May 20, 2008
Backwards Glance
Last weekend at a college graduation party I met up with an old preacher friend who I’ve not seen for years. We discussed church politics and the recent church plants in the area and he asked, “So then, how are things going at the mother church?” Actually, I haven’t a clue. And what I find really surprising is that I don’t have a huge case of Lot’s-wife-itis urging me to look back over my shoulder and see what’s happening. I’ll admit that for the sake of the church family I considered trying to keep one foot in each congregation. But that was before the Lord and I had the following conversation, “…‘I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.’ Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:61-62 NIV)
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Gail;
-----I poured myself into trying to convince the Bride’s maids at the mother church to actually use the Groom’s Instructions in assisting the Bride’s preparations. I know a lot of people thought I was just being a busy-body. Other’s thought I was trying to make the Bride like I wanted Her. One, in particular, tried to convince Her that I was being spiteful because I was not selected as one of the Bride’s maids. Even the little preacher said of me on June 22, 2006, “You twist Scripture like Satan himself…I’ve never seen a humble bone in your body, brother.” I suppose he could be right. Possibly, I can be misreading the Scriptures entirely, leading myself to believe the love for your brethren is to please them for their edification (Rom 15:2), to do good to all men (Gal 6:10), and to show no partiality in so doing (James 2:9). I may be wrong about the simple definition of love being the desire, the ambition, the effort to do what is good, right, beneficial, and pleasing to the one being loved. I may be twisting logic, as well, when I am convinced that in order to love another properly you must show full consideration to who and what that other person is, and respond to it accordingly. Maybe that is why the Groom’s Instructions tell us to acknowledge one another. And I must have twisted my perception of reality when noticing the Bride’s maids of the mother church telling the Bride that if She did not like the way they were doing things at this wedding procession, She could go to the one down the street where She might be happier. I would be still trying to square these issues with the Word if all the corners were not so noticeably, perfectly ninety degrees. But again, I only twist Scripture like Satan himself.
-----I have heard from three different sources that the little preacher of the mother church has told some that She will need to loose down to two hundred members before She will begin growing again. Now, maybe I am twisting Scripture more, but I must presume he either has determined to clean out all the liars, thieves, drunkards, and fornicators from among Her, or he understands that by holding tight to the demands made of the Bride by the Bride’s maids, She can be broken into pieces, leaving him with the part of Her he likes. Since I have never seen any inquisition against debauchery in process there, then I can only presume the latter to be the case. And, since I have seen the Bride’s maids promote and insist upon debatable matters believed by some while maintaining a denial against what others believe (Rom 14:5, 13, 19, 22, and Mal 2:9) I am convinced the latter is the case. Maybe I twist I Corinthians 1:10, but what is happening at the mother church certainly appears to be division promoted by the Bride’s maids themselves.
-----Since Jesus Christ prayed to His Father for unity in the Bride, it breaks my heart to see the Bride’s maids continuing to lead Her into division. Love is not a mere word. I desire the people there to be encouraged and edified in the truth about love: how it honors and devotes (Rom 10:12), how it is patient and kind (I Cor 13:4), how it does not seek its own ways (I Cor 13:5), but looks also to the interests of others (Phil 2:4), accepting one another (I Cor 15:7), agreeing with one another (I Cor 1:10), submitting to one another (Eph 5:21), rather than domineering over others (I Pet 5:3). I desire the Bride’s maids to adorn the Bride in the Instructions of the Groom, being sensitive to what pleases Her where the Groom has given Her freedom, not trying to enslave Her again to their own pleasures.
-----In as much as the Bride’s maids of the mother church are continuing to enslave Her for the fulfillment of their own religious convictions, my heart still breaks for Her. I can not stop looking back. Unlike Sodom and Gomorrah, She is His; She is loved. And -maybe spoken from no humble bone in my body - the Groom must be getting a bit upset with Her Bride’s maids. I also love them and fear for them. I thank Him for His patience. And I continue to not just look back, but also to call back, hoping the Bride’s maids will leave the partisanship they have constructed. There is nothing wrong with hope and prayer.
Love,
Steve Corey
P.S. Am I missing something? Are these new churches in “the catacombs” really plants, or pieces knocked off the Bride? There is a difference. And when speaking the truth in love, noting that difference may have a beneficial effect upon the fiery prospects for those who knocked the pieces off, even if that be me, at least in part.
Steve,
It probably depends on who you talk to whether they view themselves as plants or knocked off pieces. I will tell you I see people putting down roots!
Gail
Gail;
-----Maybe I am getting mixed up in technicalities, but I have always understood a plant to be a number of chosen members of the mother church sent out by the mother church to start new churches. The history of these two new bodies never did strike me as any kind of "sending out." That is really not a difference lending itself to perspective such that one's opinion might be "sent out" while another's might be "cast or gone out." It really is a factual thing. And maybe the issue should have no relevance. But the carpet is becoming quite hilly having had so much swept under it. I fear for the future prospect of integrity in the church when we begin reshaping the simple truth by using terms of greatly useful flexibility, such as "plant" for a situation that could be the opposite. Maybe too, I should not have grown up having learned a high regard for history - you know, mistakes, repetition, and all that.
-----At any rate, I do agree with you. Roots being put down do make trees. Forgiveness of what rests in the past carries nourishment. and respect for the truth maintains life in what lies ahead.
Steve Corey
I wonder if we could come up with a new definition: an unsanctioned plant. The new churches are certainly not endorsed by the mother church. Rather than having a focus on 'leaving' the mother church, it seems to me that folks just decided to 'come' together and plant themselves. Attendance in one of the new churches continues to grow and in week five there were 124 people. Considerably more than just saplings. Gail
Gail;
-----"Unsanctioned plant." I think you have struck upon something. We all know the Holy Spirit has definitely sanctioned and planted your church, the joy and love you have report there are evidences. But the former head elder of the mother church referred to the event as an attack of Satan. Uhh. Ho-my. I am dropping all effort to connect dots of the matter.
-----The more I think about it, now, the more I am beginning to warm up to your intial reference to "plants." "Holy Spirit plants." But not mother church plants. "Mother church non-sanctioned plants."
-----I love the Lord so much because of His mercy. We all get in His way somehow. I do things as significantly wrong as mother church does. I don't try to fool myself about any holiness from my effort. And He is joyfully, expectantly waiting for all of us goof ups. God bless those guys at mother church. And God bless you guys at both of His new plants.
Love,
Steve Corey
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