Quote:
Originally Posted by Drake
ZNP>”There are some very troubling quotes of Witness Lee that come across as boasting and using his "position" as "the apostle" to exercise authority over others.”
ZNP,
Please provide the quote by Witness Lee in context so we can assess it for ourselves.
Thanks
Drake
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I had hesitated since it could be viewed by some to be "repetitive" (I think you complained of this once). But you are right, for those who have not read the other threads on this forum it would help to provide some quotes.
1. Boasting -- I personally heard Witness Lee repeatedly talk about poor Christianity and how there were not any books of spiritual value being written today, only his. However, I was aware of saints in Houston and Irving that had extensive collections of Christian books not published by LSM (I discovered this when I helped them move). However, they were far too intimidated to reference them or quote them in meetings even though Houston and Irving were where quoting footnotes as a "testimony" had become all the rage. These saints were so intimidated they actually apologized to us as we moved their books and asked that we not mention they owned them.
I have also read similar testimonies from other brothers like John Ingalls and other elders who testified what it was like behind closed doors. Their testimonies were consistent with what I had seen and came across as boasting and arrogant.
I was also present when Witness Lee boasted about all the new terms he had coined.
2. Controlling -- I guess the best example of this was the loyalty pledge that Ray Graver and Benson Phillips strong armed the elders into signing. To my understanding of the NT this is something strongly forbidden in the book of James ("But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under judgment." James 5:2). In my understanding the burden of James is to counteract the cultic influences like the Judaizers that he had been ensnared with.
I don't have any first hand experiences of this behavior except my observations of the "Perfecting Training" which appeared to me to be Witness Lee pulling some leading elder up onto the platform to berate him under the guise of "perfecting". Since I was brand new to the LRC I decided to simply agree that I didn't understand. 40 years later I feel I do understand. He was holding people up to public ridicule and shame with the pretense of "perfecting" as a way to control others. Abuse of power.