A History of the Lord’s Recovery in the U. S.(2)

15.  Biannual Trainings
A significant turn in the recovery was made in 1974 with the introduction of trainings that were eventually held biannually in Anaheim. Brother Lee had the burden to establish the saints and the churches more in the truth of the word by going chapter by chapter through every book of the Bible.  He began with Romans. The full exposition of the Bible was accomplished in 1995. LSM charged each trainee $50. The first year there were actually three trainings, the second one being held in Washington, D. C. on the book of John. Irving, Texas held trainings for a while, then Anaheim alone began to hold the biannual trainings.

16.  Churches in Decline
The churches, however, had become stagnant for the most part, and the impact was gone. Several reasons have been cited officially for this by Brother Lee, such as, the migrations took place too soon; regions were being controlled by certain leaders; he, Brother Lee, failed to train the elders to care properly for the churches; the elders didn’t just pick up the burden to care for the churches, as they did at Elden.  The failure of Daystar, the luxury motor home business of Witness Lee’s, was not given as a major factor of the decline of the churches in the seventies.  Others look at it as the reason for the beginning of the decline of the churches. Perhaps a combination of factors needs to be strongly considered that Brother Lee did not do publicly: 1) the building, use, and ownership of the Anaheim meeting hall and the free labor that created the site to launch a business and make a family wealthy 2) the Daystar debacle 3) the lawsuits. All three of these matters utilized the saints with their time, energy, life, and money to accomplish goals for Brother Lee who had mixed motives and dual purposes.

16.5   Lawsuits
In the mid to late seventies legal action was taken against The Mindbenders and God-Men, two books that were laden with defamatory material against the local churches and Witness Lee.  Five years of litigation drained money, energy, and time from the saints and the churches, and being on the heels of Daystar, this ordeal contributed further to the churches’ decline.  Again, the use of the saints’ money was brought into question.  What began as an LSM issue that was to be kept separate from the churches, ultimately became a church burden, something Brother Lee had announced to elders in the beginning would not happen, that the Lord would not be pleased with this.  Churches were encouraged to make pledges and were reminded to carry them out.  Such actions took place on Sunday night after the Lord’s Table meetings in some localities.
LSM and the local churches “won” the two cases but gained a negative reputation in the Christian community for taking fellow believers to court and for their strategy of draining their opponent of their funds to the point of bankruptcy by outlasting them due to endless funding resources from the churches.  Their reputation has followed them to this day.

Observation:  In the current lawsuit (2003-2006) filed by LSM and many local churches, the book that is the object of their concern is not “laden” with defamatory material in the specific way the Mindbenders and God-Men were that poisoned public perception of the local churches and made it nearly impossible to make headway with a number of contacts and that caused concerned parents to pull their children out of the church and into de-programming sessions with professional counselors.  Today, there are only a few lines in an obscure book that form the basis for litigation over this book that seems to have comparatively harmless effect on the recovery that The Mindbenders and God-Men had.  LSM and the local churches have not “won” but lost in two appellate court decisions in Texas.  They are now on their way to the supreme court in Texas unless a settlement can be reached before then.  They are determined to get the appellate court’s ruling reversed, because that ruling has given a public impression that the cult label is legitimate.  If that ruling is not reversed, they have vowed to go all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court.
It is said they might be going to this extreme because of an increase of persecution to underground churches in China associated with LSM, due to the cult label given them in the book and legitimatized by a U. S. court of law. Whatever the reasoning, LSM and the local churches are criticized for using very expensive notable California lawyers, and for spending millions of dollars provided by the saints to affect their end, instead of taking care of an irreproachable testimony and trusting in the Lord’s sovereignty.  They also run the great risk of fallout from failure to “win” and the irreversible reputation as a “spiritual bully”, whether they “win” or “lose”.
At any rate their intense interest to the subject of defamation against them might give rise to the more important interest in the recovery of their own case of defamation against former co-workers that has been carefully documented and presented to them for fellowship and response.

17.  Ministry Astounding
Saints found Brother Lee’s ministry astounding on Revelation and Hebrews in the 1976 and 1977 trainings.  Each book required two trainings.

18.  Max Rappoport Rise and Fall
Max Rappoport found great favor with Brother Lee in the mid-seventies, who came to the home of Max and Sandee daily over a long period of time.  According to Max, he became like a son to Brother Lee and Brother Lee was like a father to him.  Brother Lee was concerned for the religious behavior of many of the elders in the recovery, and Max was encouraged by him to go out to “mess them up.”  Max did so in his natural man and caused damage to the churches. Word came to Brother Lee about his behavior and insults, such as his reference to life-studies as life-stuffies.  Max was soon gone and twice Sandee approached Brother Lee, telling him that Max wanted to meet with him to reconcile with him and the churches.  Brother Lee did not respond to her requests, or pleas, saying, “God is sovereign”, and he just let him go.  But there was a reason for this that was personal, as “blood became thicker than water”, according to Max.

19.  Max’s Undoing
In the late seventies apparently Brother Lee let Max go due to his behavior among the churches.  Actually, a major problem had come up between Max and Brother Lee concerning Philip Lee, Brother Lee’s second son, who had become the manager of Living Stream Ministry (formerly, Stream Publishers) around 1974. A report had come to the elders in Anaheim, that Philip was observed fondling a sister in the office of Living Stream (both married). Max took the responsibility to go to Brother Lee with this news and made a strong recommendation to Brother Lee that Philip should leave with his family and go back to Taiwan.  His recommendation did not meet with Brother Lee’s approval, and that day, according to Max, was the beginning of the end for him.  Because Philip and the sister continued to work together at LSM, the brothers were quite concerned as time went on,  and Max took it upon himself to get to the bottom of the story.  He went to lunch with Philip and confronted him on the matter, but Philip denied the report and became very angry to the point of nearly causing a fight in the restaurant. The elders then went to the sister and she tearfully admitted the report was true.

20.  Max Request for Reconciling Fellowship Bypassed
Brother Lee would later take the opportunity to let Max go, rather than have him in position in Anaheim to put pressure on him concerning his son or to possibly deal with his son directly at some point, as an elder of the church.  He passed up the opportunity to bring Max back to be reconciled to God and to the churches. Max much later repented to individual brothers for his mistakes that caused damage to them and to their localities.

21.  Benson Phillips and Ray Graver Campaign
In 1981 two brothers, Benson Philips and Ray Graver, who had helped stop Max Rappoport, became engaged in their own high profile work. Philip Lee had continued on as manager of the Living Stream Ministry without interruption to his service. The relationship between him and the churches became heightened when Benson Phillips and Ray Graver began a campaign to promote him as “the ministry office”, along with their promotion of Witness Lee and his ministry. Benson and Ray felt that the saints were indebted to Brother Lee for the ministry and needed to fulfill their “account” to him by becoming more supportive of the ministry in various ways, which included being one with Philip Lee and the office he represented. Brother Lee admitted later that their promotions of Philip were a mistake.  Some leaders (not Benson and Ray) repented publicly for their roles in promoting him (Minoru Chen was one).  Philip Lee’s record indeed was one of devastation in the recovery that helped lead the churches into turmoil and division. He far exceeded Max Rappoport in this regard.  No public repentance came forth from Brother Lee to all the churches for his responsibility in positioning these two questionable men in high positions of influence that enabled them to carry out work that was gravely detrimental to the churches and factors of widespread despair.
Note:  Max was a promising brother who the churches needed in his normal place in the Body.  Brother Lee publicly expressed regret that he did not take better care of him. (Yet, he also would not accept reconciling fellowship with him.)  Max was not political regarding Brother Lee’s son, as others have been, and would not have tolerated Philip Lee and his degenerate behavior a decade later in the office of Living Stream.

21.5  Standing Order for Book Sales
In the early eighties Philip Lee instituted the concept of having a standing order for books printed by LSM, which was continuously producing books that filled closets and bookshelves that to this day most have probably not been opened.  If a book came out, all those that signed up for standing order had to buy it. If four books came out, those books had to be purchased by those on standing order. Sales were booming!  Philip Lee, according to anyone’s description of him, including his father’s, was not a spiritual person.  He was not at LSM for the carrying out of God’s economy; he was there for carrying out a job that he exploited for selfish reasons and for the Lee name.  His previous “job” was that of selling Chinese wives to American men for the wives’ citizenship in the United States.

22.  The New Way
In 1984 while the trainings on the books of the Bible were in their tenth year, an extraordinary change took place in the recovery.  Brother Lee wanted to address the problem of stagnancy among the churches, beginning in the Far East.  It was a very serious problem to him that in many localities the saints had become complacent.  He was, therefore, burdened to take a turn and have a new way, which involved several matters and changes based much on Paul’s word to Timothy that God “desires all men to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth”.  He felt it was not enough for the saints to hear the messages, read them, and then place them on their shelves; he wanted the saints to become constituted with the truths and to ably speak them back to others, in church meetings and as the gospel.  Small group meetings were to become 80% of the church life where the truths could be dispensed, saints could be taught, new ones could hear the gospel, and all could be shepherded.  Prophesying in the larger gatherings could also be realized to a greater extent.

23.  The New Way Letter of Agreement
In 1986 Brother Lee said the key to the Lord’s new move was the one accord among the saints in all the churches.  If there could not be a good morale and one accord, there could be no move of the Lord.  Thus, he sounded a call to have an army of followers under him as the “commander-in-chief” while brothers responded by constructing and signing a paper stating their allegiance to him and to his ministry.  Brother Lee’s desire was to preserve and protect the churches from drifting into denominationalism by not taking his ministry seriously, a ministry fully unveiling God’s eternal purpose and economy.

In Europe

24.  LSM Seeks Europe Cooperation
In 1986 five brothers from LSM went to Stuttgart to hold a conference with the leading brothers in Europe for the expressed purpose of lining up John So and the European churches with the LSM office. This was so even to the extent of expecting the brothers in Europe to report all their activities to the office, to Philip Lee.  The brothers in Europe were perplexed by this, wondering why they should be expected to report their activities to a business office.  Their refusal to cooperate with such an expectation caused a problem to Philip Lee who consequently would make life very difficult for John So and churches in Europe who would not cooperate with him.

25.  LSM Effectively Terminates German Printing
LSM reacted by stopping the translation and printing process of the Verlag-der Strom in Stuttgart, which had been publishing LSM books and life-studies in the German language for years.  Camera-ready material was now to be sent to Anaheim.  When over 4000 pages were sent, there was no response from LSM for a year and a half, even after attempts were made to secure communication by letter and by travel to Anaheim.  The entire process was shut down due to LSM’s lack of cooperation and non-payment for material and labor to Strom.  Witness Lee finally tried to rescue the situation and paid Strom, but it was too late, the printers and translators had been forced to find other jobs.  The Strom publishing arm for LSM was soon after liquidated and ceased to exist.

26.  Chaos in Europe Created
In the summer of 1986 about twenty-five saints from England went to the Living Stream office in Irving to serve.  They were there for about two months, and when they came back they spoke negatively about John So and Stuttgart, repeating the things they heard at LSM.  Their negative speaking issued in a chaotic condition in Europe.

27.  Stuttgart Young People Disciplined
After attending a training in Taipei in which negative statements about John So and Stuttgart were spoken to the young people from Stuttgart, those Stuttgart young people then went to a training in Irving. On the way they stopped in Anaheim, expecting to receive hospitality before going on to Irving.  They were turned down, however, for no apparent reason, after Philip Lee heard about their arrival and request.  They had to board a plane again, and go on to Irving, where they were refused entrance to the training.  The next day they returned and still could not register, but were eventually issued special red tags and had to sit in a disciplinary section in the back. Becoming angry about the treatment they were receiving, they asked for an explanation for the discipline.  They were told to ask John So, who was perplexed also when he heard about it and could only attribute the treatment and condemning statements in the recent months to his refusal to line up with the ministry office in the way LSM expected.  (The reason they got into the training was because an angry German brother went to Brother Lee.  Philip, of course, created the problem for them, and Ray Graver, had done nothing to help to them.)