[aron]

Originally Posted by Bible-believer

My families and friends are in the group. I realize I can't say anything against Lee's teaching before them, or I will be in trouble.

I’d rephrase that. You aren’t saying anything at all against Lee’s teaching, but rather you want to pursue truth in the Bible, as it unfolds before you. If you share this seeking, lovingly and respectfully, yet firmly and consistently, they’ll hear. I repeat: we’re not against Lee, the “church life” or “the recovery”. Rather, as Bible believers, we’re trying to understand the things that God’s word says. All of us are in the same boat. Some of us have been in it longer, but it’s still the same boat: “Seek, and ye shall find”. This is our hope, our way, our faith.

Bob: “Hey Uncle Joe, how’s it going?”

Joe: “Hey Bob, good, praise the Lord!”

Bob: “Amen, praise the Lord! Hey, I’ve got a question: in reading the recovery version, in one place in Psalms the footnote says that the writer was in his natural, fallen concepts, when he was cursing his enemy. It says, as people of God, we’re called to bless, not curse. Yet in another Psalm, the same antagonistic language is labeled as a type of Christ defeating Satan? How can one footnote interpret a verse one way, and elsewhere has an opposite interpretation? Why the lack of consistency?”

Joe: “Little nephew, maybe that’s just how it is! Praise the Lord!”
---[later]
---
Bob: “We see in the epistle of Paul that women aren’t allowed to teach, right?”

Joe: “Yep - that’s God’s command, through the apostle.”

Bob: “But look at this: I’m here on the LSM book sales, and in section “G” it has “God’s Plan of Redemption” by Mary McDonough. How come they sell a book by a woman who’s a contemporary of Nee? I don’t see anything else on the page but Nee, Lee, McDonough.”

Joe: “You see, she must have gotten a special dispensation from God. Once the revelation was complete, no more women prophets.”

Bob: “But Paul doesn’t teach that. Why are we?”

Joe: “Maybe that’s just the way it is.”

Bob: “They even started a website: https://marymcdonough.ccws.org and if you click on the links it takes you to “Christ and the Church” website which links back to LSM. https://ccws.org

Joe: “Well, little nephew, those brothers must know something that we don’t know. Praise the Lord”
---[later]
---
Bob: “Joe, you believe that God was processed in his divine economy, right?”

Joe: “Yessir, that’s the revelation of the Bible. ‘Incarnation, inclusion, intensification’” (starts humming the memory song)

Bob: “But I got to thinking. Where does Paul include ‘intensification’ as part of the ‘God’s economy’ that he wants Timothy to stay in Ephesus and teach? How do we know that Paul and Timothy included ‘intensification’ as part of the God’s economy they were presenting to the church?”

Joe: “Well we can clearly see in the Bible the sevenfold intensified Spirit to overcome the degradation of the Church. Revelation shows us the degraded churches and the sevenfold Spirit to address the needs of the Church. So surely this was God’s process in His divine economy.”

Bob: “But Paul didn’t write the book of Revelation on Patmos. John did. So how do we presume that Paul was telling Timothy to remain in Ephesus and teach something from a book that wasn’t yet written?”

Joe: “All I know is that the complete revelation of the Bible shows us the intensified Spirit, and Paul said that “The Last Adam became a Life-Giving Spirit.” So this naturally follows.”

Bob: “I understand the thinking, and don’t say that it’s wrong. But it’s worth pointing out that Paul never taught ‘intensification’ as a step of God’s New Testament economy. Nor did John the apostle. This is merely one person’s idea. We should be very clear: Paul never taught this.”

Joe: "Even if Paul didn't teach it, it's part of the complete revelation in the Bible. Other people wrote books, too."

Bob: "But if Paul didn't tell Timothy to teach 'intensification' as part of the divine economy, what basis do we have? What Bible writer says that "intensification is the third step of the divine economy?"

Joe: "I repeat, it's the complete revelation of the Bible"

Bob: "In other words, Witness Lee's interpretation, right?"

Joe: "That's right - WL was the apostle of the age, with the vision of the age."

Bob: "So Peter didn't teach intensification as part of God's economy, Paul didn't teach it, Jesus didn't teach it, John didn't teach it. But Witness Lee got the vision of the age."

Joe: "Yes, that's right. In the fulness of times, God raised up faithful brothers who put the vision together."

As long as you are respectful, and keep the topic on the Bible, most of them will engage you. But you have to seek the light. If you just want to contend, then we are all in the darkness, and your contention will not bring light. Only the Word conveys the Spirit which conveys Light.