AssemblyBoard

Repentance brings such liberty and freedom - bold as a lion YET a humble attitude of not knowing anything as I ought to.

It is the true beginning of healing and restoration.

pages 233 & 234 - The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse by Johnson & VanVonderen

Message to Perpetrators of Spiritual Abuse

Just hours before Jesus violently purged the temple, Luke 19 tells us: "He saw the city [Jerusalem, and its temple], and wept over it." The reason? "You did not recognize your day of visitation" (v. 44).
Jesus the Messiah was among His people. He spoke truth, offered life, hope and grace--and they did not want it. Instead of grace, they chose judgment.
Even so, it breaks the heart of God.
Jesus described Jerusalem as the one "who kills the prophets." The full weight of His anguish is felt when we realize the God-intended character of that city: Jerusalem was supposed to be known as the Holy City, the City of Peace, the Sanctuary of God, the hill of the Lord, the community of the righteous, beautiful for habitation. "Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. You are not what you were created to be." Do you think the grief of God is ever expressed that way toward the church? Do you wonder if He ever looks at spiritually abusive Christianity and says, "Oh, Beloved Eklesia, Redeemed of the Lord, Bride of Christ, Salt of the Earth. You are not what you were created to be. You are not the sanctuary of God or of man. You are not a safe place. You are not a holy place. You are not beautiful for habitation. You have tied heavy weights upon people, you have inverted values, and you have shut off the kingdom from those who were seeking it."


A Desire to "Gather"

We need constantly to be reminded that even when we have acted badly in the name of God, His heart is still to gather us to himself.
When we relinquish our wrong control and turn to Him, He desires most of all to redeem, heal and protect.
Even if you have abused others, God still extends His arms to you and says, "Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest."
Does this sound like a welcome invitation to you? We believe it is from the heart of God.


A Will of Our Own

Like arrogant, ignorant, rebellious children, however, we can sometimes resist to the end. We may think, "I don't need help, I don't need healing, I don't need grace. I'm doing quite well, thank you."
The problem with not responding to the "gathering" call of God is that it leaves you completely on your own. You are going to get what you wanted--no protection, no sustaining, no provision.
"Behold, your house is being left to you desolate," says Jeremiah 22:5. The word desolate means barren, vacant, uninhabited. God no longer plows, or plants, or prunes here.
Can that same dynamic happen today in the church? Is it possible that the Spirit of God could move among the churches and say to some of them, "This is not God's house, this is not God's work--it is yours"?
We are not "doom-sayers." Jesus loves His church! Therefore, He does not withdraw His hand quickly. He will send people who see the need to speak the truth, to lift the load, to heal the sheep. By His Spirit and through His Word, He will call and convict and draw to himself.
For some, the result will be brokenness, mourning, and repentance bringing life and restoration.
Though the desolation we may have wrought is real, we need only call upon Him again, welcoming back the grace we once received.
The "good news" is that God loves to give grace to people who know they need it!

Marcia
This is a good excerpt from a helpful book.  It also is more along the lines of what Phill meant the other night when he responded to your request for comments about leaven and corruption, and your exit letter.  We were both sitting here talking about attitudes/ ways of seeing things that afflicted our assembly gatherings, and how it is a process recognizing them, then getting away from them.
The prideful, superior attitudes in particular came from the top down but we were all affected.
Phill's point about the leaven was, Why did we read ( at least a few pages of) the man's books, listen to his tapes, attend his seminars, be his 'workers', join with his assemblies, unless we believed he was a man of good character?  He and those around him claimed he was someone God was using in a unique way.  But his hidden life turns out to be the opposite of his public message.
Many of those of us fooled by him hoped the leading ones fooled by him would also lead the way in repenting of our support of Geo., our blindness, our corporate lack of discernment, etc. Some leaders in some assemblies did, and those assemblies disbanded and the people moved on to greener pastures.
Some of the ones who did not do not seem to see their errors, only George's sin, if that.
And as they said a number of times here, well, we all sin, don't we?
That's the tip of the iceberg conversation we were having about leaven and corruption.
God bless,
Becky
 

I agree Becky.
With regards to repentance, they have not proved themselves clear in the matter.
What I have heard instead is:
We should not be penalized for GGs sin.
We weren't duped by GG and his ministry. We just said "well we don't always agree on everything anyway".
We didn't submit to GG in everything. But now a brother is being criticized for making up his own mind and leaving an assembly gathering.

ad nauseum.

Marcia

...and Ray Dienzo!
Verne "Sidewinder" Carty

Just a note that I am not the author of what has been quoted above. It was extracted from Brent's farewell letter posted on GA.com

I learned something this week re. 'fake' repentance.
A pathological liar cannot help himself but lie.  He will lie as long as he sees a way out (or thinks he sees a way out).

Marcia

Just to clarify. I agree with Brent and Verne. I was not implying that the LBs listed were guilty of fake repentance. It was a reference to someone else that the topic came up this week.

Lord bless,
Marcia