Leaders of the Lord's Recovery

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Igzy

The easiest thing to do as a leader is to chew a subordinate out. While it's sometimes true that challenging people with strong words is effective, that truth is all too often an excuse for venting frustration and shifting blame. Being harsh with others is often the most gutless thing one can do. Much harder as a leader is to show genuine love, concern and long-suffering, while accepting responsibility for failure. This is "taking the cross" at its best.

Whenever we have discipline, whether private or public, we must always ascertain whether the correction matches the behavior. Of course, this is the last thing a hot-tempered coach, parent, or church official wants to have happen. Abusive people always thrive in an environment void of accountability. Healthy leaders will always measure their correction to the crime, so to speak. What a shame that leaders like Lee and Chu could publicly shame so many brothers, yet never answer to any oversight.

Paul instructed Timothy (I Tim 5.17-21) to never receive a complaint without proper witnesses. This was to prevent any church leader from acting impulsively or with bias. If an accusation was warranted, then a sinning public elder needed open reproof so that all the congregation could properly learn and be admonished. Then he warned Timothy never to serve the saints with favoritism and partiality. Paul's wise instructions precluded so many works of the flesh which only serve to damage God's children. It's too bad the LC leaders never followed Paul's wisdom.

I personally have been publicly reproved by Titus Chu, who never even asked me for my side of the story. I have witnessed others who likewise were rebuked without a proper examination. One can only conclude, after years in the local churches, that nearly none of the public shaming was deserved, rather it only served to reinforce their false sense of authority. For LC leaders like Witness Lee and Titus Chu to convince themselves that this abuse is "spiritual perfecting" is little different than applauding those inquisition torturers for using justifiable means to "perfect" God's children.

This is why brothers like Ron Kangas can travel to South America and defame Steve Isitt as a "man of death." These patterns of abuse have been learned first hand from watching Witness Lee. Kangas is treating Isitt no different than Lee treated Ingalls, Mallon, or so many other brothers over the years. Whenever brothers in the Recovery speak their conscience and address serious concerns in an upright manner, their very act of speaking up makes them deserving of the harshest censures.

Years ago Isitt was branded a rebel and quarantined for writing an honest evaluation of Recovery history called "In the Wake of the New Way." I found that paper extremely helpful, not just for its content, but for the courageous spirit necessary to break party policy and report fairly and honestly. Obviously honest reporting has never been in LSM's best interests. They prefer to spread the fairy tale about the infallibility of their MOTA.