One of
the authors Gothard listed in the bibliography of his thesis was the popular
Keswick teacher, Watchman Nee. Nee was the main leader of China’s
Little Flock movement which, depending on whose statistics you believe,
may have been the largest Christian denomination in China. It continued
to grow even after the Communist takeover.
Like all Keswick teaching, Nee’s theology was highly mystical, and he departed from traditional Protestantism in one key area: spiritual authority. |
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During the Protestant Reformation a great deal of blood was spilled over the question of whether God had delegated His sovereign authority to human beings. The Reformers said, “No,” and many of them paid for it with their lives. Oblivious to this lesson from church history, Nee imported Confucianist ideas about human authority into Christianity. After Nee’s death his follower, Witness Lee, used this doctrine to create a highly authoritarian denominational hierarchy, with himself at the top. |
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