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Originally Posted by Trapped
That's why there is a concerted push these days to mine the college campuses for the "typical American students" (i.e. white kids). I've heard through the extended LC grapevine that the locality having the most success gaining those kids does it by throwing away the LC cultural quirks and tossing aside the ministry and staying far away from Witness Lee. In other words.....they look a lot like "typical Christianity" in their events and meetings with new students. This of course cannot get out in a widespread way, and is seen as borderline "negative".....or else the gig would be up that Witness Lee and the ministry are The Great Big Turn Off of the 21st century to the "typical Americans" they want to replenish their ranks with.
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A hallmark of cults is that they're okay with two personas, or faces - one that outsiders see, safe for initiates and novices, and then there's the "real" group with special in-group readings, terms, practices and relations. If you do well on the outside, and look like "good material", you'll get invited inside the privileged sanctum.
There's a term called Potemkin Village - meaning a false arrangement that's used to throw off inspecting outsiders, and alleviate their concerns. The Potemkin Village is full of well-stocked granaries, shelves are full, people are clean and smiling. Over the ridge and out of sight live the rest of the citizens, discouraged, sick, hungry and disheveled.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village
In the Potemkin Village LC, you can do what you want. (Maybe... electrified guitars! -'gasp') But in the real LC they'll start mentioning "restrictions". That's when you know you're in - the screws are starting to turn. To attract you in they'll "fake it"; then they'll want to know if you can "take it" - and into the Wedding Feast you'll "make it"... if you think I'm silly read the Open Letter by the Casteels. That's how they go after "typical Americans" now: create a fake LC.
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Originally Posted by Casteel Letter
We continued on in the church life. A team had been started in our locality close to the time of us moving there. We even bought a house that prioritized having a good layout for the saints and new ones over some of our own family’s needs. When we moved we were ready and eager to enter into the work of taking care of new ones from the campus. We soon learned that our locality was “taking the slow way” approach modeled after the church in Lubbock, TX and that the community saints were not to be involved in the new ones direct care. The slow way in our locality involved using the King James Version with the new ones rather than using the Recovery Version. It also involved slowly introducing carefully selected LSM excerpts from Witness Lee that left out many controversial matters and did not cite the source, leaving out Witness Lee’s name and the publisher, Living Stream Ministry. Witness Lee’s name and LSM would be introduced at a certain point once the new ones were “ready."
We pondered the fact that LSM endorses not properly citing works in the name of gaining new ones considering that LSM itself says, “Any quotation taken from LSM publications should be given a proper citation”
In our locality, only the full-timers and saints specifically handpicked were to have interaction with the new ones. The main way the local saints could be involved was making food for the new ones and dropping it off on the campus. Prayer was encouraged as the primary means to take part in God’s move. There were specific instructions included in the e-mails as to what words you could and couldn’t use with the new ones when you dropped off the food... Here’s an excerpt from one e-mail I received regarding our slow way approach:
“Based on the fellowship shared last Lord's day and since we are touching new contacts on campus that have not been to any church meetings and have had limited contact with any saints outside the Bible study, let us be exercised and sensitive if and when we interact with them. Certain practices and terminology have not been introduced openly to the group, but will be in time, either in the small groups or home meetings. For example, the opening prayer for the time is not filled with "amens", the students are not familiar with term "saints," "church life" or "locality" yet. We pray through our service during this time many will come into our homes and into the church life.”
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