Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
Freedom's point of the cookie-cutter template ("Just call O Lord - He'll change your life") makes me wonder about the source of the phrase, "The age of the Word is over; it is the age of the Spirit". That was the one of the catch-phrases used when the LCM went into the mainland after China opened in 1979.
My question is, What was the source of that phrase? Was it given by Lee, or taken out of context by some LCM operative working on the Mainland? Or was it merely the next phase in the Early Lee/Later Lee phenomenon, where the safety of orthodoxy was left further and further behind?
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Let’s leave theology for now and go back to historical development.
In 1967 Witness Lee started the “Calling Out” (or “Shouting”) Movement . He said that the Age of the Word had ended, and now it was the Age of the Spirit. Witness Lee taught that believers must “eat the Lord” (吃主) and the way to do this was by calling out or shouting his name . Calling out his name was the way to release the Spirit in this Age of the Spirit.[10]
After Deng Xiaoping’s “opening up” of China in 1979, many foreigners visited China. At some point between 1978 and the early 1980’s, Witness Lee sent many followers from overseas to Wenzhou in Fujian Province to contact believers from Watchman Nee’s Local Church movement. They reportedly brought with them large amounts of Witness Lee’s books, pamphlets and recordings. Within a few short years, their influence had spread throughout Zhejiang, Fujian, Henan, Guangdong and other places.[11] During their meetings they would shout “Jesus is Lord!” in an attempt to practice Witness Lee’s teaching about calling out the Lord’s name. This is how they got the nickname “Shouters” .[12]
http://www.facts.org.cn/ebook/201310...11_1137654.htm