Two by Two Terminology - (S) | Veterans of Truth

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A Search for "The Truth"

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The Workers' Words Exposed by Lloyd Fortt.

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"Language of Truth" - The Way of the Workers and Friends

(S)

Sadducee

"We are the only people in the world that believe in the resurrection or will be resurrected." Senior Worker, Milltown Convention, August 28, 1988.

Though not used often, this term has been used to denote all other religious people including Christians, even those who say that they believe in the resurrection. Yet, Acts 23:8 clearly states that the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection. The workers use this term, without thinking of its implications, when they refer to the "doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees" in a derogatory fashion.

Sacrifice

It is believed and preached by the workers that in order to win salvation, one must be prepared to sacrifice things in this life.

I have heard sermons that we must sacrifice our beauty and joy on the altar, then the ashes of sacrifice fall at the foot of the altar, and at the end of our lives God measures those ashes to see how much we have sacrificed, and rewards us appropriately in both beauty and joy. This is equivalent to men purchasing from God a salvation that belongs to God, using for currency that which also belongs to God, and if you will pardon the poetry, that's called fraud.

The workers have substituted their own ideas of what is an acceptable currency, as if they own even that, but Scripture tells us that the required sacrifice for sin is blood; not the abstinence from movies, T.V., etc., etc., etc.]

"The amount of joy one has is directly related to the amount of sacrifice and willingness." Senior Worker.

"Sacrifice is an investment. God won't accept our sacrifice unless it is spotless. It must be our best." Senior Worker, 1971.

Everett Swanson obviously believes that "our best" is "spotless." God must therefore have lied when He said, "All have sinned and fallen short. " Like many other men, Mr. Swanson would have God accept the best that men are capable of, instead of God's demand of absolute perfection. By such presumptuous thoughts, sin is diminished in seriousness, and man's standards are imposed upon God.

Just because men refuse to accept God's standard of perfection does not mean that God's standard has changed. It only means that men reject God.

Saint

A member of "The Truth." A "Friend," exclusively.

Salvation

Acceptance by God of one into His kingdom or heaven. This is only known to be possessed for sure after death, when one hears God's "Well done," or, "Depart," and to achieve the "Well done," one must live up to the "example of Jesus."

The "example of Jesus" can only be achieved within the "right church" whose laws, both spoken, written (in the Bible), and unspoken, unwritten, are the "example of Jesus, " in that "He established a way, and showed us how to live it. " The way that Jesus supposedly established is the possessionless preachers, single "for the gospels sake," who go out preaching in twos.

Therefore, one can live up to the "example of Jesus" only by becoming a member of the only church on earth which still sends its ministers out in that pattern, namely "The Truth," or the Two-by-Two church.

Interestingly the non-preaching member can only be saved if he somehow can "hang on, " since he does not fulfill the requirement to go out preaching. The reason that one cannot be sure of his or her salvation here on earth, is that even those inside the "right church" can find sin within themselves, so that, although the "right church" is perfect, its members are not, (including any worker who sins) and none wish to be so bold or lacking in humility that he or she would judge even self as being saved, and because one can always find sin to do away with or struggle with, one cannot be sure if he or she is perfect enough until God says so in eternity, but one can certainly "hope" to be acceptable here and now, which is the best that one can do.

This is logically the progression of thought that humans will follow if they do not understand that Jesus died in our place, a perfect lamb of sacrifice that took our penalty for our sins, in keeping with God's requirement of an unblemished blood sacrifice for sin, and ignores entirely the security in God's nature.

When God makes a promise, one can count on it, for it is impossible for God to lie, and God said, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. " John 3:16.

Do you believe the record that God gave of His Son (1 John 5:10)?

Do you believe in Jesus Christ?

IF you do, God said that you will not perish, but HAVE everlasting life.

How long is everlasting?

When does everlasting start?

If everlasting is forever can one then somehow lose out once he or she has believed on Jesus Christ, God manifested in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16), Emmanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23), Jesus Christ, The Word who became flesh (John 1:14), the mighty God (Isaiah 9:6), who died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3), and rose on the third day (Matthew 16:21), and who now sits on the Father's right hand (Matthew 22:44) making intercession (Romans 8:34) for those who come to Him, whom He said He would by no means cast out (John 6:37).

The resurrected Lord Jesus Christ said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:20.

O, dear reader, whoever you are, wherever you are,

OPEN THE DOOR TO THE JESUS OF GOD'S WORD.

By the definition of "gospel" as believed by the Two-by-Twos/Cooneyites (held to be a method of preaching, and the meeting in the home), the worker's statement quoted below is absolutely true: the Bible knows nothing of their definition of "gospel," and therefore one cannot come to their understanding of the Gospel by reading the Bible; it is not there!

Whether or not they think of both the kingdom of God and heaven as one and the same thing is not clear, in that the kingdom of God is equated with "The Truth," i.e., the Two-by-Two church.

The workers often state, "Jesus the same yesterday, today and forever" in support of their contention that the "ministry" which He supposedly set up (sending them out by twos), would never change.

They also use this verse to suggest that their "unchanging" ministry is, at least in essence, the same as Jesus Christ (who is the subject of the verse). According to Scripture, there is only one Gospel, which is described in Revelation 14:6 as the everlasting gospel. Think about that: when all is done, the Church has been gathered into heaven, God's plan is complete, evil has been forever banished to the bottomless pit, all who will be saved have been saved -- to whom do the Two-by-Two preachers preach? You might say: "to no one, for it is all finished." Ah, but that would mean that the Two-by-Two ministry is not an "everlasting gospel." nor "the same yesterday, today and forever." Galatians 1:8 "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we [the Apostles sent out directly by Jesus] have preached unto you, let him be accursed. " Note the unusual emphasis added to the point by vs. 9.

"Faith cometh by hearing, not by reading. No one can receive salvation simply by reading the Bible." Senior Worker, Glen Valley Convention, August 4, 1988.

“What is salvation? To begin with, it is God's deliverance in our lives. It is God giving us victory in our own hearts over ourselves. Again salvation is the continuation of the destruction of sin in yourself. Maybe when a person first heard the gospel he made a great attempt to destroy sin within himself. He may not be doing just as much at it now. If we destroy sin in ourselves, nothing around us can destroy us. Nothing can master a person, who, by the grace of God is mastering himself. This is salvation- being able to master ourselves. That means being the master of yourself in all things. Do not be discouraged by the fact that not many people are willing to go infer this salvation."

Worker, Boston, Massachusetts, 1957.

Sanctify

"No man or woman anywhere in any age of the world can have the marks of sanctification who is of this world." Worker, Trail, British Columbia, Special Meeting, 1953.

In order that the above statement become understandable, see the definition of "World." Thereby you will understand that the statement means that no member of any church other than "The Truth" can show the marks of sanctification according to the Two-by-Two beliefs. What are the "marks" that the worker refers to?

"If only God's people would remember the necessity of having the right marks of preserving their testimony. They would be able to show whose they are and whom they serve. Satan would have no claim on them. God's people are to be known in the streets, among the multitudes of men. There should be sufficient evidence about us, about our attire, about our spirit, about our walk to show that we are the Lord's, that we are known of Him and chosen of Him."Worker, Portland Special Meeting.

The marks that are indicated above; the type of clothing worn, the attitudes of the person, and the lifestyle of the person supposedly show to whom the person belongs. All the marks of sanctification are outward if this is true. However, it is a false view since God has said:

John 13:35 "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. " (See also, "Separation.")

Satan

The Lord of this present reality called earth.

His presence, according to the workers, is everywhere in what the workers describe as the "world."

This is especially true according to the workers, within all other churches, and religions other that their own. He is the father of all evil and deception, and all lies other than the lies that the workers teach regarding their church.

The deception practiced by the workers in the hiding of their history and many other hidden things is done in the name of God and truth, so as to achieve their own purposes. These purposes are believed to be God's, and therefore God is made out to be the author of the workers' lies and deception, not Satan!

Saved

A term viewed suspiciously, and ridiculed, as it is used by the orthodox churches. It is used by the Two-by-Twos/Cooneyites, but it refers to salvation, as described under "Salvation," which is thought to be the superior view over that of the orthodox churches view.

Savior

Jesus is the Savior. He saved us from a life of sin outside of the "right church."

When he came to be our "wonderful example," he opened the door to the "right church" so that we could enter by copying Him; in other words, we can become just like Jesus, and to accomplish this, we need to copy His self-denial by which Jesus the man became "godlike" (i.e., "divine") through learning obedience through his suffering. He saved us from being entangled with Satan's churches (all other churches), or brought us out of them, by coming to earth to show us the pattern for the "right church."

One might wonder why they don't also demand that everybody must be crucified: Jesus was either our substitute, or our example, you can't have both; He either died in our place, or we must all be crucified like Him

Scrip

This term is used by the workers in conjunction with exposition of their claimed commission to preach their "gospel." It is used without explanation of what it is in most cases, as a simple reading of Matthew 10:10. As a child, I thought that it meant "script" because of the lack of definition by the workers who used it. This seemed to fit well when one considers the workers' extemporary preaching style. I was quite shocked to find out that "scrip" means, "a traveler's leathern bag or pouch for holding provisions." (Vine's) My shock was not because of my misunderstanding of its meaning, but rather that the workers have always had their suitcases since I have known of them; they do not therefore abide by the very verses of Scripture that they claim as their commission.

The disciples of Matthew 10 were not to carry any possessions at ail. If I could have excused the workers' disobedience and defiance of Scripture on just this one point, then I could have excused them on all other points of their divergence from Scripture

Second Death

This is to be the fate after death in the physical sense of those who reject the workers and their "right church."

It is to be an eternal state of torment in hell fire, though some workers teach that the second death is merely separation from God; very like the annihilation view where one just ceases to exist. The concept of hell is held in a fairly biblical view by most, and was indeed the thing that prompted my mind to seek out truth according to Scripture. It was my fear of hell that drove me to my knees privately, and to pray for so many years that God would reveal to me His truth in a way that I could understand beyond confusion and doubt.

It was my fear of hell and the second death that forced me to rely on God to show me. That fear stopped me from accepting the workers' teachings, because of the contradictions in their teachings. It took many years of turmoil for me to come to the realization that the very fact that I was bothered by those contradictions at all was indeed the answering of my prayers to God.

Seed

"When people listen to the gospel, a portion of the life of Christ is implanted within them. Apart from this we could not possess the life and nature of Christ. It comes from no other source. When this new seed has been planted in the heart of the oyster, it is again placed back in the basket. There it is restricted. It cannot go where it pleases. It is confined in this place where it can be cared for and protected. How different this is from the popular evangelist [Billy Graham] who says to his converts, 'Attend the church of your choice.'" Worker.

The "seed" preached by the workers is their version of the "gospel." It is believed that when one comes to understand that their "gospel" is the form of ministry, and the church in the home, without having been clearly taught that this is their "gospel," it shows the sprouting of that seed.

It is believed that this is the "revelation of Christ to the individual human heart. "

Seeing It

See "Conversion." To come to an agreeable understanding of the workers' preachings.

This could be described as the sprouting of the workers' seed.

Self Denial

"One thing necessary for the Kingdom to be preserved is for us to be willing for sacrifice and self denial. If God can’t find people willing to deny self, it won 't work." Worker, Devon Montana Convention, 1977.

Self denial, that which God depends on to maintain His Kingdom (poor old God), means to adhere to the lifestyle that is acceptable to the workers. The dress code is self denial, (for the women in particular) housing the workers is self denial, non-participation in sports is self denial, abstinence from watching movies is self denial, and so many other normal enjoyments in life when abstained from constitute self denial. But the crowning self denial is for one to abandon marriage hopes and possessions and go out preaching as a worker. The quote above is very true for the Two-by-Twos in the sense that God's Kingdom is considered to be their church alone, and therefore, if none are found to become workers, it will die out of existence within a few years. Thus, God is relegated to depending on the willingness of men in order to ensure that His Kingdom survives. Mere men are made to become the decisive factor in whether God succeeds or not!

Matthew 16:18 "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. "

It would seem that God does not agree with the workers: God says that it is He who will build His church, and it looks like He intends to maintain it regardless of what men may or may not do!

I think that it is God who is sovereign, not man; not even workers.

Sell All and Give to the Poor

When a worker preaches this part of his or her "gospel," there is never any identity given of who "the poor" are. It is generally accepted by all that "the poor" are indeed the "poor" workers who sold all that they possessed to go out as homeless, stranger preachers; poor for the gospel's sake.

Other preachers who are seen to have thus abused their ministries are roundly condemned as “preaching for gain, " but in the case of their own workers, the same abuses are accepted as marks of the "right church." One thing is different in the case of the workers from that of the abusive Christian evangelist, that being that the workers are housed, fed, and clothed by the members already, so that their need for money is substantially reduced. One might wonder why a worker would need, or accept the money from new workers at all. It might be more acceptable if such money was given by the workers to the less fortunate members of their church rather than ending up in bank accounts held by the head workers under several workers' names.

Lay members seldom hear of these activities. They are kept hopelessly in the dark about most of the practices of the Head workers in particular, and risk expulsion if they should ask about them with any insistence on answers.

Even this is not indicated clearly, but is implied through sharp answers, frowns, wrinkling of the forehead, pretended deafness etc. Many who made the "mistake" of asking too many such questions have found themselves shunned and mistreated by all; drummed out of the cult. Once the bitternesses that result from such expulsion without clear charge are dealt with, such a former member can become a very active Christian if the true Gospel is encountered, and therefore are most fortunate for having been "put out."

Parker, The Secret Sect, pp. 42-43. See the section detailing Arthur McCoy's experiences.

Seminary

"A seminary is where they bury the Bible." Notes: July 12, 1966.

I.e., a "Cemetery:" The places where the churches "of the world" teach people how to direct other people to hell, according to the workers.

Separation

"The separation comes first, then the washing of the blood of the Lord. You could not have access to the efficiency of that blood without first of all being willing for the separation." Senior Worker, funeral of Annie Lyness, Bozeman Montana, June 3, 1970.

"Separation is the salvation of this land. Revelation 22:15 Without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. This describes the people outside the Fellowship of God's people. They will be outside the city through all eternity." Senior Worker, Orick Convention, 1969.

"There is no salvation without separation." Senior Worker, Glen Valley Convention, August 4, 1988.

Separation is meant in the same way as the dictionary defines "isolation." It is taught that God's people must separate themselves from "the world" even as they live in the world. They are to have no more than necessary contact through business dealings with the people "of the world."

If one has relatives who do not "profess," the member is advised to withdraw from association with them.

This will include a husband or wife who is antagonistic to the professing spouse's beliefs. The children of "unprofessing" parents, who have reached an age whereby they can support themselves, are advised to disassociate with their parents. Likewise, brothers and sisters are to separate themselves from unprofessing family members. Great bitternesses have followed this cult since its inception in Ireland at the turn of the century because of this.

Families have been torn apart, never quite healing again. Old issues of the Impartial Reporter and Farmers Journal (a newspaper from Enniskillen Ireland) contain a report of litigation concerning suspicion of Two-by-Two involvement in the white slave trade during sect's early years -- an unfounded suspicion prompted by the Two-by-Twos' secrecy, and especially the demand that its preachers and members be "separated." This "separation" is still taught vigorously today. (See "Sanctify.")

Servants of God

"Peter and John were -- they were servants of God. They were preaching this wonderful gospel and some of us have the privilege of telling men and women about. And -- ah, they weren't doing it because they had to; it wasn't because they were being paid for it, or because they had failed at business and they decided, well we better be preachers." Senior Worker, 1990. See Chapter Ten for complete text.

The terms "Servants" and "Handmaids" refer to the male and female workers respectively.

These are believed to be the only true servants of God on earth today; in other words, the only true preachers of the only true gospel and who represent the only true church. Where this term is used with reference to any Bible character, Prophets included, the significance is that they are believed to be workers of "The Truth" in antiquity. How irreconcilable with the fact that they preach that only "poor, homeless, stranger preachers" are "true servants of God." The patriarchs and Apostles must then have been false prophets, since they had homes, wives and families, as did Ezekiel, Jeremiah, John, Peter, Philip, and possibly Paul as well. (See Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, III, xxx.)

Servants of Satan

All other religious ministries.

Service

Service to God is believed to be service to the Two-by-Two church, its ministry, and to each other within it.

Sex

Sex is a topic that is avoided whenever possible,

especially from the preaching platform.

This reflects a prevalent "Victorian" view of sexuality.

The word "sex" is not mentioned without shame in the homes of many of the "Friends."

Most of what Two-by-Two children learn of sex comes through experimentation, the street, their peers and now secular views from school.

Sexual immorality has been documented in the case of numerous workers and is rumored in many other cases.

Molestation has recently been cited and documented in the case of two Alaskan workers. Both of them were eventually removed from the ministry (or at least from Alaska) when the situation could no longer be covered up. An ex-member in the U.S.A. who pickets meetings and conventions citing homosexuality among workers is denounced as a "crazy man" by the workers, though they know that it is true. Because of the misplaced esteem in which workers are held, members grumble about these things among themselves, but will not confront them. These things are called "false charges," by many, and perhaps some cases are, but the sheer number of cases cited makes it unlikely that all are false.

Yet members will defend where necessary, cover up where possible and down right deny all such cases.

Somehow, the fact that God created male and female and instituted marriage as the rightful place for sexual activity, and saw that it was "good" is turned into a hotbed of lies and perversion in order that men and women appear to "give up ail" to go out preaching.

All they really give up are their bills and their integrity!

Sin

"Do not expect the blood of Christ to cleanse us until we cleanse ourselves. There are four ways in which we can be cleansed. I- We cleanse ourselves. 2- We are cleansed by the Holy Spirit. 3- We are cleansed by the Word of God. 4- We are cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus. All four are very very necessary for all of us to make it right, to have the right attitude toward sin." Senior Worker, Saginaw, Oregon.

"We do not believe in original sin." Senior Worker.

Sin is most often seen as disobedience to the workers' concepts of the "right church." Sin is seldom talked about in any specific way.

If one considers the preceding quote of Andrew Abernathy, one might wonder what is left to cleanse after one has cleansed himself; of what does the Holy Spirit cleanse us if we have cleansed ourselves already? One might also notice that the shedding of Jesus' blood is not too important, since it falls in last place in this supposed procedure of cleansing. Let us look at Scripture to see what it is that God says cleanses us from all sin:

1 John 1:7 ~...and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

So it would seem that God doesn't agree with Mr. Abernathy. Perhaps God doesn't know as much as this worker? More likely Mr. Abernathy is busy adding things to Scripture. You may wish to check out what God says about people who add things to His word: e.g., Revelation 22:18 "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book."

Sister

"Sister" is usually used to denote a female worker, but is sometimes used to refer to a female member.

Son of God

Jesus is the Son of God, His only Begotten Son. Jesus is said to be the Son of God in the same sense as a man's son is the son of that man. Therefore, Jesus is deemed not to be God, for a man's son is not his father. A son is separate from his father, so likewise Jesus is separate from his Father, and since there is only one true God, Jesus cannot be God. So, in the same manner that a man's son has his source in his father, likewise Jesus had his source in God as his father; a man the same as every other man, but who overcame his sinful nature, and became thus perfect, and is deity in that sense only; having become deity.

THE VIEW ABOVE CONSTITUTES BLASPHEMY OF HIGH ORDER. GOD SAID, "IN HIM WAS NO SIN." TO SAY HE HAD A SIN NATURE IS TO CALL GOD A LIAR.

They have reduced God to a human level by demanding that He must fit our abilities to understand; He must fit our mold, i.e.; if we cannot completely comprehend it, then it cannot be true.

"Two Lords, Jesus and God. But they are not one God. Jesus had a sinful nature but did not sin. His blood came from Mary, the seed of David. Jesus was not baptized to make Him God's Son, He war already God's Son. He wanted to give to the world the example of being dead to the world and himself and all false religions. When we believe in Jesus we are believing in God's standard." Senior Worker, Walla Walla, Washington, 1960.

Son of Man

"Remember that Jesus said that the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but I the Son of man have nowhere to lay my head. He was a homeless preacher for the gospel's sake." Senior Worker, 1990. See Chapter Ten for complete text.

Jesus' claim to be the Son of Man is viewed as only referring to his earthly sonship. He was a man born of Mary. He is therefore believed to be human only.

There is no connection made by any worker that I have ever heard, to the "Son of man" of Daniel 7:13, where "Son of man" is clearly a Messianic title, for what other "son of man" ever came "with the clouds of heaven," and "came to the Ancient of days?"

Soul

The soul of man is not often spoken or thought of in any deep fashion, it is seen as absolutely interchangeable with "spirit," which sets the tone for seeing other items interchangeably such as "Son of God," "Son of Man," and "Christ;" all referring to Jesus and interchangeable with "our elder brother."

Scripture does seem to present both soul and spirit as closely related terms, however, Scripture presents the Son of God as being fully God, (Colossians 2:9 "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”) and Scripture presents Jesus as fully man, (Hebrews 4:15 “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.'? but nowhere does Scripture present Jesus as "our elder brother" as do the workers.

Sovereign

God is readily recognized as sovereign in word at least, but then the workers claim exclusivity to the giving of eternal life.

They install themselves between man and God.

The workers therefore must rule God!

Sower

(of the seed)

The sower of the seed in Jesus' parable is understood as a picture of the "Apostolic ministry" and therefore the workers view their exclusive ministry as "the sowers of the seed."

The common non-preaching member is discouraged from "usurping" the workers' job, and therefore are admonished to avoid personal witnessing.

On the foundation of the workers' "spiritualized" interpretation regarding the "sowing of seed," they build the rationalized doctrine that they alone are the life giving human agent of salvation. Not even God Himself, through individual reading of His Word, is allowed by the workers to dispense salvation.

Special Meetings

Large gatherings of local churches held once a year for fellowship of all in the area together. These are like mini-conventions, but are only one day in length, and are held indoors in a place other than the convention farm; in such as school gymnasiums, or community halls.

Spirit

An intangible, emotionally perceived force; an attitude, mood, understanding. (Not seen as an entity, being, person, etc. in most cases of use.)

"For the spirit and attitude you assume toward those that have made themselves poor, homeless and strangers for the gospel's sake will ultimately determine where you will be in eternity. " Jack Carroll, Manhattan Convention. October 4, 1945.

Spiritual

Intangible, to do with the spirit, or The Spirit; nonphysical, mystical and incomprehensible.

"And here Peter and John were following in the footsteps of Jesus, as preachers of the gospel. And God gave them the privilege and authority to tell this gospel that is hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes. This man that they helped that was at the temple gates, the poor man was lame from birth. And they took him took him by their hand, -- grabbed ahold of his hand and God did something to his ankle bones and the man walked for the first time in his life; first time in his life! That's what the gospel does. It helps men and women to walk in the way of Jesus. None of us, no man, no woman, no boy, no girl, in their own strength can follow the teachings of Jesus; it's utterly impossible. And if God doesn't put strength in our ankle bones spiritually we can't walk in the way of Jesus. " Senior Worker, 1990. See Chapter Ten for complete text.

Spiritual Gifts

The gifts of the Spirit such as tongues, are either deemed to have ceased long before our time, or else they are deemed to be Satanic manifestations. Healing is viewed in the latter way, that is unless one is talking of spiritual healing. However, the workers hold to the supposed gift of Prophecy which gives them the power to preach hitherto unexpressed revelations directly received on the spur of the moment "from God." A look at their preachings then will have God contradicting Himself, tripping over His own tongue, and generally being a very poor speaker.

One of the best examples of this is found in this excerpt from the transcript of Gordon Winkler (See Chapter Ten for full text):

"Do you remember that little verse in ah Solomon's writings? And I think he talked about the silver cord that is broken and the cistern b -- the pitcher at the -- the pitcher by the cistern that's broken and then he said, Then the dust shall return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall go back to God who gave it. And that's the last chapter; that's the last. All these opportunities, the silver cord is snapped, the pitcher a - at the cistern is broken, and the wheels have stopped turning and then the dust returns to the earth. I don't think I ever really noticed that before! I thought it was the body returns to the earth, which m- of course means the same, but after all, we're just dust, that's what we are. And do you remember the words that in Isaiah that says, the people is grass. I used to think that - that the people are like grass, but it says the people is grass. That's all we are, we’re just grass.") ibid.

Spiritualize

Spiritualizing is thought to be the process that is required in order to seek out the deeper hidden meanings contained in Scripture. It is believed that God inspired Scripture using language that is largely symbolic, which accounts for the supposed "gospel" being hidden from the wise and prudent, but revealed unto babes. Spiritualizing of Scripture involves, in the case of the Two-by- Twos, an ignoring of the original language of Scripture, ignoring of context, ignoring of many passages that are related to one another, and reading, rather than in-depth study in any systematic way, resulting in interpreting Scripture in such a way so as to agree with a preconceived idea. Any interpretation that will support the accepted view, especially their concept of the "right ministry," is seen as very good spiritual interpretation.

It seems to me that this is referred to in Scripture as "wresting" the Scriptures. This process is also known as eisegesis, or reading meanings into Scripture, rather than exegesis, or to read what is written, letting it speak for itself (to read out of).

Spotless

"Sacrifice is an investment. God won't accept our sacrifice unless it is spotless. It must be our best." Senior Worker, 1971.

The best that we sinful beings are able to produce is believed to be "spotless" enough to suit God. This idea is akin to the idea that a good God would certainly not send one to hell who has done his best to live a "good life," which is held by many people who are not Christians. It exhibits little understanding of the biblical demand of God for absolute perfection to His standard of righteousness.

Romans 8:23 states, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." I suspect that even the Workers must be part of the "all. "

To try to present our "best" as being "spotless" is nothing short of calling God a liar!

Try on Isaiah 64:6 "But we are all as an unclean thing, and an our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."

God says our "very best" is as FILTHY RAGS!

Still Small Voice

The inner voice that is thought to be the voice of God that is, as long as it doesn't tell one something different from what the workers say.

In that case, the same inner voice would be deemed to be that of Satan, even after one has "taken his stand" and has been baptized.

There is a constant inner battle between the "voice of God" and the "voice of Satan" in the Two-by-Two mind.

Most seem to prefer these inner, emotional feelings to God's clear pronouncements and direction in His word.

Stories from Life

"When we plan to make a journey to another place, the first thing we need to do is make a reservation. When we do this, a price must be paid. You know the day and hour and your destination, but that isn't enough. On the day you are leaving, you must confirm your reservation. You confirm it by your presence, being there ready to make your journey. In a spiritual sense, we make our reservation for heaven when we hear and obey the gospel. Our sister did this 51 years ago. The price isn't paid all at once, but day by day throughout life in obedience to the will of God." Senior Worker, funeral service for Grace Dresler, December 5, 1977.

Teachings based on stories, experiences, hearsay and sometimes on imagination, or observations of the natural realm. These teachings are usually spiritualized adaptations of deduced ideas from such stories. A good example of this type of teaching is examined in Chapter Ten (p. 269, i.e., a story of a lady and her sons and the disastrous consequences of not teaching one's children about God.) These stories are used to teach some supposed spiritual truth or law, supposedly similar to Jesus' use of parables; ignoring the fact that we are told that Jesus ceased to speak in parables, and that the Apostles did not use this device in their preaching. In any event, although using a parable might superficially resemble their cited "example," the stories themselves bear no such comparison.

Evidently any story will do.

Stranger

Anyone who is not a member of "The Truth," and therefore is not saved. It is interesting that the preachers describe themselves as "homeless, stranger preachers for the gospel's sake;" and you cannot get much stranger than that!

Strength

It is my conclusion that Two-by-Two prayers for strength are sincere, as were mine, but not productive because one is expected to do things from one's own strength. Since Two-by-Two doctrine requires giving one's very best, asking for God's intervention to provide strength to fulfill the group's requirements is like a student asking the teacher for the answers to an exam.

Study

To read Scripture (sometimes limited to the verses contained in a "Study List"), and "spiritualize" it. (See "Spiritualize. ")

Study List

A prepared (usually printed) list of Bible chapters and verses to be studied in preparation for Wednesday evening meetings.

Submission

"The only key that will open the gate to heaven is the key of submission." Worker, 1959.
"Our price is submission so He can cleanse us from sin." Worker, Boring Oregon Convention, September 1, 1979.

Absolute unquestioning acceptance of anything done, said, or demanded by one in a position of authority over the submitter. e.g.; wife submitting to husband, layman submitting to Elder, Elder submitting to worker, worker submitting to Head worker, child submitting to all.

The perceived lack of this is the usual suggested reason behind all family or church related problems; the gaining of the proper “willingness to submit" in one's life is the panacea suggested for correction of these problems.

The problem with this is more in the area of lack of balance in the teaching of how those in authority are to treat those under them, therefore abusive use of authority is often the result.

Even where a problem is evidently caused by abuse of authority, the usual suggested solution is for the abused to submit.

The idea of love within the act of submitting seems to be foreign.

Submission is a duty.

The idea of love towards those under one's authority is at best lightly brushed over if taught at all. The result is that those who are to submit often resent it, (perceiving some injustice) and those to be submitted to are exalted. Abuses of authority do not find correction, but increase and the problem gets bigger. The only case type that I know of where the workers have recommended other than submission as the solution for a problem, is in instances where one of the parties involved is in disagreement with their ideas of "truth:" e.g., a husband who is not attending their Meetings, in which case a worker may suggest that the "professing" wife leave him even if it is evident that the main cause of the problem is on her account.

The suffering caused by an unbalanced idea of "submission" is enormous within this sect.

Substitutionary Sacrifice

The most ridiculous idea that man has ever put upon God, in the opinion of the workers. The fact that the idea is God's, as taught in Scripture, is called a lie by them. (See "Vicarious Atonement.")

Subversion

To subvert the gospel is to undermine it.

To "deceive" a Two-by-Two into thinking that there is anything wrong with their beliefs at all.

Because of this book, I am already accused of subversion for presenting the truth, and exposing the things that the workers want held secret.

Suffering

Suffering is believed to be the teacher of obedience, by which Jesus became perfect, and by which we too can become perfect, just like Him.

The members (especially females) endure suffering such as self imposed, or forced adherence to harsh dress codes, etc. My siblings and I were expected to wear early styles, including suspenders on our pants (boys), in times when our peers at school ridiculed such clothing. Thus, such trickery as adding a belt so that after leaving home in the morning, the suspenders could be removed during the day, only to be replaced again prior to arriving home after school.

This one example is given here in order to show that the prescribed suffering fostered lies and disobedience.

Many cases of this can be related, such as women quickly removing jewelry and make-up in order to appear to adhere to expected codes when an unexpected visit by a worker took place.

Self denial, in the Two-by-Two form, usually leads to all kinds of hypocrisy because it is forced upon unwilling participants by the legalism of the cult.

Some "suffering" situations are set up in order to teach children how to deny self or how to suffer.

"The process by which an object is placed into an oyster to begin the creation of a pearl is an illustration of the pain one must undergo in order for the work of the gospel to take place in one's life. The people listen to the gospel, a portion of the life of Christ is planted within them. Apart from this we could not possess the life and nature of Christ. " Worker, Convention, 1960.

Synagogue

This is a word used by the workers to denote the church buildings of any religious organization (except their own). It is used in a derogatory fashion, so as to ridicule those organizations for being “just like the Jews" in all aspects, including the place of worship.