The second category of Satan’s frustrations and damage to the church is the system of the clergy. According to history, Satan not only used many substitutes to replace and usurp the place of Christ, but he also invented the clerical system. Today there is a difference between the clergy and laity. This kills the functions of the members of the Body of Christ. Originally all the members of the Body, without exception, were functioning, but gradually the enemy set up the system of the clergy to limit the function to a small number of believers while the majority of believers were put out of their function. In this way the Body became paralyzed. This is the subtlety of the enemy. Satan’s first frustration is to kill the life of the Body, which is Christ, by substituting many other things for Christ. The second frustration is that the enemy invented the system of the clergy.
Satan is not satisfied to have only these two frustrations. The third item of his frustration and damage is divisions, sects, and denominations. These not only replace the life and kill the functions of the Body, but they cut the Body into pieces. In this way the expression of Christ is damaged. The life is replaced, the functions are damaged, and the whole Body is cut into pieces. There are many real Christians in a large city, perhaps at least fifty thousand genuine believers. If these fifty thousand real believers were not divided, they would have a great impact. It would be easy to conquer and subdue the whole United States.
The enemy is very subtle. He has replaced Christ by usurping His ground and place, killed the functions of the members, and divided the Body. How poor and pitiful this is! Many Christian are not related to one another. They are merely independent, isolated, individual believers. Because of this, there are many members, but we do not have the Body. The enemy is still doing this work today. He utilizes many good things to isolate us. The enemy works in our reasoning, but regardless of the reasons, as long as we are isolated, this is good enough for the enemy.
By the above three categories of means, Satan has almost completely damaged the church life. The United States is a nation of Christianity. The forefathers of this country came over to this land mostly because of their Christian faith. But today, even in this country, where is the church? We have substitutes for Christ, we have the clergy, and we have the divisions, but we do not have the church. There is no need to argue with this; the facts are apparent. The church has been damaged by these three categories of things. This is why in all these days we have stressed Christ as our life, content, and everything to us-not the substitutes for Christ, but Christ Himself. This is also why we help one another to function as members of the Body. We do not want to have either the clergy or the laity. Rather, we have the brothers and sisters as functioning members. We all have to function. If you say that I am a “pastor,” I will say that you are a “minister.” We encourage all the brothers and sisters to minister in order to express Christ. Why then do we pay so much attention to the ground of the church? It is to deal with the divisions.
The Lord’s recovery today consists of three main items. It is the recovery of Christ as life and everything to us, the recovery of the universal priesthood with the functions of all the members, and the recovery of the proper oneness of the church. It is when these three items are recovered that we will have the proper and adequate church life. There must be a group of believers who take Christ as their unique life and content, who realize that each one of us must function not as clergy or laity but as living members, and who give up the divisions, sects, and denominations to come to the proper ground to practice the proper oneness. If there is a people like this, they will realize the Lord’s recovery in a full way.
In some places certain dear friends have advised me, saying. “Praise the Lord, you have a ministry from the Lord. As long as you expound the Word, we appreciate it, but do not talk about the church.” As I spoke in a certain city recently, my hosts treated me honorably, but they said, “Everyone appreciates your ministry about the inner life, but this is not the right time to touch the issue of the church.” They did everything they could to stop me from speaking anything about the church, but on the last night I was there, I said, “I do not take care of this restriction. I have to speak something about the church.” When I began to read from Romans 12 in order to say something about the Body, all those dear friends were grieved. The next morning when we were leaving, no one came to see us off. Praise the Lord, I like to be treated in this way! I like to suffer for the Body of Christ.
Many dear friends in the Far East and Europe advised me in the same way, not only face to face but also in long writings. They said that the Lord’s work among us is good, but the matter of the church is like dead flies that “cause the perfumer’s ointment to stink” (Eccl. 10:1). I have the notorious title of being “the strongest exponent of the church in the Far East.” I am not worthy to have this title. I am nobody and nothing, yet certain people have given me such a big title. This is the subtlety of the enemy. I praise the Lord that I am counted worthy to suffer in this way.
We published a book in Chinese by Brother Watchman Nee that originally was entitled Holy without Blemish. When we translated that book into English, we felt that the title should be changed to The Glorious Church. When the book was published as Holy without Blemish, it sold very well. Many people ordered it. However, when we changed the title to The Glorious Church, there were no further sales, even though it was the same book. This is because it spoke about the church. The church is the stumbling stone. Oh, how subtle the enemy is! We have to fight the battle for the church. The more I am advised not to speak about the church, the more I do speak about the church. The more someone tries to shut my mouth, the more I wish I had two mouths with which to speak.
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