Thanks, Steve. I made it through a most of Dan’s message by sheer force of will. It is beyond shameful to use the beautiful prayer of Jesus in John 17 to hold “oneness” over the heads of young, trusting believers, with the purpose of manipulating them, or maybe I should say guilt-ing them, into staying loyal to Witness Lee–even if it meant ultimately dividing their families and destroying some Christians’ faith, as it eventually did in Malaga. (By their fruits you shall know them).
Dan missed the whole point of Jesus’ prayer and especially what oneness really is. He pressed the idea that the only way to be in the “oneness” was to be in “the body” (meaning the practical, visible, church on the earth now, as defined by W. Lee). The truth, however, is that the only way to be one with the Father and Son (and one with one another) is to be holy because the Father is holy (John 17:11).
Anyone who misuses the word of God in order to control others is not holy. That unholiness puts such a person outside the oneness that Jesus prayed for!
Dan could have saved a lot of time if he had just summed his Lee-parroting by stating the truth of the real message he wanted to leave them with: “You better be afraid not to stay one with Witness Lee, one with those who really see what the body and oneness is, the only ones who practice it (not like those other dumb Christians everywhere else), or you will not be included in this oneness, you will be left out. Got it? Okay, good. I’m done.”
Such a sad thing. This kind of teaching hides Jesus in its shadows, instead of lifting Him up and making Him front and center so people can be drawn to Him. Very sad.
The good news is that one way or another, Jesus prayer in John 17 will be answered.