Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
But who decides who are the apostles? And the question remains are there any apostles in this day?
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Based on Titus 1.5 and Acts 14.23, both Nee and Lee have stated that these were proof texts that
only apostles could appoint elders, and that there was only one set of elders in every church.
In other places, Nee and Lee have stated that the apostles were "sent ones" who preached the gospel, and then raised up churches, much as Paul did. I never saw this happen. In Ohio, Titus Chu would send out brothers to startup new churches, but he alone was "the" apostle, and they alone were the elders. Lee did much the same in his area, as did Benson Philips in Texas, and other leaders in their regions. Thus we declared that we alone followed the N.T. pattern prescribed by Nee in
TNCCL. Not exactly.
But what happens when "the" apostle and these appointed elders die? Thus Nee's definitive model, carefully patterned (
supposedly) after the N.T., can only operate for one generation! Now what do we do? What if we have no "apostle" who alone can appoint elders?
Well we should do what healthy congregations have done for centuries. They look for men according to the patterns in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1. They look for men of God approved both by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20.28) and by the saints (Acts 16.2). Note that adamant unwavering loyalty to a distant publishing house / headquarters is/was never a consideration, unless of course it is the Catholic church or one of her dying daughters.
The appoint of elders which I have witnessed was far too often self-serving to headquarters. In this regard the so-called "apostle," whether in Anaheim or Cleveland, actually operated as a
Bishop, which of course we completely condemned as hierarchical. Thus an obvious hypocrisy which none of us could identify. A Bishop was one who oversaw churches, trained elders, moved and removed elders, dealt with problems, gave mandatory conferences and trainings, and the like. Was that not exactly what Titus Chu and Benson Philips were doing for decades. Now I'm not saying this is wrong.
But let's call a spade a spade, an apostle an apostle,
and a bishop a bishop.