| Jump to the following section in this article: |
April 1, 2006
Dear saints,
Since the Texas Appeals Court ruling in January, I have been burdened to write to you in more detail to fellowship concerning our efforts at DCP, including the present litigation and the possible directions that it may take. I believe we were all shocked by that recent ruling which granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment. That ruling will now require us to seek a hearing with the Texas Supreme Court to overturn the Appeals Court ruling so that our case may continue to trial.
We need to recall our reasons for filing this litigation four years ago. The evil book, "The Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions" (ECNR), certainly defamed us with the most wild and criminal accusations of any book ever to include us. After one year of the authors' and publisher's refusing all of our attempts to resolve their horrific misrepresentations through Christian fellowship, we were left with two courses of possible action: do nothing and by our silence endorse their lies, or stand up in the Lord and fight for the truth of the Lord's recovery and the names of our senior coworkers, Brother Nee and Brother Lee, and their ministry. Our rising up to fight was a clear sign to all who might want to follow them in making wild accusations of criminal behavior that, even after Brother Lee was gone, we would not accept such accusations.
The best possible result of our lawsuit would be that the criminal and other factual charges would be ruled false and we would be awarded money to compensate for damages we have suffered and possible punitive damages However, even a court victory would probably be ineffective against many of those opposers who publish wildly on the Internet. And no action of the court could result in the positive affirmation of our faith and practice.
Yet, the litigation matter has led us to many and substantial contacts within the evangelical realm. LSM is now a member of the Evangelical Christian Publisher's Association (ECPA), voted in unanimously by over a dozen Christian publishers (some of whom used to write against us). Following are three more of the more public examples of positive statements made about us that came out of our fellowship:
It is the conclusion of Fuller Theological Seminary that the teachings and practices of the local churches and its members represent the genuine, historical, biblical Christian faith in every essential aspect....Particularly, the teachings of Witness Lee have been grossly misrepresented and therefore most frequently misunderstood in the general Christian community, especially among those who classify themselves as evangelicals....
In regard to their teaching and testimony concerning God, the Trinity, the person and work of Christ, the Bible, salvation, and the oneness and unity of the Church, the Body of Christ, we found them to be unequivocally orthodox....
Moreover, we also can say with certainty that no evidence of cultic or cult-like attributes have been found by us among the leaders of the ministry or the members of the local churches....Consequently, we are easily and comfortably able to receive them as genuine believers and fellow members of the Body of Christ, and we unreservedly recommend that all Christian believers likewise extend to them the right hand of fellowship.1
Just to be clear, the Local Church/Living Stream is not even close to being a cult—so their indignation is understandable.... We agree with a Fuller Theological Seminary study that concluded the Local Church represents a "genuine, historical, biblical Christian faith in every essential aspect."
I am consistently impressed with the integrity, forthrightness, and care you demonstrate in both theology and personal relationships. In interacting with you and your colleagues for some three years now I have been humbled and blessed by your Christian character on a personal level and your convictions and clarity professionally. You have demonstrated a care and concern about essential Christian doctrine that is increasingly lacking within evangelicalism... Please give my best to Andrew, Benson, Dan and the rest.
While all of these results are much bigger than the work of DCP and have been the result of the coordinated effort of many brothers, it also seems clear that all of these results flowed out of our corporate decision to stand up and fight against the evil words of ECNR. Dear saints, I feel we should worship the Lord for the accomplishment of our burden in beginning this fight. I do not mean we are done fighting—far from that! Nevertheless, we should admit that the present result is already far greater in many ways than what a court victory could accomplish.
The most immediate matter, before appealing to the Texas Supreme Court, is the Appeals Court's response to our application for them to rehear our case. It is unlikely that the Appeals Court will actually choose to rehear our case and to reverse their own ruling, but we should cover everything with prayer.
Why did we lose the appeal? Our consensus is that it was because the court did not get into the details of the case, but took the more simple way of using the points from the shorter Amicus ("friend of the court") briefs filed on behalf of the defendants to form their own conclusions. We feel that those writing the appeals opinion made a subjective decision on who was in the right in this case and then wrote around that decision without getting into the details of the legal briefs we had filed.
How then can we do better at the Texas Supreme Court level? One thing seems sure—that we need to refocus the court on our points. Please pray for this as we work with our attorneys to craft a compelling 15-page petition for review.
There are very serious reasons why we must pursue this lawsuit to the ultimate extent possible. First, if we do not get the Appeals Court decision reversed, the authors and publisher may well reprint ECNR exactly as it is now—with a statement on the cover that the book was justified by the courts in a $136 million dollar lawsuit. Second, government officials in China have already heard of the court's decision on the Internet and used that information to warn the brothers in one province of more persecution to come. Third, the victory in court for this book may encourage others to follow their example of mixing libelous criminal charges with a theological theme. Fourth, the present ruling has clearly stated that the word cult is solely an expression of theological opinion and thus protected from conveying any defamatory meaning!
In any case, we feel to do what the Lord led us to do from the beginning—to stand up and fight for the truth as far as He enables us to go on.
With all the brothers striving together for the defense and confirmation of the gospel,
Your brother,
Dan Towle
Notes:
1 The complete statement from Fuller Theological Seminary is available on a new site entitled The Testimony of the Local Churches and Living Stream Ministry.