Publication Work in The Lord's Recovery aka The One Publication

[Evangelical]

They are not that well written either. For example, the publications are not well written, nor are they written well. Repeat the same things they tend to do. So as to repeat the things they tend to do the same. However, in my experience, many Christians cannot read well, so repeating things the same is not a problem, however we should practice more.

[Freedom]

It seems to me that the LSM made two major mistakes with regards to its publication business. Firstly, they limited their publications to Nee and Lee. By doing so, they have limited the scope of what can be published and since WL has been gone 20 years, there is nothing new to put out. Their product is limited by the aggregate of 2 past ministries, and all they can do now is find new ways to sell an old product. They have have assumed that there will be a perpetual demand for such publications, when it is likely that demand peaked long ago.

The other mistake is that the market for LSM publications has already been saturated with existing LSM publications. Take any longtime member and they have likely purchased a good number of LSM publications and a Life-Study set. Thus, it is unlikely that they want to repurchase the newer publications, even if it is the latest CWWL or whatever.

It was also my observation that the younger/newer members did not see the necessity to purchase LSM publications except on an as-needed basis. So the all the publications that LSM might have expected to sell in more recent times have likely gone largely unsold. I think the practice of buying every single book that came out was largely a thing of the past.

[Koinonia]

Originally Posted by Freedom

It was also my observation that the younger/newer members did not see the necessity to purchase LSM publications except on an as-needed basis. So the all the publications that LSM might have expected to sell in more recent times have likely gone largely unsold. I think the practice of buying every single book that came out was largely a thing of the past.

This is very true. A lot of younger members now mostly use ministrybooks.org or certain officially released "epublications." However, many also use unofficially released (free) "epublications," which has become a major issue with LC coworkers. I have personally heard certain of them severely excoriate groups of FTTA trainees for using these.

[Ohio]

I tried to listen to Bill Lawson, I really did, but became exhausted after 15 minutes. So sad, so stale, been thru this for years. "HWFMR ... morning after morning ... but it's just like licking bar-b-que sauce off the chicken."

Really? Hold on folks! Wasn't that steady diet of HWFMR, excerpts from the most recent training, supposed to "constitute the reader with the divine riches for the building up of the body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem?"

Apparently it didn't work. So, buy some more books! Look, we're running a special. Collected Works. Order now and save 45%.

Their market is definitely drying up. Go to a campus meeting -- no one even carries a Bible any more. Got a smart phone or a tablet? That's all you need.

I'm starting to think that LSM quarantined the GLA and Brazil simply because their regional sales projections were falling off. Regardless of what you may have been told, the LC's exist only to support LSM -- attend their trainings, send your kids to FTTA, and buy their books.

My long-time observation is that the anointing on those messages is drying up. I read messages 40 years ago, and they were indeed anointed with holy oil. Not so today. Those same messages are dry and tasteless. It's not a joke.

[Evangelical]

Messages are not anointed. People are. If we use our spirit to pray and contact the Lord any boring message becomes full of life.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Evangelical

Messages are not anointed. People are. If we use our spirit to pray and contact the Lord any boring message becomes full of life.

Don't people give messages?

And if any boring message can become full of life, then all of us would have remained in the dreaded denominations.

You are definitely conflicted in your assessments.

[least]

"HWFMR ... morning after morning ... but it's just like licking bar-b-que sauce off the chicken."
Really? Hold on folks! Wasn't that steady diet of HWFMR, excerpts from the most recent training, supposed to "constitute the reader with the divine riches for the building up of the body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem?"


Not kidding!!!! Buy buy buy, listen ... multiple sets of tens of thousands of pages for yuor consumption. Another 20 years of HWFMR + HWFAR ... it'll be like licking bar-b-sauce + chicken skin. Then need mooooore boooooks, tens of thousands of pages + hundreds of thousands of pages and another 20years later of HWFMR+HWFAR+HWFNR .... THEN will be like licking bar-b-que sauce + chicken skin + a slice of chicken meat ...

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by Ohio

Look, we're running a special. Collected Works. Order now and save 45%.

If you really want to save some money wait for a year. When the Local Church book rooms clean out their closets with yard sales you can probably get this for 95% off.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

If you really want to save some money wait for a year. When the Local Church book rooms clean out their closets with yard sales you can probably get this for 95% off.

Hang out with a few older malcontents ... You might even get free delivery!

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by Ohio

I tried to listen to Bill Lawson, I really did, but became exhausted after 15 minutes. So sad, so stale, been thru this for years. "HWFMR ... morning after morning ... but it's just like licking bar-b-que sauce off the chicken."

Really? Hold on folks! Wasn't that steady diet of HWFMR, excerpts from the most recent training, supposed to "constitute the reader with the divine riches for the building up of the body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem?"

The LC is full of gimmicky promotions, but this one tops most others. What strikes me is how evident the current state of the LC is, yet members believe they are in the best place on earth. If the LC continues down its current path, it won't be long before LC members really begin to pick up on it. When a group bases itself upon enthusiasm for a certain ministry, and that enthusiasm is simmering down, it's only a matter of time before the inevitable happens. Perhaps the inevitable has already began to occur. Certainly, the enthusiasm for what Lee taught peaked long ago.

I think part of the reason LSM books sold well in the past is because people who were there in the heyday of the LC wanted to be immersed in what Lee was teaching. Therefore, buying all the books being put out, reading all the Life-Studies was more desirable during that time. I was around brothers who were always encouraging us to read the ministry, read the Life-Studies, yet despite that push, we never really were much enthusiastic to read more than what we had to. There was simply not much interest in reading LSM publications beyond what HWFMR the church was going over.

The LC has been in the U.S. for over 50 years. That has been plenty of time for any benefits of reading ministry books to have become apparent. But when members do what they're encouraged to do, and nothing comes of it, discouragement sets in. The next time they're encouraged to do the same thing, they know better, so they passively resist doing it. That is basically the root of the problem that the LC is facing. They cannot come up with any new idea to make things work better. They just keep rehashing the same ideas that have failed time and time again.

[Koinonia]

Originally Posted by Freedom

The LC is full of gimmicky promotions, but this one tops most others. What strikes me is how evident the current state of the LC is, yet members believe they are in the best place on earth. If the LC continues down its current path, it won't be long before LC members really begin to pick up on it. When a group bases itself upon enthusiasm for a certain ministry, and that enthusiasm is simmering down, it's only a matter of time before the inevitable happens. Perhaps the inevitable has already began to occur. Certainly, the enthusiasm for what Lee taught peaked long ago.

I think part of the reason LSM books sold well in the past is because people who were there in the heyday of the LC wanted to be immersed in what Lee was teaching. Therefore, buying all the books being put out, reading all the Life-Studies was more desirable during that time. I was around brothers who were always encouraging us to read the ministry, read the Life-Studies, yet despite that push, we never really were much enthusiastic to read more than what we had to. There was simply not much interest in reading LSM publications beyond what HWFMR the church was going over.

The LC has been in the U.S. for over 50 years. That has been plenty of time for any benefits of reading ministry books to have become apparent. But when members do what they're encouraged to do, and nothing comes of it, discouragement sets in. The next time they're encouraged to do the same thing, they know better, so they passively resist doing it. That is basically the root of the problem that the LC is facing. They cannot come up with any new idea to make things work better. They just keep rehashing the same ideas that have failed time and time again.

This is very insightful. When you look at various LC initiatives (and they are always coming), they are usually about trying to drum up interest in Witness Lee's books. Radio program, seminars, giving away books, selling books, translating books, etc., etc., etc. When interest wanes, there is not a lot left.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Freedom

I think part of the reason LSM books sold well in the past is because people who were there in the heyday of the LC wanted to be immersed in what Lee was teaching. Therefore, buying all the books being put out, reading all the Life-Studies was more desirable during that time.

Early books by Lee closely covered the scriptures, either sequentially or topically. As I entered the scene in 1976, we would receive a few messages a week on "standing order." At the time, the church in Cleveland was going thru Genesis. I found the messages very "edible," and easily carried in my pocket, so I could read them at work. Then they did away with "loose" messages, which made them less accessible.

Initially the messages met a real need in the saints. It was apparent that the ministry of WL attempted to "serve us." Then, those on standing order began to receive books at an overwhelming rate. Only the fastest readers could keep up. I went back to college and had little time for superfluous reading. Unread materials started gathering dust on my shelves. Then the same materials were re-released as "rainbow" booklets, then in soft-bound books, and eventually hard-bound in green volumes. Soon most of us only stayed with the standing order as a donation, and by the '90's most of us dropped out of the standing order.

LSM over time moved from Life-Studies to New Way Instructions to Crystallization Studies to "High Peak" to Blendeds Re-speaking, with each progression distancing the written page from the Word of God. Some where along that windy path I lost my appetite for all things LSM. In '07 my basement flooded wiping out boxes of un-shelved books, then a few years ago I gave away all the blue and green bound volumes. I never missed them.

Some of the brothers who were with WL from the early days have written how they had definitely noticed the anointing on his ministry wane over time. The decline definitely corresponded with unrepentant unrighteousness in the ministry. So it's no wonder that the long-time survivors would speak of those old glory days at Elden Hall. For most of us, the truth behind the "storms" of rebellion was kept secret, so we became laden with guilt that our lack of appetite for ministry books was our own fault. Actually it had nothing to do with us. The books now are mostly tasteless doctrines.

[HERn]

Another thing I perceived during Bill Lawson's pitch were tepid "amens". They were polite but noone seemed FTT enthusiastic. What Freedom posted about enthusiasm waning seems spot on.

[Evangelical]

Originally Posted by HERn

Another thing I perceived during Bill Lawson's pitch were tepid "amens". They were polite but noone seemed FTT enthusiastic. What Freedom posted about enthusiasm waning seems spot on.

You mean he was not using his spirit.