Heart Worship of Jesus Christ

Worshiping God is the work of God that is revealed by faith in God.

The 2x2 religion does not believe in nor allow worship of Jesus Christ. First off, in general, they won't say that Jesus Christ is God. And since they don't believe Jesus Christ is God, they don't believe in worshiping Him. Instead, they worship the WORKERS and this is evidenced in how they will support WORKERS even when they clearly contradict the Bible.

I asked my mother who is a 2x2 about the disciples who worshiped Jesus Christ, if this was OK in her eyes. She said that it is a mistake to worship Jesus Christ! I know first hand the evidence of the 2x2 religion teaching by things I've experienced and seen in my own 2x2 relatives.

Fundamental Commandments and Worship

The greatest commandment in the Bible is to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. And the second is to love my neighbor as myself. Everything is hinged on this. I've learned this from the Bible. Not only from the Bible, but I've discovered all decisions in life are based on these two commandments of God which affect my worship of God.

Since many 2x2s don't understand the basic definition of common words, I will try to explain the meaning of the word worship through the scripture.

One of the first word instances of worship is here:

Gen_22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

Abraham separated himself to do with Isaac what God had called him to do. It was a time when evidence was proving through works his faith in God. Abraham's faith was so great, the apostle Paul wrote this to the Hebrews:

Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

This worship of Abraham was in private, but was later revealed to the whole world.

Another instance of worship is found here:

Exo 24:1 And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off. And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him. And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do. And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

A time of worship is when God calls us to himself. We show to him our faith through works which is manifest to the world. It can be a time alone or with others as we obey the call of God, our creator, Jesus Christ.

Some 2x2s think that going to meetings is a time of worship. Or that they are worshiping together. I found out quite different as I began to obey the scripture and revere the word of God. I found that I was condemned, despised and wrongfully treated as I praised the words of Jesus Christ. Many of you who are reading this have found the same, and a few have come to worship the God of heaven from your heart. What a blessing to praise, worship and adore our Creator and love his word with our whole heart no matter what others say or think!

How do I love God with my whole heart? I know there are things that I don't love because I don't believe in them. Or I know there are contradictions. For example, I could not get into Mormonism or 7-day Adventist religion because of the contradictions in their teachings. In the same way, I don't follow much of today's denominational Christianity because I don't believe in some of their teachings which contradict the Bible. And each specific denomination has specific teachings that make it what it is and why they separate themselves from other denominations. Their specific teachings that distinguishes them from other denominations are specifically why I don't follow their teachings. Just like the 2x2 religion has specific teachings that make it different from Christianity.

There are things that I was taught as a child raising in the 2x2 cult. I was taught that ministers are only "of God" if they were homeless and traveled in pairs. I was taught that God ordained "meetings in the home" and these were the only true way of worshiping God. And I was taught that I evolved (theory of evolution) from rocks and slime and dirt over millions of years and became a human. And I was taught to read my Bible. And in the Bible, it says that God created man. So I ask you, "How can a kid love God with his whole heart and still believe all these contradictory teachings?"

The simple answer is that I could not. And didn't. I spent a bit of time reading my Bible as a kid. I would grab a flashlight and read under my covers. I prayed to the only god I knew at the time, the 2x2 god who set up meetings in the home and that sent out WORKERS in pairs to get people to PROFESS in MEETINGS. But being raised a 2x2 kid is confusing and disheartening.

Fast forward 20 years later, I was getting out of the cult, by asking questions and following up on those questions. It quickly led to me getting out of the cult and being totally repulsed by the OVERSEERS, WORKERS and THE FRIENDS because of how they treated me and their teachings against Jesus Christ. After a while, I knew it was a cult and that what the WORKERS were teaching was not of God and was Satanic.

I talked with my aunt, Kathy Lewis, and she gave me many books. Kathy reads and has a lot of books. I was overwhelmed with the material. But in reading the material, I found things that contradicted the Bible. I also found many new ideas that were helpful. But, I had been set free from the cult and didn't want to end up stuck in a group that took some other name than God. I was at liberty to ask questions because I wasn't with a specific denomination or religious organization. I was at liberty because I had no friends to lose by "asking the wrong question". I was in pursuit of the truth about God and wanted to really know who God is.

How can I feel good about worshiping God if I don't know who he is? And how can I feel good about worshiping God if I fellowship with people who teach things contrary to the Bible? And how can I feel good and truly be blessed if I don't believe in what God says? I was obligated by the love of Jesus Christ and used my time to get to know God. I dared to ask questions that other people didn't like. And many relationships grew cold and I grew out of favor. Even non-2x2s and "Christians" didn't like my questions.

In my pursuit of happiness and truth, I found out about "Creationism". Creationism is simply the belief that God created the heavens and the earth. And there are lots of scientists who believe that God created the heaven and the earth because it is the only plausible explanation that fits the condition of the earth today. These creationists debunk false science and explain how the Bible is true and give examples of Biblical events and there consequences in the earth. They use archeology and the study of the earth - geology - to show how God created the heaven and earth. One example is the flood. The great flood in Noah's day graphically changed the surface of the earth and we can see this in the folded layers of mud and sediment in the hills. I read books like "In the Beginning Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood" by Walt Brown Ph D. Wow! My eyes got opened. I got to see a whole new side to science that my high school biology teacher missed out on. How awesome it was to reconcile the Bible with life. And "deconfuse" my heart so that I could believe that God meant what he said when he said He created the heaven and the earth. Reading "In the Beginning" helped me to be able to love God with more of my heart. And Walter Brown has his book online for FREE at www.creationscience.com . (So much for the 2x2s who say that Christians are just greedy and want your money.)

From what I understand of reading the Bible and experience, worship is about works that comes from faith in God. It comes from being devoted, adoring and enamored with God so much so that a person could say "They worship God."

As I mentioned before, the 2x2 religion promotes worker worship.

My first year in the work with Randy Russel in Corvallis and Albany, Oregon I met Jim and JoAnne Waldo. We talked a little about how people set the WORKERS up on a pedestal. The phrase "worker worship" was not used, but the meaning was the same. JoAnne talked about how some WORKERS believe they are better or have a higher place or greater reward in heaven. I agreed with her at the time, that this was not good. I didn't like the part about being set on a pedestal, but I did feel in my heart that I would have a greater place in heaven because I was a WORKER. And I think she felt that. I don't think there are many of the FRIENDS who don't feel like the WORKERS feel like they are better than them. And I don't blame them. You can see it in how the WORKERS treat them.

Also, the 2x2s obey the WORKERS above God. I even asked the "Sister Worker" Linda Brist, "If a WORKER was teaching something against the Bible, should you obey God or the WORKER?" Her answer was that you should obey the WORKER. It was only a matter of days after receiving her answer that I realized that the 2x2 religion not only didn't understand the Bible, but systematically taught idolatry of the WORKERS. I didn't understand the word idolatry at the time, but this is what it is.

I talked with an elder Doug Corcoran about it and he brought up the verse where the apostle Paul taught that we should follow him. I suppose people can twist all sorts of verses into many things. But I ask you this, why follow someone else who isn't following God? And I say plainly, that if someone tells you to obey them above God, then you are no longer worshiping God, but someone else. The apostle Paul didn't teach things contrary to the scripture like the WORKERS do. And comparing the WORKERS who are idolaters themselves, to the apostle Paul is a clear sign of someone's blindness. Here is the scripture Doug Corcoran twisted to justify the WORKERS:

1Co_4:16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

To believe that Paul was promoting idolatry is ridiculous. While I was still a 2x2 at the time, and didn't understand much, I knew Doug's teaching was wrong also. Here are some verses, some by Paul also, which show Paul didn't promote worshiping himself.

1Co_11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

Eph_5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

Php_3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

1Th_1:6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:

1Th_2:14 For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:

Heb_6:12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

I believe this shows the importance of who you fellowship with. If we fellowship and strive to be like people who do not worship God, then we are being led astray. And when people say that the WORKERS are the only true servants of God and they will only go to MEETINGS, then it shows to me that they don't know God. Promoting idolatry is sin. Idolatry breaks the two greatest commandments of God: loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbor as ourself. The word idolatry brings me to an attribute of God which is very relevant to the word worship

Jealousy

Exo_34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

Many don't believe the commandments of God apply to New Testament Christians, but then they probably don't believe or know the New Testament then (The New Testament is God's commandments written on our hearts)

But the topic of idolatry in regards to worship show that worshiping of the WORKERS or any other gods makes God jealous. God is a jealous God. The attribute of "jealous" is well-known by many atheists. They know that God is a jealous God and that worshiping anything, anyone else makes God jealous.

So for you in the 2x2 religion that worship the WORKERS or fellowship with those who do, I encourage you to search the scripture and get to know God. We must worship him with our whole heart, and this is impossible if you are trying to please the WORKERS too. Get to know God. He loves you and cares for your soul. God corrects us in love, wanting to bring us closer to Him, to worship him with our whole heart out of love. God wants His commandments written on our hearts.