[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Terry

The following is from a former LC brother identified as "singnewsong".

Please inform singnewsong that he/she is welcome to post as a guest, or even better register as a member so he/she could at the vey least communicate with others through the Private Message system.

(1) selling the things of God, (2) churches owning property, and (3) non-profit corporations.

Does selling the things of God refer to the selling of ministry materials? If so, I agree this could be mishandled. The real problem with the LSM's selling of ministry material comes in the fact that most of it is the 30-50 year old stuff of a guy that's been dead for 17 years.

The Bible does not record any early church owning property.

No, but neither does the Bible record any church using electric lights, audio equipment or the Internet to notify members of meeting times, special events, prayer requests, etc. A "New Testament Church" should mean it is authentic in it's proclaiming of the Gospel, preaching of the Word, preforming good works to their neighbors, etc and NOT that they meet in dark catacombs and travel around by donkeys or on foot.

Is not a non-profit corporation an unholy marriage between human government and God's people? This is a case of, "Whom should we obey, men or God?" Is not money the motivating factor? We also ask, "Where does the Bible give human government the authority to define a church?"

Not sure what country you are in, but in most of the civilized world much of the governmental regulations are for the protection of their citizens. This includes the protection from immoral and unscrupulous religious leaders who would use the donations of the members for their own personal gain. In many countries this protection is provided by way of the initiation and monitoring of a non-profit entity. The Bible does not give human government the authority to define a church, but it has been given authority by God Himself to punish said immoral and unscrupulous religious leaders who would commit financial malfeasance (or other civil or criminal crimes)

Our assessment is that unless these practices are purged, maturity in divine life will continue to be inhibited. Two choices exist for us: (1) repentance from these traditions of men, or (2) expect another mustard seed to come forth as the beginning of another cycle."

Not sure who "Our" is referring to, but since Terry has identified you as "a former LC brother" I will assume you are referring to a number of former and/or current members who would like to see some major changes in the LC Movement. Well I can tell you right now that you are preaching to the choir around these parts my brother!

May I be frank with you? If you do some searching around this forum you will find plenty of evidence that God has been trying to effect change in the Local Church movement for decades. The calls for change have come both from without and from within. The calls for change from without came mainly before the death of Witness Lee, and the calls for change from within have come mainly after the death of Witness Lee.

The call for change from without has been largely silenced by two methods - One by legal actions and threats of legal actions and two by gross deception and a campaign of blatant misinformation regarding what is actually taught and practiced. (The later being exemplified by the seduction of CRI, Hank Hanegraaff, Gretchen Passantino-Coburn et al.)

The call for change from within has been largely silenced by way of smear campaigns against any and all who would call for open and honest dialogue and reconsideration of certain teachings and practices. Of course these law-breakers (mostly breakers of the unwritten laws) were silenced by all sorts of methods, from a simple "talking to by the brothers", to being called "ambitious, seeking something for themselves", to being labeled as "rebellious again God's anointed" to "destroyers of the divine building" and even subjected to 5 hour, public excommunication meetings.

You see my friend God has been calling for change for probably longer than you might have ever imagined. But that does not mean that you can't do some more calling of your own, and you are more than welcome to use this forum as a venue for your calling.