Quote:
Originally Posted by Evangelical
Interestingly, the word cult is not in the Bible.
Strictly speaking, JW, LDS and every denomination is a sect because it is a "cut"(i.e. sect) in the Body. Cults are those groups like the KKK etc.
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Not entirely true. Yes, the word "cult" is not a Biblical term. However, "false prophet" and "the fruit of a false prophet" are very clearly NT terms.
2Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Key terms here:
1. Privily bring in damnable heresies
2. Denying the Lord who bought them
3. Influence many to follow their pernicious ways.
4. Through covetousness shall they with feigned (fabricated) words make merchandise of you.
All four of these apply to Witness Lee.
1. A heresy is a school of thought. Clearly LSM is a school of thought. That doesn't make it "damnable". What makes it damnable is the teaching of the Ground of the church (I will go into this on point 2) and MOTA (also go into this on point 2). Both of these are damnable because they are divisive. No reasonable person would think that all Christians worldwide would recognize WN or WL as the "MOTA" or agree that WL should decide how they meet and who their elders are. Instead the real ground of oneness is the Lord's blood and the real MOTA that all Christians could be in one accord about is Jesus.
2. Both the "ground of the church" doctrine and the "MOTA" doctrines deny the Lord who bought us. According to the ground of the church their doctrine trumps the Lord's redemption in deciding which group of Christians is truly one with the Lord. Likewise the MOTA doctrine denies the Lord by taking OT typology of Jesus Christ and applying it to WN and WL.
3. PL, TL and many other practices by WL and LSM are pernicious. Lawsuits, sexual abuse, making merchandise of the saints, Daystar, etc.
4. WL's ministry is based on a fabricated story about WN being the MOTA. Had WL told the truth concerning WN's excommunication in Shanghai he could never have sold him as the "MOTA". The entire ministry is built on a fabricated story.
However, none of this answers your question about "smoking guns". I only learned of the "pernicious practices" months before I left and it was not the cause. I was in NY and the discussion was about PL in Anaheim. I didn't learn about the fabricated story until years after I had left. While in the recovery I realized that the doctrine of the Ground was flawed but had no idea that it was a "damnable heresy". As for the MOTA doctrine I ignored it, not seeing it as a damnable heresy either. As far as "denying the Lord" I would never have thought that was possible while in the Recovery. It was only years after leaving and learning about the pernicious behavior and fabricated stories that I examined these doctrines with an eye to this verse in Peter.
This is why I think James is far more useful in provoking saints to leave the sphere of a false prophet.
1. Pure religion is to care for widows and orphans. This is how we felt when we first came to the recovery but saw this concern warped into a "burden for the ministry".
2. In the recovery you are turned into a "forgetful hearer" (spectator). Prior to this I wanted to be a "doer of the word". The feeling that the recovery was a "dead end" to spiritual growth.
3. False prophets are like a "rider on a horse". New believers can't discern if they are gifted members or not. They then take charge of the church like a rudder driving the ship into the rocks. Finally, they are like a fire that burns down half the forest. We saw this with the church and Witness Lee. Numerous events like the sister's rebellion and JI were like Witness Lee driving the church into the rocks. Then when various churches left like Germany, Cleveland, etc that was burning down the forest.
These are the things everyone in the church under the influence of the false prophet can see.
One smoking gun was a lunch I had with Ray Graver and Phillip Lee. I was working in Irving on the construction site. I realized during this lunch (first time I ever met PL) that he was an evil, gluttonous man. I knew Ray Graver for years and the only explanation I could see for him overlooking the obvious was "having the faith of the Lord with respect of persons". That was a smoking gun.
During this same time, while working on the construction site Benson Phillips met with the local paper and described the Lord's recovery to them as "just another fundamental church". It became very apparent that there was a political decision made to make friends with the world. I rebuked Benson in a Lord's table meeting the day the article was published. This was a second smoking gun. The situation has become much more egregious in recent years.
JI leaving should have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Seeing WL once again drive the church onto the rocks rather than deal with sin in his own house. But it took me years before I actually learned the story on that. One of the last things I did before leaving the Recovery was to publicly rebuke LSM for tolerating PL.
What was the final straw for me was to realize the lack of concern the church had for widows, and orphans. The gospel contacts versus the children of the saints. I saw this my second year in the recovery (Houston) and it became a thorn that continually provoked me. I rebuked the elders in Texas over this. In Taipei during the FTTT I realized the gospel work was merely a marketing ploy to sell more LSM books. I was involved in a very successful campus work that brought in 18 engineering graduate students into the church. The goal had been "abiding fruit" and we had succeeded. However, instead of LSM actually being interested in fellowship about our work they just wanted to credit training books for new believers. Finally, when I returned to NY the church was virtually an apartheid system with gospel contacts being treated as untouchables and full time workers were merely nannies for children of the saints.