Quote:
Originally Posted by UntoHim
“To hear the Spirit's speaking we must be…in the local church on the ground”—W. Lee
W. Lee says the “ground of oneness” is no longer tied to one city (Israel’s Jerusalem); today it’s tied to the NT pattern of “one church, one city, meeting in oneness on the local ground.” LSM’s local churches claim exclusive rights over the “local ground”--that unique position (allegedly) qualifying them for God’s abundant blessing.
In contrast to other Christians, Local Church members claim they have returned to “Jerusalem,” the God-appointed place of worship. Against this backdrop, W. Lee declares,35 “When God's people in the Old Testament lost the ground of oneness, they spontaneously lost so many spiritual and holy things. However, when they returned to Jerusalem, to the ground of oneness, all these holy and spiritual things spontaneously returned. The principle is the same in the Lord's recovery today. Today our God, the Triune God, is…realized as the all-inclusive Spirit. Today this Spirit is speaking to the churches [Rev. 2:7]. Hence, in order to hear the Spirit's speaking, we must be in one of the churches…We know where we must be today—in the local oneness, i.e., in the local church on the ground of oneness.” Note that W. Lee asserts “to hear the Spirit's speaking, we must be…in the local church on the ground.” Here is yet another exclusive claim about “the ground”! If you’re not in “the local church, standing on the local ground,” you won’t hear the Holy Spirit’s speaking!
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Here are two examples of how distorted this teaching is.
They are using the type of the Temple as a basis for this teaching. In the type the ground of the Temple is critical, it had to be put in the place where God appointed. That place was specifically chosen by God. There is no doubt from either Jewish or Christian scholars that the reason God chose the Temple mount is that this is the spot where Abraham offered up Isaac in a figure. This ground is identified as the place where God the Father offered up his Son for the sins of the world. The Temple mount is also the ground purchased by King David as a sin offering. Jesus as the greater David also made a sin offering when He offered up Himself on the Cross.
This is our ground. That is the one and only spot on which the church should be built.
The idea that this OT type prefigured the boundaries of modern day cities is absurd. There are only two possible explanations: WL willfully distorted the teaching or WL and WN are terrible Bible expositors.
However, this teaching is an article of the faith for the LSM. It is equivalent to a sacrament. This isn't merely some minor error, this is the foundation of the entire LSM franchise.
The second heinous error is the idea that the church can "take the ground". This ground that the temple was built on was purchased by Jesus when He was crucified on the cross. This price was paid so that all could be redeemed. The idea that a couple of saints can just "take it" is grossly irreverent. "One church one city" is not an item of the faith, but "the blood of Jesus shed so that we could be redeemed" is. I can take this by faith when I proclaim that Jesus is Lord and believe that God has raised him from the dead, just as Abraham, the father of faith, believed God was able to raise him.
Once again, how could the LSM and WL teach sacrilege? Either WL is willfully distorting this teaching to create his own little sect with a captive market for his books, or else he is utterly incompetent as a Bible teacher.