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

NeitherFirstnorLast · 01-07-2013, 05:49 PM

Chapter 5: The Local Church in Action

The God-Men, page 107

"Some Christians are attracted to the Local Church by the zeal and apparent spirituality of its members. Others encounter it primarily through its undisguised abrasive actions toward Christian communities. The Local Church, wherever it exists, seems to follow a similar pattern of antagonism and proselytism. Max Rapoport, who formerly conducted training sessions for Local Church extension programs, testifies that those sessions focused on the theme of "taking the earth". Implicit in that theme was the idea of wooing Christians. Rapoport himself participated in inducing seventy members to leave a California church and join the LC. He also trained LC members in New Zealand, where conflicts erupted in many Christian congregations."

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

I am about to head off for Bible Study tonight, so I haven't much time to post - but I wanted to put this next chapter into perspective, because it seems again to lead exactly where our conversation is going - into the nature of the interactions between the Local Church and non-LC Christians.

Further to this topic, I wanted to relate a story about my time handing out RcV Bibles with Bibles for Canada, at the University of Manitoba campus. As you all know, BfC is the same as BfA; both are companies owned and operated by Living Stream Ministries. I said before that I wasn't initially told this by anyone at my Local Church (I still wonder if some of them understood that themselves, as I'd been told that Bibles for America loved to print the Recovery version because "it was the only version people actually read - and wore out!") Anyway, whether that was a deliberate lie told to me or a deliberate lie told to the person who told me this, I don't know... What I do know is that when we were given the Bibles to hand out, we were SPECIFICALLY told that we absolutely could not tell anyone that we were affiliated with any group whatsoever. If anyone asked, we were to tell them that "we are only simple Christians who meet to lift up the name of the Lord Jesus" or some such, NOT to say anything about the Local Church, about Witness Lee, or about how or where we meet - although we could direct them to Christians on Campus if they wanted fellowship.

We could debate night and day, maybe, about why this imperitive directive was given, but the fact is it WAS given. And that, dear brothers and sisters, is a deliberate lie, and it's inexcusable.

Christ said to the lying Pharisees "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44.

Lying is a sin (Exodus 20:16, Leviticus 19:11), and of Satan. Doesn't Christ also admonish His followers in Matthew 5:19

"Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

Can anyone possibly excuse lying, given what the Word of God says?

01-07-2013, 05:49 PM	#330
NeitherFirstnorLast Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 348	Our Reading Continues Chapter 5: The Local Church in Action The God-Men, page 107 "Some Christians are attracted to the Local Church by the zeal and apparent spirituality of its members. Others encounter it primarily through its undisguised abrasive actions toward Christian communities. The Local Church, wherever it exists, seems to follow a similar pattern of antagonism and proselytism. Max Rapoport, who formerly conducted training sessions for Local Church extension programs, testifies that those sessions focused on the theme of "taking the earth". Implicit in that theme was the idea of wooing Christians. Rapoport himself participated in inducing seventy members to leave a California church and join the LC. He also trained LC members in New Zealand, where conflicts erupted in many Christian congregations." ****************** I am about to head off for Bible Study tonight, so I haven't much time to post - but I wanted to put this next chapter into perspective, because it seems again to lead exactly where our conversation is going - into the nature of the interactions between the Local Church and non-LC Christians. Further to this topic, I wanted to relate a story about my time handing out RcV Bibles with Bibles for Canada, at the University of Manitoba campus. As you all know, BfC is the same as BfA; both are companies owned and operated by Living Stream Ministries. I said before that I wasn't initially told this by anyone at my Local Church (I still wonder if some of them understood that themselves, as I'd been told that Bibles for America loved to print the Recovery version because "it was the only version people actually read - and wore out!") Anyway, whether that was a deliberate lie told to me or a deliberate lie told to the person who told me this, I don't know... What I do know is that when we were given the Bibles to hand out, we were SPECIFICALLY told that we absolutely could not tell anyone that we were affiliated with any group whatsoever. If anyone asked, we were to tell them that "we are only simple Christians who meet to lift up the name of the Lord Jesus" or some such, NOT to say anything about the Local Church, about Witness Lee, or about how or where we meet - although we could direct them to Christians on Campus if they wanted fellowship. We could debate night and day, maybe, about why this imperitive directive was given, but the fact is it WAS given. And that, dear brothers and sisters, is a deliberate lie, and it's inexcusable. Christ said to the lying Pharisees "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44. Lying is a sin (Exodus 20:16, Leviticus 19:11), and of Satan. Doesn't Christ also admonish His followers in Matthew 5:19 "Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Can anyone possibly excuse lying, given what the Word of God says?