[Ohio]

Myer was honest to address the real situation in the GLA churches, though he never mentioned by name who actually rules the region with an iron fist.

Unchecked Spiritual Authority will
Continue Terminating Gifts to the Body

As in the LSM version of the Movement, a similar spiritual authority complex exists in the Midwest. No one argues against the fact that spiritual authority is real and that mature, healthy believers ought to be respected and heard. But this understanding runs amuck when it attempts to morph into a system of ecclesiastical rule. The “order in the body” or “the lead in the work” can wrongly entitle a so-called authority to hold sway over entire areas of churches and over people whom he (or, they) have never even personally met, much less labored upon.

This tendency is more nebulous with the Living Stream Ministry, because it comprises a number of men who act as a sort of central committee. The Midwest, though, typically revolves around one worker, who sets the pace and direction for the ministry of the entire region. This was a pattern personally lived out by Witness Lee while he was still alive. Eventually, sub-lieutenants influenced by him each went to various parts of the globe where there were no peers on their same level and thus few serious checks or balances to their teaching, leadership, and direction.

The belief that this arrangement is somehow spiritual unfortunately rolls out a welcome mat for frequent bad behavior. We must all grant our leaders the grace to have bad days. However that does not include bad patterns. Patterns develop when behaviors go unchallenged, and they go unchallenged because of teachings that tell us to fear, above all else, the spiritual authority allegedly residing in some man.

Under that erroneous assumption, if said authority uses intimidation, public rebukes, temper tantrums, and mocking, it is acceptable because it is all part of the package. Indeed, I have seen godly, senior men bullied and scolded as though they were children. Meanwhile, others, watching quietly from the sidelines and thankful that they escaped the moment, put their hands in their pockets and with sheepish grins said, “Well, you just have to understand our brother.” One elder summed it all up with an air of resignation, saying, “That’s the way it is.” But such rubber stamping of spiritual authority is a lot like playing Russian roulette. One by one, individuals begin to disappear whom the Lord has spent years raising up—each effectively dispatched by “the order in the body.”

Aside from adjusting the source teaching that overly indulges the idea of spiritual authority, accountability is a key factor here. What would happen if a number of influential elders set a policy for leaders: “You will not be given free pass for rude, abrasive remarks and public shaming. Insults from the podium will no longer be treated as the Lord’s Word from an angry prophet. Instead, it will be seen as sinful human weakness and will be met with censure. Outbursts of anger are works of the flesh. It is simply childish to insist on something and then make snide remarks (especially from the pulpit!) when you don’t get your way. If you continue to act out in unchristian ways, regardless of your elevated status and past history, you will be asked to step down.”

What would happen if such policies were adopted? No doubt, it would be called rebellion. Yet spiritual authority does not offer someone a deferment from virtuous conduct. It certainly does not sanction manhandling ministers and neutralizing them.

As long as questionable authority patterns persist, promising brothers will continue to disappear, after years of training and comradeship and possibly after many years of faithful service in the church. No one is innocent here. Local leaders who passively accept these situations are as complicit in the deed as if they had directly done it themselves.

John Myer is the first person, besides myself, who has come out publicly to address the abuses that we all used to consider "normal." How many precious and gifted brothers have ended up "in the ditch along the way" with no "Good Samaritan" to aid their cause? As Myer has correctly said, "No one is innocent!" All the others in attendance were just like that "priest and Levite passing by on the other side", noting to their associates, and shrugging their shoulders, "that's just the way it is."

Funny thing is TC used to mock the brothers calling them, "yellow-bellied push-button robots." How many times did I hear that!?! Yet no brother, including myself, ever had the guts to stand up TC bully tactics. I guess he was right. Due to the shackles of errant and distorted teachings of spiritual authority, we all truly were "yellow-bellied push-button robots!" One senior worker in Cleveland, who has since departed, said TC treated him "like a dog."

Even sadder than silence is the bad pattern duplicated among the other workers under TC. Just recently I heard a story of obnoxious abuse by TC's right hand man TM. The victim was another soft-hearted, well-loved, and appreciated shepherd, who has had a positive influence over many a brother and sister over the years. He has left the Recovery, but, of course, TM of Cleveland has not. The abusive ones tend to stay. I too have learned that lesson the hard way.

After the sad days of strife which so characterized the quarantine in the GLA, one dear couple came to me and encouraged me saying that "things were better now." Peace following fighting always is pleasant. But, as I have said from the beginning, the GLA LC's would never change as long as the same leaders were in place. It's just amazing to me now, looking back, at how sympathetic we all were to TC, as he told us those many stories of how he was abused by those in Anaheim. Did someone say that bullies tend to reproduce bullies?!?