[JJ]

Originally Posted by Nell

In addition to "setting the mind on the spirit" is the equally illusive teaching "living Christ."

This excerpt from a WL message reduced to print is very interesting. It includes Lee's own words on how his teaching doesn't really "work".


https://www.ministrybooks.org/Search...?id=0FDCD20D0B

MAN'S TWO SINS BEFORE GOD
In the Bible we see that in this time of the New Testament, man has only two sins before God. If you are not a believer, you will go to the lake of fire and perish there not because of any other sin but because of your not believing into the Lord Jesus. In John 16:9, the Lord said, "Concerning sin, because they do not believe into Me." The unique sin of the unbelievers before God today is the sin of unbelief. ...

(Because Paul said "For to me, to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21a), WL makes this leap…(added))
After believing in the Lord, we have another sin. Many brothers and sisters are not sensitive to this. What is this sin? It is the sin of not living Christ. Your not living Christ and not living by Christ is the greatest sin. I saw this many years ago but did not have a strong consciousness of it until mid-July of last year when I was on a mountain having a quiet, intimate time with the Lord. At that time I practiced confessing my sins daily. Whenever I had a wrong intention, said a wrong word, or had a wrong attitude, I would confess my sins. Every day I would confess my sins just like I would wash my hands. Then the Lord asked me, "Have you ever confessed this one sin, that you do not live Christ?" I said, "Lord, forgive me! I have not confessed this sin. Although I have confessed saying the wrong thing or having a wrong attitude, I never confessed this sin of not living Christ. O Lord, I do not live You out. O Lord, I do not live You. O Lord, forgive me!"

From that day on, I would confess this sin thoroughly before the Lord. Then I found out that there is no end to the daily confession of this sin. It is extremely difficult for us to live Christ every moment of the day. I did a little calculating for myself and for others as well. There are twenty-four hours in a day. After deducting eight hours for sleeping, there are still sixteen hours. How much of the remaining sixteen hours do I spend living Christ? I found out that I may not even have two hours of living Christ. In the other fourteen hours although I did not commit any sin, neither did I live Christ. Do you see this? Within the sixteen waking hours, I had only two hours at most in which I was living Christ.

These two hours of living Christ started with my prayer time. In fact, at the beginning of my prayer time, I was not in my spirit but still in my mind. Then gradually I prayed myself into my spirit. When I prayed myself into my spirit, I lived Christ in my spirit. When I prayed, I lived Christ. After praying, I was living in my spirit, but this did not last long. After five minutes Sister Lee asked me, "Yesterday you gave some money to So-and-so. Why did you not discuss this with me first?" Her questioning halted my living of Christ. Immediately I turned to my mind, asking, "What is this?" This was not to live Christ. I spent the next fifteen minutes telling her all the reasons, and in those fifteen minutes I did not live Christ. What did I live? Even I myself do not know. I did not sin or lose my temper, but neither was I in my spirit living Christ. This would go on until two or three o'clock in the afternoon; then I sensed something was wrong. I turned to the Lord to confess, "Lord, I did not live Christ throughout the day. Although I did not do anything wrong, I have been living in myself. Lord, I am not trustworthy. Lord, forgive my sin! Lord, remind me that I am one spirit with You, and You are one spirit with me. I do not want to live outside of this spirit. I want to live only in this spirit." After my confession I felt much better within and sensed the Lord's sweetness, and I was again in my spirit living Christ. However, at this moment the phone rang, and I picked up the receiver. That one phone call got me out of my spirit again. Also there were times when the telephone did not ring, and I was just working and not committing any wrong, yet I still was not living Christ.

What do I live when I am not living Christ? First, ethics; second, logic; and third, biblical teachings. For example, when a husband and wife who are believers quarrel, they condemn themselves. But suppose that, instead of quarreling, they love each other, yet not in spirit. Since not loving each other in the spirit is not counted as a sin, they do not condemn themselves but rather consider that they are doing the right thing. In this way, every day we live mostly either according to ethics or according to logic; we spend very little time living Christ in our spirit. One day I did a little more calculating. I am afraid that even the best brothers and sisters among us live Christ only five percent of the time; ninety-five percent of the time they do not live Christ. Some are contentious and do not live Christ; others are peaceable and never say much, but they also do not live Christ.

This confession makes me wonder why he "wrote a book" (spoken messages reduced to print) on "living Christ" every moment of the day, when he admits that he and the "best brothers and sisters among us live Christ only five percent of the day." Perhaps Lee misinterpreted Phil. 1:21a and/or did not appreciate the context of the verse as spoken by Paul. Regardless, he admits that it's "very difficult" to practice what he himself preaches...yet he taught it anyway.

Nell

There is a saying “Those who can’t do teach”. Kinda unfair to brand all teachers with that. But applicable here.

I counted over 14 “I’s” in Lee’s quote, in addition to multiple “my’s”. Christ is somehow lost in a sea of them.

Yes, making something the apostle Paul said about himself “... to me to live is Christ....” something we must do makes us pretentious and strangely self centered. Just sayin.

https://biblehub.com/blb/philippians/1.htm