Violence on God

The consequences of believing you are right and everyone else is wrong.

The Liite cult imposes severe mental pain and psychological problems on followers of Li who sincerely believe in the delusions of the religion. Which religion is not Christian. This is no small point; not only does the cult attack Christianity vociferously, but its dogmas and god-talk (too simplistic to be a theology) are exactly the opposite to what Christians have always believed. For example, Liites, insisting that all the world is wrong, takes on the Holy Trinity and gets it exactly backwards. Naturally whenever Chang-Shou Li, the founder of the Liites, was told that his god-talk was wrong, he declared that he alone was right and everyone else was wrong.

This may well have been a flippant response, but it does have strategic value. Of course, Li's mistake on the Trinity was fruit of his incompetence, his inability (or stubborn refusal) to understand Christian teachings, clearly laid out long ago. But by declaring everyone wrong and him alone right, Li was exacting discipline of his followers.

That is, he was increasing their dependence on his misconstrued dogmas; since he alone was right and everyone else was wrong, his followers were obliged to buy his books, and only his books. Thus Li's was income was guaranteed as long as the hierarchy beneath Li's Living Stream Ministry was in place, and he would remain a fabulously wealthy man.

Even if one does not believe in Christ, he should be wary of anyone outright lying about his religion. Had Li admitted the truth, that he followed his own version of Buddhism and rejected Christ, he would have been socially tolerated. But Li would have had little success preaching a strange brand of Buddhism in a Christian country that had few Buddhists. He would not have been given a multi-million dollar estate in Anaheim, California. He would not have flown around the world free of charge.

Skim through the following, the ancient summation of the Persons and Substance of the Trinity, dating far back to ca. 361 AD. It is known commonly as the "Creed of Athanasius."

WHOSOEVER will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the true faith.
Which faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
And the true faith is this: That we worship one God in trinity, and trinity in unity, neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance.
For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.
The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal.
As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Ghost almighty.
And yet they are not three almighties, but one Almighty.

SO the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.
And yet they are not three gods, but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord.
And yet not three lords, but one Lord.
For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be both God and Lord,
So are we forbidden by the true religion, to say there be three gods, or three lords.
The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

SO there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Ghost, not three holy ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another;
But the whole three persons are co-eternal together and co-equal.
So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the unity in trinity and the trinity in unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved must think thus of the Trinity.

FURTHERMORE, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man;

GOD, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of the substance of his mother, born in the world;
Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.
Equal to the Father, as touching his godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his manhood;
Who, although he be God and man, yet he is not two, but one Christ;
One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh but by taking of the manhood into God;
One altogether; not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.
For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ;
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, he sitteth at the right hand of the Father, God almighty, whence he will come to judge the quick and the dead.
At whose coming all men will rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works.
And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

Now compare this with what Chang-Shou Li, the founder of the Living Stream Ministry, the Liite cult, and the "Acting God" on earth:

"The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not three separate persons or three Gods; they are one God, one reality, one person" (Witness Lee, The Triune God to Be Life to the Tripartite Man, Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1970, p. 48).

What Li has done here is reverse the Trinity; instead of God of one substance in three persons, he has three substances in one person. This is exactly the opposite to Christianity. Athanasius says "neither dividing the substance," but Li has done exactly that.

Li has performed violence on God.

Lest there be any doubt that Liites worship something besides the Christian God, read the following:

"Therefore, it is clear: The Lord Jesus is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and He is the very God. He is also the Lord. He is the Father, the Son, the Spirit, the Mighty God, and the Lord" (Witness Lee, The Clear Scriptural Revelation Concerning the Triune God www.contendingforthefaith.org

Once again, Li preaches a unitarian deity, but slyly calls it a "trinity."

And since Li's god changes in what he calls a "divine economy" from Jesus through the Holy Spirit to God the Father, Li's god is not the eternal, unchanging God of Christianity, but something that follows the dharma wheel of Buddhism.

Are the two views, Liite and Christian, compatible?

Athanasius says no: "except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved." And even more explicitly: "they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire." Therefore, according to Athanasius, all Liites are destined to where?