I find it interesting that Gary would speak of dealing with our mistrust of God. I would suggest that TLWF is actually the cause of that mistrust. When another human takes the place of God, of course there are going to be problems. In hindsight, I would also suggest that those that want to play God to others, as well as those who give up personal responsibility and hand over their lives to others, have skin in the game. At times I have wished I could say that someone put a gun to my head and made me follow their “words from God” – it just didn’t happen. I am now more aware of the conscious manipulation techniques used by the leadership. It was very deceitful. Carefully following the teachings of Jesus would have saved a lot of grief in my case.
The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Jesus came that we would have life. When you witness the damage, it becomes easier to see why Jesus said to examine the fruit. Unfortunately, many of those involved in TLWF have not been exposed to good fruit, so there is nothing to compare their lives with. They think that when their lives are falling to pieces, it’s God’s way of disciplining them for their good. Of course He disciplines us – but it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness, not years of counseling to clean up the mess.
This mistrust of God reminds me of the “word” of resurrection life for John. If you surrender your life to me, John, and then you, will escape death. When it didn’t happen, the sons were responsible because of their lack of obedience – not those who came up with a false word. Either it never was a word in the first place and people were not speaking the truth, or God can’t be trusted. Real words from God do not return to Him void without accomplishing what He spoke – that’s how you can tell if they were a word from God - they come to pass. God’s will is not dependent on getting fallible humans to run faster on the treadmill before He moves. God doesn’t love us because we are good, but because He is good. Just because we were allowed to live loosely with other man-made rules like not smoking and drinking, doesn’t mean we were not manipulated by our religious natures to perform in order to get God to do what we want.
All of these “words” that have nothing to do with what Jesus taught, are just a means to control others in everyday life matters. Buying the red car or the green car does not have eternal consequences – it’s just a matter of personal preference. For most people, it doesn’t take very long to realize these “words” are not God’s truth – there are nothing more than the opinions of man. Someone having a good feeling about something does not make it a word from God. Many of us have been on both sides of this equation. The fruit of it is that we mistrust God when it doesn’t work out. I honestly thought TLWF was God, in spite of all the problems – I just thought God was screwed up. God is faithful 100% of the time and never makes mistakes. The more you walk with Him, the more you trust Him. What you learn to mistrust are those who want to take His place – typically to fleece you in some way.
The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Jesus came that we would have life. When you witness the damage, it becomes easier to see why Jesus said to examine the fruit. Unfortunately, many of those involved in TLWF have not been exposed to good fruit, so there is nothing to compare their lives with. They think that when their lives are falling to pieces, it’s God’s way of disciplining them for their good. Of course He disciplines us – but it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness, not years of counseling to clean up the mess.
This mistrust of God reminds me of the “word” of resurrection life for John. If you surrender your life to me, John, and then you, will escape death. When it didn’t happen, the sons were responsible because of their lack of obedience – not those who came up with a false word. Either it never was a word in the first place and people were not speaking the truth, or God can’t be trusted. Real words from God do not return to Him void without accomplishing what He spoke – that’s how you can tell if they were a word from God - they come to pass. God’s will is not dependent on getting fallible humans to run faster on the treadmill before He moves. God doesn’t love us because we are good, but because He is good. Just because we were allowed to live loosely with other man-made rules like not smoking and drinking, doesn’t mean we were not manipulated by our religious natures to perform in order to get God to do what we want.
All of these “words” that have nothing to do with what Jesus taught, are just a means to control others in everyday life matters. Buying the red car or the green car does not have eternal consequences – it’s just a matter of personal preference. For most people, it doesn’t take very long to realize these “words” are not God’s truth – there are nothing more than the opinions of man. Someone having a good feeling about something does not make it a word from God. Many of us have been on both sides of this equation. The fruit of it is that we mistrust God when it doesn’t work out. I honestly thought TLWF was God, in spite of all the problems – I just thought God was screwed up. God is faithful 100% of the time and never makes mistakes. The more you walk with Him, the more you trust Him. What you learn to mistrust are those who want to take His place – typically to fleece you in some way.