Racist GARBAGE!

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  REGARDING           Re: Racist GARBAGE!

>>Let me summon all the grace I can and ask you a question
>>that is not retorical.  ...if I stand nest to one of my Spiritual
>>brothers and we have the same color of eyes BUT a different
>>color of SKIN, WHY ALL OF A SUDDEN IS HE A 
>>DIFFERENT KIND THAN I?  Who got to pick skin color 
>>anyway?

>        I can appreciate the difficulty you are having with "staying 
>civil" Pentecost has been ravaged by prejudice and racism, and 
>it's a crime against the body of Christ.

  I agree that racism is a "bad thing" and stand w/both of you brothers
on this issue.  I think this is an issue where we must remain civil, though, 
or we risk reducing our reaction to the level of a "Ricki Lake" show.  The 
shouting is completely unnecessary, especially in this case, as the 
"offending" brother stated his case calmly and with scripture (errantly), and 
invited questioning at the end (if I remember correctly).

  I think that the gentleness spoken of  II Tim 2:24 ("And the servant of the 
Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,") was
appropriate here.  I don't believe (from my knowledge) that the brother we
were dealing with was some unregenerate, beyond-the-point-of-reasonable
discussion individual, indeed, it didn't appear that he had the chance to 
display any of that, so I must assume he's reasonable.

  In all fairness, I believe the brother who was first upset has apologized. 
So 
please do feel I'm "dog piling."  I have a more generic purpose in citing
this particular incident and I hope that will become clear soon.

  Also don't misunderstand me to believe that there aren't times to be 
strong with the word.  I'm not of the "let's get along regardless of the
doctrine and never offend anyone" school.  It's just my prayerfully
considered opinion that there's been way too much strife in this list as 
of the last three weeks and it's been painful to watch.

A little background, if I may:  I got married on 1/11/97 (Yay!) and didn't
get back from my honeymoon until 1/19.  I had 100's of e-mail messages,
including H-F, and I took my virtual rake and spent some time clearing all
e-mail other than H-F.  That took a couple of days, at least.  I then had 
a dozen or more H-F digests to peruse, with more coming in as I read.

  This is all to say that I had the opportunity to see the development of
all of the discussions and to see their tones.  Also, I could see over the
space
of a week, or so, the entire spirit and direction of the list.  This may be
presumptuous of me, but I think it bears saying: the list is far too 
unrighteously contentious and I think I see the root of it.  

  This list was running fine for quite some time (for as long as I'd been a
member).  The most heat I perceived was pretty mild and there was room 
for folks to "agree to disagree" even though some substantial issues
have been discussed.

  However, when this whole WoF debate got started, we were introduced 
to a divisive and contentious spirit.  The particular individual
who got it going was Jesus name, is no longer Jesus name, and for all
intents and purposes, preached a prosperity/"faith is a force"-type 
theology.  Tempers ran high and stayed there for a time.  Even though it 
would appear that he's cooled his rhetoric, I think the spirit has remained,
as evidenced by reactions to a number of issues, racism included.

  So, I see this situation with the brother as an almost direct parallel with
the Corinthian church described in I Cor 11, where Paul said, "18: For 
first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be 
divisions among you; and I partly believe it.  19: For there must be also 
heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest 
among you."  Paul is saying there that there are disagreements precisely to 
show what is right.  We have the same case here: a brother is saying 
something that is not shown in scripture (racism) and we have an
opportunity to help him in correcting him lovingly.

  However, we can't, due to the spirit of strife and contention that has
been sown by the apologist for the heretical WoF doctrine.  My 
goodness!  The heresy is so clear that the person who's propogating 
the WoF theology can't admit that the leading men of their movement 
speak heresy.  Everything is contextualized and nothing can be 
examined on its face.

  Bretheren, why do we continue to contend w/this heresy w/this 
person?  It has gone beyond its worth to do so (IMO).  This person 
knew the truth and abandoned it, and significant time has been 
devoted to lovingly, and sternly, reminding him of his errors.  He 
has resisted all of our spiritual life vests, and indeed, chided us for 
our throwing techniques.  I ask sincerely, can we not judge this 
situation as in Mark 7:6? ("Give not that which is holy unto the 
dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample 
them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.")  He doesn't 
want any part of the true doctrine.  I think this list is being 
rended...Wot say ye?

  I say this because it seems to me that before we get a righteous 
spirit back into this list, we need to purge all of the leaven contained
therein and really consecrate this list toward its original purpose.  
Perhaps we need to be like Abraham and Lot in Gen 13 and just go
our separate ways from this WoF individual.  Kick him off the list?
No, not my call, but how about not even debating this WoF issue w/him, 
or anything else that is essential to the "Jesus name theology"? (for lack
of a better way to express it).  At the minimum that will lower the
bile (New World Dict: bitterness of spirit) factor on the list a few notches. 

We can then concentrate our efforts on righteously contending for the 
faith and attempting godly debate on other matters.

  Believe it or not, I'm dying to read one of those posts that ends
in "tee hee."  That's how depressing this whole episode has been.

  I expect to roundly criticised by the WoF member, perhaps
caustically so, but I'm not going to respond one bit to him,
regardless of the consequences.  I sincerely pray that no-one
feels that I've criticised them, or held them up to contempt in any
way shape or form.  I'm just putting this out there in an attempt
to regain the wonderful and godly resource I've come to enjoy
and cherish.  If I have hurt someone's feelings or been presumtuous,
please let me know and I will endeavor to make right with each and
every individual  who feels wronged. 

  I'm pretty nervous about submitting this for your approval because
I sincerely do not seek to harm anyone about this.

I pray in His name,
Brother Steven