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Prayer: O Lord, the church needs a revival, and we all need a new start. Even tonight give us a new start with our fellowship. We desire that all the conversations will be altogether new. Deliver us from our habit, and deliver us from our memory of the past. Lord, do cover us with Your prevailing blood against all the fiery darts from the enemy. We want to be free. We want to be new persons. Lord, grant us mercy and grace that we all may be willing to renew our consecration to You. Lord, have such a mercy on us all.
In grouping the saints together in the vital groups, many factors need to be considered. One of the most important and difficult factors to consider is the character of the saints. Our character includes our disposition and temperament, among a number of other things. If the forming of the groups is left to the saints by themselves, without any arrangement through the elders, it may be difficult to complete the process. Thus, I believe that it would be better if the elders would meet together to consider the saints and group them together. Depending on the situation, some of the elderly saints, those who would have a difficult time participating in the practical group activities, can be formed into a prayer group. The prayer group is the top group. Nothing is as good as prayer, and nothing is as needed as prayer. The grouping done by the elders should not be a matter of legality. The saints should have the right to ask for some improvement according to their feeling in the Lord.
Out of all those who volunteer to participate in the English-speaking groups, the majority should be Caucasians. We are burdened to get the Lord’s recovery into the typical Caucasian American society. The Caucasians, mainly the descendants of the immigrants from northern Europe, are the typical Americans. America is built as a democratic country with many peoples. Many of the churches in the Lord’s recovery in America are composed of people from different racial and ethnic origins, all of whom speak English. To reach the typical American community, the Caucasian saints are particularly needed.
When I first came to the United States, I purposely decided that I would not work among the Chinese. I tried my best to work only among the local American people. At that time the immigration quota for the Chinese race was set at one hundred five persons per year. Eventually, the immigration quota was revised, giving the Chinese a quota of twenty thousand a year, ten thousand for Taiwan and ten thousand for mainland China. As a result, tens of thousands of Chinese came to America, a number of them from the churches in Taiwan. Still, I hesitated to take care of the Chinese-speaking work because I realized that if we had more Chinese faces in the meetings, that might disappoint the Caucasian attendants. In 1983 Brother Abraham Chang, realizing the situation, came to me and said that we needed to take care of the Chinese saints because so many had come to America, and many were being lost because of the lack of care. Therefore, from that year I began to take care of the Chinese-speaking saints. However, by doing this we gained on the Chinese side, but we lost on the English side. From that day until today the rate of increase among the Caucasians has been reduced.
At this time we need to concentrate our energy and our manpower to get into the Caucasian community. Therefore, in forming the groups, as much as possible we need to form groups composed of Caucasian saints. It is true that God does not respect persons (Acts 10:34), but the Caucasians respect persons. We are not “selling our cargo” to God; we are selling our cargo to the Caucasians. They may not buy our cargo. Therefore, we must do something particular to gain the Caucasian people. For the sake of the Lord’s interest, we should not take the easy way.
It is better to form the Caucasian saints into Caucasian English-speaking group meetings. The remainder of the English-speakers can be included in general English-speaking groups. Concerning the older ones, it would be very good if they would intercede for the groups. If they would be faithful, I would propose that all of them pray particularly for the groups for one hour each day. There is a need for this. All the members in the groups need to pray. We need much more prayer.
The number of saints in the churches in the United States is still relatively small, but because the recovery has been in the United States for thirty years, we may consider that the churches in this country are somewhat old. When anything becomes old, it is not so living, active, and keen in its senses. Even those who have been in the church life for only a short time cannot avoid the tendency of oldness from the atmosphere in the churches.
Those who participate in the vital groups should consider themselves something new. All of us need to pray definitely to have a new start from the Lord. Although we had group meetings in the past, I do not consider them as being up to the Lord’s standard. What we need is “vital” groups, groups that are living and energetic. We all must seek to be new. Based on our past experience, we may feel that we know how to attend a group meeting, but actually, we do not know. We know only how to have group meetings in a natural way. For instance, one section of the vital group meetings is fellowship. The word fellowship may be very familiar to us, but many of us do not know how to fellowship. Some do not even know the significance of the term fellowship in the Bible. In our practice of the vital groups, we will practice fellowship according to the biblical way. Our practice will be altogether new.
Even the way we sing hymns needs to be renewed. Our present way of singing hymns is too old. The Bible says that hymns are good not only for singing but also for speaking. In Ephesians 5:19 Paul says that we should speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. There he does not mention singing but speaking.
The calling of the overcomers is the last demand that the Lord made in the entire Bible. In the entire Bible the Lord required many things first of mankind, then of His chosen people, and then of the church. However, from these three groups of people the Lord did not get what He required. Then, finally, in Revelation 2 and 3 the Lord sounded His call to the overcomers. Today the Lord needs overcomers. In the book of Judges Gideon was raised up to take care of the fighting for God’s people. When Gideon sounded the call, thirty-two thousand men responded (6:34-35; 7:3b). Then God told Gideon that this was too many (7:2). Gideon told the fearful ones to return, and twenty-two thousand withdrew, leaving ten thousand (v. 3). Then God said to Gideon that this was still too many (v. 4a). God gave Gideon a way to test the people to determine whom God would choose and whom God would not choose. The way God used was to observe how the men took care of their necessities. Eating, drinking, and clothing are the basic items of our daily necessities. Gideon led the men to the water and allowed them to drink (vv. 5-6). Out of ten thousand, only three hundred drank the water by standing by the river and taking some water in their hands and lapping the water from their hands. These were the ones whom God would use for the army. The rest of the men knelt down on their knees and drank. They took care of their necessity much more than God’s need, and God sent them back.
In 1986 I sounded the trumpet, as Gideon did, in the elders’ training (see Elders’ Training, Book 7: One Accord for the Lord’s Move. I told the brothers that I had a heavy burden upon me because for more than ten years our rate of increase had remained nearly the same. I was desperate and felt compelled to study the situation. This is a matter of life and death. At that time I was calling the overcomers for the Lord. For six years after that we made very little progress, so at this present time I am sounding the same trumpet again. To answer the Lord’s call today, we all need to be desperate.
In 2 Timothy 2:4 Paul says, “No one serving as a soldier entangles himself with the affairs of this life.” The affairs of this life are related to our necessities. We need to sacrifice something for the Lord. If we would do the same thing that we have been doing for the past fifteen years, surely we will not gain the increase. Not many Caucasian doors will be open to us. If this is the case, we will be inferior to two heretical groups, the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Although these two groups are heretical, they have gained a substantial increase during the past fifty years. They did this by the way of door-knocking, yet some among us have reported that although door-knocking may work in Taiwan and in America among the Hispanic community, it will not work among the Caucasian community. Door-knocking may not work with them, but it may work with others. It all depends on whether we would do it or not, and it also depends on how we do it.
We need to take care of the Lord’s demand, the Lord’s requirements, much more than our necessities. In 1937 Brother Nee gave an illustration concerning the rapture at the Lord’s coming. A sister asked Brother Nee concerning the rapture. That sister had a daughter who was a real treasure to her. Brother Nee told her that when the Lord Jesus comes, if she would ask, “Where is my daughter?” she would miss the rapture. If we love something and take care of that more than the Lord’s interests, when the Lord Jesus comes, we will miss the rapture.
The Lord is very jealous. It seems that He cares only for Himself and not for us. Some preachers tell people that Jesus will bless them in everything. Some encourage people to practice positive thinking. However, if we practice positive thinking, we may still suffer the suffering of Job. Eventually, because of the sufferings that we endure in the Christian life, I was compelled to come to the following conclusion: to be a man, I must be a Christian; to be a Christian, I must be in His church, in His recovery; and to be in His recovery, I must be an overcomer. If we are not overcomers, we will waste our entire life. Compared to the Lord Jesus, everything is refuse. We should not care for anything but Christ; rather, we must count everything loss in order to gain Christ (Phil. 3:7-8). If we mean business with the Lord, we must come up to this standard in being a Christian. This is my spirit, and this is my burden. The Lord does need some overcomers.
If we would be overcomers, we must deal with the matter of our character. Character is a leading cause of spiritual death among the Lord’s people. Many dear, loving, and faithful saints have been annulled spiritually by their character. They should be very useful for the Lord’s purpose, yet many have been annulled not by sin or by lust but by their character. We seek the Lord according to our character. We do things by the Lord and for the Lord, yet we do them according to the taste of our character. Because of this, we have been annulled. The Lord would not care for our taste.
Many people have asked why God mistreated Job. Actually, the Lord did not mistreat Job. However, it may seem that the Lord did mistreat Paul. In 1 Corinthians 15:32 Paul said that he fought with wild beasts (denoting evil persons and matters) at Ephesus. Thus, according to the metaphor used here by Paul, the Lord threw Paul into the amphitheater to the wild beasts. It appears that the Lord was cruel in His treatment of Paul.
After Job suffered for a time, God made him prosperous again, giving him twice as much as he had before (Job 42:10-17). God took away all that Job had. Eventually, He blessed Job twofold. This may lead some to conclude that God is a God of blessing. However, we need to consider Paul’s case. It appears that God did not bless Paul at all. If God does not seem to bless us, would we still be Christians? It seems that only a fool would be this kind of Christian. However, through the ages many have been such “fools,” willing to sacrifice for the Lord’s interest.
In a Christian country such as the United States there are too many Christian works. According to recently published statistics, out of two hundred thirty million Americans, one hundred thirty million profess to be Christians. However, I would ask whether the Lord Jesus would be satisfied with today’s Christianity. Could today’s Christianity build up the bride for Christ’s wedding? Nearly all Christians today have been drugged. Many believers today do not have a sober mind with a clear spiritual sight. I do not believe that the bride will include a large number of believers. The bride, who will become Christ’s army to defeat Antichrist (Rev. 19:7-9, 14-15, 19-21), will not be composed of millions of believers. How many among the denominations could be counted as part of Christ’s bride? We also need to ask how many in the Lord’s recovery could be counted? Finally, we need to ask ourselves, “Could I be counted when He comes?” This is a serious matter. Surely, He is coming; the world situation indicates this strongly. Therefore, we all need to be warned.
After being prepared by being trained for several months, we will be the new vital groups. At that time we can be sent out to visit people for the preaching of the gospel. We should not trust in today’s Christianity in anything. Although they may preach Jesus Christ and even tell people concerning the true God, many Christians have very little of the reality of God and Christ in their daily living. Furthermore, very few in Christianity know anything concerning matters such as God’s eternal economy, the judgment seat of Christ, and the judgment on the harlot, the Roman Catholic Church, by Antichrist with his ten kings (17:16). The entire Christianity is drugged, and we too are somewhat drugged by the influence of the surrounding Christianity. We must overcome this situation. The present situation of religion is full of germs and is very contagious. This is why I feel burdened to prepare a group of saints so that they can bring the new ones into the church life and keep them from the pollution and the defilement of religion.
I would encourage you all to pray privately, to ask the Lord to show you all the things in the Bible according to His economy. We need to realize that our present situation cannot satisfy the Lord’s need. We need a new beginning; then we can go out to gain the new ones, and they will not be defiled by the contagious germs in today’s Christianity.
