Learning from Past Mistakes in the LC by Guarding Our Heart

[bearbear]

Visiting my parents in Chicago one Christmas was like witnessing two wounded creatures.

My mother and father had given their lives to the LRC movement and in particular the subdivision under Titus. To Titus' credit there were many great things my family received under his ministry and I wouldn't be where I was today without him, so as a result my Mom and Dad were pretty much sold that Witness Lee and Titus were the real deal. Wherever Titus told our family to move, we did so. We uprooted our lives in Cleveland to move to Chicago when Titus told us to, presumably so my Dad could spread the influence of his ministry there.

After the great Midwest split, my Dad and another brother co-founded a church in a Chicago suburb under Titus' umbrella. After a while, this younger brother felt like my Dad was holding the church back. At every Cleveland conference he would gossip and spread outright lies and exaggerations about my Dad every chance he got with Titus. My Dad not being the type to defend himself pretty much did nothing and let it continue because he trusted in Titus, after all he had given up so much for his ministry.

One day, during one of these Cleveland conferences, everyone was invited to a special fellowship with Titus, except for my dad. All the full timers left their seats to join in the fellowship, but my Dad was the only one left sitting. Apparently, the brother made it clear to Titus that it was either him or my Dad. Titus ultimately chose that other brother because he was younger, more energetic and had more money. The hurt my Dad received in his heart was tremendous. He had given his life to this movement, only to have his heart handed to him on a platter. He had sacrificed not only his life but also his relationship with his family all for nothing.

Afterwards I tried to introduce my parents to different ministries I've found helpful. However they were very closed. They reasoned that if they had spent over 25 years investing in a brother they thought they could trust, why should they trust anyone else's ministry?

After meditating on this story and the stories of many of us here, the Lord gave me a revelation, reminding me of Proverbs 4:23:

Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.

My parents and many others were deceived into trusting part of their hearts to a movement and a person they thought was trustworthy and as a result their hearts were broken. Jesus never taught us to love our neighbors with our hearts, but he told us to love God with all our heart. Jesus knew what he was saying when he said this, because no one person or movement can be trusted with our heart but only God himself. Our heart is what connect us to God who is the wellspring of life, so we need to guard it carefully. God knows that if we give our hearts to other things, even seemingly Godly things like ministries, our hearts will ultimately be broken.

In his wisdom, God knows this firsthand because his heart has been broken many times. It's hard not to read books like Hosea which detail God's broken heart by Israel's betrayal and not feel sorry for him. Yet he's still willing to entrust his heart to us despite our potential for unfaithfulness. If we come to realize the Creator of the universe is so willing to invest in this risky love, we can't help but to love him back with all our heart.

Once we give our heart to God, nothing can ever hurt us. People can badmouth us, offend us and betray us, but we can all let it roll off our shoulders because our hearts belong to God! We don't have to have any investment in this world, because it's all gonna burn. Instead we invest the most valuable asset we have which is our heart into an eternal, unchanging and loving God.

So we spend time in his presence and his words which are precious to us, and we display our love to God by walking by faith in him. There's nothing like showing you love a person by trusting in Him even when the world and your eyes are screaming that you are crazy. We do things like give to the poor, or love our enemies expecting nothing in return simply because we're blasting out the love we've received from God after he entrusted his heart to us, and we to him. Because we know how much God loves everyone else after he showed his love for us, we can freely love others with the same kind of love.

Everyone in the world pretty much loves their children and in most cases their spouse. If a Christian does not love or provide for their family, Paul says they are worse than an unbeliever. However God wants us to go beyond this worldly love. Many parents even end up disowning their kids when they live disobedient shameful lives, addicted to drugs, or even becoming Christians like in the case of Islamic or Hindu families. God wants us to go beyond this earthly love by loving our family even when they go against us, betray us and don't meet our expectations. This kind of love can only be given if we also give our hearts to God and let him show us what true love is like.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by bearbear

My mother and father had given their lives to the LRC movement and in particular the subdivision under Titus. To Titus' credit there were many great things my family received under his ministry and I wouldn't be where I was today without him, so as a result my Mom and Dad were pretty much sold that Witness Lee and Titus were the real deal.

Wherever Titus told our family to move, we did so. We uprooted our lives in Cleveland to move to Chicago when Titus told us to, presumably so my Dad could spread the influence of his ministry there.

After the great Midwest split, my Dad and another brother co-founded a church in a Chicago suburb under Titus' umbrella. After a while, this younger brother felt like my Dad was holding the church back.

At every Cleveland conference he would gossip and spread outright lies and exaggerations about my Dad every chance he got with Titus. My Dad not being the type to defend himself pretty much did nothing and let it continue because he trusted in Titus, after all he had given up so much for his ministry.

The hurt my Dad received in his heart was tremendous. He had given his life to this movement, only to have his heart handed to him on a platter. He had sacrificed not only his life but also his relationship with his family all for nothing.

So sorry that your Dad had to pass through these sad trials. Your folks are not alone, so many others with Titus Chu have been subjected to the same afflictions. The patterns are so predictable. Yes, Titus does render spiritual ministry, but it never comes without rotten and deleterious side-effects. He has a way of challenging young people to serve full-time, yet these ones may not actually be called by God into the ministry. Once one begins on this journey, he forfeits his basic rights to decide where to live with his family and how he should serve. Only Titus Chu controls those determinations. Your destiny is in his hands. The TC "relocation program" has hurt many a family.

Next comes the "law of first complaint." Titus Chu cared little for impartiality or a fair hearing. He tended to believe the first one to come to him to complain. In this regard TC was just like WL. One may be regularly taught never to vindicate himself, but if he lived by that maxim, he would be thrown under the bus. In the LC system, it was considered soulish to defend oneself, but it was deemed "spiritual" to backbite and back stab the brother at your side, if it would enhance your standing with "the apostle."

Neither did leaders in that system own any accountability for others. Should one think that he has faithfully served under TC's direction, and feel that should have some value in the face of a "lay off" from the ministry, a common response would be something like, "what are you here for? What did you expect? we are only here for Christ, but perhaps there is some other ambition in your heart? Isn't Christ enough for you?" Full-time ministry in the recovery is business, not church. Like the song says, "What's love got to do with it?"

When Bill Barker made his decision to flip-flop loyalties to Titus and align the churches in greater Chicago with Anaheim, Titus simply called it a "business decision." Now when money gets tight, bearbear, and Titus chooses a younger worker over your Dad, it's "only a business decision." Titus may preach and demand loyalty, but that doesn't mean he has to practice it.

Your Dad's pain and discouragement are bitter indeed. The more you can encourage him the better. Do your best to stay in touch. Having one's sons and family there to support him is very important. The older we are, and the longer we were in the program, the harder it is to recover.

[bearbear]

Thanks Ohio, I'm gonna let my Dad read your letter because it will make him feel better.

Originally Posted by Ohio

When Bill Barker made his decision to flip-flop loyalties to Titus and align the churches in greater Chicago with Anaheim, Titus simply called it a "business decision." Now when money gets tight, bearbear, and Titus chooses a younger worker over your Dad, it's "only a business decision." Titus may preach and demand loyalty, but that doesn't mean he has to practice it.

Business decisions sound like the worst kind of decisions you can make in the light of the bible. I'm sure Balaam made a "business decision" when he decided to teach Balak how to stumble the Israelites with idol worship and sexual immorality. Balak was offering Balaam a treasure house full of riches, while all God was offering was his precious but moneyless relationship. To his own peril (Joshua 13:22), Balaam came to value worldly riches greater than his close relationship with God that many other OT prophets would have died to have.

It also sounded like Judas made a business decision when he decided to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Jesus only had his moneyless love to offer Judas, which was nothing compared to a months worth of wages apparently.

Once you adopt a value system that treasures worldly tangibles like money and influence over spiritual intangibles like relationship, love, mercy, kindness and other fruits of the Spirit, it sounds like you'll be walking a deadly road and ultimately end up serving Satan's will rather than God's kingdom. Half of the verses in Proverbs seem to warn against making decisions based on outward appearances like this.

Zechariah 4:6
Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.

On some level I would hate to be in Titus' shoes because of the daily decisions and temptations someone at a high level of ministry has to face. If fear of God is not available, it's best to have someone hold us accountable when we reach a position of responsibility, otherwise this kind of thing sounds inevitable. I hope Titus can realize the way he's taking and repent and call out for God's grace.

[bearbear]

I just read this again and realized it could be misconstrued to close our hearts to each other and create an environment of mistrust, sorry. I guess the cool thing for me to realize was once I give my heart to Jesus I can also open my heart to others and be transparent because I have placed my trust in God who is our hiding place and protector. No matter what happens I will be safe because I have entrusted my heart to him.

Paul says many times in his epistles that we should love each other with brotherly affection. I realized one way to think of it is that we give our heart to Jesus our lover and bridegroom. And we love each other as brothers and sisters. If my brother hurts me I should still love and pray for him because he is still family.

Psalm 91

1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by bearbear

Once you adopt a value system that treasures worldly tangibles like money and influence over spiritual intangibles like relationship, love, mercy, kindness and other fruits of the Spirit, it sounds like you'll be walking a deadly road and ultimately end up serving Satan's will rather than God's kingdom. Half of the verses in Proverbs seem to warn against making decisions based on outward appearances like this.

I'm sure most LC leaders would protest the accusation that "tangibles like money" guided their way, since few in the program enjoyed any substantial wealth. But that does not mean there were not serious problems with their value system. Any time we exalt our leaders, allowing them to rule us without peer review, permitting them to abuse other leaders, covering their failures with spiritual doublespeak, and preventing any and all recourse for legitimate grievances, we will get what we pay for.

Our Lord set up the best pattern for us. He told the disciples not to forbid others, since "if they are not against us they are for us." (Lk 9.50) He talked about the good shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine. (Lk 15.4) He extolled the Good Samaritan. (Lk 10.33) He warned them abound ruling like the Gentiles. (Mk 10.41-45) The whole New Testament is filled with patterns and exhortations concerning church leaders.

But Witness Lee convinced us that he had a better way. A more productive way. A way which "recovered" things not found any where else in Christianity. His way promoted rivalries and factions. His way advanced the custom of abuse and public shaming so prevalent among the leaders. His way condoned back-biting and rumor-mongering. His way established a vehicle to eliminate ones "opponents." His way fostered eye-service, man-pleasing, and man-exaltation. His way justified almost any means to arrive at the desired goals. His way placed performance over principle, so clearly witnessed in his son Phillip. His way promoted his own teachings above all others, even certain books of the Bible like James, Psalms, and Proverbs.

What makes the whole program perform like clockwork are competent lackeys who maintain strict information control. Every event must be spun to glamorize Witness Lee and his ministry. He alone must be without problems, failures, and shortcomings. All contrary opinions must be quickly extinguished within the Recovery. All protesting voices must be eliminated and discredited. And the endless trail of wounded and suffering victims, chewed up and spit out along the way, must be quickly buried so that all the remaining members can continue to "enjoy Christ" and "eat Jesus" as they love to say.

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by bearbear

Once you adopt a value system that treasures worldly tangibles like money and influence over spiritual intangibles like relationship, love, mercy, kindness and other fruits of the Spirit, it sounds like you'll be walking a deadly road and ultimately end up serving Satan's will rather than God's kingdom.

Just examine the GLA turmoil. Why were certain localities targeted and not others? For example Columbus, Mansfield, and Toronto while ones such as Goshen and Naperville were ignored. I come back to the real estate factor.
Church owned real estate is tangible.

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." Matthew 6:24

Perhaps in the late 1980's this explains why some current blended brothers choose to support Philip Lee in light of his immorality (see Speaking the Truth in Love) than to stand with their fellow elders in Anaheim. They choose to serve wealth instead of serving God.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Terry

Just examine the GLA turmoil. Why were certain localities targeted and not others? For example Columbus, Mansfield, and Toronto while ones such as Goshen and Naperville were ignored. I come back to the real estate factor.

I'm not sure any place was really "ignored."

What LSM had in Mansfield and Columbus was a former elder Cres Yap who was willing to round up the local insurgents and work with LSM covert agents to file lawsuits against the church and her current officers. The same scenario existed in Toronto. All other TC-LC's were advised to modify their business by-laws and articles of incorporation in order to protect themselves from similar lawsuits. I assume that most LC's held special meetings and held elections of officers.

And, yes, it was much to do with the "real estate factor," other church assets, and their franchise naming rights. As some one had once asked, "tell me again about that church with no name suing their brothers to keep their name!"

[bearbear]

Originally Posted by Ohio

I'm sure most LC leaders would protest the accusation that "tangibles like money" guided their way, since few in the program enjoyed any substantial wealth. But that does not mean there were not serious problems with their value system. Any time we exalt our leaders, allowing them to rule us without peer review, permitting them to abuse other leaders, covering their failures with spiritual doublespeak, and preventing any and all recourse for legitimate grievances, we will get what we pay for.

The hardest part of being a Christian is practicing what we preach and that requires living by faith. When the leadership fails on that regard, it's time to start jumping ship because if the leaders can't walk by faith and trust God, then the flock have no Godly example to follow.

What I've come to appreciate about my church is how strongly the leadership feels about their value system and commitment to live by faith. The pastors don't even take salary and the head pastor has signed all her royalty from her CDs and books over to the church.

She's shared stories once about how after she decided to modernize worship to become relatable to the young generation, a lot of the older and wealthier congregation who had been bankrolling the church tried to influence her away, but she resolved in herself to overcome this temptation because she knew her new direction was given to her by the Holy Spirit, and she trusted that God would provide for her and in the end it all worked out. This was all possible due to the intimacy she built with Jesus. God had provided for her need every time in the past just as he did with the Israelites, so she had plenty of assurance to make risky decisions that relied on God's promises.

When the leadership can cultivate a culture with a Godly value system based on the word of God which treasures the fruits of the Spirit over the worldly things, that can set the foundation for the rest of the church to walk in Godly wisdom. However if even the leaders can't do this, this will likely stumble and kill the faith of the flock because they'll have no pattern to follow and become likely to live by their flesh and what the world and their eyes are telling them, and not by the Spirit.

James 3:1
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

[awareness]

Originally Posted by Ohio

I'm sure most LC leaders would protest the accusation that "tangibles like money" guided their way, since few in the program enjoyed any substantial wealth. But that does not mean there were not serious problems with their value system. Any time we exalt our leaders, allowing them to rule us without peer review, permitting them to abuse other leaders, covering their failures with spiritual doublespeak, and preventing any and all recourse for legitimate grievances, we will get what we pay for.

Our Lord set up the best pattern for us. He told the disciples not to forbid others, since "if they are not against us they are for us." (Lk 9.50) He talked about the good shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine. (Lk 15.4) He extolled the Good Samaritan. (Lk 10.33) He warned them abound ruling like the Gentiles. (Mk 10.41-45) The whole New Testament is filled with patterns and exhortations concerning church leaders.

But Witness Lee convinced us that he had a better way. A more productive way. A way which "recovered" things not found any where else in Christianity. His way promoted rivalries and factions. His way advanced the custom of abuse and public shaming so prevalent among the leaders. His way condoned back-biting and rumor-mongering. His way established a vehicle to eliminate ones "opponents." His way fostered eye-service, man-pleasing, and man-exaltation. His way justified almost any means to arrive at the desired goals. His way placed performance over principle, so clearly witnessed in his son Phillip. His way promoted his own teachings above all others, even certain books of the Bible like James, Psalms, and Proverbs.

What makes the whole program perform like clockwork are competent lackeys who maintain strict information control. Every event must be spun to glamorize Witness Lee and his ministry. He alone must be without problems, failures, and shortcomings. All contrary opinions must be quickly extinguished within the Recovery. All protesting voices must be eliminated and discredited. And the endless trail of wounded and suffering victims, chewed up and spit out along the way, must be quickly buried so that all the remaining members can continue to "enjoy Christ" and "eat Jesus" as they love to say.

WOW! That's the best and most concise rundown of the church that bamboozled and bewitched us into Witness Lee as God's mouthpiece and authority on the earth. Wasn't their problem with Titus was that he was robbing some of their divine bandwidth ... as a secondary mouthpiece? And that just couldn't stand. Cuz LSM et al, believe, nay are convinced, that God has only one mouthpiece on the earth.

But the overwhelming evidence is there's no truth in that whatsoever. Cuz once you get outside that LRC bubble suddenly you discover that God is speaking from more sources than we can keep up with.

Pope Francis just proclaimed the internet as a gift from God.

There's no shortage of God speaking these days.

Witness Lee was God's mouthpiece? What a laughingstock.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by awareness

Pope Francis just proclaimed the internet as a gift from God.

Stealing some of the divine bandwidth.

I thought the internet was a gift from the Goreleone family.

[bearbear]

Originally Posted by awareness

WOW! That's the best and most concise rundown of the church that bamboozled and bewitched us into Witness Lee as God's mouthpiece and authority on the earth. Wasn't their problem with Titus was that he was robbing some of their divine bandwidth ... as a secondary mouthpiece? And that just couldn't stand. Cuz LSM et al, believe, nay are convinced, that God has only one mouthpiece on the earth.

But the overwhelming evidence is there's no truth in that whatsoever. Cuz once you get outside that LRC bubble suddenly you discover that God is speaking from more sources than we can keep up with.

A recent article I read said that South Korea now has 1000mbps internet bandwidth available for their smartphone users while customers in the US are lucky to get 30mbps in their homes. Comcast and AT&T and a few others basically have a stranglehold on the market for internet services in the US. The result of this near monopoly is that every US internet customer suffers from high prices and poor service due to lack of competition among ISPs.

South Korea however has a plethora of ISPs competing to offer better and cheaper services for everyone.

Once you're forced to stay in a bubble, it's hard to realize you are getting shafted when there are way better options outside your myopic world. If you spent your entire time living in the US you wouldn't realize you're being ripped off, you'd probably think internet was pretty awesome.

The same happened to me when I lived in the LC bubble. I thought we were the cream of the crop among all Christians growing up. The only comparison I had were the televangelists I saw on TV which validated my narrow LC Christian worldview. It wasn't until I started reading authors outside of WNee/WLee and meeting other Christians that this bubble popped and I realized these guys had something that was way better.

I'd been deceived all along into thinking that Witness Lee was the MOTA and every other Christian had shallow and superficial relationships with Jesus. It was quite a startling realization to know that it was the other way around. I was the one with the superficial relationship, and a whole bunch of other Christians who were living by faith and practicing God's word and not just parroting it were the ones with the real relationship.

Luke 11:28
But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

James 1:22
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

[Dancing]

Ohio said:

When Bill Barker made his decision to flip-flop loyalties to Titus and align the churches in greater Chicago with Anaheim, Titus simply called it a "business decision." Now when money gets tight, bearbear, and Titus chooses a younger worker over your Dad, it's "only a business decision." Titus may preach and demand loyalty, but that doesn't mean he has to practice it.

I said:

Are you aware of how similar these practices sound to goings-on of organized crime such as those portrayed in "The Godfather"? This was "The Godfather" weekend on AMC. I just heard these very words..."It's just business" to justify murder.