Arthur M. Casci Testimony

[aron]

Originally Posted by Arthur M. Casci

That night after the meeting, Randy introduced me to many of them. They immediately welcomed me and showed great concern. I asked to stay for a week or two as a trial period, and was housed in a large duplex with about 10 members, who said I could stay until I decided whether to join the group. Nobody forced me to join. Nobody needed to. I was ripe for the picking.

I wanted to bring AMCasci and awareness' testimonies forward to show something of the time (late '60s-early '70s) that caused Witness Lee's movement to grow, flourish, and spread, and that set the seeds for the issues that followed. I came in 10 years later, when those who remained were talking in hushed tones about "rebellions" and "storms" and "turmoils".

These testimonies show that the zeitgeist, or spirit of the time, does indeed matter, and influences how people react. Something like "Beatlemania" informs us how the Witness Lee 'recovery' group grew in the West, because both fed from the same source: a pool of young, impulsive teens (Baby Boomers) who wanted something new. And they poured in by the hundreds, even by the thousands. Just like 400,000 who went to a rock concert on a farm in upstate NY (Woodstock). The people were moving, restless. The "flow" was already there - Witness Lee just tapped into it. The Jesus Movement was soon afoot, and there were naïve young Christians waiting to be siphoned off. Look at how many groups sprung up in that era. David Berg and the Children of God, the Peoples Temple that ended in Guyana with mass suicide. Instability. Moonies, Hare Krishna, Weathermen, etc.

I hold that understanding the "climate" of a time helps tremendously. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a case in point. Jesus and John the Baptist both came out of the wilderness, and had very harsh words for the priests from Jerusalem. The Qumran sect, supposedly the Essenes, also had a lot of harsh things to say about the established priestly and kingly classes in Jerusalem. Probably they had withdrawn since they felt corruption was so bad there.

It's perhaps not a coincidence that John called the Jerusalemites "brood of vipers" and the Qumranites, also desert-dwelling sectarians, had similar invective in their scrolls. But the fact that another witness or testimony has arisen besides John the Baptist in the NT, gives us a picture into the Zeitgeist of the times. Both political and religious dissatisfaction was high. And people like Witness Lee and the Blendeds, with their "there is nothing new to learn" mantra, miss that. We shouldn't make the similar mistake. Just because Watchmen Nee didn't read something doesn't mean we can't learn.

Back to the late-'60s and early-'70s local church of Witness Lee experience, the so-called Lord's recovery, we sang songs like, "I'm so happy in this lovely place... He [Christ] is new and fresh, available and near". Witness Lee sold subjectivism. Like awareness says, it's a kind of 'special-sauce-gnosticism' that supposedly brings the initiates into a new and fresh plane of existence. But it's really just new and fresh marketing for the unwise. It's the same-old, same-old in a 'new and fresh' box.

The remedy for it all is Jesus. Look at the hymn (#1237) Splendid Church Life. Who's the subject? The "I" of the "I'm so happy in this lovely place" is the naïve young Christian snookered in by Lee & Co. But the "I" of the Bible is Jesus. Witness Lee sold us the "NT believer enjoying grace" but the subject of the Bible is Jesus. Accept no substitute. Or the "grace" you "enjoy" might be dust.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by aron

Oh, sorry, one more point. The remedy for it all is Jesus. Look at the hymn (#1237) Splendid Church Life. Who's the subject? The "I" of the "I'm so happy in this lovely place" is the naïve young Christian snookered in by Lee & Co. But the "I" of the Bible is Jesus. Witness Lee sold us the "NT believer enjoying grace" but the subject of the Bible is Jesus. Accept no substitute. Or the "grace" you "enjoy" might be dust.

The entire body of Christ should give thanks for the "Jesus People" move of the Spirit of God during the unrest of the civil rights Viet Nam Era. It is worthy to note that the media tagged it the "Jesus People" movement with pics of young people being baptized in lakes and rivers.

Our Heavenly Father really shook things up, that His chosen ones could believe in His Son, and more importantly, that new wine could seek out fresh wine skins. He basically ended the grip of archaic denominations, just as Jesus ended the stronghold of Judaism 2 millennia ago. Totally new church settings popped up in their place with new found liberties for these new creations. Free groups, home meetings, community churches, even mega-churches. Options were endless. But so were the risks. It was a risk that the Spirit of God deemed necessary.

During those early days of blessing in the LC's, Lee mostly worked with the Holy Spirit to minister new wine. He was not alone. Many gifted ones were also given to the body of Christ. Charismatics, Baptists, Pentecostals, etc. all had fresh beginnings. There was even a Catholic priest preaching the gospel at my Ohio State University Newman Center ... imagine that!

In the LC, Witness Lee soon went back to his old ways. He felt the LC's needed his exclusive ministry and only his ideas. Slowly, apparently dating back to mainland China, he became obsessed with megalomanic illusions of importance and superiority. He soon introduced all sorts of fleshly means to build his empire. Had he stuck to his original mission objectives during those times of blessing, many children of God would not have suffered.

[aron]

Originally Posted by Ohio

The entire body of Christ should give thanks for the "Jesus People" move of the Spirit of God during the unrest of the civil rights Viet Nam Era. It is worthy to note that the media tagged it the "Jesus People" movement with pics of young people being baptized in lakes and rivers.

Our Heavenly Father really shook things up... that new wine could seek out fresh wine skins.

The subject of the Bible is Jesus. He is the way home to the Father. Not the ground of oneness, not the ministry of the age, not God's economy, not the present recovered truth, not NT believers enjoying grace. Our unyielding focus should be on him alone. All those extras are bad wine skins. If we focus on them our "enjoyment" will soon be cobwebs and vapours. The wine will pour out and be lost.

There's one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Jesus. There's no other. Any other intermediary fails. There is one name by which we can be saved. No other name (or 'non-name', wink-wink) should catch our attention or hold our allegiance.

In 2 Kings 4, look at the Shunnamite woman's posture when her son dies. She looks neither right nor left, nor will she slow down. She must see Elisha. Well, Jesus is our Elisha. Not Witness Lee nor any other. Lee tricked us into settling down in his local church. We sang, "Home, home in the church/It is here that I've ended my search". Oops.

Lee's church is not our home - our home is with the Father. And Jesus is the way.

[aron]

I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him where are you going
And this he told me
I’m going on down to Yasgur’s farm
I’m going to join in a rock ‘n’ roll band
I’m going to camp out on the land
I’m going to try an’ get my soul free

We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Then can I walk beside you
I have come here to lose the smog
And I feel to be a cog in something turning
Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it’s the time of man
I don’t know who I am
But you know life is for learning

We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation

We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil’s bargain
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Woodstock, by Joni Mitchell

I don't know Ms Mitchell's philosophical background, but she like many saw the gathering of freaks and hippies as a watershed event. Before Woodstock we didn't realize what we were. Then we saw - we were a people and a nation.

The Jesus Movement felt itself not as an offshoot or a rejection or redirection of the Woodstock nation, but rather it's actualization.

"We are stardust - we are golden" and "we've got to get ourselves back to the garden" were affirmations, and challenges. And Jesus was the way. A great spiritual door had opened, and it had a name. Its name was Jesus.

Now, not every 19 year-old went to Woodstock, or wanted to. But it was big, and it sourced the Jesus Movement, which in turn fed Witness Lee's group. I see it as a kind of Pilgrim's Progress: if you look at post #84 and #85 you see those trying to siphon off the souls - Witness Lee and his local church, the Children of God and Moses Berg, the Rosicrusians. Etc, etc. As AMCasci wrote, "I was ripe for the picking".

The song said, "I don't know who I am; but you know life is for learning". Amen. May the Lord keep us awake always, and watchful unto prayer. If we seek, we will find. "Were not our hearts burning, as he opened for us the scriptures?"

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by aron

I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road...

What does that got to do with the Casci testimony?

[aron]

Originally Posted by Ohio

What does that got to do with the Casci testimony?

"We've got to get ourselves back to the garden". Which garden?

Casci and awareness were talking of trying out different sects, some of which in hindsight were pretty sketchy. My point is that they were trying to get back to the garden. A whole generation was on the move. Why do you think they came pouring into the Lee sheep pen by the dozen and the hundred? Idealism, youthful enthusiasm and naivete. As Casci said, "ripe for the picking".

I could have picked another song. But "Woodstock" by Joni Mitchell worked for me. The song sold millions for a reason. It spoke to the masses, and it spoke of the masses. It resonated.

Sorry if it was an overstretch. I've been known to do that.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by aron

My point is that they were trying to get back to the garden...

But my point was that the Spirit shook up society so that God's chosen could find Jesus. Part of that journey was to go "outside the camp," leaving the stifling structure of archaic denominations, finding new wine in Jesus.

Why protest (perhaps better to say "correct") my posted ideas when I mentioned the historical fact of these seekers seeking new venues (ie new wineskins) to find Jesus, and some of that "seeking" thus involved "risks," such risks that our Father was willing to take?

[HERn]

Originally Posted by aron

The subject of the Bible is Jesus. He is the way home to the Father. Not the ground of oneness, not the ministry of the age, not God's economy, not the present recovered truth, not NT believers enjoying grace. Our unyielding focus should be on him alone. All those extras are bad wine skins. If we focus on them our "enjoyment" will soon be cobwebs and vapours. The wine will pour out and be lost.

There's one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Jesus. There's no other. Any other intermediary fails. There is one name by which we can be saved. No other name (or 'non-name', wink-wink) should catch our attention or hold our allegience.

Pretty much the best short apologetic response to the Lee-dominated movement of the Lord's Recovery I've read.

[HERn]

Originally Posted by aron

The subject of the Bible is Jesus. He is the way home to the Father. Not the ground of oneness, not the ministry of the age, not God's economy, not the present recovered truth, not NT believers enjoying grace. Our unyielding focus should be on him alone. All those extras are bad wine skins. If we focus on them our "enjoyment" will soon be cobwebs and vapours. The wine will pour out and be lost.

There's one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Jesus. There's no other. Any other intermediary fails. There is one name by which we can be saved. No other name (or 'non-name', wink-wink) should catch our attention or hold our allegience.

The best short apologetic response to the Lee-dominated sect of Christianity that I've read.