Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
Gee, I wonder how that happened? How come all the man-pleasers and wanna-be lorders of men gathered around Lee? Hmm... what a mystery.
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Though I am more familiar with the history of Darby and Lee, initially all types of brothers gathered around the precepts which characterized these three ministers in their early days. Many of these dear brothers would honestly testify that they never followed a man, never became a man-pleaser, never lorded it over others, and neither were they forced to ... in the beginning. Things then changed over time, and all three leaders forced their loyal followers to make the hard choices.
For example, Darby publicly shamed Newton first, and then proceeded with George Muller. These three at the time were the most prominent men in the movement. On the surface it was a dispute over eschatological and ecclesiastical teachings, but actually it was just a power struggle. Actually only one of these three was "playing the game." Those who don't want to play this "game" eventually leave, but the "
winner" who stays gets to write the story about the "
battle for the truth of God." Those who remain and choose sides with this "winner," may or may not know the real story, and thus remain until the next "storm" arrives.
This happened to me. I lived thru the "Max-storm" of the late 70's and the "Ingalls-storm" of the late 80's without ever knowing the truth about what happened. Then with the "Titus-storm" on the horizon, I began researching our "beginnings" back in 1825 with the Brethren movement. That was an incredible eye-opener in so many ways. What I learned about the Brethren, about Lee in those early storms, and what I had already witnessed regionally and locally all began to gel. One day, considering all these stories spanning 3 continents and 3 centuries, it dawned on me that the program I had devoted my best 30 years to, transformed "
beloved brothers into bullies." It was time to leave.