Who can thwart this Lion-Lamb? Who can stop the Lord’s recovery? The recovery is not part of traditional Christianity. I do believe that what the Lord is doing in the heavens finds its correspondence among us in His recovery. On the day of Pentecost, the response to Christ’s move in the heavens began on earth. Only one hundred twenty people were there at the start, most of them simple people from Galilee, not scholars. That work, which began then, is what we are part of today. The work did not begin in China, but in Jerusalem! We are here in our day reflecting what Christ is doing in the heavens.
Wherever we are, we make trouble for Christianity. This is a country with a long-standing Christian tradition. Now a young man has come to stir up trouble! Since 1971 he has been here in Europe, disturbing and upsetting traditional religion.
I first met him in Manila in 1950, when he was just a small boy. Ten years later we had a mountain retreat in Baguio in the Philippines. He attended that young people’s conference. There were over a hundred present, and all were set on fire, including him. Eight years later, after I had come to the United States, I received a letter from him. He was studying medicine in Germany, but was burdened to give up medical school to serve the Lord full time. He asked what I would advise. He had already contacted a famous preacher, whose advice was that he should continue his studies. After much prayer I replied that if he felt led of the Lord, he could come to Los Angeles that summer for a training and conference we would be having there. Afterwards there would be about one hundred thirty saints going on a trip to visit the churches in the Far East, including Manila. He did come to Los Angeles, stayed for the conference, and then joined the trip to the Far East.
When we got to Manila, his parents invited me over for a feast. They begged me to charge him to go back to Germany and finish his medical studies. He could serve the Lord, but first he must finish his studies. My reply was that I had not instigated him to drop his studies; we had been out of touch for eight years. He himself felt he could not continue studying, but must serve the Lord. They still entreated me, declaring that I was the only one who could influence him to change his mind. I did not say yes or no, but I did indicate to them that what they proposed was not my job, not my business, but concerned the Lord’s work.
This young man was not moved by his family. He went back to Los Angeles and remained there for three years. Then in 1971 the burden fell upon him to come back to Germany, not for his schooling but for the Lord’s recovery. Whatever the opposition, the seven eyes have been like a motor inside him. Nothing can quench him!
When Christ was ready to ascend to the heavens, He met with His disciples on a mountain and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:16-19). The Lord’s charge to the disciples to preach the gospel was a reflection of the authority He had been given both in heaven and on earth (see also Mark 16:19-20).
With this authority He has charged us to disciple the nations. His first commission to the disciples was to go with His authority. I can testify to you that when I became clear that I should begin the work in the United States, I had the deep conviction that I would be there with Christ’s authority. I was just a little man from China, with no prestige nor financial backing, but I arrived in the United States with the conviction that Christ’s authority was with me.
For Christ to have His gospel preached to the uttermost parts of the earth requires His leadership. As the Ruler of the kings of the earth, the whole earth is under His dominion. He has ordered world events and everyday human affairs for the spread of the gospel.
Let me illustrate this for you subjectively. Over fifty years ago in China a group of young people were raised up by the Lord. We were the young generation, striving to get a modern education in order to rescue and build up our country. The leaders of both the Nationalist and Communist parties were all the same age as we were. We were all attending college at the same time, seriously pursuing the knowledge of science, politics, and economics. I started studying English, for example, right after World War I ended in 1918. Some of that generation were captured by communism; we were captured by Christ.
We came to love the Lord and His Word. We studied the Bible, as well as the classic spiritual writings, church history, and the biographies of the spiritual giants from the second century right down to our day. From our research we came to know what Christianity was, and the Lord opened our eyes to see some light in His Word. The first little meeting, or church, was established in 1922. We did not have an easy time of it, but the Lord brought us through and spread His recovery.
After World War II the recovery became prevailing in China. There were about four to six hundred churches scattered throughout the thirty-three provinces. We had no thought to come to the Western world. A great work lay ahead of us, a nation of seven hundred million people of one language. Our only burden was for this people, but we did realize that what the Lord had shown us would one day be brought to the Western world.
We considered that the Lord’s move is like the circulation of the blood in the body. Firstly, the Lord sent some from the Western world to bring the gospel to China. Then, there in that pagan country, the Lord raised us up and opened the Bible to us. We realized that what we saw was far beyond what the missionaries had brought. Some day, we believed, the circulation in the Body which had begun from the West would flow back with something from the East. This, we thought, would be through others, not through us. Our hands were full.
Within a short time, however, in 1948 and 1949 the whole situation in China changed. We were bothered and puzzled at this turn of events. The decision was made that I leave mainland China. Where I should go I did not know, but I went to Taiwan.
That small island, primitive in every way, fully discouraged and disappointed me. I had been working in Shanghai, the largest city in the Far East, with six million people. Taiwan seemed insignificant and backward. One day, however, I traveled by train throughout the island. The Lord burdened me and said, “Do not think this place is too small. I will use this island. You begin to work.” Within six years, between 1949 and 1955, our number went from less than five hundred to twenty thousand. During that time I was spending about four months of the year in the Philippines and eight months in Taiwan.
Then in 1958 I was invited to visit England and Denmark. On the way I passed through the United States. Two years later the Lord again brought me to the United States. Then in 1962 He brought me there again and this time kept me there. I was gradually being impressed. After a while, I became clear that instead of returning to the Far East, I should begin the ministry in the United States. At the end of 1962 we began. We had no organization nor financial backing, but we began.
This story shows the Lord’s rulership. He arranged international events so that we had to come to the United States, even though this was far from my intention.
My thoughts were otherwise. Before the end of World War II, I realized that Japan would be defeated and that China and the United States would win the war. I picked up a burden to evangelize inner Mongolia and drew up a plan to develop this northwest region. I was living in north China, where we had a good number of saints who could provide the manpower. We had nurses, medical doctors, schoolteachers, and merchants. The financial needs would be supplied by some quite wealthy brothers in the northeast of China, which is Manchuria. My plans were well thought out. The co-workers called me the General Director of the Three Norths Corporation! There was north China, the northeast, and the northwest. China did win the war, but contrary to our expectations, the Communists gained control of the country. My dreams for the Three Norths Corporation vanished, though there were some seventy saints who did migrate to inner Mongolia.
Recently I heard news regarding those seventy! A co-worker, one of the elders in my home town, took the lead in that migration in 1943. Now thirty-seven years later, he is still alive, though he has been imprisoned fifteen times. Now there is some freedom, and there are a number of churches in that district. I was happy to hear the news, even though I never got the opportunity to go there myself.
My intention was to go to the northwest, but the Lord sent me to the southeast! I was headed for inner Mongolia, near Siberia, but the Lord sent me to Taiwan, Manila, the United States, and now to Europe. How could this be? This Jesus in the heavens is the Ruler of all kings. He manages every nation. How He manages is absolutely right. He has sent us to spread His recovery, to gain more people for Himself. Fifteen years ago did you ever imagine the Lord could so move in Germany? In our midst we have Italians, Spaniards, Frenchmen, and British, as well as the Germans. Thirty-one years ago I would have died for the Three Norths! But the Lord restrained me from going there. I did not need to die! Now I am here in Europe, enjoying the voices of so many different nationalities.
Who has arranged all this? The heavenly Christ. It is not your doing, nor is it mine. I am too little to have arranged any of it. We praise the Lord for this reflection of His heavenly ministry!
Within a few years the recovery will saturate the whole of Europe. I believe it will invade all the leading cities. Before too long it will even spread back to Jerusalem. From Stuttgart it will go south to Athens, then across the sea to Jerusalem. This is where the church began, and in this age it will return there! This is the Lord’s move from the heavens, reflected on this earth.