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Originally Posted by Dave
The craziness developed out of Lee’s insistence on controlling everything and some of his unusual practices which really didn’t accomplish what we all thought they would: the Normal Christian Life. It became the Abnormal Christian Life in kind of a crazy Church Life structure. Whether Nee or Lee were megalomaniacs is beyond the point. It is how these individuals affected us and overall they turned the "local church" experience into a cult like culture which is still going on today.
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I believe it to be a combination of both teachings and practices. In many cases, it is probably an overemphasis of certain teachings. What comes to mind is how influence both Nee and Lee were influence by the "inner life" works. It may have seemed to Nee at the time that these writings offered the opportunity to have a deeper experience of the Lord one could through mainstream Christianity.
In the LC, whether anyone will admit it or not, there is the pressure placed on everyone to be "spiritual". Actually they will usually say just the opposite that we shouldn't strive to be "spiritual". When you look at the example set by LC leaders, it is obvious that there is a heavy emphasis on spirituality. At the surface it seems like this is a good thing to emphasize.
Several years ago, I witnessed someone in the LC have a complete mental breakdown over the period of several months by attempting to be too "spiritual". Nee and Lee did know how to convey teachings that at least sounded good, but they didn't know how to properly put these teachings into practice. That's not even to mention teachings that should have never been put into practice in the first place.
Did the ministries of those like Jessie Penn-Lewis have anything useful? Maybe, but my concern is that Nee did not know what he was dealing with. As a young man, he encountered all kinds of writings that may have sounded good, but did he really know what he was getting himself into? Did he really know how to separate the wheat from the chaff? I really feel like Nee and Lee were playing with fire. They felt they knew it all, and they were reckless. To us their ministries just seemed to offer a good alternative to the status quote.