Originally Posted by Ohio

Loved to hear the Columbus stories. Send me a PM?

Don Rutledge began to write a history then he was visited by a few old friends from LSM, and he then had a medical emergency in his family.

What DR did write and post on the forum was extremely informative.

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

What a poignant statement! I could tell you some interesting stories (from Columbus OH) that illustrate just that point. Really ironic and sad - a vision of oneness that came eventually to puff-up and divide.

Having been off this board for several years, someone recently sent me a link to Don's history posted here. I really appreciated this, and sent him an email telling him I appreciated a balanced and non-bashing view of the whole thing. I also asked if there was more to come. He basically said that he's been led of the Lord not too add any more fuel to the whole thing, and that it took up too much time from other things.

I think the years he wrote about were probably easier that writing about the mid 70s and beyond . . . before things started to slide into various issues.

Originally Posted by Ohio

One amazing thing I have noticed about Christians since I left the Recovery -- they are far more focused on what unites us as Christians. One brother I know likes to say, "the main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing!" Looking back, it was the ministry in the Recovery which continually pointed out the differences which existed.

Originally Posted by kw mcgee

Hi Don, I have much I'd like to discuss with you. After a 30 year hiatus from the local churches, I returned 2 1/2 years ago, only to discover, having had no contact with desenters, that it was no longer what it was when I was attracted to it in the early 70's. After having visited 15 west coast localities, mostly by invitation, and was welcomed with open arms and encouraged to join in the elders fellowship, I began to feel very uneasy within. Even if I were able to stay, I would by no means be able, in good conscience, to follow the path which their practices demand.

Within the past 16 months, I have had Bill and Barbara Mallon stay with me, I have stayed and fellowshipped with John Ingalls and others in Westminster for four days, and I have done much research on the allegations that were leveled against these two dear brothers, which thankfully, I was never able to take as fact without hearing their side directly from them. I would like to have some time with you if it were ever possible, and in that light I would like to know in what part of the country you currently reside, since in the not-so-distant future, my wife and I are hoping to travel across the country, and would put your location on the route if you thought you might be available.

I appreciate very much your historical record, and I would like you to know that, though I was not privy to most of the details you have shared, I know well the sense of derailment that came from the general direction that has been taken. Though I will always be one with all of God's children and reject none short of heretical beliefs or practices, I could never be interested in religious organization, especially one that is never without criticism of believers in religious organizations.

I live in Oregon and would like you to know that you will always be welcomed in my home at any time. Thanks for all your sharing, I hope to hear from you. Yours in Christ,
Kyall

Originally Posted by kw mcgee

I could never be interested in religious organization, especially one that is never without criticism of believers in religious organizations.

Originally Posted by Uriel

I wish Christians would focus more on what unites us--which is Christ--instead of fosuicng on differences in denominations. I can relate to what you are saying. This may sound cliche, but I like to pray for God's direction and just see what happens

Originally Posted by Indiana

In 2003 I asked Bill Mallon to answer the claims made against him in Fermentation by different brothers and he did - except for the most important one, which he did work on - John Little's lengthy claims concerning Bill and John.

Originally Posted by Terry

I had just read a contradictory report. The testimonies I had heard of Eldon Hall of the early seventies in later years, was prior to migrations to the LA area, the neighborhood was already bad. It was the brothers and sisters who brought a blessing to the neighborhood.
It could be by the time households began migrating for other localities and away from these neighborhoods, the neighborhood environment deteriorated.

Terry

Originally Posted by Hope

Witness Lee himself openly spoke about the condition in Elden. It was a big issue at the January, 1974 elders/co-workers meeting. Yes, there was some talk about the neighborhood around Elden. Maybe that later became the alibi for the relocation. I plan to write a lot about what was going on in 1973-75. Everything changed!!!

The failure of the blessing at Elden even though they had WL became the basis for Ray and Benson and Ben to push for WL to move or at least spend a major part of his time in Texas. They all contended that the ministry needed the proper audience and that Texas could provide the proper container for the ministry.

Originally Posted by OBW

Fairly late in Chapter 2, you come to the “Life Ebbs at Elden” section. In there, you say: ”By early 1973 I began to hear of the staleness and flatness of the Elden hall church meetings. I visited there and frankly most of the new churches were much more on fire and lively in Christ than Elden was. Elden still had the ministry, but it was clear the blessing was not there. I heard Witness Lee state on many occasions that he needed to leave Elden, and that the Lord needed a new start with his ministry.”

Originally Posted by OBW

Don,

This is not a critique on the book, but an observation of a symptom of LC problems.

Fairly late in Chapter 2, you come to the “Life Ebbs at Elden” section. In there, you say: ”By early 1973 I began to hear of the staleness and flatness of the Elden hall church meetings. I visited there and frankly most of the new churches were much more on fire and lively in Christ than Elden was. Elden still had the ministry, but it was clear the blessing was not there. I heard Witness Lee state on many occasions that he needed to leave Elden, and that the Lord needed a new start with his ministry.”

I wonder how much of the emphasis on things of the “church life” was on maintaining the sense of “highs” rather than acknowledge that the spiritual life and journey is not only mountain tops, but is more often life on the plains and in the valleys. When we rank the spiritual condition of a person or group on his outward fire and zeal, the question must be asked: Is it live or is it Memorex?

I would suggest that a group will eventually reach an extreme in lows if it has been trying to maintain an artificial high for too long. If we presume that we must walk through the valley of the shadow of death, then the time we spend putting it off, even though we make it look like mountain top, is really a hollow show. The result will be a shortage of what it takes to make it through the valley, thereby causing the valley experience to be even more exaggerated.

Might that be the cause of Elden’s apparent fall from favor? Is it possible that they needed desperately to go through the valley, but had been kept from it by a need to maintain some “high” in support of “the ministry.”

I also notice that due to this lack of burning, Lee essentially abandoned them. I guess Paul should have abandoned the Corinthians and Galatians as being lost causes.

Was there really no blessing there? Is blessing only evident when on the mountain top? Or do blessings continue as we walk through the valley. Ad David said, "I fear no evil for You are with me." That is a blessing.

On a different topic, I enjoyed reading through these two chapters again.