I'm in
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With this in mind, I'm wondering if some of you ex-LCers might share your biggest complaint/grudge/issue/false-teaching/heresy/etc… you personally found in relation to the LC. If you could only pick one- what would it be? That would really help me know some things to look for.
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I was drawn to Witness Lee's movement because I was led to believe that the local churches were a return to the original unity of all Christians. The dates of my involvement with the Local Church movement are listed on my signature line below. Initially the basis of oneness was explained as the recovery of the oneness of the Spirit by dropping all the teachings and practices that divide us and simply meeting with the Christians in the city where I lived.
What I found out again and again was that this was not the case. Witness Lee taught that "The denominational organizations have been utilized by Satan to set up his satanic system to destroy God's economy of the proper church life." (Life-Study of Genesis, Chapter 34, Section 6). If one did not conform to whatever practice Witness Lee was preaching at the time one was ostracized for being out of the "Flow".
Those that didn't believe that Witness Lee was the one true Minister of the Age were labeled as divisive and driven out of the meetings. When Witness Lee sued other Christians in court, I felt that violated I Corinthians 6:1-8. When I expressed that opinion, I was labeled as a "negative brother." My wife was called upon by the local elder to meet with him and the wives of other negative brothers and pray for [against?] me.
Finally, I witnessed that the Local Churches conducted sham business meetings where members were expected to say "Amen" to every decision that elders made. Dissenting opinions were negatively sanctioned by the group. As business meetings, these meetings were nothing more than shams conducted for the purpose of satisfying the IRS. When I saw that bogus business meetings were sanctioned by Witness Lee, I left.
So , my biggest complaint is that the Local Churches didn't keep to the unity of the Spirit that was my reason for joining in the first place. They acted like they were one in the Spirit in the beginning and they taught me how to act that way too. But, the deeper I got into it, the more complicated it became and the more I lost the simplicity I had initially in Christ. The Local Church Movement promotes a semblance of unity by reinforcing conformity and suppressing conscientious dissent. For me it was a 13 year journey with lifetime consequences. But, I'm glad I left.