I was talking with someone today who visited the Assembly once in 1992 with her husband and children. Once, mind you. And that was a long time ago. They never came back, because, as she says, “I just couldn’t make the commitment to raise my children that way. It was too hard.” She felt for [...]
Archive for the ‘Legalism vs grace’ Category
Does discipline really produce godly character…?
Posted in Assembly kids, Family, Grace, Legalism vs grace, Parenting, spiritual abuse, The Assembly experience, tagged Assembly kids, children of bible-based cults, Family, growth, Parenting, spiritual abuse on December 20, 2010 | 1 Comment »
So what do we still have to do??
Posted in Justification, Legalism vs grace, Love God, Sanctification, Works-based Christianity, tagged Justification, legalism versus grace, Love God, Sanctification on November 18, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Those of us coming out of performance-based Christian systems are happy to have escaped the pressure of all the stuff you had to do to be “spiritual”. So glad that’s behind us. But there is still a depressing anxiety – “I feel that I was a better Christian when I was doing all that stuff. [...]
Does this resonate….?
Posted in Legalism vs grace, Media, Spiritual betrayal, tagged legalism versus grace, Spiritual betrayal on August 13, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Donna at “Stop Spiritual Abuse” posted this. (It’s really short, about 2 minutes.) I wonder if it resonates with you? It doesn’t with me, so much, but I can see how it might with some folks. In the Assembly I never “overcame” enough to get to this point. But maybe that was just me? Or [...]
Quote on spiritual freedom…..
Posted in Legalism vs grace, spiritual abuse, tagged legalism versus grace, spiritual abuse on May 5, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Here is a great quote on the sweetness of spiritual freedom from Chuck Swindoll, Grace Awakening. In response to those like Betty G. who would retort, “You just don’t want to be subject to the Lord and go the way of the cross,” I would reply that being obedient to Christ is not the same [...]
We cannot fail….
Posted in Devotional, Higher life, Joe Sperling devotional, Legalism vs grace, Spiritual abuse devotion, Works-based Christianity, tagged "Higher Life" teaching, Devotional, Joe Sperling, Spiritual abuse devotion on April 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Joe Sperling shared a couple of encouraging posts this month on the Assembly board that are especially good for those of us who still have the lovely combo of BG and GG’s messages in our subconscious: GG – “Strive harder or you’re going to lose out eternally “, (we are going to make it, George, [...]
“We shall see Him as He is!”
Posted in Assembly kids, Devotional, Grace, Legalism vs grace, spiritual abuse, Spiritual abuse devotion, The Assembly experience, The love of God, Works-based Christianity, tagged children of bible-based cults, Devotional, Geftakys Assembly, growth, legalism versus grace, spiritual abuse, Spiritual abuse devotion on February 15, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The Internet Monk describes pretty well the prevailing concern of legalistic pastors over the dangers of ‘cheap grace’ (here, here and here). Betty G. once said to me, “If there weren’t the possibility of losing out on the inheritance, what would be the motivation for sanctification?” This was a rhetorical question – the obvious answer [...]
It’s not about me….
Posted in Devotional, Faith, Grace, Legalism vs grace, Spiritual abuse devotion, The love of God, Works-based Christianity, tagged Devotional, Faith, growth, Legalism vs grace, love of God, Spiritual abuse devotion on February 2, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Michael Spencer’s posts on grace (here, here and here) gave me an “aha!” moment about what was off-base, spiritually speaking, in the Geftakys Assembly, and other legalistic groups. That kind of perfectionistic performance-based teaching invokes a schema that is all about the individual. Do I have the right attitude – “Are you rejoicing, sister?” Am [...]
