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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 3:6, 9-12a; 14:5, 12; Eph. 2:20-22; 4:12-16
The matter of the building of the church was revealed by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 16 after Peter recognized that the Lord Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God (v. 16). The Lord said to him, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (v. 18). After the matter of building was first revealed by the Lord Jesus, it was mentioned again by Peter in his preaching to the leaders of the Jews. He stood before them and told them that Jesus Christ was not only the Savior but also the stone for God’s building (Acts 4:11-12).
In the Bible Christ is revealed as at least nine kinds of stones. He is the eternal rock (Isa. 26:4; Matt. 16:18), the foundation stone (Isa. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11), the living stone (1 Pet. 2:4), the cornerstone (v. 6; Acts 4:11; Eph. 2:20; Psa. 118:22; Isa. 28:16), the precious stone (v. 16; 1 Pet. 2:4, 6-7), the topstone (Zech. 4:7), the cleft rock (Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4), the crushing stone (Dan. 2:34-35; Matt. 21:44b), and the stone of stumbling (Isa. 8:14; Rom. 9:33).
In ancient times the Jews built their dwellings with three main kinds of stones: a foundation stone, a cornerstone, and a topstone. They had flat roofs rather than sloping roofs. Godly people used the flat roofs for prayer. For example, Acts 10:9b says, “Peter went up on the housetop to pray.” The Jewish method of construction was to make the foundation with a large rock, then to set up the cornerstone as a support, the equivalent of today’s column, and to finish by placing the topstone as the roof. We should recognize that today the topstone has not yet been placed on God’s building. One day Christ will be placed on God’s building as the topstone. According to Zechariah 4:7, at that time all the people of God will shout, “Grace, grace to it.”
As the cleft rock, Christ is not for building but for flowing out the living water. He is the rock that was smitten and cleft on the cross to flow out His eternal life as our living water (John 19:34). In contrast, Christ is the foundation stone, the cornerstone, and the topstone, not to be our supply but to be the very material for God’s building. We may therefore call Him the Stone-Jesus. This title is altogether scriptural. If we believe in the Lord Jesus, we need to see that He is the Stone-Jesus. He is not muddy but solid and strong. He is the rock.
In Daniel 2:34-35 Christ is revealed as the crushing stone who comes to destroy the totality of human government, represented by the human image (vv. 31-33). In Matthew 21:44, concerning this stone the Lord Jesus told the people, “On whomever it falls, it shall crush him to powder and scatter him like chaff.” Christ is the crushing stone, not toward the believers but toward the unbelieving Gentiles. Christ is also revealed as a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense toward the unbelieving Jews (Isa. 8:14; Rom. 9:33; 1 Pet. 2:8).
There are three basic categories of people on the earth — the Jews, the Gentiles, and the believers in Christ. Christ is related to each of these categories of people as different kinds of stones. To the believers Christ is the eternal rock, the foundation stone, the living stone, the cornerstone, the precious stone, the topstone, and the cleft rock. These are items of Christ as a stone in a positive sense. In a negative sense, Christ will be a crushing stone to the unbelieving Gentiles and a stone of stumbling to the unbelieving Jews. Thus, Christ is related to every kind of person on the earth. No one can say that Christ has nothing to do with him or her.
In Acts 4 the apostle Peter stood before the Jewish leaders and testified that the Christ whom he was preaching was the Stone-Savior, good not only for saving but also for building (vv. 11-12). Christ is the material for God’s building. Today this Christ is working Himself into us. The One who is the foundation stone, the cornerstone, and the topstone is now being wrought into us. By our natural birth we are not stone but clay (Gen. 2:7). In order for clay to become stone, the stone element must come into it. This will cause the clay to be transformed into stone. Transformation requires another element to be added to the original element. Petrified wood becomes stone not by the wood being changed in itself but by the element of certain minerals being wrought into the wood. In like manner, we who are clay do not need to change our “clay” nature; rather, we need to have Christ’s stone nature added into us.
One way to have Christ’s element added into us is to call on the name of the Lord. We should not despise calling on the name of the Lord Jesus; it is not a small thing. If you play with calling on the name of the Lord, you may be caught. I know of a young man who was mocking our practice of calling on the name of the Lord, jokingly repeating, “O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus.” The next morning something happened to this young man. He could not smoke cigarettes anymore, and something within him urged him to go to the people whom he had been mocking. He was unconsciously caught by calling on the name of the Lord, for when he called, Jesus came into him. One person may open the door to the Lord by calling in a proper way, and another may open the door by calling in a mocking way, but regardless of the way, as long as the door is open, the Lord will come in.
Calling on the name of the Lord is not something that is done in vain, for Jesus is real and present. If a person is real, living, and near to us, whenever we call that person’s name, that person will come to us. Jesus is real and living; He is present and available. Therefore, when we call His name, He will come to us and will enter into us. Hymns, #208 says, “O Jesus, Jesus, dearest Lord! / Forgive me if I say, / For very love, Thy sacred name / A thousand times a day.” The words of this hymn should not be an exaggeration to us. A sister may be bored while washing the dishes at home. The best way for her to make her task a pleasant experience is for her to call on the name of the Lord while she is working. Whenever we call on the Lord’s name, we taste Him, for He is living, real, present, and available.
It is Satan’s subtlety to allow people to believe in Jesus and pray to Jesus but in a dumb way. Although we may believe in Jesus and receive Him as our Savior, if we do not call on His name, it will be difficult for us to enjoy Him. Today the Lord Jesus is working Himself into our being for God’s building. One way for Him to work Himself into us is by our calling on His name. We may not be convinced of this, but if we will simply call on the name of the Lord Jesus for three minutes, we will never be the same. We can read the whole Bible and still remain the same, but if we call, “O Lord Jesus!” for three minutes, we can never be the same because Jesus will work Himself into us.
Once the divine element, which is Jesus Himself, enters into us, this element is not silent. On the contrary, this element is aggressive and active, working, moving, and stirring in us to trouble us. If we call on the Lord one evening, the next morning something within us will begin rebuking, bothering, directing, and checking us, all the time saying no. We may be thinking of going to the theater, but something within will say no. If we are planning to play basketball, something within may say no. Perhaps when we are planning to buy a particular pair of shoes, something within will say no. Surely, we have all had this kind of troubling. This is Jesus troubling us and stirring within us. I like this kind of stirring and troubling.
Every kind of cooking is a kind of “troubling.” Cooking beef by placing it in a hot oven “troubles” the beef. Today we are under the “cooking” of the Lord by His stirring within to trouble us. Day by day He is troubling us. Even today I had a brief time with the Lord that was not very pleasant. I was thinking of saying something to please myself, but the troubling Jesus within said no. Those who were with me did not hear Him, but I heard Him clearly. He is working within us, and His working is metabolically transforming us. Thus, we will never be the same. We are all pieces of natural wood, but the heavenly flow is daily flowing through us with the heavenly element. Eventually, we will all be “petrified” to become precious stones. This is the way the Lord is building His church today.
In Matthew 16:18 the Lord said, “I will build My church.” In Acts 4:11 Peter said that Christ is the stone, the material for God’s building. Then Paul came in to tell us something further — that we are not only being built but are also building. Paul himself was a wise master builder (1 Cor. 3:10). We may think that Christ was the Builder, that the apostle Paul was a builder, and that today the leading brothers are builders, but that we ourselves are not builders. However, every member of the church should be a builder. Eventually, the church will be built not directly by Christ or the apostles but by every small member.
According to Ephesians 4:16, the building of the church as the Body of Christ is accomplished by every part of the Body. This verse says, “Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.” Out from the Head the Body builds itself up by the operation of each one part. Each one of us is a part. Regardless of how small and insignificant we consider ourselves to be, as long as we are in the church, we are a part of the Body. As a part of the Body, we each have a measure for the building up of the church. Thus, the church is not built directly by Christ or by the apostles but by us all.
We need to see the way in which Christ builds the church. Through His death, resurrection, and ascension He produced the apostles (vv. 8, 11). This was Christ’s part. The apostles’ part is to equip and perfect all the saints. The apostles perfect us by feeding us. We are all like newborn babies, who have all their organs but whose organs do not function fully because of their immaturity. Therefore, we need the feeding that will cause us to grow. The growth in life will help all our spiritual “organs” to develop into full function. A newborn baby has ears, but his ears cannot hear distinctly. He has eyes, but his eyes cannot see clearly. He has legs and feet, but he cannot walk. However, as his mother continually feeds him, after a certain period of time, his eyes begin to see clearly, his ears begin to discern different sounds, and his legs and feet begin to stand and then to walk. These functions all come by the growth in life. In like manner, the apostles feed us so that we may grow for the development of our spiritual function. The more we grow in life, the more our function will be developed. This is the perfecting by the apostles. As we are perfected, we will all begin to function, and our functioning will build up the Body directly.
We should not merely sit in the meetings as “pew members.” Remaining in our seat will cause us to be dead and eventually fall out of the church life. If we have the inspiration to stand up in a meeting to speak something for the Lord, but we are stuck in our seat, our seat has become a pew. Today some saints are functioning members. Whenever there is an opportunity, they stand up and speak something. However, others are pew members stuck in their seats. They come to listen to a brother give a message. When they tire of hearing messages, they may come to hear the testimonies. When they feel that a testimony is good, they will nod in agreement. When they do not like a testimony, they will shake their head in displeasure. The churches in the Lord’s recovery should not be like this. This is a tradition that comes to us from degraded Christianity. I do not like to say this kind of thing, but the situation forces me to say it. Because I am burdened and commissioned by the Lord, I must be honest before Him and before the saints. Degraded Christianity has passed on many deadening practices to us.
It would be good if all the saints, whether old or young, stood up in the meetings to speak for the Lord. One may shout, “Praise the Lord!” Then another may declare, “The Lord Jesus is so good.” A third one may testify, “Amen, I can testify that He is good.” In this way one by one, hundreds of people can say something. All the saints’ functioning will send Satan to the lake of fire. However, the situation in Christianity today is not like this. Christians are talkative people outside the meeting hall, but when they come into the meeting hall, they are silent. Perhaps they believe that they should be seated and silent in order to be pious, godly people who are meeting in a decent order. However, this situation is deadening and killing. After the meeting is over, everyone goes outside, and the order is lost as everyone begins to talk. Some may criticize the pastor or the sermon. This is the poor situation in Christianity today. In the Lord’s recovery we must all rise up to function for the building up of the church.
We need to realize that salvation is for the building up of the church. The way this building occurs is first by Christ the Head producing the apostles by His death, resurrection, and ascension. Through the ages He has produced a number of apostles. The apostles then come to us to perfect us, feed us, and minister Christ to us so that we may grow. As we grow, our functions come forth. Each one of us has a function. By the functioning of all the members of the church, the Body is built up directly. We all need to build the church in this way.
In every meeting we are all being built, and at the same time we are all building. We all build and are built by one another. Even saying Amen is a small way to function to build up the church. When we say Amen to a brother’s speaking, we build him up as he is speaking to build us up. If no one says Amen to a brother’s speaking, he will be discouraged and will not want to speak again. He will be deadened. However, if many saints say Amen to a brother’s speaking, he will be encouraged and look forward to coming to the next meeting to function again. This is building; it is not a small thing.
We should not be a group of quiet Christians when we come together. As a young believer, I met with a group of quiet Christians. We were taught to be quiet. It was often said that our meetings were so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. This kind of quietness deadens the whole situation. In those quiet meetings a distinguished speaker would give a good sermon on a certain topic, such as the Lord’s teaching that we must love not only our neighbors but also our enemies (Matt. 5:43-44). However, the only thing we could say afterwards was, “Doctor So-and-so is truly a scholar. His speech was very good.” Regardless of how good the sermon was, no one would receive help. We would all still be dead after the meeting.
In contrast, in the Lord’s recovery a brother may stand up in a meeting and testify briefly, “I was born in an unbelieving family. One day I met the Lord Jesus, and He saved me. Hallelujah!” If the meeting goes on for an hour with other saints functioning in a similar way, all the saints will be nourished and go home living. By rising up to speak in this way, even the smallest member can build the whole church. As each member is building, we all say Amen, and the building member is thus also being built. In this way we are being built while we are building. We should not depend on famous preachers. Instead, we should simply depend on all our fellow small members. We should come together with a living spirit and with the Stone-Savior, whom we have enjoyed and experienced, to exercise our spirit and release our portion of Christ with short sentences. If we do this, our meetings will be living, rich, uplifting, strengthening, enlightening, and comforting. This is the way that the church will be built up.
The first time I visited a certain locality, there were a small number of saints meeting in a rented hall. Because no ministering brother went to that locality to give a conference or stay for any length of time, when I visited that church a second time, I did not think that it would be as living as it was. When I returned and saw the situation, I was greatly encouraged to see that the church truly builds itself up. The angels do not have the privilege to build the church. We alone are privileged to be able to build the church. Most of the saints in that locality were young ones, but when I heard their prayers and testimonies, I inwardly praised and worshipped the Lord, saying, “Lord, thank You. You have confirmed Your recovery, Your commission, and Your revelation. Here is a church where there is not a ministering brother doing the building, but the church is being built by the functioning of all the small members.”
Even if we function only a little, it is good enough. An older sister may stand and say, “Do not think that I am old; in the Lord I am younger than you all. I love the Lord Jesus. He is so good to me.” Even such a brief word will build all the saints. Building is not a matter of doctrine, teaching, or giving a sermon; it is a matter of releasing our spirit to build and to nourish others with Christ. Whenever we release our spirit, the Holy Spirit will come out of our spirit to bring Christ to others, and this Christ will become nourishment, light, life supply, strengthening, and comfort to many saints. This is the proper way to build the church. The church is built not directly by the Head in the heavens or by the apostles but by all the present members of a local church.
Ephesians 2:20 says that we are being built, and 4:16 indicates that we all are building. While we are building others, we are being built. Actually, our building of others is our being built. While we are being built, we are building others. This is wonderful! The key, the secret, for us to build and be built is the exercise of our spirit (2:22). Just as the members of a basketball team warm up in order to prepare to play before a game begins, we must be exercised in spirit and be ready to participate before a meeting begins. In this way, when the meeting begins, we will each be able to function in turn to speak something of Christ to one another, just as the players on a basketball team pass the ball to one another. All the saints should come to the meeting in a prepared, vigilant way by being exercised in spirit. This will result in the building up of the church.
In response to this word, some saints may ask me, “Brother Lee, what about all the needs? Some sisters love the Lord, yet they still wear short skirts. Some dear brothers still have long hair. Don’t these ones need to hear some teaching to be helped? Many sisters override their husbands at home, and many brothers are mean to their wives. You need to teach us.” My answer to these saints is that my teaching means nothing; it is in vain. However, when the saints return home after a living meeting in which all the members exercised their spirit to function and build up one another, something will be different. When the domineering sisters are about to override their husbands, something they received in the meeting will stop them. They will be stopped not by my teaching but by the living Jesus. This is the way to take care of all the needs among the saints. I have seen this way work in a number of specific instances.
A little over a year ago a certain young man was saved and became a brother in the church in my locality. When he was saved, he had a very noticeable beard. This brother loved the Lord and loved the church life, but his beard was a distraction to many saints. However, recently I saw that this brother’s beard was totally gone. He testified that the Lord began bothering him to get rid of his beard a year ago, but he thought that this bothering might have been only his religious concept. Because he did not want to be religious, he waited. However, the more he waited, the more he was bothered. This inward bothering continued for over a year until one day he realized that this was surely not something religious but was the Lord Jesus. If this bothering had merely been a religious concept, it would have left him. The brother testified that finally one day he said to himself, “How could this bothering stay with me for a year? This morning it is bothering me even more. Therefore, I must say Amen and get rid of my beard.” I know of many similar testimonies of saints who have experienced a real change, a real transformation. If the brother who shaved off his beard simply stood up in a meeting with his shining, glowing face, it would build all the saints much more than a good sermon would. The building of the church by the functioning of all the members is not merely a matter of doctrine; it is the actual way that the church is being built in the Lord’s recovery today.
We have seen the building of the church revealed to Peter and to Paul. Now we come to John. John’s ministry is a mending ministry. This mending ministry is greatly needed today because the church has been damaged. Because there are many “holes” in this heavenly net, there is the need of mending. However, this mending could never be carried out effectively only by teaching. The more we try to mend by teaching, the more holes we will make. Teachings never mend but only tear. Only life can mend. Therefore, John writes in his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word” (1:1) and “in Him was life” (v. 4). John’s mending ministry brings us back to the beginning. In the beginning, in Genesis, we see the tree of life (2:9), and in John’s ministry, in Revelation, we again see the tree of life (22:2).
What is needed in the churches today is life. We should care more for life than for teachings. If we care mainly for teachings, we will soon be divided. Allow me to illustrate the problem of caring mainly for teachings. In Christianity we received an orthodox, fundamental teaching concerning the Trinity according to the Nicene Creed, which was compiled at a council held about three hundred years after Christ. This creed says that we believe that our God is triune — He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is correct. However, Christianity’s traditional teaching concerning the Trinity has drugged people, causing them to unconsciously believe that there are three Gods. Most would not admit this, but unconsciously, deep within them, their concept is tritheistic. As a result, when we touch the teaching of the Trinity, it stirs up trouble with many Christians.
When the Lord raised us up in His recovery, He showed us through our experience of the Lord that we have not three Gods but one. The Lord began to show us that God’s being three persons is only one aspect of God; the other aspect is that God is one (Isa. 45:5; 1 Tim. 2:5). The Trinity is three in one, or three-one. This is a divine mystery. It is impossible for us to exhaust the depths of the Divine Trinity with our human mentality. Trying to understand the Trinity with the human mentality is like trying to measure the ocean using a spoon. Christians may endlessly argue about whether God is three or one. We simply need to see that He is three in one. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three, but They are not three Gods — They are one God.
We know that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one God because in Matthew 28:19 the Lord Jesus spoke of “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” In this verse the word name is singular. When I read this verse as a young believer, I was bothered, thinking that I had found a mistake. Grammatically and logically speaking, the word name in this verse should be plural. It seems that this verse should say “the names of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” I thought, “How can three persons have one name? Surely, either the translators or the printer made a mistake.” However, when I checked with several versions of the Greek text, I realized that there is no doubt that the word name is singular. Thus, this verse mentions three persons but one name. This name is the all-inclusive name of the Triune God. His name is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
In The Principles of Theology W. H. Griffith Thomas, the well-known writer of an exposition on Romans, says, “The term ‘Person’ is also sometimes objected to. Like all human language, it is liable to be accused of inadequacy and even positive error. It certainly must not be pressed too far, or it will lead to Tritheism.” This is exactly what has happened in Christianity — the term person has been pressed too far. Some teach that God the Father is one person, God the Son is another person, and God the Holy Spirit is another person. This kind of teaching causes many Christians to unconsciously believe that there are three Gods.
From the first century until today Christians have been divided by the teachings concerning the Trinity and Christology, the study of the Person of Christ. If we pay too much attention to this kind of teaching, we will be killed. In the Lord’s recovery we have been helped by the Lord not to be misled by the teaching that God is three separate persons. According to our own experience of the Lord, we know that there is only one God. Moreover, in the Bible we find two verses revealing that the Triune God whom we experience is one. First, there is Isaiah 9:6, which says, “A Son is given to us; / ...And His name will be called / ...Eternal Father.” This verse indicates that the Son is the Father, for if He were not the Father, He could not be called Eternal Father. The other verse is 2 Corinthians 3:17, which says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” The Lord in this verse is Christ, the Son of God (4:5). Regardless of whether we understand these two verses, we must receive them as the pure revelation of the Word of God.
Some dissenting ones have come to argue with me, saying that the Son cannot be the Father because in Mark 1:11 the Father spoke to the Son, and in John 17 the Son prayed to the Father. Sometimes I answer these ones by simply saying, “Brothers, I do not know a great deal, but before I answer you, please tell me how you understand Isaiah 9:6 and 2 Corinthians 3:17. These two verses are the pure revelation of the Word in clear, black and white letters. There is no need for us to guess their meaning or to interpret them. They state the simple facts that the Son is called the Father and that the Lord is the Spirit.” When I respond in this way, the dissenting ones cannot answer. Then I say, “Brothers, we should not argue about the teaching of this mystery. We simply need to take the pure revelation of the Word of God. We should not care for the traditional teaching of any creed or organization more than the pure revelation of the Word of God.”
Sometimes I tell these dissenting ones, “Brothers, doctrines only bring about many arguments. Let us stop the arguing. Ephesians 4:6 says that the Father is in us, Colossians 1:27 says that Christ the Son is in us, and John 14:17 says that the Spirit is in us. These three verses tell us that the Father is in us, the Son is in us, and the Spirit is in us. Do you believe this or not?” None would say no. All would say, “Yes, the Father is in us, the Son is in us, and the Spirit is in us.” Then I go on to ask, “According to your experience, how many are in you?” None would say that there are three separate persons in them. All would say that, according to their experience, there is only one in them. Thus, our experience testifies that the three of the Triune God are one.
When I was a young Christian, I became bothered because I did not know whom to address my prayers to — the Father, the Son, or the Spirit. I had been taught by the Brethren that we should never address our prayers to the Son but should always pray to the Father in the name of the Son through the Holy Spirit. After trying to pray this way for a period of time, I became confused. I was taught to pray to the heavenly Father, but according to my experience, the Father was no longer the heavenly Father but the Father in me. Furthermore, when I prayed in this way, I did not know whether it was the Father, the Son, or the Spirit in me or where the other two were. When I prayed, I was always afraid of praying in the wrong way. Often I would spontaneously pray, “O Lord,” but then I would immediately repent and ask for forgiveness. Then I would begin again, praying, “O heavenly Father, I pray in the name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. Thank You, Father. O Lord.” Then I would again repent for praying to the Lord and try again. Therefore, I would not have a pleasant, sweet enjoyment in my prayer.
After trying to pray in this way for seven years, I was finally freed. Since then I have not been concerned with the doctrine of which one of the Trinity I should pray to. I simply pray, “O Lord Jesus! Thank You, Lord Jesus. I love You, Lord. O heavenly Father, You are so good and so gracious!” I cannot explain this kind of prayer doctrinally, but I know experientially that when I pray in this way, I have a sweet touch with the Lord. I am no longer bothered by dead doctrine. Our experience tells us that there is nothing wrong with praying in this way. We need to go back to the beginning, back to the tree of life. We should not care mainly to understand all the teachings and doctrines concerning the Trinity. The Triune God is far beyond our understanding. We simply cannot understand the mystery of the Divine Trinity.
To those who would say that the Father and the Son cannot be one because the Father spoke to the Son and the Son prayed to the Father in the Gospels, I would point out Zechariah 2:8-11, which says, “Thus says Jehovah of hosts, After the glory He has sent Me...For I am now waving My hand over them,...and you will know that Jehovah of hosts has sent Me...For now I am coming, and I will dwell in your midst, declares Jehovah. And many nations will join themselves to Jehovah in that day and will become My people; and I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that Jehovah of hosts has sent Me to you.” The more we try to understand who the Sender is and who the sent One is in this verse, the more we will be confused. The speaker in verse 8, who is the sent One, is Jehovah of hosts, but in verses 9 and 11 He says, “Jehovah of hosts has sent Me.” Thus, Jehovah of hosts is both the Sender and the sent One. This means that the Sender is the sent One. Just as the same Lord is both the Sender and the sent One in Zechariah 2, the same Lord is the praying Son and the listening Father in John 17. This is all we can say, and this is all we can understand. It is a mystery.
The Lord’s recovery does not recognize any of the divisive grounds of the many denominations. This offends many people. In today’s Christianity the denominations consider one another to be wrong, yet they would not offend one another. In the Lord’s recovery, however, the Lord has enlightened us and opened our eyes to see that denominations are wrong. Regardless of what others say about us or do to us, we will never recognize any denomination. However, we recognize that all the believers in the denominations are our dear brothers. In 1957 some brothers from Copenhagen and from London came to visit us in Taiwan. Although these saints were our friends, they tried to condemn us, asking, “Why do you say that you are the church and that all the denominations are not the church? Are they not genuine Christian brothers?” Right away I answered them, “Dear brothers, you came from the Western world, where all the Protestant Christians condemn the Catholic Church as being devilish and demonic. Do you not know that even in the Catholic Church there are a good number of genuine Christians?” When I was in the Philippines, I met some dear believers who were in the Catholic Church. I went to see their service and heard some sisters praying there. I appreciated their prayers. I told our visitors from Europe, “You condemn the Catholic Church, but you know that there are genuine believers there. Simply because there are genuine believers there, would you say that the Catholic Church is the proper church?” The answer was, “Surely not!” I said that my answer to them was the same. We admit that there are many dear brothers and sisters in the denominations, but we can never say that the denominations are right. This stand greatly offends people.
The recovery was raised up by the Lord in China in 1922. After twelve years, in 1934, all the missionaries in China were offended. They said, “We have been called by the Lord. We gave up our country, our home, our family, and our position. We sacrificed everything to come to this country, and we have been laboring day and night. We have worn out the soles of our shoes, and we have gained a number of believers. Among them, only a few top ones genuinely love and seek the Lord. We love these ones — they are the source of our church. Now all these top ones have been proselytized by you. Of course, your meetings are more living, higher, and richer than ours — you stole all our best ones. We raised up a poor flock, but you formed another flock and stole the best sheep.” We said, “Dear ones, we never stole anything. The ‘sheep’ are living, and they make their own decisions. Do not blame us. Rather, go to your sheep and ask them why they escaped from your fold. We did not steal them; they ran away from your fold. Now even if we tried to chase them away, they would say, ‘Even if you brothers would not take this way, we will still take this way.’” Many saints who have come into the Lord’s recovery from denominations can testify that no one stole them or proselytized them. Rather, they were attracted by the Lord in His recovery.
The main reason others accuse us of heresy and wrong doctrines is that they are upset because a number of their top members have left to come into the Lord’s recovery. Many denominations are truly full of wrong doctrines. Although no one says anything against their wrong doctrines, many say that we are heretical. Doctrinal disagreement is not the basic reason for this opposition; it is an excuse. The basic reason is that we offend many by standing on the unique ground of oneness. Our standing on the unique ground is a strong renunciation of all the divisive denominational grounds. Our standing on the unique ground spontaneously and unintentionally condemns all other grounds. We do not like to do this, but we have no other way to meet.
I hope that through this brief fellowship the whole situation may become clear to us all. We must look to the Lord that He would cover us, preserve us, and keep us from doctrinal disputation. We need to forget about any negative speaking or writing that comes to us. In the Lord’s recovery today we are not for doctrinal disputation but for the pure revelation of the Word of God, which brings us back to life for the building of the church to fulfill God’s purpose. We have no other way but this way, and the Lord has no other way but this way. This is the way of the Lord’s recovery, and this is the way that will bring Him back. We need to be faithful to this way.
