was relating to the fact that so many millions of believers can be so wrong and misplaced, while being used by God is such significant ways. It's the same problem one encounters when trying to impart these truths to those in the traditional systems today. What was very strange, I would visit 'services' where the 'Spirit was moving' and people were being tremendously blessed, but I would be totally untouched. I would wonder if something was wrong with me. Repeatedly God would let me know that this was not His will, and therefore, having revealed the truth o me, He could not let me feel comfortable there any more. This process of weaning finally allowed me to get settled within myself about the stark realities of the present system. Transformation from the old to the new, is the next big thing on God's agenda.