| Author | Message | ||
     Anonymous |
http://home.wwdb.org/resource/ABRG-Index.html Read all about newspapers and letters proving the Truth of the workers and friends began in Ireland in 1897. Early workers would bash denominational churches because they had a history that traced back a few centuries at best. Now we know the truth is less than 110 years old. Before 1903, there were NO professing people in North America! Before 1903, there were NO meetings, conventions, worker meetings, worker lists, preps, worker ordained Sunday/Wednesday/Gospel meetings, or anything connected with "the nameless Truth" sect. So why are the workers hiding the true history of "The Truth"?? | ||
| Anonymous |
Growing up, I sort of knew that the workers came from Ireland to North America around the turn of the 20th century. But I didn't know that the TRUTH BEGAN IN IRELAND in the late 1890s! I thought it had continued in Europe since the days of Jesus and St. Paul 2,000 years ago. Actually I think most professing people try to put the founder/history thing out of their mind and just enjoy the "fellowship" of the way. Workers would often praise "faithful souls" who have preserved "God's way" down through the ages. Discussing the history of the fellowship was forbidden by the workers. Actually you just wouldn't have felt comfortable with bringing up the subject. We just felt comfortable saying "I know this is the truth". Or "I know this way is perfect and I want to put more into it and be more faithful". In gospel meetings, workers would make clear distinctions between "God's way" (the religion of the workers and friends) and "The religious world". And since we felt that the workers brought the right form of meetings and ministry, we believed EVERYTHING ELSE they told us about rules, traditions and doctrine! | ||
| Anonymous |
Workers today are starting to share a bit about the "early days" of the work about 100 plus years ago! Some workers claim that "God's servants" restarted the Truth in Ireland because they saw "something lacking in the churches they attended". Early workers are praised for "giving up all in the world (even things that were right and proper) in order to be homeless messengers of God's word". Professing people in Ireland and England supposedly sold all of their belongings so the "work" could spread to North America and Australia circa 1902-1905. I think the belief of "meetings in the home and ministers/messengers without a home" enables the workers to decide what is right and wrong in other matters. | ||
| Boy George |
Nathan Barker, an ex-worker from Oregon, claims that there are many smaller sects meeting in homes and ministered by a homeless clergy tracing back to the days of Jesus! I think the professing people now admit that there is NO direct link back to the apostles in the New Testament. So they create a theory claiming that "God's way" has been preserved through the ages in other such groups but God's plan of the meeting in the home/homeless ministry has been left on record so future generations could restart. | ||
| Anonymous |
I think it is going to be harder for the workers to convince outsiders attending their first series of gospel meetings that "the Truth" traces back to Jesus! Anyone who knows the history of the Dark Ages from 500 BC until 1500 AD would know how difficult if not impossible for one little group to stay together in those turbulent days of wars, famines, plagues and other problems. But it makes the professing people feel good to think their way has continued since Jesus' day unlike the other "worldly churches"! | ||
| Anonymous |
The first workers such as William Irvine, Eddie Cooney, and others were SAVED in the so-called "false" or "worldly churches" BEFORE the TRUTH EXISTED! The workers got the idea to give up possessions and preach like Jesus sent the 12 and 70 in the LATE 1890s! You could say that God's word (The bible) had been preserved and that turn of the century Irish workers restarted the homeless ministry that Jesus had founded. But don't ever tell me that today's workers professed through a chain of workers going back in an unbroken chain of succession dating back 2000 years. NO WAY! | ||
| Anonymous |
North America was first settled in the 1500s. NO homeless 2X2 "Truth worker" set foot on American soil until George Walker, William Irvine and Irvine Weir landed on Ellis Island in 1903. George Walker said so and New York head worker Charles Steffen was present with George Walker when he told of the early days in 1979! Before 1902 in North America, you can provide me with NO worker lists! There were NO preps, conventions,worker companions, worker ordained gospel meetings, Sunday morning/Wednesday night meetings in the homes or conventions! NO! Everyone in North America in 1902 was unprofessing! Not one single soul had heard the workers preach! When you ask the workers if people who died before they started preaching went to hell, they change the subject. Or they ignore you. Or they feel like if there had been any "honest souls in America" the workers would have came sooner. They will act like your faith is weak for questioning anything connected with "The truth"! Workers don't want to discuss whether or not people were saved in the centuries between the bible days and the founding of this nameless home meeting sect 1900 years later!! | ||
| Anonymous |
Today's workers in Eastern USA still won't talk much about the history of the Truth way. Some of them will say that "God's way" has been preserved through history by faithful men and women. Others claim that the workers "restarted the Truth" in Ireland around 1900 because they read their bibles and didn't see the Matthew 10 style of homeless ministry in the churches of that era. Others won't talk about it. Some will change the subject or question the faith of the person asking them about when Truth began. | ||
| Anonymous |
You just know not to ask a "senior worker" about who started this fellowship called "The truth". Some of the older "servants of God" are aloof and unapproachable. You just don't bring up the subject because it makes you and them feel uncomfortable. Yet the workers are going to have to explain that their fellowship meetings trace back to the late 1890s. And the workers are going to have to admit that they have a human founder who influenced the beliefs of the early workers like Jack Carroll and George Walker. The friends are becoming better educated and informed. They won't settle for cliches, one liners, and statements that don't fully answer their questions about the history and founder thing. | ||
| Anonymous |
Despite the secretive and low profile nature of "The Truth" today, early documents and newspapers about the Truth way have been preserved! Impartial Reporter reported on some early activity of tramp preachers circa 1897-1910. Early workers like Eddie Cooney, William Irvine, George Walker, James Jardine, John Long, Jack Carroll were well known by the early Irish-English newspapers. But when William Irvine was kicked out of the "work" by the head workers of the day, workers began to downplay and even deny his role in founding "the Truth". Many professing people and workers today think The Truth is the only religion that traces back to the days of Jesus! | ||
| Anonymous |
Professing people try to avoid thinking about contradictory aspects of their fellowship meetings. Actually many friends think it is wrong to question "God's way" as they call their fellowship meetings. Workers and friends often question someone's faith for asking questions or reasoning that the "truth" might not be the only true way. Many friends are afraid to question the workers about long held rules and traditions of the fellowship fearing that some worker will ask them not to take part in the fellowship meetings (speak or pray in meeting). Some professing people fear God will punish them if they don't believe the "Truth" is the only true fellowship. Many put out of their minds questions about the sect or its ministers. The workers bash human reasoning in meeting. You aren't supposed to think or reason the scriptures. Workers often say the word 'iniquity' mean "I think". Thus the friends can be anti-intellectual. Workers aren't allowed to have theological training. Workers say they get their sermons "from up above". | ||
| Anonymous |
Many professing people REFUSE to think that their little meetings have a founder and began in the late 1890s. No they will not accept this. 100 plus years of hearing workers preach about belonging to the "true church" that Jesus established isn't going to be changed overnight. People love to think that they are in the right way and everyone else belongs to the wrong church. I don't care how many documents or old newspapers (worker notes, funeral notes or stories of the early days of the work) you provide, many professin people refuse to accept that their meetings are just another church like the thousands of Protestant Churches. | ||
| Anonymous |
I find it amazing that I never even questioned the idea that "Truth" is the only way that traces back to Jesus and the apostles. If you tell a small child that his religion is the only right fellowship, then he will believe anything else his or her minsiters tell him! I hope that with the history of the fellowship now found of websites, younger professing children will learn the true history of the fellowship and no longer believe something that isn't true. Think about it: How could any religion continue in an unbroken chain down through the turbulent middle ages! Too much isolation, divisison, wars, and other disruptions to prevent one little true branch of Christianity to survive! But thanks to the preserved written word, people can go back to the biblical description of a church. But I don't think the "meeting in the home and the minister without a home" is the only acceptable way to worship God! The workers overemphasize this belief that unless a minister preaches without a home and in a home, he is false! | ||
| Anonymous |
Some workers feel that "the Truth" is hidden from the masses of people and revealed only to those who are honest and feel their need of "God's way". Many in the "Truth" feel that a seeking soul will find a seeking Saviour. For this reason, professing people often pray in meeting that "those outside this way could be led in touch with the Servants of God" before it is too late. That is why the workers rarely go "door to door" inviting unprofessing people to hear their gospel meetings. There is a belief that if the "friends" live the right life before those outside their fellowship, the lost person will ask questions and be led in touch with the workers. | ||
| Anonymous |
I have often wondered why the workers were so low profile and secretive? Some might respond to this question by saying something like "A true servant of God doesn't draw attention to themselves". Maybe a little of the worker's secrecy is humility. I think many of them feel they are spiritually superior to the masses of humanity and also friends. Being superior to others, they don't want to share secrets with mortals. Workers seem to think that decisions they make concerning meeting relocations, ex-communications, convention changes, lists of workers for the next year, convention/special meeting visits, and other information requires prayer before the decision if final. So the workers first pray about a decision and consult one another before the news filters down to the friends. Workers often prefer that much of their decisions don't fall into the hands of "outsiders" or members who don't profess their religion. | ||
| Anonymous |
I have thought a bit about the "perfect way" belief. Workers like to distance themselves from any evidence that would point to the "Truth" being a religion instead of the only true way that Jesus established on the earth!! Thus workers deny a human founder claiming Jesus and the 12 disciples began their fellowship. Workers like to conceal problems and anything that would make "the Truth" get some negative attention. When professing people err, workers either hide the problem or they kick the person out of the fellowship. Professing girls with children born out of the wedlock are kicked out of the "truth" making the Truth look like a perfect religion. Workers love to point to problems in other churches while claiming that "The Truth" has no problems. Workers just ignore the problem or kick the erring member out of the fellowship meetings instead of reaching out to the erring member. Workers are concerned if a friend says or does something that might prevent the friends from having a good "testimony before worldly people" because "you never know who may be watching your life and how good it would be that they see you are different from other people". I remember hearing that "we as God's people are the only bible some lost soul might read". Workers don't want their meetings taped and won't allow friends and certain workers (much less non-members) from knowing what is said and done at secret worker meetings. The "Truth" seems like a perfect religion. Ministers living in faith meeting in homes like the bible says and all. Somehow this "perfect way" mentality leads to worker power abuse, nervousness, discouragement and self-righteousness. People either feel spiritually superior or inferior depending upon their "place in the Kingdom". | ||
| Anonymous |
Some workers seem so pure and spiritual. Some like to convey the image of spiritual superiority before "weak saints" who aren't faithful enough. Workers think they have the right to judge the friends because of their "place in the kingdom". Maybe some workers feel that their decisions and actions are the "secrets of the kingdom of heaven" so maybe they shouldn't share these decisions with the general public. | ||
| Anonymous |
Until the internet websites in the late 1990s, many of the younger workers knew nothing about the "truth beginning in Ireland in the late 1890s"!! No. Early workers would damn other churches into hell when they spoke in meetings! I used to hear stories about how rough worldly people had abused the servants of God. While some of these stories may have been true, early workers weren't popular because of how they would damn other churches into hell! the harsh lifestyle of the early workers has bred a culture of harshness-those at the bottom of the work unquestioningly submit and obey those at the top of the power structure. The early workers were so taken up with their sacrifices and persection. Their harsh life without a home in North America appealed to the early people who professed in North America. I mean walking long distances, spending time with a same sex companion, no stable homelife or familial setting, no guarantee of a place to spend the night and other things made this ministry kind of harsh!! And older workers have instilled a harshness that continues to haunt the work. Witness the events in Western Canada and Scandanavia! With these head workers, it is THEIR WAY or the highway! The workers today are sheltered some but spending a different night or two in a different bed isn't easy. Workers often don't enjoy their lifestyle but feel that they will get a worker reward for saving lost souls! | ||
| Anonymous |
Growing up, I considered Jesus to be the founder of the "Truth" fellowship. I considered myself to be better and different from the rank and file of unprofessing sinners in "The World". I professed at age 11 and thought I should be a "little light" before the world since I was the only child in my school who knew "Truth". I had spiritual pride but I didn't know it! I was so self righteous and judgemental! I had so much reverence and respect for the workers because they were closer to God than other people! I allowed the workers to tell me what to wear and how to wear my hair! I felt I should be "different from the world". In those days, professing people were encouraged to limit interactions with unprofessing people! Workers would encourage the friends to only associate with professing people and limit too much interaction with the "people of God"! Saturday nights, we were encouraged to read, pray and get ready for the Sunday morning meeting. I remember missing Halloween in order to go to Wednesday night meetings. I remember a special meeting would always occur on Easter. Growing up, the meetings came first. Putting the workers and meetings first was the same as putting God first! I knew my professing home was different that the other "worldly homes" in my community! We didn't have a television and didn't decorate for Christmas. Their church services met in buildings and had a denominational name. Our church services or meetings were held in the living room of a home and didn't take a name other than "truth" or "The Truth".!! My mother and grandmother always wore dresses! I didn't keep up with the news. While books and magazines were tolerated, a few workers would speak against them during convention visits! I couldn't communicate with classmates so I became shy and withdrawn. My self esteem was so low. Yet I thought I was "suffering" because I was belonging to the only Jesus way on earth-The ONLY right form of worship! | ||
| Anonymous |
You would be suprised how many professing people in US and Canada believe that this "Truth" fellowship has continued since the days that Jesus was on the earth! We used to hear in meetings about the faithful men and women who have "preserved God's way" down through the ages. You know I believed that our church was from the beginning. I would laugh when I saw a church building with some date in the 1800s or 1900s on a sign! I laughed because our fellowship meetings in living rooms went back to the days of Jesus and his disciples. I didn't know that Irish workers around 1897 came up with the idea of a homeless ministry and meetings in the home because they were disgusted with denominational Christianity. The workers should come clean with the history even if it effects their prestige. Nobody in USA professed before 1903! There were no workers before 1903. I refuse to think people went to hell because they didn't hear the workers preach and profess! NO NO NO | ||
| Anonymous |
Many professing parents do a good job indoctrinating their children to believe that the "truth" fellowship traces back to Jesus in a line of succession. We hear phrases like "I am so thankful that faithful men and women preserved this truth from the beginning" in meetings. We hear about the "false" ways created by men and our "Truth" wasn't founded by a man but by Jesus in the New Testament when he called the 12 and 70. Most professing people were raised in the "Truth" fellowship. Few had any other religious upbringing since professing people are forbidden for attending another church. Small children profess in gospel meetings or conventions in order to please their parents. I don't think the friends and workers realize how much time has occured since the bible days. How could their little nameless fellowship be the only true "way of God?" Of course, the friends think that doubting their little meetings as the only way is the same thing as doubting God. In meeting, they use the term "God's way" as much as they mention God! They are so thankful they found the right way when they were lost in sin out in this world with no hope!! Because the early workers didn't maintain their homes and set up meetings in a home, the professing people believed anything else the workers told them without researching the history of the truth!! The worker's "Truth" began in Ireland as an opposition movement against organized religion. Nothing more and nothing less. How sad that the friends feel that their church is better than other churches. | ||
| Anonymous |
Some of the older workers would preach that "we as God's people are the only group that doesn't have a founder" unlike the "religious world." I remember hearing dear old friends in meeting express thanks that "thy way has been preserved down through the ages". The New Testament days ended in 100 AD. It was 1800 years before George Walker, Jack Carroll and William Irvine gave up all to "preach the gospel." There is no way that one group would have survived intact during the difficult days of the Dark Ages, Exploration, feudalism, plagues and all. When some professing person promotes the "truth" as a continuation of biblical Christianity, just do a litte thinking. I know logic and reasoning isn't encouraged by our workers. America was settled in 1607 and George Walker landed in USA during 1903. I refuse to believe that Americans went to hell if they died in that period or were even excused because they didn't live to "hear God's servants" preach the "true gospel." Yet many professing people cling to the ONLY WAY belief! They close their minds to common sense and reality fearing that logic might weaken their faith. Faith in a homeless ministry from Ireland that tried to copy the New Testament ministry as close as possible in the 20th century. Plain and simple. The "truth" isn't the only true way. God can work in other faiths and also in "Truth." | ||
| Anonymous (157.89.46.110) |
I wished the friends didn't take such pride in their "revelation of truth" as God's true way! They are so afraid of losing their revelation. That is why they feel they should spend more time around each other and less around the "people of the world". Maybe the idea of belonging to the only right church is a source of pride and security. | ||
| Anonymous (157.89.46.110) |
Some friends and workers may not know that their religion doesn't trace back further than the British Isles circa 1897! All professing people need to be aware of this! | ||
| Vicki (216.104.73.149) |
I thank GOD That he made a time in history to reveal more information so that we may all know!!!! I have tried to show my professing family print outs of this information and they wont even look at it!! |
