Another Way Rag Article

[Belle]

This is by the infamous Brend@ Mull*ns:

Standing on Solid Ground

She starts with how when she started walking she had to wear white high-top shoes with steel plates built in on the instep side. They didn’t bother her until some of the kids began to tease her about wearing “baby shoes”. She asked her dad if she could have “regular” girl shoes and promised that if she had them, she could walk with her ankles upright. Her father considered this and took her to the shoe store where she was fitted with regular shoes. With her new shoes she took the time to walk deliberately, setting her foot down heel to toe, bearing her weight on the outside edge of her feet. That indeed helped keep her ankles in place.

Clumsiness came later at the age of twelve or thirteen, and life seemed slippery to her. She fell frequently and tended to bump into things. Walking with a heavy step, she definitely didn’t glide but rather clomped; so her mom decided she should take a local class called Finishing Touches. One of the skills she gained with much practice was the ability to walk gracefully. Part of the training included keeping a book balanced on her head through a day’s activities, such as dressing, eating meals, doing chores, walking up and down stairs and getting in and out of the car. This disciplined walk changed the awkwardness and clumsiness into a flow with ease of movement.

Although she could walk with her head up and move in fluid motion, her corrected physical walk did nothing to resolve the doubt, worry, fear and conflicting answers she had regarding how to carry herself in life. She did not know at the time that she was longing to walk with God. She was frustrated by not having solid, dependable answers to stand on. She wanted answers that were firm, that were certain, that did not change or shift on her. Where could she walk that was right and sure? Where was that solid ground?

She received answers after having been invited to a home fellowship of TWI. In a short period of time, she was in “our” ministry’s foundational class (Note she doesn’t say PFAL) learning the answers to her questions. Learning that god’s word is his will gave her a path to walk on that is clear and distinct. Then her walk in life changed again, this time by God’s great love and grace. It became a wonderful walk on solid ground where the path is always sure and trustworthy.

God’s word is the firm foundation on which to walk as we make decisions and conduct our lives daily. She says that we can have great confidence in its trustworthiness. She says we’ll look at why the word is trustworthy and how walking on God’s word establishes our ways. She says we’ll also consider examples of some believing disciples who decided to walk on the solid ground of God’s word and received deliverance in life.

to be continued

[GarthP2000]

Not ONE Bible verse?? Seems like a new empty sign, considering that they are a 'biblical research ministry' so-called.

[ChasUFarley]

Like someone playing "Stairway to Heaven" in a music store... I've heard it too many times already to listen anymore!

[Belle]

That was just the intro, Garth. I'm still typing up an un-plagarized version of the article. :) But this next part puts to rest any question about TWI's worshipping of the Bible, imo.

******************

Let’s start in II Tim 3:16 where we find a basic foundation on which to build our trust in God.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God….

“All” in II Tim 3:16 means every single word, she says. Each word of God’s word is significant, important and adds to the whole truth needed to live successfully.

We know that God’s love is huge since he gave us his only begotten son for our redemption. But God went beyond that to give us His word. BUT…like the bible is more important than JC? He gave us his word so that we might know how to believe and live rightly. Knowing how to believe and live rightly yields success in life. God desires for us to have success in life.

She repeats the standard…not only is all scripture God-breathed and profitable, but we read in II Peter 1:20 AND 21 that it is of no private interpretation and it did not come by the will of man. Instead, she tells us, holy men of God wrote it down as God revealed it to them. Because it did not originate with man, the original God-breathed word is completely true, perfectly pure and faithfully sure. It has integrity.

Jesus Christ, as God’s son, spoke many truths of his father’s written word. These truths help to build in our minds and hearts the integrity and trustworthiness of the word. Jesus Christ declared that God’s word is truth.

John 17:17

Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.

She starts with telling them the truth of God’s word is the information center, the resource, the dictionary or encyclopedia on life that we utilize to gain answers to questions (sometimes even those questions we didn’t know we had). She says the word gives vision for our lives and direction for our feet on any subject in life. According to her, God is the author of life, and he loved us enough to give us a written manual on how to live it. Look at what JC proclaimed about the word.

John 6:63

It is the spirit that quickenteth; the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.

The word is life! Another wonderful truth JC taught about the word he spoke for God can be found in Luke 21:33:

…but my words shall not pass away.

The recorded words of JC have longevity. His words were sure and vital when he spoke them, and they are equally sure and vital today. She also loves the truth spoken by God’s son in John 10:35

…scripture cannot be broken.

There’s no fixing, adjusting, repairing, remodeling, patching, overhauling, or altering that needs to be done. These truths and promises aid us in building a stronger basis on which to walk in life.

To further build TWIt minds this trustworthiness of God’s word, let’s take a look at what God declares of himself and his word.

Isaiah 46:11

…yeah, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.

What a magnificent promise this is. God has spoken and purposed his word for us. What love, what care, what concern! He will do his word and will bring it to pass. That is an absolute. He did not say “maybe” or “might”, but “will”. He will bring to pass those promises he has written in his word. In Psalm 138 the psalmist shows the magnituted and majesty of God’s word by describing the importance God places on it.

Psalms 138:2

…for thou has magnified thy word above all thy name.

still to be continued

[templelady]

So , in other words, Jesus Christ's value lies in the fact that he said Scripture, "the Word", is what is important from God. I notice that they carefully steer around the issue that Jesus Christ = The word

[coolchef1248 @adelphia.net]

what a sorry state of affaires that way rag must be

and to think how we anticipated it's comming each month

[Tom Strange]

sounds kind of 'elementary'... like a teaching you'd do if it was your first time to teach at twig... oh well, I guess that's what they needed to hear...

[ex10]

Maybe it's just me, but all way teachings sound pretty much alike. It doesn't matter who the teacher/writer is, or when it was taught.

Even some of the splinter groups who have stuff on the web that I've read/listened to, are the same way.

There's no depth, no insight, no answers. It's a like pablum, or baby food, all mashed together, and squished up so you really can't tell WHAT it is.

Edited March 16, 2006 by ex10

[doojable]

You know, the "rag" used to be less a source of information for us and more of a witnessing tool. ( I never got it because I didn't want to spend what little funds I had on a magazinethat just was a repetition of the same-ole, same-ole.) Sometimes it had some "new" info in it. Mostly it has always reminded me of the words on a cereal box that was written by some ad guy:

"This is the best cereal in the world today!" It's got 110% of all the daily requirements!" ( I always used to wonder why "they" had to keep on trying to sell me something I had just purchased.)

The way rag was always just a re-hashing of what we had already heard - trying to sell us what we had already bought into. Maybe the logic was that these mags would be out on coffee tables where just anyone could read them (God forbid!) So there couldn't possibly be any real meat in the articles because they couldn't be sure that the person reading them had already plunked down their hunnerd bucks. no moolah-no real info.

[Belle]

Dooj: The articles ARE a rehash, but I don't think they are meant to be. When I was still involved, just under two years ago, we had to teach from the ragazine at every other fellowship. The alternating ones required us to teach from the STS tape.

They weren't presented as witnessing material only. Of course, every TWI publication was presented as witnessing material, but the rag was also the "meat of the word" for the believers in addition.

Depending on how legalistic your fellowship was, you just might be allowed to read a sentence or two from the rag and then proceed off topic to teach what you really wanted to teach. ;)