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Originally Posted by HERn
That brother being "perfected" in the video eventually ended giving some messages at some of the semi-annual trainings, if I remember correctly... WL saw himself as some kind of "perfector of the age" kind of like a Marines drill Sargent badgering a recruit. To me it was a crass display of power and control that was totally Christ-less. Who gives a rat's behind if it's "god's economy" or "the economy of God"?
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I watched the first few minutes of the video. Culture shock to say the least. I used to be there and counted myself fortunate, like I was in the "inner circle". Getting perfected, so-called, was part of the price of admission.
But perfected to what? To the image of Witness Lee? When I heard the words that his acolytes were so carefully rehearsing in his presence, "The economy of God is to bring forth an organism for the Triune God", it struck me as not entirely wrong, and therefore arguably true in some sense. But so what? I've written hundreds of posts here on this forum, and some of them probably have true statements. Does that mean that everyone has to memorize them verbatim?
How much mutuality was on display in that room, in that video? None. Zip. Nada. Not one iota. So where is the opportunity to 'confess your sins to one another'? It simply doesn't exist.
What is strange about the ministry of WL is that his sentences were placed on bulletin boards and memorized, but parts of the Bible that he couldn't line up with his ministry were ignored, as if nonexistent. If he was forced to acknowledge them at all, he'd downplay them as either irrelevant nonessentials or worse, as "low" or "natural" or "fallen men's concepts" or the like. So his ministry wasn't arguably about the Bible at all. It was about the ministry. The Bible was merely a vehicle towards an end; if he couldn't line it up, it was abandoned.
The concept of "the age of spiritual giants is over; now it is the age of small potatoes"... where did that come from? I never heard one Bible verse supporting it. But it was convenient to the ministry so it was pushed upon the local churches. Again I ask, where is the mutuality here?
Quote:
Originally Posted by HERn
There is a group-think and the comradery of suffering under a hard master that helps men form groups of loyalty...but it's not Christ or Christ's way.
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I remember at one point WL said we should learn from the PRC "Red Guards". Why? Because it seemed to him to be successful. What did it have to do with Christ? Nothing. Jesus even taught, "It should not be this way among you" (Matt 20:25; Mark 10:42; cf 1 Pet 5:3). But WL could ignore such unhelpful parts of the Bible.