On the negative side, the poor condition of Christianity is also unprecedented. Since the end of World War II until the present, for thirty-nine years, Christianity has been in a poor condition. I have been laboring in America and observing the condition of Christianity for more than twenty years. During this time I paid particular attention to the publications in Christianity. Even though I did not have the time to read all the Christian publications, I urged the brothers to observe them. We have paid attention to the views of other believers and how they work.
The Christian publications that can be considered weighty are in English and in Chinese. God is using even the Chinese language. In the twentieth century the release of God’s word in the Spanish language has been rare. The Christian publications with content are in English and in Chinese.
From the end of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century spiritual publications concerning the divine life, the truth, and expositions of the Bible gushed forth like a waterfall. These publications were mainly in English. I was saved in that tide. After my salvation the Lord brought me into the flow of the truth. Therefore, even though I was born in China, I collected many spiritual publications in English. In addition, the missionaries who went to China printed many spiritual publications. Consequently, by the time I was saved, there were already several publications in China that had some spiritual weight. The most outstanding publication was The Spiritual Light. This magazine was published in Nanking and was jointly managed by some believers in China. The editor-in-chief later became a senior co-worker sister among us. The articles in that magazine were quite spiritual. Another highly regarded publication was The Bible Magazine published in Wuchow, Kwangsi. Its editor-in-chief was a missionary of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. This publication was concerning Bible interpretation. Almost every seeking Christian in China had a copy of this publication.
However, since 1945 until the present there has not been a publication with spiritual weight in English or in Chinese. Many Christian publications are being printed, but they are like newspapers and lack content concerning the divine life, the truth, and Bible exposition.
The use of radios, telephones, and televisions made communication convenient after World War II. It is now easy for the whole world to know what transpires in a given place within a short time; nothing can be hidden. It seems as if the world has become smaller. A book published in Hong Kong can be purchased in the United States shortly after it is printed, and a book published in the United States can be purchased in Taiwan. The convenience in communication makes it easy to know what is being published in Christianity without much effort. Hence, we can boldly say that in the last thirty-nine years few Christian publications with spiritual weight were published in the world. This shows the poor condition of Christianity. Therefore, the present need is indeed great. The need for the gospel and the truth has increased, and many people are very open. They do not know God, Christ, or their real need, but their hearts are open. Many believers want to read and understand the Bible, and the young people in particular want to study books on Bible exposition. It is regrettable that the supply in Christianity cannot satisfy people’s need. This is the true condition of Christianity today.
We are in the Lord’s recovery where the Lord is recovering the truth. We are founded on the truth, and we pay attention to the truth, not material riches, just as Peter said in Acts, “Silver and gold I do not possess” (3:6). The Lord has filled our hands with the truth. In China this shocked the Chinese believers and also the Western missionaries. The Western missionaries had the concept that they were going to preach the gospel and teach the Chinese people. They did not know that we knew so much of the truth.
In 1937 there was a burden in the work to take the rich truths among us to the brothers and sisters in the various sects and denominations. Therefore, according to the arrangement in the work, I was assigned to the northern and northwestern parts of China. Beginning from the summer of that year, I visited the various Christian denominations in the seven provinces of Shantung, Hopeh, Shansi, Honan, Suiyuan, Shensi, and Kansu to teach them the truth.
One day I met an American missionary in his forties in Shensi province. He was with the Church of the Nazarene. In our conversation I found out that he attended the Nazarene Theological Seminary in America, but he had not heard of J. N. Darby, Jessie Penn-Lewis, D. M. Panton, or Robert Govett. He was surprised to hear me speak of so many names that he did not know. The Western missionaries considered that the Chinese only knew Buddhism and that the more learned Chinese knew the teachings of Confucius but not the truths of the Bible. They could not imagine that we knew the Bible.
We can say that for the last one hundred years, the four people I spoke of were authorities in Bible exposition, the experience of the divine life, and the truth. However, even though J. N. Darby can be considered the king of Bible expositors, some of the Western missionaries who went to China to teach the Bible did not know about Darby. They did not know that we read The Synopsis of the Bible by Darby. They did not know the Bible as we knew it, because they did not see the light that we saw.
As an example, after I was saved, I learned the Bible from teachers of the Brethren Assembly. The Brethren teachers are renowned for their knowledge of the biblical types and prophecies. I was with the Brethren Assembly for seven and a half years and learned these things. Therefore, in my conversation with the Western missionary, I asked him about the seven weeks and the sixty-two weeks in Daniel 9, but he did not know about them. However, someone who was considered to be ignorant of the Bible was able to speak about these matters.
When we came to Taiwan, we published The Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures. This book consisted of sixty topics of the truth. Then in 1951 we began printing a magazine entitled The Ministry of the Word. We have printed this magazine for thirty-three years, and many brothers and sisters in Southeast Asia attest that it has been a spiritual supply to the overseas churches.
When I went to America twenty-three years ago, I established the publication work there, and I published The Stream magazine. After ten years, in 1974, I realized that it was inadequate to share messages merely on various types. In those days we held conferences on a specific subject, and I would give ten to twenty messages that were focused on the same crucial point. However, this was inadequate for the perfecting of the saints. Therefore, I began to seek another way.