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Brian
It appears a few years has passed since you wrote your remarks. I had not checked on this site in quite a while and the notifier of new remarks was broken so I did not see your remarks until just recently. I still felt it appropriate to respond though, even though so much time has passed.
Many of your remarks show the issues with the ABC. I understand your viewpoint of just sticking with it, regardless of the clear troubles. I once felt the same way. Despite being pushed out twice, and being disowned by the man who started this new denomination; my father, I stayed as long as I was able.
Paul referred to this mindset as being “bewitched”, when he wrote to the Galatians. The Galatians had returned to following the law as their salvation, rather than living by faith, hope and love. They lost site of true community and what was once simple they made complex and rigid again.
The ABC has set themselves as a point of mediation between man and God, supplanting again the true message of faith, hope and love. In the letter written to the Thessalonians, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy wrote “But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.” In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul also wrote “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” These things are missing in the ABC.
Repentance is the first principle of any solid foundation, yet the ABC leadership has lost site completely of the ability to repent. As a result, this has caused a major deviation from the message of faith, hope and love and has plagued the whole with pride, arrogance and untruth causing great decay. A little leaven, etc. But, this spot of leaven was actually there from the beginning and just became ever more evident as years have passed.
I remember Home, not well, but I remember going regularly for meetings. For you, this was just one meeting, occasionally; although from my recall you were usually out on your property mostly and not in the meeting. For me, we traveled frequently to many meetings weekly and this meeting in Home was just one of many. We traveled frequently to Home, Grants Pass and many other places so my father could teach.
You mention “everyone in the body is truly spirit filled”. In the letter to Timothy (2:9) it states “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His…” It is not up to me, or anyone else, to judge who belongs to God, and who doesn’t. I make no inference of such in my writings. Quite the opposite actually. The ABC has set itself as the "holder of truth" to the exclusion of others who may also hold truth. None of us holds the whole truth. It is why the true body of Christ is described as many members. None of these members relate well to the other because of their diverse roles and understanding we each have. Can the eye say to the foot....
Bruce set himself in the position as one who determines another person's capability of salvation the day he “eternally judged” me with his notepad full of “charges”. His accusation I was a “blasphemer” was a false charge intended to make me subservient to him. There is much much more to that story I have not told on my site. It involves things that could have potentially been a felony had I chosen to press charges. My site contains only a very tiny part of the whole story. The intent is not to point the finger at any one person, but to destroy the myth that the entry into God’s kingdom can only be found through subservience to the ABC. I am writing a book disclosing some other facts, but there are some facts that should never be told and I will not.
If you reread my site, you will find I have made no accusation or recommendation I am one to judge a man’s soul. That's way above my pay grade. I judge no man’s soul but I do, however, judge the outward constructs of man and, most pointedly, the actions of the entity that calls itself the “Assembly of the Body of Christ”; despite their allegation of not having a name. The ABC is a newly formed denomination born out of the Pentecostal and Assembly of God churches and the Latter Rain Revival movement as well. Anyone who desires to trace the origins, as I have, can prove that easily. There is plenty of evidence on the web alone and, if one were to pursue them, some written archives.
One must examine the fruit born from any tree to see if it is fresh and edible or decayed and inedible? We must judge every entity constructed by man by examining its fruit since that is the only way to tell how well it is rooted in truth. “Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance”. These are things that it is impossible to create a law against since they benefit and not tear down. Using this template, I compared the actions of the ABC to this fruit and find it quite lacking. That is not judging anyone's soul, that is judging the structure built by the men who helped construct this new denomination. I played a small role in the construction, and had to examine my own perspectives. It was a determination to see if the motive was to build up and edify, or tear down and dominate. Jesus had this same issue with the Pharisees of his day. There are men in power at the ABC who are no less viperous than the Pharisees.
You speak of continuing in the apostle’s doctrine. This is in Acts 2:42. These words were written to a group of Jews who remained devoted to the temple and continued to worship at the temple. This was not an improper thing to do as that is where the scrolls were maintained for all to read and learn. They also sold all their goods, and created a communal living situation, where all were equal, and they had favor with all the people because they exhibited joy and gladness in their community. They did not inflict things that were too hard to bear on one another, or create any institution or hierarchy. They did no actions which were untoward or illegal. They were Jews first, but also accepted the message about the salvation taught by the apostles. There were no printed bibles, there were no study books, there were no commentaries in those days. They went to the temple where there would be a weekly reading out of the scrolls and that was the whole source of their knowledge of God. There were perhaps some who were skilled at reading and would also go to the temple and read at other times during the week but the forty-hour work week did not exist so this was a time privilege few could afford. It was an oral tradition mostly, not one of voluminous, categorized, written proof like we have today. The ABC prides itself on much study that is wearying to the flesh but this has only brought about much arguing over words and with it a great loss of love and true community. Although I don’t recommend all construct a commune, as they did, the central focus of equity, equality and edification should be a goal, even though our lives are much less entwined. Undoubtedly they formed a commune for protection from persecution and not as a mandate from God or the apostles.
The fruit of the ABC is inedible and falls into the category of the “Works of the Flesh”. Among them, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, sedition, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling. There is a very large etcetera attached to that part of the text. You have even described such a situation in your remark’s narrative. “He tried to perform oral sex on my best friend…when he, the elder, was drunk offa his fat ass.”
You mention in your comments “So we all get in a beef with someone. All of the people have to go thru their,” LOLK AT ME, I KNOW ALL ANSWERS N , DAMMIT, IM RIGHT” B.S., ya know???”(sic) I am unclear if you were referring to me, or the people in the ABC, as being “look at me”. Doesn’t really matter though because we each usually get much less than ten decades to figure this all out anyhow. There is not a single person who knows all the answers; including me. I must cite a quotation from a wise person I grew up reading. “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” Dr. Seuss.
If that is not biblical enough, Paul also wrote to the Corinthians, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” The methods of the ABC, in seeking a most perfect interpretation of every word, does not lend itself to simplicity and leads to continual arguing over words. I have witnessed that for decades and voluntarily took part. There is a satisfaction in thinking one's interpretation is superior to all others, even if it is lacking in the simplicity of the true message.
I would encourage you to read another source of wisdom. Solomon in Ecclesiastes. To sum up Ecclesiastes, he searches the entire world for wisdom and finds the wisdom from God is simple, easily understood and not really found in multitudes of books. God is highly complex but we need not know theoretical physics or theology to understand God. God is everywhere, and in every thing, God is a God of peace. End of story. If you look in the letter written by James he stated “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” I dare say from your comments you have not really found an abundance of peace in the message and practices of the ABC.
Finally, you state; “BUT REALLY, BRO, YOU NEED TO TAKE THAT GARBAGE DWN. IT SERVES NOONE AND I DON’T LIKE SEEING GILLS NAME GET DRUG THRU THE MUD”. (SIC) This indicates the ABC’s wrong viewpoint. When I was slandered by Bruce, et. al., and told that my one truthful sentence, when taken out of context, was “blasphemy”, “unforgivable” and I was having an “eternal judgment” passed on me, there was a room full of men who just nodded in agreement. No one said anything about the “garbage” coming my way; then or after, because they just follow without questioning. This is why the people of this area were called “Brucetians” at times. I would not commit to be a “Brucetian” and I know this is the motivation Bruce had to give me the boot. There were a few that came to my defense, but they were told by Bruce, and I assume by Gilbert, they must decide if they were “in the body, or “out of the body”. That was a direct threat since most feel their salvation is contingent upon the ABC. That is an untruth.
I went through my site and looked for a place I drug Gil through the mud. I could not find any place like that, but if you would like to be specific, I will review my words. I mentioned the time spent on his survey crew in the Shasta-Trinity Alps slope staking a logging road, and also mentioned the fact Bruce and Gil made plans to declare me a blasphemer and eternally judge me. That is not my impression, it was directly stated to me by Bruce that he had talked to Gilbert and I was to be "eternally judged" at my inquisition. I will note that, before I ever put my site online, I sent the information to Gil, along with many additional facts, but received no response. The message was clear. I was a person of no value. People were called and told not to associate with me unless a trusted elder was present. Then they were told not to associate with me at all. Twice I passed by individuals from the ABC at the store and, on both occasions, the discomfort was palpable. Yet, this is not recognized as being "drug through the mud" when someone is treated so badly. That is a double standard and God is not duplicitous. When I was disowned and ex-communicated, in San Diego, by my father, a teenage girl was then sent to my door to tell me never to contact him again. Was this not being drug through the mud? When Yvonne wrote letters to the elder you referred to earlier as being inebriated he, on several occasions, showed up at my door to scream at me; and on one occasion tried to strike me; telling me I better stay away from anyone in the ABC, at Yvonne’s direction or else. Was this not being drug through the mud? I could list numerous similar incidents where I have been drug through the mud, going back to age fourteen. Yet, there is no one seeing this as being "drug through the mud". That is not the mind of Christ.
Cults; or Totalist Aberrant Christian Organizations (TACO's), such as the ABC, take on an “Animal Farm” perspective. (All pigs are equal, but some are more equal than others.) Gilbert Larson is not royalty. If his name appears as one who is instituting policies of hate and discord it is not dragging him through the mud to point out these policies are wrong, and one should not follow him down this same path. He is just as prone to error as anyone else.
There is very much more to this story than you know Brian. When I put my site online, I told no one connected with the ABC, now or previously, and only did some search engine optimization tactics to get good placement on Google and other search engines. I didn’t even tell anyone in my family. Within two days, I had individuals contacting me with thanks for bringing some clarity to the history of the ABC. I was in it from before the very beginning and know the whole story; some of it that should not be told. I can only assume you feel I dragged Gilbert through the mud because he is now the leader of the denomination. To throw mud at the denomination is perceived as throwing mud at Gilbert Larson personally. I do not mean my words to diminish any specific individual, including Bruce Leonard, David North, Gilbert Larson, etc. but my words on this site are an indictment of the whole built by them and other persons. It was years prior to these men being in power the ABC set off in the wrong direction. The path deviation at the beginning seemed small, but years of deviation have brought the ABC to a point far from the tenets Jesus taught. I can declare when Andy Atwell asked to meet me at the IHOP, it was under false pretenses. He couched the invitation to the meeting as one to discuss another matter and that was deceptive, untrue and a deliberate lie. The true plan was to lie in wait for me secretly, intending to ambush and destroy. Is this really the mind of Christ to live in such untruth? I don't believe so.
I include here a link for information on TACO’s as this scenario plays out every day, in many places, all around the world. It is not just an ABC problem. It is what it refers to in Paul’s letter to Timothy as deceptive teachings, doctrines of demons, lies and hypocrisy and I want no part of that.
I wish you well.
