Like the children of Israel, all Christians should be one, and the worship of God should have only one center. But the Danites could use the convenient location of their worship center to persuade their neighbors to meet with them for the worship of God. Suppose you were a neighbor of the Danites and one of them said to you, "Brother, why are you so foolish as to travel all the way to Shiloh? We are worshipping God right here in Dan. Why don't you meet with us?" This is competition. Today there is much competition in Christian salesmanship, with every Christian group trying to sell its cargo. This is sinful. What a shame to see this competition among today's Christians!

Some argue with us, asking, "Why are you separate from others?" Certainly Shiloh is separate from all other places. Shiloh is only one with Shiloh. Today some say, "Why do you call yourselves the church and say that the others are not the church?" We would answer, "Shiloh is Shiloh. No other place is Shiloh. On this earth, there is just one Shiloh. These other groups do not call themselves the church. Instead, they have taken other names. As long as they keep these names, this is an indication that they are not Shiloh. Rather, they are divisive places of worship."

Judges 18:31 says, "And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh." The words, "all the time the house of God was in Shiloh," indicate competition. After Dan had set up a divisive center in competition with Shiloh, it was never taken away. For the whole time the tabernacle was in Shiloh the graven image was in Dan. This indicates that there was competition. Later, the temple was built in Jerusalem as the continuation of the tabernacle. After the temple had been built by Solomon, Jeroboam, in the next generation, set up a more solidly established idol in Dan to compete with the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:26-31). Jeroboam feared that if the people went to worship at Jerusalem, they would return to Rehoboam, the king of Judah (1 Kings 12:27). "Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan" (1 Kings 12:28-29). Jeroboam seemed to be telling the people, "You don't need to go to Jerusalem. We have a worship center right here." But what he did came out of the fear that his kingdom would be lost. Thus, the competition between Dan and Jerusalem was intensified. Firstly Dan competed with the tabernacle at Shiloh. Later he competed with the temple in Jerusalem.

In the Old Testament we firstly see the competition of the graven image in Dan with the tabernacle at Shiloh. Then we see the competition of the golden calf in Dan with the temple in Jerusalem. After the temple of God was solidly built, the idol in Dan also became more solid. Both the tabernacle in Shiloh and the divisive worship center in Dan were set up by the common people. However, the temple in Jerusalem was built by a king, Solomon, and the divisive center was also strengthened by a king, Jeroboam. This is a very clear picture of the competition. The situation is the same today. When the church is solidly built, the denominations will also become more solid. The strengthening of the denominations comes from their competition with the church. Sooner or later, other groups will compete with the Lord's recovery. They may oppose and criticize us at first, but later they will imitate us and compete with us. Fifteen years ago terms such as the life-giving Spirit and the human spirit could not be heard among Christians in the United States. But recently even a paper put out by some Catholic charismatics used many of the terms of the Lord's recovery.