living stream ministry
background information on living stream ministry, the publishing house established to publish the ministry of watchman nee and witness lee .
living stream ministry. all rights reserved. reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited .
© living stream ministry. all rights reserved. this webcast is produced exclusively by living stream ministry, anaheim, california. no portion of this webcast may be reproduced, rebroadcast, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express written permission of living stream ministry .
witness lee, life messages (anaheim: living stream ministry, 1979), p. 164
© living stream ministry. all rights reserved. reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited .
copyright © living stream ministry. all rights reserved. reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited .
© 2018 living stream ministry. all rights reserved. reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited .
copyright © living stream ministry. all rights reserved. reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited .
© 2014 living stream ministry. all rights reserved. reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited .
“…those considering living stream ministry are encouraged to listen to the organization and its members on their own terms… when this is done, the inquirer will have a rewarding experience in their encounter with the members of living stream ministry. ”
witness lee, god' s new testament economy (anaheim: living stream ministry, 1986), p. 230
witness lee, concerning the triune god (anaheim: living stream ministry, 1973), pp. 18 - 19
a statement by living stream ministry concerning eastern lightning, “the shouters, ” and other aberrant religious groups in china .
witness lee, a deeper study of the divine dispensing (anaheim: living stream ministry, 1990), p. 54
witness lee, the seven spirits for the local churches (anaheim: living stream ministry, 1989), p. 97
more than 70 evangelical christian scholars and ministry leaders from seven nations have signed an unprecedented open letter to the leadership of the “local churches” and living stream ministry .
living stream ministry is a non - profit corporation that is primarily dedicated to the publication of the ministry of watchman nee and witness lee. . … | pinteres…
witness lee, the all - inclusive christ (anaheim: living stream ministry, 5th ed. 1989), p. 103
witness lee, the history of the church and the local churches (anaheim: living stream ministry, 1991), p. 132
witness lee, the triune god to be life to the tripartite man (anaheim: living stream ministry, 1970), p. 48
we respectfully call on the leadership of living stream ministry and the
local churches
to disavow and cease to publish these and similar declarations .
more than 70 evangelical christian scholars and ministry leaders from seven nations have signed an unprecedented open letter to the leadership of the “local churches” and living stream ministry. [ read the press release ]
living stream ministry is a non - profit corporation that is primarily dedicated to the publication of the ministry of watchman nee and witness lee. living stream ministry has one goal: to supply spiritual food for the nourishment of all believers that they may grow in the divine life for the sake of the building up of the body of christ .
witness lee, the triune god to be life to the tripartite man (anaheim: living stream ministry, 1990), pp. 51 - 52
living stream ministry provides a subscription webcast service that enables subscribers to access the video content of recent conferences and also selected conferences and video trainings by witness lee .
living stream ministry provides the complete text of many of its ministry publications online in the hope that the riches of christ can be broadly sown throughout the earth for the benefit of all the lord' s children .
witness lee in the new testament recovery version, note 18 4 (matthew 16: 18) (anaheim: living stream ministry, 1991), p. 99
witness lee in the new testament recovery version, note 8 3 (revelation 3: 8) (anaheim: living stream ministry, 1991), p. 1256
these are links to websites operated by living stream ministry / local church / lord’s recovery. they are includes for research purposes only. we do not recommend these sites .
witness lee ,
message thirty - four
in the life - study of genesis (anaheim: living stream ministry, 1987), vol. 1, p. 464
while many apologetics and countercult publications refer to this movement by the name local church, the movement itself prefers the term local churches or living stream ministry, its publishing arm .
location: anaheim, ca dates: december 24 - 29, 2018 note: registration is required. further information is available through living stream ministry. please contact register @ urltoken .
location: anaheim, ca dates: april 5 - 7, 2019 note: registration is required. further information is available through living stream ministry. please contact register @ urltoken .
location: anaheim, ca dates: july 1 - 6, 2019 note: registration is required. further information is available through living stream ministry. please contact register @ urltoken .
location: addis ababa, ethiopia dates: october 4 - 6, 2018 note: registration is required. further information is available through living stream ministry. please contact register @ urltoken .
much of what has been presented in this section appears in kernel form in witness lee, the speciality, generality, and practicality of the church life (anaheim, ca: living stream ministry, 1983), 7 - 14. unless otherwise indicated, all titles cited in this article are by witness lee and published by living stream ministry, anaheim, ca. ↑
books and gospel materials. the catalog of living stream ministry books contains over 500 titles. tracts and booklets that present some of the most basic gospel truths are printed in large quantities .
living stream ministry is pleased to provide the complete text of many of its ministry publications. we sincerely hope that the riches of christ could be broadly sown throughout the earth through this channel for the benefit of all the lord' s children .
bibles. our principal product is the bible and new testament. living stream ministry publishes bibles in over ten languages, including english, spanish, chinese (traditional and simplified), and russian .
if you have any questions or would like to order from one of our catalogs, please contact the living stream ministry book section at 1 - 800 - 549 - 5164 or books @ urltoken .
as the terms “local church” and “local churches” may return results for information that does not address this movement, we suggest also using the terms “lord’s recovery, ” “living stream ministry, ” or “witness lee. ”
in either case, we respectfully request that the leadership of living stream ministry and the
local churches
discontinue their practice of using litigation and threatened litigation to answer criticisms or settle disputes with christian organizations and individuals .
fuller theological seminary is one of the largest multidenominational seminaries in the world. fuller has completed a multi - year dialogue between a panel composed of senior fuller faculty members and representatives of the local churches and living stream ministry .
the word living in hebrew has the same root as the word for life in genesis 2: 9, which speaks of the tree of life. how can we, who are creatures, become the living creatures? we become living creatures by experiencing god as the tree of life. this life, the divine, eternal, uncreated life of god, is the real life. only by having this real life can we become a living creature. whenever we experience god as the tree of life, we sense that we have something living within us. we have a living element, a living factor, within us. this living element, or factor, will always make us living .
living stream ministry is a non - profit corporation that is primarily dedicated to the publication of the ministry of watchman nee and witness lee. just as these two servants of our lord jesus christ faithfully continued the heritage of ministry that the lord delivered to the church, it is our aim to follow their faithful pattern by distributing the riches of christ for the building up of the body of christ. living stream ministry has one goal: to supply spiritual food for the nourishment of all believers that they may grow in the divine life for the sake of the building up of the body of christ .
non - lsm churches of the midwest these churches, under the leadership of titus chu, have rejected the living stream ministry, and to a certain extent, the extremes associated with the movement, but substantially keep other beliefs and practices .
if the leadership of living stream ministry and the
local churches
do not regard evangelical christian churches, organizations, and ministries as legitimate christian entities, we ask that they publicly resign their membership in all associations of evangelical churches and ministries .
the isilo platform consists of the isilo reader application (sold separately by isilo), which can be installed on personal computers running windows® or mac os as well as many handheld devices. here is a list of living stream ministry epublications for isilo .
according to the practice established by brother nee in china, the one publication has always been trumpeted by one practical publication endeavor—in brother nee’s day by his gospel room, during brother lee’s years after he left mainland china by taiwan gospel book room, and during his years in the united states by living stream ministry. today we must be diligent to continue this practice of the trumpeting in the one publication in a practical way through the publication service of living stream ministry and taiwan gospel book room. living stream ministry and taiwan gospel book room publish both the past ministry that was delivered to us by brother nee and brother lee and the ongoing, up - to - date speaking that comes out of the fellowship of the blended co - workers and is based on the ministry materials of brother lee and brother nee. these are the materials that have been used regularly in the church life in the lord’s recovery, and these constitute the one publication among us today .
all those that had attended
the local churches
meeting were given a free living stream ministry, recovery version, new testament. i later became the recipient of this and used it on and off during my early months of being a newly saved bible - believing christian .
the stream magazine. a quarterly magazine that presents basic truths related to the christian experience. the stream is available by subscription, but it is also freely given to christian bookstores throughout the united states and canada .
note: we hope that many will benefit from these spiritual riches. however, for the sake of avoiding confusion, we ask that none of these materials be downloaded or copied and republished elsewhere, electronically or otherwise. living stream ministry retains full copyright on all these materials and hopes that our visitors will respect this .
i wish to offer some thoughts to a booklet that was published in 2008 by the
defenders of the new testament ministry of watchman nee and witness lee and the practice of the local churches .
they are based in fullerton, california and appear to be a subsidiary of living stream ministries in anaheim, california .
living stream ministry and the
local churches
( also known as the lord' s recovery), both founded by the late witness lee, have been involved for decades in legal and theological controversies with noted christian institutions and leaders. in light of this history of litigation and conflict, we the undersigned make this public appeal .
this letter is a public appeal to disavow and withdraw controversial statements made by their founder, witness lee, on the doctrine of god and the doctrine of man. the letter also asks the “local churches” and living stream to renounce statements made by lee that denigrate evangelical christian denominations and organizations. finally, the letter appeals to the leadership of the “local churches” and living stream to discontinue their use of lawsuits and threatened litigation against christian individuals and organizations to answer criticisms or resolve disputes .
the epub platform makes use of the epub format, an industry standard for publishing electronic books. as such, many vendors operate within the epub platform. this platform includes installable apps, online readers, and dedicated e - reader devices from various vendors. living stream ministry epublications in the epub format are now available through the following vendors (s) :
under lee' s directorship, living streams ministry was successfully launched. with the message of nee passing from east to west, from nee to lee, the teachings of the man from fuzhou, china, went global. un
independent local churches these congregations reject the leadership of the living stream ministry and extremes associated with the movement, only keeping some strands of past tradition (meeting style, music, etc .). they tend to be more local than their midwest cousins, having no centralized work authority and a far less formal connective fellowship. predictably, they are shunned by the lc movement (at least the living stream branch) as not being legitimate. in subdued ways, they have a rope bridge connection with their movement past, such as having a substantial contingent of ex - members, or movement values that still faintly reverberate among them .
if the leadership of living stream ministry and the
local churches
regard evangelical christians as fellow believers, we request that they publicly renounce the use of lawsuits and the threat of lawsuits against evangelical christians to answer criticisms or resolve conflicts. the new testament strongly discourages the use of lawsuits to settle disputes among christians (see 1 corinthians 6: 1 - 8) .
living stream ministry publishes the works of watchman nee and witness lee, providing the authoritative and definitive collections of treasures from these two servants of the lord jesus christ. their writings focus on the enjoyment of the divine life, which all the believers possess, and on the building up of the church, the goal of god' s work with man in this age .
witness lee, the all - inclusive spirit of christ (los angeles: the stream publishers, 1969), pp. 4 - 5
the statement of faith on the living stream ministries website says “god is eternally one and also eternally the father, the son, and the spirit, the three being distinct but not separate. ” sounds fine, but note what beisner says in this 2003 article :
ministry of the word (periodical), the, vol. 22, no. 06, ...
ministry of the word (periodical), the, vol. 22, no. 05, ...
“this ministry is entirely orthodox and to suggest otherwise is to willfully misrepresent them and impede the church’s mission. ”
living stream ministry (lsm) is an anaheim, ca based, not - for - profit publication and radio broadcast outreach associated with the local church. lsm, a member of both the evangelical christian publishers association (ecpa) and the christian booksellers association (cba), is dedicated to the publication, production and distribution of christian literature and programming for edification in the christian faith .
witness lee taught a false gospel and living stream ministries continues to propagate that false gospel throughout the world. they have successfully stopped many publishers from exposing them by bankrupting them in lawsuits. perhaps in fear of facing such bankruptcy, hank hanegraaff led cri on a multi - year journey to defend their teaching. if hanegraaff and the others involved at cri honestly believe that witness lee and living stream ministries teach “sound orthodoxy” then they are just as damned as lee. update: listen to this account of hank’s experience with lc / lsm given by minoru .
for the remainder of this article, i will be quoting from their booklet
the beliefs and practices of the local churches ,
written by living stream ministries in 1978, later re - published in 2006, which pretty much outlines most of what they believe and teach today .
whether or not a certain church takes the ministry does not decide whether that church is a genuine local church. the title of this message does not say “no uncertain sounding of the trumpet in the lord’s recovery” but “in the lord’s ministry. ” i am not talking about something in the lord’s recovery, but i am talking about the ministry ...
living stream ministry publishes the works of watchman nee and witness lee, providing the authoritative and definitive collections of treasures from these two servants of the lord jesus christ. the writings of watchman nee and witness lee focus on the enjoyment of the divine life, which all the believers possess, and on the building up of the church, the goal of god' s work with man in this age .
living stream ministry publishes the works of watchman nee and witness lee, providing the authoritative and definitive collections of treasures from these two servants of the lord jesus christ. the writings of watchman nee and witness lee focus on the enjoyment of the divine life, which all the believers possess, and on the building up of the church, the goal of god' s work with man in this age .
adjunct professor, trinity graduate school (calif. campus); president of apologetics information ministry (santa ana, ca )
an introduction to, including a brief history of, the ministry of watchman nee and witness lee and the local churches .
the kindle platform consists of dedicated kindle e - reader devices and tablets (sold separately at amazon kindle), the kindle reader application (available for free at amazon apps), which can be installed on personal computers running windows® or mac os as well as many handheld devices, and an online reader accessible through any web browser (urltoken). here is a list of living stream ministry epublications for kindle .
the past will be the future it would seem that since the midwest local churches now have a separate identity from the living stream ministry, their problems would be over. yet, the one thing that will continue to jeopardize their future is their past. the midwest lc’s have just enough fondness for the tendencies of their movement background to land them right back in the same boat as the one from which they departed .
paul told us that all who were in asia turned away from him (2 tim. 1: 15). the believers in asia who had formerly received the apostle’s ministry now forsook him. they did not lose their status as local churches due to the fact that they gave up paul’s ministry, but in fighting the battle, paul’s ministry could not depend upon them. for paul’s ministry they could not be counted on. to say that the ministry cannot depend upon a certain church does not mean that that church has been cut off from being a local church. it is still a local church, but we must realize that the ministry is a fighting unit. in this fighting unit there is no capacity and no time for your opinion .
this tendency is more nebulous with the living stream ministry, because it comprises a number of men who act as a sort of central committee. the midwest, though, typically revolves around one worker, who sets the pace and direction for the ministry of the entire region. this was a pattern personally lived out by witness lee while he was still alive. eventually, sub - lieutenants influenced by him each went to various parts of the globe where there were no peers on their same level and thus few serious checks or balances to their teaching, leadership, and direction .
living stream ministry is actively working to produce electronic editions of the ministry of watchman nee and witness lee for a variety of platforms. these electronic publications (epublications) consist of the full content of the print versions including page numbers that correspond with the printed text. although living stream ministry provides epublications for various platforms, please note that publications often cannot be used or transferred across platforms unless otherwise stated by the vendor. for example, an epublication purchased for the isilo platform can only be read by isilo reader software, and kindle epublications can only be read by kindle readers or kindle reader software. if you wish to read lsm publications on more than one of the platforms listed below (for example, on isilo and on kindle), you must purchase each epublication format separately (e. g. , the isilo format from lsm and the kindle format from amazon. com). please make sure you purchase the correct format for your reader (s) because your license for one epublication platform will not apply to other platforms .
over the past nine decades the ministry of watchman nee and witness lee has edified believers in christ and produced local churches on all six inhabited continents. the ministry of these two servants of god, which is published by living stream ministry (lsm), stands upon the shoulders of the many great christian teachers of the past to present both the broad span and the spiritual depths of the new testament truths, particularly from the perspective of the believers knowing and experiencing christ as their life for the building up of the church as the body of christ. the resilience of the churches produced through their ministry is exemplified by the believers in china, who have proven steadfast and have flourished in the face of decades of extreme persecution, as well as by hundreds of local churches in north america that have faithfully persevered and spread despite nearly forty years of intense opposition .
those of us living in the west would do well to learn from him and others that lived and died under extreme persecution, in his case atheism .
the local church / living stream ministry operates many websites, including: the scriptures thescriptures. org; triune god triunegod. org; god’s economy godseconomy. org; all - inclusive christ allinclusivechrist. org; christ’s incarnation christsincarnation. org; christ’s death christsdeath. org; christ’s resurrection christsresurrection. org; tripartite man tripartiteman. org; regeneration regenerated. net; god’s salvation godssalvation. org; calling on the lord callingonthelord. org; pray reading prayreading. org; bibles for america biblesforamerica. org; chicago bibles and books biblesandbooks. com; christian websites christianwebsites. org; church histories churchhistories. ccws. org; emanna emanna. com; ftta ftta. org; hymns hymns. net; living stream livingstream. com; local churches localchurches. org; recovery version recoveryversion. org .
collected works of watchman nee, the (set 2) vol. 22: the assembly life & the prayer ministry of the church ,
churches of the living stream ministry the “cult” label will most likely not go away for reasons already discussed at length in this volume, the local church movement has a habit of generating suspicion. wherever the movement has gone, area christians quickly use words like “cult” to describe it. nor has this been confined to north america. china, which claims some 75% of the total lc movement, has long since formulated opinions about the group both at the governmental and now at academic levels :
it bothers me that some brothers among us still put out publications. according to my truthful observation there is no new light or life supply there. they may contain some biblical doctrines, but any point of life or light has been adopted from the publications of living stream ministry. there is nearly no item of life or light that has not been covered by our publications. based upon this fact, what is the need for these brothers to put out their publications? because all the publications are mine, it is hard for me to speak such a word. but i am forced to tell the truth. by putting out your own publication, you waste your time and money. you waste the money given by the saints, and you waste their time in reading what you publish. where is the food, the life supply, and the real enlightenment in the other publications among us? be assured that there is definitely at least one major revelation in every living stream ministry publication .
life - study of the bible is a 30 - minute radio broadcast composed of excerpts from witness lee' s spoken ministry that focuses on the enjoyment of the divine life as revealed in the scriptures. the ministry portions are followed by a discussion of the portion presented, including questions and answers .
an introduction to the life and ministry of two servants of the lord— watchman nee and witness lee —whose work produced over three thousand churches spread across all six inhabited continents and whose ministry opened up the bible’s revelation concerning the experience of christ as life for the building up of the body of christ .
welcome to the living stream church of the brethren! we worship together online on sunday evenings at 5: 00pm pacific time (6: 00pm mountain, 7: 00pm central, 8: 00pm eastern… or monday at 1: 00am gmt). we invite you to join in worship with others from around the country and the world… all are welcome !
life - study of the bible with witness lee is a 30 - minute radio broadcast composed of excerpts from witness lee' s spoken ministry that focuses on the enjoyment of the divine life as revealed in the scriptures. the ministry portions are followed by a discussion of the portion presented, including questions and answers .
contending for the faith — an introduction to the life and ministry of two servants of the lord—watchman nee and witness lee—whose work produced over three thousand churches spread across all six inhabited continents and whose ministry opened up the bible’s revelation concerning the experience of christ as life for the building up of the body of christ .
fuller theological seminary (fuller) and leaders from the local churches and its publishing service, living stream ministry (lsm), have recently completed two years of extensive dialog. during this time fuller conducted a thorough review and examination of the major teachings and practices of the local churches, with particular emphasis on the writings of witness lee and watchman nee, as published by living stream ministry. this process was undertaken in an attempt to answer many of the questions and accusations that are often associated with this group of churches and to locate the teachings and practices of these two men and the local churches in light of historical, orthodox christianity. participants in the dialog from fuller included dr. richard mouw, president and professor of christian philosophy; dr. howard loewen, dean of the school of theology and professor of theology and ethics; and dr. veli matti kärkkäinen, professor of systematic theology. representing the local churches were minoru chen, abraham ho, and dan towle. representing lsm were ron kangas, benson phillips, chris wilde, and andrew yu .
…the jesus of john, as we have seen, is not simply a man who happens to be god but god incarnate having a particular kind of human living that incorporates the entire divine trinity and who ultimately brings his believers into that same incorporate living. the johannine jesus as bridge and model for the incorporation of the believers into the divine trinity (2 )
whereas the first proof that we are living creatures is inward and is related to our feeling, the second proof is outward and is related to our activities. a dead person is inactive, but a living person is very active. for example, children are very active because they are full of life. the principle is the same in the christian life. a christian who is living, that is, who is a living creature, will engage in a number of activities. the first of these activities is prayer. just as we cannot live physically without breathing, so we cannot live spiritually without praying. prayer is a christian’s spiritual breathing, and it is often spontaneous. for instance, as soon as we wake up in the morning, we may spontaneously thank the lord for a new day. to pray like this is to breathe, and it is a sign that we are living. however, some believers may go for a long time, even months, without praying. their lack of the activity of prayer is a proof that they are not living. other activities that prove that we are living creatures include reading the bible, functioning in the meetings, serving god, and preaching the gospel. not reading the bible, not attending the meetings and not functioning in the meetings, not serving god, not testifying for the lord, and not preaching the gospel—all these shortages indicate that one is not a living creature. the way to prove that you are a living christian is to consider all these points. do you pray? do you read the bible? do you exercise your spirit to function in the meetings? do you serve the lord? do you testify for the lord and preach the gospel? if you are lacking in these matters, you are not a living believer .
this statement is intended to provide those interested with a general overview of the process that we have been involved with and our overall conclusions. this brief statement will be followed in the coming months by a paper addressing the aforementioned and other important theological topics in greater detail. representatives of the local churches and living stream ministry have agreed to write a statement outlining in summary form their teachings on the major topics of interest concerning them. comments by fuller will be offered on their teachings, as we have come to understand them after significant research and dialog .
whether or not a certain church takes the ministry does not decide whether that church is a genuine local church. the title of this message does not say “no uncertain sounding of the trumpet in the lord’s recovery” but “in the lord’s ministry. ” i am not talking about something in the lord’s recovery, but i am talking about the ministry. the citizens of the united states may say many things to criticize the government and the commander in chief of the armed forces. but when you get into the army and become a soldier, you lose your right to say anything. it is possible to argue, debate, and even fight in the senate, but even when the senators get in the army and become soldiers, they have to be quiet. there is no uncertain sounding in the army. the ministry is not like the senate. the ministry is not a congress for anyone to come here to express his opinion. the ministry has no capacity for that. the ministry is altogether filled up with a fighting spirit. i do not control any church. all the saints who have left the denominations, the divisive sects, and stand on the proper ground are a local church in their locality. they can express their opinions, but they may have nothing to do with this ministry .
so also it is written, “the first man, adam, became a living soul”; the last adam became a life - giving spirit. (1 cor. 15: 45 )
ezekiel 1: 5a says, “also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. ” we need to pay attention to the first word in this verse, also. not only does electrum come out of the fire; something else also comes out. the wind brings in the cloud; the cloud enfolds the fire; and the fire produces the electrum plus something else—the four living creatures. when we experience god as the blowing wind, the overshadowing cloud, the burning fire, and the electrum, we become the four living creatures. we were dead, but by experiencing god in this way we become something living. the lord jesus said that “the dead will hear the voice of the son of god” and that “those who hear will live” (john 5: 25). paul said that we were dead but god has made us alive (eph. 2: 5). the more we have the cycle of the wind, cloud, fire, and electrum, the more living we become. every time we are blown upon by god and overshadowed and consumed and burned by him, we are enlivened. as a result we become lively and vibrant. if we are not living in the meetings, this proves that we are lacking in the experience of the cycle consisting of the wind, cloud, fire, and electrum. the more we experience this cycle, the more living we will be. whereas many of today’s christians prefer to attend a quiet service, we should be very living in the meetings and sometimes even make a joyful noise to the lord (psa. 95: 1 - 2). only the living ones can make such a noise. if we experience god as the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum, we will not be quiet but will be living and even noisy in the church meetings .
how can we prove that we are no longer dead but have become living creatures? there is a twofold proof, that is, an inward proof and an outward proof. the inward proof that we are living creatures is that we now have a feeling, or sense, of life. living persons have feelings. for example, as we are sitting in a room, we will have a feeling concerning the temperature. we may feel hot or we may feel cold. a dead person, on the contrary, has no such feeling. likewise, if we are living before god, we will have an inward, spiritual sense regarding our situation. if we offend god or if we do something that is not pleasing to god, we will have a feeling about this. a person who is spiritually living will have a deep feeling whenever he lives in a way that does not glorify god or that is not pleasing to him. if our inner feeling, the inner sense of life, is sensitive, deep, and fresh, this is a proof that inwardly we are living and that we are therefore a living creature. however, some children of god may behave very badly, putting the name of the lord to shame, yet they have no feeling about what they are doing. they are far from god and they need to repent, but they have no inner feeling at all. this is a proof that inwardly they are dead. a believer who is truly a living creature has much inner feeling about his situation .
the christian research institute condemned lee’s teachings in the late 70s. in 1977 e. calvin beisner co - authored an article for cri the teachings of witness lee and the local church. you can hear a lecture by walter martin (the original bible answer man who founded cri in 1960) delivered sometime in the 70s here urltoken where he clearly lays out the heresies of witness lee and the local churches. there was also an open letter published online several years ago an open letter to the leadership of living stream ministry and the “local churches” signed by numerous apologists and christian theologians .
most often, a stream that lags, buffers, or stops and restarts is due to a lack of bandwidth or computer resources on the viewing end (your end). you can often eliminate streaming problems by reducing the quality of the stream, which saves both bandwidth and computing power. do this by clicking on the bandwidth control at the lower right corner of the video window (if available… it is just to the right of the full screen icon, and looks like cell bars or a gear wheel… and only shows up if the stream is at higher quality). choosing a lower option, such as 260p, resolves streaming issues for most computers .
the ministry of watchman nee has been nourishing and edifying seeking believers throughout the earth for over 70 years. in 1962, witness lee, a close co - worker of watchman nee in china brought this ministry to the united states, where he continued to minister the riches of god' s word until he went to be with the lord in 1997 .
inherited ideas about oneness will inflict further damage the immoderate emphasis on “oneness” that gripped living stream churches still lurks in the midwest. this is not the local congregational oneness that every church needs to keep its coherence, but the connectional form that links entire churches together across city, county, and state lines. local assemblies are expected to keep that oneness, which now has a smaller regional form since the break from lsm .
i have to be faithful to the lord, faithful to so many of you who have been very much affected by this ministry, and faithful to myself. for this reason, this ministry cannot allow anyone to pretend to be in it and yet still say something different. this does not mean that i ask you to stay away from your local church or that your local church is no longer a local church. what i am fellowshipping about is the impact of the ministry for the fighting of the lord’s interest in his recovery .
we should never think that a mature christian does not need to engage in all these activities. the older and more mature we are in the lord, the more spiritual activities we should have. i believe that if the apostle paul were in our midst, he would be very active in praying, in reading the bible, in functioning in the meetings, in serving the lord, and in preaching the gospel. in the christian life we can never “graduate” from being living. to graduate from being living is to die. every living person must be living continuously. daily we need to experience the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum. every time we meet the lord as the wind, the cloud, the fire, and the electrum, our inner being will be made alive .
that man has a sin nature is one thing, but to blame his sin nature / behaviour' because of the devil living in him' is most certainly flawed, not to mention, totally incorrect .
whatever i would say concerning the home gatherings, the full - timers, the truth lessons, and the spreading of the gospel is not for anyone who does not feel good about my ministry, who is dissenting to my ministry, who is pretending to be here under the ministry yet actually is not. i still love all the dear saints who may fall into this category and still count them as brothers in christ, but we need to have an army full of impact, and this army has no capacity and no time for anyone to express any kind of opinion. we are fighting a battle. the army began the fighting already in taiwan. now we want to see this army increasing to fight the battle not only in the united states but also in canada, in central america, in south america, in europe, in africa, in australasia, and in the entire continent of asia. this is what i want to see. i am not talking about the churches, i am talking about the ministry. the ministry is one thing, and the churches are another thing. these two things can be differentiated in the epistles written by paul. paul’s ministry is one category, and the churches are another category. paul never tried to force all the churches to follow him in his ministry, but paul surely had a ministry for the churches. (elders’ training, book 7: one accord for the lord’s move, pp. 74 - 76, witness lee )
also they go on speak about jesus being
the life - giving spirit to impart himself into us as our life and our everything .
this appears to suggest that jesus is the holy spirit, for the spirit here is spelt with a capital s. and if this is what living stream ministries mean, then they are in the heretical camp of the oneness movement, a belief that holds to jesus being the father and the holy spirit .
we’ve occasionally had difficulty with the stream dropping during worship. if this happens, almost invariably there will be a small circling graphic over a blank video screen, like it is trying to reload the stream. if this happens, the chat may be active for a short time longer, then all will stop. to reconnect with worship, click the refresh button on your internet browser (it usually looks like a circling arrow), or simply close the window and come back to the worship page again. you may need to do this more than once… just repeat until you get the stream again. please remember to do this after a crash so that we will all be able to continue in worship together .
dean, school of theology; professor of preaching; george w. truett chair of pastoral ministry; director, center of expository preaching, southwestern baptist theological seminary (ft. worth, tx )
in contrast to hanegraaff and passantino, more than 70 evangelical scholars and ministry leaders have — in an open letter — called on the movement to renounce unorthodox doctrines and to discontinue its legal attacks .
according to the pattern of the new testament, we also have meetings for the release of the new testament ministry. during these meetings gifted members preach the gospel, teach the truth, edify and train the saints, release a particular truth from the scriptures, or lead a study of a particular portion of the bible. the meetings held for peter’s preaching (acts 2: 14; 3: 12; 10: 34) and paul’s teaching (mark 16: 20; acts 19: 9 - 10; 20: 7; 28: 30 - 31) are examples of this kind of ministry meeting. the major burden of these ministry meetings is borne by those who have the gift to function in this way, but frequently there is additional open sharing by those who attend these meetings; thus, even in the ministry meetings there can be the mutual speaking. a degree of perfecting occurs in these ministry meetings that cannot be attained in any other meetings of the believers .
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. – source: ministry watch, living stream ministry listing
whether you' re a seasoned missionary, an enthusiastic partner, or someone who is looking to learn more about ministry in europe, our prayer blog is the launch - pad for learning about all things gem. from missionary stories to focused prayer pages, ministry news and updates to life - changing interviews, join us as we seek to
pray without ceasing
for god' s work in europe .
i mean business for the lord’s interest. i have sacrificed my entire life for the lord’s ministry. i gave up everything to take the way of the lord’s recovery. now i must be faithful to myself. furthermore, through my ministry on this globe, thousands of saints have come into the recovery, so i must be faithful to them. many of the saints have given up high degrees to follow the lord in his recovery, yet it seems what they are in is tending to be disappointing. this burdens me. some of the saints became what they are in the lord one hundred percent due to my ministry, and i do not want my ministry to waste their time. i have to do something to insure their investment of their whole being into the lord’s recovery. they have given up their future in the world, but they cannot have much encouragement in the lord’s recovery. i have to be faithful to the lord, faithful to so many of you who have been very much affected by this ministry, and faithful to myself. for this reason, this ministry cannot allow anyone to pretend to be in it and yet still say something different. this does not mean that i ask you to stay away from your local church or that your local church is no longer a local church. what i am fellowshipping about is the impact of the ministry for the fighting of the lord’s interest in his recovery .
after a two - year study, fuller theological seminary issued a statement endorsing the orthodoxy of the faith of the local churches and stating that critics of the ministry of witness lee had “grossly misrepresented” his teachings .
welcome to our online worship community. living stream church of the brethren affirms the image of god in all persons – of every age, gender identity and expression, race, ability, ethnicity, nationality, class, and sexual orientation – and celebrates each person’s call to serve the world and the church. we invite you into worship, study, and community building with us. join us here sunday evenings at 5: 00 pm pacific time for live webcast worship, and connect throughout the week .
brandon: as soon as you stated about brother lee saying “to call a church anything other than “the church in [ anaheim ] ” is fornication with the whore of babylon. ” and stated that “members of the local churches, also known as living stream ministries” at the beginning of this long article i realized your tirade is personal, not objective and certainly not with understanding. — the first statement is vulgar and misrepresenting. its not about what you call your group but what you are and standing on the ground of locality, not taking any name. — the local churches are local representations of the collective body of christ. lsm is a publishing company that publishes material of the ministry the churches believe and practice.
living stream ministry ( lsm ) , originally named stream publishers when founded in 1965 by witness lee , is a non-profit corporation currently based in anaheim , california . lsm publishes the works of watchman nee and witness lee , including the recovery version of the bible . lsm has been a member of the evangelical christian publishers association since 2002 and of the christian booksellers association since 1981 . 
living stream ministry (lsm), originally named stream publishers when founded in 1965 by witness lee, is a non-profit corporation currently based in anaheim, california. lsm publishes the works of watchman nee and witness lee, including the recovery version of the bible. lsm has been a member of the evangelical christian publishers association since 2002 and of the christian booksellers association since 1981.
living stream ministry (lsm), originally named stream publishers when founded in 1965 by witness lee, is a non-profit corporation currently based in anaheim, california. lsm publishes the works of watchman nee and witness lee, including the recovery version of the bible. lsm has been a member of the evangelical christian publishers association since 2002 and of the christian booksellers association since 1981.