Premise

[countmeworthy]

Originally Posted by Ohio

CMW, this conclusion to your lost post is a little ridiculous. Is this your conclusion to Pastors putting their pictures on the church hall walls?

What got you so fired up? These comments seem totally out of character and out of place. I never saw pictures of WL on some hall wall.

This thread was a "premise" related to a book by JM. You have introduced idolatry and unleashed all God's wrath on the LSM. Can I ask what happened to you?

HEY !! SOMEONE out there is reading my posts!

Seriously though....I was on a roll yesterday... What got me so fired up??

Oh..probably a culmination of things.

Let's see if I can clear some things up.. Igzy brought up the building up of the church referring to believers...but how the group in some places..in many places becomes more important..takes presidence if you will..over the LORD and over the edification and building up of the saints.

Quoting what he concluded in his last post, Igzy wrote this:

This is the error the LC has made. In their worldview, the church as an idea or ideal is more important than the church itself. Sort of like when Linus told Lucy, "I love mankind. It's people I can't stand."

Having been in the LC and checking out different church 'bodies', I have found that congregations 'exhault' the pastors/preachers. We saw this in the LC no doubt.In the LC, it was Brother Lee's ministry.

In the other 'churches', I have frequented, I have heard statements like this:
We are so blessed to have Pastor so & so because He hears from God and the Word is passed down to us. Many preachers/teachers on TV are 'celebrities'. People are in awe of them.

In the LC, we saw there was no ministry like Lee's ministry. Sure-The LC didn't have pictures of Lee on the wall..but he sure was laid to rest in style!! Wow...not even the Pope (John Paul II had a month long 'wake'!)

In the city where I live, there are some prominent pastors, seen on TV. And yeah..one of them recently celebrated 50 years of ministry. And his picture..with him preaching was PLASTERED on an oversized billboard at the entrance of the building.

The other pastor whose church I used to attend has pictures on a hallway wall with him and a bunch of well known 'celebrity' ministers. This pastor is not well known in our country but is well known in South Africa.

So I lumped everyone together....certainly idolotry is not the theme or topic of this thread...and I am NOT trying to make it part of this thread!!!

Sorry if it came across as I was.

In fact, my spirit has been grieving over the division of the church...the entire, universal CHURCH, the BODY of Christ...
The LORD certainly raises teachers and shepherds. Pastors and ministers is an office...not a title on a piece of paper ! Nee and Lee never did have a title. In fact they went by the 'title' Brothers. But they were teachers too.

(Aside of Lee's shortcomings....and errors, most of us here, embraced the messages on Genesis, Matthew, John, Romans, Hebrews.)

We were...at least I was taught scriptures on the Blood of Jesus. Perhaps the credit should go to the leading brothers in my locality...for they were the ones who taught me the Word of God...who taught me about my spirit.

We were taught to build up the saints..to build up the church...that is one another. Did we follow through? Some of us did...some of us did not. As Igzy wrote, many 'built up the idea..or the ideal'.

Being that I have never experienced the kind of 'building' we had in the LC anywhere else, my experience in the 70's was unique.

The leading brothers in San Diego took the messages that came from Anaheim...from Brother Lee but somehow, I never felt the messages came from Anaheim. To me, personally, the messages came from the LORD speaking through the elders. Yes..they always made sure Lee got the credit..

When I would get up to 'testify' or 'prophesy' as people call it now, I don't ever recall saying 'Praise the Lord for Brother Lee!' I'd get up thanking the LORD for the message that meant something to me...that applied to me.

What a different church 'life' we may have had, had we embraced CHRIST as our LORD, as our TEACHER... truly building up one another in Christ through thick and thin..instead of holding up a person & his ministry.

Marriages would heal..and be restored. We'd be a testimony and a true witness to the world of how GREAT our GOD is !!

Fellowship among the broken relationships would be restored! Imagine the leading brothers and SISTERS who have been wounded and have wounded one another would be HEALED to the GLORY of GOD.

How I pray that one day, the middle wall of partition, the wall of division, the spirit of competition would crumble down & be crushed once and for all giving the LORD all the HONOR and GLORY HE alone deserves!

My thoughts are not strictly on the LSM/LC's problems but in all the 'ministries' around the globe. Many leaders in The 'church', the Universal church have turned it into a 'machine' of sorts.

I know this thread is supposed to be on the premise of the LSM problems but I see it soo universal, I had to throw in the Universal church into the mix.

I don't know if I got off on a rabbit trail here.
If I did, I'm sorry. I got a lot on my heart right now.
Thanks for reading my post Ohio and anyone else who read it.