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The Lord’s recovery came to us through Brother Watchman Nee. Throughout the years we have learned that we should not try to unify the saints. At the beginning of the Lord’s recovery in the United States in Elden hall, Pentecostal people sometimes came among us and spoke in tongues. The leading ones looked to me to do something, but I told them not to do anything. I said that since they are Pentecostal, let them be Pentecostal. If they like to speak in tongues, let them speak in tongues. This is what we mean when we say that we need to practice the generality of the church life, as I shared in the book entitled The Speciality, Generality, and Practicality of the Church Life. The messages in that book were given in the summer of 1971.
Because we are not denominational but general, the brothers who come into the Lord’s recovery have the liberty to practice what they want. We do not have the control. Every denomination has their particular creed and belief. Based upon their creed and belief, they control people. Among us there is nothing like this. Our trust is in the Lord as the Spirit and the life within the believers. Throughout the years we have given many messages on the Lord as the Spirit living in us so that we may enjoy His life to live Him.
The apostle Paul was very general in his practice. He was general to such an extent that he was even convinced by James to go to the temple to help people consummate the Nazarite vow (Acts 21:18-26). On this occasion Paul went too far, so the Lord came in to cause a big tumult to stop him. The Lord would not tolerate his participating in a strict Judaic practice such as the Nazarite vow. The Lord stopped him in order to keep the truth of the gospel clear to the coming generations. However, this does show that Paul was a person who would be so general in the church life.
I have been speaking in the church for sixty-one years, since 1932. Throughout these years I have passed through many things, so the events of the recent turmoil among us were not a new experience to me. Such rebellion and opposition have been repeated throughout the New Testament and throughout our history. Paul was condemned of cheating others (2 Cor. 12:16); the Lord Jesus was cheated; and we have been cheated and falsely condemned. But we still have to practice the generality, and we do not want to do anything to control anyone. Paul did not try to control things, and neither do we.
Whenever there has been a turmoil, we have learned to be simple by staying with the tree of life and staying away from anything related to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The general teaching in Christianity is that if you are going to be a preacher, you need to know the people to whom you are preaching, but our practice is different from this. Sometimes before going out to a certain place, the co-workers asked me what they should do and what I knew about the people there. I told them that if they had the burden from the Lord and felt led of the Lord, they should go and speak what the Lord leads them to speak. They should not try to know anything. It is better not to know things. We have learned that it is best to be simple, single, and uncomplicated, staying away from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The recent turmoil rose up mainly to put me down. Certain ones decided not only to put me down but also to put me out. Now they are endeavoring to preach their kind of doctrine to accomplish this. They did much in this turmoil, but I did not do anything. From the beginning Brother Nee and I learned the lesson not to take care of these negative things.
The apostle Paul also suffered from confusion, turmoil, and rebellion within the church. In the New Testament there is no perfect church. Rather, the churches in the New Testament are full of problems. What a disappointing situation is depicted in 2 Timothy! Paul says there that all of those in Asia had rejected his ministry (1:15). Just a small group of brothers, including Timothy, remained with him to take care of him. But when he was going to be martyred, he was still so strong. He said, “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will recompense me in that day” (4:7-8). Paul had the assurance that a crown was prepared for him. He was not disappointed.
Paul fulfilled his commission from the Lord and fully accomplished and consummated his ministry. This is why all seeking Christians throughout the centuries appreciate his fourteen Epistles. Among the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, the most helpful are Paul’s books—Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews. We are all indebted to Paul.
Brother Nee once told us that among the twelve chosen by the Lord Jesus, there was Judas. If we had been the Lord Jesus, we would never have chosen Judas. All the twelve whom we would have chosen would have been the top ones. But one of the twelve chosen by the Lord was Judas, the son of perdition (John 17:12). This shows that our suffering today is no different from what the Lord Jesus suffered and what the apostles suffered, especially Paul. In this aspect I love 2 Timothy. It comforts me to the uttermost.
We cannot expect anything better than what Paul experienced in his work. But we need to realize that through all the degradation and chaotic situations, the church is benefited. In May of 1992 I gave some messages entitled “The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation.” We saw in those messages that the chaos from the enemy actually helps God’s economy. Without Judas, the Lord could not have been betrayed and delivered into the hand of the Pharisees for His crucifixion to be consummated. The situation with Judas was under God’s sovereignty to help Him accomplish His economy. In the same way, through the recent turmoil we have been disciplined, educated, and corrected, and many have been tested, stabilized, and established for the furtherance of God’s move in His economy.
Now we need to consider what our attitude should be. First, we should, by the Lord’s mercy and grace, exercise our spirit to take care of the Lord. Second, we must take care of His Body, the church. We should discern the situation, not expecting everyone to be according to what we feel. At the same time we still should be strong to practice the things that we feel led by the Lord to practice.
I have been speaking for over half a century, and I have passed through many troubles, but I have never changed my vision. Certain ones spread a lie that Witness Lee was all right up to 1984, but from that time Witness Lee changed, and his change affected the nature of the recovery. So these ones desired to be the “heroes” to rescue the recovery out of Witness Lee’s change.
In these days we have to be for the Lord’s interest by taking care of the Lord and taking care of His Body to discern the real situation. It was not an easy thing for me to publish the book entitled The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion. I considered very much before the Lord whether or not I should release the facts of the rebellious turmoil stirred up by certain ones. Many of the things that happened were a mystery to the saints. According to my discernment in the Lord, I eventually felt burdened to let the saints know. I documented nearly every point in that book by writings and by verbal testimonies.
I put out that book concerning the present rebellion based upon Paul’s principle in 2 Timothy, where he mentions the names of those who damaged the churches and the ministry. He mentions Hymenaeus and Philetus as ones who overthrew the faith of some (2:17-18), and he mentions Alexander the coppersmith as one who did many evil things to him and greatly opposed him (4:14-15). What is happening to me is a repetition of what happened to Brother Nee. I saw this when I was with him. The only difference was that Brother Nee was the “umbrella” at that time, so the covering umbrella eventually became the target. Now that the recovery has come abroad to the Western world, I have become the target. One of the rebellious ones said that the real problem among us was “the philosophy of a king.” This shows that I have become the target of their opposition. They are still trying their best to accomplish their goal.
Following the publication of my book on the present rebellion, the churches in California published an open letter to tell people that they had suffered much loss in the United States because of the divisions these ones made. These divisive ones conducted a conference in Buena Park, next to Anaheim, without fellowshipping with the churches in the area and set up a divisive table in Anaheim. For the sake of the churches, I was forced to publish The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion, and the elders in the churches in California were also forced to tell the churches on this globe what these people did in California.
The churches in Canada and the United States were opened to the Lord’s recovery through this ministry, but I have suffered. I saw Brother Nee suffer the same kinds of things. In February 1986 I called an urgent elders’ training in which I stressed the one accord, and I made my teaching very clear (see Elders’ Training, Book 7: One Accord for the Lord’s Move). I said that being in the army is different from being a citizen. Not everyone in a country is in the army. Gideon eventually had only three hundred who became his army (Judg. 7:7). I went to Taipei in 1984 because I was burdened for an army to be raised up who would practice the God-ordained way. But I do not have the intention or the expectation for all the saints in the recovery to be the same. I pointed out in the 1986 elders’ training that if some decide not to take the way of the ministry, they are still members of the church in the recovery. But I also asked these ones not to criticize or oppose, because this would cause trouble and division.
I went to Taipei in 1984 and started the training there in an official way in 1986. When that training was set up, a number of lies and rumors came from abroad. When I spoke on the one accord, some misunderstood me. But regardless of the problems, we still have to carry out the Lord’s leading. We also have to exercise our spirit plus the Lord-given wisdom to discern the things of the recent turmoil. We cannot be blind or foolish.
In conclusion, we have to see that what we have experienced corresponds to what is recorded in the Bible. We should be comforted by this. But to carry out God’s commission and the Lord’s leading, we have to be faithful to discern what we should take and what we should not take, what we should go on with and what we should not go on with. We need to let go of all the negative things and go on in a positive way to practice the church life according to the scriptural way. Even if a number of people from other places criticize us, we should not respond to it. Eventually, if something is really of the Lord, it will be vindicated by the Lord, and many will receive the help. When we do something positively, we do not need to promote it. We should simply do it. The churches in Taiwan are simply going on with the Lord positively. They do not promote anything or condemn anyone. I hope that all the churches will follow this example.
My burden is to finish the life-study of the whole Bible. I need another two or three years to do this. I also have a burden to release messages concerning the Spirit and life in the yearly conferences. In the Thanksgiving conference of 1992 we spoke concerning the constitution and building up of the Body of Christ. All the saints need to see this, but regardless of how much you expect that the saints will see, not many will see. Throughout the centuries many people have received help from Paul’s writings. But eventually what we see today is the great religion of Christianity with Catholicism, Protestantism, and Brethrenism. Still the Lord has gained something, and I believe that His word will not be in vain.
Today the Lord is calling for the overcomers. God did not succeed with the race of Adam, so He went to Abraham. With the Abrahamic race, He did not get what He wanted, so He turned to the church. But throughout the nearly two thousand years of church history, the church has failed the Lord. Thus, in the last book of the Bible the Lord calls for the overcomers. Still the Lord keeps the churches, because in Revelation 2 and 3 He corrected and adjusted the churches. Not all of us in the churches in the recovery will be the overcomers, but our being in the churches in the recovery will strengthen us and help us to be matured to be the overcomers.
Actually, the book of Revelation is a book concerning the overcomers. The man-child in Revelation 12, the firstfruits in chapter 14, and the victorious ones standing on the glassy sea in chapter 15 are the overcomers. We cannot avoid the degradation, the confusion, and the divisions, but we have to be the overcomers. The chaos we have seen among us is exactly according to what the New Testament unveils. But we need to realize that through all the chaos, the Lord will gain the overcomers and consummate His economy.
