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Originally Posted by kisstheson
If you will allow me to "muddy the waters" a little, I can see three distinct periods in the "Lord's Recovery" in the 1900's. First there was "early Nee" in the 1920's, 1930's, and the early 1940's. Then there was "later Nee/early Lee", a period which covers from the resumption of WN's ministry in the late 1940's all the way to the mid-1980's. Lastly, there was "later Lee/BB's" which began in the mid-1980's and is still with us today.
You all will undoubtedly remember our time with brother "cuttingstraight" over at "that other forum". It was while I was investigating some issues during debate with "cuttingstraight" that I saw a small, but definitely noticable, difference between WN's speaking in the famous "What Are We?" message and in his book The Normal Christian Church Life, compared to WN's speaking after the resumption of his ministry in 1948, especially in his book Church Affairs. While there is a noticeable hardening toward other Christian groups and toward those who would not completely toe the line in the "Lord's Recovery" in "later Nee", there was a good amount of WN's characteristic big heartedness still in evidence.
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KTS, Thanks. I do remember cuttingstraight. How could I forget? We went a few rounds together. He came on board implying that
NigelT was a heretic, and I got a little "iritated." He came in like the wind, and left the same way. I miss him.
I guess I view LSM translations of WN with suspicion -- especially the later ones. It's hard for me to believe WN would develop narrow, exclusive tendencies after what he went thru, especially while the communists were taking over the country. You may be right.
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Igzy, you may be right. I view pride and religious zeal (think Laodicea) to be far more dangerous to us than the teaching of "one city, one church."
Toledo summarized the spirit of WN's teaching quite well. The teaching was proffered to help believers, not hurt them nor divide them. The teaching was basically descriptive, not prescriptive, as it later became. In the opening preface of the book, WN described just such danger.
Personally, I believe that any blessing from the Lord can bring with it some amount of danger. We are so easily puffed up, thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. The dangers lie here, rather than in the teaching. Pride can use the most benign of teachings to cause trouble.