Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry
It's difficult to measure what the fruit of Nee is? However with Lee, we can see since the late 1950's, the fruit is division.
I would venture to say over the next 20 years there will be more brothers and sisters ex-lcers than those meeting in the local churches. What would that tell you?
As it is, times I have visited LC meetings all I see is brothers and sisters I once knew getting older without much fruit to show. Compared to a community church, not all ages are represented in the LC.
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When evaluating the LCM as a whole, I would say the fruit is apparent to everyone who sees it except those in the LC. The fruit is bad, and the system is full of thornbushes and thistles. For those deeply immersed in the system, their view is colored by the propaganda put forth by LC leaders. A quick peek outside the confines of the LC indicates that it is lacking in many areas. In many regards, they are one of the more stagnant groups out there these days. This is in contrast to the LC of yesteryear, when people were flocking in. I don't say that the LC of the past was anything better, however, I do think the fruit didn't stink as much. If nothing else, the system hadn't been exposed for what it really was.
In the city where I live, there is a newly formed community church that has been around for maybe five years or so, and they have managed to have a significant increase since they began. There must be at least 500 or more people going there, and this all happened within a few years. The LC that I've been with is far from 500 and they've been around for quite a while (decades now). The fruit isn't there, and the growth is rate is next to nothing.
If the LC really has something so special for everybody, then there should be measurable increase. It's as simple as that. When you see the same faces year after year, and you to to a different LC and see the same faces there too, something is wrong. Also when you take into consideration the numerous splits that happened, including the BB's turning their backs on a whole region of the U.S., it really makes you wonder. How long can they survive like this? Like I said before, the BB's can polish up Lee's image all they want, but that doesn't change his fruit. He remains virtually irrelevant outside the LC. I do suspect that longtime members may also be growing weary of reading and rereading Lee. It gets old fast, at least it did for me.