Denominations hinder direct dealing with Christ
February 7th 2010 04:39
CRJ President, Hank Hanegraaff
If priests, pastors, preachers, etc, dismiss this principle, tell them about these new findings of a respected evangelical research journal that used to oppose it.
The First Century bible principle is that Christians should meet simply on the basis of locality, which is all-inclusive, not based on organizations divisive by denomination.
Christian Research Journal December 2009 issue admits to decades of wrongly opposing this. Only a year ago, they and about 70 other denomination-based leaders co-signed an open letter calling on all local church people to cease from preaching these matters to denominational Christians.
After decades of being part of the organized opposition, Christian Research Journal is to be congratulated on the turnaround. It now sees the biblical basis of what's involved and is coming to see spiritual things local church people speak about despite all the opponent-spread confusion.
Simple test for your own church
Here's a simple test for whether your own church leader is still blinded - ask him/her about it. The local church proponents don't have an organizational name - that's the whole point. But one way to identify them is to mention their leading advocate, a Chinese man named Witness Lee (deceased).
The politic response to local churches is they're a cult or at least an aberrant lot. But the principal organization that fed the "aberrant" label, the Christian Research Journal, now officially admits "we were wrong".
It's December 2009 issue states the simple truth: "It's about the recovery of the 'local ground' as the biblical basis for organizing a church. The LC (the journal's tag for local church proponents) believes this to be perhaps the greatest contribution their movement has to make to the larger body of Christ." The journal said this in Part 4 of its detailed self-correction. (Get PDF copy.)
Do not talk about all those doctrines
Substantiating what the local church is about, the Christian Research Journal's "We Were Wrong" quoted Witness Lee (circa 1980): "Do not ask what kind of baptism others have had. Do not talk about all those doctrines. They have all been redeemed by the same blood; therefore, they all have the same life within. We are all one in this all-inclusive faith.
"Today there are many different backgrounds of the saints. Some have a Presbyterian background, some have a Baptist background, and some have other kinds of background. But regardless of the background, if they are saved, they all have the same faith, for they all believe in the same Lord Jesus Christ.
"As long as they are saints who are not sinful according to 1 Corinthians 5, we must recognize all of them as dear brothers and sisters."
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