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Scripture Reading: Acts 17:26-27; 1:8
Around 1500 two important events occurred. One was the Reformation, which opened the gate of the prison of Catholicism and thus released the human mentality to search for the truth. The other was the discovery of the Americas, two vast continents, which until that time were virtually unknown and uninhabited.
When God created the earth, the continent of North America was included not by chance. Under God’s sovereignty it remained hidden for many centuries, preserved for God’s purpose. If you study a world globe, you will readily see how vital this land mass is to mankind. It lies between two oceans. The Atlantic and Pacific are like two wings of an eagle, which is the symbol of America. In the early days of American independence the eagle was chosen as the emblem of the new nation. Without its two wings, an eagle is powerless. The United States derives much of its strength from the two oceans on its shores.
The whole world today looks to the United States. The American dollar is universally desired. The dollar is one of the standards by which other currencies are measured. This is so, even though the United States is still a young country, less than three hundred years old. Other nations, like Israel, look to America for financial aid. Another indication of the United States being the world’s focus is the air traffic it has with other nations. To fly from the West Coast to the Far East does not cost much more than to fly from Los Angeles to New York. How can the price be that little? It is because of the great abundance of traffic. Many different airlines fly these routes daily.
God preserved America for fifty-five hundred years. He allowed the fallen descendants of Adam to ruin all the other continents, but the Americas He kept undamaged. Parking spaces are reserved for VIPs; we should consider that all Americans are VIPs. The land of America has been reserved for them.
We all need a grateful attitude toward God for preserving America. Though I am Chinese by birth, I do appreciate the United States. It is the top country in the world. God has watched over it.
With the release of the human mentality around the time of the Reformation, new, aggressive ideas came in. Europeans wanted to explore distant places. There was much competition among them. Spain took the lead to send out explorers. Thus, many of the new territories came into her hand. Throughout South America, Central America, and the southwestern part of the United States, the Spanish influence is still apparent. Spanish names like San Jose and Mission Viejo, with the letter j pronounced like an h, are examples of this. Spain’s preeminence on the seas ended with the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the smaller British fleet in 1588. This defeat restricted the further spread of Catholicism by Spain.
The new ideas of the sixteenth century led to modern science and the development of machines. The wealthy could set up factories, which turned out goods much more quickly than had been possible before. The laborers worked hard for little pay. In effect, the wealthy owners were robbing the poor working class and pocketing their money. These were the millionaire capitalists. How was this problem of balancing the wealth to be solved?
The government favored the ever-expanding output of the factories because it meant more taxes, that is, increased revenue for the government. Thus, the factories got bigger and bigger, until eventually overproduction resulted. With goods not being sold, many of the factories then had to close down, causing unemployment and economic hardship. Where were markets to be found for these manufactured goods?
The rich countries looked overseas for new markets. They built up their navies and armies and went to the backward countries of Asia and Africa to subdue them. With a small number of men they would come into a country in their gunboats and force that country to sign a treaty promising to provide a market for their goods. This is imperialism. For my college graduation in 1926 this is the topic I chose to write on for my thesis.
I love Britain, but how pitiful she is today! She has been stripped of almost everything. She has lost most of Ireland. Her islands, which formerly were beautiful gardens, have had to become farms to feed her people. Her colonies around the globe without sunset, which were the farms supplying her people with abundance, are gone. Spiritually speaking, too, she has become poverty-stricken. In the last century scores of spiritual books—weighty, enlightening, life-imparting—appeared. What book of spiritual weight has come forth from her in recent years?
God did use Britain. She was raised up for advancing God’s purpose. She was His instrument to put down the previous world power, Catholic Spain. However, she was proud, mistreating weaker peoples. All men are made in God’s image, regardless of their skin color. In Acts 13:1, in the early days of the church, five prophets and teachers are mentioned in Antioch. One of these, Niger, was a black, judging from his name. It offends God when people are despised because of their skin color. Pride was a problem with the spiritual ones in Britain too. I believe that pride has been a factor in the fading of Britain.
As for the church, the Brethren were much used by God to bless the church with the knowledge of the Bible. But Satan came in to use this very knowledge to ruin the assemblies. What God uses to bless, Satan uses to ruin. The Brethren were divided into at least a thousand different sects by this matter of doctrine. They split hairs not mainly over matters of truth but over fine doctrinal points. We must be on the alert to profit from their failure. This is why I do not like to talk to you about doctrines. If we have doctrinal debates, we are sectarian already.
In the last century and the beginning of this one, many spiritual books containing new light came out in English. Besides the great teachers among the Brethren, there were evangelists like C. H. Spurgeon, Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, and R. A. Torrey who were outside the Brethren. There were teachers like Andrew Murray, Mrs. Penn-Lewis, A. B. Simpson, T. Austin-Sparks, G. Campbell Morgan, and the Keswick speakers. W. H. Griffith Thomas and Frederick Lewis Godet were two of the expositors. All this spiritual output has largely ceased. Who today is a man of God with some spiritual weight? In the twenty years that I have been in this country, from what I have observed, not one book of spiritual significance has been published.
If you read church history and the biographies of spiritual men of the past, you will see that three things have been accomplished. The gospel is being preached, the Bible is being taught for the edification of the saints, and the scriptural way of meeting is being practiced. Even though there is much confusion and mixture throughout Christianity, these things at least are known and followed in some measure. However, the very kernel of the Bible, the focus of God’s economy, has been neglected throughout the centuries.
The Bible teaching of the Brethren is the best, and they meet according to the Bible. And Brother Nee’s book The Normal Christian Church Life makes the matter of how to meet even clearer than the Brethren teachings. The Brethren preach the gospel, as do the other evangelicals. These three things are not sufficient, however. The apostle Paul’s completing ministry is missing. There is the need to have Christ as our life, as the real contents of the church. The reality of the church is more than a meeting of the saints. It is not merely a collection of seeking saints. It is Christ realized, experienced, enjoyed, lived out, and expressed. A people in this experience are the reality of the Body of Christ. They are a golden lampstand.
The Lord used the Roman Empire to form and spread the gospel. He used Germany to support the Reformation. He used Great Britain for the preaching of the gospel and the spreading of the truth to the uttermost part of the earth. There is still one matter that the Lord has not worked out. According to my understanding, the Lord has preserved one part of the globe, the United States, for this very thing to be accomplished.
On the American continent over two hundred years ago the Lord used a group of men to form a democratic and constitutional country, where people would have the full freedom to speak what they believe. Do you not believe that the Lord has sovereignly raised up and preserved this country where we can speak so freely what we see from the Bible? As long as we are law-abiding citizens, this freedom is ours. Hallelujah for such a country!
Surely the position and condition of the United States are not an accident. Acts 17:26 says that God determined “beforehand their appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwelling.” The time was appointed by our God; the boundaries were drawn by Him. As He prepared the Roman Empire, Germany, and Great Britain in times gone by, so He has prepared the United States. For what purpose? It was not merely for the preaching of the gospel, the teaching of the truth, and the scriptural way of meeting. These things have been practiced for centuries. Yes, we must continue these practices. We must preach the gospel adequately. We must teach the Bible and seek to bring others to the full knowledge of the truth; for this we need to respect and know God’s Word. We must also come together according to the Bible to have a proper church life.
These three things, however, are not sufficient. We must be for the central vision of God’s economy. We must live Christ, be filled with Him, and have Him as our daily living and as the practical, actual contents of the church life so that we may be His living Body to express Him. Then every local church will be a golden lampstand, and the bride will be prepared for the Bridegroom.
