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Originally Posted by Truthseeker
What was Witness Lee thinking?
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What's important about Daystar as a point in the LC discussion/history is this: it's not that the Lee family siphoned off cash into their pockets and walked away when it was gone. No, it's worse than that. Embezzlement? Fraud? No, even worse.
Suppose that Daystar had been a financial success, and all the 'investors' actually got something for their money. They'd put in, say, $1,000, and ten years later it's grown in value and is worth, let's say, $1,650, which they're free to cash out. Like a 'real' or 'genuine' or 'proper' investment (sorry, couldn't resist).
Quote:
Originally Posted by DonRutledge
Starting around 1972, Witness Lee expressed a concern for the financial suffering of the migrating saints and their need to be able to purchase proper meeting places. I was in a meeting of visiting elders and co-workers in which he introduced the Daystar business. He shared that his son Timothy had approached him about a business and that the business seemed to Witness Lee to be ideal for us (the local churches). The brothers and sisters could invest money, earn a nice profit of around 35%, and generate significant profit for the support of the new churches. He then spoke of manufacturing only the finest product. We could produce the product in Taiwan, which would help the believers there with employment and sell the product in the USA. He spoke at length concerning how the members of the churches should only invest their surplus and that he felt very positive that this was of the Lord. The business consisted of manufacturing and selling an expensive motor home. This was certainly a very different meeting than anything I had ever attended. I and others left with our heads spinning. I was bothered and asked James Barber what was going on. He replied that Witness Lee was God’s anointed and I should be very careful about criticizing. He declared that even if Witness Lee was wrong, God would bless the endeavor.
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Suppose Timothy Lee had been an effective business leader and they'd somehow not only survived the OPEC gas crunch but prospered. You know, quality, value, service . . I mean, Mercedes Benz survived; suppose Daystar hadn't been the failure it turned into. Then what?
My point is this: it still would have shown the lack of transformation of the leader of the Lord's Recovery, Witness Lee. Because when a young man inherited some money, and laid it at Witness Lee's feet, WL didn't think of how to advance the gospel, or to help the poor or the sick.
No, the only thought was, how to divert this sudden financial windfall to his family. That's what Witness Lee was thinking.
And this was after the humbling messes he'd already gotten into in the Far East, some also involving Timothy, before coming to the USA in 1962. WL was not, carefully contrived appearances to the contrary, the 'spiritual man' that Watchman Nee had elucidated. The 'spiritual man' shtick was just a cover for a fallen person trying to take care of his family (of grown children, no less) by suckering money out of gullible rubes. Daystar is Exhibit A in this regard. Unfortunately there are others well, but it's one of the clearest examples. All the mystical rhetoric got set aside when there was cash to be made (and note where the cash came from, not through sales of a product on the market but rather from the bank accounts of star-struck church members).