Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
When Lee says The seven lampstands were identical to the point that if they were placed side-by-side before our eyes, we could not discern which is which he has taken a leap far beyond the black and white.
If this were part of a discussion in the other forum, I would expect someone to immediately respond with something like the black and white is just the letter of the law, and the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. But if we look at 2 Corinthians 3:14-16, we see the problem of reading the Old Covenant, or the law, with the veil on the heart. This veil clouds the understanding of what is read. But the last verse states that when the heart is turned to the Lord, the veil is lifted. This lifting of the veil is not its own isolated thing that results in spiritual understanding directly from the Spirit. It is a clarity in understanding of the letter due to the addition of the Spirit. These verses do not suggest that there is light outside of the letter, but that the light actually in the letter is not understood without the Spirit.
This does not imbue the person who has turned to the Spirit with wisdom that contradicts the scripture (or letter). Instead, it makes the understanding and application meaningful and spiritual. It does not provide new teaching, but takes written words that are outside of us and makes them living words within us. This is the writing of the law on our hearts.
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This "revelation" of Lee's, which showed him Revelations 2 & 3 indicating the "identicality of all the localities" from the golden lampstands, was indeed his hopeful interpretation. This is, however, the exception from Lee, in my opinion, because he was in fact posessing "... a clarity in understanding of the letter due to the addition of the Spirit", as you put it so well. Lee's exegesis of the Bible was deeply rooted in study of the written word. His basis for success among the christian community was due to this very fact, more than any charismatic hand-waving. But eventually he flew too high and errors came in which, when left unchecked, marred the whole enterprise. The above quote of Lee is Exibit A. It is indeed
far beyond the black and white.
I don't think it can be overstated the need to have one's ministry checked by one's peers. Any religious system which builds a top-down pyramid leadership style with one pooh-bah left free to stand alone at the peak is only courting disaster, with subjective edicts departing from the written letter at the whims of the 'spirit' of the 'deputy god'. As good as Lee was at covering his tracks with the written letter (and I know that my evaluation of his logical trains is more generous than yours), he wandered afield occasionally, and now his wanderings are "written in stone" (pun intended).