[UntoHim]

Drake? Do you think ALL of the forum members and readers and lurkers are ignorant of the teachings and practices and history of the Local Church of Witness Lee? I think some are. And thankfully if they stick around for a little bit they won't be.

"My dreadful account of my experiences in the Local Churches"? Nah, I never mentioned anything about "my experience" in the Local Church of Witness Lee in recent posts. In fact, you know about as much as my experience in the Local Church as I know about yours. You have your "experience" and I have mine. If you think your "experience" cancels out the FACTS OF HISTORY you are sadly mistaken my man. There are too many people on this forum and elsewhere who know something different than the "party line". You see, some of us were there at the feet of Witness Lee for years and years...some like me, for decades. You and Ron Kangas cannot edit out what we heard and saw. Sorry to burst your bubble my man. As you have noted just recently...you are entitled to your own opinion....you are not entitled to your own facts.

There is a reason why there are testimonies on this very forum of former AND SOME CURRENT members of the Local Church of Witness Lee who have plainly and clearly stated that they have concerns and doubts about Witness Lee's teachings regarding "Outer Darkness". Of course they are simply reiterating the same concerns and doubts that people, within and without of the Local Church, have expressed for about 40+ years now. Much of the concerns stem from Witness Lee and his followers claiming that he was the only person speaking as God's oracle on earth. (A claim, by the way, that you have never disavowed)

The bottom line, in my view, is not whether or not there will be rewards for those who have been "a good and faithful servant"....that is clearly stated in the Word. The issue is the basis upon which the "unfaithful" servants will be judged. Will these unfaithful servants be judged upon the Person and work of Jesus Christ the Righteous, or upon the person and work of a a man and his "ministry"? I am very confident about the first...I'm very doubtful and suspicious about the latter. Of course my "experience" (such as that may be) leads me to have lots of confidence and even boastfulness in the judgments and righteousness of Jesus Christ...and not so much in the judgments and righteousness (or lack thereof) of Witness Lee.

So, the question of "Outer Darkness", and the rewards and "punishments", and the implications for us believers in the here in now, can (and should) only be understood in the light of the Scriptures, and the common interpretations and understandings of learned and wise men since the beginning. Needless to say, Witness Lee is not to be considered among the "learned and wise men since the beginning"....not even close...not even in the ballpark.