[Cal]

(Moved from other thread).

I have no problem with a group not caring to take a name, or meeting as the church in a city. What I have a problem with is when they say other groups are not the church because they don't meet that way. The Bible doesn't give us enough information or ground to do this. This is why the LCM is in error.

There is one church in every city, just like there is one universal church. But we don't have to meet "as" the church in the city, nor call ourselves the church in the city to be the church in the city, at least part of it. And we don't lose our standing as the church in the city if we meet under the name of "Hyde Park Community Church" or whatever. The Bible never says any group meeting in the Lord's name can "lose its standing" as the church.

Like I said there is one church in the city. There are also many churches. Just as the Bible mentions the church in the city and it mentions the churches in the homes. We are all part of the church in the city. We can't lose that standing. The Lord can come and "remove the lampstand," but we can't remove it, unless, I guess, we all move away.

The LCM model jumps to conclusions and take liberties with its own interpretations. They assume because there is one church in the city that everyone needs follow one official set of elders, of course theirs. But the LCM cannot say how those elders gain their status. The best they can say is they are appointed by an apostle. But that's just kicking the can down the road because how do you determine who is the apostle? The LCM assumed it was Lee, which was just that, an assumption. Now they assume it is the Blendeds, another assumption.

So based on blind assumptions the LCM has decided that only their churches are valid and all other manifestations of the church in a city are invalid. These assumptions, based on a reading of the Bible which is rejected by 99.99% of the Body of Christ, simply cannot support the profound and grave implications they lead to--that 99.99% of Christians are not meeting "as the church" and therefore do not have the standing of the church.

Further when a group does meet as the church in the city, but does not follow LSM, the LCM has never recognized it, at least not after it became clear the group was not going to submit to their sway. Every existing group that the LSM-led church has encountered which has not joined their movement has been declared not genuine. If this isn't a hierarchical, not to mention shady, organization then what is it?

The bottom line is this simply cannot be the way the Lord operates. It's just another version of Catholicism, where a central command center decides who's in and who's out. The Lord could never start anything fresh with this kind of standard. The thing would ossify with the entrenched, unaccountable leadership.

That's where the LCM is now. If God attempts a "recovery" there's no way it could happen with them. Did you know the Exclusive Brethren still call themselves "the recovery" too.

When will people learn?