@divegeester
Do you think bragging that you can ask a question that has been addressed already, 100 times more proves yours ?
Dariusz, I assume you're still too timid to step put from behind some zealous atheists who have taken up your cause?
Did Witness Lee insist that only local churches which receive his ministry could be considered as genuine local churches ?
From Elders' Training, Book 04: Other Crucial Matters Concerning the Practice of the Lord's Recovery
https://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?n
From the very beginning we realized that despite the divisions, organizations, and traditions, there were a great number of genuine Christians scattered in these divisions. We saw that the Lord’s Body comprises all these genuine believers. Even in the Catholic Church we saw a number of genuine believers, and we also considered them as members of the church and as our dear brothers and sisters. On the one hand, we began to meet by ourselves, and we fully realized that the dear, genuine believers who were scattered in the Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations were our brothers. We recognized them and we loved them. We realized that the Lord’s Body as the church of God did not only comprise us but also all the genuine believers, of which we were a small part. On the other hand, we also realized that they were not remaining in the proper church life. At the beginning, we did not see the genuine ground of the church, but we still realized that many of our dear brothers did not remain in the proper church life. They had been scattered into divisions in their organizations with all the traditions.
At this juncture the Lord showed us the type in the Old Testament of the children of Israel being scattered to Syria, to Egypt, and to Babylon. When God came in to call them back to His chosen land, very few responded. The majority remained in their captivity. We realized from the Old Testament that these ones who were turned to build up the destroyed temple were the remnant of God’s people. The majority of the children of Israel remained in the heathen land; only a small number, a remnant, came back to God’s chosen land.
"Despise not the day of small beginnings." (see Zechariah 4:10)
Taking Lee's paragraph in detail, Dariusz, answer -
From the very beginning we realized that despite the divisions, organizations, and traditions, there were a great number of genuine Christians scattered in these divisions.
How come Witness Lee didn't say those scattered in divisions were not genuine Christians?
How come Lee didn't say that they were LESS genuine then those meeting in the local churches?
We saw that the Lord’s Body comprises all these genuine believers.
How come Lee said that the Body of Christ included "all these genuine believers?"
Even in the Catholic Church we saw a number of genuine believers,
How come Lee didn't say that absolutely NO believers are genuine in the Roman Catholic Church?
and we also considered them as members of the church and as our dear brothers and sisters.
Why did Witness Lee call genuine Christians in the RCC "our dear brothers and sisters?"
On the one hand, we began to meet by ourselves, and we fully realized that the dear, genuine believers who were scattered in the Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations were our brothers.
How come Witness Lee regarded Catholic churches and Protestant churches to contained what he called "scattered" believers who were "our brothers?"
We recognized them and we loved them.
Since the saints recognized them and loved them many of them, including myself, saw in the local churches something richer and more needful.
I was raised Presbyterian. I saw something richer and free from division in the local ground and in the Spirit. Had they not received me as a genuine brother I wouldn't have wasted a moment more at a local church meeting.
We realized that the Lord’s Body as the church of God did not only comprise us but also all the genuine believers,
This speaks for itself and against the slanders you seek to put out with the help of God denying atheists here.
of which we were a small part.
Of course the greater numbers of genuine brothers and sisters do not meet this way. For traditional divisions are regarded to them as pretty normal.
On the other hand, we also realized that they were not remaining in the proper church life.
Like Paul wrote his letter to the church in Corinth yet ALL Christians around the area could benefit from his intruction, So Witness Lee does not publish his ministry in secrecy. It is open to all the hungry believers.
See Paul's introduction to the letter to the church in Corinth -
"Paul, a called apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Sosthenes the brother, to the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, the called saints, with all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, who is theirs and ours." (1 Cor. 1:1,2)
Did you get that? "WITH all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in EVERY PLACE, who is THEIRS (the Lord} and ours [the Lord]."
Once again:
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy the brother, to the church of God which is in Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Archaia:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. 1:1,2) [/b]
Did you notice that? "with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia"
I think Paul knew some Christians were scattered and from the locality of Corinth. But he wanted them to benefit from his rich ministry also.
At the beginning, we did not see the genuine ground of the church, but we still realized that many of our dear brothers did not remain in the proper church life. They had been scattered into divisions in their organizations with all the traditions.
Lee makes no apologies for believing God has opened a door of REMEDY to the situation. That is the traditional situation inherited for centuries. In these last days we believe to meet His divine need a recovery of the local ground is initiated by the Spirit of God.
More than any other servant of God I can think of, Brother Witness Lee taught Christians how to take the Bible and directly get in touch with the Head Christ. Any part of the Bible could due as long as you opened your heart to the Lord and pray into the word, with the word, and over the word.
This way every member of the Body of Christ could lay hold of the Head, Christ, and no subordinate or deputy. He had a practical way to help Christians get directly to Jesus.
"And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, By means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit and watching into this in all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints." (Eph. 6:17,18)
Now many Christian know there is some link between the word of God and the Spirit of God. And intuitively many Christians come to the Bible for the Holy Spirit. Few were so persistent to encourage Christians to do so by PRAYING with the words of the Bible - taking the word "by means of all prayer".
And I think the enemy of God hated this. And all kinds of rumors of mindlessness, and manipulation and political control or whatever sticks was concocted to discredit such a move of the Spirit on earth.
Every member of the body of Christ must learn to hold fast the Head of the Body - Christ, that we may grow up into Him in all things.
Exercising the spirit by praying with the word of God is one excellent way to do this.
@sonship saidAnd yet, under Brother Witness Lee's influence, you seem to have ended up with the communication and interpersonal "skills" of a bitter, brittle, regurgitating cult member lashing out at dissent, disagreement and diversity, and thinking that unilateral assertions about how you are "becoming like Jesus" or being a "mass produced duplicate of Christ" or having a supernatural being "flowing from" you, as if it disguises or distracts from what you have become on this message board, especially in the last 2-3 years.
More than any other servant of God I can think of, Brother Witness Lee taught Christians how to take the Bible and directly get in touch with the Head Christ. Any part of the Bible could due as long as you opened your heart to the Lord and pray into the word, with the word, and over the word.
How to lay hold of Christ by praying with the word of God was a great contribution from Brother Lee.
But also small group meetings, small group gatherings he emphasized where brothers and sisters in Christ could have smaller manageable groups to help one another.
Now we praise the Lord that many groups practice "cell groups" or "home meetings". And I would never say Witness Lee was the first to teach their benefit. But he did quite a lot in his series of messages on Home Meetings to help Christians to open up their own homes for healthy smaller meetings for the building up of the body of Christ and edification of the local church.
Here are a list of Lee's messages on home meetings -
The Home Meetings—The Unique Way for the Increase and the Building Up of the Church
Here's the table of contents.
CONTENTS
1.) The Unique Way for the Increase and the Building Up of the Church
2.) The Way to Be Equipped for the Home Meetings (1)
3.) The Way to Be Equipped for the Home Meetings (2)
4.) The Way to Practice the Home Meetings
5.) The Way to Speak in the Home Meetings
6.) Speaking in the Way of Life
7.) Speaking the Living and Rich Word for Four Things
https://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?id=11FE4F
Every believer has sovereignty over their own home. No one needs to ask permission from a pastor or elder or co-worker or missionary to open their own home to invite a few Christians to meet.
Witness Lee recognized that only large meetings will not do to help believers build up one another. Again, many denominations practice "cell groups" which are similar in principle. And Witness Lee even said that we needed to learn from one very successful group on Florida which flourished in the practice of cell groups.
So Lee was not ashamed to admit that the saints in the local churches could learn from Christians not meeting on the local ground.
Dariusz, the slanderers you are coming up with don't impress me at all.
An excerpt from Lee's ministry about Home Meetings
According to the Greek expression in Acts 2:46, they met from house to house. This indicates that they did not select some houses that would fit their purpose. They met from house to house. They included every house. Today we should have our home meetings entirely according to the Holy Spirit’s created and ordained way. According to our feeling, we may say, “How could every brother have a meeting in his home? There are so many weaker ones. Oh, we had better consider and select some stronger ones.” But we must realize that selecting is not the Holy Spirit’s way—it is the human way. In Chinese this phrase means “door after door.” This indicates no selection, no missing. Whether you are weak or strong, whether old or young, whether knowledgeable or unknowledgeable, as long as you are a believer, you meet in your home. Do you dare do this? You say yes in the meeting, but after the meeting some may say there is no way to practice this. Some would say, “We selected thirty homes, but eventually fifteen have been sifted.” If you would select in this way, I am afraid that after another period of time only twelve homes would be left that are good for the home meetings. But you have to see that at the very beginning the way created by the Holy Spirit and ordained by God was to meet in two ways, in the congregational way and in the home way, not in selected homes but in all homes. If you are a Christian, if you are a believer, you have to open up your home for meeting. This is the first pattern at the initiation of the church life.
Since the Lord has shown this, I have begun to see all the benefits of this God-created-and-ordained way. If a new one would believe in the Lord, be baptized, and right away begin to open up his home for meetings, this opening up of his home would encourage him and even uphold him. Therefore, we can see that the home meetings are the top way, the super way, and eventually the unique way to meet.
https://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?cid=18