Why is it that every place in the world is opened to the Lord’s recovery? First, it is because we are standing on the proper ground. In order to wage a war, we need to have a just cause. Certainly we have a cause—we boldly proclaim the unique ground of the church everywhere we go. When we proclaim this, the moment we sound the trumpet, we prosper wherever we go. The reason Christianity does not like us, the Lord’s recovery, is that we keep the unique ground of the church. Roughly thirty or forty years ago, some Western missionaries commented about us, saying that everything about the “Little Flock” is good and that the only bad thing is the teaching concerning one church for one city. However, the Bible clearly reveals that universally the church is one, and practically it is one church in one city. Today those who truly pursue the Lord are willing to open to this recovery because this recovery is waging a war with a cause.
The second reason is that the truth is among us. Today Hong Kong is the hub of the Chinese-speaking Christian meetings in the Far East, and all sorts of Christian publications can be found there. However, how much truth and how much spiritual value can we see in those publications? This is not only the situation in the Chinese-speaking world in the Far East but also the situation in the English-speaking world in the West. However, in the Lord’s recovery, the truth pours out as a waterfall. This is why a particular book on reading the Bible, published by a certain seminary, points out that the exposition of the Bible by Christians in the Chinese-speaking world over the past forty years has not been able to escape the influence of “the local church.”
Take South America for example. The whole of South America is open to the Lord’s recovery because in the recovery there is the church ground and the biblical truth. In addition, the saints in Africa say that they can conquer the whole continent with just the New Testament Recovery Version, the life-studies, the Life Lessons, and the Truth Lessons; the saints in South America, Central America, New Zealand, and Australia also say the same thing. While the Lord has not yet gained what He wants to gain, throughout the generations, even in this last age, the Lord has in fact raised up a group of people on the earth who love Him and love the truth.
In the twentieth century, in an age where transportation, printing, television, and all kinds of communication devices are convenient, the books and periodicals we have published have been spread to all the continents. The Lord’s recovery does not merely belong to us who are only a small number, but the Lord’s recovery belongs to all of God’s children. People are open to the Lord’s recovery because here we have the proper church ground and the biblical truths. We have both of these here today, so the Lord’s recovery has a way.
The top human life is a life that takes this way of the Lord. This way matches the purpose of God’s creation of man and also meets the requirements of the revelations in the Bible. What kind of life can satisfy us? Is it a life that makes a lot of money? Is it a life that obtains a high position? What is the most valuable thing in our life? To put it bluntly, nothing is valuable. Human life in the world is no more than merely a matter of food, clothing, and marriage. How valuable are these things? A person studies, labors, and strives in order to receive a high education, obtain a good job, and have a good future; yet in the end when he dies, he has nothing.
We are on this earth not without a goal. We are not here merely to take in food, to put on clothes, and to get married. Rather, we have a positive goal. Suppose we take the way of the world to become a prominent scholar or even a president of a university. What then? Every one of us will die and be buried, and when that day comes, we cannot take anything with us, not even one dollar or one diploma. However, if we take the way of the Lord, even if the Lord delays His return and we “fall asleep,” when we meet the Lord we will have boldness because we are not empty-handed; we bring with us those whom we have led to salvation.
Imagine if the Lord delays His coming for twenty or thirty years, and the young people of this generation go forth with a burden to Africa, South America, Australia, and New Zealand, leading multitudes of people to salvation. How glorious this will be! They will go not to earn dollars, marks, or francs; instead, they will gain Americans, Germans, and French. How valuable and meaningful that would be! Do not worry about what they will eat. There will be no problem. The Lord Jesus provides our meals, and the meals He provides are sweeter and richer than those provided by men. Therefore, we have to burn the campuses and communities with the fire of the gospel, bringing people into the Lord, the value of which will last for eternity.
Now we need to prepare ourselves in several matters. First, we must pursue and grow in the spiritual life, earnestly maintaining a living fellowship with the Lord, fully consecrating ourselves to Him and having proper dealings before Him. We are contacting not merely a religious object but a living person. He is the living Spirit who dwells in our spirit. Therefore, we can fellowship with Him and receive His shining, guidance, and supply, allowing Him to regulate us in great or small matters so that we may have genuine growth in life.
Second, we must be equipped in the truth. People read the Bible in black and white according to their own understanding, barely scratching the surface. In particular, the Chinese are filled in their mind with things such as filial piety, honor, humility, patience, and forgiveness. For this reason, when they read the passages in the Bible that talk about honoring the parents, loving the wives, and submitting to the husbands, they feel that these things are very good, because they are similar to the virtues taught by the ancient Chinese sages. Actually, the Bible is full of the light of truth and the revelation of Christ. We need to read and get the word into us, and we also need to read and get ourselves into the word so that we may be mingled with the word.
The Recovery Version of the New Testament can be called the crystallization of the understanding of the divine revelation, which the saints everywhere have attained to in the past two thousand years. Therefore, now we can simply open the Recovery Version, and regardless of which book, chapter, verse, or sentence we read, there are some footnotes and explanations that enable us to fully understand it at a glance and immediately see clearly as the veils in heaven open before us. We need to labor on these revelations and this light by studying and pray-reading them again and again, thereby equipping ourselves with the truth.
Third, we need to build up a good character. We have to admit that although we have a God-created character in us, our fallen and corrupted character is loose, lazy, careless, and sloppy. In 1953 when I held a training in Taipei, I put together a small book on thirty character traits—being genuine, exact, strict, diligent, broad, fine, and others—hoping that we could exercise to cultivate them little by little. We should not merely read them and quickly forget about them, like the Chinese who read the books written by Confucius and Mencius. We need to exercise ourselves in these thirty items to build up a character that is useful to the Lord. We need to pray to the Lord, because although we do not have the strength to do this, the Lord is the bountiful supply within us. In Philippians 4 Paul says, “What things are true, what things are dignified, what things are righteous, what things are pure, what things are lovely, what things are well spoken of...take account of these things” (v. 8). These things are all related to character. Then Paul goes on to say, “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me” (v. 13). Therefore, we can all build up a good character in Him who empowers us.
Fourth, we must receive a higher education. In the process of receiving our education we should learn some languages, especially English, the international language with which we must become proficient. In addition, we should learn at least one other foreign language, be it Spanish, German, French, Japanese, or Korean. These are all major languages that are commonly used in the world today. In brief, we need to be familiarized with two other languages besides Chinese. Not only so, we also need to study and get into the depths of the Bible. For this purpose, it is best that we learn some Greek. The more we learn of literature and languages, the better it is. We must attain to some depth in the study of languages.
Fifth, we need to know history, recognize the situation and the tide of the world, and be aware of the condition on the earth today. We need to pay attention to these five items: life, truth, character, language, and common knowledge. We need to endeavor to practice these things while paying attention to our living. The Lord is living; to be sure, He can bear all of our responsibility. Moreover, today the Lord’s recovery on the earth is widespread. In this widespread recovery, we mutually care for and supply the needs of each other, which is a great help. Therefore, you should not be anxious; rather, you should diligently equip yourselves by laboring on these matters—life, truth, character, language, and a knowledge concerning world culture, history, current events, and present trends. In this way, we will be able to advance toward the goal to gospelize Taiwan, Japan, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. May the Lord bless us with His presence.
Through the years I have truly seen the sovereignty of the Lord’s hand over everything. In 1971 when I went to Australia and New Zealand, they did not welcome Chinese people. Today within sixteen years, the doors of these two countries are opened wide to the Chinese. Therefore, the Chinese have gone to these countries in flocks. That is the Lord’s preparation for us. If we go there now, we will see the Chinese everywhere; that is very convenient for us. Likewise, if we go to the United States now, whether we go to Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago, it is no different than being in Taiwan. We are able to buy in these places everything that is available in Taiwan.
If Taiwan is to produce five hundred thousand brothers and sisters for the spread of the gospel overseas, then we need to have five million saints in Taiwan so that one out of every ten saints can go out. The people from Taiwan gospelizing the entire world, and the brothers and sisters from Taiwan trekking all over the earth—what a wonderful prospect that would be! Where will you go—to Africa, South America, Central America, North America, Eastern Europe, or Western Europe? We can pray to the Lord, “O Lord, where should I go? O Lord, where do You want me to go?” May we all answer the Lord, “O Lord, here am I; send me.”
(A message given at a college conference in Taipei, Taiwan on August 6, 1987)