LSM’s Deification Doctrine—Biblical or Blasphemous? Nigel Tomes

[aron]

Originally Posted by Nell

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Jesse Penn-Lewis. It seems she agrees with you to an extent and she clearly exposes the source of the problem as God's sworn enemy making a conscious effort to deceive all men. This quote describes exactly what happened with this errant teaching, and is, I believe, the real problem.

"All that is in any degree the outcome of the mind of the "natural man" (1 Cor. 2: 14) will prove to be but weapons of straw in this great battle, and if we rely upon others' "views of truth," or upon our own human conceptions of truth, Satan will use these very things to deceive us, even building us up in these theories and views, so that under cover of them he may accomplish his purposes. We cannot therefore, at this time, over-estimate the importance of believers having open minds to "examine all things" they have thought, and taught, in connection with the things of God, and the spiritual realm. All the "truths" they have held; all the phrases and expressions they have used in "holiness teachings"; and all the "teachings" they have absorbed through others. For any wrong interpretation of truth, any theories and phrases which are man-conceived, and which we may build upon wrongly, will have perilous consequences to ourselves, and to others, in the conflict which the Church, and the individual believer, is now passing through. Since in the "later times" evil spirits will come to them with deceptions in doctrinalform, believers must examine carefully what they accept as "doctrine," lest it should be from the emissaries of the deceiver." JPL - War on the Saints

Nell

Thanks for stepping up to the plate for Penn-Lewis. I admit my critique of her is second-hand. Following is a quote by Nee in a similar vein:

Originally Posted by Watchman Nee

"It is not that what I wrote was wrong, for as I read it now I can endorse it all. It was a very clear and complete setting forth of the truth. But just there lies its weakness. It is too good, and it is the illusion of perfectness about it that troubles me. The headings, the orderliness, the systematic way in which the subject is worked out, the logic of the argument---all too perfect to be spiritual. They lend themselves too easily to a merely mental apprehension. When a man has read the book he ought not to have any questions left; they ought all to be answered!

"But God, I have discovered, does not do things that way, and much less does He let us do them. We human beings are not to produce "perfect" books. The danger of such perfection is that a man can understand without the help of the Holy Spirit. But if God gives us books they will ever be broken fragments, not always clear or consistent or logical, lacking conclusions, and yet coming to us in life and ministering life to us. We cannot dissect divine facts and outline and systematize them. It is only the immature Christians who demands always to have intellectually satisfying conclusions. The Word of God itself has this fundamental character, that it speaks always and essentially to our spirit and to our life."

I often think that what I write is a necessary point. But is there any guarantee that is is 'of God'? That I'm a vector for the Holy Spirit to pour forth? Hardly. And that goes for everyone else, too - JPL and WN and WL.

That's where the flock comes in. And I think the flock has mixed reviews on the deification notion. Essentially it was sold in the LC as a hyper-ventilated rocket shot to the moon. But nearly all of WL's exegetical wares were sold thus. As I said, there was a state of constant excitement there. . . one of my friend's daughters got committed to the psych ward after the saints got done screaming at her to 'release her spirit'.

The bottom line is, while we're yet here in the flesh, we should be careful. And teachings that strain at orthodoxy should be held gingerly. Especially when they come forth from someone who was continually "stirring up" the saints of God.