[UntoHim]

What IDon'tKnow has written here reminded me of what the apostle Paul wrote to the Romans (chapter 10)

"For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God"

Witness Lee no doubt had a "zeal for God", but it is rather apparent now that most of this zeal was "not in accordance with knowledge". It was not in accordance with what we know in the Word of God, nor was in accordance with the lessons that have been learned throughout church history. Most importantly, much of what Lee and his followers have done is not in accordance with God's righteousness. There is a kind of righteousness there, but it is a righteousness that is "their own" - is is not of God. Of course we know this now upon hindsight, nevertheless, we would be remiss and even foolish not to point these things out, not just for the sake of truth but for the sake of those still trapped within the Local Church system.

In regards to this heartfelt statement:

To me it is important to understand him because I refuse to believe that he was some kind of conman simply out to lord it over and lie off the saints.

This kind of reminds me of a true story about this guy who was practicing medicine without a license (he was posing as a bonafied MD doctor - he was only a nurse or something) Anyway, he apparently helped a whole lot people over an extended period of time. Eventually somebody was seriously injured (or died, can't remember) because of his malpractice. Many of his "patients" came to his defense, even after it became known that he was a fraud.

Brothers and Sisters, only God can look into our hearts. I have no idea what was in Witness Lee's heart - only God could have known that. We can only "judge" (I use this term advisedly) men by what they say and do - this is especially applicable to our Christian leaders. Again, in hindsight, it is apparent that Witness Lee was neither qualified nor fit in character or education to be the sole leader, chief theologian, historian and "wise master builder" of an entire Christian movement.

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