After World War I, Mr. Wilson of the United States and the leaders of Great Britain and France formed the League of Nations in an attempt to unite all the nations of the world. It ended in failure. Then, after World War II, Mr. Roosevelt and other world leaders worked to form the United Nations. Are the nations really united? They are only united in their fightings. The same thing in principle happened in my hometown about fifty years ago. Soon after I was saved, I went to see my pastor and asked him why the Christians were so divided. He said, "Oh, you must be encouraged. I have some good news for you. All the denominations in our town are going to be united." After not long a time the same pastor told me that the more they tried to be united, the more they divided. In their conference held for the purpose of unity they were fighting against one another. If you do not believe me, gather together all the leaders of the denominations and see what will happen. All of them will utter something different. They may all speak in English, but they will all be talking with different concepts. You will see the divisions among them.

It is a curse to be dissenting and to speak differently. If you are dissenting, you will be the first to suffer a curse. If you speak differently, you will deaden your spirit first. Undoubtedly you will damage the church life, but you yourself will suffer the greatest loss. It is never a blessing to be dissenting or to speak differently; it is always a curse. During the past forty-five years of watching and observing, I have never seen one dissenter who did not suffer a loss. Brothers, there is no need for us to be dissenting. Do we not have one God? Do we not have one Bible? Do we not believe in the one Lord? Since we have one God, one Bible, and one Lord, let us forget about all the dissenting concepts, and speak the same thing for the Lord's interests. This was the reason that the Apostle Paul admonished us all to "speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion" (1 Cor. 1:10), and "to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one accord and one mouth glorify" God (Rom. 15:5-6).

During the first year of my work in the Lord's recovery in this country, I was invited to Tyler, Texas. Because I knew that Christians always hold different opinions, I was quite careful and cautious. I did not shout or say, "Amen, Praise the Lord," in a loud way. While some were praying, I sat there and quietly said, "Amen, Lord," thinking that no one could hear me. Eventually, someone said, "Brother Lee, you probably don't know the custom here. The people are not accustomed to hearing amen." I stopped my audible amens. Later some came to me and said, "The people in this country do not agree with saying amen in the service." Years ago, in some of the so-called Wesleyan churches they had an "amen corner," and anyone who wanted to say amen had to sit there. We should not be bothered by such things as saying amen. Whether or not people say amen or whether they say it loudly or quietly, it should be all right with us.

There is much argument regarding baptism. Some say that sprinkling is the right way. Some say that only immersion is scriptural. Some insist on immersing people forwards, some backwards. Some insist on immersing once, some three times. Others argue about the type of water used, whether it should be hot or cold, salt or fresh, in a man-made pool, or in a natural lake, river, or sea. There are many different opinions. We should not be divided by all this. As long as we all worship one God and believe in the one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was incarnated to be our Savior, who died on the cross for our sins by shedding His blood for our redemption, who was resurrected on the third day, and who is now the Lord in the heavens as well as life within us, we should all be one and not be divided by anything.

After the Lord led us to practice the pray-reading of God's Word and to call on the name of the Lord, some Christians began to oppose us in these matters. Some criticized us and others even condemned us evilly for these two things. If pray-reading or calling on the name of the Lord will change one's life, then I am in favor of it. It is ten thousand times better than going to the movies or attending sporting events. And it is much better than rock music.

Regarding the matter of the Trinity, according to the Bible we believe in the one God, the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We believe exactly in what the Bible says. But some say, in their definition of the Trinity according to their concept, that the "Father, Son, and Spirit are three distinct persons in the nature of one God." Then what about this one God? Is He not a person? As the Father is a person, the Son is a person, and the Spirit is a person, so God Himself must also be a person. If so, then there must be four persons in the one God. To talk about the Trinity with this kind of terminology causes trouble and entangles those who use it. We should not get involved in it. Griffith Thomas, famous for his exposition on Romans, says in The Principles of Theology, "The term 'Person'... must not be pressed too far or it will lead to Tritheism..The truth and experience of the Trinity is not dependent on theological terminology." The Trinity is an unfathomable mystery. No one can explain it adequately. We can only say that according to the Bible there is one, unique God; that He is triune, the Father, Son, and Spirit; and that Isaiah 9:6 says that the Son is the Father, and 2 Corinthians 3:17 tells us that the Lord is the Spirit. We simply believe all that the Bible says. We can say nothing more. Those who hold the concept of three distinct persons "in the nature of one God" may be Christian brothers, but they are divisive because of their opinion and terminology. Even if they hold that kind of concept, as long as they believe in the one, Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and in the Lord Jesus who is the Son of God incarnated to be our Savior, who died on the cross for our sins by shedding His blood for our redemption, who was resurrected on the third day, and who is now the Lord in the heavens as well as life within us, we would recognize them as brothers in Christ. We believe in the Trinity according to the pure Word of the Bible. We should not be opinionated by holding divisive theological concepts or terminology. We are here for the unity of the Body in the Lord's recovery. Dissenting brings in the curse, but unity brings in the blessing. "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore" (Psa. 133:1, 3).