[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Indiana

...I hope we can come together and talk about your concerns and also to seek to find a way to bring an end to the negative speaking about the Local Churches on the internet....***The original post has been deleted by the author***

Steve,
Not sure what you mean by "negative speaking about the Local Churches on the internet", but I hope you don't mean the exposing of the real history - the fact that Witness Lee was propagating extremely divisive teachings and practices going back to his days in Taiwan. Lee was attacking other Christians and even suing members of his own denomination long before he landed on our fair shores. Lee was also propagating strange and unbiblical teachings going back to his Taiwan days as well. Apparently Witness exercised some measure of self control (now we know it was just deceit) in the early days here in America, but eventually the real Lee came out, and he boldly declared himself to be the only one speaking for God on earth.

Let's all keep in mind that negative does NOT = false. The Bible is FULL of negative speaking - sometimes it speaks negatively against the words and actions of God's people, sometimes it speaks negatively against a certain leader/leaders. What do we see in the speaking of the Prophets? The vast majority of their speaking was "negative" against God's people and or the leaders. Look at the record of the speaking of the Lord Jesus in the Gospels. When he wasn't busy healing the sick, feeding the poor, eating with sinners and preaching the good news, he was clearing out the temple with a whip and calling the leaders a brood of vipers and sons of the devil! Much of the New Testament was a record of the apostles dealing with the "negative" side of the Church. The simple fact is that negative things will plague us until the end. There will be sin and sinners until the end - when God throws it all into the Lake of Fire.

But one more thing to keep in mind...negative speaking coming from man is not necessarily negative speaking coming from God: "do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God" (1 John 4:1) Tragically, this kind of testing was not encouraged in the Local Church. In fact Witness Lee pretty much forbade it. This is exactly what Steve is dealing with in Ron Kangas. He is only capable of testing the spirits of those who might test the person and work of Witness Lee and/or the religious system he established. Thus, those who follow the person and work of Witness Lee inevitably end up in the category of those who "measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding" (2 Cor 10:12) May God have mercy.