Quote:
Originally Posted by IDon'tKnow
An interesting subject came up on the other forum about Watchman Nee. In particular it stated that Watchman Nee books published by CFP were far less edited than books by LSM. One example given was that LSM's authority and submission left out the section on the limitations of Spiritual Authority. Does anybody know more about this.
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Hello dear IDon'tKnow,
Here are the facts that I am aware of regarding LSM's publication of
Authority and Submission:
- In 1972 dear brother Stephen Kaung and Christian Fellowship Publishers published all 20 of WN's messages from 1948/1949 dealing with Spiritual Authority in one volume entitiled Spiritual Authority.
- LSM republished the first eleven messages only in a 1988 book entitled Authority and Submission. (Apparently the Taiwan Gospel bookroom had first published these 11 messages back in 1967.)
- In 1994 LSM published all 20 messages under the title Authority and Submission for the Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Set 3.
The problem was in the timing. Back in 1988, of course, the whole issue of unquestioned submission to WL as The Deputy Authority was a big issue in the LC's. This was when WL was claiming the right to lead all of the LC's on a global basis into "The New Way". By only publishing in 1988 the first 11 messages, which issue a strong call for submission to deputy authority, and not publish the last 9 messages, which hold deputy authorities to a very high standard, LSM definitely gave the appearance of being disingenuous. If there really was a sudden, unexpected, crucial need for these messages, then they really should have placed a big order with Stehphen Kaung and CFP, since only CFP had all 20 messages in print at that time.
Some of the messages which hold deputy authorities to a very high standard have titles like: "The Character of God's Deputy Authority - Gracious to Others", "The Misuse of Deputy Authority and God's Governmental Judgement", and "The Need for a Deputy Authority to Submit to Authority".