Quote:
Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
Nothing is impossible with Him, bro - all division melts in agape love!
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This brother I will mention was quite active at LSM and a prominent figure in their work, but is so no longer. Maybe he will have a testimony at some point concerning John Ingalls' observation that the nature of the recovery had indeed changed. He has a tremendous amount of background and experience with Witness Lee, Philip Lee, quarantines, and more but what he might want to share publicly is up to him and his sensitive spirit before the Lord. Like Don Rutledge, he would have a lot of good things to share about the brothers he loved and served with. I only share the following to support the elders and their intention to recover what was lost.[/I]. (Taken from DeviatingfromthePathintheLordsRecovery.com)
Declaring the Standing of the Church in Anaheim
Brother Dan Towle continues his misrepresentation of John Ingalls and his misunderstanding of what was actually happening in the church in Anaheim that ultimately issued in the elders’ presentation of sixteen points concerning truth and practice for the church in Anaheim.
Dan Towle misrepresentation – “Eventually, [the Anaheim elders] even stood up in a meeting in Anaheim to declare a different standing of the church.” (p. 103, FPR).
Comment: It will help to know the background of the elders’ experience that led to their declaration, given in detail in John Ingalls’ book, Speaking the Truth in Love. The elders didn’t declare a different standing, but clarified the standing that they had from the beginning in Los Angeles before moving to Anaheim. John Ingalls and Godfred Otuteye offered the fellowship to the church, covering the sixteen points.
Benson Phillips, a prominent leading one in the recovery, was not critical of the sixteen points fellowship in a conversation John had with Benson: “the matter of the sixteen points spoken on August 28th was brought up, and we explained [to Benson] that they were addressed to the local need and were intended for that. He remarked that he did not think they had any need of covering those same needs in Irving, at least not now.”
It wasn’t something Benson condemned and neither did Minoru Chen, who was an elder in Anaheim and aware of the confusion that existed in the locality.
John Ingalls shares,
Toward the conclusion of the session as we were starting to pray, Minoru [Chen] arose and made a couple of statements. He said that he agreed in principle with all the points that we had made, but he stated that he wanted to reserve himself regarding some matters and concerning some of the points, particularly those made by Godfred. He stated that he would not say in a definite way that he agreed or disagreed. He also referred to Godfred’s apology for participating in certain promotions, which, he said, took place mainly in 1986. (He was alluding to the promotion of the LSM office and Philip Lee.) He said that he wanted to amen what Godfred had shared and declared that there was an excessive amount of this promotion, thereby bringing the saints into confusion and despondency, and the church into suffering. He also wanted to ask the forgiveness of the whole church for his part in this very matter.
Dan Towle went on to say that “Neither in the New Testament nor in the history of the Lord’s recovery with us has there been a case where one church stood up to make a declaration of its standing. There is not such a thing in the New Testament. If you do that, spontaneously you bring in division. Your standing is one way. Eventually, another church can say that they have another standing. Soon, we are in denominations. Everyone has his standing, and no one agrees with another’s standing. To declare the standing of a local church is something in the sleight of men.” (FPR, p. 103)
Comments: The sixteen points fellowship was a word of generality to the church in Anaheim and the brothers’ endeavor to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace with all the saints. Ken Unger was trying to maintain the church in Huntington Beach in the same way. For a comparatively long time he was trying to hold two sides together; then he received a letter asking him to step aside from the eldership. The letter came from his fellow elders in HB who wanted to line up squarely with Witness Lee and the new way. It also came
through discussions the two other elders had with Brother Lee, who wanted Ken to “get off the fence”. Ken had gone to Brother Lee twenty times for fellowship, desiring that none of the sheep be lost in his locality.
Standing on the ground of oneness, both John Ingalls and Ken Unger were elders desiring to resist the strong tide of LSM usurpation in their respective localities. Ken ended up stepping aside from the eldership and became just a brother in the church, but when he found that he was being shunned by the saints, he began to stay away from the meetings, and simply never felt comfortable or at peace to return. He joined his wife in this regard. The church in Huntington Beach had lined up with its universal leader, and became a full-fledged “ministry church”.
John Ingalls also ended up stepping aside from the eldership after pressure was applied to him to do so. An activist group within the church in Anaheim effectively undermined the elders in their locality in their quest to line up the church in Anaheim with a universal leader. (See p. 83)
Dan Towle did not like the brothers’ word of generality to the church in Anaheim. However, taking an objective view of the chaotic condition of the church should invoke respect for the elders and their decision to make the standing of the church clear to the saints. This, at least, was their honorable endeavor to accomplish.