Summary: of Bill Freeman's 10 pages on "What is a Local
Church?" There is still a speaking like an lsm'er in
exalting the body higher than it should be and making us
God, and I will prove it here. Bill says we are
"one entity"
with Christ in another document. That is plain wrong. We are
not.
Bill said "the church is Christ". No. The church is not
Christ. 1 Cor. 12.12 says "with Christ", not Christ. We are
with Christ, not Christ. We each individually have our
sovereign will separate from God, and God has His sovereign
will. We are members of one body of Christ figuratively,
not literally the Christ. We are the figurative
corporate Christ. We are not the 2nd Person of the Godhead.
I count 12 times the body of Christ was referred to as
"Body..." as if to say we are "one entity" with Christ or
that the "church is Christ." Not once in Scripture is body
capitalized. Let us be humble and meek and lowly in our
estimations as being for Christ, the "body of Christ."
"The male typifies Christ" and the "female the church",
so Bill says. This is a very unspiritual statement for the
truth of that mistaken assumption is that both man and woman are the body of Christ.
The woman represents the eternal will of God, and in the
dispensation of grace, she is the church. But the man is
not typifying Christ. Jesus Christ came in the body of a
man, but males do not typify Christ anymore than women do. Rather there is an authority and
submission being revealed as Christ is the head of the man,
and the man is the head of the household, but the man is not
typifying Christ for just as man is covered by Christ, so is
the woman, but additionally the woman humbles herself or
covers herself with the householder. These quotes by Bill
are too male centric for my tastes, a tone which reoccurs
too much in the lsm/lc. I need spiritual words in my life,
not male-centric man-made organization.
The other inordinate theme by Bill Freeman is in always
talking about the physical body (inordinately focused on man's
physical frame), whereas speaking of strengthening the inner
man and leading of the Holy Spirit therein is much more
profitable. My spirit is reached when spoken to
spiritually, but there is always this talking about the
outer body
so much at the lsm/lc and less discussion of the spirit.
This other term, "process of Jesus Christ" is too assembly
line a term for my taste. This is a tad irreverent, just
as when Bill also said "the kind of Christ" we see, for is there any other kind? This irreverence is not up to
God's standard or what I am accustomed to
in proper choice of words.
Also this aspect of going where we do not belong is
characteristic of the lsm/lc cult: "went too
far" as Stephen Kaung describes Witness Lee, is what I
like to term as being "stepping where you do not belong."
Men like to take such risks and step where they ought not
to. This is seen when
Bill said we are "in God". We are in Christ, as to meaning with
Christ in likeness, yes, but not in God which is far
more encompassing of God the Father and including all of
God's Trinity. I am not in God. I am for
Christ, with Christ and in Christ, but I am not in God. I
have died with Christ and raised with Him, but I am not in
God as if I am God. That
is too much. God is too much for me to be in all the
Godhead, though I am in Christ. We can be in Christ for
Christ came to show us how to live, but we can not be in God
for the Father is in heaven and did not enter into creation
as did His Son. God the Father is far too advanced for us to
be Him or all the Godhead for that matter.
The final straw, is speaking of His children as being
"together in Their one Body." "Their", capitalized, is being used by
Bill to mean the Father and the Son, while Body as being us
to refer to those whom
are saved. This is warped I know for this is really pushy for
a humbled spirit to accept. I
would not speak in this "God-man" way like a slithery
snake is constantly attempting to be worked in by lsm/lc. When I speak of lsm/lc,
I am really speaking of the source, Witness Lee's unholy
teachings that have possessed souls like Bill Freeman which
mingle
Their and Body to be "one entity". This came from the evil spirit in Witness Lee
allowed to remain inside him due to Witness Lee's wish to remain
unregenerated. In this phrase being used, I would
change the words to say "together with Their one body
of believers" or something similar, if insistent on
using "Their" to refer to the Father and the Son, so as to indicate our non-deification
and not being God, and to not allow ourselves to engage
in doubletalk about God and our true position as His children
(as the church which is not Christ);
thus remaining distinct and separate from God, to be clear to the little brethren so there is
no misunderstanding. This is the best course of action
and most considerate.
Now is this so unreasonable? Never should we call ourselves God and then
say we are not God. I for one can not stand this duplicity
and mental twisting.