The day before yesterday, I attended a morning watch in Hall One, where all the ones there were elderly brothers. I was very encouraged by it. There were about twenty-three to twenty-five brothers. Without exception, all of them were older ones. I have known many of them for twenty to thirty years. To my knowledge not one of them has ever spoken in a big meeting. But that morning when I arrived at the morning watch, I heard one brother giving a testimony about how he preached the gospel. As soon as he finished, another brother said, “Let us read Galatians 5:16-19.” I looked at that brother. He was not a leading brother, but he gave the order. In this small group truly everyone is a leader. After this the brothers began to read in a spontaneous way. There was nothing mechanical. This one would read a verse; then another one would read another. Some went back and read a verse over again. It was exactly as I said in a previous message: living reading, pray-reading, repeat-reading, emphasized reading, explain-reading, and so forth. They put all that into practice. I regretted very much that I did not bring a video camera there that morning to record the scene so that I could show it to you all.
After they finished reading, one brother said, “Let us read the footnote.” After reading the footnote, another brother said, “Now let us open the Life-study message.” They read it in a very living way. Although no one was directing them, the meeting was not dull. The entire meeting was like a ball game. One would not know when the ball would be passed to him. You could only see the ball flying back and forth. No one was a robot. When they came to a place that I felt was unnecessary to read, they skipped over it. When they reached a point that I felt needed emphasis, they read it again and emphasized it. It was as if I were giving the orders from within. They could not hear them, yet they were carrying them all out. This was a real miracle. They not only used the Recovery Version, the footnotes, and the Life-study messages in the proper order, but those twenty-odd brothers all opened their mouths. Those who gave the orders were not leading brothers. Among them you could not find a leader.
After listening to such a meeting with colorful dialects and diverse tones, I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank the Lord! This work has not been in vain. Outwardly speaking, these elderly brothers have reached the age where they are like decayed wood; there is nothing left in them that is good for carving. Their Mandarin was so poor that it was difficult to comprehend. But the content of their speaking was precious. They were very sweet. I never expected that this group of elderly brothers could produce such a satisfying result. I looked at my watch; it was already 7:29. Unfortunately, while I was waiting to speak a brief word when they finished at 7:30, a telephone call came from the United States. I ran to answer. After I finished the call in three or five sentences, I hurried back. By that time the chance was over; the meeting had already concluded.
I quickly grabbed two or three of them and said to them, “Your morning watch was really good. For a long time, both in big meetings and in small gatherings, I have not been fed. But today when I attended your morning watch I had a good meal. I was supplied. You really did a good job. You have become a model of everything I taught the brothers and sisters to do in the past few years, including the way to read the Recovery Version, the way to read with emphasis, with repetition, and with explanation, the way to use the footnotes, and the way to use the Life-study messages effectively. You did all of them in the proper order. In your team not one member is silent. I encourage you all to go to the Lord’s Day morning meeting and speak to all the people.”
I was very touched by that morning watch. The Life-study messages were spoken by me. I myself corrected the manuscripts. But when those brothers began to read, “To be watchful is just to check yourself, to see whether or not you are in spirit right now,” or “Prayer is to bring yourself into the spirit, keeping yourself in spirit and staying in the spirit,” or “The most difficult time for us brothers to remain in spirit is when we speak to our wives. When we speak to other people it is easy to remain in spirit. But when we speak to our wives, we are no longer in spirit,” I was thoroughly enlightened. I said Amen to those words over and over again.
In the meetings it is very easy to stay in spirit. Likewise, when you are praying, it is easy to remain in spirit. But when it comes to speaking to your wife, it is difficult to remain in spirit. After attending so many meetings, it was hard for me to imagine that I could gain the supply from those elderly voices. “To be watchful is just to check yourself, to see whether or not you are in spirit right now.” “Prayer is to bring yourself into the spirit, keeping yourself in spirit and staying in the spirit.” It was all too good! I hope I will never forget these two sentences. May the Lord have mercy on us, that He could recover us to such an extent that there is no more hierarchy among us.
Today the Catholic population on the earth is almost one-quarter of that of the entire earth. If even half of the Catholics would speak, the whole earth would be affected. The power of everyone speaking is too great. Satan uses the religious system of worship to completely kill the Christians’ functioning. We need the Lord to recover us, even all the way back to the beginning. We need to have everyone speaking. In this way the function of everyone will be manifest. When we do away with the concept of hierarchy, there will be no more clergy and laity. When there is no more clergy and laity, the organization is gone. This will be a great salvation.