We haven't forgotten. We are still plenty angry. It's not that we're leaving the room, it's that many of us were never invited in the room. We got a peak inside of it, and we are absolutely disgusted with everything that's been going on behind closed doors.
We all got a glimpse of what's going on in the room during covid... To our dismay, most of the men behind our pulpits pretended to see nothing and addressed nothing. We have moved on from these weak and feckless men.
The strong men have been building and guarding their own households first and foremost, despite all the opposition. Secondly, they have been seeking out like-minded brothers to build and sharpen with. That is likely how most of us ended up here.
The problem with reforming the institutions is that most of the gatekeepers are still in place, and they have the funding to keep themselves entrenched. It's not that we're retreating, we're still learning what's going on in deeper rooms of the house and realizing the war is much greater than we're currently ready for. We are strengthening and sharpening in silence... Eyes have seen and ears have heard... There is no going back to what was.
Yeah, a lot of this. What Mr. Foster, whom I respect and have learned much from, recommends in the last several lines/paragraphs, is a very tricky line to walk. There definitely is a time to walk away, to retreat - his language there is too strong. Institutions, even when started by good people with good intentions for good reasons - which themselves are extremely few and far between - always corrupt. Always. No exceptions I'm aware of.
The only way to deal with that law of nature, I surmise, is to have a billion of them and all of them are tiny - no scale, and yes I understand therefore limited power/scope. "A rifle behind every blade of grass". Power simply has to stay local, decentralized, and limited.
There's a reason the Lord built his church that way. Each local body (no denominations at all) has full autonomy (under His headship, obviously) and is subject only to fellowship/non-fellowship by other bodies. It keeps explosions small. Good ones, yes, but most importantly bad ones as well.
We haven't forgotten. We are still plenty angry. It's not that we're leaving the room, it's that many of us were never invited in the room. We got a peak inside of it, and we are absolutely disgusted with everything that's been going on behind closed doors.
We all got a glimpse of what's going on in the room during covid... To our dismay, most of the men behind our pulpits pretended to see nothing and addressed nothing. We have moved on from these weak and feckless men.
The strong men have been building and guarding their own households first and foremost, despite all the opposition. Secondly, they have been seeking out like-minded brothers to build and sharpen with. That is likely how most of us ended up here.
The problem with reforming the institutions is that most of the gatekeepers are still in place, and they have the funding to keep themselves entrenched. It's not that we're retreating, we're still learning what's going on in deeper rooms of the house and realizing the war is much greater than we're currently ready for. We are strengthening and sharpening in silence... Eyes have seen and ears have heard... There is no going back to what was.
Yeah, a lot of this. What Mr. Foster, whom I respect and have learned much from, recommends in the last several lines/paragraphs, is a very tricky line to walk. There definitely is a time to walk away, to retreat - his language there is too strong. Institutions, even when started by good people with good intentions for good reasons - which themselves are extremely few and far between - always corrupt. Always. No exceptions I'm aware of.
The only way to deal with that law of nature, I surmise, is to have a billion of them and all of them are tiny - no scale, and yes I understand therefore limited power/scope. "A rifle behind every blade of grass". Power simply has to stay local, decentralized, and limited.
There's a reason the Lord built his church that way. Each local body (no denominations at all) has full autonomy (under His headship, obviously) and is subject only to fellowship/non-fellowship by other bodies. It keeps explosions small. Good ones, yes, but most importantly bad ones as well.
Do not let russians exploit your grievances in the process. I have seen too much of such.