Pledge of Allegiance to Witness Lee

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by ACuriousFellow

It should he noted that this grand fear of "germs" and "rebellion" arose in the 1980s, which was a time in the history of The Lord's Recovery where a heavy emphasis was placed on a centralized publication source for all of the Local Churches in The Lord's Recovery for the sake of conformity. Several concerns arose from the dissonance that occurred between the concepts publicly touted in The Lord's Recovery in which hierarchy and leadership were denounced and the presence and pressure of Living Stream Ministry, a publishing company established by Lee and headed by his son, Phillip Lee. The dogmatic approach to disseminating and reinforcing Lee's teachings within the Local Churches disturbed many, including those like Steve Isitt and John Ingalls who personally felt like they owed much of their spiritual growth to Witness Lee.

Great analysis and understanding. I’ll add some older history.

In the US during the mid 70’s was another so-called “rebellion” or “storm” which set the stage for the late 80’s, called the “Max Rebellion,” named after Lee’s Lieutenant Max Rapoport. Beginning as an charismatic Evangelist, Lee sent him out to “shake up” the LC’s in order to solidify control of the movement. Things went awry when Max developed his own following among the LC’s, with spirited infighting among local leaders and whole LC’s. Lee successfully threw Max under the bus, expelling him in shame, but with WL taking no responsibility himself, and came out looking “pure as the driven snow.”

Afterwards some of the Max lieutenants publicly and tearfully (albeit ignorantly) repented and then took the further step of proclaiming wholehearted public allegiance and unquestioned support for WL, our present day “Apostle Paul.” This set the stage, by eliminating almost all remaining discernment among those who stayed loyal to the “vision of Christ and the church,” for the subsequent total LSM takeover during the “New Way” which began in 1985 in Taipei.

WL was a master at “never letting any crisis go to waste.”