Living Stream Ministry

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MinistryWatch.com’s Take
August 2003
By Andy Preslar



The Revelations of Watchman Nee
Living Stream Ministry (LSM) is the publishing arm of what is commonly called the “Local Church” (also known as Church of Recovery, The Lord’s Recovery), and exists in order to propagate the unique teachings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. LSM accomplishes this mission by means of publishing books by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, publishing its own version of the Bible, the Recovery Version (complete with extensive footnotes authored by Witness Lee), publishing journals and magazines, providing online publications which can be read free of charge, offering daily devotionals via email, and by producing a daily radio program.

Watchman Nee was a prolific author and spiritual “guru” who planted hundreds of churches in China before he was arrested in 1952 by the Communist government of China. Witness Lee was the founder of the Local Church and a disciple of Watchman Nee. He was entrusted with the latter’s publishing operation in Taiwan, and continued in the work of church planting. Witness Lee moved to the U. S. in 1962, where he continued to minister until his death in 1997. The Local Church, which is often referred to by insiders as the Lord’s Recovery, is a worldwide movement of local churches united by their adherence to the teachings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, their rejection of denominations, and by a common source of doctrinal and devotional publications, namely, LSM. There are currently over 2,300 Local Church congregations worldwide.

LSM believes that Watchman Nee received unique revelations from God concerning doctrine and the church. The organization also believes that Witness Lee, through his speaking and writings, faithfully perpetuated the message of divine revelation committed to Watchman Nee. It should be noted that, although LSM repeatedly refers to the “revelations” received by Watchman Nee, the ministry’s doctrinal statement clearly affirms, “The Bible is the complete and only divine revelation.” It is uncertain whether the ministry can resolve this seeming conflict. Watchman Nee’s revelations seem to be more than just special insights into the meaning of Scripture (although Witness Lee certainly claims that the Local Church possesses such unique insight). Rather, Watchman Nee supposedly received revelations by way of mystical experiences and visions. These “revelations” appear to form much of the basis for the teachings of Witness Lee and the Local Church.

A “Pure System of Publications”
LSM does not see itself as just another publishing ministry. In their own words: “We have a pure system of publications which comprise all the main things of the divine, spiritual, and heavenly things” (“The Practice of the Lord’s Recovery”, Elders’ Training Book #4 [LSM: 1985], 15). LSM believes that making the works of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee available to the church is an invaluable service precisely because they are convinced that these two men were chosen instruments of God for initiating the “recovery” of the church. For this reason, their writings (hence, LSM’s publications) are supposed to carry a unique weight of authority. The various publication and teaching ministries of LSM are as follows:

• Bible Version: LSM publishes the official Bible translation of the Local Church, the Recovery Version. The Recovery Version was conceived by Witness Lee, and the translation was done by a select group of Local Church members. Witness Lee’s extensive study notes accompany the Recovery Version.
• Book Publications: LSM publishes hundreds of volumes authored by Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Watchman Nee wrote extensively on a wide variety of theological subjects, constantly emphasizing the themes of the “crucified life,” the “resurrection life,” and the “local church.” The multiple volumes, which comprise Witness Lee’s Life Studies, compiled from his extensive messages, form a Bible commentary series which totals some 25,000 pages.
• Journal and Magazine Publications: LSM publishes two regular periodicals and one theological journal. The Stream magazine is published quarterly and purports to “minister the intrinsic essence of the divine revelation,” stressing “organic union with God” over objective truths. Generation is a youth magazine designed by young people. Affirmation and Critique is LSM’s bi-annual theological journal, which regularly addresses doctrinal issues central to the Local Church movement from both a historical and a systematic perspective.
• Online Publications: LSM has a plethora of publications available for reading online. This includes the Recovery Version of the Bible (with notes), the Life-works (coming soon) and individual publications of Watchman Nee, and several volumes of Witness Lee’s theological outlines, commentary, and messages. In addition, portions of LSM’s magazine and journal publications can be downloaded on-line.
• Email Devotionals: LSM offers, free-of-charge, an email publication, called eManna, which features daily devotional reading, sent directly to subscribers’ email address.
• Radio Program: Finally, LSM produces Life Study of the Bible with Witness Lee, a half-hour radio program which is broadcast daily in three languages on more than 100 radio stations.

An Emphasis on Unity
It is safe to say that the teachings of Watchman Nee, Witness Lee, and the Local Church have raised a few eyebrows in theological circles. The Local Church claims that the decisive turn in the ministry careers of its two distinguished leaders occurred when each began to seek life instead of knowledge. This mystical “turn” away from knowledge and objective truth did not prevent either of these men from commenting extensively on theological matters. If there is a prevailing theme in their teachings, it is that of unity: unity in the persons of the Godhead, unity between man and God, and unity in the church.

The emphasis on unity in the Trinity leads Witness Lee to adopt a functional/ economic view of the persons of the Trinity, in which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are merely distinguished by their functions. In this view, the Son is the Father and the Spirit. This contrasts with the orthodox view of the Trinity in which it is maintained that the Son, the Father, and the Spirit are one in Being and Essence, while remaining distinct as persons. Thus there is one tri-personal God. Thus Jesus, the Son, could pray to the Father and send the Holy Spirit, activities that imply a distinction of persons. Witness Lee’s functional view of the Trinity appears to be version of modalism, an ancient heresy which states that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are only three different modes in which God appears or functions. Witness Lee denies that his view is modalistic, but he seems to affirm modalism in his interpretation of key biblical passages.

Witness Lee and the Local Church further believe that unity of persons in the Trinity extends to man in salvation in such a way that the divine Trinity is “processed” in the spirit, soul, and body of man. This “processing” (which takes place over the course of a believer’s life and culminates in glorification) involves a “mingling” of the human and divine natures; as a result, man is actually deified (becomes God). This again contrasts with the orthodox view of salvation, in which man is ultimately beatified (not deified); that is, he becomes like God (man does not actually become God) through seeing the divine essence (I John. 3:2).

The Local Church extends the principle of unity a step further, arguing from the premises that (a) the persons of the Trinity are one, (b) God and believers are mingled into one, (c) the church is comprised of all true believers, to the conclusion that (d) the church is one, and that oneness is divine (Christ is not only the head of the church, Christ is the church). From (d), the Local Church infers that denominations should not exist, since they imply disunity. The true church will be unified as Christ is unified. This unity includes local churches, but it means that local churches must respect one another’s “grounds.” The grounds of each local church are individual cities; hence, there should only be one church per city. The Local Church maintains that such was the New Testament practice, and that in these last days the followers of Watchmen Nee and Witness Lee are “recovering” that practice. Some of the writings of Witness Lee seem to imply that the Local Church alone, since it alone has recovered the divine revelations concerning unity, is the true church.

Evaluation
No Christian should deny the fact that there is unity in the Trinity, between God and man in salvation, and in the universal Church of true believers. The Local Church’s teachings on unity, however, remind one of G. K. Chesterton’s description of a man locking himself mentally into the “clean and well-lit prison of one idea.” Watchman Nee and Witness Lee do employee reason. Unfortunately, their theological starting point is not rational. The mystical notion of unity has been allowed to take the place of logic and sound hermeneutics. The whole counsel of God is therefore interpreted in the light of a subjective “feeling.” The result seems to be that LSM and the Local Church have taken the turn away from the path of knowledge only to find themselves on the broad highway of doctrinal error.