[Freedom]

Lee's legacy is tainted by two factors which have become increasingly apparent. 1) He overstated his relationship with Nee and 2) he used the ground of locality doctrine to distance himself from his peers.

By every indication, during the beginning of the LCM in the U.S., Lee was regarded as a mentor because he had worked with Nee. There were others who had worked with Nee, and I suppose they could have filled the same role. Lee just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Somewhere along the way, Lee managed to discredit Nee's other coworkers as not having had as close of a relationship with Nee as he did. Perhaps no one will ever know what was the case, but suffice to say, after Nee's imprisonment, Lee could have made any claims he wanted to about his relationship with Nee.

It had always been my assumption that the practice of "local churches" in China is exactly what was emulated in the U.S. when it began here. It now seems very certain that wasn't the case. The disagreements that Lee had with those like Kaung and others highlight that point. If they had indeed been practicing Lee's view of local churches in China, it wouldn't make sense that all of Nee's other coworkers would disagree with what Lee was pushing. This is why it seems like Lee at least particular formulated his version of the ground of locality teaching as a means to separate himself from his peers.