I Was Just Thinking About...

[Eulaha L. Long]

I have been remembering some of my 9 years in the Assembly.  I remember the fellowships we had, where we would all bring a dish to share, and how we would laugh together and talk about our lives.  I remember the sense of family I felt.  I remember the Gospel Campaigns, and how fun it was to work together to reach others for Christ.  How fun it was when the Brass Quartet would join us, and how much fun it was to listen to the music and hear the testimonies.  I remember how me and Cristina would drive to the meetings in her car, listening to Keith Green CD's and talking about the brothers we thought were attractive.

I remember going to the seminars in Fullerton, and making plans to see my friends during the lunch breaks.  I really didn' care to much about the lectures;I mostly spent that time walking in and out of the meeting place so I could talk to the mothers who were tending to their small children.

I remember back when I was 21, and I was so poor that I could only spend $5 a week for groceries, but I don't remember that hardship per se-no, I remember feeling young and on top of the world, because I had my Assembly family.

Is this nostalgia?  I guess I just wish that GG's Assemblies were truly of God, and that the friendships I made would still be there, untainted by false doctrine.  Maybe I'm just a fool, but I have not found that kind of bond anywhere else...maybe I just need to look harder!!

[Bernice]

I was just reading your thoughts on the assembly and let me reassure you that feeling of closeness and family is in normal healthy churchs.    Yes, you do have to look but its there  

[Mark C.]

Hi Eulaha!
  I can remember the good times and sense of family as well, but the dark side of the group wasn't just the bad doctrine; the practices of the group show that "the family" was dysfunctional as well.
  If you read a book on cults, or Enroth's books on abusive churches, you will see that the most attractive aspect of their lives was their involvement as a family.  Even the followers of Charles Manson called themselves "the Manson family."(I'm not saying the Assembly was that bad)
   We all need to be loved and accepted by someone and these groups use that need to gain your loyalty and to get you to serve the needs of the group.  The way we know the love was phony in the Assembly is when an individual decides to challenge one of the group goals they are turned on and attacked, or at the very least shunned.
    Just before I left the Assembly in the Valley, and started to raise some questions, I lost all the leaders affection and was treated like an enemy.  After leaving I did try to keep a discussion going with some in the group, but the leaders would not allow that to continue and I was labelled as, "a divisive man and of the devil."
   Churches that love bomb you upon joining and then shun you for questioning things are not expressing love at all.  I would rather find a church where they are maybe not so personable, but are earnestly seeking to build up members in Christ, and care more about you as an individual then they do about their organizational goals and programs.
   I think it is especially important that ex-members of groups like the Assembly learn to find their love and acceptance in their individual lives with the Lord first and not to have too much expectation that those needs will be filled by even the best of churches.  Few within the churches we will visit will even understand what we are talking about when we relate our experiences and will be unable to help.
  I am glad that you are getting married and have found a companion that you can share life with and raise your own family.  Even that relationship will have it's ups and downs, but if we are secure in His love we have a good foundation for all of our life.
          MERRY CHRISTMAS Mark C.

[al Hartman]

Hi Eulaha!

   We all need to be loved and accepted by someone and these groups use that need to gain your loyalty and to get you to serve the needs of the group.  The way we know the love was phony in the Assembly is when an individual decides to challenge one of the group goals they are turned on and attacked, or at the very least shunned...

  Churches that love bomb you upon joining and then shun you for questioning things are not expressing love at all.  

   I think it is especially important that ex-members of groups like the Assembly learn to find their love and acceptance in their individual lives with the Lord first...

  ... if we are secure in His love we have a good foundation for all of our life.

     Like the other posters here, I remember a wonderful sense of family, love and acceptance by dear people to whom I felt extremely close and in whom I could confide.  That feeling was the subtlety by which the men in charge controlled the rest, and the man in charge controlled those directly under him.
     Once the hook of that sense of familial bonding was firmly set, the line could be yanked to control any individual affected by it.  Question anyone or anything, and mandated shunning would deprive you of the sense of being loved.  Those who flourished upon the acceptance by, and interaction with, others would do anything, submit to any humiliation, to regain those privileges once they were denied.

     The great but subtle lie was in establishing that the leadership had the mind of God and stood for God before the congregation.  Therefore, it was the approval of the leadership that was to be sought.  There is a terrible judgment in store for those who propagated and do not repent of this deception!
     There is no man whose approval we need except the Man Christ Jesus, and this truth is what should have been taught in the assemblies but was not.  The reality of the Person of Jesus Christ as practical personal Savior today was denied or distorted until it (He) could be no more than a distant and abstract consideration.  And yet He was there, in the heart of every believer, never leaving nor forsaking us just as He had promised.  Rather, we were duped into denying Him, replacing His inconceivable love for us with a counterfeit affection which provided us with a fleeting image of unity in exchange for a demand upon all our time and strength.
     
     If you or I performed a great personal sacrifice for someone, and in return were ignored and put aside as we did Christ in the assembly, how long would we put up with it?  Thanks be to God that His mercy endures forever!

                           His love has no limit,
                                 His grace has no measure,
                                       His power has no boundary
                                             Known unto men,
                            But out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
                                  He giveth,
                                        And giveth,
                                               And giveth again.

Praise His Name...  and a most blessed Christmas to all!

al Hartman

[M2]

Hi Eulaha,

In so many ways I can identify with your 'nostalgia'. I remember visiting Fullerton in Dec '82 when I was 25 years old, and staying with some dear sisters; I still remember all of them. The house was in the neighbourhood of the Women's Assistance League and not far from EVFree Fullerton. We had the time of our lives playing Dictionary(Balderdash). We would go out to eat after seminar lectures and have a great time of fellowship. I've already mentioned my drive into the mountains to see the snow, and then having the 'honor' of being the first to be allowed to drive the sister's new Honda Accord standard back, because she didn't know how to drive in the snow. I also remember visiting Disneyland and eating the best MonteCristo sandwiches at the BlueBayou Restaurant. I visited again in Dec '83 when I went to SanFrancisco and to Fullerton. Until the whole system collapsed, seminars(Mid-West for me) and ECCs were opportunities to fellowship with the saints.

However I do agree with the others who have posted on this thread. I am again reminded of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who were good friends in a hostile environment. They loved the Lord and did not compromise. For that they were persecuted. Their story has a different ending.

The assembly is/was definitely a 'dysfunctional' family environment. Neither my parents nor my husband's would shun me if I called their Catholic church a cult (which I haven't in their hearing). We might have some 'animated' discussions, but I would not be shunned. If I asked them a question in order to understand or discuss an issue, I would not be told 'this is a matter best left to the local brethren and to prayer' and then given the silent treatment. Again, we might have some 'animated' discussions, but...

Assembly people are nice, but are not living in reality. They are hiding their heads in the sand. They do not have the maturity to face this difficult issue. Sincerity is not going to count anymore. They are refusing and do not recognize the answers to their prayers because God is not speaking the way they want Him to.
Matt 15:14 "Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
Personally I do not want to have anything to do with the assembly any more. I am very happy to have discovered a church that is living and growing.

Lord bless,
Marcia

[summer007]

Dear Eulala,   I too had sweet fellowship with the sisters and lived in 3 or 4 sisters houses...everything was great until I got to a house where the young couple was jockeying for position and nothing would get in there way...But prior to that the sisters houses were wonderful..the leadership at that time I fully trusted...did you read that TRUSTED...Love thinks no evil .....and they were excellent examples in so many ways...It was all about the Lord everyone highly admired bro.george and some brothers even dressed like him..and carried the same bible he had with large margins...I was on fire for the Lord and I'm sure you weere too...You have to remember we were all very young I was 19 when I met the group...I wanted to be a missionary to Africa or China so a little hardship was just training for me...See we idealized everything...I could'nt wait to move into a sis hse...I remember prior to moving in about ayear before a friend of mine that had originally invited me out found an article in the newspaper about a cult and we saw the similaritys of the GG group...and we talked to leadership they convinced us that the Lord had brought us there.. and then mentioned making a commitment for life to the group...I never got that and still dont know where that came from that a commitment for life to the group it did'nt make sence then and does'nt now....It was like they were putting words in my mouth.....at any rate I think you willl find fellowship again..and closeness to believers in time but you'll probibly not live with them....and have the heavy burden of all the meetings ...Think...if it was so Great why did you leave in the first place????Yes how good it is for brethren to dwell together in unity..it is like the precious ointment running down the head consecrating the whole body....ps133...We just did'nt know at the time that False Teaching was going on .....Thank-God you go out Eulala...I just wanted to add that I 've been close to several of my roomates..about 3 of us keep in contact over the last 20 years and I count them as precious friends ..of course they had all left fellowship at different times and we live all over the place ....You'll see when you have a Family of your own ...Jesus will show you God Bless You and Keep YOU....

[Bernice]

   I agree with Marks comment, "I think it is especially important that ex-members of groups like the Assembly learn to find their love and acceptance in their individual lives with the Lord first"  Its only after you've learned this that healthy relationships can develop.
   Personally, I had been in healthy churchs before (and after) the assembly and have some very good life long friends from those churchs.   But, just like in the homes its finding the small numbers that will make the difference.  In other words, you might just find a couple people in a church that you go to that will become solid friends (like family).
   Although I was involved with the assembly for four years I knew all along that for me it wasn't a life time commitment to the assembly. (and this is where I think some people got off track) people forgot (or were led to believe) the commitment wasn't suppose to be to the ministry but the commitment is to God.  I had a brother (in fellowship) that once asked me if I felt like the Lord had led me to be committed to the assembly for life.  Because he had felt that for himself but couldn't understand why I didn't believe in that type of calling.  Oh well.
    And just for added thought, when I left the assembly I was able to maintain those friendships built in the assembly.  And some I would say even became stronger  
    But again I agree that for those who haven't been in an assembly type experience it will be hard for them to know exactly what you went through.   For most  it will be just a church that split up that had problems but for the assembly people its something completely different.