I came across this 1979 letter [redacted]. It's a helpful contemporary narrative from someone who initially supported "the ministry" and then repented and was cast out.
He says, "Quite a few things I said in spite of a protest in my conscience...Some of the things I said were misrepresentations of the truth. And some things were just plain untruths...I have put all these things into your ears; now all I can do is recant and apologize."
I think many of us can relate and empathize, or at least applaud his courage for recanting and apologizing. 
It's also tragic as we review the questions and concerns that he asked that got him cast out - BECAUSE THEY ARE THE SAME WE ARE ASKING 40 YEARS LATER!!!
"What do you mean when you say, “There is no church without the ministry.”
"Bro. Lee’s message pamphlets are treated as ‘spirit and life’ while the works of other Christian writers are just knowledge and subject to error."
"I believe that our emphasis on the one-man-ministry of Witness Lee has caused us, over the last few years, to retrograde from our original stand as the church in each locality, gathered into the name of the Lord, to a standing as the church in each locality of the ministry of Bro. Witness Lee.
***
for my purposes of understanding my parents and their experience in Boston he writes, "The only church which I ever saw or heard of as being different was Boston, but that has changed."
So maybe there was once something special there? Once, a long long long time ago...
"I’m afraid our center has become Bro. Lee and our sphere his ministry. I think this is the reason some Christians have charged us with being a cult"
- You think?? 
"The Living Stream Ministry Inc. is in every meeting. We have a Wednesday Ministry-training meeting as well as the Friday video Ministry meeting. We even pray over the current themes of the Ministry in our prayer meetings. Sunday morning we have a Ministry as the gospel meeting. And Sunday night is the meeting in which most of the, “Praise the Lord for this Ministry,” testimonies occur. The Ministry pamphlets and practically all that we will read Bro. Lee’s Ministry also appears to be our entire source of fellowship. Outsiders have trouble entering into our very ungeneral fellowship, because we have a jargon all our own, sprinkled with Bro Lee’s unusual and sometimes awkward English expressions."
Ahhhh! You mean this was already around 40 years ago??? What are we doing????
"I believe that in centering around the ministry of Bro. Witness Lee we have actually infringed upon the right of the Lord Jesus to be the head of the church."
Yikes. That's not ok.
And then back into the history, where he speaks of an "exposing test":
"I became aware of this when the exposing test came to Boston and then to us. According to the leading ones there and here, the case is simple: Max is a divisive person who must be excommunicated; Sal refused to do this, which constituted him as a divisive person."
So Sal was at fault for refusing to excommunicate Max? Why Sal? B/c they figured they had him b/c his name was on the $100k loans that had something to do with propping up Lee and Phosphorus during the Daystar debacle?
"The difference here [in Washington DC] was that the saints who signed a so-called ‘divisive letter’, to Bro. Lee weren’t to be excommunicated – only interrogated before being allowed to attend any meetings...The excommunications are still going on in Boston and its vicinity."
People, are we talking about the Salem Witch Trials here? This is scary!!! And I wonder if my parents were asked to renounce Sal, and if they were interrogated...
"I told Elton and Bob there were two churches, Wellesley and Framingham, meeting in the Lord’s name, receiving all believers, which refused to cut off Sal Benoit. Were they still to be considered churches? They said no."
"I am not interpreting anything. I also saw his tax statement. Bro. Lee is making approximately a million dollars every year from the Living Stream Ministry Inc. He also has other income not filed with the IRS."
"Yet although we pay a fee to register for each training, (an amount paid for a service rendered), the money is listed as donations before the IRS. The money is then funneled into a company called Overseas Christian Steward, which is not
registered in any country. O.C.S. owns the Phosphorous factory in Taiwan, which currently manufacturing tennis rackets fro retail in the U.S.A."
"I believe these practices are dishonest, and they should be illegal. Presently Bro. Lee is under full investigation by the IRS. They estimate it will take them about 1 year. Perhaps I am wrong, perhaps this funneling of tax exempt money into business investment is lawful."
I guess nothing came of that? 
Apologies if this letter is linked elsewhere and I have missed it. I have honestly done my best to read this entire discussion board from end-to-end, as it pertains to Local Church history.
http://www.blendedbody.com/WitnessLe...ChurchInDC.pdf
08-27-2019, 05:57 AM
Re: Late 1970s Boston "storm"
Hybrid Mode
