Larry Pile’s Insight on “GCx” Teaching & Practices

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[Janet Easson Martin]

Though Larry Pile has passed away, his words in Marching to Zion still very insightfully speak volumes to the erroneous and unhealthy teachings and practices of GCx Chuches. Though these words were written before most of us were part of the group they revealed what we, too, observed decades later. Sadly, these harmful core principles are still pretty evident in “GCx” founded churches; some reported even as late as this year.

GCx Leadership most likely presented a deceptive picture of their churches and leadership, as has been witnessed hundreds of times in the past by former members, and both Larry Pile and Ronald Enroth were persuaded to make public statements of GCx’s repentance and reform. Here are the links to the history of GCx’s ongoing deception:


Colliding with Deceptive & Dismissive Leadership in GCx Churches
http://forum.gcmwarning.com/jim-mccotter-gc-history/colliding-with-deceptive-and-abusive-leadership-in-gcx-churches/

GCx Leaders Unrepentant
http://forum.gcmwarning.com/jim-mccotter-gc-history/gcx-leaders-unrepentant/



From Marching to Zion:


... One question that immediately arises in connection with this is: how should we gauge what "the most" is? By the number of professions of faith in Christ? By the number of persevering disciples that are made? Or by something less tangible, less readily measured, such as helping believers to experience a total and mature spiritual life, or preparing the hearts of unbelievers to be won by someone else? The concept that prevails in the Blitz assemblies with which I am familiar does not seem to leave room for that last gauge of fruitfulness...

... Concerning laborers, it's a remarkable (and overlooked) fact that Jesus, in speaking to the disciples about the need for the harvest, did not tell them to evangelize for the purpose of raising up laborers, but to pray for laborers, i.e., to ask and believe Him to raise them up, rather than to expend a lot of human energy in the endeavor. And when the disciples went out, they went out "among the villages, preaching and healing everywhere" (Luke 9:6) -- they didn't look for something they could call "the most accessible labor pool"! ...

... It was the Lord who raised up the laborers. The "most accessible labor pool" theory of evangelism strikes me as being extremely utilitarian (as Franky Schaeffer would say)--it indicates more of a desire to see people saved for what they can produce than for who they are or because of their intrinsic worth as creatures in God's image. ...

This utilitarian view of things carries over into "discipleship." Time is spent teaching or helping a person only so long as he responds positively to instructions and conforms to the discipler's expectation of what he ought to be a doing--which primarily means he should get involved in the evangelistic effort on the campus. The biblical injunction to help the weak and encourage the fainthearted (1 Th. 5:14) seems to be interpreted to mean that the weak and fainthearted are such because they're not evangelizing (at all or enough) and that all their problems would be solved by active involvement in the evangelization program...

Spiritual growth takes time--much more time than the Blitz is normally prepared to grant. New and immature believers are force-fed and pushed and pulled in an attempt to make reproducing laborers out of them at an early age. Unfortunately this does not usually work--all this effort manages to produce is a bunch of deformed and stunted spiritual children full of zeal without knowledge because they haven't been allowed to grow by the working of the Holy Spirit within them. ...

- Larry Pile,   1978

[Scarred_For_Life]

When did Larry pass away?  I had face-to-face meetings with him back in the 90's.  I popped on here because yesterday on Mothers Day my daughter told us she was reading the new book by Jinger Dugger.  I laughed at first until she asked if we had ever heard of this guy named Bill Gothard before?  I'll just start with that statement and leave it at that as I have not been on this forum in years but got a whack in the gut of ptsd upon hearing that name, alone.  Which of course caused me to see what Jim McCotter might be up to nowadays.  Amazingly he is posting on Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/JimMcCotter. 

[Janet Easson Martin]

Welcome back, Scarred_For_Life!  So sorry about your PTSD. Here is a link on here to Larry Pile’s passing away:

  http://forum.gcmwarning.com/ask-larry-pile/larry-pile-passed-away/msg23694/#msg23694


Many of us on here can relate to what you experienced with PTSD or Complex Trauma from things associated with painfully legalistic or aberrant Christianity such GCx’s or Bill Gothard’s teachings. I personally experienced it watching the Duggar “Reality” Show. Reminded me too much of GCx. Here is a discussion on here (under McCotter Poison) related to the Duggars also:

Previously, we discussed traumatic child rearing that McCotter practiced and taught; including through the real stories of some children growing up in the church group he founded. Sadly, some similarities may have been common to the Duggar family, as are now being exposed.

When the Duggar’s began their “Reality” Show Back in 2008, I could hardly stand to watch it. It definitely triggered me. It was too much like some of the families in GCx. Honestly, those families depressed me. Something was flat about them. They were too perfect. There was a lot of pretension in public, and apparently a lot of pressure in private. Reading the stories of children who suffered under unhealthy and even abusive control makes me so sad for them. It actually seemed sad back then just observing them in public.
-Janet

Unlike you, Janet, I didn't initially pick up on the dysfunction back when I first watched the show. I thought they seemed like a wholesome, if unusual, family. The thing that opened my eyes was an episode where everyone was up on the platform at some kind of church, when one of the little boys fell through some kind of trap door in the flooring. Instead of rushing to help him, the whole family whipped out their phones to record him lying down there, scared and in pain. Presumably they did it to get footage for the show. I could no longer watch the show after that.

In my opinion the Duggar parents made an enormous mistake when they acted as if Josh's abuse of his sisters were "just" an act of illicit sex. Even putting aside the ages of the girls (just for the sake of argument), abusing a victim who is asleep and unaware of the abuse--and therefore unable to either object or consent--is a whole different category of evil. Biblically speaking, all sex outside of marriage is a sin, but sexually predatory behavior is not the same dynamic as consensual nonmarital sex. It's a profoundly serious issue that a few weeks of work camp (the Duggars' solution) can't fix. What a genuine tragedy it was for Josh, that his parents didn't seek expert professional help for him when he first told them about the problem.
-Huldah