SPLIT THREAD - Early Lee - Later Lee

[OBW]

Originally Posted by Terry

Was Living Stream Ministry a family business, a non profit corporation, or both for a while?

I'm pretty sure that the LSM was always a non-profit. But as someone has noted, LSM started about the time of the Daystar demise and his move to Anaheim. Prior to that, the publisher was Stream Ministries or something like that. I have no idea about its status as for profit or non-profit.

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by OBW

I'm pretty sure that the LSM was always a non-profit. But as someone has noted, LSM started about the time of the Daystar demise and his move to Anaheim. Prior to that, the publisher was Stream Ministries or something like that. I have no idea about its status as for profit or non-profit.

The following are quotes I posted on the Sacrifice and Sail On thread some time ago (my emphasis in bold).

Originally Posted by Philip Lin

Recalling the beginnings of the Anaheim LSM Station in 1974, I think about how everything was ragged and rough, without financial support and with a shortage of manpower. It was a very tough start. However, after years of labor, it became a rather big and well-organized publisher. It was the Lord’s blessing. It was also the hard work of Brother Philip Lee and many faithful saints who gave their whole being to the ministry of Witness Lee. It is appropriate to describe the beginning of LSM by quoting Brother Lee’s wife, Sister Lee, as she told me: “this was the result of the father with his son, two men beginning work like a “swap-meet.” It is admirable. It is also the Lord’s doing.

Lin, Philip (2014-07-02). Sacrifice and Sail On: My View of Witness Lee, A Bond Slave of Jesus Christ (Kindle Location 1292). Sail On Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Following the Lord’s leading, I established the Gospel Bookroom and the Living Stream Ministry both to spread the messages of His recovery. The purpose of such establishment is not for building up an enterprise for myself or my children to secure any gain. In order to protect the copyright from confusion, I decided that the Gospel Bookroom and the Living Stream Ministry should pay me a royalty. Any excess that I received would be offered to the Lord for His use. Later, the royalty I received became more than before. In addition to offering to the Lord, I used the rest to support those of you children who are in need. At the beginning of 1994, while I was resting in the hospital, I felt that although what I received from my royalty payment was a result of my writing, the source of such writing is the word of the Lord. I vowed to the Lord that after I am taken away by the Lord, beginning from the year after that, I will offer all the royalty to the Lord.

Lin, Philip (2014-07-02). Sacrifice and Sail On: My View of Witness Lee, A Bond Slave of Jesus Christ (p. 277). Sail On Publishers. Kindle Edition.

It is clear that WL's family benefited financially from his ministry. On the surface, maybe that doesn't necessarily concern most people. But my question is why his adult children were needing his support? Why did his family as a whole need so much support? It's stated that at one point LSM was "ragged and rough", so we could presume that there was a point in time where everyone in Lee's family realized that they needed to fend for themselves. Apparently this never happened. Apparently what LSM needed all along was "the hard work of Brother Philip Lee..."

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by Freedom

It is clear that WL's family benefited financially from his ministry. On the surface, maybe that doesn't necessarily concern most people. But my question is why his adult children were needing his support? Why did his family as a whole need so much support? It's stated that at one point LSM was "ragged and rough", so we could presume that there was a point in time where everyone in Lee's family realized that they needed to fend for themselves. Apparently this never happened. Apparently what LSM needed all along was "the hard work of Brother Philip Lee..."

I think LSM should have deep gratitude towards Philip Lee for having established the standing order as I have been led to believe....it's his creation.

As to your question Freedom, allegedly Timothy Lee became a millionaire as a result of Daystar. Lee's other children wanted a piece of the pie too. With Philip working for LSM in Anaheim, who knows how many other Lee children worked for LSM whether in Anaheim or Taipei?
In the mid-80's/early 90's I had attended a conference in Anaheim where Witness Lee referenced his grandson who was going to medical school. How would he go to medical school without support?

[HERn]

Originally Posted by Terry

I think LSM should have deep gratitude towards Philip Lee for having established the standing order as I have been led to believe....it's his creation.

As to your question Freedom, allegedly Timothy Lee became a millionaire as a result of Daystar. Lee's other children wanted a piece of the pie too. With Philip working for LSM in Anaheim, who knows how many other Lee children worked for LSM whether in Anaheim or Taipei?
In the mid-80's/early 90's I had attended a conference in Anaheim where Witness Lee referenced his grandson who was going to medical school. How would he go to medical school without support?

Anybody can go to med school with loans. I know that grandson and he dropped out of med school. We were in two localities together. He was such a piss-poor husband and dad that his wife divorced him. One of the elders called him a Jacob. I love his wife and children, but he is one of the reasons that I concluded that the recovery was b---s---.

[HERn]

Originally Posted by HERn

Anybody can go to med school with loans. I know that grandson and he dropped out of med school. We were in two localities together. He was such a piss-poor husband and dad that his wife divorced him. One of the elders called him a Jacob. I love his wife and children, but he is one of the reasons that I concluded that the recovery was b---s---.

His oldest child married a baptist and meets with them. His middle I'm not sure about. His youngest I believe is gay. We all have family problems, but he was weird in that he was never home. He always took jobs that required him to live in another state. He knew the Ministry like the back of his hand. He was a leading one in our locality but never used his connection to WL in an outward way.

[HERn]

Originally Posted by HERn

His oldest child married a baptist and meets with them. His middle I'm not sure about. His youngest I believe is gay. We all have family problems, but he was weird in that he was never home. He always took jobs that required him to live in another state. He knew the Ministry like the back of his hand. He was a leading one in our locality but never used his connection to WL in an outward way.

I am so glad that I have been Lee-free for almost 18 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by HERn

He was such a piss-poor husband and dad that his wife divorced him. One of the elders called him a Jacob.

When a brother is for the ministry, speaks positively,
it doesn't matter to fellow brothers what the real situation at home is, they'll look just the other way. LCM barometer is the ministry. That's what brothers get measured by. A brother can be physically abusive, verbally abusive, or even a substance abuser. Just as long as he's positive for the ministry, the rest doesn't matter.....The ends justifies the means.