One Church - One City - Biblical?

byHismercy · 05-18-2019, 07:07 PM

One church one city is not only non essential doctrine, it is a non issue to the Lord. This doctrine comes from another source. If the Lord Christ desires we all be one as He and the Father are one, you better believe Satan is is sitting on his wee, sad, doomed to burn in hell forever throne sending all his minions out to confuse and confound believers with lying doctrine which results in the exact opposite of the Lords' desire......DIVISION....SEPARATION.....and the INABILITY to have real ONENESS. Which of course has become the Local Church fruit. It makes me mad and sad, and frustrated. How will we ever be one in Jesus with the Local Church believers when they have this bizarre culture of total silence? The saints in my life shut the door on all communication, with the exception being the peculiar attempt at communication without actually acknowledging a single word I said. What kind of fun new game is this, anyway? It all smacks of the enemies' tricks to me. Maybe some think my opinion is extreme but who else would be clapping his evil hands and jumping up and down to see the body divided so? We are witnessing the spiritual warfare play out right before our spiritual eyes, are we not?

Lord Jesus, give us all Your love for each other, give us all Your eyes, Your wisdom, Your doctrine, Your ears, Your faith, and Your love for the Father. Amen.

byHismercy

ZNPaaneah · 05-18-2019, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by byHismercy

One church one city is not only non essential doctrine, it is a non issue to the Lord. This doctrine comes from another source. If the Lord Christ desires we all be one as He and the Father are one, you better believe Satan is is sitting on his wee, sad, doomed to burn in hell forever throne sending all his minions out to confuse and confound believers with lying doctrine which results in the exact opposite of the Lords' desire......DIVISION....SEPARATION.....and the INABILITY to have real ONENESS.

Yes, you shall know them by their fruit. What is the fruit of this doctrine? Oneness with all believers in the city? No, definitely not. Instead the fruit is a judgmental attitude that every other believer is in some kind of spiritual fornication, insulting the Lord, and that they would become tarnished spiritually if they had fellowship with them. Hence, it is not simply a heresy, but a damnable heresy.

byHismercy · 05-18-2019, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah

Yes, you shall know them by their fruit. What is the fruit of this doctrine? Oneness with all believers in the city? No, definitely not. Instead the fruit is a judgmental attitude that every other believer is in some kind of spiritual fornication, insulting the Lord, and that they would become tarnished spiritually if they had fellowship with them. Hence, it is not simply a heresy, but a damnable heresy.

Yes indeed. Damnable heresy. And I remember that arrogance on full display the very very last time I ever bothered to make that 30 plus mile drive down to town for a conference meeting being streamed at the home of some saints there. RK was ranting about how not everybody should pray. About how not all are qualified to pray. I was so shocked and offended at the speaking....I mentioned it to a couple of other sisters and they also disagreed, and couldn't really justify it nor talk about it with me. I think it was a real eye opener for me, that conference. I think it was Thanksgiving 2 years ago? Does anyone else remember that? I couldn't believe a man of God would believe what he was speaking....

Kevin · 05-18-2019, 09:20 PM

I've seen this 'One Church, one City' paradigm to be divisive and doublespeak of its implications in the attitudes and actions of the LC members. The inclusivity statements of Witness Lee might sound veracious at hand, but the truth is, when a lengthy assessment that contradict other radical statements of Lee's writings that actually suggests elitist exclusivism. It is liable to charge of being two-faced, that Christians in Christianity may be part of the universal church, but the other way around they are said to be living in error. It is illogical inconsistent, which has an implication of superiority over outsiders. Therefore, the teaching of the "ground of locality" is hypocritical at face value.

byHismercy · 05-18-2019, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin

I've seen this 'One Church, one City' paradigm to be divisive and doublespeak of its implications in the attitudes and actions of the LC members. The inclusivity statements of Witness Lee might sound veracious at hand, but the truth is, when a lengthy assessment that contradict other radical statements of Lee's writings that actually suggests elitist exclusivism. It is liable to charge of being two-faced, that Christians in Christianity may be part of the universal church, but the other way around they are said to be living in error. It is illogical inconsistent, which has an implication of superiority over outsiders. Therefore, the teaching of the "ground of locality" is hypocritical at face value.

Hypocrisy is the word of the day. The word that best encapsulates The Ministry/Local Church. The realization coming out the other side was that it was all kinds of truth being spoken, the spoken agreement with one Spirit, one body, one Lord, one faith....all that was agreed with aloud. However the reality of those things is denied in actions.....it was a facade! How easily I was deceived. In word there was an agreement with scripture. But in reality, the faith in the misleading doctrine usurped the believers there from the pure word of God, the reality of the oneness of Spirit.

Kevin · 05-18-2019, 10:13 PM

A tree is known by its fruit.

Cal · 05-20-2019, 02:08 PM

There is one church in each city, just like there is one church on earth and one church in the USA and one church in Texas and one church in Travis County.

But there is nothing in the Bible that says the one church in a city must be a "practical church," that is, one with a single tightly-coordinated set of leaders who recognize no other organizational entity but their own and expect everyone in the city to join and follow them. The Bible contains no such thought.

The Bible clearly identifies city churches. But it also identifies house churches, which introduces sufficient reasonable doubt on the city-church-only doctrine. There is no definitive text which says beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt there can be only one practical (meaning operationally organized on a regular basis) church per city. The thought is just not there, but rather must be assumed.

To assume a doctrine with such extreme and far-reaching implications (for assuming it is to invalidate 99.999% of churches on the face of the earth) is clearly much too much.

Add to this the fact that in its history the doctrine has plainly not produced any true oneness, but rather only a "oneness" of a personality sect, and you have sufficient reason to discard it as at best gravely flawed and most likely perniciously destructive.

As far as I'm concerned the horses have left the barn on this teaching. It's false. I recommend no one lose any sleep over it.

05-18-2019, 07:07 PM	#1
byHismercy Member Join Date: Apr 2018 Location: Pacific Northwest Posts: 439	Re: One Church - One City - Biblical? One church one city is not only non essential doctrine, it is a non issue to the Lord. This doctrine comes from another source. If the Lord Christ desires we all be one as He and the Father are one, you better believe Satan is is sitting on his wee, sad, doomed to burn in hell forever throne sending all his minions out to confuse and confound believers with lying doctrine which results in the exact opposite of the Lords' desire......DIVISION....SEPARATION.....and the INABILITY to have real ONENESS. Which of course has become the Local Church fruit. It makes me mad and sad, and frustrated. How will we ever be one in Jesus with the Local Church believers when they have this bizarre culture of total silence? The saints in my life shut the door on all communication, with the exception being the peculiar attempt at communication without actually acknowledging a single word I said. What kind of fun new game is this, anyway? It all smacks of the enemies' tricks to me. Maybe some think my opinion is extreme but who else would be clapping his evil hands and jumping up and down to see the body divided so? We are witnessing the spiritual warfare play out right before our spiritual eyes, are we not? Lord Jesus, give us all Your love for each other, give us all Your eyes, Your wisdom, Your doctrine, Your ears, Your faith, and Your love for the Father. Amen. byHismercy

05-18-2019, 09:20 PM	#4
Kevin Member Join Date: Jun 2017 Posts: 203	Re: One Church - One City - Biblical? I've seen this 'One Church, one City' paradigm to be divisive and doublespeak of its implications in the attitudes and actions of the LC members. The inclusivity statements of Witness Lee might sound veracious at hand, but the truth is, when a lengthy assessment that contradict other radical statements of Lee's writings that actually suggests elitist exclusivism. It is liable to charge of being two-faced, that Christians in Christianity may be part of the universal church, but the other way around they are said to be living in error. It is illogical inconsistent, which has an implication of superiority over outsiders. Therefore, the teaching of the "ground of locality" is hypocritical at face value. __________________ If there is anything that the people of our day need to realize, it is these very words of Jonah, simple yet neglected: “Salvation is of the LORD.”

05-18-2019, 10:13 PM	#6
Kevin Member Join Date: Jun 2017 Posts: 203	Re: One Church - One City - Biblical? A tree is known by its fruit. __________________ If there is anything that the people of our day need to realize, it is these very words of Jonah, simple yet neglected: “Salvation is of the LORD.”

05-20-2019, 02:08 PM	#7
Cal Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: USA Posts: 4,333	Re: One Church - One City - Biblical? There is one church in each city, just like there is one church on earth and one church in the USA and one church in Texas and one church in Travis County. But there is nothing in the Bible that says the one church in a city must be a "practical church," that is, one with a single tightly-coordinated set of leaders who recognize no other organizational entity but their own and expect everyone in the city to join and follow them. The Bible contains no such thought. The Bible clearly identifies city churches. But it also identifies house churches, which introduces sufficient reasonable doubt on the city-church-only doctrine. There is no definitive text which says beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt there can be only one practical (meaning operationally organized on a regular basis) church per city. The thought is just not there, but rather must be assumed. To assume a doctrine with such extreme and far-reaching implications (for assuming it is to invalidate 99.999% of churches on the face of the earth) is clearly much too much. Add to this the fact that in its history the doctrine has plainly not produced any true oneness, but rather only a "oneness" of a personality sect, and you have sufficient reason to discard it as at best gravely flawed and most likely perniciously destructive. As far as I'm concerned the horses have left the barn on this teaching. It's false. I recommend no one lose any sleep over it. Last edited by Cal; 05-20-2019 at 05:11 PM.