[aron]

Originally Posted by Trapped

One day, the bride, the wife of the Lamb, will be ready. But if there were no church life on earth today, how could the bride be prepared? It would be impossible. Could the bride be prepared in the Catholic Church or in the denominations? No! Could she be prepared in the free groups or in the charismatic movement? Certainly not! I believe strongly, not because I am in it but because I have seen the vision, that the Lord intends to spread His recovery to build up the proper church life throughout the world so that His bride might be made ready.
-Young People's Training, Witness Lee

Use a little God-given reasoning here. If Witness Lee teaches, and all the members follow his teaching, that the bride is not being prepared in the Catholic Church, in denominations, in free groups, or in the charismatic movement, but is being prepared in the recovery (i.e. in the local church), and the recovery is where the "proper church life" (i.e. other places do not have the "proper" church life) ...... then the local church is the only legitimate, bride-building church, according to the direct teaching of the local church. Aaaaalllllllll other Christians are not part of the bride being prepared!

The Lord’s building of His church began on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4, 41-42). Yet the Lord’s prophecy here still has not been fulfilled, even up to the twentieth century. The Lord is not building His church in Christendom, which is composed of the apostate Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations. This prophecy is being fulfilled through the Lord’s recovery, in which the building of the genuine church is being accomplished.
-Recovery Version's footnote 4 of Matthew 16:18

And here Lee is more explicit. He claims the Lord is not building His church in Christendom......[in] the Protestant denominations. This prophecy, the building of the church, is being fulfilled through the Lord's recovery, i.e. the local church. In the local church, Lee teaches, is where the "genuine" church is being built.

If the "genuine" church is only being built in the local church, then the direct parallel is that all other non-local church churches are not genuine. And what do we call something that is not genuine?

Fake. False.

In other words, all other churches are false, and the local church is the only genuine church.

In the local church they'll sing "A mighty fortress is our God" by Martin Luther and believe that this builds up the body and the bride. But if the Protestant group down the road sings it, then it's vain religious activity and doesn't build up the body and the bride. Why? Because the local church is 'genuine' and 'proper' and the other fellowship of believers isn't.

Yet hymn-writers Martin Luther, A.M. Toplady, Wesley, Newton and Cowper were all in that same 'degraded lifeless Christendom' that the local church leaders have held in such disdain! Somehow when Watchman Nee arrived on the scene, their hymns could then only be sung profitably in a different group - his. So the local church both leans on Christendom for its own legitimacy and denies its [Christendom's] legitimacy at the same time. It's a bold maneuver when you think about it - audacious, really. And WL said that he didn't like people to be ambitious!