[Indiana]

Originally Posted by Indiana

Receiving a healthy revelation of Christ and the church includes not only seeing the wonderful aspects of Christ’s Person and His monumental accomplishments; it also involves receiving all believers according to Christ’s own receiving of them for a practical expression of the church, which is his Body.

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A Healthy Revelation and LSM’s Rebellion

The Proper Receiving of the Saints

“It is only by being so liberal and general that we can receive all the saints in a proper way. If we are otherwise, we cannot avoid being sectarian in the matter of receiving. If we are special in anything and insist upon that, we will probably not receive those who differ from us in certain matters. But the Apostle said, ”Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.” What he meant when he referred to “him that is weak in the faith” is illustrated in the following verses: i. e., the matter of eating and keeping of days. By this we are affirmatively told that we must receive the saints who differ from us in these things. Any saint who holds a different opinion or concept regarding the things we are in favor, we must receive, “for God hath received him.” As long as he is a saint, as long as He has received him, we have no right to reject him. Our receiving must be the same as God’s receiving, no less and no more. God’s receiving is the basis of our receiving. Our receiving must not be according to our taste, our opinion, or our assertion. It must be in accordance with God’s receiving. It must be based upon God’s receiving – nothing else.

God receives people according to His Son. As long as a person receives His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, as His personal Savior, regardless of the concepts he holds regarding all other things, God receives him immediately. Since God receives people in this way, we too must receive people in the same way. Our receiving must be in accordance with God’s receiving. If our receiving differs from His, it means that we are wrong: either we are more narrow or more broad than God. This will cause much trouble and damage to the church life.

God’s receiving is based upon Christ’s receiving, and Christ’s receiving is in accordance with our faith in Him. Whoever believes in Him, He will receive. Whoever receives Him, He will never reject. He said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). Since coming to Him, believing in Him, receiving Him, is the only condition for Christ’s receiving, so we must receive people upon the same basis with nothing added. As long as anyone believes in Christ our Lord, as long as he receives Him as his personal Savior, we must receive Him with nothing else required. Regardless of how he may dissent in so many other things, as long as he is a real believer in the Lord, we have no choice but to receive him. For the Lord has received him. This is why the Apostle said, “Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.” We must receive whoever Christ has received. We must have such a proper receiving of all the saints that we may keep the proper unity; otherwise, we can never keep ourselves from being sectarian and causing much confusion and damage to the church life. To practice the church life by keeping the proper unity, such a general receiving is necessary. May the Lord have mercy upon us!”

(W. Lee, Practical Expression of the Church, pp 66-77, 1968)

Thirty years later – Final Word of Witness Lee
“This is a lesson for us all. The co-workers in different places need to learn; all responsible brothers in all localities need to learn. The eyes of the brothers and sisters all need to be opened. We have acted wrongly in the past, including me, I have to admit. I have had very painful repentance before the Lord. I am very sorry! I am sorry for the Body of Christ - not only for the brothers and sisters among us, but also for the ones in the denominations. You have to bring this message back and read it over and over again in mutual fellowship. Then you will see we were wrong before… To understand and analyze this needs a fair bit of effort. Again I say a few of you must come together through pray-reading, studying, reciting, and prophesying. We must learn from our past mistakes to receive people according to God's Son, not deviating a bit from the path…”
(Chinese New Year Conference, Anaheim, Feb 1997)

The Rebellion of LSM

Since the local churches, who once enjoyed a church life on a scriptural ground of unity, rebelled against God and the healthy revelation they received of Christ and the church, they need “a fair bit of effort to understand and to analyze” their deviation from the scriptural ground they once held to the sectarian ground they now treasure and hold. LSM leadership for over 35 years has led the churches into their present state.

“Since coming to Him, believing in Him, and receiving Him, is the only condition for Christ’s receiving, so we must receive people on the same basis with nothing added.” Since 1974, something has been added, and the ground for meeting as the church became narrower, excluding others. Honest analysis of the rebellion of LSM among the churches brings understanding and truthful reporting to the church.

www.lordsrecovery.us/HistoryofHiding.pdf
www.twoturmoils.com/TwentyFiveYearsintheNewWay.pdf

In the Old Testament, Moses angrily spoke to the children of Israel, saying, “Listen now ye rebels” and wrongly struck the rock twice in not keeping God’s word. In doing so, he failed to sanctify God and represent Him, as it was not God’s anger but that of Moses expressed at the waters of Meribah. A similar mistake in grander proportions has been made by Local Church leadership since 1989. In a footnote by Witness Lee to Numbers 20:10, he pointed out, interestingly, that “here Moses condemned God’s people, but Moses was the one who rebelled against God.” (See footnotes Numbers v.10, 12).

And we have a record of LSM’s rebellion to New Testament revelation of receiving people in the church, and of their creating of a new sect for themselves comprised of “ministry churches”, against scripture, and that cause division, not unity, in the Body.

www.twoturmoils.com/OneAccordwithaManandaMinistry.pdf
www.twoturmoils.com/SteveLinks.pdf

Steve Isitt
May 2, 2011

(In the Wake of the New Way)


"The Elders' Pact for the Lord’s New Move

Brother Lee went to Taiwan in October of 1984 to raise up an army and begin to implement the changes for the Lord's new move. He got rid of everything old, including many longtime elders. He wanted a new start and a new way, which would include home gatherings, the truth lessons, the full-time workers, and the spreading of the gospel through door knocking. A major support of the Lord’s new move was to come from the instituting of a full-time training in Taipei. It was to produce trained soldiers continually to join this army. Basically, only qualified young people could take part in the training.

Two years later, in 1986, brother Lee took bold steps for producing this army by endeavoring to gain the full cooperation of elders, churches, and saints. He called the elders and co-workers together from around the world for an urgent meeting, the third such meeting in two years. It was in this third meeting that inspired elders and co-workers rose up to sign a pact, or a contract, pledging their allegiance to brother Lee and to his leadership. The following is included in the contract they signed:

Dear Brother Lee:

After hearing your fellowship in this elders training, we all agree to have a new start in the Lord's recovery. For this, we all agree to be in one accord and to carry out this new move of the Lord solely through prayer, the Spirit, and the Word. We further agree to practice the recovery one in: teaching, practice, thinking, speaking, essence, appearance, and expression. We repudiate all differences among the churches, and all indifference toward the ministry, the ministry office, and the other churches. We agree that the church in our place be identical with all the local churches throughout the earth. We also agree to follow your leading as the one who has brought us God's New Testament economy and has led us into its practice. We agree that this leading is indispensable to our oneness and acknowledge the one trumpet in the Lord's ministry and the one wise master builder among us…."

It is worth noting here that in our brothers’ declaration, there was no mention of love. The thought of love was omitted. Love was not only strangely missing in this pact, it was also regrettably lacking in the practical application of it. The reason that leaders in this army did not consider love to be an essential element of their vow is simple -- an army doesn't need love! What an army needs is esprit de corp. They had that with the Spirit and the Word. Those not in the army, however, had neither esprit de corp nor the love to maintain them in the church life. Consequently, many saints left the local churches."

What was misnomered as the Lord's new move was actually a rebellious movement by LSM to gain supremacy and control in the churches, whether or not they were aware of what they were doing; as they ignored God's word to care for every member "that there be no division"; and as they allowed the moral misconduct of Philip Lee at LSM and their sin of division to occur among the churches, covering these matters up rather than reporting them faithfully at the time or dealing with them since, as their church history annals show.

Therefore, not only does sin remain covered up at LSM, so does the division they caused in the late eighties and are still causing today.