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It is crucial for anyone who is truly saved, loves the Lord, and desires to serve the Lord all his life to know how to become a useful vessel in the Lord’s hand. There are a few things that such a one should pay attention to and practice every day for his entire life.
First of all, we have to pursue the growth in life. Both our salvation and our growth hinge on life. Similarly, being useful in the Lord’s hand also hinges on life. Being able to render help to others depends on life, and being fruitful in gospel preaching also depends on life. Take our knocking on doors house by house as an example. We can see that whether or not it is effective hinges entirely on life. It is one thing for a sloppily dressed person to go door-knocking; it is another thing for a well-mannered person to do it. It would be a tremendous thing if the president of a nation were to go door-knocking. Therefore, the value of the same thing varies according to the person who does it. If the apostle Paul were preaching the gospel of forgiveness here today, it would be very weighty. If we were to do it, however, the result would be very different because we are not as advanced in life as Paul was. Therefore, we must pay attention to the pursuit of life and seek to grow in life.
We all know that the growth in life of all living things in nature, such as flowers, grass, trees, and all kinds of animals, is a moment-by-moment and day-by-day matter. The blood circulation in our body, which is the basis of our growth, is continuous and exceedingly fast. Once, there was a brother in the church who was a doctor and who opened a gospel clinic next to hall three in Taipei. He was greatly used by the Lord to lead many to salvation. He told me that even before a person finishes speaking a sentence, his blood has already circulated one time throughout his whole body. A person grows in life day by day, and even when he reaches one hundred years old, he will still be growing. The Bible tells us that the life span of all the patriarchs was very long. For instance, Adam lived to nine hundred thirty years of age. Moreover, the entire time that he was alive, he was growing. Hence, the first thing that you must pay attention to is life. In all the books published by us, the matter spoken of and stressed the most is life. You must spend time to study two of these books, namely, The Knowledge of Life and The Experience of Life.
Second, according to the Bible, truth goes together with life. Truth is the word of God. It is not our words but the word of the Bible. In John 17 the Lord Jesus prayed to the Father, saying, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (v. 17). The Bible is an extraordinary book. The Four Books and Five Classics, written by the ancient Chinese sages, may be considered the highest books aside from the Bible in terms of human ethics and morality. According to my evaluation, the philosophies of other countries, such as Egypt, Babylon, and ancient Greece, are inferior when compared with the classical writings of Chinese Confucianism. Even so, the Four Books and Five Classics are not the truth. In this universe only the word of God is truth. For this reason we should never stop pursuing God’s word. Our pursuit should be a daily matter. I dare not say that it is a moment-by-moment pursuit, but at least it must be a day-by-day pursuit. You need to pursue the truth every day in order to gain the knowledge of the truth.
Christianity has two big defects: first, a negligence with regard to life, and second, a shortage of truth. Christianity in its entirety is a religion with only a limited amount of truth. Those who are known as the fundamentalists have four characteristics: first, they have deep faith in the Bible, believing the literal meaning of the words; second, they believe in the existence of God; third, they believe in the divinity of the Lord Jesus; and fourth, they believe that the death of the Lord Jesus was not merely the death of a martyr but was for redemption. Anyone who lacks any of these four points cannot be considered a fundamentalist. The four major fundamentalist denominations are the Baptists, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, and the Episcopalians. The Episcopalian Church, which is the state church of England, is also called the Anglican Church. Its rituals and organization closely resemble those of the Catholic Church.
With regard to the fundamental faith, even the Catholic Church may be considered fundamental because she also believes in the Bible as the word of God, in the existence of God, in the divinity of the Lord Jesus, and in the redemption accomplished by the Lord Jesus. However, she has mixed a large amount of leaven into the three measures of meal, as mentioned in Matthew 13. In that chapter the meal signifies the fundamental truths. Three measures is the amount required for a full meal (Gen. 18:6), signifying that the Catholic Church does not deny any of the fundamental truths but rather acknowledges them all. To this day she is still like this and boasts in this. Nonetheless, she does not know how much leaven, heresies, she has mixed into the three measures of meal. The leavening has been so thorough that even the Lord Jesus said that “the whole was leavened” (Matt. 13:33). She has mixed leaven into all the fundamental truths. I have met many Germans whose specialty is chemistry. They all say that once the meal is leavened, there is no way to remove the leaven from it.
Like the Catholic Church, the half-Catholic Episcopalian Church acknowledges the authority of the Bible, the existence of God, the divinity of Christ as the Son of God, and the death of the Lord Jesus for our redemption by the shedding of His blood. However, for the most part the Episcopalians do not see the truths in the Scriptures related to life. Among them, some theologians might have studied this matter a little, but as a whole they do not pay much attention to it. John Nelson Darby, whom we have always respected, was originally a priest in the Anglican Church. After seeing much light at the age of twenty-five, he became one of the founders of the recovery that took place among the Brethren.
The inception of the Presbyterian churches and the Baptist churches was related to the Reformation led by Martin Luther. During the Reformation, Luther was constantly being threatened by the Catholic Church, and his life was always in danger. As a result, he was weakened. At that time the Catholic Church’s power was extremely great, and the pope’s political authority was greater than that of any of the monarchs. Eventually, some Germanic princes were disgusted with this, so they joined together to fight against the Catholic Church in order to protect Luther, their fellow countryman. Because of their protection, Luther compromised and went along with their action. In the end, the Lutheran denomination, formed by the followers of Luther, became the state church. Later, one after another, the countries in Northern Europe followed suit, resulting in the formation of state churches in countries such as Denmark and Sweden. Until today many German citizens pay a church tax, and the government participates in the administration of the church. In the same way, at his birth every Englishman becomes not only a subject of Great Britain but also a member of the Anglican Church. Hence, due to the mixture of politics and religion, the situation of the state churches is very confusing and has a strong political flavor.
After the establishment of the state churches, Luther still did not leave the practice of the Catholic Church in the matter of baptism by sprinkling. Soon afterward, however, some of the Lord’s lovers who emerged from northern Europe studied the Scriptures and saw the truth of baptism. Eventually, the Baptist Church was formed. Since its formation, it has evolved into many different denominations today in Europe and America. The strongest group was originally called the Anabaptists, out of which came the British Baptists. John Bunyan, the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, was an important figure in the British Baptist Church. Later the so-called Baptist Church reached America and was divided into the Northern Baptist Church and the Southern Baptist Church. Today the Southern Baptist denomination has thirteen million believers. The Baptists in Taiwan are also generally affiliated with the Southern Baptists.
In the 1700s John Wesley, his younger brother Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield were among a small group of young men who were outstanding students at Oxford University. They loved the Lord very much, read the Bible diligently, and determined to behave very properly and to strictly adhere to rules of love, honesty, and faith in God. Based upon these rules they formed a society, which later developed into the Methodist denomination. This denomination puts a strong emphasis on methods of behavior and pays much attention to conduct and morality.
Today these four major denominations, the Episcopalians, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists, along with some other smaller denominations and free groups, are the main constituents of fundamental Christianity. All these groups believe in the basic items of Fundamentalism. Nevertheless, many of the people in these groups do not have an accurate understanding of the divinity of the Lord Jesus. Instead of saying boldly and directly that the Lord Jesus is God, they say that He is the Son of God. To them there is still a distinction between “the Son of God” and “God.” Of course, this involves the truth of the Divine Trinity.
Of all the different schools of fundamental theology, Reformed theology, which is related to Luther and Calvin, is the worst. Although Reformed theologians acknowledge the four major aspects of fundamentalist truths, the views of many of these theologians are altogether in error. Many say that there is no such thing as a millennial kingdom. They think that it is wrong to say that the millennial kingdom will begin when the Lord Jesus comes back. Instead, they believe that beginning with the spreading of the gospel through the apostles’ preaching of the gospel and truth, human society has been gradually reformed. As a result, human society will eventually become a utopia, a world of bliss. This kind of teaching was quite prevailing in the nineteenth century. At that time Darby took the lead among the Brethren to refute it. Thus, Brethren teaching is in conflict with Reformed theology.
Many Bible scholars in Europe and America acknowledge that Brethren theology is the top fundamental theology with the most fundamental truths. These are the very truths that we have received. Reformed theology asserts that human society will be reformed and eventually become a utopia through the spreading of the gospel and the teaching of the truth, and then the Lord will come back. They do not acknowledge that the believers have two natures, the new nature and the old nature, an old man and a new man, within them. They think that the new man comes out of the improvement of the old man. This way of thinking, eventually leads to not believing in regeneration. Thus, over the years the gap between Reformed theology and Fundamentalism has become greater and greater.
Although this school of thought was very popular in the nineteenth century, the belief in a so-called utopia was almost completely demolished by the war in Europe that lasted for four years beginning in 1914. From that time onward, this school of thought has declined and, for the most part, been replaced by the study of biblical prophecies concerning the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Nevertheless, despite its decline in Europe, this school of thought still gradually spread to America, especially in the area around Chicago.
Of the two books that attacked and slandered the Lord’s recovery in the worst way, one was written by someone who is of the school of Reformed theology. The two groups that published these two books were originally one group. After the original group divided into two, one group remained in fundamental theology, not in the high-class fundamental theology but in Reformed theology. It was this group that put out The God-Men to oppose the Lord’s recovery. The other group did not agree to remain in fundamental theology, so they had another start and founded the Evangelical Orthodox Church. They appointed themselves “bishops” and purchased “bishops’ robes.” This second group put out The Mindbenders to oppose the Lord’s recovery.
We should be orthodox genuinely, not only in relation to the fundamental truths but also in the matter of life. We absolutely believe in the matter of regeneration and confess that Christians have two natures — the nature of the new man and the nature of the old man. This is the orthodox truth concerning life. In the matter of truth we have received a great deal of help from the Brethren — in particular, concerning the interpretation of prophecies. G. H. Pember, Robert Govett, and D. M. Panton were very thorough and precise in their studies, always interpreting the Bible according to the accurate meaning of the words. Hardly any mistakes can be found in their works. Based on their interpretations, and standing on their shoulders, we have examined and pursued the truth and have gone on to see deeper things.
On the final day of depositions for the lawsuit against the book The Mindbenders, its chief editor and those involved in its publication all capitulated. They had no way to continue debating with the Lord’s recovery. Since they could not understand what we were saying, they had no way to fight the battle. In the book The Four Major Steps of Christ, I refer to the three successive steps taken by the Triune God in His work and in His move. This refers to something economical, something related to His move. Yet the author of The Mindbenders wrongly accused me of saying that there are three successive steps taken by God in His existence. What they did was very subtle.
In terms of the existence of God, we use the term coexistence. In God’s existence, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist in the way of coinhering. This is according to the Lord Jesus’ speaking: “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me” (John 14:10), “I and the Father who sent Me” (8:16), and “I am not alone, because the Father is with Me” (16:32). We also said clearly that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexisted in the Old Testament. In terms of God’s move, the Old Testament age was the age of the Father. Nevertheless, the Son and the Spirit were also there. In terms of God’s move, it was the Son who moved and was processed. Yet when the Son moved, the Father was with Him. At the same time the Spirit was also present as the essence within Him and the power upon Him. It was by the Spirit that He cast out demons and preached the gospel. Thus, all three were there. In the Epistles it is the age of the Spirit, and it is the Spirit who is moving. Yet when the Spirit moves, He moves as the realization of Christ, and He also moves with the Father. Hence, in terms of Their existence and essence, regardless of which age it is, the three of the Divine Trinity always take the way of coexistence and coinherence. In terms of Their move, however, They are in succession: first the Father, then the Son, and then the Spirit.
The reason we initiated the lawsuit was to fight for the reputation of the Lord’s recovery. The changes made by the slanderers turned our teaching into the heresy of modalism. I have said repeatedly that we are not modalists. Although we say that the Son is the Father (Isa. 9:6) and that the Son became the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b), this is the teaching concerning the Trinity, not the teaching of modalism. In America, some teach modalism while others teach tritheism. But the Lord’s recovery is very balanced; we advocate neither modalism nor tritheism but emphasize the Trinity and speak in great detail about the essential Trinity and the economical Trinity. This may be quite new to the average theologian and professor in seminaries in America. In order to get a deeper understanding of this truth, some young brothers purposely have dived into all the theology from the age of the church fathers to the present time and found out all the truths related to the Divine Trinity.
Christianity has already been on the earth for two thousand years. Perhaps one day many of our young people will go to the West, especially to America, for propagation. We know that in America there is a lot of trouble when it comes to truth. It is a place where truth easily gives rise to debate. Therefore, every one of us has to study the truth in depth so that when the time comes, we can show our real aptitude.
In order to go forth to work for the Lord, first we must equip ourselves that we may be enriched in the knowledge of the truth. If we do this, whenever we speak, we will be able to present the truth clearly and reasonably, and those who hear us will also be convinced. The present world has been polluted by Christianity for more than one thousand years, so the truth of God has no way to spread. Therefore, today we all have to receive the commission to spread the truth throughout the world. This is not an easy thing. It is not like in the past when the Western missionaries came to China. At that time the Chinese people were like blank sheets of paper toward Christianity. The missionaries just hired some poor or low-class people by giving them candy or money. They asked them to cook meals or sweep the floor for them, and then they preached a little sermon to them. But today we cannot do that when we go to South America, Europe, or Africa. Because all these places have already been fully polluted by Christianity, when we go, we must be familiar with the truth and have much learning in the matter of service so that we may be able to meet the need.
As those who serve the Lord, we must be equipped in these two matters: the growth in life and the familiarity with the truth. Therefore, we should be diligent not only in reading the Bible but also in reading the spiritual books. We have to spend time to study every page of every book that has been published from the time of Brother Nee until this day. We have to try our best to make good use of our time, reading a little bit even after every meal. We have to practice this to the extent that we have a book in hand all the time. Even before bedtime we should study a little more.
If we are willing to spend all our effort, all our heart, and all our time to study the truth, we will be able to lay a very good foundation within two years. In addition, we should learn to serve. Young people have to be trained, either for two years or for four years. During this training period, other than all the required courses, all the spiritual publications must be considered extracurricular reading and be studied with diligence. It is a great loss to miss even one of them. This will help you to be equipped in the truth so that when you go out to preach, you will be very fluent in speaking and able to speak without any difficulty at all. Do not learn the truth only on the surface; rather, learn it to the extent that you not only know how to speak the truth but also how to speak it with great skill.
In order to be familiar with the truth, we must read the Bible thoroughly and read many spiritual books. It is neither a boast nor a deception to say that all the books in the Lord’s recovery are the extracts of the truths in Christianity. They are the crystallization of the study of the Bible and the spiritual life-experiences of Christians throughout the last two thousand years. Hence, we should endeavor to enter into all these spiritual riches and not waste our time or money on other unnecessary pursuits. We should save all our time and money in order to spend them on studying the Bible and spiritual books. In this way, after a few years of study we will have a thorough grasp of the truth.
To meet the great need of the Lord’s recovery all over the earth, we must cooperate with the Lord’s move by observing the outward situation on the one hand and being led by the Lord within on the other. Prior to this, however, we have to be equipped with the truth. This is a very crucial matter.
