View Single Post
Old 12-05-2018, 08:26 AM   #110
UntoHim
Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον For God So Loved The World
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 3,824
Default Re: Does The Local Church Teach/Preach Another Gospel and Another Jesus?

These terms "another Gospel" and "another Jesus" are kind of like the explosively controversial term "cult".... They can and actually often do mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Now this is all well and good for the term cult, but to be frank with all of you, the terms another Gospel and another Jesus should not be "moving targets". To say "another Gospel" is an absolute truth-statement. To say "another Jesus" is an absolute truth-statement. These were not given as "truth-suggestions" or "truth-options" by the apostle Paul. There was no room for negotiations when it came to the Gospel or to the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. Paul was absolute, non-negotiable, immobile and inflexible when it came to the truth of the Gospel. I'm sure we are all familiar with the passage that tells us about how Paul confronted a senior apostle, Peter, for not being "in step with the truth of the gospel"(Galatians 2:14)

So how are we to be sure when it might be appropriate to tag a Christian group as a "cult"? Who has the qualifications, right and privilege of declaring that a person or persons are preaching and teaching another Gospel or another Jesus? Pretty difficult questions, to be sure. But I must tell you all that we should be able and willing to answer these questions as best we can. For decades Witness Lee railed upon his brothers and sisters in Christ for being "poor", "blind", "degraded" and even "christless". Can there be any doubt that Lee was at least implicitly, if not explicitly, making a claim that "poor, poor Christianity" was preaching another Gospel and another Jesus? I believe that it is now abundantly clear that Witness Lee made these claims as a distraction and diversion to draw his own followers' attention, hearts and minds away from the fact that it was he that was preaching and teaching another gospel and another Jesus.

I think it is now clear (or should be clear) to many of us that the teaching of "God's economy" is indeed another gospel, and the teaching of "the processed triune God" is indeed another Jesus. I think it is fair and appropriate for us to ask: what are the fruits of these two teachings? What kind of people have these two teachings produced? As a longtime former Local Church member I can tell you what these teachings produced in me, and many of the followers of Witness Lee I observed, knew well and even lived with for years. We were not humbled by any of these supposed "recovered truths". We were proud, haughty and conceited, and even worse, decidedly ignorant of what God was doing for, in and among the other Christians around the world in general, and among other Christians in our various localities specifically. Of course I have painted with a fairly broad brush here...time and space restrict me for the time being, however, I hope others can fill in the blanks for me over a period of time, right here on this thread.
-
__________________
αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων ἀμήν - 1 Peter 5:11
UntoHim is offline   Reply With Quote