[Indiana]

In book nine of the Elders’ Training fellowship, after serious damage and loss in the churches and among the co-workers was being reported, brother Lee alludes to mistakes that were made. The concerns the saints had were related to brother Lee and his leadership and also to his son, Philip, the Living Stream office manager, involving his control of elders and co-workers around the world, as well as his serious misconduct in the office of the Living Stream. It was at this point that brother Lee gave the following word in July 1988, about one month after Philip’s discharge from LSM. His fellowship here is actually dealing with, in his way, the over-emphasis related to the ministry, which was a major cause of separating the saints and causing division in the recovery. Our brother backpedals from a strong position of pushing ahead in the new way that caused many saints to stumble, and encourages the saints now to keep the oneness, while softly suggesting and barely hinting the fact that oneness had not been kept by those supporting him, his ministry, and the new way. He adopts a very general and accepting attitude in this fellowship below to the elders, an attitude that hadn’t been there to this point! He apologized for nothing and did not specifically admit to reports of LSM devastations or the specific abuses of Philip Lee, Benson or Ray. He just smoothed everything over and most brothers bought into it. But not John Ingalls. This was a pivotal elders’ meeting and the perfect stage and opportunity, John felt, for Brother Lee to rectify matters in the recovery. But he did not.

Mistakes Were Made (comments in brackets mine)

B. Lee: “Our going on should be according to what we have seen from the Word. There should not be any control, and the leadership is not in one controlling person. The teaching of the apostles must be the very leadership among us. We all must be under the teaching of the apostles. When I came to the United States, many brothers can testify that I never showed myself as a leader. The leading ones in the churches can testify that I never controlled any church or any saint. I never controlled anything, and I never would control anything. Rather, I would do as much as I could to withdraw from the so-called leadership. I do not mean that I am withdrawing from the Lord’s recovery. I have a burden from the Lord and I must be faithful to Him and to His commission, His charge. But be assured I will try the best to stay away from the leadership.

“We all need to speak the same thing by the Lord’s mercy and grace (1 Cor. 1:10). There is absolutely no heresy among us. We do not have any basic problems among us, so it should be easy for us to avoid speaking differently and speak the same thing. Also, by His mercy, we do not have any organization. No one can control the local churches. No one can control anything because we do not have organization among us. I do not control; and the Living Stream office would not control [but actually did control very much]. Mistakes may have been made in the past [this is a soft admission that mistakes were indeed made], but let us live in today and forget about yesterday [and the mistakes?]. We do not even have tomorrow. We only have today in which to live. What happened yesterday is over. If anything was wrong in the past, we need the cleansing of the blood of Christ as the trespass offering. Past mistakes that have been confessed [confessed to who?] are under the cleansing blood. [Brother Lee alluded to mistakes being made, but did not say specifically what the mistakes were or who made them. He also did not encourage apologizing to those saints who were offended. As the head of LSM, he failed to denounce his son’s sins and his corrupting influence as business manager for his office. He also had nothing to say about his own tragic and costly mistake in allowing such an errant person to represent him and his work. Why is there no show of repentance in the heart of brother Lee for anything and everything that took place in his office in his name and that brought such damage to the recovery? Instead of receiving blame and admitting the evil and corruption of his son and his activity, he put the blame on others. He even went so far as to declare a few years later that there had never been any problem in the LSM operation all through the years (Song of Songs Training, last message, 1995). There is simply a word of adjustment given here to make a smoother way in the churches for "the Lord’s new move" – with those who were left to "sail on".] We need to forget the past and go on. We should not even have any expectation about what will happen tomorrow. We do not need to worry about tomorrow. We live today. No one controls you. All the local churches have the full freedom to go on. [Again, this word conflicts with a subsequent elders’ meeting in Atlanta, where brother Lee spoke harshly of the elders as dropouts if they did not take the new way. That word in Atlanta was given after his gracious word here about freedom to go on.] As long as you do not do anything against our New Testament constitution, no one will bother you. [Was this statement true? The elders in Anaheim tried this with the sixteen points they gave to the church there as a way to go on but were condemned for their stand, with brother Lee joining the condemnation, even orchestrating behind the scenes in using certain brothers to bring the Anaheim elders down. In so doing, he surely interfered with the local administration in the church in Anaheim.] Among us in the Lord’s recovery, there is nothing worth worrying about [Was there really nothing to worry about?] because basically we do not have any heresy or any kind of organizational control. Everyone in every church has the full freedom to go on. I hope that we would be so faithful and loyal to the Lord’s recovery. We should mean business with the Lord that the Lord’s recovery will be prevailing and even flourishing on this earth for the Lord’s purpose. [Although this was a very positive word, something had been buried and pressed down that should have been dealt with openly and clearly. I refer to the damage done in the churches due to the serious problems related to LSM and Philip Lee, and also due to the forceful nature of “the push” in the new way. These crucial matters related to the cause of division still lie buried today. They have not gone away.]

“Concerning practices among us, such as head covering, baptism, or preaching the gospel, we should let these things be as they are among the saints. If some of the sisters want to wear a head covering, let them do it. If others do not, give them the liberty. We should have this attitude with all the practices in the church life that are outside our common faith. If some feel that they are burdened to visit people for the gospel, let them do it. Those saints who are burdened to visit people for the gospel should not insist on this practice. We should try to avoid different kinds of terms, slogans, and sayings, and try to do our best to keep the oneness in the Lord’s recovery. We must avoid anything that damages the freedom of the saints or the oneness of the Body of Christ.


“It is altogether wise and profitable that we do not expect all the churches to be the same. This is impossible. Even twelve brothers within a local church cannot be the same in everything. If a local church has a burden to visit people in their homes, they should carry out this commission. They do not need to say that others do not preach the gospel in this way. If others feel they do not need to preach the gospel by visiting people in their homes, that is not your business. Do not talk about who is for this and who is for that. We should not talk in this way. We should not label ourselves or label others. If we want to practice a certain thing, we can do it. If others do not want to practice it, they have the liberty not to practice it. We should not question who is for a certain thing and who is not for a certain thing. This does not help you or anyone else. We all must endeavor to keep the oneness of the Spirit so that the Body of Christ can build up itself in love” (Eph. 4:3, 16). (Elders’ Training, Bk. 9, p. 61-63)


This fellowship was given after John So was having severe bouts with Philip and LSM in Germany (which were ignored by WL) and led to division there, and WL's fellowship came seven months after Bill Mallon resigned from the work in the Southeast and shared in a letter to WL his grave concerns about the relationship between he and Living Stream co-workers. His letter illustrated the perplexity and type of frustration that Bill and others endured at the hands of the brothers representing the Living Stream Ministry and the damage to the oneness in the Body that resulted. Witness Lee ignored Bill’s concerns expressed in his letter and then defended his co-workers in his book (FPR) in response to Bill’s letter, while adding untrue and defamatory remarks about Bill and about his letter.

Brother Lee himself didn’t keep the oneness in the Body, yet exhorted others to do so. Yet, they did not. The BBs-to-be instead followed WL's example of ignoring the concerns of elders while carrying out their agenda to promote a man and a ministry.

Rhetoric on keeping the oneness is one thing; practicing genuine inclusive oneness is another. Former leading ones will attest sorrowfully to the huge discrepancy in Brother Lee’s spoken word and his practice. "Brother We" has followed suit

Their One Publication Proclamation including statements such as "the ministry is indispensable to OUR oneness” is the manifestation and culmination of their goal to build up a sectarian utopia of those who are "of Lee", which naturally excludes those who are not.

And this they have done along the path of their long-time agenda, and according to their misguided concept of New Testament oneness.

Note: John So, with brothers representing nine churches in Europe, wrote their Letter of Disassociation with WL and LSM a short time after this word by WL, having had enough of the rhetoric and the abuse they had suffered.