Subject: NA/R8: Effects Of Revival On One Man's Church (fr. Al)
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998 12:20:31 -0700
From: A.R. <address withheld>
Ed here is my account of what happenned to my family at our old church. Not every detail is in here but I think it is enough. . . . I hope you will send it out to everyone.
[A.R.]
I had been attending AOG churches for about four years before we moved to a small town outside of Houston. Tx. We attended a AOG type church for three years more before we decided to leave. Now mind you I was used to speaking in tongues and all that stuff there and I did not have a problem with it. There first day I attended this new church "Grace Community' I felt uneasy in my spirit. The people were nice and friendly and the music was very good , but something bothered me. The reason we decided to go there was because my wife's sister and husband go there to this day. We attended the church for two and a half years before I started to get suspicious about something. I had come across a funds baptist web-site and read a bunch of articles onPK and the holy laughter movement and it was an eye opener for me. This guy David Cloud made sense and used scripture in full context to explain his stands on subjects. During this time the Lord warned me to get grounded in scripture or I would be trapped in a spider web like an insect. I was driving to work one day and I saw thousands of spider webs on the ends of tall weeds. I had never seen it before and I wondered why the significance of it was. That is when the Holy Spirit told me those in the apostate church are like insects being blow around by the winds of false doctrines created by men. He said that if I didn't get my feet planted in the Word of God that I would be trapped like an insect in the countless lies created by the enemy (represented by the of spider webs) and perish. Well I took notice of this and began to ask questions about the actual church doctrine. Here are some things that troubled me.
1. There was no statement of faith in writing anywhere. This makes it easy for leadership to be un-accountable for what they teach in the church.
2. They taught that if you were saved that you would speak in an un-known tongue due to being baptized with the Holy Spirit. This thinking logically concludes that if you didn't speak in an un-known tongue you weren't saved.
3. They posted Rodney Howard Browne fliers in the church lobby. The pastor and a couple of elders went to RHB and thoughts is was God working in his meetings.
4. They support PK
5. They feel Toronto and Brownsville is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and not a false revival like it really is.
6. The music was good, but they played the each song at least two to four times and played at least for an hour every sunday. They mostly played the same songs every sunday.
7. They had a woman leader of a cell group whos husband did not even attend the same church. He was a RC. The apostle Paul clearly states that women should not have leadership over men or teach in church.
8. They were into bringing different denoms together on weekend retreats for men and women, yet they would not let them discuss the differences of the doctrine. Were supposed to correct and rebuke in and out of season and be prepared at all times in dealing with false teachings.
9. Slain in the Spirit.
10. Drunk in the Spirit
12. Fliers about Community bible study in the church lobby. This is where people from different church meat at one church to be taught by someone from another church. I don't know about you but I do not want to be taught by a REV from the Methodist church if He does not follow the Word. The Methodist church is undergoing a transformation and may become a very liberal church in regards to dealing with sins. In these classes one could not correct a bad teaching due to it being devisive.
13. Warped idea of authority. Don't question leadership even if they are wrong in regards to following scripture. They said the church members should follow even if they (leaders are)are wrong. They said to mark those who are devisive and question leadership and talk about these things to other members. EVEN if the concerns were valid and one could prove what was happening was against the Word of God. This was in a sermon that occurred about one month after we left. I have got a copy of the tape at home. Remember all men are accountable to the Word.
Now I brought all these thing up to the A. Pastor or B. other people in leadership. Their answers were don't put God in a box or don't be legalistic, don't be a pharisee, God is bigger than His Word.. blah, blah, blah. I used scripture from Paul on speaking in tongues and church order and it didn't matter what I said or how much I could prove my point using the Word of God.
The final straw was the Jesus film project. The church wanted to pass out a film about Jesus story to various neighbor hoods in town. The after people looked at the film we were to take a survey to find out if they wanted to go to a church , give their life to Christ, what they thought about the film. The only problem I found with the film was that leadership wasn't concerned about repentance of sins and about where they person might attend church. The film was ok it was a bit too easy on sinners and repentance. This is the time I also found out about their views about your not saved unless you speak in an un-know tongue. We decided to leave and not tell the pastor. We told our cell group leader though.
In conclusion I know that this church was into controlling members. They were gonna do what ever they felt was what God wanted them to do , even if it contradicted The bible. There is a new age religion atmosphere in the church. Teachings were taken out of context to support a project or a desire to condition the congreation in a certain direction. I know they are going down the road to the apostate church. I also feel the the AOG in general is headed in that direction. I have read too much info on the internet that indicates this. I also no denom will be immune to the current move to a false religion. I hope this helps. I think Barbara what you need to do is research your concerns in scripture, use a strongs concordance and the KJV, not the NIV. The NIV has many words and phrases talen out. The bring it up to leadership and see what they tell you. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to show you the truth in all matters and pray for an increase of wisdom amd discernment. Rember the Word of God should always be your guideline, and not what men say. If you really want to know the truth God will show you.
A.R.
