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Originally Posted by Ohio
SC has mentioned the "culture thing" being very important in LC ecclesiastical development. The more I consider it, I have to agree. Growing up in China, studying only the Chinese history of the succession of dynasties, the concept of "deputy authority" sounds almost "scriptural." To a naturally ambitious man, the teaching must have sounded like a contrasting, Biblical alternative to the only form of government their country ever knew.
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I recently saw something on one of the history channels about the Chin Dynasty. He was China's first emperor, and the one from whom China gets its name. It really confirmed my belief, and evidentually that of many on this forum, that Chinese culture has played a huge part in the history of the Local Church. Unfortunately, culture always plays a part in the degradation of the Church, LSM Church, or any other.
To a lesser degree, it is easy to see that Witness Lee operated very much like an Chinese emperor. What they spoke was, "the it." Questioning them meant loosing your life (think "quarantine").
I think about how the Emperor would find the least excuse to convict someone of a crime, and then sentence them to finish out their lives in hard labor, working on the "Great Wall."
Something that is little talked about is how many saints were left in spiritual despair after being "encouraged" to go and slave on the meeting halls (mainly, Anaheim and Irving). BTW, the Irving Hall is beginning to look more and more like the Great Wall in that it is a useless relic of the past. If only the money gurbbing Blendeds could figure out a way to make it a tourist attraction. Perhaps a visit to the homeland could give them some lessons on how to make money while leaving God out of the picture.
Roger