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Originally Posted by rayliotta
Dave, let me give an example of the type of thing (I think) you're talking about. I grew up believing that gophers are a biblical metaphor for ambition. I believed this because Witness Lee taught it.
I just looked up "gopher" in the concordance at biblegateway.com. There is only one mention of the word "gopher" in the Bible. And it's not even about gophers. It's Genesis 6:14, where God commands Noah to make an ark of "gopher wood." Got the same result for several translations (including KJV, ASV, Darby, etc.). A few versions don't contain any mention of the word "gopher" at all (NIV, for instance, translates the verse as "cypress word," with a footnote on "cypress" indicating that the meaning of the Hebrew word is unclear.)
If I'm wrong, or if I'm missing something, someone please correct me. Because as far as I can tell, the teaching concerning "the gopher of ambition," that I learned from the ministry of Witness Lee, is not based on the Bible. Because gophers aren't in the Bible.
Should I be surprised? Does this even matter? 
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Methinks perchance you failed to look up gopher in the Urban Dictionary:
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"n. A low-ranking employee who is made to do the bidding of their superiors. So-called because they are often running around doing various small tasks."
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So Lee's speaking on the gopher was doublespeak ... cuz he really wanted all of us to be gophers.