Please Keep Benson Phillips and his Family in your Thoughts and Prayers

[UntoHim]

Apparently Benson has been taken off life support.
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[Trapped]

Originally Posted by UntoHim

Apparently Benson has been taken off life support.
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I guess this could mean two different things.....either his situation has improved so that he no longer needs to be on life support, or he has a, say, DNR, and it was deemed that his situation is such that they are going to allow him to pass without extraordinary measures. Do we know which?

I dunno - I guess I'll just say it. These kinds of situations with the co-workers (Ron and Benson most recently) are hard because they are really the ones responsible for keeping the members in the local church trapped and deceived, and frankly the more who were directly close to Witness Lee who pass away, the better the chance that tight grip has of loosening there. But no one wants to wish someone would die. That is certainly not my wish for Benson or any of the co-workers, at least when I'm in my right mind.

But how do we pray the best prayers for life for those who have caused countless lifetimes of damage to so many people? I also have a hard time with that. The best I can do in this situation is to indeed pray for life or for a recovery, but not so they can continue on in their "function" in the local church, which is a wicked function, but rather, so that the leading brother has more time to repent. That I can do. God is always wanting us to repent and turn and acknowledge what we've done, and I can certainly want and pray for that too, even praying for cult leaders to recover so they have every chance to repent and turn.

Trapped

[Zezima]

Originally Posted by Trapped

These kinds of situations with the co-workers (Ron and Benson most recently) are hard because they are really the ones responsible for keeping the members in the local church trapped and deceived, and frankly the more who were directly close to Witness Lee who pass away, the better the chance that tight grip has of loosening there. But no one wants to wish someone would die. That is certainly not my wish for Benson or any of the co-workers, at least when I'm in my right mind.

What happened to Ron? Not sure who benson is.

[Nell]

Originally Posted by Zezima

What happened to Ron? Not sure who benson is.

Here is a July 9 video announcement about Ron:
https://www.lsm.org/announcements/


Benson is President of Living Stream Ministry.

[Trapped]

The announcement about Ron is so strange to watch now that I haven't been in the direct LSM level meetings for a while. A few things I noticed:

1. I know Ed wasn't doing well a few years ago. His speech seems slurred here. Has he has a stroke or some other kind of neurological event?

2. What a strange thing to warn the saints not to do - don't pray for Ron directly. They believe in a God who doesn't care about Ron.....He just cares about His own interests and how Ron is a pawn in carrying His own interests out. They talk as if the church and the kingdom are separate things from the believers themselves. The strange flip side is they pray as if Ron himself is crucially necessary for God to carry out what He wants. Like God can't do it without Ron. Strange contradictory views happening at the same time there.

3. I noticed all the co-workers started their prayers with something like "Lord Jesus, we love you". They direct their prayers to Jesus.....who is the One in the Bible who told us to direct our prayers to the Father. Jesus died so we would have access to God, and yet the co-workers pray as if the veil is still in place and Jesus is the messenger, not the One who cleared the way to the Father.

4. Their prayers also clearly indicate that they think that Ron's cardiac issues are a part of Satan's attack. Ron has not been slim for quite some time now, although he has spoken about exercising on a treadmill. Unless there are genetic factors at play, Ron's clogged arteries are probably more a product of his diet, lifestyle, and age than Satan's attack. An 80+ year old man who angrily rails against anyone shining light on his secrets having health issues must, in their eyes, be the attack of the devil! This shows how they view literally any problems in their life.....how tiring.

It is my understanding that Ron ended up needing a quadruple bypass, i.e. open heart surgery. Unless they did something non-traditional like off-pump keyhole coronary bypass, his surgery would have been the whole shebang - chest cracked, heart stopped during surgery, veins/arteries harvested, the whole nine yards. If so, his recovery period will likely be extensive.

Trapped

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Trapped

The announcement about Ron is so strange to watch now that I haven't been in the direct LSM level meetings for a while. A few things I noticed:

2. What a strange thing to warn the saints not to do - don't pray for Ron directly. They believe in a God who doesn't care about Ron.....He just cares about His own interests and how Ron is a pawn in carrying His own interests out. They talk as if the church and the kingdom are separate things from the believers themselves. The strange flip side is they pray as if Ron himself is crucially necessary for God to carry out what He wants. Like God can't do it without Ron. Strange contradictory views happening at the same time there.

Yes, strange indeed.

Back in the 90's I heard this strange kind of talk related to WL's health. Never understood what was being conveyed. One of those esoteric things - only the elite insiders can supposedly understand. As if Satan could use our prayers to damage WL somehow. Probably the source was something WN had said, based on something JPL had once said.

[Ohio]

When I think of RK, MC, and BP, I am reminded of Romans 16.17 and what these ones did to the Midwest LC's -- "Mark these ones who make divisions and causes of stumbling, and turn away from them."

[Zezima]

Originally Posted by Nell

Here is a July 9 video announcement about Ron:
https://www.lsm.org/announcements/


Benson is President of Living Stream Ministry.

Thanks for that video. Benson isn’t involved with speaking much, what does the president do?

Also, how long does the Recovery go on once people with direct contact to lee start to pas away?

[Timotheist]

Originally Posted by Zezima

Thanks for that video. Benson isn’t involved with speaking much, what does the president do?

Also, how long does the Recovery go on once people with direct contact to lee start to pas away?

Back in the '80s, Benson was sort of a regional super-elder for the Texas/Oklahoma sector. At first he was more a preacher than a leader. But he definitely seemed to flourish as an 'attorney general' whenever a rebellion happened. My most imprinted memories of him is when he came into town to lay down the law.

W. Lee died several years after I left, but I gather that Benson was very instrumental in the forming of the "blended brothers". He went on a tour asking for all the elders to sign an oath to stay in one accord with the MOTA.

Now I must caveat all of this with the fact I was a high school/college student during this time, so I am certain my description above could use some improvements.

In fact, I would like to read corrective responses, just so I can make the proper adjustments to my perceptions.

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Timotheist

W. Lee died several years after I left, but I gather that Benson was very instrumental in the forming of the "blended brothers". He went on a tour asking for all the elders to sign an oath to stay in one accord with the MOTA.

The original "oath" BP and RG promoted was during an Elders Conf in ~ Feb 1986. There are many posts on the forum concerning this event.

Originally Posted by Trapped

These kinds of situations with the co-workers (Ron and Benson most recently) are hard because they are really the ones responsible for keeping the members in the local church trapped and deceived, and frankly the more who were directly close to Witness Lee who pass away, the better the chance that tight grip has of loosening there. But no one wants to wish someone would die. That is certainly not my wish for Benson or any of the co-workers, at least when I'm in my right mind.

I pray that God gives both of these man enough time to come to their senses. Sometimes these are the ways God works to wake people up, but it seems to me that the grip of power and all the years of unrepentant hearts set in so deep, that they will take it to the grave with them.