Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
Bevere mourns the loss of real fathers today, saying many of our leaders, even in the church, are like Saul in their treatment of God's people. .
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I occasionally wonder why Nee never had a father (senior mentor/guide) figure. He only had one peer that I remember, a "brethren" member in England (Sparks?) whom he wrote to & said that no one in China was his equal.(*) What a danger! He had Leland Wang as co-pupil of Margaret Barber as a senior brother, but perhaps not coincidentally split with Wang over "he vision thing" and then he was free to pursue his own regime-building programme. And at whose expense? At the expense of the lives of countless thousands, even millions.
The reason we talk about Watchman Nee today, nearly 100 years after his actions, is not because what he did was right or good, but because it was so successfull and became so great and impacted so many people. And now we're trying to sort out how much of the impact was negative versus positive.
And it's probably both. Just as Western Christianity, arguably fallen, satanic, devilish, deformed and corrupted as Nee and Lee said it was, brought the Good News of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection to the East, so did Nee's writings help many in the USA in the 1960s and '70s to break free from unhelpful strictures and seek the freedom of the spirit. But there were tiny chains embedded in the works: "know who is in front of you and get in line" and "don't think or question, just obey" (from Church Affairs) &c. And those chains grew and became monstrous, and more devilish than anything they replaced.
(*)Not sure of the source. Maybe the letter was reproduced in Dave Roberts' biography? Or maybe I read it online? But Nee clearly said that he had no peers in China. And I attribute this at least somewhat to having no spiritual father (or guide, if you prefer less loaded terminology).