An Open Letter Regarding Lyndol Butler's Accusation on "A Faithful Word"

[Thankful Jane]

In May 2009, two paragraphs from post #49 on the thread, “New Light from Old,” on this forum, were called into question by Lyndol Butler in a public letter. That letter was posted on AFaithfulWord.org (AFW) with some additional commentary that was apparently written by person(s) at AFW.

I have attached my open letter response to Lyndol.

There is a another letter regarding the Lyndol letter which is written to the Local Church Leadership. It can be found at:
http://localchurchdiscussions.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=630

[Ohio]

In May 2009, two paragraphs from post #49 on the thread, “New Light from Old,” on this forum, were called into question by Lyndol Butler in a public letter. That letter was posted on AFaithfulWord.org (AFW) with some additional commentary that was apparently written by person(s) at AFW.

I have attached my open letter response to Lyndol.

After reading this letter, it's hard not to mourn the loss of another long-time friendship, just for a few "atta-boys" from LSM.

[Paul Cox]

In her open letter Jane ask why those at AFW.org won't come to the forum to answer. The reason is that all of their wordy arguments are built upon false premises. Their multi-towered verbal mazes are resting upon a foundation of sand.

If they ever dared to come to a public discussion about these things their footing would be easily knocked out from under them. They rests upon the false premise, first of all, that they are God's Recovery. Also, that Witness Lee is the lone apostle for the "age." Additionally, that every Local Church is THE representative expression of the Lord's interest in any given locality. They also rest upon the false premise that they are "God's UP-to-date Move on the Earth."

If you stand behind an insulating wall, and believe all these things, then it's easy to go to their website and say, "Yes, that's right. It makes all the sense in the world."

However, in an open arena, all these things are easily dismissed as foolishness. If Dan Sady or any of those brothers dared to come here to defend the false premises upon which their arguments stand, they would be made to look foolish before many of their faithful who lurk around these kinds of sites.

Instead, they cower behind LSM walls and beat their chests about being God's unique whatever. Or, they stand on elevated platforms before very selective and narrow audiences where they are sure to get a thunderous "AMEN."

Come out, brothers, from hiding. Come to an open forum and defend the false premises upon which all your wordy arguments stand. If you can adequately defend these false notions, then maybe we can get to talking about whether "quarantines" are legitimate or not. Set aside your personal attacks, and character assassinations, and step up like men. How dare you obsess about turning into God, when you have so much trouble just being men.

Roger

[OBW]

Another reason that the AFW folks would not answer themselves, especially in a forum, is that they might discover that when they respond without sufficient editing and review, they might undermine the good that they think putting the new Bible Answer Man in their hip pocket did for them. They might confirm some of those problematic teachings that got glossed over.

[Indiana]

... If Dan Sady or any of those brothers dared to come here to defend the false premises upon which their arguments stand, they would be made to look foolish before many of their faithful who lurk around these kinds of sites.

Instead, they cower behind LSM walls and beat their chests about being God's unique whatever. Or, they stand on elevated platforms before very selective and narrow audiences where they are sure to get a thunderous "AMEN."

Come out, brothers, from hiding. Come to an open forum and defend the false premises upon which all your wordy arguments stand. If you can adequately defend these false notions, then maybe we can get to talking about whether "quarantines" are legitimate or not. Set aside your personal attacks, and character assassinations, and step up like men.

How dare you obsess about turning into God, when you have so much trouble just being men.

Roger

"How dare you obsess about turning into God, when you have so much trouble just being men."

This "king and queen" duo of the forum is back for this current effort at bringing men to accountability. (Forgive my designation of them, but I do realize the weightiness of their contribution and time spent over the years.)

Consider the utterance and truth succinctly put in Roger's post, of which I quoted only a part. It is straight talk!

..the likes of which are not found in the writings of brother Dan Sady, and some counterparts of his who post on the forum(s), and certainly not with the blending brothers!

[UntoHim]

This "king and queen" duo of the forum is back for this current effort at bringing men to accountability. (Forgive my designation of them, but I do realize the weightiness of their contribution and time spent over the years.)

Sorry Indiana but there are no kings or queens in the forum. The only designations are Member, Moderator or Administrator. For the time being I'm stuck being the only Moderator/Administrator, or as I prefer, "Forum Servant":idea: Applications are being accepted for help!

Really and truly any poster and their contributions are to be respected just as much as any others, so long as they are within forum rules and are "above the belt". To be honest with you Indiana, your "king and queen duo" blast is a little below the belt, so keep yur punches up champ, ok?

[countmeworthy]

Thank you for posting your letter TJane. I'm saddened by the bad chemistry in the body of Christ. As i wrote in the other forum...one day the LORD Himself will fulfill Psalm 133 and Command the Blessing..even Life forevermore on the saints. Only He can gather His saints together, restore our Health and Heal our wounds.

I only pray it is sooner than later.

In Christ Jesus,

Carol

[Thankful Jane]

Thank you for posting your letter TJane. I'm saddened by the bad chemistry in the body of Christ. As i wrote in the other forum...one day the LORD Himself will fulfill Psalm 133 and Command the Blessing..even Life forevermore on the saints. Only He can gather His saints together, restore our Health and Heal our wounds.

I only pray it is sooner than later.

In Christ Jesus,

Carol

Hi Carol,

You are welcome. I hear what you are saying and agree. Maybe another way to look at it would be that the Body of Christ is just fine, and its members are fighting to overcome the cancer that is always trying to prevail against it (which has been sent from the gates of Hades.). I'm not calling any members "cancer;" that's what I'm calling behavior that is foreign to the spirit of holiness.
And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead... (Rom 1:4)

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2Co 7:1)
Jane

[thisovercomer]

Last night my spouse and I read this in full. We don't know any of the saints mentioned since this was long before we were introduced to LC. Although difficult, I do believe that we saints need to understand that building churches (or empires) upon anything natural (the root of all this) is never going to satisfy the Lord's righteousness.

We are now reading your 60+ page document concerning the brothers unwillingness to admit wrongness. We are becoming more focused on what is Christ and less impressed by what is not of Christ. This is truly a blessing.

Thank you for your time. Amen!

[Thankful Jane]

The hard copy of the open letter that I mailed to Lyndol Butler was returned to me marked:
“REFUSED”
(That letter is found at:
http://localchurchdiscussions.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=619 (http://localchurchdiscussions.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=619))

[Ohio]

The hard copy of the open letter that I mailed to Lyndol Butler was returned to me marked:

“REFUSED"

Two friends in Christ divided by a system that forces believers to choose sides ...

"But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, even as He willed ... And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you ... But much rather, the members of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensible ... But God has tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked, that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another." -- (I Cor 12)

The ultimate division in the body is not for a church to be divided from some ministry or work, but to be divided saint against saint, member against member.

[Paul Cox]

The hard copy of the open letter that I mailed to Lyndol Butler was returned to me marked:“REFUSED”(That letter is found at:http://localchurchdiscussions.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=619 (http://localchurchdiscussions.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=619))

Don't know if it's just my computer, but the link to the "REFUSED" open letter just returned me to this same page.

[UntoHim]

That's cause the post referred to is on the first (and only) page of this thread:p

[UntoHim]

The ultimate division in the body is not for a church to be divided from some ministry or work, but to be divided saint against saint, member against member.

Good point, really good point.

Witness Lee and his followers have always made a big deal out of calling groups of Christians "the divisions", "denominations" or the seemingly innocuous tag of "free group". But the names on the placards are NOT WHAT IS DIVIDING THE BODY OF CHRIST - rather it is the hearts and minds of the individual Christian that get tied to a certain man or his ministry. Sadly, this is the real story of the Local Church of Witness Lee.

Just look at the case of our dear LC brothers and sisters in the Midwest, especially Titus Chu. Chu follows the teachings and practices established Witness Lee to a Tee (pun intended), yet those who call themselves the closest and truest followers of Lee out their in Anaheim have quarantined/excommunicated/disfollowshipped Titus and those who have rejected the silly edicts from La Bamba on La Palma. Chu et al have never said that they do not want to follow the well-established teachings and practices of the LC, but maybe just not in the militaristic way of the blended brothers. But they STILL get labeled as destroyers of the divine building like the rest of us.:eek:

[Paul Cox]

That's cause the post referred to is on the first (and only) page of this thread:p


Duh!
Got me.
No, wait! I was just testing you all to see if you were on your toes. Yeah, that's it. :rolleyes:

[Steve]

What purpose does it serve arguing back and forth. It will accomplish nothing. This will not change the way "the other side" thinks or views things. Please stop all the arguing and debating. This only brings in more damage and bad feelings. It will never change anything.
Surely this offends the Lord and brings shame to his Name.

I Cor. 4:5 "So then do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then there will be praise to each from God."

[UntoHim]

Steve,
There hasn't been any back and forth on this thread for over 2 years. What peaks your interest in this matter? Do you know Lyndol and/or Jane? Do you have any comment about how everything went down?