Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
Do "non-free-gracers" practice taking back birthday and Christmas gifts if recipients don't measure up? One would think they should, since this would indeed be the "living out" of their theology and expression of what they think God is like. Unless of course they are embarrassed to behave as shabbily as they believe God does.
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It may have seemed like I laid down the hammer pretty hard on Witness Lee, but my aim is not to speculate where he ended up, after all he seemed to make some effort to repent near the end of his life-- but I think scripture admonishes us to expose false teachers and false shepherds. I think after you peel away the sheep's clothing, it's apparent Witness Lee was a wolf whether or not he knew it; it's evident once you compare his fruit to what scripture says to expect from false teachers. The reason it is important to get the word out is because the lives of the sheep are at stake. We should be willing to extend grace to him just like God would, but it's evident that instead of repenting when confronted, Witness Lee only hardened his heart and made things worse. His publishing of the "Fermentation of the Present Rebellion" may have sealed his own "rebellion" against God.
The level of scrutiny that Jesus applied to teachers of the law who had influence over people's souls cannot be applied to lay people who are just trying to survive in this harsh world. That's what the pharisees did and it's exactly the type of thing I believe can send you to hell.
To refuse a gift from someone in that context would be messed up and likely cause them to stumble in their faith. This is the kind of thing I'm afraid God would smite me for. If anything I've come to love other people even more after my journey out of free grace because I know now how narrow the road really is the eternal life (though I admit I often make mistakes in my attempt to "love" on others and I'm sorry for that). We can't rely on anything other than God's love to change people-- and as vessels of God's love we can lavish this love on others in the hope that their hearts will be changed. Transformation doesn't result from behaviour modification but a born again experience by which someone receives a new heart and new spirit (Ezekiel 36).
Heck recently I was reading accounts of people's born again experiences. Many of them felt a wave of love or peace wash over them after surrendering their life to Jesus. Despite "believing" Jesus died for my sins all my life, it was then that I realized I was never born again until my journey out of the LC.
After I left the LC, as a result of rediscovering the truth in God's word, I totally surrendered my heart to Jesus and desperately wanted him to be my Lord not just in name but tangibly in every area of my life because I realized apart from Him I had no hope of making the rapture or as I discovered later on, walking the narrow road that leads to life.
It was that midnight while visiting my in-laws in Hong Kong where I felt a tremendous feeling of peace invade my heart during this prayer. I knew it was the peace that surpasses all understanding described in Phil 4:7. At the time I wouldn't have traded that feeling of God's rest for a billion dollars. From that moment on I really felt like a new creation and I was finally able to overcome all sorts of addictions I was struggling with. When I compare who I am today in Christ against my old self, I can barely recognize who I used to be.
If I had stayed in the LCs all my life, blindly thinking that I was okay because I merely intellectually acknowledged Jesus' deity, went to the church meetings and even served but lived like everyone else in the world the rest of the time, I would have never had that experience and beginning of a new transformation.