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Originally Posted by AC
I lived couple doors from Lee.There were no millions of laundered money. He lived in a small apartment until we built him a nice (not richy)
duplex which he shared with his son's family. There was no private jet, no fleet of exotic cars. Matter of fact I don't think he owned a car.
Someone would pick him up in that person's car and take him to the meetings.
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I don't know that anyone has ever implied that Lee had the intention of making himself wealthy. That might have been said about his sons, and there is evidence that Lee used money from his ministry to support his family. The following excerpt is taken from Philip Lin's book
Sacrifice and Sail On. This is from Lee's will, in which he clearly states that up until 1994, money from his ministry was used to support his children, all of whom were adults who should have been supporting themselves.
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The purpose of such establishment is not for building up an enterprise for myself or my children to secure any gain. In order to protect the copyright from confusion, I decided that the Gospel Bookroom and the Living Stream Ministry should pay me a royalty. Any excess that I received would be offered to the Lord for His use. Later, the royalty I received became more than before. In addition to offering to the Lord, I used the rest to support those of you children who are in need. At the beginning of 1994, while I was resting in the hospital, I felt that although what I received from my royalty payment was a result of my writing, the source of such writing is the word of the Lord. I vowed to the Lord that after I am taken away by the Lord, beginning from the year after that, I will offer all the royalty to the Lord.
Lin, Philip (2014-07-02). Sacrifice and Sail On: My View of Witness Lee, A Bond Slave of Jesus Christ (p. 277). Sail On Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AC
Sal lent Lee's ministry $100,000 and Lee repaid $100,000. Even I, as a young person, donated $25 to Daystar and I was paid back $25. Money laundering? You brothers are presenting a false narrative. Having been a close associate of this ministry for over 30 years, I know of no one who lost their life saving on Daystar.
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Like Ohio mentioned, many were pressured to "forgive" Lee for the loss of their investments. Regardless of who was paid back and who wasn't, what business did Lee have in asking a church to invest $100k in his business? That is just a bad idea to begin with. Furthermore, it seems he preyed upon the saints support of his ministry and their willingness to give. He could reasonably expect there would be support for investments if he made that kind of request. I have no respect him taking advantage of everyone in that way. If he wanted to start a business, that's not a problem, I don't take issue with that. He just should have just found normal investors or taken out loans like everyone does.
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Originally Posted by AC
Where did you get this information? The Bible says you know them by their fruit. His ministry is responsible for raising up thousands of churches world wide. Check out any one of them to witness the comparatively higher standard of character and love for Jesus Christ among the members.
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You have to be kidding right? Those in the LC have a comparatively higher standard of character? To what, other Christians? This is what happens when you drink too much kool-aid. First of all, the numerous character lapses of LC members have been mostly hidden from view. Just one example of such a character lapse is when W Lee spoke about how he was God's oracle and even said "Lee has to be famous".
The real "fruit" of the LC is a long trail of destruction behind them. Lots of collateral damage. I can't tell you how many I've seen who dropped out because someone decided to be a little bit too "legalistic" with them, or people who gave so much time to the LC only to be ignored when they encountered problems in life. The picture isn't pretty, but nobody in the LC talks about that.