[Friedel]

Originally Posted by Terry

From the late 90's I felt the FTTA creates a caste system among the young people. If you're one with a view in mind to attend FTTA, you will receive much care and shepherding. If you don't have an ambition for FTTA, you don't feel wanted, needed, or cared for. By the time you're 19-21, if you go to a Sunday meeting it's out of tradition.
Problem is FTTA creates an environment where young people don't want to stick around if FTTA isn't a goal.

This is quite an indictment but it proves the Local Church of the 20th century is a whole lot different from the one of the present day.

The former Local Church had a charismatic King Pin who could bully everyone into submission with the assistance of his uncharismatic Under Pins. When the King Pin eventually perished the organization was left with no charismatic Under Pin. So they kind of “blended” to attempt to be THE new King Pin. How they purportedly achieved that is one of the mysteries of the age. Naturally, that failed and so they had to strategize and rebuild their faltering organization. It is known as Local Church Holism.

Dong Yu Lan was the King Pin for South America and elsewhere and after the death of the main King Pin he became a serious contender for the Throne of Pin. So, they cut him off at the knees but that did not stop him. Dong's Pin Empire today is all over. Perhaps he is now THE King Pin of the “Recovery” in the world today. I believe Titus was a King Pin Lite in his region but they also cut him off.

Bill Freeman could have been some sort of King Pin Lite in the Northwest. His messages were broadcast on several radio stations in that area, even in Africa. But the King Pin and his Under Pins did not like it so they ostracized him. (Bill Freeman said that because not even one station was interested in messages by Witness Lee, but liked his, he just had to carry on.) Bill was sidelined, traveled a bit and ended with a much smaller empire. Was he not the most charismatic and eloquent of all Under Pins?

I suspect there had to be other charismatic Under Pins before who could have built their own organizations and would have built up a following but they were eliminated along the way. Amongst the present crop of Thoroughly Blended Under Pins no one stands out (probably because they are only good at regurgitating) and they have lost their identities (or so they claim).

The above description is (only one of many) for the Local Church of the 20th Century but the modern Local Church is totally different: it seems they are in Regurgitation Boot Camp 365/24/7. There can be no joy and no life because it is all pretend.

That is the big difference between the Local Church many of us knew twenty five or more years ago and the one of today. Outwardly it looks the same but they are more and more becoming like the Exclusive Brethren, in content and in practice.

Who knows, there might even come a time when they will lock the gates to shut out “foreigners’ from the Lord’s Table or have it at 6:00 AM when most people are slowly waking up.

Inevitably, they are only one step away from their Rubicon.