Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
I was born again via the living and operating word of God. I was instantly a new creation unrecognizable to my family and friends. My heart changed, along with my personality. I no longer lived a life in darkness. God gave me a love for Him, His word, and His people, which I never had before. After less than a year, however, I was struggling to follow the Lord by myself in a world contrary to God. One day I heard about being baptized in the Spirit. That night in bed I prayed fervently to receive this from the Lord. I was filled with the Spirit. Almost immediately after that, I was driving by the Cleveland meeting hall, and met the saints planting flowers in front on a Sunday afternoon. That was an answer to my prayer based on I Cor 12.13, "in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body."
bearbear, the churchlife which you and I left, was no longer recognizable to those of us who remember those early days. It was the Spirit of god who led me to salvation, and it was the Spirit who led me to the local church. Both were accompanied by great joy, and an enlightening of the scriptures. In between those early days and my final days in the LC's, was all the sad stories of Witness Lee and company usurping absolute control of the Recovery, elevating himself to a place of highest prominence, hiding a history of corruption, and attempting to destroy any and all who got in his way.
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My grandma had similar stories of her experience in the LCs in the 50s and 60s in Taiwan. I wrote a blog post about some of the stories here:
http://nodustybunnies.blogspot.com/2...-lee-were.html
It would have been awesome to be there with her and to be part of the church-life you experienced.
It seems like whenever there is a good thing born of the Holy Spirit, Satan always focuses his attacks on this work. All Satan needs is a little opening. He knows if he can tempt a church leader into obeying his temptation, he'll have the legal right to control him if he doesn't repent (Romans 6 says we are slaves of the one we obey).
Whenever a spiritual leader has entered in the kingdom of darkness it seems like the whole congregation is often doomed if he was the only man in charge. Perhaps that's why popery was not encouraged in the early church, instead they had a plethora of leaders and apostles.
I think that's why the apostle James says not many of us should be teachers because we'll be held to a higher standard (James 3:1). This is something that scares me personally because my church is giving me more and more responsibility for youth ministry. I try to pray often that God will not let me yield to temptation but deliver me from the evil one so that I will never stumble my sheep the way Witness Lee did. It's also why we should pray for our church leaders and pastors. They need every bit of help they can get.
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.