Quote:
Originally Posted by esostaks
About two years ago a very dear brother in Christ accidentally bought a book The Normal Christian Church Life written by brother Watchman Nee. I`ve read it and understood that the modern churches are false in their whole essence because the biblical churches are separated only by their geographical locations and not by teachings/beliefs/practices/nationalities/social factors etc. I was really happy about this so I started to search if there were any local churches in my country. Fortunately there was a church in the city where I was studying at that moment. I attended some meetings, however, the more time a spent with the church and the more I learned about development of local churches the more disappointed I became.
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Dear
esostaks, you wrote many things, so I will try to address this paragraph on Nee's book
TNCCL. This book attempts to document the early church, and thus provide a prescription for the future church. Many Christians in the USA were captured by Nee's teachings during the 1960's, when denominational "fortresses" were so prevalent in the Lord's body. I was with the local churches for 30 years before I saw through their hypocrisy.
The difficulties I now have with
TNCCL are twofold: (1) Some of the teaching is bad, and (2) The leaders of the local churches, Nee (~1920-1950) and Lee (~1950-1997,) never practiced what they preached.
Though many teachings in
TNCCL are good and scriptural, the Bible only
describes "one city / one church," it never
prescribes it. This is very important! Reading Revelation chaps. 2-3, it appears like each city was a church, but the Bible only records that
it happened, and never that it
must happen. In fact a careful examination of some verses (Acts 9.31; Romans 16.5; Col. 4.15) indicates that there probably was more than one church in some cities, and yet they were not considered divisions in the body.
Like wise Nee taught that
only the apostles can appoint elders based on Acts 14.23 and Titus 1.5. This is another case where the Bible accurately records events which transpired in the early church, but never teaches it must be practiced. It took years before many of us realized how manipulative this teaching actually is. Both Nee and Lee appointed elders who were favorable to them and their ministry, but cared little for the saints under their care. Apostle Paul, however, prescribes for us men of upright character (see I Timothy and Titus) who were appointed as elders because (a) they were placed by the Holy Spirit and (b) they were approved by the church.
After all, the Bible says repeatedly that the church is the church "of God, of Christ Jesus," and the church "of the saints." No where is the church "of the elders, of the workers," and that is exactly what has transpired under the leadership of both Nee and Lee. Both Nee and Lee have excessively promoted
oneness very much like the Catholic church did of old. By wrongly elevating their own manner of oneness, they were able to condemn the entire body of Christ as hopelessly divided. They judged all believers and churches based on wrong standards. This has not pleased the Lord, and that is why He told us, "
by what judgment you judge, you will be judged."
Eventually we have learned that both Nee and Lee had numerous issues of misconduct, related to immorality and money, which had to be hidden from all the saints by their hand-picked minions surrounding them. All those who spoke their conscience and stood up for righteousness on behalf of God's children were smeared publicly by these leaders. The history of Nee in China is not as well known as the history of Lee in America, especially since many of us witnessed these events first hand. The forum here is filled with these stories.