Time for the first “plumb line”.
When I visited KCS for the first time, I was led to talk about what should characterize a true “Kingdom Center”. I then assumed that the Bible as such was public property for all who belonged to KCS and that the community complied with the instructions about our relationship to the Word that are clearly stated.
“All that was written in the past is written to warn us of the sins of the past.”
“All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for …”
“Let the word of Christ abound, dwell richly in you.”
“Through the comfort of the scriptures we shall keep our hope.”
“It was the spirit of Christ in the prophets that made them write things that were written for us.”
“You know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.”
“You search the scriptures because you think there is eternal life in them. Yes, they testify of me, but you do not want to come to me to have the life of which they speak.”
Thus I assumed that the KCS adhered to “the faith which is once and for all preached to all the saints.” A belief that is laid out and emphasized throughout the scriptures.
If you remember, I talked about two things that characterize a spiritual “kingdom center”. 1 It produces kings. 2 It satisfies them with the bread of life.
We started in Beit Lechem, Bethlehem in our parlor. “The Bread House”. But the Holy Scriptures play a very minor role in KCS. I have asked: have you as a community, as the royal children of the Royal Center ever sat down together and unconditionally with the whole word of God before you and actually searched the whole scripture in a single matter, to find guidance in a single question?
How are you members of the Kingdom Center without having to consult the King’s express will in written form? I have heard the following response: The written word is dead. Logos do not give life. It’s just a letter that kills. We must have the “fresh produce,” God’s direct address to us. That is, we go on the “rhema” which are personal Words from the Lord to us. But we do not need to collate that word with what has been written before.
The dichotomy between the written word and the applied word has NO basis in God’s word. The Holy Spirit who is the true author of the scriptures, all others involved are just amanuensis and secretaries, has as His primary task to take the words of Christ and give them to us, explain them to us, and make them work in us.
If the Kingdom Center’s management does not consider itself bound by the King’s declaration of government in written form, then is it strange that it has also replaced the King’s specific and intentional mission with a plethora of its own visions?
Logos becomes Rhema only when the will to obey the meaning of Logos becomes the will-forming yes-saying in me to not only say that I love the Lord but actually show that I do it by keeping all his commandments ..
Rhema is the action-based presupposition that the word of God is as true as that Christ is the Truth. The written hardware is Logos, when it is taken from the hard drive to the desktop it becomes the software that translates and applies Logos in real life. When Logos is applied, it will be Rhema, not before. But if it is not on the hard drive, it can not be applied either.
Rhema without Logos is a delusion.
But studying what God’s word says is not common in KCS. Did I get that right? Is it true that the 92 visions are never examined by the whole community in the light of the whole Bible?
How then do you know that they are God’s visions?
Teddy Donobauer, Doncaster