Search
Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 14:8
In Paul’s word to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 14:8, he refers to the matter of speaking in tongues with a definite interpretation. He says that if there is not a definite interpretation of a person’s tongue-speaking, this is like sounding the trumpet with an uncertain sound. We may think that an item like tongue-speaking is too small for our consideration. As we have seen, another item that has been sounded is that there are two lines in the recovery. We may think that these are small things that are not related to the Lord’s person, to His deity, to His divinity, or to His Godhead. Speaking in tongues with or without a definite interpretation and some feeling that there are two lines in the Lord’s recovery may be considered by some as minor things that are not related to the major items in the divine revelation. They have nothing to do with the Lord’s headship or with the Lord’s redemptive work. They are not something modernistic that denies the authority of the Bible or denies God’s existence.
Some of the so-called workers, the leading ones, like to think that they can take another line, not following the one line in the ministry. They may consider this and speaking in tongues without a definite interpretation small matters that we do not need to pay attention to. To some extent I myself have had this kind of thought in the past. Although I gave such a serious word that my toleration is over, some brothers may feel, not in a negative way but in a very positive way concerning me, that they love me and do not think that I need to be that serious about little things such as these. I had the same kind of thought in the past, but through my study I realized that in the New Testament the illustration of a trumpet being sounded to prepare others for battle is only used in 1 Corinthians. This illustration in 1 Corinthians is not used in relation to the person of Christ in His Godhead or to the crucial, eternal redemption of Christ. This illustration is used concerning a minor point, the interpretation of tongues.
Let us read 1 Corinthians 14:6-9 to see the context of this illustration: “Brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what shall I profit you, unless I speak to you either in revelation or in knowledge or in prophecy or in teaching? Yet even lifeless things, whether flute or harp, in giving a sound, if they give no distinction in the tones, how will what is played on the flute or on the harp be known? For also if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle? So also you, unless you give with the tongue a word easy to understand, how will what is being said be known? For you will be speaking into the air.” It is concerning the matter of speaking in tongues, something which we consider to be so small, that the apostle Paul inserts this verse with the word battle in it. No one among us would consider a battle a small thing. An army that is fighting a battle needs the morale, a fighting unity. In order to maintain this morale, even a little dissension concerning the smallest matter has to be killed. If that little dissenting talk is not killed, the morale will be annulled. There will be no more morale, and surely the army will lose the fight, the battle. This warns me concerning the seriousness of the Lord’s ministry. The Lord’s ministry is like the sounding of the trumpet for the army to go on to war (Num. 10:9; Judg. 7:18). The Lord’s ministry is a matter of a battle (2 Tim. 2:3 and footnote 1, Recovery Version).
We have to realize that the Lord’s church today is a fighting army. We are doing something more serious than any battle on this earth. We are fighting against God’s enemy, Satan. The church is God’s army, and this is fully revealed and illustrated in many aspects in Ephesians 6. Ephesians is a book on the Body of Christ, the church. It tells us that the Body of Christ, the church, is the fullness of the One who fills all in all (1:22-23). It also tells us that this church is the new man created in Christ on the cross (2:15-16). Furthermore, this church is the kingdom of God, the household of the very God (v. 19), and the wife of Christ, His counterpart (5:24-25). Paul eventually tells us in Ephesians that the church, the Body of Christ, with such a tremendous status, is a warrior to fight against God’s enemy. Whatever Christ is and whatever Christ has done should be used and applied as aspects of the armor of God. We have to wear Christ as our breastplate (6:14) and as our shield (v. 16). We have to have our loins girded with Christ (v. 14), and we have to wear Christ as a pair of shoes for our standing to fight the battle (v. 15). The church is not a mere group of people collected together. The church is a universal and divine army fighting for God in the universe against His enemy.
In modern history there have been two world wars, but we must realize that the church today is undertaking a universal war. The space of our war is much larger than today’s space studied by scientists. Most of their study is confined to a single galaxy, but many, many millions of galaxies and beyond form the space in which we are fighting. We are fighting the enemy in the heavenlies, in the universal space. Our battle is great beyond measure. We are not undertaking a small battle merely for the United States or for the world. Our battle is universal. In Paul’s speaking concerning the matter of interpretation of tongues, he considers that it is related to this universal battle that we are undertaking. In his talk concerning the interpretation of tongues, he uses an illustration — the sounding of a trumpet for the battle.
Since October of 1984 I felt greatly burdened for the Lord’s move on this earth, and I felt very clearly that the Lord was leading me to go back to Taiwan. I was so clear that we needed to have a new start in the Lord’s recovery. The recovery has been to some extent, however, polluted and marred. It has been very much weakened. An unhealthy body is always weakened. I do not think that any of us would say that in the past fifteen years the Lord’s recovery has been healthy. We all admit that it is not healthy. The fact that we have not had much increase is evidence of this. In these fifteen years in South America, in Central America, in Africa, in Europe, and in Australasia more localities have been taken by the Lord’s recovery, but the total number in the Lord’s recovery is too small. There is no place that we can see the impact that we saw from 1949 to 1955 in Taiwan. The recovery in Taiwan at that time was like a fighting army. In many aspects and in many directions, God’s enemy was being defeated in those years. Within those six years the increase went from about four to five hundred people up to forty or fifty thousand. The real impact was there. Now wherever the recovery has gone in the past fifteen years in South America, Central America, Europe, Australasia, and Africa, we never saw such an impact. Furthermore, the impact was weakened on the island of Taiwan, and the impact was reduced here in the United States. How about the impact? How about the morale?
The main factor that caused me to feel led by the Lord in October of 1984 to go back to Taiwan was the lack of the increase. It is altogether wrong to be in a condition where the rate of increase is so low. I said a strong word to the brothers from Canada in a winter training in Irving, Texas. I told them that the recovery has been existing in that country of approximately twenty-five million people, yet after more than twenty years there are only less than eight hundred saints meeting there. This is a shame and is an indicator that we have nearly no morale. In the United States there are close to one hundred churches, and the number of saints has increased at a very low rate. On the other hand, some other Christian groups, especially in the Far East, have gone up very much in number in recent years.
This helped me to realize that although we are holding the proper ground, possessing many divine truths, and enjoying all the divine riches, we have lost the morale. We have become a weak person with germs. How can a person be strong with some germs affecting his body all the time? No one can deny the fact that we are weak. As a result, I am greatly burdened. I not only have to be faithful to the Lord and faithful to the churches, but I also have to be faithful to myself. I sacrificed my whole life for the Lord’s recovery. I have passed through different kinds of sufferings in my ministry for the sake of the Lord’s recovery. This is why I must speak the truth regardless of whom I would offend. I must do something to kill all these germs. This is the reason I have called for three urgent elders’ trainings from 1984 through 1986.
When I went to Taiwan in October 1984, I revolutionized every bit of the Lord’s recovery. I annulled nearly all the oldness. I do not care for intimate, natural friendship. In my whole being there is no capacity for such a thing. I have to be faithful to my Lord. I have to be faithful to so many saints who gave up their futures and came to this recovery. They came to this recovery at least ninety percent due to my ministry. If the recovery remains like this, I feel that I owe much to all these dear ones who gave up their futures to come this way.
The Lord started something new in Taipei, and I originally had no intention to start something among the churches in the United States. Instead, I intended for the churches in the United States to wait for a time so that they could see something as a model in Taiwan. I do not want to have a start when so many old poisons remain. Because I realized that the poisons still remain in the United States, I felt burdened to call this urgent training.
I cannot fellowship with you at this point about these four crucial points — the home gatherings, the truth lessons, the full-time workers, and the spreading of the gospel. These are the life pulse of the Lord’s move today. Before I can make the present situation among us clear by the Lord’s mercy, I would not say a word about these four points. The army is here, but the morale has been lost. We must get the morale back before we talk about the army. With today’s situation the way it is, it is hard to fight as an army. We can never win the battle with an uncertain sounding of the trumpet.
Whether or not a certain church takes the ministry does not decide whether that church is a genuine local church. The title of this message is not “no uncertain sounding of the trumpet in the Lord’s recovery” but “in the Lord’s ministry.” I am not talking about something in the Lord’s recovery, but I am talking about the ministry. The citizens of the United States may say many things to criticize the government and the commander in chief of the Armed Forces. But when you get into the army and become a soldier, you lose your right to say anything. It is possible to argue, debate, and fight in the Senate, but even when the senators get in the army and become soldiers, they have to be quiet. There is no uncertain sounding in the army. The ministry is not like the Senate. The ministry is not a “congress” for anyone to come here to express his opinion. The ministry has no capacity for that. The ministry is altogether filled up with a fighting spirit. I do not control any church. All the saints who have left the denominations, the divisive sects, and stand on the proper ground are a local church in their locality. They can express their opinions, but they may have nothing to do with this ministry.
Paul tells us that all who were in Asia turned away from him (2 Tim. 1:15). The believers in Asia who had formerly received the apostle’s ministry now forsook him. They did not lose their status as local churches due to the fact that they gave up Paul’s ministry, but in fighting the battle, Paul’s ministry could not depend upon them. For Paul’s ministry they could not be counted on. To say that the ministry cannot depend upon a certain church does not mean that that church has been cut off from being a local church. It is still a local church, but we must realize that the ministry is a fighting unit. In this fighting unit there is no capacity and no time for your opinion.
I mean business for the Lord’s interest. I have sacrificed my entire life for the Lord’s ministry. I gave up everything to take the way of the Lord’s recovery. Now I must be faithful to myself. Furthermore, through my ministry on this globe, thousands of saints have come into the recovery, so I must be faithful to them. Many of the saints have given up high degrees to follow the Lord in His recovery, yet it seems that what they are in is tending to be disappointing. This burdens me. Some of the saints became what they are in the Lord one hundred percent due to my ministry, and I do not want my ministry to waste their time. I have to do something to ensure the investment of their whole being into the Lord’s recovery. They have given up their future in the world, but they cannot have much encouragement in the Lord’s recovery. I have to be faithful to the Lord, faithful to so many of you who have been very much affected by this ministry, and faithful to myself. For this reason this ministry cannot allow anyone to pretend to be in it and yet still say something different. This does not mean that I ask you to stay away from your local church or that your local church is no longer a local church. What I am fellowshipping about is the impact of the ministry for the fighting of the Lord’s interest in His recovery.
Whatever I would say concerning the home gatherings, the full-timers, the truth lessons, and the spreading of the gospel is not for anyone who does not feel good about my ministry, who is dissenting to my ministry, and who is pretending to be here under the ministry yet actually is not. I still love all the dear saints who may fall into this category and still count them as brothers in Christ, but we need to have an army full of impact, and this army has no capacity and no time for anyone to express any kind of opinion. We are fighting a battle. The army began the fighting already in Taiwan. Now we want to see this army increasing to fight the battle not only in the United States but also in Canada, in Central America, in South America, in Europe, in Africa, in Australasia, and in the entire continent of Asia. This is what I want to see. I am not talking about the churches; I am talking about the ministry. The ministry is one thing, and the churches are another thing. These two things can be differentiated in the Epistles written by Paul. Paul’s ministry is one category, and the churches are another category. Paul never tried to force all the churches to follow him in his ministry, but Paul surely had a ministry for the churches.
Some saints came to me a number of times with reports concerning serious and even negative situations. They may have misunderstood my not responding to them with any kind of seriousness. I believe I did not respond in this way not only out of my patience and toleration but also because of the Lord’s wisdom. I feel that it is altogether wise to be patient. When the fruit of a particular tree is growing, the fruit itself will show what it is. When the fruit becomes ripe, it will fall from the tree. At this point, however, I do not feel that I should tolerate certain situations any longer, because enough damage has been done already. I do not like to see more damage done to the Lord’s recovery. I have no time, dear saints, to fool around with people any longer. Let us go to fight the battle. Who are the “us”? They are the ones who are desperate with no opinion.
In the eighteen years that I was involved in the work on mainland China, I did a lot, but no one ever heard any opinion from me. They only heard my voice in giving messages all according to Brother Nee. Some brothers can testify that among all the co-workers with Brother Nee in those eighteen years, I did the most. But I labored without voicing any opinion. In the co-workers’ conferences sometimes Brother Nee would ask, “Witness, what would you say?” I had nothing to say. My attitude was that whatever Brother Nee told me to do, I would do it. It was that simple. From 1932 to 1950 no one ever heard me expressing any opinion regarding the work in mainland China.
Actually, there is nearly nothing different between my understanding and Brother Nee’s except for one thing. I never told anyone what this was, not even my wife or family, until I came to this country and Brother Nee went to be with the Lord. The doctrinal item that I felt different from Brother Nee was regarding the two witnesses in the book of Revelation (11:3-12). This was the only difference between my understanding and Brother Nee’s. My intention is to show you that I was not altogether the same in everything with Brother Nee. In this one thing I was not the same, and I am still not the same. My point is this — in spite of this difference, I never uttered anything in my ministry that Brother Nee did not preach, and I did not teach anything that he had not touched.
As I have told you in the past, the Lord has opened my eyes to realize that in the Bible, especially in the New Testament, there is only one current flowing from the throne (Rev. 22:1). At Pentecost the current began to flow out of Jerusalem through Judea, through Samaria, and up to Antioch. There the flow turned to Asia Minor, to Eastern Europe, to Rome, and probably even to Spain, which by that time was considered as the uttermost part of the earth. There was only one flow. You cannot see two flows in the book of Acts.
Barnabas was an excellent brother who actually brought Saul of Tarsus into his ministry (11:25-26). At the beginning Barnabas took the lead. On the way of their first journey, however, the Spirit records that Paul began to take the lead, and the Spirit began to refer to Saul as Paul (13:9). The change of name may indicate the change in life. From this point on, Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, took the lead in the apostolic ministry all the way, and Barnabas accepted that. Barnabas was one with Paul to go to Jerusalem to get the solution regarding the trouble of circumcision. Right after that solution was made as a decree to all the churches, there was a contention between Barnabas and Paul (15:35-39). This contention was not about something great but about something small. They did not separate from each other because of a different opinion concerning the faith or concerning the headship of Christ. The split between them was concerning a small, personal, intimate thing. Barnabas wanted to take his cousin Mark along with them on their journey, and Paul said no. To us that is a small thing, but after Barnabas left Paul with Mark, there is no more record of him in the Lord’s move in the book of Acts. The reason for this is because the Lord would only care for one flow.
I saw this matter clearly in 1933 when Brother Nee asked me to join him in the work in Shanghai. At that time I was doing a work in north China that was quite prevailing and even promising to me in teaching the Bible. Because my eyes were opened, I told the Lord that I would go to Shanghai to join Brother Nee and the work. I realized that the Lord’s flow, the Lord’s current, on this earth has been only one. If north China were to be taken by the Lord, He would surely do it through the same flow. I had to jump into this current, to be one with this current, to let the Lord flow.
Now let us consider Apollos. There is not a long record of Apollos in the Bible. He was not dissenting, but he somewhat remained in another flow (1 Cor. 16:12). There is no hint that Apollos intended to carry on another flow, but whatever he was and whatever he did gave people a different impression. This is why after he worked in Corinth some could say that they were of Apollos (3:4), and some were puffed up on behalf of Apollos against Paul (4:6). Apollos was not wise. If he had been wise, he would have never behaved in that way.
By the Lord’s mercy I can declare that in those eighteen years when I was involved in the work on mainland China, I was wise. I never caused anyone to think that they could be puffed up on behalf of me against Brother Nee. There was no such thing. Whatever the saints saw of me, my behavior, my way of living, my actions, the way I worked, my messages, and my speaking, they all considered to be absolutely one with Brother Watchman Nee. I did not leave any loopholes for anyone to think that I was different from Brother Nee. I believe that was the Lord’s wisdom through His mercy given to me. Our history since that time speaks a great deal. Among so many co-workers of Brother Nee, where is the recovery? I did not have any kind of thought to be the one to carry on the Lord’s recovery. Even when I went to Taiwan, I was definitely sent. That was Brother Nee’s proposal to the co-workers. I never had the thinking or the feeling that I was going to be the leader. Even when I came to the United States, I did not have the thought of being the leader in the Western world of the Lord’s recovery. But where is the recovery today and under what kind of leadership? Some of the so-called co-workers claim that they were so close to Watchman Nee, but nearly not one church has ever been raised up by any of them.
It is altogether not wise for you to remain in the recovery taking this ministry on the one hand and yet on the other hand to say something else. This is not wise. It is not profitable to yourself or to your future. You may say that you have a ministry, but this is not profitable to your ministry if you have one. You can never profit your ministry in the future in this way. Rather, you have dispensed your future in a cheap way. The wise way is to stay, without any opinion, with the recovery, which is unique.
I want to be faithful and frank, and I want to make the situation clear to all of you. I do not believe that my being here is altogether of myself. Rather, I believe that my being here is of the Lord. I want to see many of you rise up to be able to do the same thing that I am doing. I would never be jealous. I like to see this, and I am for this!
Now you understand my standing, my heart, and where I am. Brothers, we need to be wise. We are an army formed by His mercy and grace to fight the battle for the kingdom of the heavens! The island of Taiwan has to be evangelized and truthized by this army within the next four years. For the fulfilling of this purpose, I would not tolerate any kind of dissenting thought. To be a citizen of the United States is one thing, but to fight in the United States Army is another matter. When Gideon was called to take the army to fight the battle for Jehovah, the Lord told him that he had too many (Judg. 7:4). Eventually, the Lord chose three hundred men and told Gideon to send the others home. This does not mean that whoever went back home was no longer an Israelite. He was still an Israelite, but he had nothing to do with the fighting army.
You may be a member of a local church and yet have nothing to do with the ministry to fight the battle for the Lord’s interest on this earth. All of you are the elders, the co-workers, and the apprentice elders, the leading ones, in the recovery. I am speaking to you all as the soldiers in the Lord’s recovery, not to the citizens. I am speaking to the soldiers of the army. Are you going to remain in the army? You have to realize what the army is and what the army would do. The army has no capacity to take your opinion. There is no time for the army to fool around. The situation is quite urgent. The intention of this heavenly army is to evangelize and truthize Taiwan first and then the United States.
One brother recently asked me if I could come to his part of the world to labor in a conference. His fellowship with me gave me the feeling that he is not fighting with us. My burden is to take Taiwan first and then the United States second. I do not care for any particular region on this earth. I am for the Lord’s recovery, and I have the view to make this strategy. To my observation the best strategy is to take Taiwan first. If you are only for your part of the world, this may disappoint you, but if you are for the Lord’s recovery, you will say, Amen. You may even have the burden to send some soldiers to join the army to evangelize Taiwan.
It is clear in the New Testament that Paul was taking the lead in the Lord’s New Testament ministry on the earth at that time. When I was working with Brother Nee in mainland China, I never considered myself as anything. I only considered myself as a co-worker to carry out Brother Nee’s burden. I did my best to not preach any gospel not preached by him and to not give any message never given by him. I did my best to not use any terminology or eloquence for the preaching, the speaking, the teaching, that he never used. I must declare and praise the Lord that I have received the blessing. I never regret what I did. No one ever heard one thing out of my mouth concerning Brother Nee in a negative way. I am still so grateful to him. Without him, without his ministry, I could never be here like I am. I only labored, I only worked, and I never caused any problem to the Lord’s recovery.
Just before the government in mainland China was about to be changed to communism, Brother Nee proposed an urgent conference of the leading co-workers in Shanghai. He fellowshipped with us concerning how we were going to face the coming situation. He proposed to send me out of mainland China to go abroad, and he said that he and the others would sacrifice themselves in mainland China for the Lord’s purpose. I did not feel good about this. It seemed to me that I was a dropout and that everyone would stay but me. After the meeting, Brother Nee and I took a walk, and I asked him why it was that all the brothers would stay to sacrifice themselves for the Lord’s work, yet I would be asked to go out. I could never forget the look on Brother Nee’s face when he turned to look at me. He told me that we should be desperate and even willing to sacrifice ourselves for the Lord’s move and that he realized there was much possibility that one day the enemy would wipe us out. He told me that in case we were wiped out, I had to go out so that we would still have something left. Then I said that I would take his word and go. Out of the many co-workers I was the only one designated by him to go out in case we would be wiped out, so that we would still have something left. Whatever Brother Nee said was all fulfilled and has become history. Praise Him — we still have something left.
We brothers must realize that we are not doing any work of ourselves. You are not doing your work, and neither am I doing my work. We are all doing a unique work for the Lord’s unique recovery. There are over six hundred churches on this globe, and not one is “in my pocket.” The leading ones in Anaheim can testify that I do not even know their meeting schedule. If I want to attend the Lord’s table, I need to make a phone call to find out where I should go. Whatever churches I have built up have all gone “into others’ pockets.” We should realize that we are not doing a work for ourselves. We are doing a work for His recovery. Regardless of how much people have criticized Brother Nee, he was more than faithful to what he had seen. He surely worked for the Lord’s recovery, and he made a good, proper, and adequate foundation for this recovery. I am continuing to build up the Lord’s recovery, and I am doing the same work. I hope that all of you would be clear about this. Do not think about being somebody. We all are nobody! Only Christ has a Body.
I do feel that my frank word should make the entire situation clear to all of you and make the need clear to all of you. We need a fighting army, and in the fighting army we do not merely need a leader. We need a commander to fight the battle! We do not have any time to waste. Many of you who have given up high degrees and high positions for the Lord’s recovery have to be faithful to your sacrifice. You also have to be faithful to so many who were influenced by you; otherwise, you are cheating them. We must be faithful to our Lord. We are serving Him, and we mean business. We are not just doing a job to feed ourselves, to make a living. That is shameful. If you want to make a living, do not stay in the Lord’s work. Go to another and better field for you to make a better living. We must mean business with the Lord, with the saints, and with ourselves. This is the only way for us to go on in the Lord’s ministry. Now you know where I am and where you should be. Also, you know what all of us should do — go to fight as an army and in the army.
