localchurchesfaq.org

[Trapped]

Is anyone aware of this website, www.localchurchesfaq.org ?
How on earth many websites do these people need to rehash the same things over and over again and never really answer or address anything?!

[aron]

Here's a blurb on Nee:

"Watchman Nee was born in China in 1903 to Christian parents. He received the Lord in high school and gave his life for the Lord’s service. Watchman Nee was quickly manifested as a unique gift to the Body of Christ. His ministry emphasized the believers’ experience of and growth in the divine life of God for the building up of the Body of Christ."

"A unique gift to the Body of Christ" - and all other believers are a drab, faceless, grey mass of Local Church Proletarians? Or as Witness Lee wrote, "absolutely identical" and "with no differences whatsoever"? In the LC, the "growth in life" is seen in how much one supresses their personality and elevates that of Nee (or his Designated Cheerleader, who exalts the Great One as a path to power).

So interesting that the LSM apologists quickly brandish the "political mindset" of the Chinese Communist Party in relation to Nee, but miss that of Nee in regards to his fellows.

Originally Posted by UntoHim

The lust for power was probably the major issue in his spiritual life. For a long period of time, many brothers and sisters worshiped, even deified him. The outcome of his influence misled us toward his own conclusion that “he was the leading spiritual authority"
Joshua Yu
Minister & Author of The Cross and Suffering
-

We are all political. I am! Surely I'd prefer if everyone got up every morning and wanted to know my opinions of things. But the world doesn't work that way. Only in Nee's culturally-derived political mindset, that was the "normal" part of the Normal Christian Church Life. Somebody in the room had to be #1 -- I can't quote the page, but he said this in as many words.

But guess what? That Somebody is Jesus.

Psalm 18:43 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people; you have made me the head of nations. People I did not know now serve me,
44 foreigners cower before me; as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.
45 They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!
47 He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me,
48 who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me.
49 Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.
50 He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing love to his anointed, to David and to his descendants forever.

"Watchman Nee was quickly manifested as a unique gift" -- apologetic websites for Haile Selassie and Sun Myung Moon probably use similar words. This fails Christianity 101. Only Jesus, the Blessed Descendant of David, whose throne is forever, gets such exalted status. Once we pass the Judgment Seat of Christ, if someone's lifted up, amen, hallelujah. Until then, jockeying for position should be called out.

[UntoHim]

Basically, this website is an updated/expanded rehash of the 1978 pamphlet entitled "Beliefs and Practices of The Local Churches". That pamphlet was published around the time of the books The Mind Benders and The God-Men came out. It really wasn't much of an in depth response as much as it was a little book of Local Church talking points.

The original pamphlet "Beliefs and Practices of The Local Churches" has been reproduced on contendingforthefaith.org

One of the answers in the "Questions" part of this pamphlet always struck me as extremely disingenuous, and even deceptive.

The question is: Who is your leader?
The answer:
Our unique leader is Christ. We have no official, permanent, organized human leadership. Furthermore, there is no hierarchy of any kind and no worldwide leader. We regard no person as infallible, and we do not follow anyone blindly. On the contrary, we follow only those whose teaching and practice is in accordance with the truth of God’s Word.

Someone needs to tell the Blended Brothers that there should be "no official, permanent, organized human leadership"
-

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by UntoHim

Basically, this website is an updated/expanded rehash of the 1978 pamphlet entitled "Beliefs and Practices of The Local Churches". That pamphlet was published around the time of the books The Mind Benders and The God-Men came out. It really wasn't much of an in depth response as much as it was a little book of Local Church talking points.

The original pamphlet "Beliefs and Practices of The Local Churches" has been reproduced on contendingforthefaith.org

One of the answers in the "Questions" part of this pamphlet always struck me as extremely disingenuous, and even deceptive.

The question is: Who is your leader?
The answer:
Our unique leader is Christ. We have no official, permanent, organized human leadership. Furthermore, there is no hierarchy of any kind and no worldwide leader. We regard no person as infallible, and we do not follow anyone blindly. On the contrary, we follow only those whose teaching and practice is in accordance with the truth of God’s Word.

Someone needs to tell the Blended Brothers that there should be "no official, permanent, organized human leadership"
-

During the quarantines these booklets were passed out to all the Midwest saints. Supposedly this was our "blueprint" for the practice of the church life. It exposed much hypocrisy, since what we were doing bore no relationship to our prescriptive "handbook."