[aron]

I'll add something here - not wanting to create threads with every new thought, reaction or idea - and will tie it to my previous post about the problem of children making life-altering commitments based on duress or poor information. But first I'll introduce what I see as 3 related characters.

Watchman Nee. One of the most influential Christian leaders, thinkers and authors of the 20th Century. Repeatedly removed from church leadership positions due to business dealings and sexual immorality. When the Communists took over, WN and the inner ring of his guanxi network tried to launder their wealth through 63 (!!) rank-and-file church members. No doubt if he'd gotten free, he'd have wanted it all back. Then, he openly admitted in court to producing pornography. His defenders say that admissions in Communist courts aren't valid, but why would he deliberately say something untrue? Either he lied to get better terms, knowing full well what his confession would do to the faith of those under his care, or else he told the truth, that he really did it. Either way, he doesn't come across as a Christian leader, or Spiritual Man, but rather as a fake and a fraud.

Witness Lee. Brought WN's message to the USA in 1962, which eventually produced dozens of local assemblies, training centres across the globe, and hundreds of self-published book titles. He also pulled church members into his son's motor home company, many of whom lost a lot, some who lost their whole life savings. He put his other son, a known sexual predator, to repeatedly (!!) molest church members. We can't say that these trysts were consensual, because of the imbalance of power. WL's son was the Boss who sexually preyed on the help, no different from Harvey Weinstein the mogul, or any other serial abuser who uses position to abuse others. Witness Lee knew this, abetted it, and then ran whistle-blowers and victims out of town, to save himself and his so-called ministry.

Ravi Zacharias. At his funeral, VP Mike Pence called him "the greatest Christian Apologist of this century." But then it came out that he was a sexual predator. He opened his own 'day spa' named Touch of Eden in Georgia (!!) and abused the help, who were brought in from other lands, and owned overseas properties for the same purposes. He also repeatedly made improper sexual advances to female associates in the USA.

At one point or another, I was impressed by these men and their so-called ministries. I could make the list longer, and perhaps should, but for time and brevity can use these 3 to make related comments.

1. How anyone can live like this and look in the mirror every day is baffling. I can only surmise they they were under the influence of some controlling spirit. That they were not only "Christian" but "Christian leaders", but whose repeated behaviours violated the basic tenets of the Christian faith, of how to comport oneself and act towards others... and yet somehow kept up an internal narrative that "this all makes sense"... amazing what utter weirdness the human mind can house.

2. The so-called ministry acts as a funnel, to lure in victims, create co-conspirators (i.e. supporters and group members), and then to hide the abuse. Any 'good' produced exists to convince helpers, to bring in the unwitting, and then to cover if the sins are exposed.

3. The public defence of and support for Zacharias' life and ministry eventually collapsed when an independent inquiry showed that the allegations (which were longstanding and widespread) had merit, and that his 'ministry' therefore had no merit. But the legacies of Nee and Lee have both been able to avoid this discredit, even with allegations equally longstanding and widespread, for a variety of reasons, perhaps mostly cultural. Today, if one speaks of what happened with WN and WL, they'll say, "Nobody's perfect." It's survived and spread under some reprobate viral offshoot of Christian grace -- "Let us [continue in] sin, that grace may abound."

4. Until I recognized this, and rejected completely the influence of these controlling spirits, I was under their sway. There's no "eat the chicken and spit out the bones" trade-off. It's all bones and feathers. There is no meat - none. My life was a rolling series of disasters until I realized what utter darkness they were fronting, and by association, what I was fronting. I had to meet this influence on its face. There's no avoiding repentance, no deal-cutting. They may have avoided this basic Christian fact, but I cannot.

5. Going to my last post, it's also important to forgive. "Lord, forgive them, because they don't know what they are doing." Like me, WN, WL, RZ (and followers) made decisions and commitments based on unquestioned cultural values, youthful ignorance, social and familial duress, and self-interest, and were ensnared and then enslaved by the effects of such decisions and commitments. Jesus taught us to pray, "Forgive us our trespasses, even as we forgive others for their trespasses against us." I won't be animated by bitterness, fear or anger. If I don't forgive, I can't be forgiven; see, e.g., Matt 6:14, 15.

In sum, I can call a spade a spade, and not excuse or look away - call it out, reject it utterly, and leave it behind. "Get behind me, Satan." But it's equally imperative to make peace, being at least partly culpable myself... at some point, I also came under such influence. There's no basis to judge others for things that I fell to, even unwittingly. Because they also were unwitting. I can call out bad behaviour and the systems that engendered it, confess my part and repent. I didn't take anyone's money or sexually assault church members, but by supporting and/or condoning such so-called ministries, I participated in and facilitated what happened, a host of wrongs. And for this, I repent.

Repentance isn't a place of judgment; it's rather a place of forgiveness, where the dreaded and rejected "other" and the damaged and rejected "self" are reconciled and healed: "As you do unto others, so shall it be done to you."