My Testimony: Olvin

[Friedel]

Originally Posted by OBW

I've read everything. You have been busy repeating the substitutions that you learned from Lee. All the way back where you declared "ministering Christ" to be the equivalent of loving your neighbor. That sounds spiritual, but it is a far cry from being a singular substitute.

But what I see in your responses on virtually every topic is a position that repeats the things that Lee has said but does not have any idea how to show them as actually coming from the scripture. That means you are not speaking from knowledge of any kind, but are simply repeating what you have been taught. And what you have been taught is not really found in the scripture. Lee convinced us that it was, but upon closer inspection, there is too often nothing there that looks anything like what he said.

I discovered that being in the LRC was a mistake. A really big one. I cannot even convince myself that the "better" early days were really any better. Just not as aware of the nonsense that I was being fed.

I consider Olvin's first post, his testimony, one of the most significant posts ever on this forum. Why? Because he testified and proved that there is the definite possibility of a fulfilling spiritual life after the Local Church, still using Witness Lee's sizable volume of books.

Unless I am mistaken, never before did anyone dare state that after leaving the Local Church. My considered conclusion was that it is impossible to function as a Christian after the Local Church and the only option is to be cynical, bitter, angry and a skeptic. Until Olvin came and said he still reads Witness Lee's books but he does not meet with the Local Church. Suddenly, here was a voice of reason.

Nevertheless, he was met with a choir of protest:

"That is impossible to do. How can you still enjoy the ministry of Witness Lee; how can you even read it? He was a charlatan and a fraud. He abused the truths of the Bible and made up his own doctrine. He invented phrases and teachings that are unbiblical. He damaged the lives of many people through his cronies and crowd of yes-men. He sacrificed some of his closest former coworkers so that he could create hi own empire. You cannot pretend that you still find something of note in his books. How are you supposed to deny yourself? It appears only once or twice in the Bible." And more more things.

Personally, I do not anymore read anything written or spoken by Witness Lee. I do not use his Bible. I am not in fellowship with any Local Church. However, I cannot deny that through his speaking I did find much spiritual help.

Take the matter of denying yourself, picking up you cross daily and following the Lord Jesus. To deny yourself is to make a deliberate decision to do one thing the Holy Spirit shows you to do as opposed to doing something else that He tells you not to do. It is not rocket science.

Olvin might be speaking things he has learnt in his spirit but since he had heard it from Witness Lee, it is not automatically invalidated. He finds it real and he has the right to say what his experience is. That I appreciate. He also has the right defend himself against anyone attacking this. That he has done with aplomb.

Am I now going to start reading Witness Lee? Definitely not. But I can never deny that through speaking something of Christ was deposited in my being. (See Galatians 2:20 before attacking me on this statement.)

Let us be fair and allow Olvin to share the Lord with whomever he crosses paths. He is not advocating a wholesale return to Witness Lee.

Was it a mistake to be in the Local Church and for so long? (Twenty three years, in my case.) I honestly do not know. Only the Lord knows.