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Question: We have only a dozen saints in my locality. How should we preach the gospel?
Answer: We preach what we are. We are the way to preach the gospel. We should not follow the methods used in Christianity. Even if these methods are good, they are merely methods that present the transitional gospel. We need to experience and enjoy Christ; then we can preach the gospel based on the Christ whom we enjoy. We need to preach according to our living, that is, preach the gospel that we experience. The content of our gospel should not be limited to the shallow gospel commonly preached by Christians.
In Ephesians 3:8 Paul says that God commanded him to announce the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel. Hence, we should preach the Christ whom we enjoy. Sometimes we may need to heal the sick or cast out demons when we preach the gospel; signs and wonders may also accompany our preaching at times, but we should not make these items our center. The center of our gospel is the Christ whom we experience. The purpose of preaching the gospel is not to save people so that they may “go to heaven”; rather, we preach Christ so that we may preach the church. According to Romans, such a gospel has four stations. It begins with justification, passes through sanctification and the Body of Christ, and ends with the local churches. This is the gospel that we should preach.
Question: Some co-workers say that if we want the Japanese people to gain Christ, we must tailor our gospel to match the needs of the Japanese and use their culture, including literature and proverbs, to make the gospel easier for people to receive. According to the revelation in the Bible, however, preaching the gospel is simply to minister the life of Christ in a pure way to people. There is no need to use anything other than Christ. Furthermore, according to Paul’s perspective concerning the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:8), culture is refuse. Since this is the case, should we use the Japanese culture as a means to preach the gospel?
Answer: Culture is helpful if it is used properly. If culture is used improperly, it will replace Christ. People without culture are like animals; therefore, culture has a function. Culture covers a very broad range of items. It includes nearly everything in human life, such as giving birth and raising children, and many items, such as clothing, food, housing, transportation, education, entertainment, society, public security, national governance, and different occupations. To say that we do not need culture means that we do not need these things. It is wrong to say that culture is not needed. However, we must realize that culture should not replace Christ, no matter how good it is. Culture is similar to the law in the Old Testament, because both should bring us to Christ (Gal. 3:24).
The Ten Commandments are very good. The first commandment says that there is only one God and that we should have no other gods beside Him (Exo. 20:2-3). The second commandment says that we should not make or worship idols (vv. 4-6). The third commandment says that we should not take the name of God in vain (v. 7). The fourth commandment requires us to keep the Sabbath (vv. 8-11). Although we may not keep the Sabbath according to the Mosaic law, there is nothing wrong with taking a day of rest after six days of work. The fifth commandment requires us to honor our parents (v. 12). The last five commandments say that we should not kill, commit adultery, steal, lie, or covet (vv. 13-17). If we abandon these commandments, we will worship idols, commit sins, steal, murder, and do all kinds of evil; there would be bandits and robbers in every place. We should not have the concept that the law is refuse and can be thrown away. We must understand that the function of the law is to bring people to Christ, but the law should not replace Christ. If the law replaces Christ, then it is wrong.
In understanding and applying the words of the Bible, we should not interpret them out of context, nor should we be extreme. For example, in Colossians 3:11 Paul says that there can be neither Greek nor Jew in the new man. However, it would be absurd to give up our nationality because of this. Our living must be balanced. On the one hand, Paul stresses that there can be neither Greek nor Jew in the new man, but on the other hand, he wisely utilized his Roman citizenship in order to be delivered from persecution when he was bound by the Romans. He said to the centurion, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” (Acts 22:25). When the centurion heard that Paul was a Roman, he reported it to his commander. Although the commander acquired his Roman citizenship with a large sum of money, Paul was born a Roman. Therefore, those who were about to examine Paul withdrew from him. The commander also was afraid, realizing that he had bound a Roman (vv. 26-29). Paul wisely used his Roman citizenship to be saved from persecution.
In Acts 25 Paul told Festus that he was appealing to Caesar (vv. 10-11). Those who are extreme might accuse Paul, saying, “Did you not say that you have forsaken all things and consider them as refuse? Surely Caesar is included in ‘all things’ and is therefore refuse. Why do you appeal to Caesar instead of depending on God?” Paul appealed to Caesar so that he might fulfill his desire of going to Rome in order to spread the Lord’s testimony (19:21). This desire was also according to the Lord’s instruction (23:11). If Paul had not appealed to Caesar, he would have been killed (cf. vv. 12-15; 25:1-3).
Countries have traffic rules as part of their culture. A person who ignores traffic rules, thinking that they are refuse, will eventually have an accident. National governance is of God for the purpose of maintaining an environment in which man can live in order to receive the Lord’s salvation and be His testimony. All things are for the Lord, but they should not replace the Lord.
Question: What should our attitude be toward Christians in denominations and toward people such as Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons? Should we contact them or stay away from them?
Answer: We must learn to walk according to the spirit when we contact people. Whether we should contact someone does not depend on outward circumstances but on the sense in our spirit. Sometimes the person we contact is not open and rejects us; hence, we do not have the chance to speak. In Acts 13 Paul and Barnabas were preaching the gospel in Pisidian Antioch, and most of the city was gathered together to hear the word of God (v. 44). When the Jews saw the crowds, however, they were filled with jealousy and contradicted the things being spoken by Paul and blasphemed (v. 45). The Jews incited the women of high standing who worshipped God and incited the chief men of the city to raise up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and to cast them out from their borders (v. 50). Paul and Barnabas, however, shook off the dust of their feet against them and went to Iconium (v. 51). Because the Jews thrust the word away and did not judge themselves worthy of eternal life, Paul and Barnabas turned to the Gentiles (v. 46). Therefore, if people reject us, we do not need to compel them to receive. In Matthew 7:6 the Lord Jesus said, “Do not give that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the hogs, lest they trample them with their feet, and turn and tear you.” Hence, when we contact people, we need to pay attention to their reaction and to the sense in our spirit.
Question: According to my experience, calling on the name of the Lord is very practical. The more I call on His name, the more my faith is strengthened. Many saints obtain subjective experiences of the Lord by calling on His name. Can you give us further fellowship concerning calling on the name of the Lord?
Answer: When we call on the name of the Lord, we must be clear that we are not calling on an empty name. The name of the Lord Jesus is connected to the living person of the Lord. If I repeatedly call someone’s name but get no response or if I call on a name that is fake, then I am calling on an empty name. When a person responds after I call his name, I know that the name is connected to a person. The Lord’s name is connected to His person. When we call, “O Lord Jesus,” He, as the Spirit, immediately comes to us. Jesus is His name, and the Holy Spirit is His person.
Christianity neglects the divine Spirit and the human spirit. People opposed us when we began calling on the Lord’s name and paying attention to the Spirit, and they opposed us when we began pray-reading the Lord’s Word and paying attention to life. Such opposition was out of Satan, because he does not want us to enter into life or to touch the Spirit. We must see through Satan’s stratagem.
Question: I was deeply impressed with the fellowship concerning the washing of the water in the word. We have often heard such a word, and we know the importance of this experience, but it is hard for us to put it into practice. How can we build up the practice of eating the Lord’s Word every day?
Answer: We must build up the habit of eating the Lord’s Word. Some people are careless regarding their eating. Either they do not eat, or they eat in an unrestrained manner. As a result, they build up a bad habit. Other people eat a set amount of food at set times every day. They even eat their food in a certain order. It takes time to build up such a good habit. There is a need to give messages on eating the Lord regularly. Such messages will help the saints build up a good habit of eating the Lord’s Word.
When a person builds up a good habit of eating at set times, his appetite will increase. Therefore, this question is related to habit. If new believers do not yet have an appetite for the Lord’s Word, we need to spend time to help them pray-read the Word. It will not be sufficient to help them only once. After bringing a person to salvation, we need to spend one to two months leading him to pray-read the Word. As he gains a taste for pray-reading, his appetite will increase. We should not avoid or neglect spending such time with new believers. In principle, if the saints do not know how to pray-read the Lord’s Word, the church life in that locality will not be strong. It is better to reduce our work in other areas in order to spend more time to bring the saints, one by one, into the habit of pray-reading the Lord’s Word. This is more profitable.
Question: Sometimes I do not have an appetite for the Lord’s Word. I am not hungry or thirsty. How can I restore my appetite? Is there a secret?
Answer: The secret to restoring our spiritual appetite is to eat something even when we have no desire. The less we eat, the less appetite we have. People know that food is the best medicine; therefore, we should never stop eating. Regardless of whether we have an appetite, we need to eat a little. Eating consistently will restore our appetite. We need to eat spiritual food, but we also need to practice speaking for the Lord in the meetings. Even if we have nothing to say, we still need to say something. Eating the Lord’s Word and speaking for the Lord will restore our spiritual appetite.
Question: In past messages you said that the mysterious dispensing of the Lord operates constantly, twenty-four hours a day, and that His dispensing brings in an all-inclusive dose for healing. Does the Lord dispense Himself into us regardless of our condition? Will He still dispense Himself into us if we are occupied with the world?
Answer: We can use a tree with branches to illustrate dispensing. The branches of a tree are constantly supplied by the tree; they are supplied twenty-four hours a day. Such a supply is a law. As a further example, we are surrounded by air twenty-four hours a day. We breathe air, and we enjoy the supply of air. This is also a law. If we are to gain the Lord’s supply, we must meet the conditions of His law. Most Christians do not know that the Lord’s supply is a law. Even our being saved is according to a law. The natural understanding is that the Lord does not intend to save man but that He is moved to save man because man cries out, wails, fasts, abstains from sleep, and prays desperately to be saved. This is not the law of the Lord’s salvation. The Lord died for man’s sin, was raised from the dead, ascended to heaven as the Savior (Acts 5:30-31), and became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). The Lord’s way of salvation is a law. Any person who repents and confesses the Lord Jesus as his Savior will be saved. The Lord saves people according to His law.
Romans 8:2 says, “The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” This indicates that the law of the Spirit of life frees us and saves us because we have met the conditions of this law, not because the Lord has heard our earnest prayer. As soon as we are in Christ Jesus, we are freed. For example, a person who is surrounded by air does not need to pray to receive air. As long as nothing obstructs his air passages, he will receive a constant supply of air if he obeys the law of breathing. However, he will not receive a constant supply if his breathing organs are defective, because air cannot get into him. Likewise, the Lord has no way to constantly supply a person who loves the world. The problem is not with the Lord but with the person. The Lord’s supply and care for us are according to a law. He says, “Come, for all things are now ready” (Luke 14:17). All things are ready and have become a law. The problem is whether we are willing to eat. If we are willing to come to the Lord and eat, we will meet the conditions of His law. As a result, we will immediately enjoy His supply.
Question: Pray-reading the Word can help us to have subjective experiences of the Lord, but I do not have much feeling when I pray-read. If enjoying the Lord is a law, should we believe that we are enjoying the Lord as long as we meet the conditions of the law, whether or not we have any feeling?
Answer: This is absolutely correct. We may not have an appetite or desire to eat by pray-reading the Lord’s Word, we may not feel any enjoyment while pray-reading, and we may even forget the Lord’s Word immediately after pray-reading, but this does not diminish the effect of pray-reading. If someone asks me what I ate this morning, I may recall that I ate vegetables, an egg, oatmeal, and some bananas, but I may not recall what I ate yesterday morning. This does not mean that the breakfast I remember is effective and that the breakfast I do not remember is ineffective. We cannot say that only tasty food is effective, nor can we say that food that is not tasty is ineffective. Actually, food that is very tasty may not be good for our health. Americans like to eat sweets, but they are harmful to our health. Therefore, in order to maintain our spiritual existence, we should not pay attention to taste or feeling, nor should we try to remember what we pray-read. Our need is to eat. I do not remember what I ate twenty years ago, but I am clear that I will die if I do not eat. Hence, we need to build up the habit of eating. Similarly, calling on the name of the Lord should become a habit. We should not call in a casual way; rather, we should call in a serious way. Even if we do not have an appetite, we should still call, “O Lord Jesus!” We should call when we feel a sense of sweetness and call when we do not feel a sense of sweetness. The benefits that we gain are the same.
Question: Can we visit the saints who do not have a spiritual appetite and give them “nutrition shots” in order to boost their spiritual appetite? What should we do if we visit a home that has contracted a spiritual infectious disease, and we become infected?
Answer: This medical illustration is very appropriate, because medicine is closely related to our physical life. This principle can also apply to our spiritual life. If a patient does not have an appetite, he might be given an injection or fed intravenously in order to restore his appetite. This also applies to the spiritual realm. Sometimes saints are weak and do not come to the meetings; hence, we need to visit them in their homes. However, we need to bring a “sterilizer” with us. For example, some saints still enjoy playing mah-jongg. If we go to a saint’s home while he is playing mah-jongg, and we are tempted to play with him, we have been “infected.”
When a person is accustomed to a certain kind of food, he will always prefer that food. People from northern China are accustomed to eating steamed buns; to them steamed buns are the most delicious food. They also like to eat dumplings. When I started the work in Taiwan, I established the workers’ home. Although a small number of the saints staying there were from northern China, the majority were from the south. For nearly half a year dumplings were not included in the meals, and the brothers from the north murmured and complained. After this, the kitchen crew served dumplings frequently, but then the saints from the south began to complain. The dumplings were a delight to the northerners but a suffering to the southerners. This example shows that the northerners liked to eat dumplings because they were accustomed to eating them. In the same way, the more we eat the Lord’s Word, the more we will enjoy eating it. Therefore, we must build up the habit of eating His Word.
Question: When I am with the saints in the meetings, I am eager to pray, but I realize that I am short of words and utterance. Why is this so?
Answer: There are two reasons: there is a lack of prayer, and there is a lack of pray-reading. Therefore, you must learn to pray more. The best way to pray is to pray-read, that is, to pray over the words of the Bible. Then the words of the Bible will become the words in our prayers. It is not easy for us to come up with words to pray when we are by ourselves. It is also not easy to compose a prayer. The best way to pray is to use the words of the Bible, because the words of the Bible are exhaustless. We need much practice in this matter.
Question: I feel that the messages and prayer should be separated; in other words, we should not use prayer to give a message. Is this view correct?
Answer: The Lord Himself should be the object of our prayer. It is not right to admonish people with our prayer. For example, if we feel that a certain brother is lazy and that his clothes are always dirty, we should fellowship with the brother. However, if we are afraid of offending him, we may use the time when everyone gathers for prayer to admonish him, praying, “Lord, teach us to be diligent and clean. We do not want to be lazy and dirty.” This is a criticizing prayer. There should not be such prayers in the church.
However, there may be a burden to release a particular truth through prayer, and we can find examples of this in the Bible. In Ephesians 3 Paul bowed his knees unto the Father and prayed that He would grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in our hearts through faith (vv. 14, 16-17). This type of prayer is acceptable in the church.
Question: Since national character can become a hindrance to the spread of the Lord’s recovery on the earth, what are some points in the Japanese character that might become a hindrance?
Answer: National character is part of culture. A certain kind of culture produces a certain kind of national character. We cannot completely abandon culture; rather, we should use culture in a proper way for the sake of the Lord but not replace the Lord with culture. Every nation has its national character. Some national characteristics are good, but others are not. We must learn to apply the good national characteristics and to reject what is not good. The Japanese have a very good national character. They are conscientious, patient, and thorough. This fact is recognized throughout the whole world. Anything that is processed by the Japanese is a fine and delicate work.
When I was in the United States, I received the Life-study message outlines and the Recovery Version of the New Testament that were published by the Japanese Gospel Book Room. I showed them to the American brothers and said, “The Japanese do a better job in printing and binding than the Americans. Their work is delicate and careful.” The Japanese character is very meticulous. The Japanese character is also diligent and frugal. Such characteristics are helpful when we are conducting ourselves and handling things. We should learn to apply them, but they must not replace Christ.
Even more, the aspects of national character that are not good should not replace Christ. The national character in areas near the Equator tends to be loose. This has much to do with the weather. In South America and Southeast Asia the hot weather makes people dizzy, and they do not want to do anything. The local people need to shower in cold water many times a day. The coolest time in Brazil is the winter. When Brazilians are asked to do something, they often say, “Tomorrow.” Everything, except for eating, is postponed to the next day. This national character is related to weather.
In contrast, the countries in North Asia have a colder climate. Japan, Korea, and northern China, for example, have a strict national character. This is related to the weather as well. Similarly, the countries in Europe that are at higher latitudes, such as Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, also have a stricter national character. However, the countries that are at lower latitudes, such as southern France, southern Italy, Spain, and Portugal, have a looser national character. A loose national character is undesirable.
If we preach the gospel to a Brazilian, he may say, “Wait until tomorrow,” or if we tell him to repent, he may reply, “Okay, I will repent tomorrow.” This is not a good national character. The countries that are at higher latitudes, such as England, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, and Japan, have a strict national character. This is an indisputable fact. However, we must be cautious and not let good national character replace Christ. For example, the national character of the Jews has its strengths, but the Jews want their national strengths rather than Christ. This is wrong. We can use good national character and apply it to the things of the Lord. However, if we replace Christ with national character, we are repeating the mistake of the Jews.
