Many people in the FALC do not know the history of their church, or much about the splits.
All we were taught, pretty much, is:
"They are wrong and we are right. They are self righteous and are heretics. We are the "one true church." We should just believe like a child. We are so lucky."
This is not speaking for everyone there. Maybe there are more people who know more about the history of the church than I think. I could be wrong. I was surprised though, to learn about the history of the FALC, and the fact that it really isn't very different than the "Laestadian's" (LLC). The LLC and the FALC split apart in the 1970's. The OALC is similar to the FALC in many ways as well.
History:
Who is Lars Levi Laestadius? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Levi_Laestadius
Laestadianism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laestadianism
Here is the link to the document that describes where the blessing comes from (page 37): http://users.erols.com/ewheaton/background/background.pdf
Other Laestadian religions:
OALC wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Apostolic_Lutheran_Church
LLC website: https://www.llchurch.org/our-history
Interview of Helena Lucia: https://www.culturechatpodcast.com/helenalucia/
Sad story of LLC woman with mental illness and many children: https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-mom-who-said-she-killed-her-baby-because-she-had-too-many-kids-belongs-to-church-thats-not-big-on-birth-control-6627380
Sami people and history of Laestadian religions: http://www.laits.utexas.edu/sami/diehtu/siida/christian/laest.htm
Blogs:
John Kastamo runs this blog, sharing truth about the Bible, and the false teaching at FALC. https://www.lowerlightburning.com
Ex-toots blog: exposing Laestadian religions - https://extoots.blogspot.com
Cult information:
Comparing “one true” churches: https://www.theholdemans.com/Compare.htm
Helping others leave a toxic cult: https://www.gotquestions.org/toxic-cult.html
John MacArthur on cults: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBu7lfL492E
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