Quote:
Originally Posted by awareness
I'd like to know that too bro Lisbon. I only know what I've been told after leaving, from others that ran into the same problem I ran into with Mel. One of them was an elder with Mel when he gave me the ultimatum to take his personality or get out. He was there. I can picture him in my mind's eye, sitting to the left of me, while Mel was in my face. Then five years later, the same thing happened to him, and to others I was close to before and during the LC.
Apparently the fallout of high quality brothers leaving the LC in Miami caught Lee's attention and he fire Mel, if I can call it that.
Somewhere during that time I heard that Mel was in Tampa. So when I was visiting a friend in Tampa I tried to call him. I got his voicemail. I so wanted to think him for blowing me out of the LC.
But somewhere along the line Lee, and/or company, rehired Porter. I saw that in Oct 2006 -- I think bro Ohio was there when it went down -- Mel was a signatory on Titus Chu's excommunication encyclical, as representing "U.S.A."
He's got to be an ignorant old fart by now. He was ignorant back then. I really can't believe that Lee would put such a spiritually ignorant person in charge. It was a big factor in breaking my trust in Lee. That led to eventually breaking all my trust into smithereens. I've never been the same. Thanks Mel!   |
It's interesting to note that the letter attributed to Clement (First Clement 94-95AD), the 3rd Bishop of Rome, chastises the congregation in Corinth for ousting their elders. This is the first glimpse of Rome attempting to control other churches.
While Lee espoused the "local church" it was never local and it is not local today. He consistently tried to control all of the churches world wide which is what led him into problems abroad and at home. That is why you have someone like Mel in the leadership of a local church---it was Lee's attempt at having control which superseded any level of spirituality.
The same problem happened in Detroit with RK, HA, and TS as elders. RK and TS came from Eldon hall and were taught by Lee. They had no business being elders but they were self anointed when they arrived. TS left the church, divorced and who knows what happened to him. RK didn't migrate with us to Ft. Lauderdale but took the opportunity to move back to Anaheim where he is a big honcho in the LC.
This is an inherently significant problem with non-democratic congregations. Yes, democracy and the congregational model (Cambridge Platform 1648) can be messy but when you have one leader whom everyone follows it can lead to all kinds of machinations. When a "God (Lee)" appointed elder such as Mel is in charge and he really believes he is the anointed one in a locality there is going to be trouble. Imagine what it must be like if you are someone walking around thinking that you are the voice of God in a city such as Ft. Lauderdale or Miami. What power you have, what insight you have and what will befall those who go against you as you carry out God's(Lee) mission in your locality.