A Healthy Revelation and LSM's Rebellion

[Indiana]

Originally Posted by Indiana

www.twoturmoils.com/IntheWakeoftheNewWay.pdf

My first writing in 2001 addressed LSM's rebellion against a scriptural ground of unity in the church. Many of my writings that followed did the same, including my posts on this thread.

(In the Wake of the New Way)

Here is a paradox: Oneness with the ministry was gained at the price of division in the church. For some to “sail on” in one accord was to provide the fertile bed of discord among the rest -- the believers, the members of the Body of Christ meeting as the church in their locality.


.................................................. The Tiananmen Square Principle......................................

Maybe an illustration is needed to aptly describe what the experience of many was who suffered in the new way.

It is interesting that the upheaval in Anaheim and the trouble in other churches that the new way helped spawn, took place concurrently with the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989. In principle, the disconcerted saints in the recovery were handled much in the same way as those dissenters to the communist government in China. The primary concern of the leaders and the army was not for the persons in their way. The concern was for their “ism”:

"If you expect to have one accord in any kind of society, group, or movement, you need the same kind of thinking that comes out of the same kind of knowledge. The So******t party stresses so****ism. Any political party has its own “ism”. They stress their “ism” in order to have a party, to have what we call the one accord. Without the one accord, no party could accomplish anything. Any society, group, or movement needs this one accord that comes out of the same kind of thought, the same kind of knowledge” (One Accord For The Lord’s Move, W. L., pp. 97, 99-100).

We have to be honest brothers and sisters. The new way took a toll. It was intrusive to our fellow members in the Body. Regardless of the condition of the recovery that brought about the need for change, we should not have lost people. If the call was indeed just to gain an army to fight for the ministry, why wasn't this more clearly defined and separated from the church? Brother Lee said that Paul never controlled the churches or insisted that the saints follow his ministry; nevertheless, he added that, "there still is a need for leadership". Hence, he took the lead as he did. To say our brother wasn't controlling the churches, however, is hard to comprehend. Gaining a fighting unit for the ministry took place in the church! It was inseparable from the church. To be sure, there was no respect or regard for those not in one accord for this, but in word only.

(I recently talked to a sister who left the church in 1989 after a leading one proclaimed in a meeting that the saints who were not in the church for brother Lee and his ministry didn’t need to be there. This word of absoluteness with the ministry and the resulting effect of losing a sister and the spiritual harmony at home for that family is an example of the spirit of power, not love that prevailed during the new way. Her husband has continued in the church, and one of their sons might leave for Russia soon, having recently completed the full-time-training.)

We lost many who at one time were happy to meet with us and their stories are often tragic. Married couples have suffered much, for example, with easily over a hundred divorces taking place in the churches since the new way began! I know of six separations or divorces happening currently in four different localities, and this kind of shameful occurrence among us has been taking place frequently for sixteen years. The new way for these members means a new way of life without their mate or their children and, very possibly, without the church. Many other couples that have left the church are still together, but with very unpleasant and painful memories of the church life since 1984.

Most of these brothers and sisters were dispirited and disheartened by the changes in the church life and felt forced out of participation. Some experienced getting "knocked down", such as leading ones standing up before “officers” of the army to fellowship their concerns. These brothers may not have been ambitious or conspiring as some brothers were alleged to be; rather, they were ones trying to stop the carnage that they were experiencing in their locality and hearing of in different places. Some brothers were afraid to stand or sensed the futility of doing so. One prominent brother, close to brother Lee, approached him sixteen times, usually with others, to express his and others' concern for what was happening in so many churches to so many saints. Their efforts were to no avail as brother Lee's prophecy was coming to pass that he was "willing to sacrifice people and places". Their concerns were founded and legitimate, and attempts to address those concerns ended in their frustration and sad departure from the church.

Where was the principle of the Body in the new way, the keeping of the real one accord that is in the inclusive nature of Christ? Where was the same care for every member that there be no division in the Body that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians? It was not there in the new way. The oneness in the Lord’s new move was not a oneness of the Body. Rather, it dishonored the oneness that includes every member.

[rayliotta]

Originally Posted by Indiana

"If you expect to have one accord in any kind of society, group, or movement, you need the same kind of thinking that comes out of the same kind of knowledge. The So******t party stresses so****ism. Any political party has its own “ism”. They stress their “ism” in order to have a party, to have what we call the one accord. Without the one accord, no party could accomplish anything. Any society, group, or movement needs this one accord that comes out of the same kind of thought, the same kind of knowledge” (One Accord For The Lord’s Move, W. L., pp. 97, 99-100).

Steve, I'm incredulous reading this quote. I guess nothing should surprise me anymore.

Is Witness Lee really comparing the "one accord" with having a political party? Is he really saying you have to "stress" an "ism" to "have what we call the one accord"? Is this the same man who condemned "all the 'isms'" and claimed his group was something different?

Incredible. Someone tell me I'm "misunderstanding" this.

[OBW]

I just have one comment on the posts in general. Each section should have a clear header or delineation between items so that the break between different source documents and Steve's comments is easily discernible. I often am suddenly unsure who is saying what.

[Indiana]

Originally Posted by rayliotta

Steve, I'm incredulous reading this quote. I guess nothing should surprise me anymore.

Is Witness Lee really comparing the "one accord" with having a political party? Is he really saying you have to "stress" an "ism" to "have what we call the one accord"? Is this the same man who condemned "all the 'isms'" and claimed his group was something different?

Incredible. Someone tell me I'm "misunderstanding" this.

In a movement an "ism" is needed.

For two years Witness Lee did not attend church meetings in Anaheim leading up to his announcement in Oct 1984 that the Lord needed a new move. Concerned for the stagnation among the churches in the U. S. and around the recovery, Lee asserted that since 1973 ambition had come in with the elders and co-workers as “the real gopher" in the recovery and that this “gopher” had been growing - he not considering that in that same period, 1974 to 1984, the "gopher" of setting up Brother Lee as a kind of “pope” had been growing. The man and a ministry movement is the “real gopher” that had been growing.

Instead of repentance for this “gopher” and for Daystar and other serious matters that would result in life and biblical one accord, “ministry stations” emerged that produced “ministry churches” to be in "one accord" with the man and ministry movement.

It was an organized movement orchestrated by one man, mindful to Chinese saints of the movement(s) in China that stressed an “ism” for their one accord; that is, "the same kind of thinking that comes out of the same kind of knowledge”, as brother Lee indicated was needed for his movement. No one can deny this was a movement. Look at the fruit. Division everywhere to this day, not caused by so-called "rebellious ones" to Witness Lee's movement, but by those in "one accord" with the man and a ministry movement in rebellion to scriptural revelation and genuine one accord.
,
www.HidingHistoryintheLordsRecovery.us/Mao.pdf

refer to Elder's Training books 7 & 8 for brother Lee's extensive word on what he felt was the "key" to the "Lord's new move".

[Cal]

There is nothing wrong with being a movement. The problem comes in when some movement considers itself something more than a movement.

God has used movements down through history. Each movement has something of God and something of man. It's silly to expect any movement to have no traces of human tendencies, or to dismiss a movement that God is legitimately working in as "a movement of man." Except is extreme cases, almost no movement in Church history was purely "a movement of man." The category, for most practical intents, is meaningless and useless. It's simply idealism.

This idealism that insists on everything being a pure "move of God" is unrealistic and self-deceptive. It's unrealistic because anything where people are involved is going to be imperfect. It's self-deceptive because it leads people to always be seeking the elusive "holy grail" of God's pure move. Such a thing only exists in heaven. On earth we have to work with what we have. It's also self-deceptive because it leads people to think they can define this pure move or, worse, have actually found it.

This is exactly what happened in "the Lord's Recovery." It was idealism run amok. Such a thing results in two grave errors: Feeling one needs to defend to the death the "pure move" one is "in," and the corollary, condemning all other "movements."

Stop looking for the holy grail. Work with what you have and what God has put before you.

[Cal]

My point is that a distinction between a "move of God" and "a movement of man" is useful only in theoretical discussions. In practice it produces a false and dangerous dichotomy. One cannot detect what is a pure move of God, and detecting the influence of man in a movement does not disqualify it. Endless nitpicking about it is a waste of time. The holy grail is a myth.

[Indiana]

(In the Wake of the New Way) Nov 2000



What The Recovery Needs

From the beginning of brother Lee's ministry in the United States clear to the end of it, although we heard marvelous things, we heard comparatively little about love. Near the end of his ministry, however, he did speak more concerning the need for love among us. He said, "In the last few years, we have appreciated the Lord's showing us the high peak of the divine revelation. My concern is that although we may talk about the truths of the high peak, love is absent among us. If this is the case, we are puffed up, not built up. The Body builds up itself in love".

He actually began to speak in this way starting in 1988 and, intermittently, to the end of his ministry, addressing the elders on a number of occasions more definitely about this need. He said, "according to my observance throughout the years, most of the co-workers have a human spirit of "power" but not love. We need a spirit of love to conquer the degradation of today's church…this is what the recovery needs." He also stated, "only love prevails" and that "love is the most excellent way". He said it is the way to be an elder or a co-worker, and that it is the way to handle the saints. He proclaimed that it is the way to do everything and to be anything in the church life.

It was about this time that he looked back over his church life experience and recalled that his best days were in Chefoo. He said that that was his most prosperous, fruitful time in the church due to the love and the practical shepherding of the saints. He testified that it was the shepherding that brought in the blessing. Although he had shared so much with the saints on the revelation of life in the scriptures throughout the years, he said that even the gospel of John, a gospel on life, needed the last chapter on shepherding to make it meaningful. The shepherding is needed to bring the loving seekers of God into the corporate relationship of God and man.


The Revival In Chefoo

Our brother seems to have pondered the non-encouraging results of the Lord's new move and the damage that had been done, having summed up his feeling in an elders training, testifying that the result of his labor in the United States had not been satisfactory. In fact, it had been “disappointing”. He also testified that his work in both Taipei and the Philippines never brought "satisfactory results", and that only one place had done so where he had labored -- "Chefoo, my home town." He was locked in by the war then and could not leave to minister to the churches. So, he gave his full attention to the needs in his locality.

An extremely vital practice in Chefoo was for the leading shepherding ones to meet for hours and consider all the “difficulties and deficiencies” among the saints in their locality, then find a way to meet the need. He said, "This fellowship was not superficial, but deep, getting to the bottom of things." Brothers, as well as sisters were there, and they fellowshipped, prayed, and coordinated in oneness with the Lord for the shepherding of all the saints. As a result, the morale in that place was high and the real one accord was produced that made an impact on their city. This caused a revival to break out that lasted for ten years. They were the real spiritual parents taking care of the spiritual welfare of their spiritual children.


The Church Family in Chefoo

The church in Chefoo was like a family. It was a church family with an atmosphere of a spirit of love prevailing there. The love inspired the people and motivated them. Love kept people in the church, and love brought new ones in. This church family experience was their oneness providing the Lord a base to move in their locality.

Besides being one of the shepherding ones visiting the saints in their homes regularly and when there was special need, a young brother Lee liked to have meals at the meeting hall and invite ten or twenty brothers and sisters to come and eat. During that time he would talk to them one by one. In this way he made contact with every one of the few hundred brothers and sisters. He said that by sitting down with them, chatting with them and getting acquainted with them he could get a clear impression about them and their need.

In Chefoo there was no centerpiece, no special group as a distraction from the fundamental need to care for the members equally. The ministry was in place with no special emphasis on it or allegiance to it. All the leading ones gave their attention, time, and energy to the Body. Thus, the one accord was struck. Their increase came due to the love and the one accord! They had the same care for the rickshaw boy as for the banker, the same love for the coolie and his wife as for the "promising ones." It was their family. The Lord poured out His blessing on this!

Today, we all need to be in a strong church family and deal with any atmosphere of a spiritual institution or education center. That is, we should have an atmosphere of a spirit of love prevailing, not just of spiritual seeking and of learning the deeper truths. We should notice if a brother or sister hasn't been meeting, or if they are having difficulty. Our thought is often about certain members that because they aren't meeting the church standard and expectation, maybe they're just not for the church. That wasn't the apostle Paul's thought. He said to "uphold the weak". They are our brother or sister, and they are necessary family members.

Strong church families form the essential base for the one accord. Regardless of the outward activities and move of the Lord taking place in the churches, we all belong to a church family that should be practical in caring for its members. This is where the breakdown has been. A real family takes care of its members, being accountable for each one of them. It is the secret to having morale. A thriving church family affords the Lord a way to move on the earth with joy.


A Timely Trumpeting For The Present Need

Brother Lee recognized four years into the new way that there was the need to sound another trumpet call quite different from the first. He spoke messages to that effect in 1988 that are in print in a book called, A Timely Trumpeting For The Present Need. This was a trumpet call to elders and co-workers expressing the urgent and present need to care for people. He said, "Today, there are many brothers and sisters who need help. Hence, we have to do our best to contact them, to be concerned and care for them in love, and to strive to help and shepherd them."

"I hope the elders and co-workers would take this word of fellowship and exhortation to give their all and their time to contact and shepherd people. This was our shortage in the past. Now we must recover this matter." Until his death, he would sound this trumpet again and again in 1989, 1991, 93, and 96 -- at least in these four years, in an ardent way.


Our Way Is Not Right

In speaking to the elders in 1996, he made a statement that took them aback. He said, "As I have said before, the spirit of not shepherding and seeking others and being without love and forgiveness is spreading in the recovery everywhere. I believe that not having the Father's loving and forgiving heart and not having the Savior's shepherding and seeking spirit is the reason for our barrenness. I realize that you all work hard, but there is almost no fruit. The Lord says, 'By the fruit the tree is known' (Matt. 12:33), but we are a tree without any fruit. Everywhere among us barrenness is very prevailing.”

"Many of you are good speakers, knowing the higher truths. The truths we hold are much higher than those in Christianity. However, we do not have fruit because we are lacking in the Father's loving and forgiving heart and the Son's shepherding and seeking spirit. We condemn and regulate others rather than shepherd and seek them. We are short of love and shepherding. These are the vital factors for us to bear fruit, that is, to gain people. I am very concerned for our full-time training. Do we train the young ones to gain people or to regulate people? We have to reconsider our ways, as Haggai said (1:5). Our way is not right; something is wrong."

It is wonderful to have the high and rich ministry of brother Lee. We in the churches enjoy and appreciate it immensely, and most of us would never leave it. Yet, "our way is not right; something is wrong"! This is a very sober and serious word and should be taken as such, especially by our leading ones. Something is wrong, brothers. This is the reason for my writing.

I have to ask what was wrong with the way in Chefoo? Why was an experiment needed in the recovery? Chefoo was right! They had the real one accord. Love speaks louder than words, even the words that unlock the mystery of God and of Christ.

For the saints in the recovery, this trumpet call is still going out to the churches. It is still the present need. There is the vital need not only to uphold the New Testament ministry in the proper way, but also to uphold as essential, the critical revelation and practice of receiving the believers.

To uphold the weak and those with differing views is to be according to the Lord’s heart and to answer the trumpet call. It is also to respond to the Lord’s prayer in John 17, “that they all would be one”. The Lord's move should be a move in His Body involving all the members, not forgetting any among us -- and remembering those who left.

[Indiana]

In contrast to the sectarian One Accord movement found in the Local Churches today, there is the Love and One Accord found in the Scriptures. What a huge difference and deviation from the healthy revelation and understanding which the local churches once had, which they effectually act in rebellion against today.


http://www.makingstraightthewayofthe...dOneAccord.pdf

[PeterG]

Originally Posted by Indiana

(In the Wake of the New Way) Nov 2000
Our Way Is Not Right

In speaking to the elders in 1996, he made a statement that took them aback. He said, "As I have said before, the spirit of not shepherding and seeking others and being without love and forgiveness is spreading in the recovery everywhere. I believe that not having the Father's loving and forgiving heart and not having the Savior's shepherding and seeking spirit is the reason for our barrenness. I realize that you all work hard, but there is almost no fruit. The Lord says, 'By the fruit the tree is known' (Matt. 12:33), but we are a tree without any fruit. Everywhere among us barrenness is very prevailing.”

"Many of you are good speakers, knowing the higher truths. The truths we hold are much higher than those in Christianity. However, we do not have fruit because we are lacking in the Father's loving and forgiving heart and the Son's shepherding and seeking spirit. We condemn and regulate others rather than shepherd and seek them. We are short of love and shepherding. These are the vital factors for us to bear fruit, that is, to gain people. I am very concerned for our full-time training. Do we train the young ones to gain people or to regulate people? We have to reconsider our ways, as Haggai said (1:5). Our way is not right; something is wrong."

Hi Steve,
I would be very interested in the original source of this passage because I think it fits well with Lee's farewell statement and probably explains more clearly what he meant. Where can I read the whole speech?

PS: A completely different question for everyone: Can someone tell me where Wu Youqi, WN's cellmate, lives? And how I perhaps can contact him for a short interview?