[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Indiana

The apostle Paul was a man and did encourage others to take him as a pattern - in his conduct and pursuit of Christ, but not in the way of following him in a world-wide movement that would uplift him, promote his work, and produce a system of cookie-cutter churches.
But there has been such a movement in the Local Churches, which began in 1984 in Taiwan and became accelerated in the U. S. in 1986, with the help of the future blending brothers - who maintain the system today.

Steve, your right about the first part (about uplifting a man, promoting his work and producing a system of cookie-cutter churches, and you're certainly correct about the blending brothers maintaining this system today. However, you're off about 30 years on your assessment of when this all began. By the Mid 1950s, with Watchman Nee secured away in a Communist prison, Witness Lee had FULL CONTROL within the Local Church Movement, and ruled with an iron fist.

Lee was already hiring and firing elders and coworkers at his personal whim. He was already using quarantining and shunning as a method of taking and maintaining full control of the Movement. He was also already engaged in financial malfeasance, selling church property to pay off personal business debts. More than one major division in the Far East took place over Lee's behavior, and all this took place LONG BEFORE Lee decided to grace our fair shores with his so-called Lord's Recovery movement. And as a matter of fact, we now know the real reason(s) Witness Lee came to North America - it was to escape responsibility for all the financial and spiritual malfeasance committed by his sons and him in the Far East.

Of course, with only a handful of followers in America, Lee was forced to play his hand a little slow at first. He had to build up trust among the Americans before he could pull out the iron fist. But make no mistake, the iron fist was there all along in his pocket, just waiting for the right time. Some of the brothers got a small taste of the fist in the 60s (mostly Taiwan followers again), then in the 70s with the Max Rapoport debacle, and then Lee brought out the iron fist in full force in the mid to late 1980s. By then he could shamelessly declare "Lee, Lee, Lee! Lee has to get the credit! Lee has to be famous!" (paraph) "I invented this term 'enjoying Christ'!" By the time most longtime followers like John Ingalls, Bill Malon and John So were snapped out of their stupor, it was far, far too late. They even consulted some older brothers in Taiwan and found out that this was NOT Lee's first time at using his iron fist. (Shame on these brothers for not doing their due diligence, for with just the most basic of inquires to those who knew Lee's sordid past, much heartache and spiritual damage could have been avoided)

But here we are, decades later, and the Blended Brothers are trying to pretend like they can simply erase history, or better yet just twist and edit it to make Witness Lee out to be "the one minister with the one ministry for the age". Just an innocent little Chinese man that was misunderstood by Christian apologists and attacked and betrayed by some evil, ambitious, jealous followers.

"For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” Luke 8:17,18