Whom should we motivate? We have to motivate all the teachers in the whole province. We have around three thousand teachers working in kindergartens, elementary schools, junior high schools, high schools, and colleges. This situation has much potential. If these three thousand teachers were all motivated, what kind of an effect would they produce in the schools? The fifteen thousand high school and junior high school students who came to the last gospel meeting were brought mostly by their teachers. Some teachers brought a hundred students while some brought fifty. On the other hand, we also have close to one hundred fifty medical personnel, including doctors, nurses, and technicians. They have not taken any action for quite a while and have reserved quite a bit of strength. If this strength were motivated, it would be a great thing. So we have to motivate the teachers to gain their students and the medical staff to gain their patients. This would be very worthwhile.
In the past two years of training we have had seven to eight hundred people each term, and they all had a goal and a method to go door-knocking. Yesterday I received a cable from Ghana, Africa. The saints there went out to knock on doors for three days. There were 140 saints who went out for four hours each day. In three days 1,300 were saved, and 545 were baptized. In our past two years of door-knocking in Taipei, we also have had many sweet stories. The saints spoke The Mystery of Human Life to the taxi drivers while commuting from Hall One to Hall Three, and some were saved and baptized. The number of taxi drivers who were baptized as a result of our preaching may have exceeded 500. There were brothers and sisters everywhere in Taipei. Many of them had stopped meeting for a long time, but through our door-knocking and contact they were brought back. Therefore, we surely must dig this gold mine of Taiwan.
The passage in 1 John 2 is very precious. It has several features. Concerning the fathers, it says that they know Him who is from the beginning. Concerning the young children, it says that they know the Father. These two groups are quite simple. But regarding the middle category of the young men, it says that they overcame the evil one. God has a goal on the earth, which is to defeat His enemy. Here the Bible does not mention the name “Satan”; instead, it mentions his nature and what he does, saying that he is the evil one. In Greek the phrase evil one is a particular, emphatic phrase denoting that he is absolutely evil and is contagious and influential. In Greek there are several words that mean “evil,” but the word used here is the severest one. It implies that after this evil one infects others, he causes them to do evil things as well. After this evil infects others, it does not cause them to die immediately. Rather, it attacks people inwardly, causing them to become insane, to turn bad, and to be unable to live at peace. Thus, it is truly evil.
In the Lord’s prayer the Lord says, “And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matt. 6:13a). Some translations render the phrase the evil one as the evil, but actually, the evil here refers to the evil one. The evil one is God’s enemy, who is evil and fierce. God’s goal is to have the young men deal with His enemy so that His purpose will be attained. The source of this motivation is God’s love. First John 2:15 says regarding anyone who loves the world that “love for the Father is not in him.” This is a good translation, but it is not a literal translation of the original expression. The literal translation of this verse is “the love of the Father is not in him.” The phrase love of the Father implies that the Father’s love is within us, causing us to love the Father, that is, to love God. The Father’s love, or God’s love, in man is the motivation, the source of love. The power with which the young men overcome Satan is God’s love, which also causes them to love God. Actually, it is not we who love God but something in us called God’s love. Satan is evil, whereas God is love. Evil infects people, causing them to not have peace and to do bad things that affect others and causes them to not have peace. On the contrary, God’s love within us is a motivating power that gives us rest and peace.
Here we can see a contrast. On the one hand there is Satan, and on the other hand there is God’s love, and both are active. In the New Testament we see that while evil is very active, love is also very active. Love is our motivation, giving us patience and endurance. Mothers love their children and even give up their lives because of love. A newspaper once reported a plane crash in which only a child survived because his mother had embraced him during the disaster in order to protect him. This is love. God loves us; He is love. God’s love is in us and operates in us. The result of this operation is that we love God and man.