Quote:
Originally Posted by Jo S
I'm not invalidating your experience or anyone else's here, but I know there are people in the same boat as I was in that haven't yet been able to come to terms with the fact that it wasn't the Lord that led them into the LC's.
I too had circumstances that came to pass that if you were to ask me then I would have told you that I was certain they weren't mere coincidences and had to be from the Lord.
This brings up the point of the danger of following after signs and wonders because, after all, scripture does say that even the elect will be deceived if it were at all possible.
We tend to have the proclivity to chase after signs and wonders without properly vetting our experiences. Rather than praying and asking God whether they are from Him, we automatically make assumptions based on our subjective feelings. It's a tough lesson to learn but it's a necessary one.
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I'm with bro Ohio on this one. In 1974 I was strongly brought back to the Lord while I was in living in my Ohio hometown, and while calling out to Him very desperately one night while all alone. After He flooded me with His presence, I prayed that He would lead me to be with those that loved Him in this fresh and wonderfully living way I was experiencing right then. Through some very interesting circumstances, I wound-up hitchhiking across country and was lead in an amazing one week, 2000 mile journey (I can give all the remarkable details if you like), to walk right into "CJs Old Garage" on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley CA. I was greeted by a long-haired brother who asked, "What are you looking for - Jesus?" I knew instantly that this was home and where He'd brought me to in a direct answer to that prayer.
Eventually He lead me away from the California LCs, and I wound-up with my new family in LC gatherings in southern Ohio. And as our brother "Ohio" has pointed out several times, the Ohio churches were not nearly in the close orbit to Anaheim as many others were. Then in 1988 he lead our family out of the LCs completely and across country again, before everything blew up in the Ohio churches.
BTW - He reminds me frequently that He is still being faithful to that prayer!