Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
The Bible had become a dangerous book in the hands of common saints. It must be properly interpreted! It must be accompanied by the ministry! I remember talking to an in-law of mine during the recent quarantine who also was from Florida. He told me succinctly that "coming back to the pure word of God" was nothing more than a "tactic of the enemy." He then related how Bill Mallon attempted the same strategy during the last rebellion.
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I would suggest that more or less this was the way it always was in the LC system but became more blatant and shamelessly promoted in the late 1980s with the New Way etc.
Prior to that Witness Lee was the "official" interpreter of the word. His ministry was published in book and tape form plus the Stream magazine. Regional conferences given by John Ingalls, Bill Mallon, James Barber, etc were basically repeats of Witness Lee's messages. Elders on Sunday mornings repeated Witness Lee's ministry.
IMHO all that happened in the late 1980s was to formalize as policy what already existed and to police and punish those who wouldn't comply. At the same time management of "the work" shifted from Witness Lee plus senior coworkers to Witness Lee plus his son and staff at the LSM.