Quote:
Originally Posted by NeitherFirstnorLast
With a great deal of help from Li Changshou (Witness Lee), he was restored to his previous leadership position in 1948, and announced a program of evangelism by dispatching teams of unreached areas of China. A campaign of “handing over” possessions to the local church was promoted in 1947, ostensibly to fund evangelistic migration of believers. At the same time, Ni was preaching absolute, even unthinking, submission to church leaders, especially himself. Only those who had been trained by Ni and Li could become leaders in the local churches. Believers were fired with zeal to give all they had to the work of the Lord, and hundreds of thousands of dollars were contributed. Some of the money went toward the construction of a very large meeting place for the Shanghai assembly, whose numbers had reached 1,700.
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This practice of demanding that everything was "
handed over" based loosely on Acts 4.32-35 has not been often discussed here. I cannot help but think that WL also used Acts 4.36-37 as some "scriptural basis" for the restoration of WN to his ministry in 1948.
In early 1987 in Taipei, one of WL's chief trainers, Andrew Yu, began discussing this matter of "handing over" with all the trainees who were elders. He made the comment, "
we have all the documents" that this occurred in China after Nee was restored. He was definitely priming us for what was to come. This was at the heyday of the "New Way." Yu also made the comment to one elder from the USA that, "
all your church offerings are already ours."
Just as Nee did, Lee also ostensibly used a "
program of evangelism" and the teaching of "
absolute, almost unthinking, submission" to the ministry. The normal respect of the saints for their local elders was constantly being undermined to achieve these ends. Monies were also diverted by LSM to build huge venues to facilitate their ministry for "
trainings."
Without the so-called "conspiracy to rebel" orchestrated by John Ingalls, John So, Bill Mallon, and so many other men of God, who together rose up to speak on behalf of the Lord and His people, Lee and his minions would have carried out these plans.