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After a person is saved, his old way of living and his old conduct should come to an end. Before he was saved, he was a sinner living a life in sin. He was also a man of the old creation, conducting himself in the old creation. But now that he is saved, he should terminate the things of the past because he is a new person, having the life of the new creation.
Once a person is saved, there is a change in his being. Consequently, it is natural that he should have a new beginning. Therefore, he must terminate his former life and conduct.
In the Old Testament, immediately after the Israelites were saved by keeping the passover, they left Egypt. They forsook all the Egyptian ways of living and fully terminated the Egyptian things. From that day forward they lived a new life and walked a new way; everything they did was new. The things of the past and their former way of living came to a complete end. This is a very clear type.
After we are saved, we need to be baptized. Baptism, which is a burial, shows that we need to be terminated. A burial is the biggest termination. As soon as a person has died and is buried, everything of his past is over. A person who has been buried cannot continue his old life and the things he once did. Whether one is ready to be baptized or has already been baptized, he should know that baptism is a termination. What we bury in the tomb is everything of our past and our old way of living. Baptism is like the crossing of the Red Sea. In baptism we go into the water on one side and come out on the other side. The water signifies the termination of all the things in our past. Therefore, now that we have been saved and baptized, we should follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to practically terminate all the things of our past and our former manner of living. Every person who is saved and wishes to follow the Lord must take this step.
If a person does not terminate his past after he is saved, he will be unable to advance as he should as a Christian. Although he desires to go forward, he will still long for the things of Egypt. On the one hand, he wants to be a Christian, and on the other hand, he still lives the life of the old creation. He wants to follow the Lord, but he still holds on to old sinful things. Such a person seems as if he is both a Christian and a person in the world. He seems to be both a child of God and a person belonging to the devil. This is wrong.
We must realize that once a person is saved, he is completely changed. Therefore, all aspects of his living, including the things in his living, should be completely changed. Everything of his past should come to an end.
When we terminate the past, we should never try to search through and examine all the things of our past. We should not do this. Our past is under the precious blood of the Lord; God has forgiven us. It is finished. There is no need to expose and examine what the precious blood has covered. This is a common practice in many revival meetings. Some revival meetings place special emphasis on a believer’s need to search through all the things of his past, even to the point of asking a person to openly confess his past mistakes and sins, revealing them to everyone.
Some people were touched by the Holy Spirit and confessed their sins before men (Acts 19:18). However, it is not a rule that every person must do this when they are saved. This is not a principle. To take this as a principle is rather dangerous and extreme. When we were in northern China, some in the Pentecostal movement were always promoting such an open confession. They encouraged Christians to speak concerning all their offenses before men. Some of the confessions sounded ridiculous, and those who made these confessions often ended up in trouble. We cannot do this, and the Bible does not require us to do this. There is no portion in the Bible that teaches a person to search through all the things of his past after he repents and is saved. Receiving this as a teaching or principle, to search through the things that happened prior to our salvation in order to deal with each one of them, is beyond the teaching of the Bible. It is also incompatible with the focus of the gospel. The focus of the gospel is that everything in our living, including the things of our past, has been forgiven by God and has been placed under the precious blood of the Lord Jesus.
There is no verse in the entire Bible that says to search through our past. The Bible, however, does present numerous examples of things that believers did after they were saved. For example, some serving in the military and others who were tax collectors went to ask John the Baptist what they should do (Luke 3:12-14). Before hearing John’s preaching on repentance, they had taken things from others by false accusation and had cheated others. However, John the Baptist did not tell them to repay what they had taken. He did not care about their past; he only cared about what they did from that point onward. He told them to be content with their wages and not to collect more tax than was required. John told them only what they should do from that point forward. This is the gospel. We do not need to add anything to the gospel of God. All our previous failures and sins are under the precious blood. God does not want us to uncover and examine the things that have been covered by the precious blood. These things have been forgiven, washed away, and covered. What is over is over!
Since they are over, why do they still need to be terminated? Termination is not searching the past. Termination is putting an end to the things in front of us. We should leave the things of the past in the past but conclude anything related to our present involvements. Even though the offense of a person who worshipped idols in the past is washed away by the blood of the Lord once he believes in the Lord, he may presently still have an idol in his home. We should tell him that he needs to remove the idol. The sin of worshipping idols in the past is over. No matter how much he worshipped idols in the past, there is no need to speak of these experiences. We should not even repeat the name of the idol. However, from the day of his salvation, the idol in his home and in his life must be removed and terminated. This is the meaning of termination. Termination is not searching through the past. It is to put an end to the things of the past that remain with us. No matter how bad or wicked we were, no matter how much we offended God and how many filthy things we did in the past, everything has been taken care of by the precious blood. However, if certain things of the past remain with us, we need to terminate them and stop their further influence. This is what we call termination.
Thus, the first thing we need to realize is that God’s salvation is complete, and no matter how serious, how deep, how numerous, or how gross our sins were, they were all taken care of under the precious blood. We do not need to do anything additional to take care of our past sins. In order to obtain God’s forgiveness, we do not need to search our past and deal with each item in a thorough way. The gospel is the gospel of grace. Searching through all the items of our past is against the focus of the gospel and offends the grace of God. We do not need to do what the grace of God has already done. God in His grace has completely forgotten our past. God’s forgiving is the same as His forgetting (Heb. 8:12). We should not remember what God has forgotten. We should not expose and examine what God has terminated. This is not right. This is not termination. Termination involves ending the living of the old man. We should put an end to everything in our life that is a continuation from the past. It is critical that we do not allow these things to continue.
A believer who desires to witness for the Lord and to walk the way of the Lord in a pure manner must fully terminate the things of his past. For example, if a casino operator is saved, his sin of operating a casino has been forgiven by God. All the dark things he may have done in operating the casino are forgiven by God. However, if he desires to be a proper Christian and follow the Lord, he must stop operating the casino. The casino must be closed. He will not lose his salvation if he does not close the casino, but there will be no way for him to be a proper Christian. If he wants to walk the way of the Lord, he must close the casino. The closing of the casino is a termination.
Another example is a person’s clothing, especially women’s clothing. Some clothing overexposes the body, and other clothing looks strange; they are unbecoming. When a person wearing such clothing is saved, God forgives her for the way she dressed in the past, and the matter is over. However, the clothing must be terminated. She will not lose her salvation if she continues to wear this clothing, nor will she break a “law.” But it will be difficult for her to be a proper Christian if she continues to wear such clothing. She should terminate, that is, no longer wear, strange clothes and clothes that expose her body. This will enable her to follow the Lord properly and walk on His way.
In order to follow the Lord and bear witness for the Lord, we need to terminate everything that is improper. How can a believer bring people to the Lord if he does not close his casino or nightclub after he is saved? He will be unable to witness for the Lord. The same applies to a sister who still wears strange clothing and exposes her body. Even if she desires to bear witness for the Lord, it is unlikely that people will be saved. If we desire to walk on the right path and to bear a proper testimony, we must terminate the things of our past life. The more seriously we address this point, the better. This is not a requirement of the law, and there is no regulation regarding how we should terminate the past. However, if we want to follow the Lord properly and bear witness for Him, we must terminate our former manner of living. However, this is a conclusion of the past, not a searching through our past. In order to follow the Lord and bear witness for the Lord, we need to conclude our past, but we do not need to search through our past. Terminating the past is necessary; searching through the past is unnecessary and even can be harmful.
All the actions of a person who is saved by grace depend upon the moving of the Holy Spirit, not on regulations. There is no explicit teaching in the Bible regarding how a person should terminate the past after he repents and is saved. However, the New Testament has clear examples that show the work of the Holy Spirit within a believer in regard to terminating the things of his past and dealing with the improper items. There is no direct teaching in the Scriptures concerning terminating the past; there are only examples.
In 1 Thessalonians 1:9 Paul says that when the Thessalonians believed in the Lord, they turned away from idols. Most unbelievers in places like China and Japan have idols and things pertaining to idols in their homes. Thus, once a person is saved, he should completely remove idolatrous things from his life without waiting to be baptized. It may not be necessary to act immediately in regard to other matters, but we should be quick to terminate things related to idols. If we feel that we do not have the strength, we can ask a few brothers to pray with us for our strengthening and encouragement. However, we should not allow them to remove the idols for us. We need to terminate the idols ourselves.
We should realize that it is possible for there to be a union between men and demons. Those who worship idols often develop an emotional attachment to them. After they are saved, they are reluctant to abandon the idol. They may even hide it in a certain spot so that they may bring it out and admire it at a later time. This is the real experience of some saints. Therefore, in order for a believer to close the door, he must thoroughly deal with idols. God absolutely detests idols! God is a jealous God. He will not allow men to worship gods other than Himself. All believers must abandon every idolatrous and superstitious thing.
The brothers and sisters know what items pertain to idolatry. These include physical idols, shrines, candlesticks, and books on Buddhism. Anything that pertains to idolatry must be removed.
Some Chinese practice reading facial features, some practice fortune telling, others use horoscopes, and still others practice divination. These practices are related to idolatry. Therefore, they must be thoroughly terminated. There should no longer be any idols or items pertaining to superstition in a believer’s home, especially after he is baptized. Everything pertaining to idols must be abandoned. The more we abandon and terminate these things from our past, the better.
The presence of idols in the home of a new believer can cause a family member who is sick not to recover. The presence of idols may cause another new believer to be confused and in darkness concerning spiritual matters. Yet another new believer can be lacking in any manifestation of the gift of the Holy Spirit. However, once they remove the idols from their homes, a sick family member can recover, confusion and darkness can be dissipated, and the manifestation of the gift of the Holy Spirit can occur. God detests idols. Therefore, we must abandon and terminate idols at all costs.
We must even abandon things that do not apparently seem to be idols. Portraits or statues of false gods must be abandoned, including portraits and images of “Jesus.” Every portrait of “Jesus” is false. The Bible says that when the Lord Jesus was on earth, he had no attracting form or beautiful appearance (Isa. 53:2). However, every portrait of “Jesus” presents Him as being beautiful. This shows that they are false even though they were painted by the best artists. It is pitiful that Christians, not just Catholics, have such portraits in their homes. Many Christian books also contain such superstitious portraits. In God’s eyes such portraits are blasphemous and should be discarded.
The reason we should not have any pictures of Jesus is not simply because such pictures are fake. We should not keep even an original picture of Jesus. God does not allow images (Exo. 20:4). Every image is an idol. We can use only our spirit to worship the pneumatic Christ. Our physical body should not be the focus of our worship of a visible image. This, however, is the principle of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church teaches that we should physically worship a visible image rather than use our spirit to worship the invisible God. This is a heretical teaching of the Catholic Church.
Statues of Mary in the Catholic Church are a great idol. They must be dealt with and abandoned. We should abandon any idols that are associated with an image of Jesus or Mary. I have met brothers and sisters who abandoned all portraits and statues but still kept a portrait of Jesus in their room. This is forbidden. Every portrait and image is forbidden by God. We should worship God only in spirit. We should not have any physical portraits or images.
In Acts 19:19 the believers in Ephesus who practiced magic brought their books together and burned them. The value of the books was fifty thousand pieces of silver. We have used this example as a basis for helping others to have a burning of demonic, filthy, and improper things. Some people have mah-jongg sets, dice, Chinese dominos, and poker cards in their homes, and others have wine vessels, pipes for smoking, pictures of movie stars, and other things in their homes. Pictures of movie stars are filthy things that corrupt many people. There are also filthy books and pictures. Some believers have indecent and pornographic pictures in their homes. These are demonic and filthy. New believers should follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to remove any such demonic and filthy thing from their lives and their homes.
In 1941 I went to Weihaiwei in Shangtung Province to preach the gospel. Some believed in the Lord, were saved, and wanted to terminate the things of the past in their homes. Every household willingly brought their mah-jongg sets, which were of the best quality, and put them in a huge pile. Some brothers suggested that we sell the mah-jongg sets because they were so nice and expensive, saying that it would be a pity to burn them. I said, “We can sell many things, but we cannot sell the mah-jongg sets. We must burn them.” On that day we piled up some wood, poured gasoline on top, and burned the mah-jongg sets. During the burning, some of these brothers and sisters, no doubt, felt some pain in their hearts. However, they were not compelled to burn their sets; rather, they brought them voluntarily. Every new believer should have this type of clearance. Unbecoming clothing that is demonic and filthy should also be burned. Sleeveless clothing or items with low necklines can be altered. How we deal with our clothing should be according to the Holy Spirit’s inward touch. The Holy Spirit will inwardly speak to people about the need to burn some of their clothing, even if it is expensive. If the Holy Spirit touches us inwardly to burn an item, we should obey, no matter the value of the item.
Furthermore, some luxurious cosmetics should also be burned. These are all classified as demonic and filthy. We should neither use nor give to others what is improper, indecent, demonic, or filthy in nature. We should not sell such things to others; we should burn them. The biblical principle is burning. In Acts 19:19 the Bible specifically states the value of the things burned, showing that the believers in those days burned expensive items. Fifty thousand pieces of silver in those days is considerably more than fifty thousand dollars today, but all these were still burned. When we abandon demonic and filthy things, we should not consider the cost or the loss.
The salvation of Zaccheus presents the matter of making restitution (Luke 19:2-8). As soon as Zaccheus was saved, he said to the Lord that if he had taken anything from anyone by false accusation, he would restore four times as much. This is to deal with unrighteous gain. Restoring four times as much is neither a law nor a principle; it was according to the Holy Spirit’s moving and the inner urging of Zaccheus’s conscience. It may not be necessary to restore four times as much; perhaps slightly more than the original amount is enough. We should be careful about putting too heavy a burden on the conscience of the new believers.
It is not necessary to dig into our past to find out whom we owe in order to repay them. However, if the Holy Spirit touches us, making us conscious of the fact that we owe others material things, we should follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to properly restore what we owe.
There are several matters that need to be considered when restoring our debt to others. First, a person may not have sufficient financial means to take care of this matter. A person who stole ten thousand dollars in the past may not presently have one thousand dollars. He does not have the financial means to repay his debt. In this circumstance, if he feels that the Holy Spirit wants him to deal with this matter, he should repay as much as he can and confess this sin before the person whom he owes, even though his money is limited.
Second, there are times when we should let the person we owe know that we are repaying him, but there are times when it is wise to not let the person know. We need to seriously consider the situation so that others are not implicated. If we will cause problems by implicating others, we should repay secretly. If someone knows that we stole something from him, we should make an open restitution to him. However, if he does not know that we have stolen something from him, and if by informing him we will implicate others, our restitution should be done in secret. We should repay secretly so that others do not suffer material loss. This requires wisdom because our repayment may give rise to disputes and create an injustice for others.
Third, if the person whom we owe has passed away, in principle, we should give what we owe to his closest relative. If his wife is alive, we should repay his wife. If his children are living and his wife is not, we should repay his children. We should repay the person who is beneficially entitled to his estate. If we cannot find such a person, it is best to give what we owe to the poor.
Fourth, it may be difficult for the conscience of a new believer to set an amount to repay, whether the exact amount, double the amount, or more. Consequently, such ones should fellowship with the more mature believers in the church. Basically, a new believer should neither repay so little that his conscience condemns him nor repay so much that his conscience cannot bear the burden. There is no fixed rule. We must consider all circumstances, follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and do what is appropriate.
We should be very careful in making restitution because others are often involved. Some situations may involve the government, others may involve private parties, and still others may affect the relationship between a husband and wife. Therefore, we should not simply consider the peace in our conscience and our innocence before the Lord without considering others. We must not involve others in dealing with these matters. Some people have caused discord between husbands and wives and even caused family disputes in dealing with these matters. This, in fact, can increase one’s indebtedness to others. Therefore, we need to be wise and deal with this matter appropriately so that those whom we owe are compensated without causing others to suffer. This will glorify the Lord and be profitable to others as well as ourselves. The principle in making restitution is to glorify the Lord. This profits others as well as ourselves. We need to deal with this matter according to this principle so that no one suffers loss.
Before the Lord we should terminate our past living. Although the Bible does not have a definite example concerning this point, the revelation of the New Testament shows that God desires us to bring our past living before Him in order to terminate it. Should we continue to parent as we did in the past, or study in the way we did in the past? Should we continue to live our lives as we did in the past, having the same type of relationship between husband and wife, the same type of friendships, dressing in the same way, and even spending money in the same way? Should the furniture, decorations, and other items in our homes remain as they were in the past? This dealing needs to include everything.
This is not a written requirement. However, since we are saved and are a new man, our living and daily walk should have a new beginning. After we are saved, we should turn to the Lord to see whether any person, thing, or matter in our living should remain the same.
If we are willing to go before the Lord in this way, many things will need to be terminated. This does not mean, for example, that we will cease to be husbands. Rather, it simply means we will no longer be the same type of husband that we were in the past. We cannot continue to be the same type of parents as we were in the past. We cannot continue to study the same way we did in the past. The decorations in our homes should not be the same as in the past. This is the meaning of terminating our former manner of living.
Once again, there is no need to search through our past. Termination of the past does not involve asking which items of our past are wrong. Rather, as children of God, we should ask whether we should be the same as in the past. A dynamic salvation will often cause a person to immediately inspect his home, change his clothing, and even change the decorations in his house. This indicates that termination of the past is not a teaching but a work of the Holy Spirit that brings an end to our former manner of living and brings in the living of a new life. This is terminating the past.
Four matters need to be brought before God for termination: idolatrous things, demonic and filthy things, indebtedness to others, and the former manner of living. If a believer does not allow the Holy Spirit to work in him regarding these matters, he cannot go on. Although this is not a teaching, law, or regulation, all of the above will occur spontaneously in a person who lives in the Holy Spirit and allows the Holy Spirit to work in him.
Terminating and dealing with these items is a matter of following the moving of the Holy Spirit, not of following any regulation or doctrine. As believers, we have the moving of the Holy Spirit within us. Our responsibility is to give ground to the Holy Spirit when He touches us. We do not need to focus on removing item after item. This is not a matter of outward regulation. Instead, the Holy Spirit will touch us concerning these matters. When He does, we should respond. We should not be concerned about price, position, reputation, face, or material loss. If we care for these things, we will quench the moving of the Holy Spirit and not experience a full salvation. Thus, we will be unable to seriously follow the Lord.
The Spirit of God is working within us, and the life of the Lord within us is powerful. If we allow the Holy Spirit to work, not caring for our position, reputation, face, or personal interest, the Holy Spirit will certainly lead us to terminate and deal with these items by the power of the life within us. The Holy Spirit is doing a renewing work not only in our life inwardly but also in our living outwardly. He wants to renew us inwardly and outwardly, to make us a new man living a new life and walking on a new path. He wants to renew us completely from center to circumference.
Let me repeat, this is not a regulation or doctrine. We want all believers to give the Holy Spirit complete freedom to do a renewing work. The Holy Spirit will not only renew our mind, perception, emotion, and will but also renew everything in our outward living. This termination and dealing is absolutely not a legality in the church. This is not a rule or requirement in the church. However, the life we have received is holy, and the Holy Spirit within us is working. Through this holy life the Holy Spirit will persist in requiring us to abandon demonic and unclean things and to terminate our old manner of living. Our responsibility is to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and let the Holy Spirit gain ground in us through His moving.
We should care for the feeling of the conscience in terminating and dealing with these items. We cannot ask others concerning the extent to which we should deal with each matter. We must ask our own conscience. We need to deal with everything to the extent that we have peace in our conscience. Others cannot determine this for us. We should follow our conscience.
A believer who wants to follow the Lord must ensure that his conscience is void of offense. No one with an offense in his conscience can be a good Christian. No one with an offense in his conscience can have genuine growth in life. No one with an offense in his conscience can have faith before God and be enlightened by God. Therefore, we need to take care of our conscience so that it will be void of offense and at peace.
We must also be careful. We should not let our conscience become overly sensitive. An overly sensitive conscience will become weak and more easily deceived by Satan. Therefore, we should use common sense to balance the feeling of our conscience. For example, Satan often deceives us related to making restitution. Our conscience may feel that we should repay one and a half times the amount. However, when we repay this amount, Satan may tell us that we should have repaid twice the original amount. Agreeing with him, we repay twice the amount. However, Satan immediately comes again and says that we should have repaid three or even four times the original amount. This has happened to people. They have an overly sensitive conscience, which becomes weak, thereby inviting Satan’s attack. If this happens, we need to use common sense to balance our overly sensitive conscience. Common sense tells us that since we have repaid one and a half times the original amount, it is sufficient. We should not be governed by an overly sensitive conscience. We should use common sense to balance us.
However, we should not annul the feeling of the conscience simply because we are afraid of repaying a certain amount. We should not reduce the amount we repay because we think that it is too great of a financial loss. This will cause an offense to continue to remain in our conscience, and we will be unable to walk properly on the Lord’s way.
It is, therefore, important to maintain a balanced feeling in our conscience. We should not annul the feeling of the conscience; neither should we foster it. If our conscience is not sensitive enough, we cannot be strong. If it is overly sensitive, it will become weak, and we will still be unable to be strong before the Lord. We need to do what is appropriate. We should not annul any sensitive feelings in our conscience; neither should we foster any overly sensitive ones to the extent that our conscience becomes weak. We need to care for our conscience so that it can be void of offense and strong. Only in this way can we live properly before the Lord.
It is not easy to practice these points. Many practical matters need to be considered. Therefore, we should not rush into dealing with the past simply because we have repented and are zealous. Rather, dealing with the past requires us to walk continually before the Lord. We need to be careful, balanced, and appropriate, doing neither too little nor too much so that we can be delivered from every improper situation and stand properly. In this way we can advance and make progress in life, in testimony, and in spiritual knowledge. This is a step every believer should take.
