Quote:
Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah
2 I know thy works, and thy toil and patience, and that thou canst not bear evil men, and didst try them that call themselves apostles, and they are not, and didst find them false;
In the thread on "the boundary of the church" this question came up and seems to be central to this forum on the ministry of Witness Lee and the impact that had on the Lord's Recovery Churches (LRC).
How do you test and determine that an apostle is false?
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It's hard to prove a negative. So, before you can determine that an apostle is false, can we first arrive at a scriptural definition of an "apostle". That is, what is a "true" apostle?
One website says: "False apostles are people who masquerade as Christian leaders, get other people to follow them, and then lead them astray. A true apostle is one who is “sent” by God as an ambassador of Jesus Christ with a divine message. A false apostle is a pretender who does not truly represent Christ and whose message is false.
https://www.gotquestions.org/false-apostles.html
Matthew 7:15-20 says "You Will Know Them by Their Fruits" then discusses false prophets.
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Can we apply the same test to false prophets that we apply to false apostles? In light of false prophets/apostles and their fruit, to determine if an apostle is false, look at the fruits of their ministry. There is no shortage of testimony on the fruit of Witness Lee's ministry from which a test could easily be derived. Does Lee's ministry represent Christ, or himself? Is Lee pretending to represent Christ, all the while representing himself?
Nell