Cookie cutter web sites

[aron]

http://www.churchinmiddleborough.org/history/index.html

If you look at local church [sic] web sites, some are just shells, without information on the pages, like the "history of the Middleborough church" above. It looks like they were told to do this, and did it without much enthusiasm or effort. The clearinghouse web site "blended body" lists well over a hundred of them, most not touched in the decades since they were put up by LSM directives. Doesn't look local at all.

https://www.blendedbody.com/CIBwebsi...html/Links.htm

You can also find them individually by googling keywords in their bylines: "lovers of Jesus affiliated with the ministries of watchman nee witness lee" and there they are, leftovers from the initial push to get Witness Lee's name on the internet. Cookie cutter web sites, most of them long since given up. And didn't anyone blanch at the 'affiliated with' part? It's as local as a McDonalds franchise.

The church in XXXXX warmly welcomes you. We are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who have personally received Him as our Savior. He is the most excellent and enjoyable Person. We love Him and endeavor to give Him the first place in all things. We rejoice to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, born again of the Father’s divine life, and filled with the Holy Spirit.

We highly treasure the Holy Bible as God’s revelation of Himself and of His eternal purpose. We hold the common faith which is revealed in the Bible and is common to all genuine believers.

As is true of all believers in Christ, we are members of His one Body, the church. In order to practice the oneness of the Body with all the Christians in XXXXX, we meet as the church in XXXXX. We are in fellowship with over 2,000 local churches worldwide to express the one Body of Christ.

Any church that hasn't done anything on its website in 20+ years might want to think about the testimony that gives: indifference, apathy, ennui.

[aron]

Originally Posted by aron

Any church that hasn't done anything on its website in 20+ years might want to think about the testimony that gives: indifference, apathy, ennui.

Adding to the above, if you look at the fact that there's dozens of websites, all created simultaneously, all with identical formats, very few currently being maintained, it starts to look like this wasn't a local effort at all, but was a push by Mothership (aka Book Publisher) to optimise search engine technology by backlinking disparate WL encomiums. In other words, a typical "flow" from Anaheim, taken up with resignation by the periphery, soon forgotten.

The most striking thing to me, however, wasn't that - it was the byline, "Lovers of Jesus, affiliated with the local churches, Watchman Nee, Witness Lee." Google those keywords and it results in a view of all the web addresses of "ChurchinXXX". I couldn't get over the "affiliated with" part of that... here was this religious group, founded on the supposed truth that all other Christian "DeNOMinations" had utterly failed to collectively represent God because they were "of" something besides God. Lutherans were "of" Luther, Methodists were "of" Wesley's method, etc. Right? Remember the oft-referenced teaching based on 1 Corinthians -- "I am of Paul" and "I am of Peter" is tantamount to degradation and spiritual ruin. Then, in 1999 or 2000, suddenly here's all these web sites touting that they're "affiliated with" Watchman Nee and Witness Lee...??? Huh??

And that's not even the most striking part, to me. It's the realization that follows that bizarre world, that in dozens of these churches, these cookie cutter websites were foisted on the natives, and nobody said, "Hey! 'Affiliated with'... what gives here?" The ministry reverses the entire narrative and utterly contradicts its founding principles, and nobody in the "local churches" says a peep. That's when I can only draw the conclusion that this is a very powerful system of mind control.

"We don't want to be 'of' anyone, but we're 'affiliated with' Watchman Nee and Witness Lee." How could leaders of assemblies of believers say this with a straight face, unless they're completely mentally programmed. They literally can't muster one independent thought. Otherwise a single hand would shoot up quickly in the audience - "Hey!!", and everyone would be like, "Yeah, what he said..." But no, it's collective mental oblivion. The whole group meekly submits to, "We're lovers of Jesus, affiliated with Witness Lee" even though it goes against everything they've been saying for 25 years.

[ACuriousFellow]

I remember checking out some of the Christians on Campus websites a week or two ago. I noticed that the college groups in San Antonio and Austin have the same paragraphs written for their beliefs and mission statements on the club websites. That's just two campuses, though. I haven't really done a deep dive on all their groups regarding that.

[aron]

Originally Posted by ACuriousFellow

I remember checking out some of the Christians on Campus websites a week or two ago. I noticed that the college groups in San Antonio and Austin have the same paragraphs written for their beliefs and mission statements on the club websites. That's just two campuses, though. I haven't really done a deep dive on all their groups regarding that.

I found a very telling footnote in the RecV, in Revelations 2 and 3. It said, "All local churches have to be exactly identical, with no differences". Now, that's frankly impossible. I'm not exactly the same as you, with no differences, nor is my local fellowship exactly the same as yours. It was a control move, through and through.

What was the biblical basis? That the candlesticks representing the seven churches in Asia were "exactly the same, with no differences"...?? Have you ever seen a hand-beaten pomegranate or calyx made out of gold? No flower is exactly the same, with no differences. No snowflake or star. In Exodus 25 it describes hand-beaten almond blossoms with petals on each candlestick... so why are the various Christian assemblies supposed to be identical in appearance? Witness Lee read whatever he wanted to in scripture, even if it made no sense, even if it was self-contradictory with previous readings and messages, even if it went against thousands of years of Christian thought and action. Why? Control. That was the single unwavering theme with Witness Lee's ministry, so-called, from start to finish.

Peter said, "We come to Him as living stones". Not dead bricks pressed out in some bible expositor's machinery. Everyone is unique. Deal with it.

[ACuriousFellow]

Originally Posted by aron

I found a very telling footnote in the RecV, in Revelations 2 and 3. It said, "All local churches have to be exactly identical, with no differences". Now, that's frankly impossible. I'm not exactly the same as you, with no differences, nor is my local fellowship exactly the same as yours. It was a control move, through and through.

What was the biblical basis? That the candlesticks representing the seven churches in Asia were "exactly the same, with no differences"...?? Have you ever seen a hand-beaten pomegranate or calyx made out of gold? No flower is exactly the same, with no differences. No snowflake or star. In Exodus 25 it describes hand-beaten almond blossoms with petals on each candlestick... so why are the various Christian assemblies supposed to be identical in appearance? Witness Lee read whatever he wanted to in scripture, even if it made no sense, even if it was self-contradictory with previous readings and messages, even if it went against thousands of years of Christian thought and action. Why? Control. That was the single unwavering theme with Witness Lee's ministry, so-called, from start to finish.

Peter said, "We come to Him as living stones". Not dead bricks pressed out in some bible expositor's machinery. Everyone is unique. Deal with it.

Dude, I was looking through the Recovery footnotes in Revelations and found something that blew my mind.

(Footnote on "Nicolaitans," Revelations 2:6, Recovery Version of the Bible by Witness Lee, published by Living Stream Ministry)

"The Greek word is composed of two words, one meaning conquer or be victorious over and another meaning common people, secular people, or laity. Thus, it means conquering the common people, being victorious over the laity. Nicolaitans,, then, must refer to a group of people who esteem themselves higher than common believers. This was undoubtedly the hierarchy adopted and established by Catholicism and Protestantism. The Lord hates the works, the behavior, of these Nicolaitans, and we must hate what the Lord hates."

(Some words have been bolded for emphasis.)

What an incredible irony I have stumbled across in Lee's footnotes.

Originally Posted by ACuriousFellow

Dude, I was looking through the Recovery footnotes in Revelations and found something that blew my mind.

(Footnote on "Nicolaitans," Revelations 2:6, Recovery Version of the Bible by Witness Lee, published by Living Stream Ministry)

"The Greek word is composed of two words, one meaning conquer or be victorious over and another meaning common people, secular people, or laity. Thus, it means conquering the common people, being victorious over the laity. Nicolaitans,, then, must refer to a group of people who esteem themselves higher than common believers. This was undoubtedly the hierarchy adopted and established by Catholicism and Protestantism. The Lord hates the works, the behavior, of these Nicolaitans, and we must hate what the Lord hates."

(Some words have been bolded for emphasis.)

What an incredible irony I have stumbled across in Lee's footnotes.

This a an old communist trick that been used before:
“Accuse everyone and all outsiders of doing something that you are guilty of”. Witness Lee and the blended are very masterful and precise on this issue. They don’t even have a conscience to get out of their own way! It’s tragic.

[Nell]

These shadow web sites are actually "click bait" probably hosted, financed, and maintained (or not) by the publishing house for Witness Lee (deceased in 1998) and Watchman Nee (deceased in 1972). I would guess that not all franchise locations have in its membership someone with the webmaster skills necessary to maintain these sites, so the sites remain empty shells. Or, the sites are there to provide a street address only for anyone who might stumble onto the site. Regardless, the publishing house, for some reason, has not undertaken the task of maintaining its empty websites and remain little more than click bait.

If the publishing house ministry were everything it claims to be, why the facade? Is the Holy Spirit so impotent that it needs fake websites to deliver its message of the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Nell

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by aron

And that's not even the most striking part, to me. It's the realization that follows that bizarre world, that in dozens of these churches, these cookie cutter websites were foisted on the natives, and nobody said, "Hey! 'Affiliated with'... what gives here?" The ministry reverses the entire narrative and utterly contradicts its founding principles, and nobody in the "local churches" says a peep. That's when I can only draw the conclusion that this is a very powerful system of mind control.

"We don't want to be 'of' anyone, but we're 'affiliated with' Watchman Nee and Witness Lee." How could leaders of assemblies of believers say this with a straight face, unless they're completely mentally programmed. They literally can't muster one independent thought. Otherwise a single hand would shoot up quickly in the audience - "Hey!!", and everyone would be like, "Yeah, what he said..." But no, it's collective mental oblivion. The whole group meekly submits to, "We're lovers of Jesus, affiliated with Witness Lee" even though it goes against everything they've been saying for 25 years.

I had to laugh at your comments, aron. It was basically just our regularly scheduled programming!

Blatant in-your-face hypocrisy had merely become our normal "Recovery" way of life. When the Lord Jesus - God manifested in the flesh - literally blasted the Jewish leaders in their faces for their hypocrisy in Matt 23, it had no affect on them either. They crucified their long-awaited Messiah just a few days later.