Guru Papers

[Freedom]

"All who have saving faith in the Lord Jesus are welcome to all our meetings, especially the Lord’s table, where we testify of the oneness of the Body of Christ. Although we must, for conscience' sake, stand apart from organized religion, we do not stand apart from our brothers and sisters in Christ. In faithfulness to the Lord, we stand on the unique ground of the church for the sake of the Lord’s testimony. But we do not take this stand with a narrow, exclusive, or sectarian spirit. On the contrary, we take our stand on behalf of the whole Body; we receive all believers even as the Lord has received us."

The environment of the local churches is what I would call a simulated reality. More specifically, rhetoric is what defines reality. What is spoken by leaders is what is believed to be true, no matter how far removed from reality it is. And the issue is not simply that LCers are living in their own world. The real issue is that the beliefs and ideology that LC members think that they are subscribing to are not what is actually practiced. For whatever reasons, LC members can't admit it. I do think that some members are aware of the discrepancy, however, there is the inability to discuss the true reality of the LC environment.

It's ironic that the Beliefs and Practices booklet was ever published. The audience was outsiders, and the reason that outsiders had become concerned about the LC is that they likely saw what was being practiced. So practice is what defined the LC in they eyes of the public. Beliefs were only known to members or those on the outside who had taken the time to assess Lee's teachings. In other words the false narrative presented was really only fooling members, and if it truly fooled them, that is highly concerning and disturbing.

[Betsy]

Originally Posted by Freedom

For whatever reasons, LC members can't admit it.

I've wondered about this too. From what I've been told, they overlook everything because reading/listening to WL gets them in their spirit. It has "life" unlike other ministries. I haven't experienced that. Often in meetings, I can see that they are in some kind of altered state.
The only thing I have to relate to this was as a college student I often went with a large group of people to a nightclub, where the main form of entertainment was a hypnotist on stage. With just a few words and usually within 30 seconds he could perform mass hypnosis. I could never be hypnotized but I could see so many that were, and they were instantly out of character and would do any silly thing by command, things they would never have dreamed of doing otherwise.
This is why I'm dubious when the instructions are to repeat phrases a few times, or many times, along with all the rhythmic "amen"s. Say "Oh Lord Jesus" out loud and for as long as it takes to "get in your spirit"! Is that according to Biblical instruction?

Matthew 6:7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 9 “Pray, then, in this way:

‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name............"