[Hope]

Integrity, cutting things straight, character, Christ like compassion, humility, openness are a few matters that a servant of the Lord should cultivate. Note Rom 1:14, I am under obligation (a debtor) both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. NASB The apostle Paul owed many people and had been helped by many. The apostle Witness Lee often boasted how he had the highest revelation and all other Christian teachers had junk. How could Paul be a debtor to the foolish? Yet our apostle Witness Lee was the only person since 1945 with the Lord's ministry? He seemed to owe no one, not even the churches and brethren who had supported him in so many ways. Often instead of expressing gratitude for the brothers, he would belittle them and if some gave any push back, they were thrown under the bus.

I knew Witness Lee personally. He was like an older brother and friend. He gave me good personal advice on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, those in the LSM/LC had a myth about the brother. He was excellent in all things period. No problems were ever addressed. Thus his flesh developed. As we mature in age, if we are not under the daily experience of the cross our natural tendencies will grow more prominent and we will become stronger in the works of our flesh.

Eventually his self promoting reached an extreme level. One of the manifestations of this was his inability to take from other Christian teachers and feel no compulsion to acknowledge them. Yet, he zealously guarded his own work and always sought recognition for his work and contributions.

It is possible to have great gifts and to be entrusted with much and have a bad ending. Look at Sampson. What a failure!! And the entire nation suffered as he did not lead the tribe of Dan against the Philistines. Look at Solomon. Is he not perhaps the greatest failure in the Bible? He built the temple but the nation was divided because of his life.

In the 50's and 60's and early seventies, the Lord was surely working in wonderful ways. Witness Lee was a part of this and had he been just a little bit on the humble side and with pure motives, then who knows how much blessing he could have brought rather than the damage, division and confusion which has become his heritage.

This article on plagiarism is so sad. It grieves me that it can be written but I agree that it needed to be written. Thank you brother Nigel.

Hope, Don Rutledge
A believer in Christ Jesus who is seeking to be a true disciple.
John 8:31-32, Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. " NASB