My Views and Stance on The Recovery

[alwayslearning]

Originally Posted by Ohio

...I was en route to Taipei to participate in "God's up-to-date move on earth to evangelize the whole earth in the new way." The ugly scandals with Swaggert and Bakker served as the black backdrop for God's "holy, righteous, and shining work at LSM/FTTT." Or so I thought. And so I was told. Little did I know of Phillip Lee's hanky-panky at the same time!

The premise of the LC system requires a black backdrop. If Witness Lee cannot paint Christianity as the big bad whore then who needs the "The Recovery" - that remnant group of God's super special people who see the light while other Christians languish in darkness? But if you market yourself this way you also have to have a culture of cover-up to go along with it otherwise people will find out you're nothing special and you'll lose your main selling point.

Interestingly enough Lee never said the LC system, himself or Watchman Nee didn't have problems. What he did say is: he chose to ignore them or cover them up. He publicly promoted verbally and in print John So and John Ingalls as pillars in the church and said one their secrets of success was they ate the chicken (of his ministry) but ignored the bones. Until...the bones became so big they couldn't ignore them anymore because they were choking. And then Lee immediately changed his tune and said...they changed like Demas in the NT (2 Tim 4:10) i.e. the one who forsook Paul because he loved the world.

Put other way James Barber called Philip Lee and his antics the "fly in the ointment". Now most people would think: Let's just remove the fly from the ointment! Simple huh? But Lee's weird MO was: Let's merrily drink the ointment with the fly in it and never discuss the fly and the problems it creates.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by alwayslearning

Interestingly enough Lee never said the LC system, himself or Watchman Nee didn't have problems. What he did say is: he chose to ignore them or cover them up. He publicly promoted verbally and in print John So and John Ingalls as pillars in the church and said one their secrets of success was they ate the chicken (of his ministry) but ignored the bones. Until...the bones became so big they couldn't ignore them anymore because they were choking. And then Lee immediately changed his tune and said...they changed like Demas in the NT (2 Tim 4:10) i.e. the one who forsook Paul because he loved the world.

I heard that "eat the meat, not the feathers and bones" analogy for years, and as a guiding principle, I agree with it. Every minister is entitled to flaws, shortcomings ("warts" as ole Speakers Corner would say), and a bad kid, or two. If that's all there was, then this forum prolly would not exist, at least not for me.

But it never was about flaws and shortcomings. It was about covering up criminal activity. It was about lots of God's children getting hurt. It was about smearing the reputations of godly men who spoke their conscience on behalf of others, calling them rebellious lepers. What other ministries had regular "storms" like we had every 5 or 10 years since the beginning?

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by Ohio

What other ministries had regular "storms" like we had every 5 or 10 years since the beginning?

It is all how you handle turmoils. Do you extend grace to brothers and sisters or do you regard them with persona non grata?

[bearbear]

Originally Posted by Terry

It is all how you handle turmoils. Do you extend grace to brothers and sisters or do you regard them with persona non grata?

You forgive! and you pray! Jesus taught us to forgive and love our enemies because that's the only way to stop the cycle of violence. Brother's and sisters love to fight and tear each other apart but we often forget that our war is not against flesh and blood but against the powers and principalities in the air. Prayer is the only way to fight it-- and other fruits of the Spirit as well such as mercy, grace, love and forgiveness.

Violence begets more violence. Strife begets more strife. Think Romeo and Juliet's families. The only way to break the cycle is to love your enemy. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace for a good reason!

The only case I can see for excommunication is if they are involved in gross sin in which they need to removed until they repent for their soul's sake (from my point of view, when their salvation is in danger because they are practicing works of the flesh such as sexual immorality per Galatians 5:19-21), or they are purposely sowing division, as I believe Apostle Paul taught.

1 Corinthians 5:5
you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Terry

It is all how you handle turmoils. Do you extend grace to brothers and sisters or do you regard them with persona non grata?

And how would the MOTA "extend grace" to those brothers who expose his family's corrupt ways?

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by alwayslearning

He publicly promoted verbally and in print John So and John Ingalls as pillars in the church and said one their secrets of success was they ate the chicken (of his ministry) but ignored the bones. Until...the bones became so big they couldn't ignore them anymore because they were choking. And then Lee immediately changed his tune

As easy as it was to applaud brothers in print, it was just as easy for LSM to edit their names out of print.