"Against the Tide" by Angus Kinnear

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by aron

And to whatever "Living Stream Ministry" and "Editora Arvore da Vida" (DYL) and "Good Land Publishers" (TC) types out there who think these ministries are equivalent to the Father's 'oikonomia', I've four words for you: "Philip Lee" and "Timothy Lee". These are actually human enterprises with a godly veneer. WL's ministry was able to usurp WN's ministry because they were both Alpha-based human creations and thus susceptible to usurpation just like any human kingdom. And now BP and TC and DYL are the new controlling Alpha males. Surprise, surprise. The king is dead - long live the king!

For many years I heard the ministry of Titus Chu. While Witness Lee was alive, TC always had to fly under the radar, lest the local "sleeper cells" and the "ministry spies" would report back to LSM that "Cleveland" was doing "their own thing." Before all his lieutenants in the Great Lakes Area, however, TC had to appear valiant and independent of those ministry lackeys at LSM, so he would develop a posture of "respect" for WL, his spiritual "father." In other words, TC would never hold official trainings or publish his own books while WL was alive and thus "disrespect" him, so that the alpha dog in Anaheim would start growling.

Being a dog owner, who has literally hiked thousands of miles of wooded hills with my furry companion, I have learned a little about dog psychology. My dog is known as "omega submissive," and when confronted with an alpha bully, she lays down and submits. When she is with me, she tends to hide between my legs. After losing one such skirmish with "Ollie" the local bully, our vet told us that most dog bites occur to the underside of the dog during so-called submission. In other words, bullies love to bully whether you submit or not, and bully people behave the same as bully dogs.

The accounts of history show us that WL would bully TC, whether TC submitted to WL or not. Likewise, I know of far too many cases where TC would bully other brothers, whether they would submit or not. Like I said, alpha bully ministers are like alpha bully dogs. It makes me just sick to think about how many precious, kind-hearted brothers over the years have been abused by TC, and not one brother ever came to their aid!

I have discussed with brothers on occasion how to best respond to TC's aggression. Each has basically said that TC only respects "push back." TC will limit his abuse only when challenged. Like they say, the only way to deal with a bully is to punch him in the nose.

It troubles me that successful ministers are always compelled to "build empires" for themselves in the name of God. They siphon off the saints' giving and volunteer labor away from the church to build their own pyramids. When things get tough, they beat the rank and file into submission so that they continue to build without straw. They love to teach about how all the saints "need their own ministry," yet how dare they use any of the church's resources to accomplish that.