Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!iuvax!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: ROBERT@kontu.utu.fi (Robert W. Johnson) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: The Local Churches -- cult or Christian Body Message-ID: Date: 23 Oct 90 08:00:35 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 224 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu [I've combined two postings that seem to be on the same subject. As will become clear as you read this posting, the term "Local Churches" is apparently being used to characterize a specific group, which I suppose we would call a denomination. --clh] On whether the Local Churches are a cult or an orthodox Christian religious body. Writing a textbook on Cults is similar to writing biographies on famous mobsters. In such a book, one might write a section on the Mafia with biographies on Al Capone, Joe Dellinger (sp ?), Jimmy Hoffa, in separate chapters. In the Appendix, one might list the names of business associates of famous mobsters. Let's say that your friend Tim xxxx got mentioned in the Appendix. Even if the appendix states that business activities of Mr. Tim xxxx are legitimate and within the law, the mere fact that Mr. Tim xxxx's business activities were described in a book alongside that of Al Capone's businesses would cast much doubt about the integrity of Mr. Tim xxxx. Some honest businessmen of high repute might choose to avoid Mr. Tim xxxx and his business because they suspect that Mr. Tim xxxx's business is associated with the Mafia based on the book. The situation with the Local Church in Larsen's Book of Cults is similar. Larsen's evaluation of the Local Church was not bad compared to what was written about the real cults in the main chapters of his book. However, the mere fact that Witness Lee and the Local Churches were grouped together with the infamous and outrageous cults has caused many people to avoid dealing people who meet with the Local Church. A man's reputation is like a pillow. When the pillowcase is broken, the feathers inside are scattered by the wind. Once the feathers are scattered; they can never be collected and the pillow can never be put back together in a whole way. The same is true of Witness Lee. An Orange County Superior Court has judged Neal Duddy's and Jack Spark's books to be slanderous in 1981 but many people in Christianity are still ignorant of this fact. Larsen has retracted his section on the Local Church and he no longer includes the Local Church in any of his more recent versions. News about the courtroom victories and Larsen's retraction travel slowly. Once someone has planted the notion that the local churches are a cult; it takes years to clearup the damage. So the reality is that some Christians may continue to insist that the Local Churches are a cult for many years to come. If you ask the Living Stream Ministry about the accusations in those books, you would learn about the outcome of the lawsuits against Duddy and Sparks and about Larsen's retraction. Some people claim that the Local Churches are a cult. The following is addressed to those that make such claims. On Sunday morning, I meet with Christians who have taken the ground of "The Church in College Station". We have been bold to take this ground because of the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Watchman Nee founded a Church in Shanghai, a Church in Chungking, a Church in Nanking, and 200 other local churches across China from 1930 until his imprisonment in 1952. Without their writings, I would not be so bold as to stand for the ground of the church. Last December, I saw Brother Lee speak in Anaheim, California. So I meet among those people whom you have judged to be a "cult". The local churches do NOT teach that it is the only body of genuine believers. Such a teaching is divisive and contrary to God's Word revealed in the Bible. In Pentecostalism, there are genuine believers; in the Lutheran Church, there are genuine believers; in the Episcopal church, there are genuine believers; in the Baptist church, there are genuine believers; in the Methodist church, there are genuine believers; in Roman Catholicism, there are genuine believers. My dad is a genuine believer who meets in Roman Catholicism. I will have to leave out the names of other Christian groups and denominations in order to keep this message short. The principle revealed in the Scriptures is that God's salvation is unconditionally available to all men. Our eternal salvation does not depend on where we choose to go on Sunday morning. Someone who would make such an accusation about the local churches must not have been with the local churches. Many people have misunderstood the local church and have incorrectly attributed teachings to it. Like any Christian group, we do have beliefs that are special and unique among Christian groups. We have certain beliefs that some Christian groups have attacked as bad doctrine. There are items of generality and speciality of the Christian faith. There are specific items of the Christian faith that one must contend for and there are other items of the faith where we can be so general as to follow Romans 14:1: "Now him who is weak in faith receive, not with a view to passing judgement on reasonings." Applying the word "cult" in describing a Christian group implies that it has "satanic" and "heretical" elements. In Christianity, there are many bad and incorrect teachings but a bad teaching is not necessarily a heretical teaching. Many Christians groups have incorrect teachings but it would be wrong to judge them to be a "cult". Heresy attacks the person of Christ and the work of Christ. According to John Epistles, heretical teachings that attack the person of Christ and the work of Christ are evil works in the eyes of God. When you use the "cult" in describing the group of Christians whom I have chosen to meet with, then you are accusing me and my fellow brothers of working with Satan to destroy the person and work of Christ! You have accused me of not being a genuine Christian! I suggest that you do better research before you make such an accustion. The Institute for the Study of American Religion is an independent organization that you can use to verify Christian groups. Dr. J. Gordon Melton, a Methodist preacher, publishes the "Encyclopedia of American Religions". How does Dr. J. Gordon Melton classify religions? He has different categories of classification such as : The Baptist Family, The Methodist Family The Lutheran Family, The Pentecostal Family, The Episcopalian Family, The Independent Fundamentalist Family, The Family of Eastern Religions, The Magik Family. The Magik Family is a group of many different churches which use voodoo, withcraft, and satanism. The Family of Eastern Religions includes includes Hinduism and Buddism. There are also subfamilies and classes within families of religions. There are some groups that have such bizarre teachings that they fit into a special unclassfiable category. Where does Dr. J. Gordon Melton place the Local Churches? He places them in the category of The Independent Fundamentalist Family. Some of the many churches that he places in this category are the Plymouth Brethren and other Brethren Congregations, the Berean Bible Fellowship, the Truth for Today Bible Fellowship, the Bible Churches (Classics Expositor). In explaining how he made such classifications that distinguish the Independent Fundamentalist Family from other Families, he spends many pages explaining the teachings of John Nelson Darby and Scofield. Much of the teachings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee stand on the teachings of the many Brethren writers such as John Nelson Darby, D.M. Panton, Scofield, and G.H. Pember. About 90% of the teaching of the local churches is the teaching of these Brethren writers. In the 19th century, the most prevailing preacher in the United States was D.L. Moody. Both Billy Graham and D.L. Moody have saved over 500,000 people. However, D.L. Moody saved his 500,000 before the advent of radio and television. D.L. Moody admitted that the writer whom he found to be of the greatest value was John Nelson Darby. Please check out the "American Encyclopedia of Religions" by J. Gordon Melton published in 1989. Its Library of Congress catalog number is BL 2525 M449. It is easily accessible here at the Texas A&M library and I would expect that other libraries around the nation should have a copy. If you unable to obtain this book or still have unanswered questions, you can write to: Dr. J. Gordon Melton Institute for the Study of American Religions P.O. Box 90709, Santa Barbara, CA 93190-0709 Yes, it is true that Lee does teach that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are really part of one Triune God in different manifestations. I have already submitted messages which contend this point. It is fair and reasonable for someone to disagree with these points if someone's conscience is bothering him. Also, the Christ that we worship is the same Christ who was crucified on the cross and resurrected on the third day like the rest of Christianity. What about Larsen's Book of Cults? The section of Bob Larsen's book on the local church stands on the work of other authors who are Jack Sparks and Neil Duddy. Bob Larsen only paraphrased material that was written in these books. At the time that Larsen published his Book of Cults, he had no idea that Duddy and Sparks books contained unfounded lies and slander. The Living Stream Ministry initiated a lawsuit against Sparks and Duddy in 1979. These authors purposedly misrepresented Brother Lee's teachings. When they quoted Brother Lee, they often removed critical words in critical places. They also added prepositions and conjunctions in critical places so that the implied message in their book was totally different from the message that Brother Lee intended to impart. Much worse, they falsely attributed statements to Brother Lee that he never made and attributed beliefs to Brother Lee that are completely opposed to Brother Lee's teachings. It is also obvious that these authors had malicious intent when they fabricated their books. Slander cases are difficult to prove in court for several reasons. It is not enough to prove that someone is factually wrong. According to the Federal laws regarding slander and libel, one must prove that the defendent had malicious intent. For example, I can prove that Mr. X's accusations are wrong but I can never prove in court that Mr. X has malicious intents. It is likely that Mr. X's intentions are very good; he only wants to expose what he considers to be the truth. As long as Mr. X can show that he honestly does not know that his information about the Local Church is false, then any court in the land would have to find Mr. X innocent of any charges of slander and libel. The lawyers for the Living Stream Ministry not only had to prove that Duddy and Sparks were factually wrong but they also had to prove that they had malicious intents to do harm to Brother Lee. The case ended up as a victory for Brother Lee in the courtroom. One of the book publishers, Thomas Nelson, Inc. was forced to publish an official note of apology to Brother Lee and the Living Stream Ministry. This note of apology was published in the Los Angeles Times, the Dallas Morning News, the Wall Street Journal, and many other major newspapers. In these newspapers, Thomas Nelson Publishing Inc. formally apologized for having wrongfully published slanderous material against Brother Lee. In addition, the Living Stream Ministry won a $11.9 million judgement. Bob Larsen published a retraction and an apology concerning his Book of Cults. Larsens' Book of Cults stands on work that a judge in an Orange County Superior Court had judged to be libelous. So if you contact Bob Larsen, he will tell you the truth regarding this lawsuit. After this lawsuit was settled around 1983, some individuals have still continued to distribute the slanderous material of Duddy and Sparks with a statement saying that "The author has retracted this message". The reason that the author retracted his message was that an Orange County Superior Court, along with the publishing and insurance companies had forced the author to do so. I recommend Dr. J. Gordon Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions for several reasons. The third edition is recent; it was published in 1989. When researching religious groups and cults, it is important to have the most up-to-date information possible. Dr. Melton is a Methodist minister with a doctorate in divinity; he is independent of the local churches. Also, he took part in the lawsuit against Sparks and Duddy and was placed on the witness stand for examination by lawyers on both sides. He wrote a book that exposed and attacked Neil Duddy's work. His entry on the Local Church in the Encyclopedia of American Religions briefly mentions and explains the lawsuit. ----- Robert W. Johnson Computer center, The University of Turku, Turku Finland robert@kontu.utu.fi (InterNet) robert@firien.bitnet (BITNET) The preceeding is my opinion and may not express the opinion of my employer and furthermore has nothing to do with my employment.