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Originally Posted by Ohio
Back to aron's point about a multitude of counselors, i.e. the elders in every church. Here we see the Spirit's wisdom caring for the church of God throughout the age of grace. Should error creep into one assembly, it stays there, protecting the rest of the body of Christ. But under the papal/bishopric/MOTA systems, errors are guaranteed to spread like metastasized cancer, enabled by employing agents from headquarters (think: DCP) attacking the immune system of the body.
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If a local elder goes off the rails, and pulls most of the local congregants with them, then neighbouring assemblies will see a cautionary tale. But if the local elder makes himself de facto pontiff, to rule ALL the assemblies, then his errors can spread unchecked. Then, "There is no one to restrain the madness of the prophet", as the saying goes.
Only Jesus is given unfettered sway. The resurrection from the dead, and the glories which followed, ensure this. No one else should presume such pride of place. Only Jesus is the King. If anyone else wants to be great, they should be the least. Those who presume greatness in this age are in trouble, and they trouble the church.
I keep coming back to the quote by the current President of LSM:
Quote:
Originally Posted by UntoHim
That's all well and good, my friend, but the problem is that Local Churchers are being blocked from putting their full trust in the One who opens and shuts. There are many unnecessary and unbiblical "intermediaries" that they have to go through. They must believe that Witness Lee is the one minister with the one ministry for the age. There is the One Publication. There is even fear that leaving the movement will put them in spiritual danger, at best, and maybe even worse will befall those who stray from the Local Church of Witness Lee.
Don't believe me...just listen to the president of the Living Stream Ministry, Mr Benson Phillips:“In any case, do not leave the Lord’s recovery. I can assure you that if you go away from the Lord’s recovery, you will have no way for the process of sanctification to go forward within you. Instead, you will just enter into a bankrupt situation. I know of no one who has left the Lord’s recovery and today is a great spiritual person on the earth. The sanctification process is carried out in the Lord’s recovery”(The Ministry Magazine Vol. 8, No. 1 Page 189, first paragraph --
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Notice the words he uses: "a great spiritual person on the earth". So they think there are those, on this side of the Bema of Christ, who can claim greatness. Wrong. They also use the term "spiritual giants"... the only "giants" in the Bible are the unholy off-spring of the fallen angels and the fallen humanity ~Genesis 6 & passim. Not really something to pursue as a goal. For us, there's one "great spiritual person" - his name is Jesus Christ. Anyone else who makes such pretensions is deluded. This is Christianity 101, folks.
Now, at the Bema, if Christ calls you higher - wonderful! We all rejoice. But don't presume anything before that day. ~Luke 14:8