|
|
|
About the Ex-CES Followers
|
Who we are and why this Web site . . .
We're a loose fellowship of Christian believers who were formerly followers of Christian Educational Services (CES) and, before that, of The Way International. We reside at various locations throughout the country (the U.S.), come from various backgrounds, and all have our own unique functions within the Body of Christ. Some of us have specific ministries (both formal and gift); others don't. But we each share the common belief that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior--the Way, the Truth, and the Light--and that no man, however sincere, comes to the Father but by him. Some of us left the Way International during the days of its breakup following the "Passing of a Patriarch" paper and its consequences. (If you don't know what that is, go to the Favorite Links page and click the link for WayDale; the paper is posted on the site.) Others left before that, some even before V.P. Weirwille's death and the ascension to leadership of the Way by Craig Martindale. We left for various reasons, but mostly because we could no longer reconcile the doctrines and practices that we saw in the Way with what the Bible plainly teaches. Some of us became involved with CES right from its beginnings, when it was formed by ex-Way leaders John Lynn, John Schoenheit, and Mark Graeser (and a few others, who are no longer part of CES). Others became involved later on. As happened with the Way, most of us left because we began to see doctrines and practices in CES that we couldn't match with what we could see scripture teaching. For some of us, the process was gradual, until we finally left CES's influence quietly and perhaps even unnoticed. For others, it was a more dramatic, even sudden, departure--most often prompted by CES's adoption or promotion of a clearly unscriptural practice ("personal prophecy" and Momentus being the two most extreme of these). We all began to study the Word on our own, no longer blinded by CES theology (even as we had been before that by the Way's teachings). Some of us did so in groups. Others did so as leaders of our own separate ministries. Still others of us did so alone. Now, however, we need no longer be alone. We needn't try to come together in a false unity--some of us still don't agree on everything that we believe the Word teaches, as we are all, after all, imperfect in our understanding (and will remain so until our Lord returns). But we can stand together on what we believe are the clear truths of the Word in many areas and on our continuing quest to seek out that truth and, in so doing, God's favor, as He instructions throughout His Word to search the scriptures and keep seeking the truth of His Word. Finally, we all agree, at least to some extent, that the leaders of CES have gone off course in many of their doctrines and practices. Many of us feel that some of the doctrines and practices that CES is promoting actively hurt many good, trusting members of the Body of Christ who are still following its teachings and partaking in its ministry. (Its promotion of Momentus, especially, is one of the worst examples of the harm CES has done to its followers.) Many of us subsequently participated in the original open forum nature of the CES Dialogue Board on its Web site. (Some of us found it only after such postings were no longer possible.) Sadly, CES (and some of its followers who weren't interested in having their--that is, CES's--views on scripture challenged scripturally) came to the conclusion that providing such an open forum, where others' views of scripture couldn't be controlled or easily shut down, wasn't "edifying." (In truth, we believe it was that they found that they couldn't control the dialogue on the board--something the leaders of CES seem unable to accept in any situation.) The board was shut down with a notice stating that, after its reinstatement, it would be a "moderated" board in which messages would be posted only after being "evaluated" by the leaders of CES so that they could post what they consider an appropriate reply (provided they choose to post them at all). We believe that this means that the board is to be censored so that it either reflects only CES doctrine or that the leaders of CES can always get the last word in, as they did in the old Dialogue magazine (precursor to their present Contender). Most of us felt "disenfranchised"--again--by this turn of events. After much prayer and contemplation, we believe the Lord instructed us to provide this site, and its accompanying forums, as a replacement for the old CES Dialogue Board and as an alternative to that board's new format (whenever it returns). Not that there aren't many other excellent message boards on the Web--WayDale's, for one, is an exemplary example (if you don't mind the "ex-" alliteration here). But none of them focus primarily on CES and its doctrines and practices (and the problems with them). That's why we felt the need for this specific Web site and message board community--as a forum to give voice to all those ex-CES followers who, except for the brief time the CES Dialogue Board served that purpose, have had no one place to gather on the Web and share what we've been learning since leaving CES. (At least we know of no such place. If you do, please send us an e-mail about it.) And that's who we are and why we started this Web site. As for what we believe (at least those of us who started this site), read on . . .
|
|
|
What We Believe
Here are some of the basic tenants of God's Word that we believe in. We're presenting them so that you know where we stand on various aspects of the Word. Be advised, however, that except for the most basic of these beliefs--such as that the Bible truly is God's written, revealed Word and that it's infallible and perfect (in as much as the original text is correctly translated)--we can't be dogmatic about everything that we list here. That's because, just five years ago, many of these beliefs were different--and, in fact, sometimes even the opposite of what you see here. (And others were different just five to ten years before that.) That's because we've learned more of the Word in that time--enough to see through some of man's traditions and doctrines that we've been taught in the past was the Word of God (but isn't). (Additionally, not everyone involved in the Ex-CES Followers Web site necessarily agrees 100 percent with all these statements. But we all allow that, as we learn more, we may come to agree with them more closely--or we may need to change them again.) So take these statements of belief as a sort of snapshot in time of what we currently believe that God has revealed to us in His wonderful Word. (If they change through further study, we'll change them here and let you know that we've done so.) That said . . . The Bible: We believe that the Bible is the written and revealed Word of God, perfect and infallible in its original text and wherever correctly translated. We believe that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, as scripture testifies of itself, providing a written record of God's dealings with His people, past, present, and future, and with His will for our lives as believers. We further believe that God's Word is sufficient for all things pertaining to life and godliness and need not be supplemented by any extra-scriptural sources, including traditions of church or man or any secular knowledge or wisdom so called, such as psychology, theology, or similar disciplines. We follow a literal hermeneutic except where the text is obviously using figures of speech or other figurative language, such as in apocalyptic literature. We prefer the traditional texts of scripture, as reflected in such versions as the Geneva Bible and the King James Bible, as translated from the Massoretic Hebrew and Majority Greek texts, and believe them to be most accurate versions available overall, though not totally without translational error. We do recognize, however, that insight into the original texts can also be derived from other translations and versions that don't deviate greatly from these traditional texts. We strive to be like the Bereans and to search the scriptures daily as to whether anything that anyone says about God's Word is true. God's perfect Word--and only His Word--is our final authority in all things, as much as is possible for imperfect man. God: We believe in one God, the creator of the heavens and the earth and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God is all-knowing, all-wise, all powerful, and all-loving. We further believe that God reveals Himself to us through the scriptures and only through the scriptures. We put no authority in how men or councils or denominations or theologians describe God unless such descriptions can also be clearly found in the Bible. We believe that such faddish views of God as that He's constantly growing and learning (Process Theology) or that He doesn't perfectly know the future (Open Theology) have no basis in scripture and are but the vain imaginings of men. We believe that God is spirit, as scripture tells us, and that we are to worship him in spirit and in truth (through His Word). We also believe that God is no respecter of persons and that He has foreknown from the beginning who among us would believe in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus be saved, but that He has not predestined some to eternal life and others to eternal damnation, as some teach. Rather, he calls us all to Him through His love, through His Son, through His Word, and through those of us who have freely believed and become His children and who walk as He would have us walk. We believe that God wants all men to be saved and come into the knowledge of the truth, but He has given us free will to believe or not. We believe that God is holy and just and that all His dealings with His people demonstrate these qualities. We also believe that God calls us, His people, to holiness. Understanding our nature, however, He knows that we often fail, and He is quick and willing to forgive us if we humble ourselves before him and confess our sins. We believe that God, our heavenly Father, is worthy of worship, praise, and prayer, and we bless His Holy name, whether as Elohim, Yahweh, Jehovah, or just God. The Lord Jesus Christ: Despite what one recent poster to our forums tried to proclaim, Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior as well as the Messiah foretold by all the prophets in the Old Testament! (To Be Continued . . .)
Ex-CES Followers
Seated in the Heavenlies
Walking on God's Word, eternally
Amen!
E-mail:
ex-ces@ex-ces.faithweb.com
Web site:
ex-ces.faithweb.com
|
|
