[aron]

Originally Posted by ABrotherinFaith

How does everyone here handle conversations such as we have when talking with LCers?

A few months ago, my family was invited to dinner with an LCer. We went to his friend's house, who's also a "solid" brother in the Local Church. Full-Time training graduates, professional, nice house in the suburbs, wife & kids, meet every morning at 6:00 am to pray-read Witness Lee's Morning Revival booklet, etc. Two pillars of the local church of Lee.

I had met this second brother several times before, and was completely shocked by what happened at the dinner. This "solid" brother said, loudly, clearly, vehemently, and emotionally, that all they were doing at the Lord's Table meeting was speaking clever words to one another. Where was the life? The Spirit? The power? Where was the reality of the kingdom?

He also said that he could get just as much anointing meeting with other Christians. In fact, he was meeting with other Christians outside the LCs and the Spirit was there, when they met.

He said that the Local Church there was "of Lee" by dint of their exclusive reliance upon Lee for inspirational material. Even though they didn't dare say it, they were "of Lee" as much as anyone saying they were of Paul, or of Cephas, or of Apollos.

He was quite passionate. He was frustrated. He was pretty strong in his speaking, and afterward there was silence. His wife looked down. His kids gazed back and forth at the adults. What next? My friend who had invited our family over here for dinner clearly wasn't in agreement, but he just frowned and said nothing. This was his 'closest vital group partner', so he was trying to figure out a strategy; in the meantime silence.

I spoke up. I acknowledged this man's frustration, and framed it in another context. We two had a back-and-forth for several minutes. Nobody else joined us. Dessert was served and then the people started to drift away from the table and conversation changed.

Only God could have reached in that brother's heart and touched it. So my point, ABiF, is that your eloquence and logic isn't needed. God works by His Spirit. My counsel to you is to do whatever you would be doing if there was no Local Church at all! Believe in God... read the Bible... obey the Word of Christ. Let God speak within you; "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly"... love your neighbor, whatever type or stripe that neighbor may be. Methodist, Baptist, Atheist, Agnostic, Local Churcher. Try to respect the person that God put next to you. Understand that God cares about them just as much as He cares about you.

As far as the truth, and steering them onto the right path, I would say that the truth is God's love reaching us in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. The path is the narrow path, and so is obedience to His Spirit. If you stay on that path you will see marvelous things. The rest of it is just extraneous details which should only reinforce your journey. If anything starts to distract you from the narrow path, let it go.

For whatever reason, you were raised in the Local Church. God alone knows the details of your journey. Your job is to find it. It is hard. This world is full of frustrations and failures and distractions. You have your soul, your flesh, your ignorance, your concepts, your plans, hopes, dreams, fears. All of these, all of them, are obstructions in seeing what God wants for you. Let them go! Plus, you have your neighbors who all are dealing with the same stuff. Some of them are Local Churchers, whose minds are fully programmed not to see the light. They can only see what the Blendeds have allowed them to see.

My point is that it doesn't matter. God is wise, God is good, God is very powerful. If you find the slender golden thread connecting you to your Father in heaven, and hold on tight, you will be taken for a marvelous ride. Nothing else matters. Jesus said it and it's true: "The Spirit will guide you into all the reality."