Quote:
Originally Posted by Freedom
.... If deputy authority is a teaching that is so easily debunked, then why are so many still practicing it?
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Good question.
Ephesians 5:21
Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
1 Peter 5:5
Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
It seems to me that if Christian leaders concern themselves with deputy authority, especially to the extent that Nee did, then Lee, then the LSM/LC, this could be among the first indications that something is not right. Something is fundamentally wrong. I experienced it first-hand.
In my experience with the "deputy authorities" I was summoned into a little dark room with 5 men and I was terrified. Someone had accused me of doing several things which I had not done. Regardless, I told them I was guilty of everything (except for one thing). I lied. I was too scared to tell them they were wrong. I didn't believe these deputy authorities were interested in the truth. I later learned the pattern is, whoever goes to the elders first, wins. Whoever is accused first is always guilty.
They raised their voices at me and told me "this is going to STOP". What was going to stop? I had no idea.
There was no love. There was no nurturing or care for me as a person, much less as a member of the Body of Christ. There was no warning. It was an ambush. I was as terrified as I have ever been in my life. I was pretty sure the ground was going to open up and swallow me. I also had the thought that two young men would be outside the the door to take my dead body away. My life changed after that. Amazingly, I still went to meetings. However, I had nothing inside. I cried from beginning to end. Every meeting. I cried and cried and cried. I tried to talk to the Lord about what had happened, but I didn't really know what was so wrong with me that the elders had to talk to me in such a way...without warning. My accusers got there first, so they won.
I did experience God's infinite grace and mercy as a result of the unholy deeds of those men. In His mercy, God protected me from becoming shipwrecked in my faith because of these deputies. God counted my tears. My tears meant something to Him. Not everyone who has experienced the sharp end of deputy authority has survived in their faith. It would be better that these men have a millstone around their necks than to face what they have done to those saints for whom the Lord Jesus shed his life's blood.
For two years the deputies didn't talk to me. They didn't ask how I was doing in my exile. They didn't offer me a path back to their good graces, until one day... 2 years or so later. I actually met with all but one of these men. They repented for what they had done to me. They asked me if there was anything I would like to say to them. I looked them in the eye and told them everything the Lord brought to mind about the horror I experienced because of what they had done to me. I told them that the most devastating thing was that I had no idea that they were unhappy with me. It meant a lot to me that they admitted they were wrong. I don't believe my experience with their repentance is a common practice today.
Hopefully this will put some perspective on the topic. Deputy authority is so much more than an errant teaching. At the hands of fallen man, the teaching is indeed devilish and ruins people's lives. I'm sure there are many more stories like mine among those who read this forum. At least in one case, the deputies admitted they were WRONG.
Nell