Posted by Tom Ashley Young, et al on 12/15/2001, 8:42 pm

Posted by Tom Ashley Young on 10/18/2001, 6:08 am I highly recommend this book to anyone still affected by the Feb. 26, 1988 spiritual attacks on the church. It is helping me to deal with some issues long buried. Link: http://www.infopost.com/ItemDescription.asp?navtyp=SRH&ItemI=79666 ---------- Angels Can Fall: Book is still available Posted by Dave Kenady on 10/19/2001, 11:17 am Click the link below to purchase this book by Sandra Anderson Becker. At the time she was married to one of our elders/bible college teachers and talks about the destruction of our church. Link: Angels Can Fall http://www.geocities.com/rpdigest/05440.htm ---------- Posted by Steve B. on 10/18/2001, 7:17 am , in reply to "Angels Can Fall" Tom, I read the book when it first came out and found it interesting as a personal account of the events that led up to Feb. 26, 1988. I now find your choice of words interesting also, but maybe I'm just misunderstanding you. As I recall, February 26 was the Friday night that Lanny got up and gave the message exposing Don's sexual and legal troubles as a result of his involvement with at least three of his connections. Do you regard that message as a spiritual attack on the church? Looking back, if I regard anything that happened as a "spiritual attack," it would have to be the phenomenon of connections itself. Sincerely, Steve ---------- Posted by Tom Ashley Young on 10/18/2001, 4:16 pm , in reply to "Re: Angels Can Fall" Steve: I really appreciate how you are not assuming things about what I said, but rather are asking for clarification. This is refreshing. What I meant was this: 02/26/88 was the first time the vast majority of Community Chapel was given information that Don Barnett was going to be disfellowshipped. A sidepoint: I did all tape and sound managing during that time. I had a clear view of the proceedings from the upper cockpit of the recording studio. I also had received a page from Loren Krenelka, my boss at the time, at about 5:45 PM that day, to prepare for greater work load of tape duplicating after the service (I was not told by Loren why). I went to the service early and caught Mark Yokers in tears - there were only a handful of people in the large sanctuary at that time. He looked at me and said, "They - they're disfellowshipping - Don tonight - " - and this was the FIRST time, even as a staff member hearing much of the inner goings-on up til that point (because I had the tape-goods, ya know?). Anyway, the terrorist demons were plotting to demise and sink the CCBTC ship long before 2/26/88. Barbara prophecied about it, and in speaking candidly with George Bowker when he had to remove all but Linda Hamill tapes (about 60+%) from the listening arenas of the church, I could see there was some handwriting on the wall (that was back in October of 1987, right after I took the helm, so to speak, from Jim Wagner). In analogy, the World Trade Center attacks happened a long time before 9/11/01 - it's just that we didn't see the results until then. Likewise with 2/26/88 - Yes, the connective spiritual witchcraft had cemented a long time prior to that in our assembly, probably taking a significant form in late 1985 or early 1986. But I disagree that it was connections that broke up our church - it was SPIRITUAL PRIDE - and this still exists in a significant form in many of us ex-chapelites today. Link: Going Home http://www.infopost.com/ItemDescription.asp?navtyp=SRH&ItemI=79666 ---------- Posted by Steve B. on 10/18/2001, 6:14 pm , in reply to "Re: Angels Can Fall" Tom, You write But I disagree that it was connections that broke up our church - it was SPIRITUAL PRIDE - and this still exists in a significant form in many of us ex-chapelites today. We actually disagree only if you mean to say that connections were basically good and played no part at all in the collapse. I can accept your way of putting it if you mean that connections were merely the outer form that spiritual pride happened to take in our church's case. I can see how, given another set of circumstances and given a pastor with a different personality and a different set of weaknesses, the spiritual pride could have easily taken a different form but brought down the church anyway. I think mainly of the spiritual pride that drove us to think we could isolate ourselves from the rest of the church, and that would not allow us to hear correction from other Christians that was doctrinally motivated. Besides, I don't know if any one thing could be said to be responsible for the collapse of the Chapel. There were a number of unique things there that in retrospect seemed to make its downfall almost inevitable. But I do believe that connections and spiritual pride both played a very negative part at the Chapel. Sincerely, Steve ---------- Posted by Tom Ashley Young on 10/19/2001, 5:31 am , in reply to "Re: Angels Can Fall" Steve: When you say "we disagree," I'm not sure who else besides yourself you are referring to. Quite frankly, I do not believe anyone but God Himself knows the "good" and the "bad" of spiritual connections as played out at CCBTC - there are tons of opinions out there - Could it be that they were from the "good" side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Jim Watt, a Messianic Pastor in Federal Way, came in and spoke to Gordy Haddad, Ray Hansen and myself shortly after the demise. His opinion was that "hubris" (the Greek transliteration for "reproaches" in 2Cor.12:10 KJV, meaning insult with intent to injure) was the core reason responsible for the fall of the Chapel. I don't believe we can properly discuss the "what if" scenarios - God gave us Don Barnett, and that is what we look at. On the good side (this time the tree of life), Don Barnett opened me to see the nature of God in a new light, to hear books of the Bible as never before, to pursue Jesus as in a veritable chase, to go to Bible College on limited funds, etc. Regardless of the destruction that worked through Don Barnett, "the enemy meant it for evil, but God meant it for good (Gen.50:20)." We were all part of this hubris. We bit the same apple that Don did, willingly. We were not coerced into joining the Chapel. Then God allowed what happened, the 'angels who fell,' for a greater purpose: to become conformed to the image and likeness of the Son of God. Brokenness through many onslaughts of the cross have always been and will continue to be His Way of acquiring the manchild. I appreciate these discussions.