[Boxjobox]

Originally Posted by Drake

Thanks Boxjobox,

First, the BEMA is real. I cannot speak for the one that mentioned it to you first, but if you read my comment on it, I applied to myself, Witness Lee, and Watchman Nee as well. Every christian will be judged at the Bema for how they build on the foundation. Ultimately, He is the righteous Judge and I am certain we both agree on that. Though it may not have been presented to you in a considerate way it is nevertheless an important event that we should have in view while in this life.

Yet, I still do not understand what is your view on the New Testament work of ministry.... the scriptural view of course. Because, the situation can be cast in any number of ways, but the glaring vacancy in your description is that there appears to be no work of ministry to care for and shepherd the local churches. You are someone that at an earlier time was impressed with the teaching about the local churches and enjoyed the church life for some time. Along comes LSM and asserts itself as "the husband of every LC" in your view..... but to that I say, not so at all. I never felt LSM was a husband in the half dozen churches I was in for forty years. Not one iota. Not even a little bit. But then, I understood the relationship to be the legitimate work of ministry according to the scriptures for the building up of the local churches, not a husband because we have only one Husband. So we are servants with a commission obligated to carry out our function before the Lord. The work of ministry is not the duty of a husband, rather it is a service to local churches to build the Body of Christ. If you do not have the scriptural definition of the work of ministry in your understanding then you will misinterpret the relationship between the work of ministry and the local churches.

Lastly, it doesn't matter if the history tab on the SD local church website mentions Brother Lee. If the connection is important it is in the Link tab and there you will find it. I would prefer the history not mention the work through which it came about because each local church was raised up by the Lord no matter which servant was the instrument. Yet, no one is distancing themselves from LSM.... even the Church in Cleveland links themselves to LSM!

thanks for the dialogue
Drake

Drake,
In the NT, ministry, ministers, my ministry, the ministry, your ministry, etc, is basically working with the Lord for the saints and the church, and the gospel. When I first came meet with the local church, the saints, including the elders, worked for the benefit of the saints, for the church. It was a good time of mutual fellowship. Slowly, WL material became the primary focus, elders began going to " elder's meetings" things began to change from local to all things WL. The taste of the meetings, the suspicions that some were not fully into WL, clearing out of things not LSM began to occur at an ever rapid rate. It was a time of unsettling- if this was supposed to be the building up of gold, silver, precious stones, it felt more like splintering wood, smelly hay and I like to hike but hate hiking on trails where the mules and horses have walked. Saints began to get discouraged, unsettled, questioning motives- you were either in or out. Finally, the one elder who was probably the best example of a shepherding elder left, the edict of fully following WL/LSM came and it was obvious- despite what you may think or say, that the church took on a new husband- polygamy really. Following Christ, following WL same thing. In fact, the reigns were really turned over to WL. I left at this time in that I could no longer stomach the situation. As one brother said to me- we didn't leave the church, the church left us. Do you really want to ask me about ministry? One knows when there is help, and encouragement, and fellowship and love, and grace and brotherhood and when a mom and pop company gets bought out by a corporation. Drake, LSM is a business! I really don't think you can justify a business running the local church.

I have to again echo the wise observation of W Née: When we consider the present-day church organizations, we see many human traditions and opinions and little direct leading of the Holy Spirit. This is not according to God’s desire. In God’s will, the church should not be under man’s control; it should be directed only by the Holy Spirit. All those who belong to the Lord should learn to be led by the Holy Spirit and should not follow man’s direction. These are all truths discovered by the Brethren.

WL was most instrumental in establishing the LCs in The US, and then corrupted them by overpowering them with his business. Two husbands! Christ is just a product to be merchandised. The local churches need to be recovered by, repenting, dumping LSM and getting back to the ministry of the saints in the local church. Popery is an ugly thing. The real problem with WL's ministry is that it brought everyone back to the 4th century and then rebuilt according to the Roman Catholic model.