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Scripture Reading: Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:46; 5:42; 1 Tim. 2:4; Eph. 3:8-11
Concerning God’s divine economy, we must mention some history. It has now been sixty-four years since the early part of this century when the Lord raised up His recovery in the Far East. During this time the Lord has shown us many divine revelations. Especially in the last twenty-three years, since the Lord brought His recovery to the West, we have published the greatest number of books among us, even double the number we had published in the first forty-one years. All together about three thousand messages have been put out. The content of these messages is nothing other than the revelation of the Bible concerning the Triune God in His Divine Trinity — Father, Son, and Spirit — working Himself into all the believers of Christ. This is the main subject of the Bible, but for the most part it is not taught in Christianity; instead, Christianity has ignored it, even missed it.
God’s economy is that the Triune God in His Divine Trinity — Father, Son, and Spirit — is working Himself into those who have believed into Christ that they may be regenerated, sanctified, transformed, and even completely conformed, within and without, to the image not of the only begotten Son but of the firstborn Son of God (Rom. 8:29). The only begotten Son of God had only divinity without humanity. He was only God but not man. The firstborn Son of God, however, has both divinity and humanity. He is not only the complete God but also the perfect man. This is a marvelous matter. In His divine economy the Triune God intends to work Himself into us, beginning with our regeneration and continuing with our sanctification, transformation, and conformation, until we have been conformed to the same image as Christ, the firstborn Son of God, in both divinity and humanity (2 Cor. 3:18; 1 John 3:2).
In this way Christ becomes the firstborn Son of God, and we become the many sons of God. In the universe God has obtained a group of sons out of His old creation through His work of the new creation. These sons are the many brothers of His firstborn Son and the many members of the Body of Christ (Rom. 12:5). These many members and Christ constitute the one new man (Eph. 2:15). God has His many sons, and Christ has His many members. These many sons of God constitute His house for His kingdom, and these many members of Christ constitute His Body as the corporate expression of the Triune God, the totality and the ultimate consummation and manifestation of which is the New Jerusalem. The church today is the miniature of the New Jerusalem.
Over the past twenty-three years we have put out messages concerning God’s economy again and again. Regrettably, Christianity, for the most part, neither knows nor inquires about this economy of God. In other words, nearly all of Christianity has become a religion that at most preaches to sinners in a shallow way about the name of Jesus and His gospel in the Bible and helps them to be saved by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus. Most people do not even know that to be regenerated is to receive the life of God as their life apart from and in addition to man’s own life. In their view regeneration is similar to what the Chinese call “putting away the old and turning over a new leaf”; that is, everything of yesterday is over and dead, and everything of today has a fresh beginning.
Thus, nearly all of Christianity has no understanding of and is entirely lacking in such matters as God’s economy, Christ as the mystery of God, the church as the mystery of Christ, and Christ and the church as the great mystery. In 1 Timothy 3:9 Paul tells the saints who are deacons that they must hold “the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.” In verse 15 he goes on to say that the church is the house of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. Today if we were to ask Christianity’s professors of theology, pastors, or famous evangelists what “the mystery of the faith” is or what “truth” is, most of them would answer that a mystery is a mystery, so man certainly cannot understand it. Concerning truth, they would say that it simply means “doctrine.”
Actually, the truth in 1 Timothy 3:15 refers to the reality of the universe. First, the reality of the universe is the Triune God. Originally, everything in the universe was entirely vanity because all things would pass away. Nothing is real or reliable; neither the heavens nor the earth is reliable. The only reality in the universe is the Triune God Himself. This Triune God has a heart’s desire, which is to work Himself into His chosen people by passing through some processes. This is why the Lord Jesus came and announced that He is the reality (John 14:6). This means that as the embodiment of the Triune God, He is the reality of the universe. Later, the Holy Spirit came as the Spirit of reality, the Spirit of truth, not to teach people the biblical truths but to be the reality of the Triune God, dispensing Himself into people as reality.
Furthermore, the word of God is also reality because the word of God brings God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit into us. For this reason the Lord said that His words are spirit and life (6:63). Today when we contact the Bible, we are contacting neither a book of theology nor a book of doctrines. Rather, we are receiving the God and Christ of reality; that is, we are receiving spirit and life imparted to us through the holy Word.
The church is the pillar and base of this reality. The church upholds neither doctrines nor theology but reality. Once, there was a student at a Christian seminary who testified that in the first year of his theological studies the students believed that God existed, in the second year they doubted His existence, in the third year they began to deny Him, and by the fourth year they utterly denied Him and did not believe that He was real. Another student of theology told me that attending seminary was terrible and that in the end the students were just left with an “ism” or an “ology.” They studied “tritheism” and “Christology,” but in the end they had neither God nor Christ, just an “ism” and an “ology.”
I thoroughly understand Christianity, having contacted it for so many years in both the East and the West. I can even say that I have thoroughly studied Western Christianity. I have seen it all clearly. The majority of those in Christianity do not have the proper concept of the truth, and they have completely ignored God’s economy. When I went to the West with my full preaching of God’s truth, some immediately responded with more than twenty publications slandering me for preaching the Eastern philosophy of pantheism. I have contacted some among them who have much theological knowledge. Although they know that the Bible speaks about God’s economy, they have not entered into that economy. On the contrary, they have remained stuck in their familiar theology. What Christianity has given the world today are things such as the Christmas tree and Easter eggs. I once met a pious Christian in America who was unable to give up his Christmas tree because his wife and children liked it. This is the impression given by Christianity.
Today we must pay attention to the truth when we go out door-knocking. After bringing people to be saved and baptized, we must set up meetings in their homes for the purpose of teaching them the truth and helping them to grow in life. In Matthew 28:19-20a the Lord Jesus charged the disciples, saying, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” After telling the disciples to baptize people into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus charged them to teach people not about celebrating Christmas and Easter but about observing the truths that He had commanded them.
In the four Gospels the Lord Jesus spoke three long messages. In the first message, in Matthew 5—7, He spoke about the constitution of the kingdom; in the second message, in Matthew 13, He used seven parables to unveil the mysteries of the kingdom; and in the third message, in John 14—16, He spoke about the mystery of the Triune God. At that time these were the things that the Lord commanded the disciples to teach to the believers. However, up to this day, in which so-called church are these messages preached? The pastors preach mostly things such as God being love and the Lord letting the little children come to Him to be blessed by Him (Matt. 19:13-15). These kinds of messages are entirely outside of the central lane of the Lord’s teachings.
In our change of system today, when we practice the new way of going out door-knocking to bring people to be saved and baptized into the Triune God, we must follow up by teaching them the divine truths. Instead of bringing them to the meeting hall, however, we should go to their homes and teach them. Acts tells us that the disciples practiced according to the Lord’s command. After the three thousand were saved on the day of Pentecost, they broke bread from house to house (2:46). Later, another five thousand were saved, and they did the same thing. Furthermore, Acts tells us that the apostles went from house to house preaching the gospel and teaching people (5:42). They did not teach the shallow doctrines of today’s Christianity. Instead, they taught about God’s New Testament economy concerning Christ and the church as revealed in the entire New Testament. They did not build meeting halls or worship halls for gathering people to be taught. Instead, they went from house to house teaching people. This was the persistent and prevailing practice in the early churches (cf. Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Philem. 2). Today we also must return to the original practices of going to the new believers’ homes to establish meetings and teach them the truths, especially those in Matthew 5—7 and 13 and in John 14—16.
Since we have to teach people, we ourselves must first know the truth. The Recovery Version includes a chart of the seventy weeks with the coming of Christ and the rapture of the saints. After reading the chart, many people still find it hard to understand. Actually, if we want to understand the mystery of God’s economy, we must first understand Matthew 5—7, Matthew 13, and John 14—16. In the Recovery Version these chapters have footnotes that are very clear, and we must study them deeply in order to help others understand what God’s economy is. This is the burden in the depths of my inner being. Therefore, when we go to lead the home meetings, we should teach God’s economy.
First Timothy 2:4 says that God desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth. Three months have already passed in this term of the training, and the trainees have gone out door-knocking and have already baptized five thousand people. We praise the Lord for this, but we can offer only partial praise because God wants all men not only to be saved but also to come to the full knowledge of the truth. In Greek this phrase is come to the full knowledge, so it is not just a small amount of knowledge. God wants all men to be saved, and He wants them also to come to the full knowledge of the truth. This is not an easy or light matter.
Therefore, as we are changing the system to practice the new way, there are four definite steps in our going out door-knocking from house to house: first, leading people to believe and be baptized; second, feeding and taking care of them by setting up meetings in their homes; third, teaching them the truth in their homes and at the same time ministering life to them; and fourth, bringing them into the full knowledge of the church and into the practical church life.
In Ephesians 3:8-11 Paul says that although he was not a great apostle but was less than the least of all saints, he had received mercy and grace to announce to people the “unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel and to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, in order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church.” Thus, the real gospel is not about heaven and hell, sin and forgiveness, perdition and eternal life, or suffering and blessing; the real gospel is about the mystery of God’s economy.
In God there is a mystery, which is His economy. In His economy the Triune God became the all-inclusive Spirit by passing through various processes so that, as such a Spirit, He can enter into men with His redemption, all-inclusive death on the cross, resurrection, ascension, divinity, and humanity. When the all-inclusive Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God is received into men, He first regenerates them. Then He brings them through the work of sanctification and transformation until they are conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God to be the many sons of God and the many brothers of Christ, constituting the house of God and the Body of Christ for the expression of Christ. When Satan and his followers see this house, this Body, which is the church, they will know the multifarious wisdom of God. This is the mystery of God’s economy.
Paul’s commission was to enlighten all that they may see this mystery. Our God does not just want people to know this mystery; He especially wants to show this to Satan. It is as if He wants to boast to Satan, saying, “Satan, you are very clever and crooked like a serpent. You get everything you want by hook or by crook. Nevertheless, you have only cleverness. I have wisdom. Two thousand years ago you began to employ your craftiness and to show off your cleverness, and you have been doing so until now. But in the end whatever you have done will have been all for the expression of My wisdom.” This accomplishment of God is according to the plan, the purpose, that He made in eternity past. This is His economy.
In this period when nearly all of Christianity has been ignoring His economy, God needs a further recovery in order to accomplish all that He has revealed, promised, and prophesied in the Bible. Through Brother Nee this recovery was brought in among us. The Lord’s recovery is different from Christianity. Even our going out door-knocking to preach the gospel is different from what Christianity is doing. When we go out door-knocking, we first preach using The Mystery of Human Life to show people that man was created with three parts: spirit, soul, and body. This is to let people know that God created man in this way for the purpose of having man as His vessel to contain Him so that He could enter into man, and in the end man could express Him. Many who have been Christians for years still may not be clear about this truth, but today when we go out door-knocking, the first thing we give people is this truth, and when they hear it, they are saved. This kind of gospel preaching is revolutionary and of the recovery.
Some have asked why the Recovery Version has the word recovery in its title and what it is that needs to be recovered. Recovery is to recover the truths lost by Christianity, the truths that the worldly theology cannot understand, and the truths that most theology professors have never seen and are not willing to touch, such as God’s economy and His dispensing. The entire New Testament begins with a genealogy (Matt. 1:1-17). Formerly, not many people understood this genealogy, but today if anyone reads the Recovery Version, he needs to read the footnotes for only about ten minutes in order to be able to understand its deep significance. Thus, what we call the recovery is a recovery of the divine truths in the Bible.
The full-time training is not a training in methods; rather, it is a training to get the saints into the truth. The truth produces life. If the trainees study the truth every day according to their schedule, in the end they will spontaneously be nourished due to their knowledge of the truth. After they have been built up in this way, if they go out door-knocking, they will bring people to be saved by the recovery truths, and these new ones will be solid. Then, the trainees will set up meetings in the homes of these new believers and teach them more of the recovery truths, such as God’s economy, His dispensing, His eternal plan, and the processes He went through to accomplish His economy. Thus, the new ones will be established in the truth.
In the past we were accustomed to big meetings with one person speaking and everyone else listening. However, after all that speaking and listening, some who have been meeting with us for thirty or forty years have not even graduated from spiritual elementary school. They are not even clear about how they themselves were saved. This is because they have never studied the truth thoroughly. Now we have put out the Truth Lessons, but the sad thing is that we lack teachers. I am afraid we will be like the blind leading the blind, and everyone will fall into a pit. Therefore, the teachers must first study and get into the truth before they can teach the saints.
In the same way, since we all have a heart to go out door-knocking and to care for people, we must spend time to get into the truth. The training gives us a way to get into the truth. How much we gain, though, depends upon the price we pay. Nevertheless, it is much easier for us to get into the truth today than it was fifty years ago. Fifty years ago, if we wanted to study the genealogy in Matthew, it was hard to find a book explaining it. If we wanted to study the parables in Matthew 13, it was hard to find a proper reference book. Once, I found a book which said that the leaven in the meal is a positive thing, referring to the gospel and truth in Christianity, which are able to influence all society. When I first read this, I felt that it was very good, but later my eyes were opened to know that it was absolutely not in accord with the truth. Today in the Lord’s recovery the truth is clear, and there are many books to which we can refer that will help us get into the truth. However, it is entirely up to us to spend the time to study them.
When doing a certain thing, each person will do it differently, and the results will be related to the person doing it. Take door-knocking as an example: the president, a bank manager, a university professor, and a street sweeper could all go door-knocking, but each would have a different “flavor.” This is not a matter of how loud a person’s voice is or how refined his tone is but a matter of what kind of person he is. When we go door-knocking today, and a person answers the door, if we know the truth, we will be full of the flavor of the truth. However, if we do not know the truth, what we speak will be merely commonplace. Therefore, we must equip ourselves with the truth and “truthize” ourselves. Then we should take the truth with which we have been “truthized” to “truthize” others until all Taiwan has been “truthized.” Some people may think that this standard is too high. I admit that it is high. The education system in Taiwan, however, has improved, and industry and business are being revolutionized at an incredible rate, so I believe that this standard is attainable. When I was still young, the word technology was not in the Chinese language, but now this word is used by everyone. In the Lord’s recovery we are not doing the work of Christianity or preaching the gospel that they preach. Rather, we are preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel just as Paul did (Eph. 3:8-11). Acts 5:42 says, “Announcing the gospel of Jesus as the Christ.” This is the high gospel. Therefore, we must equip ourselves by spending time to study the truth. We should not take the easy way.
Whatever God does is always wise, and whatever man thinks is always foolish. In the Bible we cannot find the phrase come and hear the gospel. There is not such a thought in the Bible. The biblical concept is not one of inviting people to come but of telling us to go. Consider this: if the Lord Jesus had just sat in the heavens on the throne and sent the angels to invite people up to heaven to hear the gospel, no one would have been able to get there. Instead, our Lord came personally to bring the gospel to people. John 4 says that one day when He was going from Judea into Galilee, He had to pass through Samaria, but He purposely got off the main road and detoured to Sychar to bring the gospel to a specific place — the well of Jacob, which was near Sychar. This means He foreknew that the immoral woman would go there at noon to draw water. In the ancient times in the area around Judea, women usually went out to draw water in the evening as the sun was setting, and they would also go out in groups. However, because this woman was immoral, no one would have anything to do with her. As a result, she would not go out in the evenings lest people point at her and gossip about her. Therefore, she went out under the hot sun of midday to draw water when no one else was around. No one else knew, but the Lord Jesus knew and waited for her beside the well. You can see to what lengths the Lord Jesus went so that He could deliver the gospel!
Today the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses go out door-knocking, and even some in Christianity who love the Lord also go out door-knocking with gospel tracts. Our door-knocking, however, is different from theirs because we learn from the Lord. The Lord Jesus was the leading One in this matter. He went to Samaria, which was an improper place of mixture, not to contact a high-class person but to contact a low-class woman who had had five husbands and was now living with one who was not her husband. Moreover, the Lord went to Jericho, an accursed city, to deliver the gospel not to the house of a gentleman but to the house of a tax collector who was also a cheater and extortionist (Luke 19:1-10). Therefore, when we send out invitations asking people to come and hear the gospel, strictly speaking, we are not acting according to the biblical principle. God’s way is to deliver the gospel to people, but often our way is to invite people to come. When people come at our invitation, they are doing us a favor, so we have to give them thanks. When we go door-knocking, apparently we are bothering people, but in the end they will thank us.
This is a busy world; every family and every person is busy. Nevertheless, every evening and holiday many people are just busy watching television or reading the newspaper to fill up their time of boredom. If we go out door-knocking and visit them at these times, they will certainly be interested and welcome us in to speak with them. They are watching and reading the earthly things, but we are speaking to them the heavenly things. I believe they certainly will be attracted. There is a full-time trainee, a brother, who has gained one hundred seventeen through door-knocking. In eternity I believe that many will thank him, saying, “How good it is that you came to my door one day and brought me the gospel! I really thank you.” When we look back on our own salvation, do we not thank those who brought us to the Lord? Even in the New Jerusalem we will still thank them. I believe that many people will say to those who went out door-knocking, “If it were not for your coming to visit me every week for three months, I would never have been saved or have been able to participate in the new heaven and the new earth. I really thank you.”
The practice of going out door-knocking is God’s wise ordination, and it is the new way that is welcomed by people. This is very different from inviting people to hear the gospel. In principle, most people do not like to accept this kind of invitation, but they welcome our visiting them by door-knocking. We, however, must equip ourselves to be rich in the truth and full grown, matured in life. Especially when we go out door-knocking, we can no longer be children or speak like little children. As soon as we open our mouth, people will be able to smell the aroma of what kind of person we are. If someone is a college student, once he opens his mouth, it will be a college student’s aroma. If someone is an elementary-school student, when he opens his mouth, it will be the aroma of a child in elementary school. Opening our mouth and speaking will immediately reveal or expose how much cargo we possess inwardly. Therefore, we must equip ourselves. At the same time we must pray to allow the Lord to fill us inwardly until our entire being is filled with the Lord and overflowing with the Spirit. Then, regardless of whether we go out door-knocking or attend a home meeting, it will not be simply we who go, but the Lord and the Spirit will go with us. Then we will be different.
In 1984 when I received the burden to begin changing the system, I had the assurance inwardly because I knew what the Lord wanted. But I also foresaw that the brothers and sisters would have differing opinions, because changing the system would change the way we do things. Whenever there is a change in the way we do things, even if it is changing from an old way to a new way by getting rid of inappropriate things and building up the proper things, there will always be some who disagree. For example, I was accustomed to wearing a certain pair of slippers, but one day my wife noticed that these slippers were old and unbecoming, so she bought a new pair of slippers. Yet I still loved my old slippers because they matched my tastes and my habits. Even though the new slippers were good, I was not used to them. In the end my wife still “changed the system” by throwing away the old slippers and having me wear the new slippers. Although I had a different opinion, I got used to them in three to five days. In the same way, when we change the system and take the new way, some people will have a different opinion because they are not accustomed to it. I believe, however, that in the end no one will have a different opinion, because the new way is the God-ordained way.
I have never cared about or investigated differing opinions. Two weeks ago I received a telephone call from a certain brother who asked me what he should do. In his locality the young people wanted to take the new way, but the older ones would not agree. As a result, the young ones said some things they should not have said, and now there might be a division. I told him not to worry, because the young people in the church life are like the young children in a family who are sometimes naughty and break a window. All you have to do is spend some money to have it fixed; you do not have to fight with them. The church is like a family, so we can let the young ones “play” and do not need to worry that a problem may arise.
My point is this: Today after the full-time trainees finish the training, they may be very learned and think highly of themselves because they have graduated from the university and have also learned how to go door-knocking and how to get a person to believe and be baptized in fifteen minutes. Therefore, when they go back to their local churches, they will be very proud and happy. This is wrong and improper. Young people should not be proud, but on the other hand, I also hope that the older saints would not criticize these young ones too much. The older saints have their good points. Take the church in Taipei as an example. Our older saints are very faithful. Sometimes a storm comes up, but they are calm and unmoved. When another storm comes up, they simply ignore it. The reason the church in Taipei has survived until today is entirely because these ones are here. Although I have somewhat criticized the church in Taipei in the matter of the increase, I would still say that the most stable church in the world today is the church in Taipei. The saints here are not only clear concerning the truth and proper in their way, but also they are truly walking practically in the truth and standing on the ground of oneness. However, because we are still human, sometimes when we see these young people, who have been saved for only five or six years, murmuring and criticizing us, it is hard for us not to be angry. Please do not rebuke them immediately. On the contrary, you should try to find a time to exhort them patiently.
In the church, regardless of whether you are old or young, you all need to bear and help one another instead of making demands on or criticizing each other. The young trainees should not overemphasize the fact that they are taking the new way and have gained so many people through door-knocking. The older ones should not shake their heads, thinking that these trainees, who have just knocked on a few doors and gained a few people who may or may not be reliable, simply cannot compare with themselves who are so stable and steadfast in the church for so many years. Some localities have divided into parties over this matter of promoting the new way, but because they know that there cannot be division in the church, they still meet in one place while they sit in their parties on different sides. This is not pleasing to God, and I hope none of you would be proud or consider yourself to be stronger than others.
The older saints should get credit for their hard work, if not for their achievement, in establishing and maintaining the testimony of the church. In this respect, the young people must honor and appreciate the older ones. The younger ones must be humble before the elderly fathers. They should be aggressive in the matter of door-knocking, not in the way that they deal with the older saints. Some of the older saints cannot get used to the new way, so the younger ones should not boast in front of them. Instead, they should be quiet and not proud. Over a long period of time, the older ones will trust you and let you do as you see fit. Do not think of pushing them to follow you; their function is to be guardians of the church. You should just boldly go out door-knocking. Later, when you have brought people to salvation and have slowly brought some into the church life, the older saints will see this, and even if in the past they blew cold wind and poured cold water on you, they will be really happy in their hearts. They are only worried that you will not bear remaining fruit. Their hearts are good, so you must still bring your new ones to them for confirmation.
Furthermore, the young people must learn not to have any opinions. When I was young in the denominations and later when I came into the Lord’s recovery, I never had any opinions with respect to those older than I. Today in the Lord’s recovery the saints in every local church all love the Lord and are for the Lord’s recovery, so we do not need to have opinions. Instead, we should coordinate together, striving to keep the oneness of the Spirit. In this term of the training, five thousand people have been saved through door-knocking, and one thousand home meetings have been established. By the end of the training, even more people will have been saved, and even more home meetings will have been established. In time the older saints will feel comforted and will appreciate the new way, admitting that it is wonderful. This will keep the oneness of the church and will also keep the church in the oneness of the Spirit without any opinions.
I hope that all of us would be able to receive this balancing word. The church needs the older saints and the younger saints, just as a country needs the older people for maintaining it and the younger people for fighting. But people are very strange. When they are in the army, they always say that the army is good and important, but when they are discharged, they say that the army is not good. When a person is doing something personally, he or she says that it is good. Teachers say that teaching is good, and businessmen say that doing business is good. When they are no longer occupying that particular position or doing that particular job, they say that it is not good. These things are difficult to avoid, so we should not be bothered by them.
We must clearly recognize that the burden and commission we have received from the Lord are not just to go out door-knocking and to lead people to salvation. Rather, we must gain a group of new ones who will be for God’s economy. Today the world population is about 4.6 billion, and the number of Christians and Catholics added together still does not equal one-third of the entire world population. All the rest of the people are non-Christians. Moreover, the Christian group in Taiwan with the greatest number of people is the Presbyterian Church, and they have only a little more than 100,000 believers. The local churches are the next largest with 40,000 or 50,000. The third is the True Jesus Church with 20,000 or 30,000. The total added together does not even equal 200,000, as all the rest of the Christian groups have just a few scattered members. Taiwan is such a modern place, yet it has so few Christians. Therefore, when we go out door-knocking, our principal target is still non-Christians. If we do knock on the door of a Catholic or a Christian, we should not try to change them, nor should we reject them. We should just give them The Mystery of Human Life. If they would not receive it, we should politely go away. We must always remember that in the entire world there are more than three billion unbelievers who are the main target of our door-knocking. We must let Christianity go its own way. We will gain new ones for the Lord’s recovery.
This is why we need to be trained. This training is not to train us in methods or techniques but to train us in the truth, that we all could be filled with the truth. Then when we go out door-knocking, we would not just gain some people but would help them to know the truth. I have said before that if we take four thousand as the basic number for Taipei and practice according to what we have fellowshipped, then in four years we should be able to gain 2.7 million people. Then Taipei would really be evangelized. I do know that among those whom we gain, probably only a small number will be reliable and stable. Nevertheless, even those unreliable Christians who do not come to meetings are beneficial to us.
In the place where I am staying, there are several potted plants. One day I saw an orchid on my coffee table that had roots, branches, and leaves but only one flower. I realized that any particular thing needs many outward items to support and cultivate its inward substance. In the same way, if 2.7 million people are baptized, then most of them are “roots,” “branches,” and “leaves,” but very few “outshine” others to be the “flower.” Therefore, we should not be worried if the new ones are unreliable or if perhaps there are some false ones among them; sometimes false Christians are beneficial to us. Even at the time of the apostle Paul there were some unreliable ones in the church. Paul was one who received the highest revelation and who led the Corinthians to salvation, yet the Corinthians turned around and said that he had been crafty and taken them by guile for the purpose of getting their money (cf. 2 Cor. 12:16). I believe that God has a record of this, so there is no need to worry. We just need to allow those predestined to salvation to be saved and let those who would oppose do so. Our goal is that all the people in Taipei would be saved.
In 1949 I began the work in Taipei, and the whole meeting hall was full of people on the first day. Because every one of them had come with a different purpose, I told them, “You go to a certain kind of restaurant to eat a certain kind of food. We do not have a Shantung restaurant, so if some of you want to eat steamed bread, you have come to the wrong place.” I expected that the numbers on the next Lord’s Day would certainly be smaller and that those who came would want to eat our food, so I asked the business office to prepare cards for signing up. As expected, less than half showed up; most of the others never came again. I just worked with those who came back, and it brought in the Lord’s great blessing.
In this age the Lord has certainly revealed all the visions in the New Testament to us, enabling us to clearly see God’s economy. Now we should be faithful to go out door-knocking to gain some for this economy and to feed the new ones for this economy by teaching them the truth. On the other hand, we ourselves must live in this economy. In this way we will have such a group of people under the light of the truth who are being taught, cultivated, and supplied and who in their daily lives live Christ, express Him, and have become one spirit with Him, living in the spirit and walking by the spirit. This is what the Lord wants to obtain today. When the Lord returns, these ones will be the bride for Him to gain and the firstfruits who are raptured first. It is such a group of people who can cause the Lord to have a desire to come back. Where is the bride today? If the bride is not prepared, how can He come? If He were to come anyway, would He not come in vain? Only such a group of people who are constituted as the Lord’s bride through practicing the new way will be able to bring in the Lord’s return. I hope that we all will see this vision clearly.
We must be reminded here that we are going on in the way of recovery, beginning with the step of door-knocking. If we knock on the door of a Catholic or a Christian, we should never try to change them. No matter how much they praise, welcome, or admire you, they will almost always return to their own fold. Nevertheless, we must be broad and do our best to help them. Our strength, however, must be focused on the unbelievers or on the newly saved ones, setting up meetings in their homes and bringing them to know the truth. If we faithfully practice according to the principles that we have fellowshipped, then in a year we will certainly double our number.
