Puzzle Pieces
When Wayne and Pat M., former Workers from the Champaign Assembly, started seeing the picture on the box, they provided these anecdotes that fit perfectly in the puzzle.
The GA.com website was the main catalyst in helping me and my family understand what we'd been involved with for over 25 years. Over the years of our involvement we accumulated many pieces, but unfortunately couldn't find the puzzle box with the picture on it. The website was the puzzle box with the picture. Suddenly every single piece of the puzzle fit perfectly and we saw with clarity that we had been involved with a fraud and deceiver. God faithfully handed us that box. We put the pieces together with His help. Here are just a few of those pieces:
A piece of the puzzle: George was distressed after some meetings in Norfolk, NE because there were several people there who had obvious mental disabilities. (At the time, my husband worked in a mental health facility and was a great encouragement to many of his patients, none of whom were dangerous, BTW) George made disparaging remarks about people with such problems and made it clear that they should not be at our meetings. His position did not seem to line up with the gospel, but George the almighty had spoken, so we put the puzzle piece away (to our shame).
Another puzzle piece: On a visit here, George became very upset because there wasn't enough money for him from the Lord's treasury and he was embarking on a journey. We put the puzzle piece away.
Another puzzle piece: He told a room full of Workers about a time when relatives were visiting his home and needed a place to stay for the evening. He gleefully reported to us how he made it very clear that they wouldn't be staying in his home. They weren't going to force him to be hospitable-- haha. Put the piece away.
Another puzzle piece: He sat in our living room and made disparaging remarks about other Workers who had the gall to exhort him about the difficulty of understanding his ministry, seminars in particular. Put the piece away.
Another puzzle piece: People who "left fellowship" were labeled railers, they lost their vision, were carnal. George told the story of a young woman who married "out of the Assembly" and he often stated "God put her on the shelf", implying she could never be used. (BTW she and her family have been greatly used of the Lord.) If you met someone who "left" and it seemed like they were walking with the Lord, it was just show and not authentic. Put the piece away.
Another puzzle piece: George sat in our living room and lambasted my own son for not wanting to be involved with the Assembly. He did not answer one of my son's questions, not one. Put the piece away.
Another puzzle piece: David G. had a reputation for always leading the conversation back to sex. We were subjected to several of these kinds of conversations where he supplied way too much information about that part of his life. Put the piece away.
Another puzzle piece: So much outreach, year after year, week after week, but hardly ever any fruit. One came in, two left... Put the piece away.
Another puzzle piece: I spent two weeks in the Geftakys' home reorganizing his library at our expense. [Pat is a professional librarian.] Betty was petulant about my being there. Dinnertimes were agonizingly cold. Put the piece away.
The above are just a small, small portion of the puzzle. Many on this website have other pieces, larger portions. [See More Puzzle Pieces and the many stories told in Personal Experiences]
I do not post this because I am angry, distressed, or bitter. On the contrary, I am excited, joyful, and deliriously happy about what God has done. It seems that the people who are the most delighted with the website and its effects are the ones with the most puzzle pieces. I also know that there are those who want to continue saying there aren't any puzzle pieces, much less a puzzle. I believe that they will continue to be handed pieces and will have to decide what to do with them.
GA.com exposed the darkness in the Geftakys system. I do not need to hear the old mantra "but there were many good things too". That is not what this is about. The "good things" were from God, Himself - to Him be the glory. The rest was a man-made system, which hurt and defiled many. To discuss that system does not mean someone is bitter, anymore than it makes the Lord Jesus was bitter when he defied or exposed the hypocrisy of the pharisees.
Frankly, I find it a little amusing to see people judging Brent's and other's motives about this website. We will all stand before God. It seems a little premature to be presuming that any of us know what makes Brent tick because of this website or his posts. It really does remind me of the overall tendency in the Geftakys system to criticize and judge. We are all entitled to our opinions, of course. I certainly have my opinions about George, but obviously, only God can rightly judge him and I know He will. Exposing someone's wrongdoing is not the same as judging and I think that is where the confusion lies. GA.com exposed. God will judge.
May God have mercy on us all.
