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Originally Posted by Indiana
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Coming Clean
I think it is amazing that government officials in Washington D.C. lie about their criminal acts and wrongdoings and dig in when they are caught; instead of confessing. But they have a team of people who are in coordination to cover them and to cover-up for them, if needed.
We wouldn’t allow such a government in the church life, right? But we do have a system of church government that tells us not to care for right and wrong; but to look away from the mistakes of a leader (deputy authority) and respect “God’s government” instead. In so doing, a system of authority and submission began, which can be traced back to the resumption of Watchman Nee’s ministry in 1948 that followed his 6-year suspension.
Actually, these two systems work similarly to cover the backs of leaders and to cover-up for them, unrighteously, when needed.
It is much better to see the vision of our failure(s); be abhorred by it; and pursue determinedly a good conscience before God and man, and a pure testimony of Jesus. S. I.
Timeline of Watchman Nee Era
http://www.LordsRecovery.us/Timeline...hmanNeeEra.pdf
Timeline of Witness Lee Era
http://www.LordsRecovery.us/Timeline...ssLeeEraUS.pdf
Cycles of God Accomplishing and Satan Destroying
The Bible is a book of recovery says Witness Lee, showing cycles of
God accomplishing and Satan destroying in
Concerning the Lord’s Recovery.
Foreword by Benson Phillips: “In both the Old Testament and the New Testament God's purpose, intention, and goal to have man as His expression is clearly revealed. Also, His accomplishments according to that intention can be clearly seen. Furthermore, both Testaments give a clear record of how Satan, God's enemy, works to corrupt and destroy what God has accomplished. Finally, the two Testaments reveal how God comes in after Satan's destruction to regain His expression. This regaining of His expression is the basic matter of the Lord's recovery. God plans and God accomplishes; then Satan destroys and God recovers.” (Concerning the Lord’s Recovery, 1983, Witness Lee)
A Quick but Valuable Overview
Witness Lee shares in his book on “the basic matter” of recovery – regaining God’s expression. “The complete model of the church in the Old Testament was the temple. When the temple was fully built up, the glory of God came down. This means that God Himself came down as the glory to cover the temple and to fill the temple up. That was the picture of the full accomplishment of God's purpose.
Lost “But then Satan came in first to ruin and corrupt the people. The temple was built up during the glorious reign of Solomon the king. But Solomon himself took the lead to become rotten and corrupt. He was corrupted by the pagan concubines. The concubines brought in the idols, and this ruined the people. The entire nation of Israel was ruined, so God had no way to dwell among them. He had to give them up. Then the Babylonian army came to destroy the temple and the Holy City and to capture the people away to Babylon. The first forefather of the children of Israel was Abraham, who was called out of Babel. Satan came in to bring all of Abraham's descendants back to the very place Abraham was called out of. So whatever God accomplished was gone.” (Concerning the Lord’s Recovery, online, ch 1, sect 2, 1983, W. Lee)
Regained “But after seventy years God came in to do a recovery work. God came in to recover the thing that was lost. In the recovery of God's expression the scale was not so big as the original, but the quality was higher. By reading Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah you could see that the returned people were deeply dealt with by God. Their spiritual morality and character were higher than those of the children of Israel before the temple was built. In a sense Solomon was not that moral; he had many concubines. That is terrible! That is a kind of unveiling of the rottenness of that king of wisdom. He was wise, but he was rotten. His morality was too low! But after the captivity, in the recovery, the character of God's people was very much uplifted. If you considered Ezra and Nehemiah, you would have to admit that these leaders were pure and moral. Their character had a high standard. So as to quality the Lord's recovery was higher than what had been there previously.” (chapter 1, section 3, 1983)
Gaining A Pure Testimony of Jesus - 1983
“The Lord's recovery is really among us, and, although the scale is quite small, the standard of the character is higher than Christianity. In the Lord's recovery the high standard of the character must be kept and maintained. Some have checked with me asking, Do you mean that all the other Christians are rotten and that only the local church people are not rotten? I don't mean that. If any people have become rotten, they are no more in the reality of the Lord's recovery. Whatever and whoever is rotten is not in the recovery. The local churches are people who have been recovered out of their rottenness back to the pure church life. The local church is not a kind of organization or religious group. The local church is the pure church life as a pure testimony of Jesus. If we become rotten, we are no longer in the reality of the Lord's recovery. (Witness Lee, chap. 1 section 4, 1983)
On Not Reaching the Standard of our Vision – 1994
Eleven years later Witness Lee shares about not succeeding to reach the standard over a 72 year period:
“From Brother Nee’s time until today, for seventy-two years, our practice has never come up to the standard of our vision that we have received of the Lord. Brother Nee stressed two things: Christ as life to produce the church and the church as the Body of Christ to express Christ. But, sorry to say, it was not only the outsiders who did not know these things; even among Brother Nee’s co-workers, who were my contemporaries, very few have fully entered into the realization of these two matters. Not to mention the matter of the Body of Christ, they did not even see the matter of Christ as life to us.
“In 1934 a letter came to me from Watchman Nee saying…that the vision we had received from the Lord concerned Christ as our life to produce the church, not as an organization but as a Body, an organism, to express Christ. This, he said, is what we have seen, and this is what we should preach and teach. Brother Nee wrote these words twelve years after the beginning of the recovery in China in 1922. From the time that I began my ministry until today I have put out many books concerning the vision that we have seen. Through all the years, in mainland China, in Taiwan, in southeast Asia, and in the West today, in our practice we have never come up to the standard of what we have seen.” (Living a Life According to the High Peak of God’s Revelation, p. 38, W. L.)
***
But, in response, neither has the leadership come up to standard to lead the churches into repentance even though the truth has been made clear to the leaders from many and varied sources. No repentances, no high standard. And, also no revival.
To repeat, “The local church is the pure church life as a pure testimony of Jesus. If we become rotten, we are no longer in the reality of the Lord's recovery.” (Witness Lee, chap. 1 section 4, 1983)
“This is why in the New Testament the Apostle Paul would not tolerate any kind of immorality. In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul charged the church not to associate with that immoral person. The church as a pure testimony of Christ would not tolerate any impurity, any immorality. The church has to be pure. Once the church becomes rotten, it loses its nature and standing as the Lord's testimony
….”
In addition to going off course, blame was displaced onto others for the turmoil, division, and quarantines that ensued. When will those on the path of deviation judge themselves? And come clean in the House of God.
S. I.
10-21-2020