The Wisdom of Witness Lee

From LSM's Contending For The Faith webstite. A Portion of response to letter of 70 evangelical Christians calling on Witness Lee to cease and desist teaching some things.
[My bolding]

“On the Legitimacy of Evangelical Churches
and Denominations”

We believe, as do most Christians, that the Body of Christ is uniquely and universally one (1 Cor. 1:12-13; Eph. 4:4; Col. 3:15). We also believe that the Lord’s desire is for the practical local expression of His Body to be locally one. In fact, the divine oneness of His believers practically is among the things He died to accomplish (John 17:21; Eph. 2:14-15). The implication of this basic understanding is far reaching. It means that we must receive all genuine believers in the common fellowship of the Body of Christ (Rom. 15:7; 1 Cor. 1:9). It also means that we must strive to keep the oneness of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3) and avoid division (1 Cor. 1:10-13; 12:24-25). To maintain and testify of the oneness of the church as Christ’s Body, we cannot in good conscience participate in organizations that contribute to division in the Body of Christ. We believe that the present divided condition of the Body of Christ is a cause of grieving to our Lord and Savior. For that reason, in order to be pleasing to the Lord, we cannot agree with the present denominational system. But we hope that everyone will be absolutely clear that our disagreement with denominationalism does not in any way constitute a rejection of the believers within that system, nor does it call into question the validity of their salvation or their full participation in the eternal destiny of all God’s redeemed—the hope of glory in Christ. This represents the clear teaching of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee on these points, and we believe that this is in complete harmony with Scripture. It is our aspiration to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace, and whenever we fall short, we look to the Lord for mercy and grace that He may bring us into a walk that is well-pleasing to Him.

The shorter version of above clarification.

But we hope that everyone will be absolutely clear that our disagreement with denominationalism does not in any way constitute a rejection of the believers within that system, nor does it call into question the validity of their salvation or their full participation in the eternal destiny of all God’s redeemed

@sonship said
But we hope that everyone will be absolutely clear that our disagreement with denominationalism does not in any way constitute a rejection of the believers within that system, nor does it call into question the validity of their salvation or their full participation in the eternal destiny of all God’s redeemed

@sonship said
For the moment please just take note that his sentence there was "Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, as well as Judaism, all fall into this category, becoming AN ORGANIZATION of Satan as his tool to damage God's economy."

@Ghost-of-a-Duke

I think the sentence that precedes that one is more troubling.

'Through all the centuries since then, religious people have followed in their steps, persecuting the genuine seekers and followers of the Lord in spirit and life, while still considering themselves to be defending the interests of God....'

Ever since the Lord's recovery started in China, we have paid much attention to studying the truth and the Bible. We have read deeply into church history and thoroughly researched the various important schools of interpretation of the Bible. Hence, in our exposition of the Scriptures, we are standing on the shoulders of our predecessors. We may say that the Lord's recovery today has passed through Luther, Zinzendorf, the Brethren, and now it has reached us. This is why we have utterances such as “Christ is all-inclusive.” This is what we have seen, and this utterance is uniquely ours. We are able to see so many things because we are standing on the shoulders of our predecessors. If I stand on the ground, what I can see will be very limited, but if I climb onto the top of a thousand-man human pyramid and stand on the shoulders of the person on the very top, then I will be able to see much farther. This is not to say that we are looking down on our predecessors; rather, we are grateful for what they saw, but at the same time, we feel that what they saw was lower. Although the things they saw were numerous, they were on the ground level. Although we have not seen as many things as they first saw, the things we have seen are high and were seen from a high position.

"Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, as well as Judaism, all fall into this category, becoming an organization of Satan as his tool to damage God's economy."

Ghost:
In other words, Lee has judged Catholics, Protestants and Jews (In their entirety it seems) as persecuting those genuine seekers and followers of the Lord and doing the devil's work.

This is not loose speaking; there are many cases in which these things happened. Everyone has emotions, and the Catholics' heart to care for and sympathize with people is much better than ours. It is not surprising that people cannot escape them, and many young people become priests and nuns.

Revelation 17 through 19 speaks of “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT”; God calls, “Come out of her, My people, that you do not participate in her sins” (18:4). This shows that she is very great. Of course, we should not neglect the fact that in the Roman Catholic Church there are a small number of saved, godly people.

The history of the Lord's move in China includes the Chinese translations of the Bible. During the Nestorian period Chinese translations of some parts of the Bible already existed. When Matteo Ricci came to China, the Roman Catholics began translating the Bible into Chinese.

When Calvin Mateer first came to China, he came to the town in which I was born. One story says that he learned Chinese in an idol temple. This illustrates the fact that when the missionaries first came to China, it was difficult for them to contact the Chinese people. It was not only difficult for them to find places to stay but also to find food to eat. When they went out to buy food, people were not necessarily willing to sell to them. Thus, in the beginning their situation was very difficult. The conservative, closed attitude among the Chinese was especially strong in the northern part of China; it is truly beyond description. But God is really God; He is over all things and controls all situations, causing all things to work together for His gospel. Regardless of how closed and conservative the Chinese were, God still opened the door for the gospel.

Catholics study every area of knowledge, including education, science, and politics. They have a grasp of modern human society's psychology of education. Modern man wants to be educated; even the poor want an education. It seems that the future of human life is based on education, and those who are not educated have no future. The Catholics run excellent schools, from elementary through secondary school to the university level. Their principals, vice-principals, teachers, and professors are all specialists. Thus, people are willing to be educated by them. Once young people are among them, the Catholics use every available method to entice and encourage them to join the Roman Catholic Church. If a student converts to Catholicism, his education will be more convenient in terms of his grades and the treatment he receives.

@fmf said
If the "salvation" of Catholics and Protestants is not called into question despite their churches being accused of being "organizations of Satan", why did you recently insist that Christians who are not followers of Witness Lee, in the event of the 'end of the world', should rush out and buy his books and read them before they die?

@sonship said
@Ghost-of-a-Duke

I think the sentence that precedes that one is more troubling.

You believe what you need to.
All I can do is point out that what is a problem to you is not a problem to.

So let's consider:
[quote]
'Through all the centuries since then, religious people have followed in their steps, persecuting the genuine seekers and followers of t ...[text shortened]... The Course of the Church[b] W. Lee


That is ALL the time I have to devote to this right now.

@rajk999 said
Because like the JWs, he is of the opinion that only members of their organization will survive Armageddon. One of the defining characteristics of a cult.

@Rajk999

Because like the JWs, he is of the opinion that only members of their organization will survive Armageddon. One of the defining characteristics of a cult.

@Ghost-of-a-Duke

Could it be that Lee is just erratic and inconsistent in what he writes and where he writes it?

Interestingly, some Catholic scholar commented on Witness Lee's words and said the he was not offended because he knew Lee was not speaking against him personally.

In the book The Experts Speak expert testimony from Christian scholars were examined under oath to give their comments on the ministry of Witness Lee in the local churches/ Here are the credentials of one -

JOHN ALBERT SALIBA, Ph.D.

Father Saliba is a Catholic priest and a member of the Jesuit order. He is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Detroit, specializing in the anthropology of religion. He has written four books, including: “Homo Religious” in Mircea Eliade: An Anthropological Evaluation; Psychiatry and the Cults: An Annotated Bibliography; and Social Science and the Cults: An Annotated Bibliography. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Religion of the Catholic University in Washington.

[Dr. Saliba is a Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Detroit, Mercy. Since the time of the lawsuit he has authored many other books concerning cults and new religious movements.]

Brother Witness Lee shares some wisdom in a message dealing with receiving revelation in Genesis chapter 1.

05 Illustrations of Receiving Revelation from the Holy Word and Seeing Vision through Revelation 1

YouTube&t=9s

You have time perhaps ... to continue on [n]Genesis [/b] chapter two.

06 Illustrations of Receiving Revelation from the Holy Word and Seeing Vision through Revelation 2

YouTube

Wherein Tree Created Of

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