Thread: The LCS Factor
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Old 09-01-2008, 03:25 PM   #7
Thankful Jane
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Location: Georgetown, Texas
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This morning I started reading in Malachi. Before my journey in the Word with Jesus was over, I had received a new understanding about high places in the O.T.

In the O. T. all the children of Israel had to go and worship the Lord in Jerusalem. The oneness of the children of Israel was maintained by their going there three times a year to worship. Brothers had to reconcile on the way there because they had to appear before the Lord in good and pleasant unity. (Psa. 133)

Jerusalem was where God had chosen to put His name. His name meant that He was there. So, it’s clear that God had a big family and He wanted them to have a harmonious unity. The ten commandments were the rules for His family to live by to keep a good relationship with Him and each other. If they broke them they had to make things right with God and one another, accordingly, when they came to appear before Him.

Where do we go to worship Him in the N.T.? Lee, not the Bible, told us that the New Testament reality of Jerusalem was the ground of locality. What does the Bible tell us? (John 4:20-24) We worship in spirit and in truth, not in a physically defined place such as a city locality. God wants us as His family to be in right relationship to Him and in unity and harmony with every member of the body of Christ--His and our big family. We cannot worship Him in spirit and in truth if we have offenses against God and/or others on our conscience. If I go to worship and remember an open offense against a brother, I have to stop and clear up the problem with my brother, then I can come back to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

At the moment of our new birth we became part of the one loaf. Lee wrongly told us that the "genuine" oneness had been lost and needed to be recovered. He then told us that the way to recover the oneness was to recover the practice of the ground of locality. This became a major part of our “governing vision,” one that we had and others did not have, our “special calling.”

Lee’s definition of oneness was not the same as the Bible’s. It was restrictive. It was too small in scope, just as Sparks said. According to Lee, if you didn’t believe and practice the genuine oneness on the ground of locality, you were not in the genuine oneness.

In the O.T., they were forbidden to worship any where other than Jerusalem. To set up a high place in another place and worship there was equal to dividing themselves from the rest of the family of Israel. If they did, they were establishing a oneness of a smaller scope than God defined. God cared about the oneness of His whole family. When they stopped recognizing the whole family by setting up high places, the Bible says they profaned the covenant and dealt treacherously with their brothers.

Mal 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

In the New Testament, God’s name (and His presence) is for all His children to enjoy together. We are taught to pray “Our” Father, hallowed be thy name. If we set up a high place that defines oneness in a smaller scope than the whole family of believers, we can deal treacherously against our brother, who is not worshipping in, and according to, our high place, and then proceed to worship without having to clear up the offense with him. To behave in this way is to profane our new covenant relationship with God and one another.

Our basis of oneness with all believers is the NAME of Jesus. In the N. T. we do not have to come to a physical place to worship God. We are to worship Him in spirit in truth. Such worship governs our oneness. We have to take care of sins between each other or we cannot worship Him in spirit and truth. Our fellowship with Him is broken by our having broken relationships with others in his family. It is very serious for us to have problems with anyone in the Body of Christ, and we are told to always go the distance to reconcile. So, if we have lost anything related to oneness that needs to be "recovered", it is the practice of reconciling.

The scope of oneness in the N. T. is the whole body of Christ. Lee set up a definite high place (a new definition of oneness, smaller in scope than the whole body of Christ) and whoever accepted this, began to worship at another altar. He and his followers offended God by making the scope of His family smaller than it is. Those in the LCs only keep oneness among themselves and deal treacherously with their brothers who are not worshipping at their high place. They offend the body of Christ and even feel good about it, believing they are serving God.

Thankful Jane
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