Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
Steve, you can't put new wine in old wineskins, and the Recovery model is now an old wineskin. Memories are fine, but God is now. To quote John Myer from his A Future and a Hope epilogue:
'I began to wonder if it really was all over—if there could ever again be new nterprises in the house of God, at least among us. Others who have wished for the same in recent years sought to restore Local Church momentum by resurrecting “sacred cows” from the scrap heap. For instance, they assigned blame to those who messed up the local ground pattern found in Nee and Lee’s early writings. [Steve?] Their logic was that the teaching was right but the people were wrong and so, “Let’s try again, but harder this time!” Then they issued solemn assurances of blessing to those who returned to the local ground blueprint. This, however, hardly constitutes a promising course of action. The new thing would simply be an old thing reloaded and set to explode in the face of yet another unsuspecting generation.' Better this attitude:
'So why bother with any version of an LC future? Well, the desire for a church restart, complete with reupholstering and rebuild, I believe, is a wish for something redemptive. We hope that after all the time, the energy, the tears, the prayer, the sacrifice, and the difficult decisions that made up LC life, something might arise to keep it all from seeming a colossal waste. I am among those hopeful hearts.' But, whatever, Steve, try to move forward. Don't just keep reliving memories of the Recovery like some guy pining for an old flame who died years ago. |
I wonder, Igzy, why you did not refer to my points in post #19, which were in response to the pertinent forum questions:
1) Why there was a blessing of the Spirit in the early days of the church life; and
2) What effect Witness Lee had on that blessing in the local churches in those days. References by me in #19 to the ground of oneness were concerning the
early church life in America; not current day Local Church life on a path of deviation from the earlier days. Your posts distracted people from my reference point to thoughts of current day LC misuse of the teaching of the ground; John Myer's thoughts about the ground; and a bit of mockery of me, with advice that I should try to move forward and not be in a pining mode for the past. Do you want to address the points I made? Or evade them?
From Post #19
1. Ah, but the American brothers were in the process of a recovery that began with Watchman Nee in China when he was a student seeking the truth of the proper ground to come together as Christians. He and other young brothers could not find scriptural ground for the denominations and began to meet on the ground that they were one with every true believer in the city. They were compelled by their conscience that they could not meet in any other way. Witness Lee a few years later joined them, although he had a successful work going on in Northern China. He could see that blessing was with Nee and his ministry from reports he had heard and the monthly publication by Nee he read, called, The Christian. He was convicted by the truth he found in Nee’s ministry.
2. When Lee came to the U. S., he brought three decades of experience with him, two decades under Nee. He saw much in God’s word; had valuable church life experience; and developed his own ministry. These brothers, Nee and Lee, were outside of organized religion and God blessed them to meet as one on a ground of oneness in a city. God did not agree either with denominations that slice up the Body of Christ into different sections, and pastors shaking hands over the fence.
3. When Witness Lee met up with seekers of the Lord in the U. S., it was he who had the weighty background, and they asked him to meet with them. He naturally became their leader and his ministry began to be released. Regardless of who he learned from, he saw things spiritually in the Bible and could minister them with profound effect among the seeking ones who were his recipients in the early days of the church life in America.
4. There were no pews with a pastor but every saint could function and was encouraged to speak. Like Moses, Lee desired that “you all would prophesy (speak forth Christ).” What a recovery! What a tremendous help to all the churches as they grew and spread around the country, and what a contrast with what we still see today in the best of meeting places, with only a paid pastor doing the speaking. (It has been 12 years since I met in the Local Churches and I have been to many other gatherings of believers. None had access to the weightiness of ministry and decades of experience in their lineage to help usher them into a church life as the local churches did in the U. S. when Witness Lee arrived.)
5. I think Witness Lee had much to do with the harmony among the churches, through conferences, fellowship with leaders, publications, and by his own godly example, as Igzy alluded to. He instilled confidence for a saint’s moving ahead in the local churches, and also hope for the churches and their future, which served to stabilize the churches. His close relationship with Nee for about two decades was a big factor for the confidence and hope the saints had. In other words, the local churches in the U. S. had a history and lineage from China and Taiwan to immediately benefit them and receive blessing of the Spirit from, especially with Lee here with them. Indeed, when they moved to Los Angeles to be near him from around the country, revival came. It came from the lineage; the product of that lineage, Witness Lee; and their heart to meet on a ground of oneness with other believers.
6. Songs poured out of the saints as they were being built up in their localities year after year. They made the songs up themselves from their experience and enjoyment of Christ, and the word and ministry they were blessed to be under. The reason Ohio lost his desire for cigarettes is that he was transferred, solidly, into another realm with Christ as his life and God’s house as his home and dwelling place. It was a place of absolute separation from the world and habitation with God. “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.” (Ps. 36:8)
7. We were inspired by Old Testament exhortation from Nehemiah to “rise up and build.” God’s people received this call to rise up, to go up, and build, or rebuild, the temple. There was every indication that we were exactly what we were told we were and that we were in a recovery of the truth of God’s word, experience of Christ as our life, and in a church of God’s glory, meeting on a proper ground of oneness. For there, on the proper ground, “the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.” (Ps. 133)
8. And we had the leadership to open up the way for us. I think Witness Lee and the ground of oneness teaching and practice he brought to the U. S. were key to the amount of blessing of the Spirit received in the local churches. Of course, his teaching on the human spirit and enjoying Christ as our life for the building up of the church were crucial to our experience of the blessing of the Spirit in those days. Many songs came out and filled the supplement pages concerning these experiences, teachings, and practices.
9. But first, we needed to come out of the divisions to be on the right ground for meeting, and for blessing.