In the summer of 1939, Brother Nee returned to China and had a conference on the Body of Christ. When he returned to Shanghai from England, he cabled me in northern China, asking me to come and attend his conference. I was traveling in north China with four young brothers to do the work of the Lord at that time, and we all went to Shanghai together. This conference was another great turning point in my life. Brother Nee stressed one thing again and again—the Body of Christ.
From that time in August 1939 through September 1942, Brother Nee had a conference in Shanghai nearly every month. Furthermore, Brother Nee would minister to the whole church in Shanghai every Wednesday night. He also spent several mornings each week with his trainees. For a period of time, I was there with him as a trainee. Not more than one hundred of us would meet with him in the mornings in Shanghai. During that time, he would ask us to give a testimony concerning how we had seen the Body. Hardly any had really seen the Body. After some gave a testimony, Brother Nee analyzed what they said, and pointed out all the major points to prove that they had not seen the Body. Someone may have said that they saw the Body, but their words exposed that they had never seen the Body. Those who were there were fully convinced that although they had the term the Body, they really had not seen it.
Brother Nee's fellowship on the Body during that time was the most strategic work of his entire life. From 1933 I was very close to Brother Nee. He put me in the position of bearing the ark with him, being "shoulder to shoulder" with him in the work. I knew what he was doing because I was always his helper. He and I often signed any announcements related to the work. I was observing him, and he was teaching me, fellowshipping with me, and letting me know all the things he was going to do. His most strategic work was during those years which he spent on the Body. Probably not since the time of the early apostles had there been messages given which were so solid, so profound, and so deep on the church as the Body. Many people may use the term the Body, and they may like to talk about Body ministry, but they really have not seen what the Body is.
In those years, Brother Nee also said that spiritual warfare is not an individual matter but a Body matter. In the Welsh revival of 1904 and 1905, the most useful one in the Lord's hand was Evan Roberts. In that revival he learned something concerning spiritual warfare, and he related his experiences to Jessie Penn-Lewis, and she put them into writing. Based on these experiences, she wrote a book entitled War on the Saints. Because she did not see that spiritual warfare is a Body matter, what she wrote in this book is not balanced. For this reason I would not advise anyone to read this book. Some who read this fellowship from Mrs. Penn-Lewis got into trouble with demons.
Most of these writings on spiritual warfare were translated by Brother Nee and put into his three-volume book The Spiritual Man. Later, he made clear publicly in the meetings that he regretted having included the chapter on spiritual warfare in this book, because that chapter was from the view of Evan Robert's individual experience. I told a publisher of this book that if he was going to print it, he should delete that chapter. That chapter was absolutely against Brother Nee's intention. From 1940 through 1942, he saw the Body and realized that spiritual warfare is not an individual matter but a Body matter. According to my own experience, before 1940 it was difficult to fight the spiritual warfare, but after we saw the Body, it was so easy to enter into this warfare.