A comment was made on a previous thread about how the church has always claimed that no one could join the church unless God had called them. The problem then arose, did a minister ever have the right to determine who was in and who was left out? Potential members had to jump through all kinds of hoops in order to impress ministers that they were "called." From reading Mystery of the Ages, countless booklets, and a grand litany of does and don'ts, potential members needed to jump through a myriad of man-made and totally useless things to do.
The COG loved to mock the Mason's for all steps they needed to climb in order to reach the top, while the church required the same amount of nonsense for members to become enlightened and part of God's privileged "called-out" ones. Then at that point, the church began to instill the fear into members that they could never leave the church and if they did they would lose their salvation. What utter nonsense!
LCG Expositor has left a new comment on "Doug Winnail: God Is Watching You!":
LCG's practice of secret meetings stems from the old practice of WCG, where they tried to position themselves as an elite, sacred group. "We are the only ones who know the truth. The only ones God is working with on this entire planet. You can't just make yourself a member; God has to put you in. And we determine whether He is doing that. And once you are in this secret, elite group, it is so special you'll never want to leave, even if there is some abusive leadership. There's nowhere else to go. If you leave us, you're turning your back on God and on His selected leaders, and headed for the lake of fire.
As far as I know, Flurry and LCG still engage in this detestable behavior, although LCG has toned it down.
This practice started with the idea that "church" comes from "ecclesia" and means called-out ones. And we in the ministry get to determine whether you are called out or not. The problem is that while the word ecclesia is derived from "call" and "out-of", that is NOT what it means. Look it up in any Bible dictionary. Ecclesia means "assembly". Often an assembly of Christians, but not always. And nowhere in the Bible do we see any inkling of this arrogant exclusivity.
