God-men or Con-men in the Lord's Recovery

[Indiana]

Originally Posted by Freedom

I have read Lin's book and I can say from reading it, he knew very well that his intended audience might include people such as those on this forum. He mentions questionable periods in LC history that many members would know nothing about, yet he doesn't fully address these things. He mentions it as if these things have long since come and gone and were resolved long ago. It's a ploy to get people to let their guard down who might otherwise be suspicious of things.

The problem with running a con for so long is that after more and more have been scammed, there will be more and more vocal detractors. If leaders truly believe that they are not con-men, then now is the time for them to come forward and address long overdue concerns. Sweeping things under the rug will only make matters worse.

God-man Living

Philip, you said that with the Lord Jesus, “His living and His working had no distinction” and that it was the same with the apostle Paul, “his living was his teaching; his teaching was his living” and, “with Brother Lee we can testify that his living was the best interpretation of what he taught. What he lived out and worked out was the very essence of the message he constantly delivered to the churches in the recovery”, (taken from his eulogy) You live Christ out sometimes, Philip; I live Christ out sometimes; brother Lee lived Christ sometimes. If we speak just of the sometimes, we all would be considered God-men in our living. But you added “He often said that he had been repenting for not being faithful and living Christ in his daily life.” Sometimes he lived Christ, many times he did not, like others. He also made mistakes as he at rare times admitted.

"Although I have always intended to do the right thing, I have nevertheless made many mistakes, even some big mistakes. I certainly hate these mistakes..."
(Eph. Life Study p. 273, W. L.)

Also at the onset of the new way, he shared that only the Lord Jesus was mistake-free and that “all of us” have made mistakes.

Witness Lee: "My point is this—do not think that any leader could not make a mistake. Only the Lord Jesus, the unique Leader, never made any mistake. It is absolutely impossible for Him to be mistaken. However, all of us, including Peter, have made many mistakes." (One Accord for the Lord’s Move, E. T., Book 7, p. 113)

"All responsible brothers in all localities need to learn. The eyes of the brothers and sisters all need to be opened. Too many things we need to learn.

I admit that in the past we have all made mistakes, including myself. For this I repented before the Lord in tears.

You must bring this message back, read it once, read it twice, and come together to fellowship with one another. Then you will see that, we, in the past, were wrong! To understand and analyze this needs a fair bit of effort.

We have to receive people according to the Son of God, not deviating from the path.”
(W.Lee Final message Chinese New Year Conference, Anaheim, February 1997)

***

Philip Lin’s book was designed to spruce up the image of Witness Lee and son Philip to impress especially the young people that this tandem leadership on display from 1974 to 1989 was completely beyond reproach. The Witness Lee that Philip Lin did not talk about was a controversial figure. It was quite serious with him, and the saints should know who this Witness Lee was and learn from his history also, which had cost the church dearly.

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by Indiana

"Although I have always intended to do the right thing, I have nevertheless made many mistakes, even some big mistakes. I certainly hate these mistakes..."
(Eph. Life Study p. 273, W. L.)

Also at the onset of the new way, he shared that only the Lord Jesus was mistake-free and that “all of us” have made mistakes.

Witness Lee: "My point is this—do not think that any leader could not make a mistake. Only the Lord Jesus, the unique Leader, never made any mistake. It is absolutely impossible for Him to be mistaken. However, all of us, including Peter, have made many mistakes." (One Accord for the Lord’s Move, E. T., Book 7, p. 113)

In a normal church setting, I think that most people understand that leaders can and will make mistakes. More often than not, that has already been accounted for. In the LC, however, the mistakes being made were horrendous and monumental, enough so that I think that members had already exhausted the amount of leniency they were willing to give to WL.

It's probably fair to say that many leaders were more lenient towards Lee than they should have been. For example, those who were kicked out in the 80's didn't really make a fuss about Daystar, even though they probably could have raised concerns at that point in time. Thus, WL's ministry was already living on borrowed time, and it's appalling to see that he would admit to making mistakes only in a vague way.

WL was given the benefit of the doubt much more than he ever deserved. He never was grateful about that, he just turned right around and took advantage of it.