Hey Dewey, old buddy from WCG.
We have exchanged a few letters and you have asked me to write more often and that is good. I have been reluctant to respond too quickly because of what I have seen in some of the letters. Then I would read a letter from another member of the forum and they had already said what I planned to write. So, I guess I'm just slow in my old age. (smile) I'm sorry that I haven't taken the time to write more carefully and to avoid judging unfairly, but that requires a lot of effort and some days I'm just too lazy. So, let me try again with proper love and care.
As you may recall, I used to be in WCG and over the years there were lots of good times and a few bad times.
One of the things we learned was that IF we loved God we would send our tithes to "headquarters' so that the ministry could spend "God's money" where it would do the most good. (Jet planes and crystal and gold presents for heads of state like the President of Egypt and stuff like that)
We ordinary members were not smart enough to decide where to send tithes or who to help. The message was that once we wrote the check and put it in the mail, that our obligation was complete. It was then up to God to get the money to the best place to accomplish the work of God on earth at the end time. Do you recall that message? It was error.
Then I studied the 24 Bible lessons which were interpreted for me by HWA that taught us that God's government was from the top down. You remember, God the Father, to Jesus the son, to the Pastor General, to the evangelist and then to the local pastor, to the husband and from me to the wife who was to keep silent in the church. All sounds pretty good, except that I made the mistake of marrying my wife DORIS, who didn't understand it that way. Ha ha. She listened to a few dozen sermons and read the literature that I gave her and tested her on and she discovered that Government from the top down meant, "from God directly to BOTH of us". That's right, no intercessor priest person other than Jesus Messiah who is our anointed Lord AND our loving ELDER brother. Well that was the beginning of the end for my authority. Not my responsibility, just my dictatorial authority. It took a few more years, but eventually God opened my mind and my heart to see that God was using my wife, this pretty little empty headed girl to teach ME a lesson that I would never forget. That lesson is; Listen before you speak. Listen a lot!
Now, I remember that you wrote to me about the end of 2007 and asked me to write back since you were applying for membership to the forum. I thought that was a great opportunity for both of us since we had come from similar backgrounds and were both coming out of WCG. Is that still the case? Are we both coming out of WCG or out of Babylon which means confusion? If so, then we both need to listen more than we speak. Me most of all.
Now I have been studying the Bible Truths web site with my wife for three years and I have learned quite a bit. However, everyday that I read letters from the "newbies" on the forum and try to formulate a response, I once again realize how ignorant I truly am and how much more I need to study and pray and meditate.
So, because God is showing me my limitations, I am careful to listen and learn about 100 times more than I speak and I am aware that NONE of the member of the forum see themselves as teachers or experts on God's will. They all, we all, are students and beginners, working together to present ourselves to God in full humility, realizing how much more we need to learn and how much we need one another.
With all the above in mind, may I suggest that we plan to limit our speaking and writing to just sharing our feelings and our limited understanding in brotherly love and leaving the teaching to Ray Smith and the correcting to God through Christ's spirit, who knows our hearts better than anyone of us ever could.
Thank you for your attention and please write when time permits.
Warm regards, Bob