[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by UntoHim

Next up at bat… Canfield’s assertion that Local Churchers/LSM have “left their original standing, as they began to focus more and more on Witness Lee and his ministry”.

I would challenge Canfield to show that the focus of the Local Church movement here in America has EVER been on anything or anyone other than Witness Lee and his ministry. There is a very good reason why Lee and his followers came under significant criticism from the very beginnings in Los Angeles. Does anyone really believe that Witness Lee would let the focus be on anything or anyone but himself? From the very beginnings in LA, all the conferences and "trainings" were either conducted by Lee himself, or maybe by somebody going over messages and outlines provided by Lee. The first books distributed (The Economy of God, etc) were almost all Lee, with maybe a few from Watchman Nee.

From the very beginnings in LA Witness Lee and his followers drew the ire from other Christians with all the "WE are THE Church in LA", "WE are meeting on THE PROPER GROUND" and "Poor, Poor Christianity" talk. Marches were made against other Christian churches and ministries with placards proclaiming "Down with Christianity!". Too bad there were no digital cameras and the Internet back in the day....I bet many current LC members would be shocked and ashamed of the aggressive and horrific attitude displayed towards their brothers and sisters in Christ. I guarantee you that there would be a lot more understanding of just why the Local Church got labeled with the dreaded “C” word.

We could go over all sorts of LC history going back to the early days of Elden Hall and before, and how insiders and outsiders were treated, but the bottom line is that it is provably false that “the original standing” of the Local Church Movement was anything other than what it is today – A sect of Christianity with both positive and negative elements. Were there more positives than negatives at the beginning? Probably so, but that is true with almost every movement of man, even those whose beginnings could be traced to something that might be considered a genuine move of God.