On the Lord's Day after the Lord's table, I received a designated gift of two dollars that had been placed in the offering box. The next day an older brother came to see me. Before he left he put an envelope on my table, saying, "Brother Lee, this is for you." Then he left. There was ten dollars in that envelope. Later some registered mail came to me with a twenty-dollar money order from a city far away.

I asked a young brother, who had lost his job and was staying with me, if he would go with me to the post office to get this money order cashed. He agreed. On our way to the post office, I saw a bicycle store. I went in this store and saw a bicycle for sale that seemed very appropriate. The owner said that it would cost me a total of thirty-two dollars. I agreed to buy it, and he promised to deliver the bicycle to me in the evening. After getting the money order cashed at the post office, we returned home.

In the evening, the store delivered the bicycle. I went to my room to kneel down, pray, and thank the Lord. While I was thanking the Lord, He impressed me within to count how much money I had received since the Lord's Day evening. Two dollars from the offering box, ten dollars from a brother, and a money order for twenty dollars totaled exactly thirty-two dollars! When I realized what the Lord had done, I thanked Him with tears for His faithfulness. This was the way we co-workers lived by faith in the early days of the Lord's recovery in China.

Many were raised up to serve the Lord full-time, but the financial situation was not that good. As a result, the co-workers had to pass through many trials of poverty, and many became sick. In one meeting Brother Nee told us that about one-third of our co-workers had died of tuberculosis. I pointed out in a previous chapter that Brother Nee used one-third of his income to support others for the Lord's work, but the need among us was great. Brother Nee's second brother was an expert in pharmaceutical chemistry, and he began to produce some medicine in China. He did not know how to manage, so he asked Brother Nee to do it. Brother Nee took that as an opportunity to do some business in order to supply the Lord's work.

He was in this business a little over two years, from 1940 to 1942. Then there was a misunderstanding among the brothers. I would say that this mostly came from ambition. Some of the brothers who were working in the pharmaceutical factory were ambitious for higher position. The misunderstanding became bigger and bigger and developed to such an extent that the entire church in Shanghai became rebellious toward Brother Nee with a few exceptions.

At the same time, the Japanese military police were there trying to arrest Brother Nee. This situation forced the church in Shanghai to "close its doors." The Japanese military police attempted to force the church in Shanghai to join the false Christianity association under the Japanese military police. The church could not do this. Also, within the church there was a big turmoil against Brother Nee. Thus, the church had no way to go on.