Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
I was commenting on the idea of a "lampstand" as the LSM-affiliated churches call them - local testimonies of the universal Body of Christ.
What typically happens in the LSM-affiliated local churches is that they'll give a few verses and say, "this is the lampstand". But they don't critically engage what actually happens on the ground in the LC, as seen above, or what has actually occurred in Christian history, as seen below. Instead you get the "Christianity became degraded and we recovered the proper church life" story with a few verses.
My point was that whatever your criteria for "proper ground" or "proper standing" will eventually be found to include others (thus other lampstands), or whatever exclusionary criteria of "degradation" will eventually be applicable to yourself as well, and the removal of your lampstand.
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This brings up a serious ecclesiastical issue for anyone related to the "Recovery" --
who and what decides which collection of believers constitute a "lampstand," and which are merely denominations, free groups, divisions, or other such labels, etc. Lee officially taught that the
condition of a church (or collection of believers) is irrelevant, and that the
standing of a church is everything. So what determines the
proper standing of a church?
In the Midwest region of the USA, I have witnessed untold church related activities during the last half century. The official LC teaching on this matter, supposedly based on Revelation chapters 2-3, is that a LC must have the
proper name to possess the
proper standing in order to obtain the
proper blessing as a
proper testimony of the Lord.
Supposedly the best "name" is the "
church in my city," but an alternately acceptable name is the "
church of my city dwellers." Over the years a number of blatant contractions to this foundational "recovered" truth became readily apparent. What if another church already had this proper name? Can there then be two lampstands in one city? What if a "new" church is an obvious division in the body, not recognized by local elders or workers, but recognized by LSM authorities? For years TC tried to persuade WL not to recognize these "renegade" LC's in his region.
The conclusion to this matter is really simple. WN/WL/LSM developed skewed ecclesiastic teachings which legitimizes only those churches which they adjudicate. They firstly established themselves as ruling judges, and then determine who else is legit. The teachings from the scripture supposedly sanctioning this practice were merely a smokescreen.