By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
DUARTE, CA (ANS) -- Greg Albrecht says that the idea for his latest book, A Taste of Grace, came from many biblical word pictures of banquets and feasts.
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Book cover |
“As I studied what Jesus has to say about grace I saw that he used banquets and feasts as settings for many of his parables and teachings – so I put on my hairnet and latex gloves and went to my keyboard, hoping to attract ‘shoppers’ to sample the spiritual banquet God has prepared for all of us.”
A Taste of Grace is Greg Albrecht’s seventh book, all written as a part of his ministry to what he calls spiritual refugees. Albrecht is himself a spiritual refugee, a survivor of the shipwreck of the cultic teachings of Armstrongism. 25-30 years ago he was an influential and highly regarded minister and college professor/administrator of Ambassador College and Worldwide Church of God, but in what he calls “the dark night of his soul” – “a spiritual journey through the valley of the shadow of death” God rescued him from the oppressive legalism and unbiblical teachings of what today is generically called Armstrongism.
“By God’s grace I came to realize what I had believed and taught was horribly wrong – that very process involved, for me at least, a deeply disturbing time of accepting the fact that I had been religiously deceived – I had to accept the fact that I had been duped, and that I had taken the intoxicating bait hook, line and sinker.”
In his other books and in his ministry at large (Plain Truth Ministries and Christianity Without the Religion – www.ptm.org) Greg talks about the attractive bait of Christ-less, religious teaching – of enticements like 1) working hard to please and appease God, 2) the illusion of being satisfied that God loves you more than others because of your performance, and 3) being spiritually imprisoned by a mirage of spiritual truth that is supposed to make you better than other people.
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Greg Albrecht |
Albrecht notes, “After a period of years of transitioning from legalistic law-keeping to God’s grace, I realized that those of us who had been granted life in Christ, beyond the spiritual death of Armstrongism, were not alone. Our journey is shared by many others – the predicament that once overwhelmed and defined us, of being enslaved by religious teaching, is currently being experienced by hundreds of millions. Of course most haven’t been confined to exactly the same spiritual swamp that I was, but a staggering number are suffering from their exposure to the toxic religious teaching of legalism. Christ-less religion has placed religious traditions and beliefs before Christ, and subjected its followers to religious oppression and authoritarianism.
“The more I experience the kingdom of heaven, the more I discover that the very things that Christ-less religion promotes as its core beliefs are the enemies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The more I focus on Jesus the more I become less religious and more and more ir-religious.”
The core values of Plain Truth Ministries and its companion teaching ministry, Christianity Without the Religion, were formed and shaped as Albrecht was contacted and asked for help by many who themselves had been bruised and battered by religion at large.
Greg Albrecht defines Christ-less religion as the traditional view that performance of the right rules and rituals will gain an individual a higher standing with God than they would have otherwise enjoyed. As he came to enjoy and live a Christ-centered life filled with God’s grace, he came to be progressively convicted of God’s in-spite-of love, rather than because-of love.
In 1995 the Worldwide Church of God, also founded by Herbert Armstrong, made a historic stand for truth, and embraced the teachings and beliefs of historic Christianity. That revolutionary action caused the Worldwide Church of God to lose the vast majority of its pastors and members, who left the transforming Worldwide Church of God because they would not forsake the cultic teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong. Greg Albrecht was one of the human leaders of that historic stand, and was widely interviewed during the latter years of the 20th century, explaining that the Worldwide Church of God had retained its name, but had completely divorced itself from the unbiblical and cultic teachings of Armstrong.
Over time it became obvious that Albrecht was probably better equipped to minister outside of a denominational setting. In an amicable parting of ways, the Albrecht-led Plain Truth Ministries and the Worldwide Church of God (itself now re-named as Grace Communion International), completely separated so that both might better continue their respective non-denominational and denominational ministries.
Plain Truth Ministries (PTM) is now regarded as one of the leading ministries to those who have survived some kind of theological or religious shipwreck. “For the last decade or so we have been amazed to discover the incredible denominational diversity from which those we serve have come – the spiritual resume of those we serve includes not only past memberships in cults, but affiliation with virtually every major denominational affiliation, institution and theological persuasion. Having such a constituency helps motivate us and propel the ongoing work of PTM – Christ-less religion is invading the body of Christ, and, in my view, completely misrepresenting and warping the relationship God offers to each of us, by his grace.
“For that reason, we speak of our commitment to Christ-centered faith over against Christ-less religion – often using the shorthand, ‘faith alone, grace alone, and Christ alone.’”
When asked about initial responses to A Taste of Grace Greg responded, “One of my favorites so far is a man from Canada who said that he laughed out loud when he read this paragraph from page 31
It reads: “The kingdom of heaven involves feasting and dancing and laughter. God – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit – does not absent himself from such merrymaking. God is involved in the wining and the dining – he is the very center of the joke telling, the good natured jesting, the singing and the offering of toasts. This is his banquet – he plans it, caters it and hosts it. God doesn’t absent himself from the party and sneak off to the library, reading the Bible in the original Greek or Hebrew. God is right there in the middle of all the festivities.”
So to pick up a copy (www.ptm.org) of A Taste of Grace – it’s a spiritually healthy alternative to religiously processed junk food for the soul!
| Dan Wooding, 70, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 200 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books. Two of the latest include his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link. |  |
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