Evil Books

[Indiana]

WITNESS LEE: "I said that being in the army is different from being a citizen. Not everyone in a country is in the army. Gideon eventually only had 300 who became his army (Judg. 7:7). I went to Taipei in 1984 because I was burdened for an army to be raised up who would practice the God-ordained way, but I did not have the intention or the expectation for all the saints in the recovery to be the same". (p. 11, The Problems Causing the Turmoils)

Ironically, WL's book called The Problems Causing the Turmoils in the Church Life did not talk about the real problems causing turmoil, and thus missed the mark. The problems causing the turmoils essentially came from the plan and the execution to make all the churches and the saints the same.


In the Wake of the New Way excerpt (2000, written 11 years ago)

Genuine Oneness Not Pursued
"Although brother Lee called for the respect to be given those saints or churches not taking the new way, I do not know where that was done, how that was done, or if it was done. The atmosphere that was created was not conducive for a genuine acceptance of non-cooperating churches and members and I don't know how such acceptance could have been possible. For instance, in a meeting in Taipei I attended in October 1987, brother Lee ended his message abruptly, pounding his fist on the table once, and pronouncing emphatically that anyone who didn’t take the new way was foolish, and then he sat down. This was not a demonstration of acceptance.

"Another word he gave was to the elders: 'Now you know where I am and where you should be. Also, you know what all of us should do -- go to fight as an army and in the army. Who are the us? Those that are in the army fighting for this ministry.' (Eldrs Trng, Book 7, One Accord for the Lord's New Move)

"This wasn’t a word of comfort or peace to those brothers or churches not in the army. Brother Lee had a vision and he had a goal, and the atmosphere in the recovery did not allow for a comfortable divergence from his objectives.

"This was the spirit of the new way, a spirit very much of power, but not love. It was obtrusive in its pursuit for the one accord, while failing to consider, care for, or accommodate those strewn in its wake. The modus operandi of the new way violated the genuine oneness of the Body with all its precious members".

Link to In the Wake of the New Way

http://www.makingstraightthewayofthe...ftheNewWay.pdf

[OBW]

While I never actually read the book The Problems Causing the Turmoils in the Church Life I do recall a series of messages given in Irving, I think at least in part by Benson. This was within a year or so of our leaving.

At the time I was struck by the fact that the words said there were citizens and soldiers, but outside of those messages, only the soldiers were truly acknowledged as existing. Every other message somehow made it all about being a soldier or being deficient. And the atmosphere was that if you were not a soldier you weren't just a citizen, you were a second-class citizen.

Of course the "soldiering" in Irving was mostly involvement in the message preparation and printing. Not entirely like Anaheim. But I could attest that there was a marked separation of people between LSM volunteers and others just like the difference between those regularly engaged in the New Way and those not so engaged in Anaheim. I have to assume that the only thing that caused Anaheim to blow up the way it did was the added problems of a similar usurping of people for the LSM (like in Irving) and the problems with Phillip Lee that were becoming somewhat openly known there. It's a wonder that more churches did not implode in the manner that Anaheim did.

[ZNPaaneah]

Talk about implosion. I visited Irving in the 90s and was shocked by how few people were in the meeting. Their number was similar to what Odessa had been like when I left Odessa. The only difference is, if you have 140 people in a meeting hall designed to hold 2000 it really emphasizes how small it is. (If I recall correctly the meeting I was in had less than 140).

NYC did something right with their meeting hall. They have these partitions that divide the hall into 4 rooms. The biggest of these four is used for the Lord's day meeting and looks full. But during a conference they can easily double or even triple the size of the meeting hall.

[OBW]

Yeah. In the early days, they met in one of the downstairs rooms. But I don't think any of those will fit 140.

But I really don't care about the perceptions of the space unless it is discouraging the people and they just won't come because they feel so inadequate. Of course, that presumes that we should ever feel "adequate."

What I remember most about Irving was the number of people that you never saw in meetings because they were "serving" downstairs in the LSM. And I was bothered early-on how an elder in Irving — and one of the leads in the printing — could simply leave one day and we not even know it for some time. That really shows the disconnectedness of the whole thing.

[ZNPaaneah]

Are you talking about BM? I also was bothered that he left and no one said why or gave you any details. I understand you want to cover sin, but you can still give a more adequate explanation. Paul said "those that sin rebuke before all that the rest may be warned". I think something to the effect "he is dealing with sin in his life" could have served both purposes, you know why he left, you don't need to ask anymore questions, but the details are still covered.

Also, the matter of those "serving" in the LSM downstairs. Think about it, virtually any other ministry would pay people for that "service" and therefore they wouldn't need to work a second job during the day. What the LRC calls service is really just the LSM robbing the church of key members. Sometimes we think that the LSM was just a small little ministry, but since everyone had to buy books and since the LSM paid very few salaries, and since they didn't have an advertising budget, they must have had a very high profit margin. And profit is what the owners, WL and PL get.

[OBW]

I'm with you on most of this. But there is an exception to the "cover the sin" idea. I'm not looking at it now, but I believe that Paul said that we should be open about the sins of an elder. "Make and example" were effectively the words. I'm sure that this is not meant to say "broadcast it on the mountain top," but I'm also pretty sure that sweeping it under the rug was not intended.

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by OBW

I'm with you on most of this. But there is an exception to the "cover the sin" idea. I'm not looking at it now, but I believe that Paul said that we should be open about the sins of an elder. "Make and example" were effectively the words. I'm sure that this is not meant to say "broadcast it on the mountain top," but I'm also pretty sure that sweeping it under the rug was not intended.

That's the issue, did they sweep it under the rug? I have no real idea. I wasn't in Irving when he left so I felt that they may not have wanted it to spread beyond Irving.