Mike Zach and the clan

[Caan]

So, I went somewhere interesting this weekend.  I listened as Mike Zach once again preached at the wedding of his son Daniel to Anna Wiewandt.  It looked pretty much like always-strange man reads bible  and expects laughter at the right intervals while his audience grows more stupid with each passing moment.  Of course, their was no magic though; unless you consider being able to stand up in front of 200 people after all that has happened, magical.  

P.S.  Assembly receptions are so fun!  No drinking, no dancing, no music-makes for a really rocking time!  Next time I want to be so bored I cry, I'll look for another ass. wedding to attend.

[Tom Robinson]

Hey Caan,

Give a guy a break! He can't preach at his own son's wedding? And you must be some friend of theirs to go to the wedding and then dis them here. Didn't Mike Zach repent? This is getting a little witch hunty don't you think?

[Caan]

 Thanks Tom!  I really needed that.  Of course you're exactly right.  How dare I think evil thoughts in my head(and on this board) about this man.  He did apologize, right?  Forgive and forget?  I guess I should have no problem with him jumping so quickly back into the driver's seat ready and willing to interpret gospel for us.  After all, he only misbehaved in the most minor sense and for such a short time.  I guess it wasn't a prolonged, blatant, coverup of abuse and long years of misuse of power.  I'll try to remember your fair and true words next time I feel that years of my childhood were stolen that will never be returned.

P.S.  I was at the wedding because I knew Anna from CA.  Is that wrong too?  Should I skip a friend's wedding because I don't like the groom's father?

[Caan]

Hey Caan,

Give a guy a break! He can't preach at his own son's wedding? And you must be some friend of theirs to go to the wedding and then dis them here. Didn't Mike Zach repent? This is getting a little witch hunty don't you think?

Tom,

Since 'hunty' is a word now-here's some to rhyme.  Perhaps you can use them in your next post....punty..grunty...stunty...bunty...brunty...blunty...I'm sure there's more...

[Tom Robinson]

Here's another word for you Caan, touchy, touchy!!

You need to believe bigger things of God. Can you say to Him, "I lost my childhood becuase of You!"? Where was God when Mike was ruining things for you? I think if you look hard enough you will be very blessed. Sure there were wrong things in the assemblies, but there were many right things too  which I'm sure the Lord used to keep you, even guide you.

And I'm not even suggesting we forgive and forget. Yes we need to forgive, but it's fatal to forget. I'm just saying we ought to give a guy a break at his own son's wedding. Even the worst of repentent sinners need to have a life. Imagine if God actually forgave Mike! I'm sure Mike will never forget all those years of wrong-doing and what is he to do with all those lost years?

[Joseph Reisinger]

hey caan.. were you at the awesome frisbee / football time later on?  it was sooo much fun.  I understand, maybe you don't like sports - but there was free food inside too.  Anyway, I had a blast.

I understand where you are coming from about the 'no drinking, no dancing, no music.... no fun" comment, but i'm guessing you must not have had alot of friends there.  Music, dancing, and drinking or not, if you've got a bunch of friends to catch up with and talk to, you're gonna have a good time, right?

well... honestly, i'm sorry you didn't have a good time.  I guess i just had a different perspective.

p.s.  although i have never personally heard a man preach his own sons wedding before, this wedding was one of the best i've ever been to - mikes address included.

[M2]

Hi All  

Joseph, it's great that you had such a good time. Caan is not from the mid-west hence it was not the same for him. And I'm sure that it was a very nice wedding.

I was wondering about a different aspect re. ex-LBs preaching and performing weddings. The marriage is still legal in God's eyes, but if LBs have stepped down from leadership, then why are they performing weddings? This is not just about Mike Z BTW, other ex-LBs have also recently performed weddings.
According to the law of the LBs and workers which could not be changed, King G had decreed that only LBs performed weddings in the assembly system.  This may also have had something to do with state laws, and recognition of 'authority' figures. I do not know.

Any comments?

Marcia

[Joseph Reisinger]

i've always wondered what the legal qualifications are for a state-recognized wedding.  It seems they are not particularly exclusive.  However, from the perspective of why a former LB would preach a wedding, i would assume it is because the people getting married asked them to preach it.  I doubt they are begging for the opportunity to do it.

[Caan]

Joseph,
I was not at the football/frisbee time.  I'm glad you had a good time and I agree that having many friends present would have helped the event seem less lame for me.  However, I left the assembly before all the lies were exposed and I felt the iron curtain drop between me and most of my assembly "friends" because of it.  So, while you saw a lot of people you wanted to catch up with, I was surrounded by a roomful of hypocrites.

Tom,
I'm sure Mike really appreciates all of your kind words.  He really is the victim here isn't he?  There will always be a place for people like you in the world, Tom, maintaining the status quo.

[Uh Oh]

So, I went somewhere interesting this weekend.  I listened as Mike Zach once again preached at the wedding of his son Daniel to Anna Wiewandt.  It looked pretty much like always-strange man reads bible  and expects laughter at the right intervals while his audience grows more stupid with each passing moment.  Of course, their was no magic though; unless you consider being able to stand up in front of 200 people after all that has happened, magical.  

P.S.  Assembly receptions are so fun!  No drinking, no dancing, no music-makes for a really rocking time!  Next time I want to be so bored I cry, I'll look for another ass. wedding to attend.

This is pretty cold...To rip on someones wedding is a low blow.  This has nothing to do with the assembly - this is two peoples special day.  Who they have speak and what activities they have at their reception is entirely up to them.

[Caan]

Uh Oh,
    Somehow-I don't feel really bad about it.

[Sebastian Andrew]

Greetings Caan:

About the time I had enough of the assembly, MZ paid a visit. I was sitting in my metal chair and out of the corner of my eye I noticed him giving me the death stare . The old "I know who you are and what you are thinking" type mental game the arrogant and manipulative play with lesser mortals to intimidate and establish their own superiority. Know what I mean? I got irritated and finally turned my head in his direction and looked him in the eye with the same look. He turned away. I never ever sought any counsel/contact with him. I vaguely remember his sermonette was about the authority of the leadership....
You are right. He is just a polished con man. Try to get it out of your system as soon as possible so that your experience(s) doesn't warp you (I'm not suggesting that you are warped). You probably have every reason to be cynical and don't need any more lame advice. Pardon mine.

[Arthur]

I vaguely remember his sermonette was about the authority of the leadership....

Hmm, that's interesting.  His brother Rod preached a similar message in Fullerton about how AWESOME the authority that God gives to his representatives here on earth is.  I'm really not liking this guy.
I think I'm getting a more complete picture here of their family.  At first I thought it was just because they were former Catholics, but now it seems to be a family character trait.  Oh wait, am I becoming like them in saying "You know, you have a history of doing such and such...shows a real character flaw."    

Sorry to jump in here on the bash Mike bandwaggon.  I agree with Tom and Joseph that a wedding is and should be a fun time, a time where maybe we can forget about all the bad stuff.  Unfortunately, I must say that I doubt all the assembly is out of the assembly weddings or Mike for that matter.  But there is still hope, right?

[brian]

i'd have to agree with the general sentiment, caan - your frustration is getting the better of you. its quite reasonable and to be expected that mike would preach at his own son's wedding, and to bellyache about having to sit through a friend's wedding is just bad form. but its also true that those of us who left years ago and felt the full weight of the iron curtain settle around us have a whole extra layer of issues between us and assembly folks.

Where was God when Mike was ruining things for you? I think if you look hard enough you will be very blessed.

i think the answer to this question tells us volumes about ourselves. of course, there were many good influences in my life growing up in the assembly, but i started out thinking the assembly was all good and the more i looked and the more i learned the worse it got - far worse than i had ever imagined it could get. so hearing that if we just look at our lives hard enough we will be very blessed kind of yanks my chain. but i agree with your basic point that we'll be better off focusing on the good than focusing on the negative - while not forgetting the harsh reality of the negative.

brian

[Caan]

Sebastian,
I know that look exactly!  He always appeared to be trying to see right through me into the hidden darkness of my soul of something.  He believed himself to be something of a master of human charachter.  I remember as a child I had the hiccups and he told me to hiccup in his hand(obviously thinking the pressure of a large powerful man with the expectation of a hiccup in his hand would stop my hiccups dead in their tracks.)  I looked him straight in the eye, waited a second, and hiccuped in his hand.  I dissapointment of the group surrounding us was tangible.  He gave me a displeased look.  Whoops!