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"They claim to be Christian, but certain elements of their teaching are contradictory to, and not just tangential to, defining truths of the Christian faith."

In a March 2002 letter, Beisner—who is cited about a dozen times in the Harvest House encyclopedia—said that in his opinion the Local Church:

• "Insists that the Father is the Son and the Son is the Spirit."
  
  
• "Goes far beyond the Eastern Orthodox concept" in its deification teachings.
  
  
• Has a tendency to sue its critics, "entirely out of keeping" with the apostle Paul's advice in 1 Corinthians.
  
  

Indeed, the current libel suit is not a first for the group. The Local Church previously sued Thomas Nelson Publishers over The Mind Benders (1977), which former Campus Crusade for Christ worker Jack Sparks wrote. It also sued the Spiritual Counterfeits Project (SCP) over the German edition of Neil Duddy's The God-Men. Both volumes, now out of print, extensively criticized Local Church teachings and practices.

Thomas Nelson settled out of court with the Local Church and published a retraction in 1983. SCP fared worse. Duddy left the United States reportedly because of legal pressures related to the suit. SCP declared bankruptcy. Subsequently, a judge ruled that the book was libelous and awarded $11.9 million to the Local Church. SCP was able to pay only $34,000. In the current suit, Living Stream and the Local Church are seeking $20 million each. In addition, 96 local fellowships are seeking $1 million each. The group said that it is suing because extensive attempts at mediation with the authors and publisher have failed.

Harvest House Publishers, based in Eugene, Oregon, had unsuccessfully sued the Local Church in 2001. The publisher asked an Oregon court to declare that the Ankerberg/Weldon book "has not defamed" the group. On March 15, 2002, a Lane County, Oregon, circuit court judge ruled the court had no jurisdiction over the Local Church. The judge dismissed the suit "with prejudice," meaning it could not be re-filed. Harvest House declined comment for this article.

Few evangelicals publicly support the Local Church or Living Stream. But the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), which counts Harvest House as a founding member, has accepted Living Stream, based in Anaheim, California, as a member.

ECPA President Doug Ross said the group carefully examined Living Stream's statement of faith and interviewed its executives before granting admission. Living Stream also belongs to CBA, the national association of Christian retailers. Living Stream and several Local Church congregations have joined the Evangelical Christian Credit Union in Brea, California.

Local Church leaders have hired evangelical attorney Sealy Yates of Orange, California, as a literary consultant. The Yates law firm and literary agency has also represented Dallas Seminary Chancellor Chuck Swindoll, pastor and motivational speaker John Maxwell, and former Vice President Dan Quayle.

While Knox's Beisner does not count the group as evangelical, James Bjornstad, vice president of Evangelical Ministries to New Religions, is less critical. Bjornstad knows the group well and testified in the scp suit. A professor of philosophy at Cedarville College in Ohio, Bjornstad said the church has a mix of evangelical and heterodox teaching. "I don't refer to them as a cult," Bjornstad told CT. "I refer to them as brothers in Christ."

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Living Stream Ministry operates several websites including WatchmanNee.org and WitnessLee.org. History of the group and their beliefs can be found at Local-Church-History.org.

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February 2003, Vol. 47, No. 2