POLL: How do you generally view the LC?

[aron]

It's an interesting and not illegitimate question, but perhaps unanswerable, to do a sliding scale like this. We’re called to be children of light, not look at gradations of darkness. I think God can differentiate shades of grey but we just stick to “black or white”, as in “to fellowship or to avoid”. And the LC's in my latter category, along with JW, Unification Church aka Moonies, Rastafarians, SDA, LDS, WWCOG, Iglesa ni Cristo, and Jesus Family. It’s a pseudo-Christian personality cult.

We suffer from selection bias, based on subjective history and ignorance. God is the Judge, but we still need to sense which groups might be profitable for fellowship versus which to avoid. But trying to pinpoint exactly where some cross the proverbial line and go from “aberrant but genuine Christian sect” to “cult” might be beyond our capacity. I do feel it’s beyond mine.

Here’s why the LC's in my “to avoid” category:

WL taught that the Son is the Father. How can the Father sit at His own right hand, a la Psa 110 and Matt 22? And yet no one noticed, or rather everyone pretended not to notice.

WL taught that most Psalms with imprecations were fallen human sentiments and not divinely inspired. We’re called to love our enemies, to bless and not to curse, right? Yet in other Psalms, imprecation is called a type of Christ defeating Satan. And yet none noticed this disparity, or rather they all pretended not to notice.

WL taught that women can’t teach in the church, yet his ministry still sells books by women teaching on the “three parts of man”, and cites them as foundational for the recovery of "God's economy”; and WN cribbed Jessie Penn-Lewis for his “Spiritual Man” so egregiously that the publisher had to acknowledge it in the preface to the Second Edition. And yet none noticed this, or rather everyone's forced to pretend not to notice. Mustn't upset the Teacher, and point out issues. Don't ask questions, because question marks are shaped like serpents.

WL taught that with the problem of sin in church, Matthew 18 principles apply unless the person involved is the Great Man himself: the Guru aka 'Ministry of the Age' aka 'God's Oracle' aka 'Seer of the Divine Revelation'. If the Guru errs, then one must pretend not to notice. It's a test from God, see -- if you can be subject to His Divine Government, or not. If the Great Man sins, one must "cover drunken Noah". Thus, the image of Ed Marks clapping his hands over his eyes and ears and saying, "I'm a monkey". Today Ed has a secure job promoting this ministry, because he's made himself blind and deaf, and is well-practiced at pretending not to notice.

When WL died his Chief Minions declared that an age of human history had passed, and another begun. “It's now the age of the small potatoes; the age of spiritual giants is over”. No more divine revelations; now one had to parse the Great Man’s writings for guidance. And no scripture was given. And nobody noticed, or rather, everyone pretended not to notice.

I could go on, with Daystar, Philip Lee aka The Office, what happened to Jane Anderson and dozens (hundreds? Thousands?) of others. Deceptive recruiting practices. Crass manipulation of church members. Information control, or “omerta”, that would make the Mafia jealous. Etc. The details of the whos, whats, hows, and whys are probably beyond my ken. I'd just say, “Avoid”. No Church is perfect. But prudence would dictate that some are best to simply stay away from. We don't need to know in some objective, doctrinal stance of "Same Christ yet funky" versus "different Christ". We're all funky, or most of us anyway. But at some point you just have to avoid. Or, if you're there, run away. Fast.