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ZNPaaneah · 04-02-2013, 04:16 PM

"There has been to some extent an atmosphere of fear brought in among the saints and among the churches, bringing the conscience of the saints into bondage. I believe this has been done by an over-stressing and distortion of the teaching concerning Deputy authority. This has brought the saints into a condition where they are fearful to follow their conscience, to be one with their spirit, and sometimes to speak their genuine concerns." (John Ingals as quoted by WL in the elder's training, book 10, chapter 6, section 9).

His point is not that there is no basis for this teaching but that it is distorted so that saints are fearful to speak their genuine concerns. On the one hand it is critical for a church to have "deputy authority". Someone has to pay the electric bill. Someone has to open the mail. Someone may need to speak to someone who is unruly or disruptive. However, Matt. makes it very clear that if you are going to discipline a brother you need to "tell it to the church and if the church refuses to hear him then...". This telling it to the church is not the elders saying that they have decided to discipline this person but it is an opportunity for this saint to share their case. This never happened in my experience in the LRC and I saw several saints excommunicated.

James
2:1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

To me the distortion of the teaching on "deputy authority" is when you have the faith of our Lord Jesus with respect of persons. The best example of this is the MOTA. The combination of the teaching of "deputy authority" and "MOTA" is a poisonous mixture.

04-02-2013, 04:16 PM	#4
ZNPaaneah Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 7,105	Re: WL did not intend to belittle the book of James "There has been to some extent an atmosphere of fear brought in among the saints and among the churches, bringing the conscience of the saints into bondage. I believe this has been done by an over-stressing and distortion of the teaching concerning Deputy authority. This has brought the saints into a condition where they are fearful to follow their conscience, to be one with their spirit, and sometimes to speak their genuine concerns." (John Ingals as quoted by WL in the elder's training, book 10, chapter 6, section 9). His point is not that there is no basis for this teaching but that it is distorted so that saints are fearful to speak their genuine concerns. On the one hand it is critical for a church to have "deputy authority". Someone has to pay the electric bill. Someone has to open the mail. Someone may need to speak to someone who is unruly or disruptive. However, Matt. makes it very clear that if you are going to discipline a brother you need to "tell it to the church and if the church refuses to hear him then...". This telling it to the church is not the elders saying that they have decided to discipline this person but it is an opportunity for this saint to share their case. This never happened in my experience in the LRC and I saw several saints excommunicated. James 2:1 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. To me the distortion of the teaching on "deputy authority" is when you have the faith of our Lord Jesus with respect of persons. The best example of this is the MOTA. The combination of the teaching of "deputy authority" and "MOTA" is a poisonous mixture.