The whole matter of "常受主" cult has been a stumble stone for many people in the Local Churches led by Witness Lee .

Firstly, there has been no evidence that Witness Lee had involved in or encouraged the cultic teaching and practice to call a man "Lord" and to exalt a man to the status of God. Some evidences indicate that the cult was ????ed from a remote and loose offshoot of the Local Church.

However, Witness Lee and the Local Church under his leading should have learnt a hard lesson from that. Unfortunately, they have not.

The 常受主 cult emerged in mainland China in the late 80s. Although there was no sign that Witness Lee had any direct involvement in the ????ing of the cult, the man-exalting culture in the Local Church makes it hard to convince people that the emergence of the 常受主 cult had no root in the condition of the Local Church.

It might be a coincidence that right at the time when the 常受主 cult emerged, Witness Lee was exalted to an undue high status within the Local Church.

{于一九八六年在台北教会,由李常受同工负责的“白马训练”,训练全教会传福音。在一次集会中,讲者Howard Higashi(由余洁麟翻译)声称:“李弟兄(常受)完全被圣灵充满,呼求李常受的名,我们也可以从他得生命。”并当场带领全体呼求李常受的名。此事发生已有五年,并未听说李氏本人或其同工公开责备或定罪此等异端做法。上列各人如今仍是李常受的亲密同工。

我们闻知此事,认为把李常受高举到可以向他呼求的地步,深感震惊!这证明有另一种灵,进了职事站的工作。一九八九年二月一日,于余洁麟来港时,由香港教会长老温继有向余洁麟面询,如此呼求李常受的名,是何用意? 余洁麟承认曾有此事。}

- "香港教会全体长老同工就当今工作局面的一些声明" (1991 signed by 香港教会全体长老同工) It is hard to believe that all the 16 elders and coworkers of 香港教会 were simply lying.

In 2001, I personally asked a brother, who once traveled to China for having fellowships with the Local Churches there, whether he had encoutered anything there. He told me that in Zhejiang, he did see something in some Local Churches; in the Lord's Day meetings, they would put a chair for "Brother Lee", and the leading brothers would say, "Our dear Brother Lee is among us".

Even more shocking is the way the LSM handled the matter after the 常受主 cult was exposed, they simply kept silent internally and externally, with some small moves trying to cover it up. They released words through some unofficial channels saying that "there is no such thing as a 常受主 sect, it is totally a slander and black-painting on the Local Church by the communist government". Some even replied to the questioning with loughable stories: "the local people in some places in China have strong accent, when they say "享受主", it sounds like "常受主". Many similar ridiculous explanation had been made up.

Not until 2001 did the LSM publicly admit the existence of the "常受主" cult and label it as a heresy unrelated to the LSM, when they published some words by Witness Lee spoken to the "Brothers and Sisters" who were involved in the 常受主 matter. These words were tape-recorded and sent to China in 1991 according to the LSM website. The question is, it is obvious that since 1990 (according to LSM website), LEE and the LSM have been totally aware of the existence of the 常受主 cult, why did not they offer an honest explanation to their church members and the christian community in general.

The whole matter not only have stumbled many brothers and sisters within the Local Church, harmed the image of the Local Church and its members, but also damaged the development of all the "house churches" in China. Up to today, many brothers and sisters are still being bothered by this bad name 常受主. Each time when I talk with the older brothers about this matter, they all just shake head and sign.

The lesson we all can learn from this is that Christians should be the light and salt of the world, should walk in the light, not to hide anything, not to cover up anything, not to let the dark side reign, not to leave chance to the enemy.