AssemblyBoard

This summer I left the assembly in Lincoln, Ne.  (I think I will post the whole story of my expierence there at a later date.)  Currently I am struggling with what I do with everything that God revealed to me about the false doctorine present in the assembly and campus Bible study.  I am deeply concerned for my friends' spiritual well being but part of me is affraid to talk to them.  I know that I crashed spiritually for a while when I left, being filled with nightmeres about the places of weeping and nashing of teeth.  I was so sure for a while that I was destined to be in that place and I couldn't see the point in serving God if I wasn't ever going to be good enough to be in His kingdom or "earn my inheritence".  Thanks be to God for providing me with an awesome friend who encouraged me greatly and other campus groups that have allowed me to worship God in the Spirit and in TRUTH.  (I can sing harmony, hey I can even sing in the Spirit,   but am I bringing division am I distracting others? No, wait I am WORSHIPING the LORD!!)
Anyway I am not sure what I should do with the information I have.  Should I talk?  Should I just lead them to this web page or the other one on cults?  Has anyone had any experience in this area?  Tell your stories please. If you would like to email me please do.  And pray for me because everytime I get close to telling someone or getting one friend in particular to visit my new church I am  ATTACKED!!
Thanks
Charity
@ the University of Neb.

charity7213@hotmail.com

Dear Charity,

Thank God you have all these loving people willing to help you (you are a great man, John Malone Sr--I'm about ready to drive over to your house from Washington state!).  I just wanted to respond to your statement about having nightmares, because I remember instances in my life when I was so afraid of hell and wrath that I was petrified.  

So you know my perspective, I am an outsider.  I was never in the Assembly, and I always thought they were weird.  

GOD LOVES YOU.  But not only that, He likes you.  He likes you just the way you are, a broken sinner.  He doesn't just love you because He has to, and He can't POSSIBLY love you more because you try harder or behave better---He already loves you completely and as much as is possible, though it's impossible to comprehend such a love that has no limits.  Jesus looks at you, and comes and sits next to you, and cups your face and says, "I know everything you've ever done" and still thinks you are the most adorable thing he's ever seen.  There is nothing you can do to earn more love, and there is nothing you can do to get away from that love.  Period.  I would swear on anything as to the truth of that.

The many people I knew who were in the Assembly had one thing in common that struck me: they were all tired, and they all seemed to think they just needed to try harder.  I realize now that likely this is because they constantly felt that they didn't warrant God's love, or enough of it.  This is so sad once you know the truth!  When you trust the love of God, there is no need fear hell.

I pray that you are not having any more nightmares.

Trust in the Lord, and fear no more.  TRUST.  

Love, Karen

i'm sorry to interfere. i know john's post was a sincerely concerned response to charity's predicament. however, maps and directions to someone's house are best sent through an instant message or to their private email address. we need to keep in mind that this is a public forum. we may feel safe because everyone posting seems friendly, but you really have no idea who could be reading all of this, especially once we are in the search engines. personal phone numbers, home addresses, maps and directions should all be sent through more private channels.

btw, i sent the complete message in its original format to charity as a private message. i would still caution against this kind of disclosure unless you feel really confident about your decision, but of course it is your decision.

Charity,

John 8:32 "and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

I appreciate your honesty to ask.  As a person who was extremely timid while in the assembly, I found that since the time I have left, when I acted on the truth, I did not have fear.  In the assembly, intimidation and fear was the only way since this is how people were controlled.  As someone who has been delivered, you do not need to go back to their bondage (the Lodge's) nor go into the bondage that you have to do something.

When you're free from the guilt of feeling like you have to share or you have to go out to the ex-members, then you will find the freedom to talk to people.  I know this because fear in whatever form it takes, is paralyzing.  If you talk to someone while in fear, you're still paralyzed.  If you talk to them in love and in the freedom you have, you will have peace.

The Lord bless you,

Eric

Charity,

When I left the Assembly, I too was plagued with horrible nightmares.  I also got extremely depressed and had to seek professional counseling.

I feel that it is your right to tell others about the ordeal you experienced.  When I started opening up to people about what happened to me in the Assembly, I began to feel better.  By talking to ex-members, it only confirmed that leaving the Assembly was the right thing to do.

Hi Charity,
  You have experienced what many of us have experienced after leaving the Assembly.  It is wonderful that you have a friend who can help you and also this web site here has many that will be eager to help.  You have left in much better shape than some have; you have retained your faith in Christ and recognize now that Assembly teaching is in error.
  I also experienced the attacks and rejection of my former associates after leaving and felt like all my attempts to communicate were rejected.  These individuals inside the group have been manipulated to the point that trying to discuss that they could be in error is difficult.  Their entire emotional well being is tied into the group and so any challenge of the group's teaching they find personally threatening.  God can reach them, but sometimes it takes time as reality clashes with their group centered loyalities.
   I thought that I would never see my old friends again in the Assembly and lo and behold a few months ago discovered that serveral couples left and that there were those who started this website as an outreach :).
   You don't have to do anything, nor do you have to fear them any more as the curtain has been pulled aside and we can see that their control over our lives was based on false premises.  I know that is easy to say, as just seeing them brings up a whole bunch of strong emotions, but remember we are free and they are still in bondage :'(.
      God Bless you richly Charity,    Mark

Charity,

I left the Assembly about 10 years ago.  My experience, and yours I'm sure, is common to everybody who leaves an abusive, manipulative group.  I had nightmares for years, seeing a particular leading brother in my dreams.  I also ached for others still in.  There is a whole host of spiritual, social and psychological baggage that we bring with us when we leave.  It takes years to work through the issues.  I was helped tremendously at a counselling center for cult victims called Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center in Ohio.  A number of ex-Assembly members have gone there and can also testify to how helpful it is.  The people who run Wellspring are ex-cult members themselves so they have a personal knowledge of what you are going through.  They have tremendous resources in-house: professionally trained and educated psychologists, brilliant Biblical scholars, and internationally renown cult-experts. I can't overstate their qualifications to help you.  Please sincerely consider attending Wellspring.  At least give their web site a look to see what they have to offer:

http://www.wellspringretreat.org/

They are quite familiar with the Assemblies and the twisted Geftakys system.  

I would be glad to talk more about my experience at Wellspring or anything else.

God bless you.

Brian Steele
dirtsqueezer@hotmail.com

Charity,
We have a saying in recovery meetings that goes "you can't heal what you don't reveal".  You may find that speaking to those still in denial will be very discouraging, but do talk, on this board, to others who have left, to counselors, etc. who understand what you have been through.  It helps to rob the power of "stinkin thinkin" and move you along the road to recovery.
connie