Ministry Churches

[aron]

Originally Posted by Ohio

They did not even diligently search the scriptures. Except for Revelation, the bulk of the NT does not support Nee's model.

Even in Revelation, we have an example of how quickly Nee & Lee could induce us to look away from scripture to their "local church model." Notice how in Revelations 2 and 3, the epistles are directed not to the church in Smyrna or Pergamos, but to the angel of the church in Smyrna or Pergamos. Lee said, "Pay no attention to the angel. That's just a messenger." Okay, but Jesus did pay attention to the angel; He directed his epistle to the angel.

But we don't care about that, right? We only care for the normal local church of Nee's model. So whatever is in scripture that doesn't align, just ignore it.

Even more pernicious, is that what is in scripture, and is covered and included in the normal local church model of Nee and Lee, is merely there to direct you into their local church system. Jesus Himself is only there to get us to church. And once in church, the focus is clearly placed on church, not on Jesus.

I was in a coffee shop the other day and there were two earnest young men, Bibles prominently open to one of Paul's epistles, praying fervently. I let them finish, and went over and introduced myself. It turns out one of them was the equivalent of a LC "full-timer", who was financially supported (and of course directed, or controlled) by the mother church. The other was a young college student, who was the "mark"; the worker's job was to draw the other one into the church fold.

I think it was the Church of Christ. The worker said they don't take a name, but meet as the church in that city. Denominations are wrong, divisive, and unbiblical, he said... In our discussion I mentioned something of music and the worker said that they don't use instruments there, because it isn't in the NT.

And so on. No openness, or friendliness. Just get on board or get out. So I moved on. Paul's epistle lay there, open on the table, merely useful as a means to convince the mark that the Church of Christ was the True Church. As I said, Jesus Himself was merely there to point toward the Church of Christ. I'm not kidding; Jesus' purpose was merely as the entry point to the church. From then on it becomes church, church, church.

Contrast that to what we see in the gospels. Jesus focuses on Himself! He is the way! Look at the Bible study he conducted in the book of Luke. He opened the scriptures to show them concerning Himself! He is the fulfillment of prophecy, the One whom the Father has chosen. (24:27). Then the two brothers rushed back to Jerusalem, and told the rest - yes the church was there, but the focus of the church was Jesus. Groups like the Church of Christ and the LC have instead made their focus on the church.

And I believe that this focus has produced a distorted, "fun-house mirror" effect. The church looks away from Jesus, and at the church, through this distorted lens, and it just gets weirder and weirder. Truth leaves. Love leaves. The conscience is ignored. Now the obsession is "building the body" and "being one with the brothers" and so forth.

And, as the title of this thread suggests, the obsession is on the ministry and the ministry churches, so-called. Jesus is a bit player in the drama, merely there to usher you into the supposedly normal church life as presented by Nee, Lee et al.