There are many aspects that we should pay attention to in perfecting the home meetings. Of these, the most important ones—the ones which enable people to be perfected in life, which supply life and cause people to grow in life—are the Spirit and the word. The Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord, and the word is the word of the Lord. The Spirit must be strong, and the word must be rich. Although we have paid much attention to these two aspects in the past, we are human and are still in our flesh, our natural feelings, and our natural thoughts. Even if we have been serving the Lord with our full time for a long time, our practice related to the Spirit and the word is still lacking.
Although the church has been on the earth for over two thousand years, it has borne little testimony for the Lord. Rather, it has borne much confusion and divisions stemming from confusion. This is why Christians today are divided into sects and denominations. All the sects and denominations come out of opinions, which are the root of all divisions. Every person has opinions, regardless of how knowledgeable he is or what his social status is. Only a man made of wood or stone would have no opinions. We have met many people. Some are high-class, while some are low-class. They are civilized or uncivilized, well-educated or uneducated, capable or incapable, but none of them is without opinions. An employer has opinions, and so do his employees. A teacher has opinions, and so do the students; parents have opinions, and children have even more opinions. There is not a single person who is without opinions.
I hope that we would drop our own opinions and not bring them into the church. Once we allow opinions to come in, we will not only harm ourselves but cause trouble for others. Hence, we should not keep our opinions. As soon as opinions come in, all our previous work will be wasted. Not only our own efforts but even the efforts of all those who have been serving us in the church will be brought to naught.
We must realize that all the divisions in Christianity are the result of opinions. Over sixty years ago, the Lord raised up His recovery among us. As a rule, in the recovery there are the Spirit, the truth, and life. We should be able to stand on the foundation of the Spirit, the truth, and life and go forward. To our shame, however, there have not been much multiplication and increase among us over the past sixty years. What is the reason behind this? The reason is our opinions. Although we are not large in number, everyone has opinions. Time and again I have seen people come in and leave due to the same reason, that is, due to opinions. Even in the days of Brother Nee the situation was the same, and he had no way to deal with it.
Brother Nee was one who never argued with others. When others did not argue with him, he was able to speak freely to supply them. However, when people argued with him, he preferred not to utter a word. I have witnessed people coming to him to plead with him many times, but he simply would smile and keep silent. After one such incident, I asked him why he refused to speak. He replied, “Even if I had spoken, he would not have listened to me. He came to seek approval from me for his opinions. If I were to agree with his opinions, I would be doing him harm, but if I were to disagree and say something else, he would not have been willing to listen to me. Therefore, what is the point of my speaking?” This was his attitude. By this we can see that it is difficult to deal with people who are absorbed in their own opinions.
During the first five or six years after the Lord’s recovery came to Taiwan, from 1949 to about 1955, all the brothers and sisters on the island were truly in one accord, just as Romans 15:5-6 says, “Be of the same mind...with one accord...with one mouth.” The number of people in the churches increased one hundredfold within those five or six years. Before that time, there were only about four to five hundred brothers and sisters in the whole of Taiwan, from Taipei to Kaohshiung, but after those years the number increased to forty or fifty thousand. It was a pity, however, that some among us were seeking after so-called “spirituality,” which produced many opinions. Eventually, these ones invited a well-known evangelist from abroad, whose arrival brought even more opinions into the church.
This brother strongly disagreed with the practice of the church, particularly with the establishment of church meetings in one locality after another. According to his opinion, he wanted to establish his own ministry in order to gain a group of people through the messages he released. This group of people would stand with him, but they need not establish a meeting around him; they could still return to their various denominations and work secretly in their midst. Hence, this brother and his group of followers became the most unwelcome people among the denominations. This is because the denominations knew that they actually had another motive even though they appeared to be meeting happily with the believers.
This brother opposed the ground of the church to the uttermost, and he came to us with the intention to overturn this ground. He told people very clearly that the ground of the church was heretical and mistaken. He even wrote a letter to the young people among us expressing his opinions. From this you can see how strong this brother’s opinions were! This incident ushered in a big turmoil among us around 1960. From that time on, the one accord among the churches in Taiwan was never recovered to what it used to be before 1954. Doctors know that once damage has been done to the body, it is very difficult to recover it to its original condition.
During the years between 1949 and 1954, all of us were of one heart and one mouth, sharing the same burden and the same goal. At that time, we did not hear any opinions, whether we were at a co-workers’ meeting, church meeting, or training meeting. Not a single person expressed any opinions. Instead, everyone received the Lord’s leading among us, and this eventually brought in God’s blessing. Around 1960, though, this turmoil was stirred up by that particular opinion with the result of inflicting great damage on our spirit. Of course, we also realized that Satan’s fiery darts are always directed at the leading ones, and the leading ones will always be the target of Satan’s attacks.
Later the Lord’s recovery came to the United States. The truth concerning life was released with much revelation. Not a single message was empty or meaningless; all the messages were full of the light of life and the supply of life. Because of this, they were very much welcomed by those who loved the Lord and pursued Him with a pure heart. Therefore, during the first twenty years the situation among us was overwhelmingly positive. At that time the Lord’s recovery spread across the whole of America, from the east to the west and from the north to the south. Although our numbers were not very large, there were still a number of saints who were raised up to follow this ministry, to take the way of the recovery ordained by God, and to go on according to the revelation of His divine word by the supply of life in His word. At that time, there were no opinions in the church.
However, this good condition did not last for long. Opinions gradually emerged. There were some brothers who were regarded as proper, honest, and without guile, and they had some thorough fellowship with us. Nevertheless, they began to have opinions. They felt that the way to build up the local churches under our leading was not the most excellent way. Rather, they felt that their way was the most excellent way, but what they considered to be excellent was entirely contrary to the scriptural way. One example was their opinion about the breaking of bread. They overemphasized the correct time for breaking the bread, and they stressed the “universality” of the breaking of bread. This means that everyone, including adults, children, toddlers, and even babies should receive a share of the bread. They claimed that this was the most excellent way to build up the local churches. Due to their strong opinions they left in 1974, and a small group of others left with them. Such circumstances weakened the Lord’s recovery.