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Writer's pictureRuth Wise

“Peace if possible, truth at all costs.” – Martin Luther

Updated: Sep 21

Severe threats were made during my years in "The Lord's Recovery," using the Scriptures to instill fear in anyone who may speak up about "God's deputy authority" (referring to Witness Lee, his sons, and/or any "senior coworkers").


The Scriptures used to teach adherents to never speak out about any sins of leaders were (are) mainly two: 1) the story of Noah's son Ham, and 2) Miriam speaking against her brother Moses and as a result becoming leprous. (There were/are other scriptures, too, such as David's being smitten in his heart that he had cut off a piece of Saul's robe in a cave - that we shouldn't touch "God's anointed," and words in the New Testament that some turned away from the Apostle Paul, etc.).


The first account is about Ham in Genesis 9, who saw his father, Noah, naked in his own tent, having drunk from the fruit of a vineyard he had planted. Having seen his father's nakedness, he went and told his brothers, who went into Noah's tent backwards and covered their father. When Noah understood what happened, he cursed Ham's son, Canaan. The warning is, if you see any failing of anyone in a position of leadership, cover him and don't speak about it to anyone.


The second account is from Numbers 12. Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses, asking if God only spoke through Moses, while criticizing Moses for marrying an Ethiopian, or Cushite, woman. God strikes Miriam with leprosy, and Moses prays for her healing, and she is restored after being outside the camp for seven days. The interpretation I was taught is that any rebellion, or "negative" speaking against God's deputy authority would result in leprosy and death.


As I have mentioned in some recent videos, such as this one, some brothers in "The Local Churches" use these stories to strongly teach a principle of "deputy authority" - or absolute authoritarianism, and justify "quarantining" anyone who speaks about sins of any brother in a leading position - even discouraging adult children seeking help about their sinning father, or a wife seeking help related to an abusive husband.


The result of such interpretation of these two stories is that victims and witnesses of gross sins and of abuse have nowhere to turn for help in such a church community.


This blog by Jim Wright (May 20, 2009), "Leadership Abuses: Private and Public Sins" says it SO well. I recommend you read the whole thing, but I will quote and expound on parts of it here (including the graphic).


"So how do we handle leadership failings, especially when they go beyond merely personal sin and involve an abuse of position or trust within a church, movement or mission, and hurts others?


"I Tim. 5:19-21 tells us how to deal with leadership sins that amount to more than just an offense between two believers.


"Often, such problems are so bad that outside intervention is needed – maybe because the local church failed to take corrective action out of loyalty or the offending leader has manipulated the process to prevent accountability.


"When that happens, there is no effective repentance and the misconduct threatens others. For such offenses, Paul commands Timothy to publicly reprimand the church leader based on the confirming evidence of multiple witnesses....


"Any community of believers that values peace at the expense of truth – properly posited – will not survive. Eventually, cracks that have been hidden will open wide and the foundation will crumble. It is no mercy to let those cracks slowly bring down a church, movement or mission due to silence over disabling leadership sins....


"I am aware of NO instance where the Bible condones covering up the improprieties of those who claim to be leaders. In fact, the Biblical approach – Old and New Testament – is quite the opposite.


"Furthermore, a truly repentant leader will not try to hide his leadership sins, but openly confess and publicly repent. Absent that, they remain a danger to all....


"It’s naive to think some church leaders – including those we may personally find charming and inspiring – don’t secretly abuse their positions or those entrusted to their care.


"Left unchecked, at best they become frauds whose public persona and teachings are contradicted by their private lives.


"At worse, they become predators who thrive on secrecy, manipulation, lies and misplaced loyalty.


"Eventually, the need to speak truth to power – properly yet firmly – can’t be ignored if we want to achieve authentic peace and unity (even if it means passing through a season of conflict to get there), to emerge healthy, to bring healing to victims, and to protect others."


From another blog, this one by Bob Russell (March 7, 2021):


The Bible does instruct us to preach the truth in love. But the Bible also commands faithful preachers to "rebuke and encourage" (2 Timothy 4:2). Sometimes the truth is offensive no matter how tactfully it is presented. It has been said, "Love sounds like hate to those who hate the truth."


....All through Scripture, God's faithful prophets had the courage to rebuke when necessary:


  • Samuel rebuked King Saul for his unlawful sacrifice (1Samuel 13:9-14).

  • Nathan rebuked King David for his adultery with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:1-12).

  • Ezra rebuked the men of Judah for marrying idolatrous women (Ezra 10:9-12).

  • Jeremiah rebuked Israel for turning their back on God and worshiping idols (Jeremiah 2:9-22).

  • John the Baptist rebuked King Herod for living with his brother's wife (Luke 3:19).

  • Stephen rebuked the Sanhedrin, the religious establishment, for resisting the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51-53).

  • Peter rebuked Simon the Sorcerer for trying to buy the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:20-23).

  • The Apostle Paul rebuked Elymas, the magician, for attempting to impede evangelism (Acts 13:8-11).


So, I am again opening up about a main doctrine that is ingrained in believers in "The Lord's Recovery" that protects perpetrators of sin and abuse, at nearly ANY cost, and that hinders lovers of Jesus and followers of God's Word from speaking out about abuse.


In the beginning of this blog, I mentioned Noah and Moses. Noah was drunk and naked in his own tent. He ended up cursing his grandson, and generations suffered. Ham did NOT see his father abusing anyone nor was there a pattern of sin that was stumbling others. If he had, I don't believe God would want all of that covered up and victims and witnesses silenced and shamed.


In Miriam and Aaron's case, they were criticizing their brother, whom God chose to speak for Him and through whom God brought forth the Ten Commandments and other laws and ordinances. Their criticism of Moses was largely based on the ethnicity of Moses' wife, their sister-in-law. This was not a matter of confronting someone who is violating another person. If Moses had been abusing God's people or committing gross sins, I believe the story would be totally different. I believe in such a case, a loving and righteous God would want someone's brother and sister to rebuke such a one, so that s/he could repent and be restored. And even in that story, Miriam was quite readily restored... not excommunicated indefinitely.


The Bible story of David is a better example of what I have witnessed among brothers who have been "quarantined" (ex-communicated). David desired Uriah's wife Bathsheba, and had that Uriah killed in battle so that he could marry Bathsheba. The prophet Nathan rebuked David in a very faithful, thorough, convicting way, speaking FOR God. [God did not say, "How dare you, Nathan, speak about My anointed one and expose his sins?! Don't you remember Ham and Miriam and what happened to them?] David repented, God forgave David, and Solomon was an issue of David's union with Bathsheba. Eventually, David named one of his son's "Nathan." How sweet. And for thousands of years, countless lovers of God have mused on many precious Psalms David wrote after and based upon his genuine, lovely repentance. Still in the New Testament, in Matthew 1, Uriah is mentioned, that David begot Solomon of her who had been the wife of Uriah. The Bible does not cover up sin, but the exposing of sins is such a mercy, because it gives us opportunity to repent and have the joy of our salvation restored to us.


God came for us sinners. All of us could sin and become disapproved, disqualified, rejected, a castaway... (1 Cor. 9:27). All of us should be accountable to our fellow believers, and we should hold one another accountable. The patterns of the flock, the leaders, the responsible ones, the elders, the apostles that others are following should set an example of how to be accountable, hold one another accountable, and properly deal with sin.


To speak the truth, to confront stumbling, undealt-with sins, to seek repentance and peace and restored fellowship, is scriptural. I believe this is a primary need for any believer to practice who walks in the light and enjoys fellowship with other believers, with the blood of Jesus cleansing from every sin (I John 1:9).

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Ruth Wise
Ruth Wise
Oct 03

I just now watched some of the complete CRI video, and the short excerpt you provide here. What is so heart-breaking is that I agree with Gretchen that generally, members of "The Lord's Recovery"/local churches are such genuine believers in Christ - fervent lovers of Jesus. It attracts Christians who want to follow Jesus, to follow God's Word, uncompromisingly.


So, as such a group, one would hope that they would not be led astray, to require alignment with one minister/ministry as a basis for being welcomed, accepted, and "one." People who confront any leader about sins, of which there are multiple witnesses, should NOT be ex-communicated and misrepresented (lied about). People who don't want to read a particular publication, or…


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Another factor contributing to these problems of covered up abuse is the UN-Biblical idea that Life matters more than Truth. Martin Luther would rightly take issue with such a threat to the purity of the Gospel and wide open door for the deceiver to creep in.


In this short video below we see how the deceiver utilized Gretchen Passantino and Elliot Miller to offer the Lord's Recovery & Local Churches a clean bill of health in the eyes of the world. Link to entire video



Gretchen fails to mention that her husband Bob completely disagreed with her making this reversal. Had Dr. Walter Martin still been alive it's hard to imagine how he would have reacted.


Edited
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"Often, such problems are so bad that outside intervention is needed – maybe because the local church failed to take corrective action out of loyalty or the offending leader has manipulated the process to prevent accountability." Jim Wright


The current problems of abuse in the Lord's Recovery aren't due to just "a misplaced loyalty" or "a manipulated accountability process" - BUT BOTH BY DESIGN! And I believe that design can be traced all the way back to the 1930s & 1940s in Mainland China.

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Ruth Wise
Ruth Wise
Sep 21
Replying to

Though so very painful to read about and to admit, there are firsthand eyewitnesses from Shanghai who affirm this. If multiple witnesses affirm that a brother insisting on being God's deputy authority is living in gross sins, this should not be ignored. The covering up has gone on throughout the history of this movement. And the results have been, and still are, stumbling to so many "little ones."

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