Two Ways Among the Workers and the Churches by Robert Shaw

[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Terry

I do not know how to answer you UntoHim, in light of what has been revealed one can no tie why Nee took the Jerusalem way as did Lee. Absolute control.
When everyone must submit to your authority, there is no brothers to balance you. There is no one question you. At least not without them being deemed disobedient. This also explains the LC reliance on submission to authority.

I tend to look for the simplest way to explain why both Nee and Lee made a radical change in their leadership. As you have noted, both began with the Apostle Paul's "Antioch way," which stresses autonomous local churches governed by an approved body of elders. In their latter days, both dismissed this pattern in favor of the "Jerusalem way," which maintains a strong headquarters led by a leading apostle, bishop, or elder.

As a sidebar, Ignatius, the so-called church father, was a strong supporter of the bishopric. I remember reading some of his statements, and I was shocked at how much they sounded like Nee and Lee in their final days. His views seemed to place the bishop as a deputy authority or mediator between the Head and the church of God.

My simple explanation of these radical changes is unrighteousness and its subsequent coverup. For me it explains everything.