Quote:
Originally Posted by UntoHim
I noticed you skipped over and never addressed my point about how the apostle Paul held himself out as an example, not just in his teaching, but also in IN HIS MANNER AND MODE OF LIVING, IN OTHER WORDS HIS PERSON.
This is very simple. This is not complicated. Witness Lee held himself out as "an apostle of the first order". He and his followers held him up as "THE wise master builder". He was likened as the one general with the one sounding of the trumpet for the whole earth. He did everything accept declare that he was the reincarnation of the apostle Paul (although he came close to that in that in that infamous elders meeting in 1988) This is not some little brother within a single local church who fell into sin. This man affected the lives of tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of God's people, over a half century on nearly every continent.
Witness Lee is now dead. He will face the Lord on that day just as all believers will. He will answer for all his words and actions just as all believers will. He will receive his just rewards from the Lord just as all believers will. Nothing that we say here on this public forum is going to change this, nothing that we say is going to add or detract when he stands before the Lord on that day. However………..
Witness Lee, in his wake, has left a sizable group of churches which still refer to themselves as “The Lord’s Recovery”. The leadership of this group still, to this very day, refers to Witness Lee as the one apostle with the one ministry for the age. They still, to this very day, ascribe to him the things I described above, and even worse.
The Local Church is actively and aggressively seeking new membership in their movement. I believe that people need to know about the real Witness Lee and the real history of the Local Church movement. Current and former members deserve to know. Family members of current and former members deserve to know. People, especially young people and new Christians who are being courted by current members, deserve to know. The Christian public in general deserves to know.
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I agree. That is why I have contributed to this and other forums. However, like Paul, I think we should carry out this commission by setting ourselves forth as an example, not only in teaching but also in the way we conduct ourselves. This is why I mentioned the example of Michael contending with Satan for the body of Moses. He refused to rebuke Satan directly but said "the Lord rebuke thee". Even though Satan clearly deserves to be rebuked, it is not Michael's place to do that, but the Lord's.
Likewise we also do have the position and place to contend for righteousness, but we don't have the position to judge our brother. It is that simple. Judge teachings, yes. Judge sins, yes. Judge unrighteousness, yes. Especially when you consider that one of the great errors of the LRC and WL was their willingness to judge brothers and sisters.