Number 9

The malpractice of Withdraw and Avoid

The most damaging tool in TWI2's abuse of the believers was their malpractice of "withdraw and avoid". This is a valid Biblical concept. However, because it is so powerful and because it can be so damaging to individuals, it should only be used under specific conditions. The conditions for this are specified in Romans 16:17,18 and II Thessalonians 3:6-15. Those conditions were blurred significantly by way II practices and in some cases were based upon the whim or "genuine suspicion" whatever that is, of the local leaders.

The scripture upon which they based their practice was in Matthew 18:15-17. Here it mentions a "sin" and a "fault", so LCM and the rest specified what behavior they found "fault" with or what they deemed "sinful" (although it was a moving target because their expectations were constantly changing...) and then went through the steps of "confrontation" and then excommunication. But even though they tried to control the use of this practice by disseminating the "Biblical Confrontation" tape (because zealous leaders had taken it too far...), because the root cause of it was wrong, they STILL didn't get it right. I say so because they wrenched Matthew 18:15-17 out of its context.

They NEVER read Matthew 18:21 nor did they take into account the parable that followed in Matthew 18:22-35. They didn't understand Matthew 18:10-14. They just lauded verses 15 through 17, codified it, and used it to spiritually abuse thousands of believers who did not deserve that severe of a treatment. They turned verses 15-17 into a lie because they did not temper it with the understanding given by the passages before and after.

The parable afterwards speaks for itself, however the passage in verses 12 and 13 needs a bit of explanation so that we can fully appreciate its significance. Verse 12 says that the man who has lost the one from his ninety-nine seeks the one lost and even goes into the mountains to find it. Mountains are symbolic of the adversary's deeply entrenched power. After 1994, way II's leaders NEVER went there to rescue ANYONE. They only went so far and when they saw a HINT of what they thought was devil spirit activity, they split and the best "advice" they gave was to clean out your house of things that they thought might "give off" something spiritually. That was a far cry from the actions that a courageous shepherd would muster himself to do almost anything to save even ONE of his sheep, even from the clutches of the bear or the lion (the adversary). If a leader is unwilling to go in to the mountains to affect a rescue then they are not qualified to kick someone out.

Therefore, I say to those of you who were excommunicated, based upon the TRUTH of what the ENTIRE chapter of Matthew 18 says: most of you were erroneously cast out of the fellowship of believers, and most of you should not be condemning yourselves for it. That realization itself can be a GREAT WEIGHT lifted off of your shoulders. You did not deserve the severity of what you experienced and those who did it to you were WRONG for doing it. Sure, some of us did make mistakes that brought upon us the scrutiny of the legalistic screwballs that could conscience living LCM's contradiction, but we didn't deserve the severity of the punishment we received. So stop questioning yourself. Stop condemning yourself. Don't start hating them because that has it's own set of consequences. Don't succumb to bitterness. Just shake the dust off your feet, accept God's forgiveness if you need it and LIVE. LIVE for God. LIVE for your loved ones. STOP looking back at the past and MOVE FORWARD and be healed from this awful cancer called way II. 

M&A verses taken out of context

Matthew 18:12-14 and Matthew 18:21-33 were supposed to temper Matthew 18:15-17. Instead, twi2 lauded verses 15-17 and never considered the rest.

Compare these two verses in that context:

Matthew 18:15
Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

and

Matthew 18:21,22
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

They are both between brothers... What's the difference? The word "trespass" in verse 15 is the same word as "sin" in verse 21... The difference is explained by the parable in verses 23 and following. The difference is in the former ( vs. 15-18 ) the offender does not apologize (if they do not "hear" thee). In the latter ( vs. 23-33 ) the king relents at first because the offender apologized. BUT THE APOLOGY MUST BE GENUINE. Later in the parable the king found out that the apology was not genuine and the original penalties were re-imposed.

How many people were kicked out because the shepherds were unwilling to go into the mountains to effect a rescue? How many people were improperly kicked out because there were no eyewitnesses, just suspicions or "revelation"? How many people were kicked out over "sins" that they had apologized for? They should have been forgiven 70 times 7 instead of the 3 strikes and you're out treatment...