Quote:
Originally Posted by Admin
23 August 2011
First, for those who do not accept this teaching, they are free to go their own way concerning the matter of church fellowship. To take the way of the church, the way the Lord has ordained, is by no means easy, and the Lord does not force his believers to do so, since there is no direct statement in the New Testament saying, “You must meet together with all of the Christians in your locality.”
Yet we must be clear that, if we do choose to go our own way in this matter, we will pay a great price in terms of our following the Lord, our fellowship with Him, and our service unto Him. To have the church is the desire of God’s heart; it is His eternal purpose (Eph. 3:8-11), and it is what Christ gave Himself up for (Eph. 5:25). Thus, if we forsake the church to take the way of the sects, our ability to touch what is on the Lord’s heart will, of necessity, be severely limited.
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The attitude expressed by Canfield is quite typical of the Local Church: You will accept my/our interpretation of the NT as it pertains to "how to do church". If you do not accept it you are not merely disagreeing with our idea or interpretation or methods but you are rejecting "the way the Lord has ordained" and will thus suffer. Our interpretation is the interpretation.
Witness Lee did the same thing when he introduced the New Way. Every idea and method he came up with had the label: God's ordained way.
Once a non-essential of the faith is elevated into "God's ordained way" it's not a non-essential anymore is it? This is how localism became an item of the faith for the LC and how one minister of the age (Witness Lee) became another item of their faith.