Ah, yes.  The false holiness of the Geftakys brand of legalism. (GBL)  If I utter the words, "I am making a committment to do_____," according to GBL, my standing with God depends on my success at keeping my committment.

This is nothing more than works-based righteousness.  If your committment is successfully kept, then you have a good conscience as a result of your good performance.

However, if you fail at keeping your committment----like missing a morning time, etc.---then you have a bad conscience, and have sinned.

In either case, there isn't anyplace for God's righteousness through faith.  This is one aspect of the danger of this type of thinking.

Another point where this type of thinking leads to trouble is when we make a committment to ____, and due to GBL thinking our idea becomes "The Will of God."  In this case, we obstinately set ourselves in our ways, and make sure we don't listen to reason, should it contradict our "committment."

In essence, we put ourselves in the position of saying,  "No Lord.  I can't do that.  I have made a committment."  This is nothing more than saying, "Sure I'll follow you Lord, as soon as I bury my father, or I can't go now Lord, I just bought some new oxen," etc.

Keeping committments, as a means to "obeying God," is not a good thing to do.

Some will say, "Wait a minute Brent!  Are you saying it doesn't matter if I say I'll do something and don't do it?"

No, I'm saying no such thing.  Let your yes be yes, and your no be no.  However,  If your "Yes" conflicts with God's "NO,"  you must be humble enough to change your yes to no.

GBL, which arrogantly assumes that performance of committments leads to righteousness, has no place for the humility that allows us to say,  "Lord, I was wrong."  No, if we say, "I am going to stay here for 3 years,"  we must do so, in spite of what God may or may not want for us.

I hope your friend reads this, and considers it.

Brent

     i know that i may be the last person you want to post on this thread, Eulaha, but i too am concerned for your friend, and i hope to share an insight that may help you to understand and help her her:
    Where commitment was at our core, in many cases occupying the place that should have been held by the Lord Jesus Christ, it also became our fortress of security.  There was no uncertainty for those who knew exactly what their commitment was.  So surrounded by its walls were they, as to be buried under its weight until they could see nothing else.
    Why would someone willfully remain miserable?  Because it is a familiar state.  As Arthur points out, we were already miserable in our commitments.  We know our way around in that territory.
     When the assemblies began to topple, and saints were crying out for guidance, Brent counseled taking six weeks away from the familiar, out of the darkness to seek the Light.  The call was to those who would hear, and was the pathway of deliverance for many.  The seekers sought and, as promised, found.
     But then there are those who didn't seek; who, like your friend, had been pummeled into submission repeatedly;  lambs who, everytime they sought to venture out of the cote & into the green pastures were kicked in the teeth by the bad shepherds.  They had become fearful.  They no longer looked up for their redemption, but only at the ground because whenever they looked up they received another harsh blow.
     For such a one, and there are many, six weeks were not enough-- six lifetimes may not be enough.  She seeks not deliverance, but security in the familiar, for mortal fear of the unknown.  To her, a broad and bottomless gap exists between self and deliverance.
     Of course you will always try to explain to her that the bridge across that awful expanse has been built, from one end by our Father in heaven and from the other by the Son of Man; that the whole structure is God's construction:  its name is Grace, and all that remains is to cross it.  But to her it is invisible; she has been blinded to it by the prince of darkness.
     What you want her to see is that the key to this life is not in our commitments to God, but in His commitments to us:
   that He will never leave her nor forsake her;
   that He has begun a good work in her and will continue it;
   that He is with her always, unto the end of the age;
   that she is seated with him in heavenly places in Christ;
   that His Holy Spirit will lead her into all truth...
   
     Her hope and that of all such lies across the battleground of prayer.  As you want her to believe the promises of God on her behalf,  even so God wants you to believe  
   that righteous fervent prayer availeth much;
   that whatever you ask in His Name shall be given you;
   that His strenght is perfected in your weakness;
   that you can do all things through Christ Who strengthens you;
   that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the  
      world...
    Every time you feel that frustration, channel its energy into intercession on behalf of your friend.  Use your frustration as the call to prayer.  Ask God, as the early disciples did, to teach you to pray (for we know nothing yet as we ought to know).  Refuse to give up on her behalf.

     And all who read this, make it our call to prayer as well: please pray for the deliverance of Eulaha's friend, our sister.

al Hartman

That is excellent!  Ponder that statement.  If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.  Very nice Marcia!

Brent

What was true for all of those of us that spent time in the asemblies under the influence of George Geftakys is still true today - We are responsible for the choices we make.

One substantial difference bwtween those of us who were deceived by this man and those making choices today is that they can make informed choices. The choices we make nevertheless are always  ultimately ours alone.
Verne

    Thanks, Jack!  That question used to strike such fear into me that just the deja vu from reading it here made my stomach flip-flop!
     Any body besides me ever try to legalistically "pray without ceasing?"
     It's only the Lord's grace that we all aren't living in rubber rooms!

al

Marcia,

I just threw them away.

Al,

Yes, in fact, I also tried to meditate on the Word of God day and night, just like it says in Ps1.  The problem is, you can't do both.  Here's what I did do, though.

After reading Practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence (Betty gave me a copy, bless her heart) I concluded that it was sin for me to think about anything other than one of the following:

Prayer
Memorizing verses
Meditating on verses
Talking to God about what I was doing at any given moment

Any other thoughts were sin in my opinion.  I carried around with me a 3x5 card that I would mark any time I caught myself off track in my thoughts.  I gave myself a 1 minute consequence for every mark.  I did my consequences by working at other people's houses (I was not living in a training home).  When I had racked up 180hours of consequences I finally gave up.  I held myself accountable to a leader, who never told me that this was insane.  Last year at a singles' conference I asked Betty about this issue, and she told me that to entertain any thought other than the ones I mentioned above was 'a waste'.  Yep, that Betty is a work of art, isn't she?

Jack

I remember this Jack.  I was meeting with David every Sunday for lunch.  I liked this because it meant I did not have to go on outreach!  I heard things, from him, about every member in the Assembly, and all of the brothers in Fullerton and Tuscola, and several of the ones in St. Louis and Chicago.  I knew the dirt on everyone, including you.

It was funny, because when he told me what you did, I felt sorry for you, but at the same time I was pondering in my heart why it was wrong.  Afterall, we were taught, clearly and explicitly, to keep our committments.  In fact, David would hammer home to me frequently, that I had made a committment to only make a certain amount of money, and to give the rest away.  (I made no such committment, but he really wanted me too....I wonder why?)

So, I had to keep my committments, or at least that one, and the one where I said I would go to all the meetings; but you didn't need to keep yours.  I remember this clearly.

However, I must say that David gave you good advice in that situation, regardless of his motivation.  I guess if your committments to The Lord conflict with your committments to the Assembly, something has to give!

Brent