An Unknown Follower Of Jesus

[Overcomer]

I hardly know where to put this, but I am hoping it will be read by those who are seeking eye witness accounts of the truth. My response to this thread may need to go somewhere else on this site. Here is my testimony of what transpired when I lived with a young family of members of "The Church in Blackpool" sometime between mid to late 1979 to January 1980. I attended meetings there. I remember that there was a sister either there or in Ipswich who was a gifted singer and guitar player. She sang, I believe from one of the books on Timothy. She loved to sing and we loved listening to her. The Living Stream Ministry was interested in the tape she made of her singing, in order to distribute it under the Living Stream label. However, she had to sign legal paperwork to sign over and release her ownership of her music to the Living Stream Ministry. She received no remuneration, but had to give up all rights to her music. I do not remember her name but can only wonder if that music is still sold by LSM. I believe her tape was available by the summer of 1980, as I worked at the book table during the training, not a table but an area in the meeting area, with a long countertop where members could buy Living Stream Publishers materials. I believe that most of the workers tasked with book sales were also volunteers, providing free labor both for the office and as book sellers.

On another matter, did not John Ingalls write many of the hymns in the hymnal originally put out by LSM? It would have been the first edition. Were not John Ingalls and others the translators of the LSM Bible, but their names were later removed after they left??

I spent the summer of 1980 living with a young couple, Sterling and Karen Byassee, attending meetings in Santa Ana, and I volunteered at the Living Stream. My own locality was greatly affected by the eruption of the Mount St. Helens volcano, so I came south back to my home state. In addition to my volunteer work at LSM, I also worked as a temporary worker for a company unconnected to the Local Churches or to LSM to support myself. I was not privy to the turmoil in the office. However, I do remember that Bev Goyer, in my brief time there, was tense. I also remember a chubby guy who wore suits but never seemed to do any work. The work I did was helping to duplicate tapes; there was a special duplicating machine for cassette tapes. I also worked packing orders for books, small orders to individuals. I remember there were unlocked metal filing cabinets in the open area adjacent to the packing area, where correspondence from around the world was kept. I remember reading a letter which I had written in a prior year to Lee telling him that I was not following any man, but I was following the Lord and if he ever deviated, I would not continue with his teachings. Ha! I was true to my word.

I don't know if anybody reads this, but I was a faithful, innocent young person saved at the age of 8 in vacation Bible school (in a mainstream denomination). I encountered the LC during 6th grade and was a member from 1971 to 1981, plus an additional two years after I left, re-entering society outside the group. I am currently reading the end of Jane Carol Anderson's book about her experiences, called Thread of Gold. I also read with interest, Dr. Hsu's book on her experiences both in China and the U.S.. As a contemporary of Nee and Lee, she gives an enlightening account well worth reading.

I think this site is an important one because it gives people who fell through the cracks a voice to speak the truth. The LC members won't listen to us (I know I did not when I was a member), but people who are seeking the doorway out of the LC might find the accounts on this site related to their own experience and/or an eye-opening experience. Current LC members have to leave their own agendas to understand what is being spoken here. Respectfully yours, an unknown follower of Jesus.

[boughtbyJesus]

You should also try reading A Future and A Hope by John Myer http://assemblylife.com/

[ZNPaaneah]

Originally Posted by Overcomer

I hardly know where to put this, but I am hoping it will be read by those who are seeking eye witness accounts of the truth. My response to this thread may need to go somewhere else on this site. Here is my testimony of what transpired when I lived with a young family of members of "The Church in Blackpool" sometime between mid to late 1979 to January 1980. I attended meetings there. I remember that there was a sister either there or in Ipswich who was a gifted singer and guitar player. She sang, I believe from one of the books on Timothy. She loved to sing and we loved listening to her. The Living Stream Ministry was interested in the tape she made of her singing, in order to distribute it under the Living Stream label.

I loved those tapes. Put this in the thread about "good things to come out of the recovery".

My whole point is that when the LSM took control of the sister's songs, that wonderful ingot was not "a good thing to come out of the LSM/LC" because it never made it out of the LSM. They own it and it is gone forever. I checked. There are no individual musical artists; the LSM song CD's I listened to were group choirs.

[Drake]

Overcomers>”The LC members won't listen to us (I know I did not when I was a member)”

I’m listening... i just don’t agree with your conclusions.

Drake

[awareness]

Brother Overcomer, Welcome.

I also accepted the Lord at 8, in a Southern Baptist church. Also, I was in the LC approximately the same years as you. I was close to Ron Kangas back in my early days in the church in Detroit. I thought the world of him. I now see him as one that compromised the principles he held back then. He's now a dyed in the wool Leeite.

Plus, I've also read the same books you spoke of.

I realized Lee's LC movement was a cult back then, and left because of it. And these forums, and the books, have only confirmed to me that the LC is a cult ; not a death cult, sex cult, or even a dooms day cult, but a personality cult none the same ; with Lee, even tho being dead for 20 years, as STILL the personality cult leader ... if you can believe that. Brother Drake, bless his heart, will prove it to you by pointing out Lee, Lee, Lee, over and over again. Apparently he's dyed in the wool too, to the personality cult leader.

So even tho I don't know why you are here, I'm glad you are, and I have empathy with you, hope the best for you, and hope to hear more from you.

In the end, the local church is a LSM denomination, with a personality cult leader.

[Sons to Glory!]

Originally Posted by awareness

In the end, the local church is a LSM denomination, with a personality cult leader.

I have to agree. I always avoided the cult label with the LC, because it didn't result in people being detained or drugged or physically hurt. But the personality cult label rings true, I think, as there is this dogged insistence on WL being the Minister of the Age (MOTA - just learned that acronym on here), and his overpowering influence applied in all things LC. Even the 7 Day Adventists, who are so focused on Ellen G. White, do seem to allow just a bit of others in (of course she's been dead 100 years too).

LC a denomination? Yes, without a doubt. And I totally get the idea behind one church one city, but the LC turned it into another division.

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by Overcomer

On another matter, did not John Ingalls write many of the hymns in the hymnal originally put out by LSM?

Only ones credited in the hymnal are ones that are copyrighted. Hymns attributed to Witness Lee, it could be really his or it could be ones written by someone else, but Lee's taking the credit for it.