[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by recoveringCK

Other posts suggest the 10 day twice a year trainings were formed to raise money to pay for debts WL incurred with the Daystar venture.

Charging for the trainings was a stark line of demarcation for many. Up until that point, it is my understanding that all aspects of "the Ministry" were not monetized per se, but depended upon the freewill offerings of individual saints, and also corporate offerings made by various local churches. I believe "The Stream" magazine (monthly?) was sent free of charge to anyone who asked.

Of course since the Daystar debacle never really happened (and if it did everyone was paid back in full.) then to the rank-and-file members the whole thing is much ado about nothing. Of the rapidly diminishing older ones that even know anything about this ill-fated, illegal money making scam perpetrated by Lee & Sons Inc., most are probably convinced the whole thing was made up by those evil, ambitious destroyers of God's building (aka: any former LC member who dares speak of the facts regarding Daystar and the the numerous other criminal scams in which the members were defrauded of their hard-earned $)

The full time training began in 1977. One of the first training centers was on the east coast Boston area.

I don't believe the training you speak of here was a full, 2 year official training as it is known today. I believe the official Full-Time Trainings were actually initiated in Taiwan in or around 1986. I could be missing something here.

Before LCD, there was not a way for ex-members to communicate what was happening.

Actually, before this forum was started back in 2008, there was a sub-forum within a forum (The Public Square) operated by The Bereans Apologetics Research Ministry which is based in the Philippines. Unfortunately, this forum was overrun with many Internet trolls, imposters and other unsavory characters who had no intentions of entering into sane discussions regarding the teachings, practices and history of the Local Church of Witness Lee movement. Eventually, the whole Bereans forum imploded and self-destructed, never to come back online, at least not successfully. It was probably for the better since it gave me the gumption to start this forum. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

What they are building is not the church as the bride of Christ but a cadre of devotees.

Excellent observation, I could not have said it better! Of course, in retrospect, the simple truth is this was Witness Lee's intention all along. Even going back to the early days in Taiwan, it became perfectly clear to anyone who was paying real attention that Lee had absolutely no intention of fulfilling his oft-made claim that "the ministry is for the churches". In practice, it was always about the churches building up, supporting, extolling and propagating Lee's personal ministry. Now this has been officially codified by the official leadership of the Local Church, The Blended Brothers, in the official proclamation of Publication Work in The Lord's Recovery © 2005 Living Stream Ministry
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