This is in response to many of the bloggers posting here on this site and to those who try to silence them.Let the People Speak!
Often, it seems God applies the balm of his word to a wound or difficulty, precisely at the point where the trouble is occurring in our lives. This may include claiming by faith an application of scripture other than the specific original intention, though it is in line with scripture as a whole. For instance in Isaiah 43:19b it says “I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Although it seems God is telling the Israelites he will rescue them from Babylon by a way they have not known, where it appears hopeless & impossible, we can apply it to our own deserts and wastelands.
As I read Isaiah 41:1 I felt God was addressing those “Christian" groups, and specifically GCx, who are independent and isolated as “islands” and in constant defense of their harmful ways.
“Be silent before me, you islands!
Let the nations renew their strength!
Let them come forward and speak..."
I felt perhaps these are the church groups who have isolated themselves from the rest of the body of Christ, even though they profess that they do not. Most of us are familiar with “christian” groups like this. No one who would disturb their traditions is allowed in; and no one who wants to be accepted by them is allowed out. We have an island near us that has been so isolated (by water) that some of the people still speak a dialect that remains from Elizabethan English. There are some groups with similar characteristics that pride themselves on their “godliness” and separatism. Their methods of godliness are actually condemned by the Word of God, but they are unfortunately blind to this.
Most practice some form of shunning to those speak up or decide to leave their group. This is man’s way of keeping their group in existence. And, of course, they offer a “better” way to bid people to join with them.
They go so far as to publicly pronounce judgments on others who are not as "conforming to the Bible" as they are. These groups seem to not only isolate themselves from the general body of Christ, but in the process isolate themselves from the Head of the Body which is Christ. I don’t mean they are no longer saved. I mean they no longer follow Christ’s lead, but their own man-made traditions. They have actually turned away from their Savior’s directing them, to treasured idols directing them, idols of their own making.
But the deceiver has blinded them, and they cannot see this.Another characteristic is that those who are part of their group are
not allowed to share their true heart, or follow God’s individual desires for them unless they fit into the goals of the group. They must conform or be looked down upon. They definitely cannot question the validity of the group’s traditions. And so like the animal that falls into the pit on the Sabbath, they are left alone to suffer. After all, the RULES are greater than the men they are supposed to help. These Rules make up their idol which they serve. The people become weary, burdened and depressed, but are afraid to be labeled “ungodly”, and so they suffer under the weight of the idol in SILENCE!
Who will help them?
These beloved people need a place to SPEAK, to have their voice heard; to have their heart listened to. The GCx Forum Warning website is one place.
Although, even there, the GCx defenders try to HUSH them.I felt reading this passage that God was rebuking Gcx to ‘Be Quiet’ and ‘Let the people come forward and SPEAK’. The verbalizing of abuse is the first step to HEALING: having a voice and relieving the pain, receiving help, and renewing one’s strength. This may not be the specific original intention of this scripture, but I felt it was APPLICABLE to the
bold intimidation by GCx in attempt to “mute” testimony of its abusive false dogma and practices taught as “truth” from scripture.There is an appropriate but horrifying film depiction of what captive manipulation and abusive doctrine by leaders over a group of people produces. The devastation shown may seem farfetched, but it is probably a realistic analogy to the cruel outcome of such methods. It paints the effects of oppressing, humiliating, and terrorizing followers into submission. It is not a movie that children should watch. I would even advise others not to watch it alone but with a trusted friend or group. Its content is very heavy. It would be very useful to discuss it in a group afterward to process all that’s going on. You can get it from NETFLIX. It is entitled “The Village”.
