[Awoken]

Aron, thanks for that eminently thoughtful post. Believe it or not, I was just thinking about that very subject of the charismatic experience this morning. There is definitely something there. The problem is that, as you detailed above, it was/is thoroughly abused within the LC. I don't think today's LC is totally different from the one you remember, although perhaps a bit more structured. When I went to conferences and such, those who went up to testify were encouraged to basically repeat ver batim points from the Witness Lee-authored and Blended Brother-regurgitated outlines, but we were supposed to do it while "touching our spirit".

I actually think there is something to this whole "touching our spirit" and knowing what the spirit is. After all, John and Paul could both clearly discern their spirit. But the problem is that W. Lee basically just said it was enough to be "in spirit" (which I assume is the basic premise of charismatic teachings). But what does the Bible say: discern every spirit. Just because you are "in spirit" does not mean you are contacting the spirit of God. I remember that a sister in the LC once remarked to me that she was glad she couldn't literally "see" the spiritual scenery around her because the spiritual warfare would undoubtedly terrify her. Now a part of me shudders to think of this statement, because I think the spiritually scenery within the LC would indeed be terrifying, considering that LC is basically the North Korea of Christiandom.

Anyway, I agree with you and also want to develop this kind of fellowship with others. Charismatic experiences may be beneficial but they really need to be tempered with discernment or you'll inevitably end up with outcomes such as the LC, Branch Davidians, etc.