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Scripture Reading: 2 Pet. 1:2, 15; 3:3-4; 1 John 2:18-19, 22; 4:1-3; 2 John 7, 9-11; 3 John 9-10; Jude 3-4, 11-13, 17-21
I would like to say again that I hope we would pray-read the verses in the Scripture Reading. When we pray them into us, we will be able to see the proper church life with Christ as our life.
In the previous chapter we saw the main revelations that the Lord has shown us in the past fifty years. In this chapter we want to see the practice of the church life in the Lord’s recovery throughout the past fifty years.
The practice of the church life among us started in 1922, two years after Brother Nee was saved. The first local church was established in his hometown, Foochow, in southern China. He and some other young Christians saw that Christianity has deviated from God’s way as revealed in the Bible. Not more than ten of them began to meet in a sister’s home, but after two years something very negative happened. The husband of this sister became a popular evangelist among the Chinese Christians. He met a missionary of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Shanghai named Mr. Woodbury. Mr. Woodbury was a man of God, but he was in the denominations. He advised this brother to be formally ordained so that he could be invited by all the so-called Christian churches. An appointment was made for Mr. Woodbury to come from Shanghai to Foochow to ordain this brother.
When Brother Nee found out about this, he gave a message in one of the meetings on the history of the Ark in the Old Testament. The tabernacle with the Ark was built according to God’s heavenly design. The tabernacle typifies the church, and the Ark typifies Christ. When the children of Israel were in a normal situation, the Ark was in the tabernacle. When they became abnormal, the Ark was captured away. In that abnormal time the Ark was in one place, and the empty tabernacle was in another place. Brother Nee was only twenty-one years old, but he could give such a message on the history of the Ark, pointing out that we Christians today are in an abnormal situation. In the abnormal situation, God does not care for the empty tabernacle but for the Ark, Christ. Brother Nee applied this by saying that God does not care for outward things such as being formally ordained to be a so-called minister. Notes were taken of Brother Nee’s message, and I was able to read them nine years later. This message was very revealing.
Because of this message, Brother Nee was excommunicated by six brothers. The leading one was this brother who was the evangelist, Leland Wang. Brother Nee related this entire story to me in 1933. It took him hours to tell me the whole story. Because of his excommunication, the meeting in Foochow became a “marsh” (cf. Ezek. 47:11). Brother Nee referred to this as a halfway shelter in some of his writings. He likened such a meeting to some of the people of Israel coming out of captivity in Babylon but never returning and entering into Jerusalem, staying halfway between Babylon and Jerusalem. Over ninety percent of the people who met in Foochow were converted through Brother Nee’s preaching. Many of them came to Brother Nee and told him they did not agree that he would be put out of the church. He told them, however, that he felt deeply that he had to learn the lesson of the cross, so he decided to leave.
Brother Nee then left Foochow and went to a place called Pagoda. In 1925 he began to publish a magazine called The Christian. At the end of 1926, he was led by the Lord to go to Shanghai and Nanking, the capital of China at that time, to start a work. The church was raised up in Shanghai at the end of 1926 and the early part of 1927. Eventually, the church in Shanghai became the biggest church, the leading church, and the central church in China. From Shanghai the church practice spread throughout China. In 1932 the practice of the church life spread to the north, beginning in Chefoo, my hometown. It spread to Tientsin, the biggest seaport in the north, and to Peking. In 1933 the church practice also spread to Manchuria, the place where Japan began its war against China. In 1934 the church life continued to spread to many places in China proper from Shanghai and from Chefoo. In 1937 many of the Chinese retreated to western China due to the Japanese invasion. Many brothers also went to the west to begin the church life. The church life began in 1937 in Chungking, the capital of China during the war. From 1938 to 1939 the church life spread to Hong Kong. In 1943 the church life migrated to Inner Mongolia from my hometown. Within about one year over forty local churches were raised up in Inner Mongolia through seventy who migrated there from Chefoo. In 1948 and 1949 after the war, there was a great revival among us. Through that revival the church life spread into most of the cities. By 1949 there were hundreds of local churches in China. There were local churches in each of its thirty-three provinces and in all the leading cities.
It was also in 1949 that the Communists took over mainland China. About three hundred fifty to five hundred saints among us went to the island of Taiwan from mainland China. Some went there in 1947 to begin the church life with a very small number. In 1948 the number was strengthened. In 1949 I was also sent by the work to Taiwan. Within the next six years, our number grew from about five hundred to about twenty thousand. Now on the island of Taiwan there are about seventy local churches. The church in Taipei today has over twenty-one thousand saints meeting in fourteen halls.
The Lord also moved in Southeast Asia through Brother Nee. In 1924 at the age of twenty-one, he went to Malaysia. That was the year he was excommunicated from the meeting in Foochow. He went to a city called Sitiawan to visit with his mother. Through that visit the first local church was raised up in Southeast Asia. From 1931 through 1933 the church life spread from China through the immigrating Chinese to places such as Singapore and other cities of Malaysia and Indonesia. Then in 1950 the proper church life went to the Philippines in Manila. In 1957 the church life spread to Japan. In 1958 the church life spread to the United States, beginning in San Francisco. In 1959 the church life spread to Brazil, in 1963 to Canada, in 1965 to South Korea, in 1970 to New Zealand and Australia, in 1971 to Germany and Nigeria, and in 1972 to Ghana. These years and places will give us some view of the spreading of the church life on this earth.
Now that we have seen the revelations the Lord has given us and the practice of the church life from our history, we want to see the work of Brother Nee. Immediately after being saved in 1920, Brother Nee began to work for the Lord. He was still a student in high school. After he was saved, he started to preach the gospel to his classmates. He told me personally that he fasted and prayed every Saturday in preparation for preaching the gospel to his classmates the next day. His school had less than one hundred fifty students. Within about one year nearly all the students in the school were saved. Through his preaching there was a real revival in that school. By that time on the campus, one could see students sitting and reading the Bible under the trees and others studying the Bible and praying together on the lawn.
In 1922 the church life began in Brother Nee’s hometown. In 1923 he published his first magazine called The Present Testimony. I read this early in 1925, and it was very hard for me to understand because it was so deep. I received a copy of this publication from my second sister, who was studying at a women’s seminary in Nanking. She received one copy of Brother Nee’s writings and brought it home in the summer. The Present Testimony contained articles concerning the principles of the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ.
In 1924 Brother Nee was excommunicated from the meeting in his hometown. He moved to Pagoda, and in 1925 he began to publish his second magazine called The Christian. This was a monthly publication, usually of about sixty or seventy pages. In that paper Brother Nee expounded the first three chapters of Revelation, and he spent much time on the seven epistles to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3. Through those messages on the seven epistles, the fallen situation of Christianity was exposed, and the proper church life was revealed. Many young people throughout China read those messages, and their eyes were opened. I was one of those young people. Through those messages I saw the evils of denominationalism, and I also saw a vision of the church. This magazine had a total of twenty-four issues. Those who read these issues in a proper way received revelation and inspiration. It was amazing how Brother Nee could expound the Scriptures in such a marvelous way at the age of twenty-two. In this magazine he also expounded the first two chapters of Genesis. He applied all the days of God’s creation to Christ. He shared that the land which appeared on the third day out of the waters was a picture of Christ coming out of death. Christ was the good land resurrected on the third day to produce all kinds of life.
In 1926 Brother Nee went to Shanghai to begin the church life there. Between 1922 and 1927 Brother Nee was invited to minister in many places in Christianity, but after the church in Shanghai was raised up and became strong, he received only a few invitations. From 1927 until Brother Nee went into glory, he was invited only once by the denominations, and that was to a Southern Baptist seminary in my hometown. That was when we first met, and he stayed in my home. In 1938 and 1939 he was invited to England and Scandinavia by some Christians there. That invitation was in a different category.
During the years 1925 through 1927, Brother Nee read some of the writings of the British Brethren, the closed Brethren. As we have pointed out, the Brethren were raised up by the Lord around 1825 to 1828, but within about fifteen years they were divided into three big divisions. One group was with Darby, which was considered as the exclusive Brethren, the closed Brethren. Another group under the leadership of George Müller was considered as the open Brethren, or Plymouth Brethren. The strictest group was under the leadership of Benjamin Newton, who disagreed with Darby concerning the rapture of the saints. Brother Nee read many of the writings of John Nelson Darby. These writings were marvelous, and he received much help from them. Due to the help Brother Nee received, the way we conducted our meetings in the early days of the church life was very close to the Brethren way. Some even called us the Chinese version of the British Brethren.
Brother Nee picked up all the good points from different kinds of Christian practices and put them together in the church life. The Brethren, especially in England, found out that there was a group of Christians who had been raised up by the Lord in a wonderful way, so they started to correspond with Brother Nee. Then they proposed that they would send some to visit us. Brother Nee agreed to receive them, but he told them not to bring in their background. They promised they would not do this, so they came to Shanghai in 1931. This group of closed Brethren was considered to be the best among the Brethren at that time. A brother by the name of James Taylor was their teacher. Elden hall, which was the first hall of the church in Los Angeles, was originally their hall. We bought Elden hall from James Taylor’s son in 1965. Among the ones who came to Shanghai were Charles Barlow and W. J. House. These two were the speakers among them. Instead of coming to us as simple believers according to their agreement, they brought the so-called Brethren practice with them. This caused much trouble, and this was a hard situation for Brother Nee to handle.
They invited Brother Nee to visit them, and he did in 1933. He traveled through France and stayed in England for some time. A brother in England brought him to the United States and to Vancouver, Canada. James Taylor wrote many letters, and there is a record of his correspondence with Brother Nee during this time. In that same year Brother Nee returned to China from Europe. During that time I was fully brought into the work in Shanghai with him. He personally told me everything concerning his visit abroad. The Brethren promised him that if he would take their way, they would buy him some land to build a big hall in Shanghai. They also promised him other things. He said no to all their proposals.
Before his visit to the Brethren, Brother Nee had two conferences. He called these conferences “overcomer conferences.” One was in 1928, and the other was in 1931, when the Brethren came to Shanghai. In 1934 he had the third overcomer conference. In that ten-day conference he gave messages on the centrality and universality of Christ. I was in that entire conference. Brother Nee asked me to give a message on the Lord’s Day to all the visitors as an introduction to the conference. I was also responsible for keeping a record of all these messages by longhand notes. I received a deep impression from this conference and the greatest help. That was a real turn in my Christian life and church life. In that year, 1934, Brother Nee entrusted more to me in the work. When he went away from Shanghai, he put his work upon my shoulders.
In October of 1934, he held a conference in Hangchow, a city beside the West Lake, and he spoke on God’s overcomers. At the end of the conference, he got married, and he asked me to be his best man.
In 1935 he had the burden to go to London to visit Brother T. Austin-Sparks. Before leaving for Europe, he first made arrangements in the summer to stay in my home in Chefoo. Eventually, he and Sister Nee stayed in my home. He had a conference there that brought in a deeper revival among us by speaking concerning Christ as the overcoming life. Then he canceled his scheduled trip to Europe. He returned to Shanghai to give a conference there. That was a great turn of the church life among us in 1935. Through the Lord’s move at this time, the church life spread to other cities. In 1937 Brother Nee began to see that the co-workers needed to travel from one city to another to establish local churches. He then gave a series of messages first in January of 1937 in Shanghai to a small number of co-workers, among whom I was one. Then he repeated the same messages in October 1937 in Hankow. These were later put into the book entitled The Normal Christian Church Life. Then the war between China and Japan began, and he went out of the country to visit Europe in 1938 and 1939. He stayed in London about a year and a half, and he also visited the Scandinavian countries.
In the summer of 1939, Brother Nee returned to China and had a conference on the Body of Christ. When he returned to Shanghai from England, he cabled me in northern China, asking me to come and attend his conference. I was traveling in north China with four young brothers to do the work of the Lord at that time, and we all went to Shanghai together. This conference was another great turning point in my life. Brother Nee stressed one thing again and again — the Body of Christ.
From that time in August 1939 through September 1942, Brother Nee had a conference in Shanghai nearly every month. Furthermore, Brother Nee would minister to the whole church in Shanghai every Wednesday night. He also spent several mornings each week with his trainees. For a period of time, I was there with him as a trainee. Not more than one hundred of us would meet with him in the mornings in Shanghai. During that time, he would ask us to give a testimony concerning how we had seen the Body. Hardly any had really seen the Body. After some gave a testimony, Brother Nee analyzed what they said, and pointed out all the major points to prove that they had not seen the Body. Someone may have said that they saw the Body, but their words exposed that they had never seen the Body. Those who were there were fully convinced that although they had the term the Body, they really had not seen it.
Brother Nee’s fellowship on the Body during that time was the most strategic work of his entire life. From 1933 I was very close to Brother Nee. He put me in the position of bearing the Ark with him, being “shoulder to shoulder” with him in the work. I knew what he was doing because I was always his helper. He and I often signed any announcements related to the work. I was observing him, and he was teaching me, fellowshipping with me, and letting me know all the things he was going to do. His most strategic work was during those years that he spent on the Body. Probably not since the time of the early apostles had there been messages given that were so solid, so profound, and so deep on the church as the Body. Many people may use the term the Body, and they may like to talk about Body ministry, but they really have not seen what the Body is.
In those years Brother Nee also said that spiritual warfare is not an individual matter but a Body matter. In the Welsh revival of 1904 and 1905, the most useful one in the Lord’s hand was Evan Roberts. In that revival he learned something concerning spiritual warfare, and he related his experiences to Jessie Penn-Lewis, and she put them into writing. Based on these experiences, she wrote a book entitled War on the Saints. Because she did not see that spiritual warfare is a Body matter, what she wrote in this book is not balanced. For this reason I would not advise anyone to read this book. Some who read this fellowship from Mrs. Penn-Lewis got into trouble with demons.
Most of these writings on spiritual warfare were translated by Brother Nee and put into his three-volume book The Spiritual Man. Later, he made clear publicly in the meetings that he regretted having included the chapter on spiritual warfare in this book, because that chapter was from the view of Evan Robert’s individual experience. I told a publisher of this book that if he was going to print it, he should delete that chapter. That chapter was absolutely against Brother Nee’s intention. From 1940 through 1942 he saw the Body and realized that spiritual warfare is not an individual matter but a Body matter. According to my own experience, before 1940 it was difficult to fight the spiritual warfare, but after we saw the Body, it was so easy to enter into this warfare.
Due to the exposure of the enemy’s subtlety through Brother Nee’s messages during those three years, the enemy caused a big turmoil in the church in Shanghai in 1942. Eventually, the church there was closed, and Brother Nee’s ministry was stopped for six years. Some who did not know the real situation said that Brother Nee was fully occupied with his pharmaceutical business during those six years, but this was absolutely not true. Strictly speaking, in those six years from June 1942 to 1948, he did not minister, not because he did not have the time but just because of the attack from the enemy. The enemy stirred up a rebellion against him. In 1945 he did speak in Chungking in western China. These messages are contained in the book entitled The Orthodoxy of the Church. These were the only messages he gave during those years.
The war ended in the Far East in August 1945. I was invited to go to Shanghai, and I stayed there from 1946 to the first part of 1949. In 1946 and 1947 I had much time with Brother Nee privately. I did my best to ask him to come back to his ministry to speak to us. I presented the need to him, but he told me that he could not and would not minister due to the rebellious spirit of some of the saints in Shanghai. The Lord eventually granted a big revival among us, and Brother Nee’s ministry was recovered through that revival. Because his ministry was recovered, there was not only a revival but also a “big explosion” among us.
During the time when his ministry was stopped, Brother Nee took the opportunity to buy many houses on a small mountain close to his hometown. Missionaries had built those houses for their summer retreat. During the war most of them left and were glad to sell those houses at a very cheap price. Brother Nee bought them with the intention of preparing for his coming training. Then the church in Shanghai was revived, and his ministry was recovered. In 1948 about eighty to one hundred saints went to this mountain to be with Brother Nee for a course of training that lasted about six months. Everybody was joyful in this training. They lived together day by day, praising, singing, praying, and coming to training meetings three times daily. Every day Brother Nee gave at least four or five messages, morning, afternoon, and evening. After that training, these eighty to one hundred saints came down from the mountain and were scattered throughout China. This caused a bigger explosion. In Tsingtao, the biggest city in my province, the church baptized seven hundred people in one day. That was in November 1948, one month after Brother Nee’s six-month training course was finished.
Brother Nee intended to have a second training in 1949, in which I participated for a short time, but the Chinese Communists took over the country in that year, so we were scattered. As a rule, the Communists would give people two years of freedom after they took over a place, and they did the same thing with Brother Nee. He had two years of freedom in 1950 and 1951. In those two years he did his best to publish as many books as possible because he anticipated that he would be arrested and put into prison. In 1952 he was arrested and put into prison for four years. In 1956 he was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment, but from that day he remained in prison until he died in 1972. Thus, he was imprisoned for twenty years until his death. This fellowship gives us a brief sketch of Brother Nee’s work.
In the next chapter we will fellowship concerning Brother Nee’s sufferings. In all the years we were with him, we saw him pass through suffering after suffering. He was a man of suffering. He learned many strategic lessons from the Lord through his sufferings. We thank the Lord that through Brother Nee’s sufferings, we received the help — the edification and the building up. He was a gift in life given by the Head to His Body.
