[aron]

Originally Posted by LSM

[Nee's] ultimate burden was the spread and the building up of the church as the house of God, God’s tabernacle. Although his own earthly tabernacle (physical body) has been taken down, the building of God obtained through his ministry remains and still is growing and spreading throughout the earth.

By the time Watchman Nee was arrested in 1952, approximately four hundred local churches had been raised up in China. In addition, over thirty local churches had been raised up in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Today there are over twenty-three hundred local churches worldwide because of the rich and faithful ministry of Watchman Nee.

http://www.watchmannee.org/life-ministry.html

The LSM website says there were 400 Nee-affiliated churches China in 1952. How many of them survived the Cultural Revolution, and greeted Lee's acolytes when they began moving in after 1979? And what kind of interaction occurred between the Little Flock old guard and the invading "army of radicals" mobilized by Lee? I always heard that the Little Flock and the LSM never mixed well, and I believed it - LSM operatives didn't mix well with anyone. But why not with Nee's Little Flock - didn't both have the same ground, the fabled ground of oneness? If they clashed, why? Weren't they all Nee acolytes?

Another question: how many heretical sects came forth from the Little Flock before its LSM/Shouter reincarnation? And how many heretical sects from the other non-government "house churches" like those of Wang Mingdao or Li Tianen? Why is it that most of the heresies and cultic activity came out of Lee's post-1979 Shouter movement?

In recent years, the Chinese church has continued to send out warnings to be on guard against heretical cults. Since 2000, “Tianfeng”, the magazine of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement National Committee and the China Christian Council has published more than 40 articles related to this topic. Of these articles, more than 10 are related to Eastern Lightning (Almighty God). It could be said that this heretical cult has aroused the most attention of the Two Councils. This is because Eastern Lightning has been the most destructive to the Chinese church.

‪An important question triggered by Eastern Lightning is: why the surge of cults from Christianity in recent years?

‪In July of 2009, the author found 14 officially named cults posted on the Chinese government's website. These include the Shouters (呼喊派), the Disciple Society (门徒会), the Lingling Sect (灵灵教), All Sphere Church (全范围教会), Lord God Sect (主神教), New Testament Church (新约教会), Guanyin Method (观音法门), Anointed King (被立王), the Unification Church (统一教), Three Grades of Servants (三班仆人派), True Buddha School (灵仙真佛宗), Children of the Heavenly Father (天父的儿女), Dami Mission (达米宣教会), and World Elijah Gospel Mission Society (世界以利亚福音宣教会). Of the 14 cults named, 12 of them fly under the banner of Christianity. Three of the groups (the Unification Church, the Dami Mission Society, and the World Elijah Gospel Mission Society) are from South Korea. The New Testament Church has its roots in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The remaining eight cults are all homegrown Mainland Chinese cults. It is true that the Shouters arrived by way of Witness Lee (李常受) from America; however, Lee himself was sent out of the country by Watchman Nee (聚会处), leader of the Little Flock churches on the eve of the Communist Liberation. Therefore, at its root the Shouters are a homegrown group.

So it is understandable why people raise the question, why do these cults fly under the banner of Christianity? And, why do the majority of cults that label themselves Christian come from Mainland China? Does it have something to do with the popularization of Christianity or with folk Christianity?

‪Another noteworthy phenomenon is that, among the eight homegrown cults, aside from the Shouters, there are two additional cults that derive from the Shouters: the Lord God Sect and the Anointed King. In addition, the All Sphere Church (also known as the Criers (哭派) or Born Again Criers (哭重生派)), the Disciple Society, and Three Grades of Servants all certainly have a connection with the Shouters. If this is true, six of the eight homegrown cults belong to or are associated with the Shouters, which accounts for more than half of those cults. Moreover, there are several cults that were not included among the 14 cults but are viewed as heretical sects. The Changshou Sect (常受教), the Mainland China Administrative Deacon Station (中华大陆行政执事站), and Eastern Lightning were all originally were born out of the Shouters.

http://www.chinasource.org/resource-...anity-in-china

And does anyone notice a key similarity between LSM's Local Churches, TC's GLA churches, DYL's Brasilian churches, the (Changshou) Shouters, the Three Grades of Servants, and the Eastern Lightning? All focus on absolute orientation toward, identification with, and surrender to the ministry in question. It's not faith in God, nor loving one's neighbor as oneself that delineates identity and membership. No, it's the submerging and/or nullificating of one's individuality by remaining under the sphere and influence of the self-designated "rich and faithful" (i.e. dominating) ministry. They're probably all manifestations of the same spirit. Lee's RecV footnote put it well: everyone must be "absolutely identical" with "no differences whatsoever"; individuality on any level is akin to rebellion. I daresay that goes for all of them.