Can you dismiss WL's ministry because of his sins?

[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by UntoHim

Witness Lee is now dead. He will face the Lord on that day just as all believers will. He will answer for all his words and actions just as all believers will. He will receive his just rewards from the Lord just as all believers will. Nothing that we say here on this public forum is going to change this, nothing that we say is going to add or detract when he stands before the Lord on that day. However………..

Witness Lee, in his wake, has left a sizable group of churches which still refer to themselves as “The Lord’s Recovery”. The leadership of this group still, to this very day, refers to Witness Lee as the one apostle with the one ministry for the age. They still, to this very day, ascribe to him the things I described above, and even worse.

The Local Church is actively and aggressively seeking new membership in their movement. I believe that people need to know about the real Witness Lee and the real history of the Local Church movement. Current and former members deserve to know. Family members of current and former members deserve to know. People, especially young people and new Christians who are being courted by current members, deserve to know. The Christian public in general deserves to know.

To say that Witness Lee was not perfect is a smokescreen. Whether it is said to be a smokescreen on purpose or not is irrelevant to the fact that the statement itself veils the realities that we are faced with in the here and now.

Even the most diehard Local Churcher will readily proclaim that Witness Lee was not perfect. So? So he was not perfect. Next question. Who did he proclaim himself to be? Next question. Who do his followers proclaim that he was? How does what Lee said about himself match up with reality? How does what his followers proclaim about him match up with reality? This will get us to the heart of the matter, and this is what needs to be addressed. When faced with the unmentionable, deplorable actions of his son don't you all remember what Witness Lee said... "nobody is perfect!".

The title of the thread is not "Can you dismiss WL's ministry because he was not perfect". No sir.

Another poster made a comment that Witness Lee may have disqualified himself because he was "not clean". Of course what we get from a diehard Lee defender was "oh my God I can't believe they are now saying that Witness Lee was not saved!"

Thankful Jane can speak for herself, but the CLEAR connotation was that Witness Lee was living in an unrepentant state - As far as can be perceived from the outside this was absolutely true. The man was constantly trampling on those within and without the movement. He was caught misappropriating donated church funds on many occasions. He basically masterminded a substantial money-laundering scheme to defraud the government. He used the solicited donations of church members (some life savings) in a bungled business adventure in which everybody lost except himself and his sons.

All this, without one single apology. No apology. No repentance. Yes, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"(1 John 1:9) Notice the parts in bold. IF. CONFESS. SINS. IS FAITHFUL. TO CLEANSE. ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. To become clean from unrighteousness there is an IF. I don't see when and where Witness Lee completed the process.

Does this mean his entire ministry, the entire body of work, should be dismissed? No, probably not. But neither should he or his followers get a free pass to present Witness Lee as something he was not. Neither should they get a free pass to present his ministry as something that it was not.