In the previous two chapters, we saw the sufferings of Brother Nee and the spiritual lessons he learned through them. The Gospels show us that the Lord Jesus also suffered persecution from the religious Jews. They despised Him, criticized Him, opposed Him, and attacked Him. They also spread evil and false rumors concerning Him. The book of Acts and the Epistles show that the Judaizers persecuted the apostles in the same way. Today the religious people also persecute the real followers of the Lord in His recovery. They despise, criticize, oppose, attack, and spread false rumors about those who follow the Lord in His recovery.
Besides enduring such attacks from Christianity, we have seen that Brother Nee also suffered from certain ones among us. He was unjustly excommunicated, and he suffered from dissenting ones. The dissenting ones may say something good about the leading ones or the church, but what they say positively is always followed by the word but. They may say, "Brother John is such a good brother who ministers life to people, but...." What comes after the word but is always negative.
Brother Nee also suffered from others' immaturity and incompetence. The immature ones do not like to labor; they like to talk. In an office, some people do not work properly, but they talk a lot. In the church life, those who are laborers do not talk much. The ones who talk much do not labor much. The apostle Paul calls such people "busybodies" (2 Thes. 3:11; 1 Tim. 5:13). There is a difference between talkers and workers. In the beginning of the church life, I was somewhat deceived by the talkers. I thought they loved the Lord so much because they expressed so much concern for the Lord's work. Eventually, I found out that these talkers were not genuine. The immature and incompetent ones are very talkative, and Brother Nee suffered from such ones.
He also suffered from the brothers' stubbornness, their unwillingness to say "amen" to his leading from the Lord. We have to learn, on the one hand, to suffer others' stubbornness, but on the other hand, to drop our stubbornness. We should always learn to go along with the brothers. We should not trust in ourselves so much. Instead, we must learn to trust in our brothers and sisters. We have also seen that Brother Nee suffered from others' ambition for position and from rebellion among the saints.