[Trapped]

The Relationship between Living Stream Ministry and the Local Churches
Some have persisted in accusing Living Stream Ministry of controlling the local churches. The accusation is absurd. Each local church answers directly to the Lord and is under the oversight of local brothers. It is up to these brothers whether and to what degree the church will use LSM materials or participate in LSM-sponsored gatherings. Living Stream Ministry has no organizational, administrative, or financial control over the churches. At most LSM asks the churches to follow its standards and procedures for such things as ordering printed materials and registering for and conducting its trainings. It does so as a means to facilitate its ongoing service to the churches. Accusations that Living Stream Ministry exercises authority over local churches or has orchestrated legal action against any former member or group of members of a local church are false.

Originally Posted by Nell

PROTESTING TOO MUCH WEAKENS YOUR CASE!!!
Am I the only person who thinks ‘Well they must be guilty then!’ when the LSM says 'the accusation is absurd" or "LSM has no ... control over the churches" or "no legal action against any ..." or denies they have perpetrated some misdeed...???

We were there. We know better. We lived it. They have created a website which exemplifies "protesting too much." For this we thank you. Thank you ShepherdingWords.com for publishing, in a way that no one else could, the "Collected Failures of the Ministry of Witness Lee."

Nell

Totally agree. When I saw that sentence "the accusation is absurd" that stuck out as a gigantic red flag of a lie. The co-workers also say it is "absurd" to ask who the names of the so-called apostles are, even though it's actually completely biblical.

So we can know that, for "the co-workers" in "the Lord's recovery", true and biblical things are absurd.

And for them to say "Living Stream Ministry has no organizational, administrative, or financial control over the churches"??? The co-workers completely leave out the fact that LSM has behavioral, informational, thought, and emotion control over the churches and the individual elders and members, which is the truth they conveniently omit. LSM's whole shtick is infused with threats, fear, and heavy-handed teachings, which are precisely a form of control.

I mean, hang on. The live trainings are put on by LSM. The main speakers have for a very long time been LSM board members. The messages they speak are then published by LSM and sold to all the local churches. Their own teachings say that if you don't follow what they say ("the ministry of the age", which is only freshly released at LSM events, spoken by LSM employees, and sold by LSM itself) then you are toast before God. Explain to me again how LSM has zero control over anything?