1Corinthians 6:1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
The following is taken in part from a 1984 copy of the SCP
Newsletter. Please note that the source of this material has a
decided (negative) bias against the Local Church.
| Date | Controversy With | Controversy Over | What The Local Church Did | Outcome |
| 1966 | Members of the Little Flock Church at Shuman Reservoir, Taiwan. |
Church property. In this rural church, the elders welcomed as Bible teachers persons previously excommunicated by Witness Lee in Taipei. A church split followed, and control of church property became an issue. |
Followers of Witness Lee from out of town staged a sit-in in the church building and threatened to "take the next step" if the keys to the building were not given to them. |
Approximately 90 church members reluctantly gave up the church property to approximately 10 of Lee's followers. [Note: Two out of the three persons listed on the title as owners of the building were sympathetic to Witness Lee]. |
| 1971 | Believers in Church Assembly Hall, Hong Kong | Ownership of church property on Observatory Road in Hong Kong. The church was split over this. |
Church members sympathetic to Witness Lee filed a lawsuit against other members. |
Out of court settlement. Property went to followers of Witness Lee. |
| 1973 | Christian Literature Crusade. Fort Washington, PA. | Alleged inaccuracies in The Ecclesiology of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee by James Mo-oi Cheung. |
Threatened to sue Christian Literature Crusade. | CLC recalled books, apologized to Witness Lee, agreed not to publish revised edition. |
| 1977 | Dr. Walter Martin, Founder and Director, Christian Research Institute. San Juan Capistrano, CA. |
Criticism of Witness Lee and The Local Church in public lectures. |
Lawsuit threatened by The Local Church. | Threat ignored. No legal action taken. |
| 1977 | Maranatha Village. Santa Ana, CA. | Sale of The Mind Benders, a book critical of The Local Church. |
Requests made by men identifying themselves as Local Church members that Maranatha Village refrain from selling the book. Persons placed Local Church tracts in the books racks. |
Store continued to sell the book. Employees removed Local Church tracts from book racks. |
| 1978 | Believers in The Church in Denver. Denver, Colorado. | Ownership of church property in Denver. The church was split over this. |
Church members sympathetic to Witness Lee filed a lawsuit against other members. |
Out of court settlement. Property went to Witness Lee's followers. |
| 1978 | Lighthouse Christian Store. Long Beach, CA | Sale of The Mind Benders in the store. | Local Church members requested that the book be removed from the bookshelves. |
Bookstore refused to remove the book from bookshelves. |
| 1979 | Christian Herald Books, publisher. Dr. Ronald Enroth, author. |
Mention of The Local Church in The Lure of the Cults by Dr. Ronald Enroth. |
Lawsuit threatened by The Local Church. | Without consulting the author, the publisher removed all references to The Local Church in a revised edition. |
| 1979 | Nelson Publishers. Nashville, TN; Dr. Jack Sparks, author. |
The Mind Benders, a book examining cults which included a chapter on The Local Church. |
Filed four separate lawsuits simultaneously in Anaheim, Dallas, Atlanta and Cleveland for $37 million. |
Settled out of court with the publisher issuing a retraction and ceasing distribution of the book - the author making no apology or retraction. Media reports that The Local Church received $150,000 in settlement. Estimates are that over one million dollars was expended in litigation costs before settlement. |
| 1979 | Daniel Smith, former missionary with China Inland Mission; pastor; Bible teacher. Vancouver, B.C., Canada |
Comments critical of The Local Church in Pilgrim of the Heavenly Way, Smith's self-published autobiography. |
The Local Church sent one of their leaders to Canada asking that the book be retracted - "half threatening me," according to Smith. |
Author rewrote 1 1/2 pages of the book, pasting pages of new text over the old. He was not contacted again. |
| 1979 | Schwengeler-Verlag, publishers. Switzerland. Neil T. Duddy and Spiritual Counterfeits Project, authors. Berkeley, CA |
Die Sonder Lehre Des Witness Lee Und Seiner Ortsgemeinde, a book examining The Local Church, published in the German language, written by SCP researchers. |
Filed lawsuit in a Swiss court to stop distribution of the book. |
Dismissed by Swiss court because improper plaintiff brought suit. Appealed by The Local Church but dismissal was upheld by higher court. |
| 1979 | Dr. James Bjornstad, author. Counterfeits at Your Door. Regal Books, publisher. Glendale, CA. |
Mention of The Local Church in Counterfeits at Your Door. |
Dr. Bjornstad was threatened with a lawsuit by Local Church elders who wanted the book taken off the market. |
Threat ignored. No legal action taken. |
| 1980 | Moody Press. Moody Bible Institute. George Sweeting, president and editor-in-chief. Chicago, IL |
The July/August 1979 issue of Moody Monthly magazine which briefly critiqued The Local Church in a feature article, "A Catalogue of cults: Where they stand on the Deity of Christ." Prior to this, Local Church members had come onto the Moody Bible Institute campus shouting "Babylon is falling, Moody is crumbling, Moody's going to burn!" |
Filed a $4.8 million lawsuit in Orange County, California against Moody Press, Moody Bible Institute, and George Sweeting. |
Settled out of court. Moody Monthly made no retraction, but did agree to delete mention of The Local Church in the reprint of the popular article. |
| 1980 | Mr. Salem Kirban, author. Salem Kirban, Inc., publisher. Huntingdon Valley, PA |
A chapter on The Local Church in Satan's Angels Exposed by Salem Kirban. |
Representatives of The Local Church visited Salem Kirban, asking him to omit the chapter in subsequent editions, reminding him that they were suing Thomas Nelson over The Mind Benders. |
Chapter on The Local Church was omitted from subsequent editions. Nothing further was heard from The Local Church. |
| 1980 | Eternity magazine. Philadelphia, PA; Dr. Ronald Enroth, author. |
Mention of Witness Lee in an article entitled "The Power Abusers" by Dr. Enroth, Eternity, October, 1979. |
Four Local Church elders visited Eternity officials and raised the possibility of legal action if certain demands were not met. |
As a result of this coercive action, The Local Church was allowed to place a statement in the October 1980 issue of Eternity explaining their faith and practices. |
| 1980 | Media Spotlight Ministries, Santa Ana, CA | Critique of The Local Church in Media Spotlight magazine, Vol. 3, No. 2 (April - July, 1980) |
Lawsuit threatened by The Local Church. | Threat ignored. Editor and publisher Al Dager continued to comment on the group in a later issue. No legal action taken. |
| 1980 | Neil T. Duddy and the Spiritual Counterfeits Project, authors. Berkeley, CA; Schwengeler-Verlag, publishers. Switzerland |
Die Sonder Lehre Des Witness Lee Und Seiner Ortsgemeinde, a book examining The Local Church, published in the German language, written by SCP researchers. |
Lawsuit filed by The Local Church in Oakland, California. (Note: a similar lawsuit against SCP was filed earlier in Switzerland). |
SCP forced into bankruptcy. Resulted in a default ruling against SCP. |
| 1981 | A Christian book distribution firm. New Zealand. | Distribution of The Mind Benders, a book criticizing The Local church. |
Lawsuit threatened by The Local Church. | Reported in New Zealand Truth newspaper, 23 June 1981, page 10. Outcome unknown. |
| October, 1983 | InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) chapter at San Francisco State University. San Francisco, CA |
Criticism of the local church on campus. A student leader in the IVCF chapter at SF State conducted a seminar on cults for students. In the one session examining the local churches, the student leader referred to the group as a cult. Approximately five students attended the session - and approximately six local church members sat in to observe. |
Christian Students, a local church campus organization, charged IVCF with spreading false accusations and rumors about them based on The God-Men, which is published by InterVarsity Press. Notices were placed by The Christian Students in two campus newspapers announcing four public meetings in which they would detail their grievances. |
Unknown. |
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