I left the Local Church After Reading the Real Church History

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by Trapped

For bullet #2, feigning being positive for the ministry but this is the only Christian life they know.....part of what comes with that is disillusionment, deflation, dissatisfaction, depression. It's a totally defeated mind and soul. It's "what am I doing wrong?" It's "why aren't I happy?" It's "why does everyone else act okay? Am I the problem? Does God not care about me?" It's a feeling of being totally trapped, knowing that what you are being fed isn't cutting it, but being literally afraid and unable to try anything else.

It creates a life of desperation for that person.

I am so ready for something to change in the LC.

Yes, it's my experience. Everyone is so positive and so okay, why don't I feel it? I must be the only one who has a problem.
Having to speak one way for the meetings, but never to speak what is on my mind or what interests me. To truly speak my mind would have resulted being escorted out of the meeting hall. That is what fear of man does.

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by Terry

Yes, it's my experience. Everyone is so positive and so okay, why don't I feel it? I must be the only one who has a problem.
Having to speak one way for the meetings, but never to speak what is on my mind or what interests me. To truly speak my mind would have resulted being escorted out of the meeting hall. That is what fear of man does.

I think for me, the meetings felt boring a lot of the time. I remember when the elders would get the sense that someone or multiple people weren't enjoying the meeting, that's when they would start making everyone stand up and call on the Lord three times. Sometimes they would even single someone out and make them do it by themselves.

I could never understand what made them think that getting people to do that would resolve the boredom, lack of interest or whatever other underlying problem there was.

I am from India and I have experienced the same thing with the elders here. I also feel that many youngsters have left this movement (for good) because of the coercion and judgement they face if they don't keep up with the standard operating procedures.

[theLCfurry]

Originally Posted by Freedom

I think for me, the meetings felt boring a lot of the time. I remember when the elders would get the sense that someone or multiple people weren't enjoying the meeting, that's when they would start making everyone stand up and call on the Lord three times. Sometimes they would even single someone out and make them do it by themselves.

I could never understand what made them think that getting people to do that would resolve the boredom, lack of interest or whatever other underlying problem there was.

God, I had a somewhat similar experience one time during the Labor Day conference in Chicago last year. Brother Minoru Chen got mad while he was speaking because (I think) people either were not paying attention or didnt enjoy the meetings. He pretty much compared people who were not enjoying or paying attention to an analogy of babies not willing to breathe and becoming blue or something to that extent

[Kyle Yoakum]

I have been out of the LC for many years. Once in a while I see LSM Youtube videos where everyone lo so happy. Are you saying many of the meetings, conferences are boring, with little to no vitality? Little joy?

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by Kyle Yoakum

I have been out of the LC for many years. Once in a while I see LSM Youtube videos where everyone lo so happy. Are you saying many of the meetings, conferences are boring, with little to no vitality? Little joy?

Handful of times I've visited a LC meeting in the last ten years, that is correct. Little joy. My perspective it's a time for a social outlet (before, during, and after the meeting). For some it's become a form of religion. As in "this is what we do."

[Trapped]

Originally Posted by Terry

Handful of times I've visited a LC meeting in the last ten years, that is correct. Little joy. My perspective it's a time for a social outlet (before, during, and after the meeting). For some it's become a form of religion. As in "this is what we do."

Yes, it's just what they do.

And then you get the sheepish, "because where else is there to go? we can't go anywhere else."

I think the best part of the meetings is the singing, just due to the nature of singing itself. It's communal, it's relational, it's (can be) beautiful, the melody and harmonies soothe the soul, etc. But once the meeting itself gets going, their eyes glaze over like Krispy Kreme's.

I mean, take a training meeting, for example, and compare it to a Sunday sermon.

Most pastors will start their sermons with a, "Hey, church, how's it going? It's so good to see everyone here. For anyone new, we're so glad you're here!"

Ron Kangas starts out every training message with "the subject...............of the outline.................is Christ...............as the throne...........of God's government...............governing..........the universe............as the fulfillment...........of the kernel............of the divine..........revelation. We will see.............in tonight's message..........that this kernel...........was the seed........planted.............in the ground of Christ's humanity.............as prophesied............in the Old Testament. I have been allotted...........90 minutes..........and by the Lord's mercy.........will finish.........on time........"

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by Trapped

Yes, it's just what they do.

And then you get the sheepish, "because where else is there to go? we can't go anywhere else."

They've been conditioned for years of not being able to go anywhere else.
There's no trying. Being told for years, "we have all the riches". Results in pride. Being told "here in the local churches we're unique". That too results in pride.
Ever see the movie Goodfellas? Last scene of the movie reminds me of the LCM. Here you have Henry Hill in the witness protection program reduced to being just another schmuck. The distinction and the uniqueness is no more.
Just like the LC. Some don't want to go anywhere else. Not wanting to meet as just another church when believing "we had all the riches" and "we were God's move on the earth".

[Trapped]

Originally Posted by Kyle Yoakum

I have been out of the LC for many years. Once in a while I see LSM Youtube videos where everyone lo so happy. Are you saying many of the meetings, conferences are boring, with little to no vitality? Little joy?

I was in a meeting in the last couple years where the fellowship was about, what else, life.

I can't recall the details of the meeting, but in the sharing time afterward a brother stood up and balled his hands up into fists while punching the air (is there a better phrase to describe that action we all know?), saying desperately, "I just need life! Oh, I just want life! I have been so dry and down and am so desperate for life!"

I just sat there watching him, thinking, "what else have you all been talking about for the past countless decades? how is it you are desperate for what you all should be swimming in by now?"

What I'm trying to describe is what feels like an atmosphere of always pining for something that is never quite obtained. And how can it be obtained? They are told "if you think you have obtained, you haven't. And if you don't think you've obtained, you have!" That leaves you always pining. There's no joy in that.

[Sons to Glory!]

Originally Posted by Trapped

I was in a meeting in the last couple years where the fellowship was about, what else, life.

I can't recall the details of the meeting, but in the sharing time afterward a brother stood up and balled his hands up into fists while punching the air (is there a better phrase to describe that action we all know?), saying desperately, "I just need life! Oh, I just want life! I have been so dry and down and am so desperate for life!"

I just sat there watching him, thinking, "what else have you all been talking about for the past countless decades? how is it you are desperate for what you all should be swimming in by now?"

What I'm trying to describe is what feels like an atmosphere of always pining for something that is never quite obtained. And how can it be obtained? They are told "if you think you have obtained, you haven't. And if you don't think you've obtained, you have!" That leaves you always pining. There's no joy in that.

Can life itself be an idol? I think so - "the pride of life." (1 John 2:16) But where is life, and more accurately, who is life? It is Jesus, the way, the truth and THE LIFE!

It's kind of the same thing when saying "Turn to your spirit." This phrase is not in the Bible. Of course, the Lord is one with our spirit, but to focus on spirit instead of the Lord is a little off, wouldn't you say? Plenty of verses about turning to the Lord. It may seem like a minor point, but just like this "life" that the LC brother was so intent on finding - not there except in Christ Himself.

[countmeworthy]

Originally Posted by Trapped

I was in a meeting in the last couple years where the fellowship was about, what else, life.

I can't recall the details of the meeting, but in the sharing time afterward a brother stood up and balled his hands up into fists while punching the air (is there a better phrase to describe that action we all know?), saying desperately, "I just need life! Oh, I just want life! I have been so dry and down and am so desperate for life!"

So what became of 1 Corinthians 13:13 in the LC/LSM? But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
hmmm??

And if a person is so bothered by being so dry and down and desperate for 'life', 1 John 5:14-15 says This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

Seems to me needing 'life' is an easy fix.

Btw, I remember those days of balling up your fists and punching the air. I think it it gives Matthew 11:12 a new spin: From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force.