Spiritual Authority by Watchman Nee

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

Page 49, Scriptural Authority, WN

Since God is the One who establishes authority, there is no need for deputy authorities to try to build up their own authority. I know of a few brothers and sisters who were so foolish in the past that they thought they could direct others with their authority. They were trying to build up their own authority. This is foolish in the eyes of God. Hebrews 5:4 says, “No one takes the honor upon himself, but only as he is called by God.” The same is true with authority; no one can take authority upon himself. When God grants one to be an authority, he has authority.

This may sound good, but why teach it? It's like arming people with guns, teaching them gun safety, and then leaving the guns laying around for the wrong person to use them. Why not limit your teaching to the Bible? Why even discuss the authority of a "deputy?" Why not focus your teaching, as the Apostle Paul does, on the character of the Lord's servants and on the numerous warnings in the Bible about the abuse of authority. I daresay that the word "deputy" has never helped anyone but he who misused it for his own selfish gains. Paul called this filthy lucre.

Supposedly Witness Lee himself was there in person for all of Nee's messages on spiritual authority, and supposedly he should have been the one with the most fear of the abuse of authority. He claimed to be absolutely one with Watchman Nee and his ministry. Yet was he not the one who abused these teachings the most? Why did he teach others like the God-fearing John Ingalls these messages about deputy authority and then neglect to teach his own profligate sons?

Timothy and Philip Lee obviously knew what it meant to wield great authority over the brothers and sisters in the Recovery. I'm sure they witnessed daddy's public rebukes, humiliations, and chastisements for many years. They obviously lusted over the great adoration their father regularly received. By all accounts, Lee's own sons knew little about respect, morality, virtue, kindness, faith, godliness, decency, etc. yet Witness saw fit to place Philip over LSM and all the workers.

It's hard not to believe that the teaching of deputy authority in the Recovery had far more to do with Chinese culture than the Bible, especially since the Recovery has become little more than the Lee Dynasty.