"Early Nee" vs. "Later Nee"

[kisstheson]

Amen, dear ones. The recent posts on this thread contain some excellent discussion and cover a very important point.

The reality of our oneness with all believers and the need to be open to receive all genuine believers are key points in the NT. These things, of course, have their practical application first and foremost in the place where we live. The NT record should serve to remind us that God’s testimony on this earth requires an actual expression of oneness amongst God’s people.

It does appear that the situation faced by “early Nee” in China is very different from that which exists today in many parts of the world. The vast majority of China in the early 1900’s was still largely pagan, and those whom the missionaries had gained for Christ became members of Western denominations. As such, “early Nee” was certainly being sensitive to the Spirit and to the Bible when he began to raise up churches “outside all known divisions and centered on Christ alone” (TAS’s words). Interestingly enough, in 1941 Bakht Singh was led by the Spirit and the Word to labor in a similar way in India and Pakistan.

To me, a big “fly in the ointment” came into Nee and Lee’s work when the Exclusive Brethren concept of “taking the ground” was introduced. At that point, a genuine move of the Spirit - which had been so sensitive to the Spirit and so willing to check everything against the Bible - became a movement of men. All those who supposedly “saw the oneness of the Body” and “stood on the ground of oneness” became, in their own eyes, superior to all others. Their own spiritual condition before the Lord did not matter nearly as much as their being faithful to “stand on the ground ‘til Jesus comes”. All others were “divisive” and it was OK to hurl all manner of hateful invectives against Christians who did not meet "on the proper ground”.

The situation today is so different from that which faced “early Nee”. Today, so many Christians assemble outside of the traditional denominations. Home churches, community churches, “free groups”, cell groups, etc. are all flourishing. The best of these are absolutely open to receive, and to fellowship with, all genuine believers in Christ. Today, so many rich ministers of Christ minister outside of any organized denomination. Stephen Kaung and his co-workers, the GLA brothers, and the many who minister to home churches are but three examples.

The unwillingness of the Local Church to embrace these other moves of the Spirit which exist outside of all known divisions, together with their insistence upon LSM publications via their “One Publication” edict, are two symptoms pointing to the sad fact that the Local Church has itself become yet another division in the Body of Christ. Two of the hallmarks of “early Nee” - sensitivity to the Spirit and willingness to check everything against the Bible - are sadly lacking.