God not only has an intention, but also a desire. God does intend to do something and He is also hungry and thirsty for this. God desires to have the church life. In 1933 a good pastor came to me. He did not call me Brother Lee; he addressed me as Mr. Lee. He said, "Mr. Lee, if you would not have the church and just minister the Word, we all would invite you to speak in our churches. We would make the arrangements for you to rotate the year round from church to church. If you would close the door of your meeting place, disband the people who meet with you, and simply preach the Word, we would all open our doors to you." I said, "Thank you. I have my burden and I have enough to do."
When I went to Taiwan, a missionary came to see me. Firstly, he praised me very much, saying, "Brother Lee, how we thank God that He has used you and how we thank Him that He has raised up such a wonderful work on the island of Taiwan." While he was praising me, I knew what he was going to say next. He continued by saying something about the church in a dissenting way. Some of the missionaries in the Far East considered our church practice as "the dead fly in the ointment." Some said to me, "If you don't talk anymore about the church, you will be welcomed by all Christians." I said, "Sorry, it does not depend on me. The Lord has burdened me so." I used to say to them, "We are grateful to you brothers who came from countries afar off for the gospel, especially to those pioneers a century ago who came to China after a six-month voyage. We appreciate the fact that you have given up your country, your family, your home, and everything to come here to preach the gospel. But our burden is not only for the gospel, but also for the church. God needs the church. Gospel preaching should be for the church. We also preach the gospel, as you know, but our goal in doing so is the building up of the church. Sorry to say, it seems to us that you do not care for this goal that God has shown us."
I was invited to visit London and Denmark in 1958. I cannot tell you how warm a welcome they extended to me in both places. Eventually, most of the leading ones were displeased with me over the matter of the church. I am for the church. Some friendships in the Lord which had been deep were severed just because of this.
Because of my standing for the church life according to what the Lord has shown us, a number of the saints whom I know have deserted me. I have not the slightest doubt that time will tell that the church life is what God desires to have today. I came to Los Angeles in 1962 to stay with the brothers for the Lord's recovery. At that time, I told that small group of brothers to wait for five or ten years and they would see something. Today I say the same thing. I hope that the Lord will come back soon. In case that He delays, I ask you to wait for another ten years and see what will happen. The Lord is going to take this country and the other leading countries for His recovery.
We all need to see the vision. We all must have today's revelation to see what is God's heart's desire. Are you going to be today's Noah? If you are, you must see what Noah did. God's desire is not only that thousands of people be saved, but to have the wonderful church life.
How we thank God for all the saints who have been used by God in the past. We have been greatly helped by their life and work. But we believe that in this age the Lord has shown us something more. We do follow the godly ways of all of our forefathers in the Lord, but the Lord's revelation has brought us further in His goings on this earth. This revelation of the Lord surely has made us different from the dear ones who remain in the traditions. May the Lord have mercy upon us that we would be faithful to His revelation, not caring about being different from others.