Nee's Local Churches

Watchman Nee, a Chinese evangelist in the early 20th century, started what was called "local churches," being that there should be only one Christian church in each city, named according to that city-- such as "the church that was in Jerusalem." According to Nee, this means that "the church in her locality must be inclusive, not exclusive," that is, it "must include all the children of God in the whole spectrum of Christian faith and practice." He believed in a plurality of elders, but rejected the distinction between clergy and laity. He believed the gatherings should center around the Lord Supper.  The local churches would practice mutuality in their meetings based on verses such as First Corinthians 14:26: "Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up"--participants are encouraged to request hymns, make brief comments, or offer prayers or praises at will.  (This info comes from Wikipedia.)

I suppose this didn't exclude the need for meeting in smaller groups, but only that those groups within a particular city would be the church of that city. The churches of the New Testament writings were identified by the city they resided in. 

Church function generally looks much different than this.  There is the debate as to whether the New Testament is giving a prescription or description of Church function, but surely First Corinthians 14 is not merely descriptive, since Paul was instructing the Church about how it should function to accomplish its purpose to edify when they come together.

Private Property rights

 The right to have private property can find sanction in Scripture. It is not necessarily more spiritual to have no property or to have all things in common to the point that there is no private ownership. It could be more spiritual to share what you own with those in need than to have common ownership.

Scripture reveals that in the age to come, each will sit under his own vine and his own fig tree and not be afraid. Having one's own fig tree is a characteristic of the coming kingdom.

​¹ Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD's house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And peoples shall flow to it.

² Many nations shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion the law shall go forth, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

³ He shall judge between many peoples, And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.

⁴ But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,

And no one shall make them afraid;

For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.

Micah 4:1-4

Personal property gives one a sense of significance and security.

If one has property that produces, it becomes a means of personally providing for others who do not have.

The Old Testament Law directed farmers of the land to not reap the corner of their fields completely so that the poor of the land could find themselves something to eat.

If a person had to sell their property due to debt, they would receive the property back in the year of Jubilee, because that property was theirs forever.

The right to Property forever was the promise to Israel in the land of Canaan.

“...you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. ¹¹ That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you...”

Leviticus 25:10-11

The only way one should lose their property is through selling it or giving it away.

Islamic Armageddon

Islam believes in an antichrist who is to come. It could be that the nations that gather to fight for the “battle of Armageddon” at Jerusalem believe that Jesus at His coming is the antichrist, and so they go to war against Christ. The nations could be predominately Islamic.

​¹ Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst.

² For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;

The city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

³ Then the LORD will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle.

Zechariah 14:1-3

¹² Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.

¹³ And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

¹⁴ For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world,

to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

¹⁵ "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame."

¹⁶ And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.

Revelation 16:12-16

¹¹ Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

Revelation 19:11

¹⁹ And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

²⁰ Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.

²¹ And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse.

Revelation 19:19-21

What is life

 "For whoever desires 

to save his **life 

will lose it, 

but whoever loses his **life

for My sake 

will find it. 

For what profit is it 

to a man 

if he gains the whole world, 

and loses his own **life? 

Or what will a man give 

in exchange for his **life?" 

Matthew 16:25-26 

"Therefore I say to you, 

do not worry about your **life, 

what you will eat, 

or what you will drink; 

nor about your body, 

what you will put on.

 

Is not **life more than food 

and the body more than clothing?" 

Matthew 6.25 

**"life" translates the Greek word "psuche." 

This Greek word means life, soul, self, person. 

Israel debate

  I just watched a debate on Israel and the Iranian war on YouTube.

One of the participants was a man named Clinton Baldwin (Ph.D.).

Baldwin said that “Israel is the “most apartheid and cruel nation on the planet.” And they are “committing genocide” and “war crimes” and are “more wicked” and “brutal” than the Palestinian people.

I call this zeitgeist. It's just getting worse.

Baldwin said he was a Bible believer.

But more zeitgeist...

He went on to say—I guess he was making a connection with the issue of the debate, though this is really off topic-- that in the Old Testament where Israel was told by God to go in and possess the land of the Canaanites by destroying them was not really what God said to do, but was “the ancient authors putting words on the lips of God.” He said it was not “history” or “factual”: “God never told them to do such a thing.”

I don't know if Baldwin rejects the authorship of Moses of the Pentateuch (Jesus said Moses wrote about Him), but he would be saying that Moses lied about God's command to the Hebrews. But that would mean that Moses or the ancient authors—as he worded it—said that God would also destroy them, Israel, if they brought the abominations of the Canaanites into their homes.

Deuteronomy does prophesy that Israel would soon perish in the land because of their turning away from God. Did the “ancient authors” put this on the lips of God? Did Baldwin never read about the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities of the Hebrew nation for their idolatry and injustices?

Baldwin also goes on to claim that all the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Israel that speak of their restoration into the land should of happened back then, but they never happened at all, and the prophecies only had meaning to them back then.

This approach to Scripture and the growing attitude towards the Jewish nation and people are all part of the spirit of the age. It's getting worse as I see it on social media, and not just among theological preterists and historicists and social liberals but among social conservatives.

I was just reading Deuteronomy Chapter 7 and 8 this morning... some excerpts:

¹² "Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers.

¹³ And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you.

¹⁴ You shall be blessed above all peoples; …

¹⁶ Also you shall destroy all the peoples whom the LORD your God delivers over to you; your eye shall have no pity on them; nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

¹⁷ "If you should say in your heart, 'These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?'—

¹⁸ you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:

¹⁹ the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. ...

²² And the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you little by little; you will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.

²³ But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed. …

²⁵ You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.

²⁶ Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing. Remember the LORD Your God ​

¹ "Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers. …

that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.

Deuteronomy 7:12 - 8:3

my solar system

 I installed an off-grid solar system about 4 ½ years ago. Neighbors and others have asked me about it. I've said it is an expensive hobby, because I don't know if it will pay for itself. Maybe in 20 years.

I originally intended it to be backup for my refrigerator and freezer, if there's a power outage. But I kept adding to it solar panels and battery backup, because I determined that I could use it to run my HVAC system and water heater. Our house is all electric. My last electric bill was $43. The highest is around December and January when we have a lot of clouds, and the sun is at its lowest in the sky.

I did save a lot of money by doing all the install by myself. I bought a 5000-watt, single phase inverter (220-240 volts only). The solar panels could be bought a lot cheaper today if you buy them by the skid load, but I bought a few at a time. The Lithium batteries are the most expensive part.

I have an “Off-grid” inverter in that I do not sell my power back to the electric company—I'm the sole user of the power generated. I'm still connected to the grid, and if there is not enough solar or my batteries are too low, the inverter draws power from the grid. The inverter converts the dc current from the solar panels to ac current and outputs to 220 volts only. I use a transformer to get a neutral for the 110 voltages from the 220 volts.

I've had situations where I had more solar power created than I needed to run my loads (HVAC, water heater, refrigerators, freezer, some lights, etc.) and charge my batteries to 100%, so I looked into buying an electric car (3 years ago) to benefit from the excess solar.

If it wasn't for the solar, I would not have gotten an EV. I think a hybrid makes more sense.

Though I don't have to buy gas or change oil, I do pay a yearly fee for the EV which was double the first year, and it will be about a $1000. total for 4 years (it's up to 230. a year now in Indiana).

I do have to charge the car off the grid when there isn't enough solar, especially late Fall through early Spring. I also thought, back in 2023 when I bought the EV, that gas prices could go really high, and I would have my solar to charge my car as an alternative.

There's been a few times that we've had a power outage, and I was able to keep the appliances running and lights on.

There have been some issues with the system over the past few years. There is some communication problem between the batteries and the inverter. I've tried different things, but the batteries will sometimes charge and discharge unevenly. Yet the company recently made a firmware update for the batteries that I was able to get and install, and they have been working flawlessly for several months.

I had to watch a lot of videos by guys on YouTube to make sure I got things correct, like Will Prowse and David Pos. I would highly recommend watching Will Prowse on YouTube if you think you might want to try to install any solar system yourself. You can waste a lot of money really fast if you don't know what you are doing and buy the wrong things. Except as backup that solar can provide in a power outage, it may not be worth the bother and expense. Unless you want an expensive hobby.

Illumination and disagreement

 Recently, I was asked why it is that there can be so much disagreement between Christians if the Holy Spirit illuminates us to the truth of the Scriptures—understanding illumination as that enabling of the Holy Spirit to understand the truth of the Scriptures.

I responded by saying that my answer to that will probably not be well received, but I believe the illumination of the Holy Spirit is bound up in the Scriptures themselves. Our understanding involves comparing Scripture with Scripture: “...the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” 1 Corinthians 2:13 The problem may be that we don't understand the immediate context or our understanding is in contradiction with something else Scripture says that we are ignorant about.

Ignorance of Scripture is a major factor, but not the only problem. Yet, we need to understand that Scripture is the word of God, and it is a product of the Holy Spirit. God's word is truth and light in itself. Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63 Jesus said this to his disciples. They heard things from Jesus that they didn't understand and found hard to accept. We read that because of this, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” John 6:66

Those disciples were not able to accept what he said or endure it, because they could not make sense of it. It appears that they had not responded to other teachings of God that would have enabled them to accept what Jesus said, as Jesus said concerning them, “It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” John 6:45 Understanding is a process of here a little and there a little: “But the word of the LORD was to them, 'Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.'" Isaiah 28:13 The problem was they did not respond to what revelation they had positively, so they did not understand further revelation. What Jesus said about the use of parables relates to this: "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹² For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; ¹⁵ For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed.'” Matthew 13:11-15

The other reasons for such differences among Christians have to do with past influences and fear of ostracism. Probably many do not know why they believe what they believe, but it is what they always believed. A friend of mine once questioned his church's view on water baptism in a Bible Study class. An older member asked him how he could question what they always believed. A better response would be to demonstrate from Scripture why you believe what you do, not that it is what your denomination has always believed. Most if not all begin their Christian life accepting as a package deal the things believed by the Christian denomination, they are a part of. If later you begin to question some of those things, you will risk being ostracized by the group. That's not a comfortable thing to experience. You may be advised to leave it alone or risk being cut off from the group. Fear of the consequences of being at odds with family and friends is a great motivator in what you believe. But it depends on what the differences are and how they are handled. People generally don't like conflict, and they avoid trying to work through the differences. I know in the past when someone asked me as to why I believed something the way I do, and I would begin to explain it from Scripture, they would change the topic on me. I took that to mean they didn't want to discuss it.

So, why do we disagree so much if illumination is the work of the Holy Spirit? I believe it's because illumination is bound up in the word of God (Scripture), and the Scripture is a product and tool of the Holy Spirit. The Illumination is comparing Scripture with Scripture, and therefore ignorance of Scripture is a major problem. But it's not just that. There are the influences of the past from our upbringing, from family and friends, and church denomination—what makes them distinctive. And then there is the fear of being ostracized, if we go against them. For most of Church history, those who went against the established religious beliefs were at risk of torture or being put to death. It's obviously not that bad today, but there is still the threat of being ostracized or limited in some way. It's safer to go with, to trust the beliefs of, those you know and trust.