Quote:
Originally Posted by HERn
Our dear brother/sister only posted once. May the Lord destroy the strongholds of satan. And release our brother /sister to post again.
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I'd have a full-time trainee ask their trainer:
1. "Why were women prominent in the early work of recovery, from Madame Guyon and Jessie Penn-Lewis to Margaret Barber, Peace Wang and Ruth Lee, and 100 years later this is no longer the case? What happened?"
2. "Why did Watchman Nee use Christian writings from ancient sources up to contemporary, while we have "One Trumpet" and only draw from one source? Why could Nee pick through varied writings, taking what was good and balancing them, yet we're expected to accept only Nee and Lee, and that 'whole cloth', complete and entire? Why was Nee able to exercise such discernment and judgment while we're not?"
I could think of other questions, but in the interest of simplicity and brevity offer those two.
My own answers are: 1. Women were used while it was expedient. But eventually it was no longer expedient. Just like with John Ingalls, Max Rapoport, and so many others; they find that this is a ministry of expedience. What's good, or useful, or praised today, may be rejected, suppressed, or forgotten when it's no longer needed. Women had their moment, the "recovery" was established, and then they could be cast aside. The ministry of the age had moved on.
2. Nee had discernment as the Apostle of the Age. God's Deputy. The rest of us are to exercise our discernment to realize that he was God's Man of the Hour; now we no longer need to do the hard work Nee did, of thinking and proving all things.
Ditto with Lee. He was bright enough to realize that Nee was his meal ticket - sorry, that Nee was the Man of the Hour, God's chosen Vessel of the Age. And Lee's heart was pure enough to follow the Vision of the Age without deviation, and bring it to us. The rest of us should realize that it's all figured out, and we can become Witness Lee Tape Recorders in the his God-Man Duplication Factory. Don't bother to read any other materials, because that will just bring in confusion and frustrate God's sole move on the earth today.
That second answer had a touch of sarcasm, sorry. In actuality it's man-elevating and man-worshipping human culture, paired with self-aggrandizement - "everybody else makes mistakes; not me". Present that heady brew to people who need to be told what to say and think, and there's a unholy trinity at work. It's seen in Local Church historical narratives: "From the Darkness (i.e. fallen and degraded Christianity), God raised up His Chosen Servant of the Present Revelation, who alone could lead us all into the Wonderful Recovered Church age!"
I bet if you asked a 'responsible one' in the FTT they would give you a sentence like the last one, with a straight face. All you'll get is recitation of pet phrases.