Quote:
Originally Posted by Thankful Jane
ZNP,
This post left me with some questions.
ZNP, would you mind explaining what you mean by the above statement?
What is your source for the above information?
I don't understand this sentence. Who is "they" ?
It's probably too late for me to be posting because I'm at the end of a long day and am sleepy. I considered waiting and re-reading your post tomorrow, but then decided to go ahead now, knowing that by the time I am able to get back to it, I probably will have talked myself out of posting. 
Thankful Jane |
Sure, I'd be glad to explain. To me the issue with WL was this: were his actions premeditated just as a con man would figure out how to get away with the con once his mark realized he had been conned (remember the end of the movie "The Sting" where they had to shoot each other so the mark thought they were dead?) Or, were his actions just the bumbling attempt to deal with serious sins, incompetence, and ineptness?
So, take the Daystar issue. If you knew up front it was a con, what are you going to do once the con is exposed? 1. Make sure all of your investors are super spiritual (we are not in this for the money). 2. Make sure all your investors are part of your clique and can easily be manipulated by peer pressure and 3. Make sure any one that does not fall into the first two categories will be funneled directly to you and not talk to the rest of your investors.
So for a category 3 saint, someone who is a sophisticated investor yet meets with the LRC, they would be told to complain to the elders. Therefore you can funnel these complaints directly to WL who can determine how to deal with it. To do this everyone must be taught, no, "trained" that "negative" speaking is of the devil (check). They must be trained not to listen to negative speaking (check), they must be trained that all issues go to the elders (check). When I was in the LRC this "training" was extensive, even though I cannot see any basis for this in the NT (you should take your issues to a more mature saint than yourself, that doesn't mean it has to be an elder, and it doesn't mean that it has to be a brother). Also, if the elders realize that they cannot deal with this offended saint they excommunicate them and then tell the church not to have anything to do with them. This is not according to the NT. Instead, the NT says that we should "tell it to the church". It is the church that decides once they hear the case, not the elders, this is a false and erroneous teaching designed to keep the church in darkness.
Now it is very common for sisters to fellowship with one another. This cuts the elders out of the loop and prevents problems from being funneled through the elders to WL. This has to be stamped out if you can do damage control. So, prior to the MR excommunication you had the "sisters rebelliion". This was not necessarily based on anything more than the fact that MR's wife must be cut off from fellowshipping with other sisters, as well as anyone else that might be aware of unrighteousness in Anaheim. This does not mean that RG and BP were aware of what was going on, they could easily just be "good foot soldiers fighting the spiritual battle". But as a result more erroneous teachings are brought in about sisters, etc. out of an attempt to get away with the con, or prevent PL from being exposed, etc.
Third, you have to teach elders not to meddle in other church's affairs. You have to teach that some issues are "local". This is a very slippery slope. If I was in Houston for years but now moved to Dallas could brothers from Houston fellowship with me about some local issue (as they did with BP). If so, why are other saints prohibited from doing the same? But it was this teaching that RG and BP used to ignore the fellowship from JI, etal.
These erroneous teachings are proof that WL was not merely incompetent in his attempt to deal with sins, and mistakes. Instead it was premeditated and he fully understood it was a con.