My husband and I had meetings in our home Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights for many, many years and were very exclusive in our thinking because of what we had been taught by workers (only true way/apostolic succession from Shores of Galilee). We were very loyal to the system and often had workers stay in our home.
About 10 years ago, I began to feel very concerned about my soul’s salvation for I never knew whether I was saved or not. I felt I wasn’t good enough to go to heaven, so I prayed to God and asked Him to show me whether I was acceptable to Him or not even though I was trying to do all the right things according to what was expected by workers. The answer I received shocked me somewhat.
About 8 or 9 years ago, a relative (still in 2x2s) invited us to watch a DVD. David Pawson (from UK) was the speaker and what he preached blew me away. I didn’t realise how hungry I was for the word of God, so we bought a DVD player and ordered heaps more DVDs/CDs ~ just soaking in the word of God like a sponge. I was finally hearing and understanding the true gospel of Jesus Christ. God answered my prayer and showed me what was in my heart…to my shame I was filled with self-righteousness towards other Christians and pride of being in the ‘one and only true way’ (2x2s).
I felt really condemned but so glad for this revelation. My experience there and then was like Paul with the scales falling from my eyes….. I remember saying out aloud at that point “Oh NO” realising how wrong we had been taught by workers all these years.
I was more vocal than my husband and began expressing my thoughts with close 2×2 friends, but of course, it wasn’t well received. People started to distance themselves from us saying we had ‘gone off track’. A close friend of mine said that if I continued voicing my opinion about other Christians being saved, I would lose all my friends. I really didn’t care about that because I was compelled to speak the truth. Needless to say, workers got to hear about our thinking.
One of the senior sister workers who made her home at our place for 30 years, began to remove all her belongings over a period of a few weeks. She never mentioned a word to us hoping we wouldn’t notice.
At the very end of 2004 at a gospel meeting, the head worker spoke out against ‘false religions’… even naming them ‘Baptists, Methodists’ etc He likened them to ‘synagogues down the street’. ‘The ONE WAY’ (their way) was emphasized. He said that ‘some here are upsetting the sheep’, adding ‘we won’t tolerate it anymore’.
Of course, most people in the meeting knew the message was for my husband and me. One of the friends in the meeting likened it to ‘a public stoning’ for us. During that meeting, I thanked the Lord He had opened the doors for us to leave. We now couldn’t continue attending 2×2 meetings with their exclusive doctrine; otherwise, we’d be going against our convictions. The worker added that he didn’t want us to go home ‘being all offended’ but to think very seriously on these things.
We knew then that this was going to be our last meeting, and of course, this precipitated much upheaval, but we rejoice and give praise to God for having opened the way before us. I am so thankful my husband and I worked through this together; then gradually our 4 sons left.
By Joan & Geoff Frost,
Western Australia
July 2008
Click Here to read their Letter: Oh please teach them the Truth.