Read about Gabriel
Reed’s reasons for leaving the International Christian Churches
(ICC)/Sold Out Discipling Movement – because
we found the doctrine to not be sound or healthy for true Christians.
Some noteworthy conclusions by Reed:
Gabriel Reed,
Living in The Book of Acts,
Monday, April 25, 2016 Some noteworthy conclusions by Reed:
It is happening again. The thing you fear the most is happening again. Our movement is crashing. There is no money and people are leaving faster than are being baptized
To Every Other Disciple in the ICC Study these things out. Ask the questions. If it feels weird, it is because it is weird. You have the Holy Spirit, learn to trust it. The fact is the leaders need you more than you need the leaders. They need your money, your evangelism, your friends, your family, and your time. They [sic]only they have the authority you give them.
Remember, I am not from the Old Movement. I was trained by the LA church. I was appointed by the LA church. And I was sent out by the LA church. Since I’ve left they’ve done exactly what I said they would. They’ve already began to soil my name with sin that they helped cover up. They are using manipulation and deceit to win the disciples after themselves. Soon will come a letter about marking and disfellowshipment (again) In reality, that’s all they can do. They cannot answer anything I am saying because they know its true. All they can say is that I’m evil and to control who talks to me on Facebook. They fear the people thinking for themselves. It’s too dangerous. They must protect themselves at any cost.
This is what they do. They show up and you show up guarded and with questions. They tell you how awful it was that someone left the church. I've been on the phone with TK, "When I disfellowship a guy, I make the church feel like I'm sad. That's the most important thing bro. The church must believe that you're actually sad" This is what he said to me when other people left the church in Eugene. They tell you how sad it is that Satan got to that person. Then before you realize it, they're giving you an inspirational lesson about how we need to save the world. You laugh and get excited and by the end of it you're more fired up to give them more of your time and money than you ever had. And then you treat the person who left as if they had a disease. A week ago, this person was your best friend in The Kingdom. You were going to leave the Lord and they helped you keep your faith. And now they may or may not be a disciple. Then you with the leaders. They hang out with you, buy you lunch and you feel so loved. You're so enamored with their spirituality. This person could never have an evil bone in their body. After all the other guy left. (By the way, can someone explain the least hurtful way to leave the ICC? There isn't one because it's the only true church out there right?) And just like that all the questions and suspicions you have are gone. This is how we're trained in LA.
But the reality is the ICC will cease to exist in less than 10 years. It’s crashing. It has no money and all the older mature disciples are leaving. Leaving only naïve, young campus students who they will dangle leadership in front of their faces so long that that’s all the young people care about anymore.
Gabriel Reed, Living in The Book of Acts, Monday, April 25, 2016
1 comment:
Beloved saints in the Stone-Campbell Movement,
At present I'm engaged in a 20-week mentoring commitment with the author of ONE: Unfolding God's Eternal Purpose from House to House. This book is available for free viewing online at www.onebody.life. Your brother in Christ Jon Zens introduced me to the author of this book, namely being Henry Hon, via the internet in late November last year.
The roots of my own faith are within the Stone-Campbell heritage of the nineteenth century. Around two years before I became rather active in the faith I initially had been baptised at a very traditional Church of Christ (CoC) beforehand. In fact, when I encountered this small group of believers I actually still remember someone mentioning: 'We just want to be the church that you can find in the Bible.' Yet two years later I spent some three to four years over a stretch of ten years or so in the International Church of Christ (ICoC). Yes, I dropped out three to four times in that space of time!
In fact, I had been rebaptised at the ICoC on two separate occasions even afterwards. Based on what I'd seen for many years to date now, I'd merely submitted to the group norm that the leadership of the group placed on me - just like they had done with all and sundry whom they encountered. In the end, I booked a flight to the US to thoroughly deal with the indoctrination I'd spiritually ingested in the ICoC and spent some significantly meaningful days of interaction with an experienced exit counsellor, but specifically one experienced with clients from that group.
In some sense, although I'd already left the group and its environment, I deeply desired to make certain that the group norm and its ideology had left me.
A while later I graduated with honours from a Church of Christ-affiliated Bible college in Athens, Greece. The CoC practises a regulative principle form of worship and uses a textually-centred approach and philosophy for interpreting the text in the Bible. A while ago I came across a certain Rick Atchley sharing a ten-minute slippery slope critique on video depicting a 150-year plus historical narrative of the Stone-Campbell Movement:
https://youtu.be/dWfAAYuNqCs
Eventually I started travelling on a journey away from a CoC mindset and framework towards a more Christ-centred approach towards faith and the practising of it. That came predominantly through, amongst other things, meeting other CoC renegades who also challenged their former mindset and reading materials from several other writers from an inner life, organic expression and anabaptist heritage.
Over the last few years I've read materials and listened to a number of messages by John Bevere, Wayne Jacobsen, Leonard Sweet, David Flowers, Gene Edwards, Gregory Boyd, Jon Zens and Frank Viola - and maybe a few others. Jon Zens is the predominant one who has had a lot of influence on me for unanimously following Christ and Him alone! In fact, I've never actually met any these aforementioned brothers in Christ before, yet Christ has been unanimously unveiled to me through many of them!
A few months back Jon also referred me to a link of some 16 or 17 online videos he recently uploaded:
https://youtu.be/mBKbRqNm9MY
Love in Christ,
Philip;-)
Skype: philipvdijk
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipvdijk/
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