Local Church Discussions - View Single Post - The God-Men: An Inquiry into Witness Lee & the Local Church

NeitherFirstnorLast · 12-27-2012, 06:32 PM

Chapter 4 Cont'd: We are Saved by Grace through Faith.

The God-Men, pages 88-89

"As a final comment on the theological inadequacy of Witness Lee's thought, we might consider his sensuous theology in light of Genesis 3: "And the serpent said to the woman, 'You shall surely not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'" (Genesis 3:4-5).

In the garden of Eden, Satan began by challenging and negating three cardinal truths about God.

1) He denied the reality of the curse of death.
2) He denied the truthfulness of God.
3) He denied the lovingkindness of God.

Then he (Satan) introduced a positive element in his deception by making false baited promises to Eve. He offered her the promise of wisdom, the promise of divinity and the promise of power. Satan thus twisted God's truth, focusing on Eve's understanding and perceptions of God. Did she believe God? No, she did not. Unbelief gave birth to disobedience.

Any authentic "recovery" (to recover a term of Lee's) must begin where the loss began - with faith and belief. The prologue of John's gospel declares, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." (John 1:12). At the end of that gospel, John said that the real reason he documented the story was so "...that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." (John 20:31).

In the New Testament, faith, obedience and experience of God are intimately related to eachother. Faith generally precedes the other two. It is not through our righteous works that a relation with God is "recovered". It is not through our obedience, but rather through the grace of God, and that by faith. The New Testament is clear about the priority of faith in conversion and Christian sanctification.

Yet the New Testament's witness to the significance of faith is muted by Witness Lee. In his theology, sensation and experience take precedence over faith. The danger of fraudulent theology was expressed by the apostle Paul in Colossians 2:18 "Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly [sensuous] mind."

Paul's admonition applies to leaders who claim direct revelation and consequent authority from God. Witness Lee claims to have "received [revelations] of the Lord" (1 Cor.11:23) which were neither audible nor visual nor mediated through spiritistic activity. Rather, his more-than-fifty revelations sprang from his own Spirit-spirit complex. Lee assumes apostolic authority to regulate Local Church procedures based on those privately received divine disclosures. (A Local Church in-house circular entitled "Revelations Received of the Lord Within the Period of 1920 to 1973" lists 46 such experiences of Lee's related to personal salvation and church emphases, and 22 related to church growth).

**********************

....Well, that's about as damaging a statement as Duddy has made thus far regarding Lee's credibility; and not just his credibility as "The" Minister of the Age, but even as "a" minister of the Word. And the evidence is damning.

By pointing just how far off the reservation Lee wandered in his handling of the Word of God and his ministering to the Saints, we see a clear picture of just what we were being subjected to. Not a New Testament ministry, but a New Testament heresy - clearly proscribed against in New Testament Scripture.

As we go through this book, it becomes easier to see just why it had the effect Lee and LSM claimed it did on campuses. It's not that the book called Lee's Local Church a "cult" (I still haven't seen that word even once anywhere in this book, and we're on page 89) or that the book made untruthful claims about what Lee was teaching. Rather, this book shone a light in a dark place... it exposed Lee; and how did he react to the exposure? Did he offer to correct any of what was printed? Did he offer to consider what was printed? Did he offer to meet with the people before the book was printed, and try to explain his theology to deal with any misunderstandings, if there were any? No.

"Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." John 3:20.

12-27-2012, 06:32 PM	#316
NeitherFirstnorLast Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 348	Our Reading Continues Chapter 4 Cont'd: We are Saved by Grace through Faith. The God-Men, pages 88-89 "As a final comment on the theological inadequacy of Witness Lee's thought, we might consider his sensuous theology in light of Genesis 3: "And the serpent said to the woman, 'You shall surely not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it [the tree of the knowledge of good and evil] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'" (Genesis 3:4-5). In the garden of Eden, Satan began by challenging and negating three cardinal truths about God. 1) He denied the reality of the curse of death. 2) He denied the truthfulness of God. 3) He denied the lovingkindness of God. Then he (Satan) introduced a positive element in his deception by making false baited promises to Eve. He offered her the promise of wisdom, the promise of divinity and the promise of power. Satan thus twisted God's truth, focusing on Eve's understanding and perceptions of God. Did she believe God? No, she did not. Unbelief gave birth to disobedience. Any authentic "recovery" (to recover a term of Lee's) must begin where the loss began - with faith and belief. The prologue of John's gospel declares, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." (John 1:12). At the end of that gospel, John said that the real reason he documented the story was so "...that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." (John 20:31). In the New Testament, faith, obedience and experience of God are intimately related to eachother. Faith generally precedes the other two. It is not through our righteous works that a relation with God is "recovered". It is not through our obedience, but rather through the grace of God, and that by faith. The New Testament is clear about the priority of faith in conversion and Christian sanctification. Yet the New Testament's witness to the significance of faith is muted by Witness Lee. In his theology, sensation and experience take precedence over faith. The danger of fraudulent theology was expressed by the apostle Paul in Colossians 2:18 "Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly [sensuous] mind." Paul's admonition applies to leaders who claim direct revelation and consequent authority from God. Witness Lee claims to have "received [revelations] of the Lord" (1 Cor.11:23) which were neither audible nor visual nor mediated through spiritistic activity. Rather, his more-than-fifty revelations sprang from his own Spirit-spirit complex. Lee assumes apostolic authority to regulate Local Church procedures based on those privately received divine disclosures. (A Local Church in-house circular entitled "Revelations Received of the Lord Within the Period of 1920 to 1973" lists 46 such experiences of Lee's related to personal salvation and church emphases, and 22 related to church growth). ********************** ....Well, that's about as damaging a statement as Duddy has made thus far regarding Lee's credibility; and not just his credibility as "The" Minister of the Age, but even as "a" minister of the Word. And the evidence is damning. By pointing just how far off the reservation Lee wandered in his handling of the Word of God and his ministering to the Saints, we see a clear picture of just what we were being subjected to. Not a New Testament ministry, but a New Testament heresy - clearly proscribed against in New Testament Scripture. As we go through this book, it becomes easier to see just why it had the effect Lee and LSM claimed it did on campuses. It's not that the book called Lee's Local Church a "cult" (I still haven't seen that word even once anywhere in this book, and we're on page 89) or that the book made untruthful claims about what Lee was teaching. Rather, this book shone a light in a dark place... it exposed Lee; and how did he react to the exposure? Did he offer to correct any of what was printed? Did he offer to consider what was printed? Did he offer to meet with the people before the book was printed, and try to explain his theology to deal with any misunderstandings, if there were any? No. "Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." John 3:20.