Search
By changing the system, we are overthrowing the ordinances of Christianity, in which a few people replace the function of the other members of the Body of Christ. A few members cause the other members to be unemployed and thus kill their function. Traditional Christianity does not believe that all the members can function. In traditional Christianity only the clergy, the pastors and preachers, can function. For this reason we must rise up to eliminate the system of Christianity in our meetings. This system has the element of leaven that the Lord Jesus spoke of in Matthew 13.
In Matthew 13 a woman hid leaven in three measures of meal (v. 33). The three measures of meal signify Christ as food to supply God’s people, and the woman signifies the Roman Catholic Church. History shows that not long after the church was produced, the Catholic Church brought in many different heresies, leaven, and mixed them with the teachings concerning Christ. Bakers add leaven to flour to make bread easy to eat. Leavened bread is soft and easy to chew, but unleavened bread is hard and difficult to chew. According to this principle, the Catholic Church brought in many heresies in an attempt to make the truth easy for people to receive.
We came out of Christianity, but our Christian background is still with us, and it influences us. Christianity is influencing people all over the earth. Many people who do not believe in Jesus think that they understand Christianity. Concerning minor items, they think that Christianity involves steepled buildings with bells that ring at specific times on the Lord’s Day and crosses on top of the steeples. This is a common concept concerning Christianity. With respect to the major items, unbelievers know that Christianity has pastors and that Christians go to worship services and listen to sermons preached by the pastors. Most people think that Christianity, as represented by the Catholic Church, is mainly composed of “pew members,” who do not need to do anything but attend mass. There are also priests, bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and the pope. When the pope dies, another pope is chosen from among the cardinals to be his successor.
Thirty years ago, when I was in the Philippines, one of the brothers had a relative who was in the hospital. This brother took several other brothers to visit his relative. At the hospital they surrounded the bed of the relative and prayed one by one. The Philippines is a Catholic country, and everyone has some knowledge of Catholicism. According to their understanding, whoever is able to pray must be a pastor. Someone in the ward asked the brothers whether they were pastors, because they prayed better than most pastors. Our brother answered that they were not pastors and that we do not have pastors in our church. This response surprised the people who were present. Christianity gives people the impression that praying and preaching are the job of pastors. This impression, this poison, is still among us. We are only a little better than Christianity.
Even though we changed the system, most of the brothers and sisters still do not pray or function in the meetings. They do not avoid praying, but they do not pray much. Previously, our practice was to have everyone listen to a message lasting an hour and a half, after which one person would pray out loud, and then everyone else would pray silently. However, we discovered that this was not a good practice, because most people did not know what to do during the time of silent prayer. Therefore, we changed our practice to allow half an hour after the message for everyone to testify concerning the light, revelation, and help they received. This was an attempt to break the habit of only one person speaking and everyone else listening. This change gave everyone an opportunity to function and was helpful.
The practice of giving testimonies after the message is being carried out successfully in America. Between 1969 and 1974 the testimonies after the messages were living, and sometimes thirty minutes was not enough time. In Taiwan, however, the testimonies are almost all dead, and the same brothers and sisters always stand up to speak. This shows that there are traces of the poison of Christianity among us. In addition, those who speak tend to give long testimonies; they can even speak for fifteen minutes. This is also evidence of the poison of Christianity.
In the physical realm, as soon as a newborn is spanked, it begins to cry. A mother would be concerned if her child did not cry after being spanked. A child who cannot speak by the time he is eight to ten years old is dumb. Today are the new believers among us and those who have been saved for twenty years speaking Christians, or are we dumb Christians? We speak all day without stopping, but as soon as we step into a meeting, we become dumb. We speak unceasingly outside the meetings, but we become dumb as soon as we are in the meetings.
It is a suffering to be in a family where some family members cannot speak. In the church life the greatest suffering is when no one speaks. What is the meaning of our existence if there is no church on the earth? If we do not speak in the meetings, where else can we speak? Our only enjoyment on the earth is to serve the Lord and the church. Thus, when we encounter someone in the church meetings who does not speak, we suffer.
We have been influenced by degraded Christianity to the extent that we are nearly beyond rescue. Starting from today, we must reverse our old habit of not speaking in the meetings by everyone speaking for the Lord in the meetings. The problem of not speaking in the meetings comes not only from the poison of Christianity but also from the traditional training in Chinese homes. Most Chinese parents charge their children to keep silent when they are not at home. According to a Chinese proverb—disease enters through the mouth, and misfortune issues from the mouth—we should speak as little as possible. There is a true story about a mother and her child who were invited out for dinner. The child was naturally talkative, and the mother was afraid he would say something inappropriate in the presence of others. Hence, she kept the child beside her and pinched him whenever he began to speak so that he would stop. It was an unpleasant situation with the mother pinching the child every time he spoke.
In the church, however, we want everyone to be like the child who wanted to speak. There is another teaching that is used in Chinese homes: “Many words, many mistakes; few words, few mistakes; no words, no mistakes.” We should not apply this teaching in the church; all the saints should speak in the meetings. The best situation is when all the saints speak.
Our God is not merely a speaking God (Heb. 1:1-2); He is the Word (John 1:1; Rev. 19:13). In the universe words are very important. Human culture comes out of words and is contained in human language. Culture cannot exist without language, and language advances with culture. First there was electricity, then electric lamps, telegraphs, and telephones were developed. Now we are more advanced, and we have televisions and other appliances. The development of names for these things proves that language advances with culture. If God did not speak in Genesis, creation would not exist. If the people God created were mute, society would not have developed. We should consider what human society would be like if people could not speak. God created us in His image and according to His likeness (Gen. 1:26-27); God can speak, and we can speak. If we could not speak or if we did not speak, we would not be like God.
If God did not speak, we would not have the books of Genesis through Malachi. We would be in darkness. If Matthew did not write his Gospel, Paul his Epistles, and John Revelation, there would not be a Bible, and we would be confused people. We should not rebuke the saints who have not been meeting for a long time, nor should we make demands on new believers. We must go to God’s children and speak His word to them. We must use God’s word to nourish and supply them. We were made according to God’s image; we are like God. God speaks, and we also must speak His word.
In the Old Testament God repeatedly exhorted and charged the Israelites to teach their children the words that He had commanded them. He said, “These words, which I command you today, shall be upon your heart; and you shall repeat them to your children, and speak about them when you sit in your house and when you journey on the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up; and you shall bind them on your hand as a sign, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes; and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut. 6:6-9). When we compare our living to these words, we feel ashamed because this is not our practice. Some of us never speak the Lord’s word in our homes; we do not speak the Lord’s word to our children. We speak about many things, but we do not speak God’s word. According to God’s command, we should speak His word every day in our homes. Even though we need to read the newspaper in order to know the world situation, the reading material we set out in our homes should be the Recovery Version of the Bible, the Life-study messages, and spiritual books.
Some saints in Texas have the Life-study messages on their bookshelves and coffee tables, in the kitchen, and even in the bathroom. The Life-study messages can be found everywhere in their homes. This makes it convenient to read a message at any time. If we exercise to read God’s word in this way, we will be able to speak God’s word. We will speak to our family, neighbors, colleagues, and classmates. We will speak God’s word everywhere. If we speak for God and speak God’s word, the church will bear fruit for God, the atmosphere in this country will change, and society will be turned upside down.
We are changing the system in order to change the habit of not speaking in the meetings. Everyone must speak the Lord’s word. If we speak the Lord’s word in the meetings and at home, the condition of the church will change for the better, and it will not be difficult for the church to spread and increase. Presently, we rejoice when one person is saved and baptized, but when we all speak, we will not find it strange if one thousand people are baptized, because it will be a normal occurrence.
We are very happy when a few people are saved, because we do not speak, we do not have new ones for the increase of the church, and we are not spreading. If we all speak for the Lord and speak His word every day in our homes and in every place, people will be amazed at the kind of people we are, the number of new believers will increase, and we will spread. On the positive side, the change in the system is to cause everyone to function, and on the negative side, by changing the system, no particular person has to take the lead. Rather, everyone takes the lead.
We are not that bold when we preach the gospel. It seems as if we can only beg people to receive the Lord, and we are thankful when we are not opposed. When someone receives the gospel, we are in the third heaven. Not many among us can boldly preach the gospel to sinners and ask a new one to open his home immediately after he is saved in order to preach the gospel to others and to have home meetings.
We do not speak in this way, because we do not believe that a new one will open his home or that he can preach the gospel immediately after his salvation. We spend much energy to set up home meetings, but we do not have the faith to ask the new believers to open their homes. We also have the subconscious desire to be a leading one. We do not believe that others can take the lead, and we are not willing for them to take the lead. Instead, we want to take the lead. The ones who truly desire to take the lead among us are the co-workers. Wherever they go, they want to take the lead. The elders are the second group of people who like to take the lead. The leading ones in the service groups are a third group of people who like to take the lead. Whether they are leading ones in the cleaning service group or in teaching Truth Lessons, they like to be responsible to arrange things for others. This concept of taking the lead is a fallen concept that produced organized Christianity and gave rise to the clerical hierarchy of pastors, bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and the pope.
In changing the system, we want to overthrow the concept of taking the lead by allowing everyone to function. The elders and co-workers must be patterns. From now on we should not have leaders; we should only have patterns. The elders and co-workers must function as patterns to help the saints know how to advance.
For the past twenty or more years the work in Taiwan has not spread very much. There has been no increase in the churches, and the number of churches has not increased. There are only eighty localities in Taiwan. But in America more than eighty churches have been raised up over the past twenty years, and approximately twenty churches have been raised up in Canada. This means that more than one hundred churches have been raised up in North America. More than one hundred churches have been raised up in South America. There are also approximately one hundred churches in Europe, Africa, and Australia. Who took the lead to raise up these churches? Some people have written books to condemn me and say that I control people with an iron fist and that I am a dictator, a pope. They lift me up too high. I am more than eighty years old, and I have no way to even read all the letters I receive, much less use an iron fist to control people. I am not a pope, and I do not want to make myself a leader. I am simply a pattern to show people how they should function. I cannot control whether people do what I say. I teach the truth and write books. I only want people to be supplied in life and edified in the truth. Many of the letters I receive from around the world, especially those from America, say how much the writers have been helped by my books. This would not be the result if I was taking the lead as some people suggest.
My point is that we must all rise up, and everyone must speak. It does not matter if we say something wrong. The co-workers, elders, serving ones, and the teachers of Truth Lessons are not leaders. We do not have any leaders among us; at the most we have patterns, who direct the saints and help them take the proper path. For this reason, when an elder is serving, he should not serve by himself. Three to five people should serve with him, and he should teach them how to serve. After doing this a few times, the elder should take his hands off and let those who have learned by serving with him bear responsibility for the matter.
In 1946 the church in Nanking felt that the victory in the war created an opportunity for the work, and they invited me to visit them. In our first meeting I said that they should not expect me to work for them. I was there to discharge the burden within me. At the time I was caring for Nanking and serving in Shanghai. The church in Shanghai had not held meetings for several years because of the war. When the meetings in Shanghai were recovered, I spoke the same thing in Shanghai. I said that I had not come to work for them but to be a pattern by working with them and by teaching them how to serve. I also said that after I taught them, they would do everything by themselves.
From the beginning of the church in Taipei until today, nothing has been in my hands. The brothers can testify that I can leave Taipei at any time without the need to give anyone instructions because everything is in the brothers’ hands. The brothers from America can also testify that even though the meeting hall of the church in Anaheim is close to my home, the church in Anaheim is not in my pocket. I do not know how many meetings the church in Anaheim has every week or what they do in the meetings. All the service is under the care of the brothers. This is my testimony. I hope that all the co-workers and elders will have the concept that wherever they go, they are patterns, not leaders.
A few years ago I spoke with the co-workers and elders in the church in Taipei and asked why they made the meeting hall look like a government building. This gives people the impression that they are in a government office when they go to see the elders. The brothers said that they did not intend to make the meeting hall look like a government office. However, this was the real situation. Some saints are afraid to knock on the door of the elders’ room because they feel as if they are visiting the president. This is intolerable. Once, a spiritual brother who loved the Lord visited a city in Europe. He was very famous, and everyone in the city wanted to see him. However, he avoided everyone and went to play with the children. When the people eventually found him, they were disappointed and thought that he was not spiritual. Actually, this brother was truly spiritual. If he had behaved as if he was the most spiritual man in Europe, he would not have been spiritual.
Sometimes, in order to take care of the meeting, the elders sit in the front row for the convenience of communicating with one another, but sitting in the front row should not become a rule. The saints should not think that the seats in the front are only for the responsible brothers. We must change this practice. The responsible brothers do not necessarily need to sit in the front. They can sit there for the convenience of making announcements, but to make this a special situation is the way of the Pharisees, who loved the place of honor at the dinners and the chief seats in the synagogues (Matt. 23:6). The Lord Jesus said that whoever wants to be great among us shall be our servant (v. 11; 20:26). Those who preach the word and administrate the churches should not act as the head. Whenever they act as the head, they annul the function of the other believers. Changing the system is to eliminate the habit of some being the head so that every brother and sister can rise up to speak for the Lord.
Even though the people of God in the Old Testament did not receive the grace that we receive, Joshua was able to say, “As for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah” (Josh. 24:15). Nothing gives us more blessing than opening our homes for the Lord. In the New Testament the couple Aquila and Priscilla is a sweet pattern. When they were in Rome, the church in Rome met in their home (Rom. 16:3-5), and when they were in Ephesus, the church in Ephesus met in their home (Acts 18:18-19; 1 Cor. 16:19). On the one hand, it is bothersome to a person to have meetings in his home. On the other hand, it is a great blessing.
As believers, it is reasonable for us to have meetings in our homes for the Lord’s sake. A believer has no excuse for not opening his home for the Lord. Our homes should be full of the Lord’s word. We should have not only the Bible but also our publications, and we should discuss the things of the Lord all day long.
In relation to man there is the principle that all our activities, including eating, drinking, sleeping, working, and resting, should be regulated. We need approximately three hours every day to eat three meals, eight hours to sleep, and eight hours to work. This is a total of nineteen hours, and this leaves five hours for recreation. God desires that man use these five hours to worship Him, pray to Him, speak about Him with believers and unbelievers, and sing hymns of praise. This is the best recreation.
Any other form of recreation will only produce sin. Going to nightclubs to eat, drink, and dance, or going to movies or concerts for recreation causes people to unconsciously fall into sin, because people in these places are loose and impure. The church life, however, leads people to Christ, and because He is pure, those who are under this atmosphere are spontaneously separated from sin.
The present cost of living in Taiwan is high, and many young couples must work to meet their financial needs. In spite of this, we can still separate at least two hours a day for the Lord. We can take some time in the morning to contact Him, and we can take some time in the evening to either attend a meeting or contact others. This is practical, and it is beneficial for our health.
More than forty years ago I contracted tuberculosis. While I was sick, it was painful for me to see my children, because I did not know how I would care for them. I went to the Lord and asked Him to give me another fifteen years. At the time I was only thirty-nine years old. Today I still thank the Lord for giving me many more years. Matthew 6:34 says, “Do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.” We should take care of what we need to take care of today. This is especially true of the young people. If you need to obtain an education, you should obtain it. In order to meet the Lord’s need and to take care of yourself, you should study hard and do well in school. This is your responsibility. When you get a job, you should fulfill your obligations and build up your character. This is also your responsibility. In this way you will not be worried about what to eat and what to wear. Do not think about how much money you will make or how much you can save. One war can devalue any currency and cause the money to amount to nothing.
We are not asking the brothers and sisters to live in poverty. We should simply take what the Lord has given us and use it properly for the Lord. Concerning the principle of giving, in the Old Testament there were tithes. The children of Israel offered the Lord ten percent of what they received, and the rest of what they received was for their use. God established this so that His children could live, and His work and kingdom would have a future.
Taiwan has a population of almost twenty million, transportation and housing are convenient, and food is available. It is a shame that we have not spread the gospel. Therefore, we must produce full-time serving ones. Out of every twenty saints there should be one full-time serving one. In other words, nineteen working saints should support the needs of a full-time serving one. Some full-time serving ones have been forced to get a job because they are not receiving enough financial support to meet the needs of their family. This shows a lack among us. We need to live for the Lord, and we should not waste any money. Even though we do not need to be too frugal, and we should take care of the needs of our family, we must still offer our money to the Lord for His use. This is what it means to be faithful to the Lord, and it is the only way to be right with Him.
Since we love the Lord, we should not fear consecrating everything we have to Him. I can testify that the seed of a righteous man does not need to seek bread (Psa. 37:25). We have seen many who love the Lord and were blessed by Him. May we all be at peace. If a young person has the burden to serve full time, he should boldly become a full-timer without the fear of going hungry. He should give his time, home, and money to the Lord. The Lord will take care of us. The Lord wants us to be well educated. He also wants our second generation to receive a good education so that they can be healthy and serve Him.
We should thank God that even though Taiwan is small, it has a strong economy. The Lord in His mercy has made us rich. However, these riches are not for us to spend on ourselves without restriction; rather, they are for us to use in an appropriate way, without being excessive. Then we will have money for the Lord’s use. We must do our best to preach the gospel, open our homes for meetings, and produce full-time serving ones who will work for the Lord.
