Here’s an excerpt from a letter written in 2008 by Nigel Tomes:
The Recovery has come a long way in the past 45 years; it has been on a "Long
March." The vitality and diversity which once marked the local churches is a
faint speck disappearing in the rear-view mirror. Today LSM's "blended
Brothers" teach and practice their doctrine of identity— the notion that
local churches ought to be the same, identical in all significant aspects.
LSM-President, Benson Phillips dismisses concerns, saying "Forget about
uniformity; we do not have uniformity." Yet, in almost the same breath, he
mandates homogeny to the extent of dictating the use of LSM's Holy Word for
Morning Revival (HWMR). He declares adamantly, "Should all the churches...be
practicing differently in every place? No...Brother Lee's ministry is very
clear on this. He expected that...we should...have the same practice."
Applying this principle to the practice of prophesying, using HWMR, Bro.
Benson says, "Brother Lee's burden was that all the churches under his
ministry would practice the same way. A good example of this is the matter of
prophesying...and the use of The Holy Word for Morning Revival." Hence, in
Bro. Benson's view, prophesying, using LSM's HWMR is not optional; it is a
mandatory practice for the churches. He even micro-manages the churches'
prophesying with a three minute rule. The uniformity among LSM's local
churches is undeniable. They follow LSM's agenda of "seven annual feasts,"
review the latest "crystallization-study" of "Witness Lee Remixed," cut and
pasted from Bro. Lee's past messages. Local churches world-wide PSRP and
practice prophesying using HWMR, read LSM's Recovery Version replete with W.
Lee's footnotes, sing songs from LSM's Hymns, and support LSM-approved
projects with money and man-power [e.g. "Bibles for America," DCP's lawsuits,
LSM's La Palma Campus construction projects and the "Lord's Move to Europe"].
The Full-time Training (FTT) has been franchised around the globe, churning
out young people inculcated with LSM's systematic theology. The "blended
brothers" serve as global leaders of a world-wide federation of churches,
while local elders function as de facto clerks and caretakers. They celebrate
the fact that LSM-churches are the same. Yet "in the beginning it was not so"
(Matt. 19:8). Diversity has been systematically eliminated in the name of
"oneness and one accord." Uniformity has been established and
institutionalized, including the practices listed above. While paying
lip-service to token forms of variety, LSM's local churches now practice
uniformity without variety. The spurious justification for this uniformity is
Bro. Lee's teaching that the local churches ought to be the same, identical
in all significant aspects. This doctrine is LSM's fallacy of identity.
(Nigel Tomes, “LSM's Fallacy of Identity, 2008)