Gene Edwards said “Beware Brothers Bearing Verses”

  Dear Chris… one day, some brother brought I TIM 4:10 up to Gene… “God is the saviour of all mankind.” — Hoping to get some favorable response from our fearless leader… and Gene Edwards says to the brother, “Yeah, but why even bring it up?”
I walked around for years with that exchange going through my head…. Gene saying “Yeah but why bother with this (type of thing)?”

I told Tony from the Concordant Publishing Concern about this little exchange where Gene Edwards poo-pooed I TIMOTHY 4:10… saying “Why even bring it up?” —
And Tony said (without skipping a beat) – “Because it’s a faithful saying and worthy of all welcome!” — which is exactly what verse 9 says (I TIMOTHY 4:9)

During those heydays of the Isla Vista church, one thing Gene taught us was “beware of brothers bearing verses.”

So you’re right Chris, Gene’s boys DID NOT rightly divide the word. They were too into mystics (Madame Guyon, Watchman Nee, etc.) to be bothered studying the scriptures.

In a Gene Edwards style church, the pot-luck supper is the most important meeting of all. (I COR 11 describing “the lords table” does seem to be talking about a pot-luck, where you can overeat and get drunk. Not the little wafer and tiny drop of wine in the religious “communion services.”

At the time, in the 70’s Gene’s church was filled with young people… you know, the gullible kind.
And I confess, in 1980, when I first went to hear Dean Hough and Jim Coram speak at the Concordant meetings, I WAS THRILLED THAT IT WAS MOSTLY OLD FOLKS… not so gullible!

So, it would do no good to point out to Gene that you need to “rightly divide the word” … or “give heed to the reading”… or “study to show yourself approved”… etc. Because his stupid attitude of “beware brothers with verses”… means he’s “locked up in stubbornness” (Romans 11:32)

His idea of the church being local and all living in the same neighborhood, often on the same block, was really cool. When I first arrived in Isla Vista it felt like “family”.

Now that I’ve long been out of the Gene thing, I can see that his “fatal flaw” was inferring that the church should/could be more permanent that it actually is. The word “ecclesia” is a common noun in the first century Greek, and is merely an assembly… religious or non-religious assembly.

I think Gene’s churches tended to fall apart because we all grew up and lost our gullible edge. But still, I’ve talked to some brothers from those days, and they fault Gene for the church not staying together.

Let’s see if I can sum all this up into a “point”…

… still thinking….

Oh yeah… Gene says “Why bother with I TIM 4:10… and Tony says ” ’cause it’s a faithful saying and worthy of all welcome. (V. 9). — Gene did not welcome the saying and did not trust it.

Anyway… Grace to you, sir.
We’ll chat soon.
Linwood