[OBW]

Again, busy snooping around in older threads. And this is one that even I posted in at the time.

Early Lee v Later Lee.

I know that I gave Ohio some grief on this notion because at the time he started in on it I had been busy finding that even Nee was much like the Lee that was being demonstrated as "later Lee."

However, I did relent some, and in hindsight, I will even more so.

In the US, Lee clearly came in presenting something that would change. He did not arrive as the iron-fisted ruler of the local churches in Taiwan seeking to expand them to the US. Instead, he brought some teachings — heavily Nee's at first — that were gaining popularity within "inner life" circles. His personal connection with Nee also gave him favor with some.

And he joined small home groups without directing them. He provided some encouraging thoughts and teachings as there began to actually be "local churches" in a few places, like Elden Hall. But bit-by-bit it changed. And the more drastic changes of the 70s and into the 80s marked the stark line of "early" v "later."

So, as Obi-Wan Kenobi said to Luke concerning his claim that Anakin was killed by Darth Vader, it is somewhat a matter of perspective. Everything that we call Later Lee was there long before he came to the US. And this particular book that JJ references (and I have never read) may be the proof of the ultimate character of Lee. But it was not evident, given the perception of an Early Lee. And in practice, there was an Early Lee. He was meek (it seemed). He provided his teaching as a help. But in reality, he was already Later Lee dressed in an Early Lee costume. So Ohio was right, from one perspective. And I was right, from another perspective. Neither was simply right or simply wrong.

But what made me more sure of a "no early Lee" perspective was my finding that Nee was really not what we have so often considered him to be. He was the author of "wait for the dispensing" even though he never said it directly. But read one of his more popular booklets, Sit Walk Stand, and you can see it in there. You have to sit before you can walk. Or stand. You should not walk, or even try to walk until you have sufficiently sat.

The core of the errors in teaching goes back to mainland China. And Lee's penchant for manhandling the churches for personal gain also goes back to Taiwan. Before Taiwan, he was at best #2, therefore unable to be so controlling. But he had an excellent teacher in Nee. While Nee was excommunicated for a period due to sexual improprieties (the crux of which was not some overstep as Lee tried to claim) he prepared for his coup d'etat and returned (through Lee's manipulations) to give the messages that would be Spiritual Authority (aka Authority and Submission) which would deny anyone other than God directly the right to challenge the supreme leader (my rephrase, not Nee's term). This was the source of Deputy Authority. It was the basis to rebut Paul for saying an elder should be publicly rebuked and instead refuse that rebuke of an elder could even happen.

And this was already part of Lee's arsenal when he arrived in North America. He hid it and therefore created the illusion of an Early Lee. So from the perspective of practice, there was an Early Lee in the US. And the LCs in the 60s and early 70s were different from later times. But it was mainly because Lee had not removed his mask to reveal Palpatine was really a Sith Master in Republic clothing.

So I have a different perspective than Ohio, but respect his experience as demonstrating an Early Lee that was not visibly the same as Later Lee.

It is a complicated thing.