What is God's Economy?

[aron]

Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That is a commonly cited verse. But it also says, If you believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead you shall be saved. So, to believe, to confess, and to call are placed in the same context. If I confess Jesus as Lord, this means that I believe that God raised him from the dead, that he is Saviour of the world, that my sins are forgiven, and that I am one who calls upon the name of the Lord, and that I am saved. All of these are used interchangeably. And nowhere does Paul define any of this as God's economy.

I believe that what follows believing is then God's economy, and is not the basis for our salvation, which I've briefly outlined above. No, our participation in God's economy is a sign of our election, just as surely as Jesus changing water to wine or healing the lepers was a sign to the world that he was Messiah. Jesus "went around doing good works" per his closest companion (Acts 10:38) not to curry approval, but to show that he was already approved. The Father had done it, and Jesus manifested this.

Likewise, the selling of things in Acts 4 and 5 were not attempts to gain favor and providence, but as signs of faith. "God will take care of you", per Jesus (Matt 6:33). The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was to fake the sign. They pretended to believe, but secretly doubted. Keeping half was not a sin - Zacchaeus kept half, also (Luke 19:8). But they were faking their degree of participation in God's economy, and got exposed.

[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by aron

Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That is a commonly cited verse. But it also says, If you believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead you shall be saved. So, to believe, to confess, and to call are placed in the same context. If I confess Jesus as Lord, this means that I believe that God raised him from the dead, that he is Saviour of the world, that my sins are forgiven, and that I am one who calls upon the name of the Lord, and that I am saved. All of these are used interchangeably. And nowhere does Paul define any of this as God's economy.

When it comes to "Pray-Reading", rather than taking a biblical term and twisting and contorting until it was beyond recognition (like Lee did with "Calling on the Lord") in this instance he made up his own term out of whole cloth. And this would not have been so bad, or so dangerous and harmful, if it was not established as part of some "God-ordained" set of beliefs and practices, neatly proclaimed as "God's Economy".

Over the years I was in the Local Church, I invited many of my friends and family to a meeting. Most were practicing Christians. And almost without exception, they were confused at best, and many were deeply disturbed at the practices of Calling on the Lord and Pray-Reading. Some were so bothered they walked out of the meeting as soon as the monotonous chanting and staccato/repetitive type of Scripture reciting started. And it seemed to me that the more aged and mature Christian they were, the more they were bothered and disturbed. If God really did have an economy, I don't think that the teachings and practices of a group that claims to have invented/discovered/recovered such a thing, would be so offsetting, alarming and disturbing to other Christians.
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[aron]

Originally Posted by UntoHim

.... If God really did have an economy, I don't think that the teachings and practices of a group that claims to have .. recovered such a thing, would be so offsetting, alarming and disturbing to other Christians.
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The novelty & shock value drew in the young ones & alarmed the more cautious ones. "Don't lay hands quickly on any new believer" is a good warning, and it speaks to what happened to many of us, myself included.

And yes, I'd argue that God does have an economy. Jesus also used the word that translated as "stewardship" and Paul told Timothy that right teachings would result in it.

But what is the practice of God's economy? Certainly not calling, which I've shown is the equivalent of: repent and believe; confess Jesus as Lord; be baptized; be saved; etc. It is what WL would call "the initiation of the mingling" where people are transferred from darkness to light. And yes, "It is not of works, it is all of grace".

While God's economy, which follows, can also be said to be a further demonstration of God's sovereign grace, and I believe it is, it involves more than calling. If you read Paul's epistles to the gentiles, he wanted some issue, some fruit, and not merely the fruit of yet more lips calling on the name (though that was involved as well).

[ACuriousFellow]

Originally Posted by aron

The novelty & shock value drew in the young ones & alarmed the more cautious ones. "Don't lay hands quickly on any new believer" is a good warning, and it speaks to what happened to many of us, myself included.

I can ditto this sentiment.

Originally Posted by aron

While God's economy, which follows, can also be said to be a further demonstration of God's sovereign grace, and I believe it is, it involves more than calling. If you read Paul's epistles to the gentiles, he wanted some issue, some fruit, and not merely the fruit of yet more lips calling on the name (though that was involved as well).

I was watching the video from the Unchained YouTube channel about Lee’s teachings on the mind, and realized few things. I read this comment from someone in the comments section, and it just reminded me of a lot of things in LC.

Great video I once studied Zen Buddhism and a
Chinese Taoism and in both there is the doctrine of
"wu-hsin" which stands for "no-mind". No opinions
no beliefs. If you clear your mind you will be in your
"shen" which in Chinese means spirit. So emptying
your mind opens the way to your inner self which is
your spirit which in turn is one with the Cosmic Self,
and filled with the energy of the high Spirit.
In Pure Land Buddhism we find the repetition or
invoking of the name of the Lord ( Buddha). By
emptying the mind and invoking the holy name you
will be saved both in this world and the next's. This
resembles a hindu mantra in every way.
They systematically teach to reject your personal
ideas of good and evil, right and wrong to overcome
self and a sense of self. After all there is no real self
they say, and any ideas of right and wrong come
from your deluded mind.

Witness Lee's authoritarian and autocratic approach
borrowed heavily from Chinese indigenous religions
to create a. CCP type cult. Not even Chinese
religions use those teachings for group control but
several new Chinese and Korean cults have
borrowed from these ancient teachings found in
Buddhism and Taoism to build huge mass brain
washing cults that use the practice to enforce mass
conforming, mass formation brainless and blind
followers with totally suppressed and oppressed
individualities in order to become accepting
puppets of the regime or cult through fear of social
rejection and condemnation. See what happened in
China in 2020-22 to see how total control works
once the individual self is reduced to zero.
The Asian peoples come from highly authotitarian
societies and I would always be weary of any
"Christian" burch from the Far East as they all tend
to replicate their authoritarianism based on
Confucianism and now Communism. This is partly
why the Chinese have fallen easily into total
conformity to the most outrageous tyranny for over
half a century now.

The Local church is a typical Chinese new religion
that bears all the imprints ot the highly robot like
society it comes from. Asians have historically never
developed a sense of an independent self as
distinct from the herd like mentality that still
dominates them. That is what makes any religious
or political idea from the Far East VERY dangerous
to us westerners. See the Moonies for instance.
Social control by a small group of psychopaths is all
these cults and political regimes aim to do.
The Local Church fits perfectly in this category.
I was a local church activist and started local
churches in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil between
1977 to 1981. Then I was red pilled and left for good
along with hundreds of others in Brazil never to
come back. Fortunately I was only 24 years old in
1981 and I could restart my life anew with little
psychological damage.

Best to you and keep up the good work of exposing
this oppresive cult.