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

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by OnHisPath

This is exactly what I remember. There was no room left for other teachers, ministries, etc. It was put forth very clearly that the LC was the complete and final package and the sole move of God on the earth.

Earlier you mentioned Nee's 'advice' on how to discipline children using a form of corporal punishment. These kinds of teachings are the perfect example of why these ministries are not any kind of "final package" to be followed 'absolutely'. Unless LC members are willing to follow Nee's advice and risk getting arrested for child abuse, then it seems they are not really as 'absolute' for the ministry as they claim to be. This highlights a lot of the irony involved in the exclusive use of LSM materials. These kinds of things are still published by LSM and then read among LC members, and while certain things they (hopefully) know not to take seriously, they read these things anyways as if there is some value in reading them. I suspect that the only reason anyone pays any attention to such nonsense like this is because such things came directly from the mouth of the perceived Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age.

Under normal circumstances, if LC members read something by Nee or Lee that they disagreed with, they should have every right to vocalize that disagreement. Instead, they are forced to read things that everyone knows won't be taken seriously, yet they have to keep the disagreement to themselves, and simply 'ignore' things that bother them. Valuable time is wasted reading things of little value. And I'm not saying that Nee or Lee's ministry have no value at all, but because an exclusive use of their ministries has been mandated, the things of little value are mixed in with the things that do have the potential to be helpful, thereby resulting in an ultimate watering down of any potential benefit of these ministries.

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by Freedom

Under normal circumstances, if LC members read something by Nee or Lee that they disagreed with, they should have every right to vocalize that disagreement. Instead, they are forced to read things that everyone knows won't be taken seriously, yet they have to keep the disagreement to themselves, and simply 'ignore' things that bother them. Valuable time is wasted reading things of little value. And I'm not saying that Nee or Lee's ministry have no value at all, but because an exclusive use of their ministries has been mandated, the things of little value are mixed in with the things that do have the potential to be helpful, thereby resulting in an ultimate watering down of any potential benefit of these ministries.

I remember attending a home meeting where we read a Nee excerpt in which he went on a rant about casinos/gambling. Obviously, among LC members or Christians in general, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would be interested in gambling or patronizing casinos. Therefore, the inevitable question arises, what is the value of reading ministry on that specific topic like that? Towards the end of that meeting, I felt a bit frustrated when trying to think of what I could possibly share as my ‘enjoyment’ from that reading.

In a situation like what I have described, I don’t fault Nee for having ministered on a topic of questionable relevance, rather I fault whoever haphazardly selected the reading material. Unlike Nee’s opinions on discipline children, I don’t find anything objectionable about speaking against casinos or gambling, however, the question in a case like this is how relevant or necessary the topic is. We mustn’t forget that the LC criticizes ministries that focus on subjects like marriage that are indeed relevant to people, however, whenever Nee or Lee went off on some tangent about something hardly relevant to anyone, LC members are expected to just read it without objection or complaint.

I attended enough LC home meetings to know that the part of the meeting where everyone’s attention started to become a bit strained is when it was time to read whatever the assigned material was. I think part of the reason for that was simply that everyone knew that there was little likelihood the reading material would meet any practical need. Again, the inability to identify with the subject of the ministry material at hand doesn’t necessary fault the ministry itself, but how it is being utilized. The LC likes to do everything in a cookie-cutter fashion. It is assumed that anything Nee or Lee taught is relevant to any situation at any point in time.

As far as I’m concerned, the root of the problem is related to how LC leaders have attempted to utilize and promote the ministries of Nee and Lee. I’m not aware of anyone on this forum who has claimed that Nee and Lee didn’t any positive aspects to their ministries. But the pressing question is why, despite the seemingly positive aspects of either or both ministries, that both ministries remain largely irrelevant and suspect to the general Christian public? I would say that by strongly and haphazardly promoting anything related to these ministries, LC leaders have successfully caused many people to see the questionable or irrelevant aspects of either ministry instead of anything potentially beneficial. At the present, it seems LC members are also beginning to experience the same kind of disconnect with these ministries.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Freedom

I remember attending a home meeting where we read a Nee excerpt in which he went on a rant about casinos/gambling. Obviously, among LC members or Christians in general, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would be interested in gambling or patronizing casinos. Therefore, the inevitable question arises, what is the value of reading ministry on that specific topic like that? Towards the end of that meeting, I felt a bit frustrated when trying to think of what I could possibly share as my ‘enjoyment’ from that reading.

IIRC, that message was part of a series of books, "Do All to the Glory of God," in a section on recreation and playing games. Nee felt we should never play games of chance, a very extreme view, and only play games of skill. He did not differentiate between casino gambling and home games, nor did he differentiate between playing for fun and playing for money. I remember thinking, "chess good, monopoly bad."

How could a family game using chance, i.e. the rolling of dice, be bad for Christians? Playing games is a great family activity, especially for Christians. It's real hard for old and young to play games like Scrabble together, and rolling dice becomes a great equalizer. Nee didn't think so.

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by Ohio

IIRC, that message was part of a series of books, "Do All to the Glory of God," in a section on recreation and playing games. Nee felt we should never play games of chance, a very extreme view, and only play games of skill. He did not differentiate between casino gambling and home games, nor did he differentiate between playing for fun and playing for money. I remember thinking, "chess good, monopoly bad."

How could a family game using chance, i.e. the rolling of dice, be bad for Christians? Playing games is a great family activity, especially for Christians. It's real hard for old and young to play games like Scrabble together, and rolling dice becomes a great equalizer. Nee didn't think so.

It is also completely impractical. All business decisions are a game of chance. All career decisions are a game of chance. Is a game of cards gambling or skill? Obviously gambling when you are looking at those who are addicts and have blown their life savings. Obviously skill when you are talking about Warren Buffet playing bridge.

Every year I have to decide what the best use of my time is for my students to get the maximum benefit, if I make a mistake I will find out at the end of the year. Therefore I use a lot of statistical analysis, almost on a daily basis, to determine what the best use of my time is. It is a gamble. Like all gambling, knowledge is power, the better your information, the better your decisions. Figuring this out is not that different from the process a Bridge player goes through in order to bid.

This was one of those things that WN taught that I quietly decided to discard while still in the LRC. Gambling can be an addiction, like alcohol, so it is better when you are talking to a church of thousands to be concerned with those who are former addicts. But, it is also something that is necessary and useful, so what you do privately, let each be persuaded in his own conscience.

[Freedom]

I came across a Facebook post and apparently LSM made a big deal about purchasing and reading their publications during their winter training. Here is their latest gimmick:
The following are display/library sets offered as packages by the Living Stream Ministry with the purpose of providing churches or individuals with a set of Living Stream publications for physical display and sale of ministry material or to serve as a library for loaning out to individuals. For ordering, please contact us directly.
https://www.livingstream.com/en/49-d...brary-packages

The 'comprehensive' package is only $4524 . It's sad to think that all the LC members who sacrifice their hard earned dollars and vacation time go all the way to Anaheim only to be subjected to LSM's latest sales pitch. They don't even realize what is happening either. If LSM makes a point encouraging people to read and buy their books, LC members think it's for good reason, without questioning it. The vast majority of LSM's publications are readily available to read online for free, so if people really wanted to read them that bad, they would. It's really that simple.

Apparently LSM thinks an increased physical presence of their books in meeting halls and homes is going to result in more sales. They couldn't be more wrong. If nothing else, they better pick more exciting cover art for their books.

[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Freedom

Apparently LSM thinks an increased physical presence of their books in meeting halls and homes is going to result in more sales. They couldn't be more wrong. If nothing else, they better pick more exciting cover art for their books.

Does THIS look like $4,524.58 worth of "riches" to you?
But wait...there's more....does it include those compressed wood bookcases?
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[Koinonia]

I also saw these posts on Facebook showing a giant video screen advertising these ridiculous library sets as well as other books and book packages.

This has to bother some people.

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by UntoHim

Does THIS look like $4,524.58 worth of "riches" to you?
But wait...there's more....does it include those compressed wood bookcases?
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I know there are ones who look at the publication purchases as "service". From what I've seen in homes, you'll find bookcases of LSM publications in the living room and in a side room where a home office is, you'll find a bookcase of help books of family and marriage. It implies to me the LSM publications is for image while help book is where the real needs are.