Fellowship According to Armstrongism

When people look at fellowship through the following kind of legalistic lens it is no wonder Armstrongism is dying off!  What idiots!  Fellowship is not exclusionary!  It is all encompassing, inclusive, welcoming, expanding, and ever growing.  Armstrongism excludes, disfellowships, ignores, mark's, and beats down those inside and outside the circle. These nut jobs conveniently ignore the fact that Jesus sat and ate with tax collectors, sinners, the outcast, and those on the periphery of acceptability.  Yet, Armstrongism continues to circle the wagons and make the circle smaller and smaller. Pathetic losers!

Most of us who have been in the COGs for a long period of time know that we are commanded to not forsake fellowship with one another. Fellowship is, first and foremost between an individual and God. Secondly, it is between the called out ones. The later, being time spent (but not limited to) iron sharpening iron. Christ and the apostles fellowshipped (taught and trained) others daily, fellowship is not exclusive to the Sabbath or Holy Days. Nor should our fellowship with Christ and the Father be limited to the Sabbath.

Fellowship is an exchange between God and or individuals that brings about repentance, correction, admonishment, understanding, revelations, and teaching which leads to strengthening the body of Christ. When fellowship is watered down to a ‘feel good’ about one’s self and others (the love doctrine) then the body becomes susceptible to disease (false doctrine) and weakens the members. Making the fellowship of little use. If the members of the body of Christ do not have a foundation built upon Him and God the Father, then church services become nothing more than a social club. Something that fills the void of where a relationship with God should be.

When fellowshipping is used by those in the church for an excuse for socializing , it is an attempt to fill the ‘hole in the heart’. Without the proper foundation of a true relationship with God though, filling that hole is like filling a bottomless pit. Void of any true value to the one seeking to fill what God has not imparted to them. Why, because He says, “I know you not.”

The only thing this person got right is the comment:  "I know you not."

"Paradise Recovered" and Ohio's Well Spring Retreat Recovery Center

 Many people have been so scared by abusive religion that they have no idea on where to turn.  There is a facility in Ohio that is geared to helping those recovering from abusive churches, religious systems and other abusive thought systems.  Their work can either be secular in base or pastoral.

Wellspring Retreat Center

Many who come from abusive religious systems are not able to rationalize what has happened to them with what their faith promotes as truth.  When that is ripped away, many fall into a spiritual void. Many still long for something deeper that brings meaning to their lives but do not know what to do.  Others, have had enough and leave faith based systems.  However, they still need to deal with the rejection, the loss of every thing they had been rooted in, the familial ties that broken, and more.

The Wellspring Recovery Center is also sponsoring a screening of "Paradise Recovered".

Paradise Recovered, the film made by a former WCG member has been making the rounds of numerous film festivals.  It has been getting rave reviews.

Synopsis:

Esther Harris, a young woman praised for her virtue and devotion to Warren F. Vanderbilt’s Prophetic Watchman Ministries, has been given the opportunity of a lifetime – to attend Vanderbilt’s Kingdom Bible College. 
When the fundamentalist Christian sect falls on hard times, Esther looks for employment at a local health food store to supplement the group’s income.
At the store, Esther gets a chance to share her faith with her new manager, Gabriel, a devout skeptic and preacher’s kid, and his roommate, Mark, a college drop-out who finds Christian television to be great entertainment.
The friendship with Gabriel and Mark help Esther determine her human worth while helping her reframe her faith in a whole new light.

Shot entirely on location in Southern Indiana and Austin, Texas, Paradise Recovered attempts a modern-day retelling of the parable of the Good Samaritan while addressing hard questions involving faith, tolerance, and spiritual abuse in modern culture. 

Paradise Recovered Trailer from Storme Wood on Vimeo.