Quote:
Originally Posted by Drake
He was saying if you left the LCM you were in rebellion against God, by definition. No exceptions. I was there. I heard it myself. Benson taught it. The elders taught it.
It would be useful to see the exact quote but for sake of argument I can hear Brother Lee saying that. I can hear Benson repeating it and some elders also. Yet, this was my earlier point. If you have once seen the vision of the ground unity of the believers, the local churches as the practical expression of the universal Body of Christ, the resurrected and ascended Christ as the Head transmitting His power into the members of His Body, as the means to defeat God's enemy and bring in the kingdom of God to the earth..... then, yes, if you having seen and affirmed that, and you then go back to denominations for instance, then you are in rebellion.
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I was hoping we could dig down here because I would hope this is something that everyone on this forum can agree on.
1. There is a ground of unity for all believers.
I would argue that this ground of unity is the work of redemption of Jesus Christ that tore down the middle wall of partition and made us all one. I stand on the work that Jesus did and this is what makes me one. It is a blood soaked ground that is outside the camp. It is the ground where the Father offered up His Son because of His love for us that we could believe on Him and have life. It is also the ground where Christ made a peace offering for our sin of pride and rebellion.
Now I realize WL thought he was making it "practical" through his doctrine, but in my experience he was merely building a middle wall to partition himself from other Christians.
2. To me the "practical expression of the universal body" is when believers stand on this ground and allow the Lord's blood to make them one, they allow the Lord's work to tear down those walls, they allow the Lord's work to make peace, they repent of their pride and rebellion to submit to the Lord's word.
I would argue that what WL taught was the "practical expression" was merely having a child with Hagar, a child according to the flesh. You have to have faith to walk this path and it does not require faith to claim that you have a monopoly on the proper ground, that is pride and rebellion.
3. I also agree that the vision is of "the resurrected and ascended Christ as the Head". I believe that we see this worked out practically in Matt 18. Matthew 18 answers the question "who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
I asked EM why he signed the letter apologizing to PL for the discipline from the previous Anaheim elders. He said that "it made WL happy". That is not someone who is walking by this vision that Jesus is "the resurrected and ascended Christ, the head of the Body". If you see that Jesus is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven then the real question is what makes Jesus happy?
In verse 6 Jesus said that "whosoever offends one of these little ones who believe in me it were better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck". That is a very clear statement that offending little believers who believe in Jesus does not make Him happy. Making Witness Lee happy at their expense does not make Jesus happy. That letter, signed by EM, was an offense to many "little ones who believe in Jesus". Yet EM's response as well as all the elders in the church in NY is that "he doesn't want to deal with that right now". This was 20 years after the fact and they have still not dealt with this, still not accountable. This was the response from several "blended brothers", and four leaders of the LRC.
Therefore I would argue that they are the ones who have left this vision that Jesus is Lord. I would say that they are the ones who are in rebellion.