User:Khalfani khaldun/Controversies merger

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Non-Theological Controversies

Naming Issues

See the main article, local churches (affiliation) for further explanation of the name(s) of the group.

Despite the general rejection of the name The Local Church; on May 23, 2001, the Church in Houston (TX) began attempts to seek WIPO mediation in order to acquire the domain name [1] from Jim Moran of Light of Truth Ministries, a ministry critical of Witness Lee and the Local Churches based on "trademark rights" based on other's referral to "the Church in Houston" as the "local church".

The WIPO mediation panel found that the Church in Houston's claim to the domain name was not valid, due to several factors including that many more local churches besides the Church in Houston could claim usage of the service mark The Local Church, and thus rejected their claim to the domain name.

Daystar

In the early days of the Local Churches, a need to generate money to support full-time workers led some in the leadership to seek out money-generating businesses to invest in. A struggling RV company (Daystar) was purchased. To acquire and run the business, members of the Local Churches were invited to invest in the business venture as the Lord led them but were not required to do so. Witness Lee was the chairman of the board of the company. Shortly after the business was started, the oil crisis of the 1970s sent gas prices soaring and the market for gas fell drastically. Later the Daystar factory located in Kaohsiung Taiwan was converted into a chairs manufacturing plant. Several churches then purchased their meeting chairs in the meeting halls from Daystar. Eventually, Daystar did close their business. Some of the members who could afford to, decided to consider their business investment a donation while others who chose to, were fully paid back. The remaining Daystar debts were paid by Witness Lee so they could recover their investment. Witness Lee reportedly expressed regret for the mistake. In 1988 an anonymous pamphlet written by an "ex-member" who to this day refuses to identify himself entitled Reconsideration of the Vision brought forth unsubstantiated allegations related to Daystar including coercion and the spiritual intimidation of some members who invested as well as the misappropriation of money that include members of Witness Lee's family.

The New Way

In an attempt to spread and grow the Local Churches, Witness Lee spent from 1984 through the remainder of his life defining and establishing “the new way” due to the perceived degradation and oldness that had crept into the Local Churches. The new way consisted of 4 major pillars:

1. establishing meetings in homes according to the pattern set forth by the initial church (Acts 2:46)
2. going forth to proclaim the Word, especially through door-knocking (2 Tim 4:2,5)
3. growing in life through experiencing Christ in a daily way, to minister Christ as life (1 Pet 2:2 , 2 Cor 3:3)
4. perfecting the saints to function properly in the church by having the practice of the church life in the homes (1 Cor 14:1,26,31 , Rom 12:6)

Keeping the oneness was paramount to their existence as "local churches" standing on the ground of oneness. This translated into keeping the fellowship and teaching of the apostles (Acts 2:42) , the same spiritual diet (1 Cor 10:4), and one ministry (2 Cor 4:1). Although all believers are received according to God and not doctrine or practice (Rom 14:3) , ones who cause such division should be refused (Titus 3:10) . In the mid 1980s four leaders who had been with Witness Lee for years believed the churches were no longer practicing the Biblical oneness and resigned as elders and coworkers. Lee responded by calling them “a fermenting rebellion” that needed to be “quarantined”. This was a term that was similar to but distinct from the Brethren’s term, excommunication, borrowed from Leviticus 13:4, and Numbers 12:14 ("shut up outside the camp" until clean). In spite of these and other difficulties the work of Witness Lee regarding the new way continues to increase and spread Local Churches around the globe.

Following Witness Lee’s death a group that called themselves “the blended brothers” took control of the ministry and eventually continued the practice to quarantine long-time co-workers of Witness Lee if they were deemed by the blended brothers to be not one with the blended brothers. One coworker who was quarantined in 2006 was accused of looking out for his own interests, of trying to take control of some portion of the work in China, of having his own rival training, of selectively following Witness Lee’s teaching, of using messages from Witness Lee in the Lord’s day meetings that were different from the ones the blended brothers were using, of publishing his own material, of holding a gathering at the same time as one of the designated seven annual local church gatherings, and of not being as close to Witness Lee as the blended brothers were. In response the quarantined brother accused the accusing “blended brothers” of laying claim to the “blended brothers’ title based on Lee’s hope that some would continue his ministry in a blended way, of rejecting the local aspect of the Body of Christ and not being clear about the universal aspect of the Body of Christ, of lying to the press about one of their believers who got caught smuggling Recovery Version Bibles into China, of ignoring Witness Lee’s final will to receive the believers in the denominations, of insisting on non-essential items until these non-essential items were developed into a systematic teaching that changed the nature of the Lord’s recovery to these non-essential items and away from the one faith for which they should contend.

Theological Controversies

Allegations against the Local Churches

There have been a number of allegations against the Local Churches' theological stand since its inception. The Local churches differ from other Christian groups in the interpretation of a number of points, as does most of Christianity with itself, but they claim fully to agree with everything in the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.

Most recently, though, two books were published by DCP Press in relation to much Christian fellowship with elders from a few localities and leading members of LSM. One book includes the conclusions of research by Hank Hanegraaff of the Christian Research Institute (CRI), Gretchen Passantino of Answers in Action, and Fuller Theological Seminary. The other has a statement about the beliefs of the parties in question.

In the forward to CRI's article, Bible Answer Man Hank Hanegraaff commented that “the local churches are an authentic expression of New Testament Christianity” and “I stand shoulder to shoulder with the local churches when it comes to the essentials that define biblical orthodoxy.” A recent issue of the CRI's Christian Research Journal, entitled We Were Wrong, was published whereby Hank Hanegraaff affirmed that, the local churches is not a cult.

Lawsuits

Harvest House Publishers

In 1999, an entry on the local churches and Living Stream Ministry was included in the book The Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, published by Harvest House Publications. The local churches and Living Stream Ministry sued the publisher for defamation.

Texas Judiciary Opinions

On January 5, 2006 the Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas issued this opinion. In conclusion, the court believed that the legal system was not the place to decide theological disputes, stating that:

"Being labeled a 'cult' is not actionable because the truth or falsity of the statement depends upon one’s religious beliefs, an ecclesiastical matter which cannot and should not be tried in a court of law."

On December 1, 2006, the decision was appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.

U.S. Supreme Court

On May 16, 2007 the Local Church and Living Stream petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. On June 18, 2007 the U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition by Living Stream and the Local Church [2].

Further Studies

• J. Gordon Melton (1985). An Open Letter Concerning the Local Church, Witness Lee and the God-Men Controversy. The Institute for the Study of American Religion. [3]
• Witness Lee in the Dock Christianity Today, March 2007
• "Loose Cult Talk" - There just might be a better way to solve theological disputes, Christianity Today, March 2006
• Local Church for evangelical ID card Christianity Today, February 2003
• Fuller Theological Seminary - Statement by Fuller Theological Seminary on their investigation of the local churches
• WIPO Domain Name Decision: D2001-0683 - The WIPO decides the Church in Houston's claim to the ownership of the service marks 'The Local Church

External links

Regarding Lawsuits

• Defense by LSM - A thorough treatment, with a copy of the statement of the decision.
• January 2006 ruling by the Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas
• Article by Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
• Amicus brief by the Rutherford Institute
• Harvest House Corporate Statement on the Local Church/Living Stream Ministry Lawsuit - A brief statement about the lawsuit regarding the Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions.

Related to Controversies

• Harvest House Publishers Appellate Court Rules in Favor of Harvest House
• An Open Letter to the Leadership of Living Stream Ministry
• Response to the Open Letter
• A Faithful Word Contending for Faith These Websites addresses controversies that have arisen from time to time concerning the ministry of Watchman Nee, Witness Lee, and the local churches
• Unfaithful Witness
• Concerned Brothers Events & Perspectives Regarding Local Churches
• Hiding History in the Lord's Recovery Examiniation of the movement's history
• Making Straight the Way of the Lord Writings Addressing Crucial Issues in the Local Churches
• Two Turmoils The Parallel of Two Turmoils