r/localchurches

I’ve been reading through a message from Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (4) (Witness Lee), and I hit something that doesn’t sit right with me.

The message starts out solid—Christ being the First and the Last, resurrection, Christ living in us—all that lines up. But then it shifts and starts saying things like there’s an “abyss deep within the being of each of us,” and even calls it “our abyss,” like it’s something inside every believer.

It describes it as the deepest part of us that we can’t even reach. But then it goes further and says that’s where the enemy is, where demons are, and even connects it to where the Antichrist comes from. That’s where I started getting concerned.

From there it says Christ needs access to go down into these depths in order to make His home in our heart (Eph 3:17), and that we need to open this deepest part of our being to Him.

I’m just not seeing that in Scripture.

From what I understand in Colossians 1:13 says we’ve been rescued from the domain of darkness. 1 John 4:4 says greater is He who is in you. 2 Corinthians 6:16 says what agreement does the temple of God have with idols. Romans 8 says Christ is already in us.

And when Scripture talks about our ongoing issue, it points to things like renewing the mind (Rom 12:2) and putting off the flesh (Col 3), not uncovering some hidden inner abyss where demons are.

It feels like the teaching starts with a real biblical thing (the abyss as a place of demons), then kind of redefines it as something inside of us, and then builds a whole experience around that.

Maybe I’m missing something, but I’m trying to stay grounded in Scripture and not go beyond what’s written.

Has anyone else come across this? Is there actually a biblical basis for this kind of teaching, or is this more of an interpretation of man that goes too far?

Can someone explain how demons are in the deepest part of us that we can’t even reach?

Not trying to be negative this is just so confusing, and I really can't bring this up in our home meeting. Two brothers that meet with us have started to talk about Ron Kangas as the new Witness Lee. Ron said this, Ron said that ect...

In our home meeting today, we were reading chapter one of Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs. The first half of the message describes what life is not: life is not knowledge, gifts, or power. I was enlightened to see that even though these things can come from God, they are not life itself.

What is Life? Life is a Person—the wonderful, unique Person of the Lord Jesus!

Because life is a Person, He has His own personality. If we only received "life" as a substance, it would be easy to handle; but because we have received a Person, it is not so easy to deal with. 1 John 5:12 says, "He who has the Son has the life; and he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life." It does not say, "He who has the life has the Son." If we do not take Him as a person, we do not have life.

I was also touched that to grow in life, we need to experience the Son with His personality. For this, we must repudiate our selves (Gal. 2:20).

I would love to hear your experiences: how do you take Christ as your personality in your daily life?

I’ve been following along in the most recent Morning Revival on Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (4), and I’m confused about this outline point: “Resurrection is the lengthening of the Lord’s days; He will exist forever and ever in His resurrection.” What verse in the Bible says that resurrection is the lengthening of the Lord’s days?

Hi everyone! I enjoyed these three verses from Psalm 16 and one of the footnotes:

"Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You. I say to Jehovah, You are my Lord; / No good have I beyond You; As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent; / All my delight is in them." (Psalm 16:1-3) Recovery Version

I also was touched by the footnote on the word "You" in verse 2, which says "As a man, Christ took God as His Lord (Matt. 4:7,10) and had no good (no blessing, no pleasure, and no enjoyment) beyond God as His portion (cf. Luke 18:19).

Praise the Lord! He had no blessing, pleasure or enjoyment on earth other than God Himself. It reminded me of the hymn "My goal is God Himself, not joy, nor peace. Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God."

I did have a question after reading verse three and the footnote on the word "saints" which reads:

"In His human living Christ loved God the Father (John 14:31) and delighted not in the law but in the saints, the excellent people on the earth, because they are the members of His Body, the church (Eph. 1:22b-23; 5:30)."

What does it mean that Christ delighted in the saints in His human living on the earth? Would this refer to the disciples? Or maybe the people of Israel?

God will answer when, to thee,
Not a possibility
Of deliverance seems near;
It is then He will appear.

Margaret E. Barber

I read this in christianwebsites.org:
The fact that Christ was physically raised from the dead is in itself miraculous. Yet Christ’s resurrection has a more profound significance, beyond the mere physical act of rising from the dead. Jesus identified this deeper meaning in one simple statement: “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25a, emphasis added). Resurrection is more than a historical fact. Resurrection is a person.

So wonderful that He is the resurrection and the life and I can enjoy Him as such! 💕

The meetings of a local church must be the expression of Christ. Christ is not only the victorious and prevailing life, but also a practical, present, living person. Whenever we share in the meetings, others will be able to tell whether or not we have been taking Christ as our person. If we are faithful to take Christ as our person, we shall enjoy the presence of the Lord Jesus in the meetings.

I've been appreciating Hebrews 4 in regards to how the writer reveals that Joshua is a type of Christ, who is leading the children of Israel (who are a type of the church) into the good land. The good land is called "that rest" in verse 11.

"Let us therefore be diligent to enter into that rest lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience." (Hebrews 4:11) Recovery Version.

I asked myself, "I'm already saved, so why don't I experience Christ as my rest?" But verse 11 gives the reason why this is the case. Disobedience, which can also be translated as "rebellion." I realized how much I rebel against God's word like the children of Israel. If I cannot experience Christ as my Savior and my Rest right now, how can I enter into the rest in the millennial kingdom? My prayer is that I would experience Christ as my Joshua! May the Lord be our Savior in all the big and small things in our daily lives that we may enter into rest for the coming age. Amen

Loved this from christianwebsites.
The entire Bible is an unveiling, a revelation, of the wonderful Person of Jesus Christ. In each of the Old Testament prophecies, types and figures and in the New Testament fulfillment and reality of these, Christ is central. In His Bible Handbook Merrill Unger writes,
Although the Bible consists of 66 books, it is nevertheless one book. The unifying theme of Scripture is Christ. From “the Seed of the woman” (Gen. 3:15) promised in paradise lost, to the “Alpha and Omega" (Rev. 22:13) realized in paradise regained, He is “the beginning and the end,” “the first and the last” in God’s revealed ways with man.

I often feel like we fellowship so much and fall into a culture of it- don’t get me wrong I love opening to other brothers and sisters. But how much is too much? Or how do you know when it’s really a time to fellowship, rather than just open to the Lord and let the anointing teach us? (1 John 2:27)

I’ve been around the Local Churches for a while, and one phrase I constantly hear is “exercise your spirit.”

People say:

“You need to exercise your spirit.”

“Don’t stay in your mind, exercise your spirit.”

“Call on the Lord and exercise your spirit.”

But lately I’ve been honestly asking myself… what does that actually mean?

Is it:

a feeling? an emotion? being loud? crying? raising your hands? praying harder? getting out of your thoughts? speaking more during meetings? doing what you think you should?

At one point I began to ask the Lord, “You need to show me what my spirit is.” Because I realized I could repeat the phrases over and over without actually understanding what Scripture means by it.

I do see verses about: praying in spirit, worshiping in spirit, fervent in spirit, the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit, walk by the spirit ect... But I’m struggling to understand what the actual experience is biblically.

How do you distinguish:

human emotion vs spirit? psychological excitement vs spirit? silence vs passivity? loudness vs genuine spiritual reality? doing what you think you should beacuse of pressure?

Does the Bible actually command believers to “exercise the spirit” in the way it’s often taught in Local Church - Just say Amen, Oh Lord Jesus, Hallelujah.

Would love thoughtful Scripture-based responses, especially from people familiar with Nee/Lee teachings or from those who’ve wrestled with this question themselves.

Jesus is Lord

How is everyone feeling these days? Like most days I feel ok Lord I’m ready, blow that trumpet! But other days I see where I’m really at and I’m like wait Lord, don’t hit that note just yet. So, I’m just learning to live each day under his dispensing; anyways how do yall feel about the Lord’s soon return?