[Freedom]

Originally Posted by JJ

Agreed. MOTA concept is a root of evil.

History is filled with many spiritual and godly men who let it go to their head, became Napoleon-like rulers of the Church, and wouldn't let other godly men and scriptures balance them. MOTA concept breeds that.

A theory of mine is that the teachings of a 'MOTA' and deification go hand in hand. Shortly before focusing on the “high peak” (aka deification), WL made the claim to be the ‘MOTA’. John Ingalls’ testimony is as follows:
He referred to the title he has used for the Holy Spirit – "the all-inclusive Spirit of Christ as the consummation of the processed Triune God" – and asked who made such a title. Webster? he asked. Then he answered his own question, "That Lee! Lee has to be famous! Lee! Lee! Lee must have the credit! And if you listen to me, you do not listen to Lee, you listen to the very God in His oracle spoken by me." A little later in his message he said, "Going with God’s oracle, surely there is the deputy authority of God in this oracle. Whoever speaks for God, he surely has certain divine authority. I’m claiming this for Lee!"

So during the late 80’s, WL made it perfectly clear as to how he viewed himself and his own assumed importance. After the dust settled of the so-called 'turmoil', WL had already moved on to the high peak/deification. What is the link between these two prominent events in LC history? One thing is that WL had become more ‘bold’ in making known how he viewed himself. So why is this important? Those like Ron have failed to acknowledge that WL ever made such claims. Consider what Ron has stated:
“Brother Lee could not say it then, but we can say it today;... he was the minister of the age ...”

In other words, LC members live under the assumption that WL's "high peak" was simply the 'consummation' of WL's ministry and that the idea of WL being a ‘MOTA’ was something that all LC members recognized and agreed upon. This is what I think Ron intended to imply in a statement that is both false and disingenuous. Thus, WL’s self-inflated view is an aspect that must be taken into consideration when discussing his subsequent ministry after the late 80's.

Even if WL is to be given the benefit of the doubt, it doesn’t take much critical thought to realize the discrepancy between his own view of himself and others like the apostle Paul who considered his life as worth nothing (Acts 20:24). I’m even reluctant to make that comparison, because WL liked to try to compare himself to Paul.

So getting back to deification, WL’s ministry reflected his own self-inflated view - that us humans must become someone special. Maybe the whole notion might sound compelling to some, but if WL had expected the concept of deification to be taken seriously, then perhaps he could have started by taking Philippians 2 as a pattern. Jesus made himself a man of no reputation. One Bible version has the following heading for Phil chapter 2: Imitating Christ’s Humility. I believe that this is something that many Christians desire to learn how to do. Even the motto WWJD is not a bad standard to live by when you think about it. Isn't it interesting that LCers will mock the whole WWJD thing?

Maybe we will all fall short at imitating Jesus, but that is kinda the point. We only need to have the mind to do so. We are who we are, and we also know what Jesus wouldn't do. Jesus wouldn't declare that he must become famous or get all the credit. There's really not much else to say. LC leaders just choose to ignore it. Why? Because they don't take Jesus as their pattern. Their pattern is "Lee! Lee!" WL wasn't concerned at all with humility as he so brazenly admitted. It's no wonder LCers mock other Christians who take Phil 2:5 to heart.