[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Igzy

Take the truths you treasure and run with them. Find others and teach them what you believe. The Lord is not a respecter of persons or movements. He is able to produce children of Abraham from stones on the ground (Matt 3:9). There is nothing exclusively special about any subset of his kingdom. And to believe there is opens the door to serious problems. That's the folly of "the Recovery" in a nutshell. And it was that folly which actually thwarted whatever real good God wanted to do through Nee, Lee and their movement in the first place.

Originally Posted by Jo S

...rather than being a solution to it and as such ultimately distracting both sides from being reconciled to Christ. Shouldn't that be the goal?

And this brings us full-circle around to the foundational Nee-Lee teaching of "one city - one church". To my knowledge, neither Nee or Lee were criticized for this doctrine - that all true, genuine Christians within a given locality should be one with each other in the preaching of the Gospel, the teaching of the Word, baptizing new believers and the taking of the Lord's Table. The criticisms come from the hyper-exclusive claims to ecclesiastical legitimacy, and the haughty attitude that "we have all the riches, and the Lord is only recovering the church through our church group". This is to not mention the insanity of claiming that your group's apostle is to be considered as "the one minister for the age", "God's deputy authority and one oracle on earth" and whose personal ministry is to be considered as "the one ministry for the age" and "THE New Testament Ministry", etc.

Instead of sticking their chests out and proclaim that "WE ARE THE CHURCH IN ANYCITY!", Local Churchers would do well to just BEHAVE LIKE THEY ARE THE CHURCH IN ANYCITY. Brothers and sisters, the definition of a true local church in the scriptures is not in coded language. It is not hidden from us. It is there in the pages of the New Testament. It is there in the Gospels and in the teachings, sayings, parables and admonitions of the Lord Jesus. It is there in the Acts of the Apostles and in the description of the infant church. It is there in the pages of all the various epistles of Peter, Paul and John.

Yes, the ultimate, unwavering goal of the church should be to be reconciled to Christ, and to reconcile others to Christ. But the reconciling does not take place within the shut doors of a meeting hall, but rather in the hearts and minds of all the true believers who seek, and live their lives, that His Will be done down here on earth as it is in heaven.
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