Dave calls all the members int eh splinter groups lemmings because they stay with the crowd. That is exactly what the 1,200 members of RCG do. They are afraid to buck the trend after they joined. The fear and intimidation keeps them involved. Its better to fit in and lay low than it is to open ones mouth and question. Once more Dave describes his own group and is too stupid to realize it.
Mr. Armstrong described one of the great earmarks of Laodicea as teaching doctrines that are “less strictly biblical.” ALL the leaders and ministers of the splinters mirror this description. These men certainly say that their doctrinal changes are biblically-based. Who would say otherwise? Now, astonishingly, over 200 easily known, but largely unrecognized, false teachings exist throughout the splinters—with more all the time. How could this be? How could standards have collapsed so far that God’s people dress and act much like worldly Christians, and below the standards of my Baptist in-laws?
The answer: Spiritual blindness prevents these men from seeing their new doctrines and standards as false.
Look around you. Examine your organization. Look at Sabbath services, activities, socials and gatherings. Put aside any fun and enjoyment of fellowship you see, and ask yourself two hard questions:
(1) “Why are we not holding fast to that which we have?” (Rev. 3:11)
(2) “Who is truly washing, cleaning and purging themselves in God’s Word, seeking daily more of the Spirit of truth?”
The longer you have been where you are, the more the law of spiritual inertia—that “objects in motion tend to stay in motion and objects at rest tend to stay at rest”—came into play. Coupled with the natural group instinct or “lemming effect”—to stay with the crowd—over time, inaction takes on a life of its own. This should sober—and frighten—you!
