[UntoHim]

Terry, I think the general dynamic that "Unregistered" has described existed in the Local Church long before 1974. There is a lot of evidence that, under the leadership of Witness Lee, many if not most of the Local Churches and their members carried this attitude going back to the 50s and 60s in Taiwan. Neither is there is a record of the Local Churches being very cooperative with other Christian groups and ministries back in those days. Yes, Witness Lee had T. Austin Sparks come and speak on a number of occasions, but even that "cooperation" ended in disaster.

When Witness Lee moved here to America he was a little more "liberal" and accepting of other Christians and ministries. Then when he had built up enough of a self-supporting base here in the USA, he reverted back to his sectarian and authoritative ways. Sorry to be so blunt with you my brother but it's a little hard to deny these facts at this point.

Does this mean that your parents and others in the early days did not experience anything of Christ or even of the oneness of the Body? Of course they did. But the seeds of the problems that emerged and reared their ugly head at later dates did NOT just appear out of nowhere. They were already there going back to the beginnings in Elden Hall and earlier.