Not many among the four Christian groups that we spoke of earlier had seen an adequate vision concerning Christ, nor did they know the church. They were seeking ones, but they were not seeking Christ, and they were not living for the church. Rather, they were seeking their religion. As long as the tongue-speaking group could prophesy by saying, “Thus saith the Lord,” they were happy. However, this is not the New Testament way to prophesy; it is mainly according to the Old Testament. The book of Acts does not tell us that on the day of Pentecost some stood to say, “Thus saith the Lord.” This would have brought the church back into the old religion of Judaism. Again I say, most of the believers in those groups had not seen Christ and the church, and they were not for Christ and the church.
Whether or not we are religious depends upon how much we live by Christ. Perhaps the young people would ask, “Should we play the guitar and be excited in our meetings, or not?” The answer is that we must check with the indwelling Christ. We should ask, “Lord Jesus, should I play the guitar?” We have no religion and no regulations; we simply have Christ. It is not that when we sit quietly in a pew, we are dead and in religion, but when we shout and are excited, we are living and not in religion. If this were the case, people at a football game would be more “living” than we are. However, the behavior of the attendants at a football game is not the living of Christ. To be released from religion requires that we be in Christ, with Christ, and for the church. Satan is everywhere. He is not only in the pews; he may also be in our excitement. Today the whole earth is covered by two layers—the secular world and the religious world. Only Christ and the church can rescue us from these two aspects of the world.
Over fifty years ago I observed the situation in Judaism, the Catholic Church, and Protestant Christianity. Since then, things have changed to some extent. After the re-formation of Israel and the return of Jerusalem to the Jews, more Jews became zealous for their fathers’ religion. Today even many young people in Jerusalem have become more pious and zealous. Apparently, even the Catholic Church is more “spiritual” than it has been. As I mentioned in a previous chapter, some of us sat before the pope as he gave a sermon, saying that we are all one in the Spirit as members of the mystical Body of Christ. Perhaps no pope before him ever gave so spiritual a message. When I heard that, I said to myself, “This man sounds like a brother in the local churches.” We also never expected that such a dead, formal, and demonic religion would allow people to practice the charismatic things as they are now doing. All this is a subtle cheating. Moreover, fifty years ago there were not as many spiritual seekers in Protestant Christianity as there are today. Wherever we go today, there are groups of seeking Christians. However, many of these are still under the shadow of religion. The pious, zealous Jews are under Judaism, those in the Catholic Church are under Catholicism, and those in the Protestant churches are under a new kind of religion. The Jews are pious and zealous, many Catholics are seeking spiritual things, and many Protestants also are seeking the things of the Lord, but to our observation, very few care for Christ as life and for the church. If those who speak in tongues were genuinely seeking after Christ, how could they go to worldly entertainments or worship Mary, and if they were real seekers of the church, how could they join the Catholic Church? The fact that they join Catholicism and accept the worship of Mary is proof that they are not purely for Christ and the church.
Prior to the Reformation, the church under Catholicism became degraded to a great extent. History today refers to that time as the Dark Ages. Because the Bible was locked up and no life or light was released, the entire world was in darkness. At that time God used Martin Luther to begin the Lord’s recovery. At first, Luther had no intention to begin a reformation. He was stirred up simply by matters such as indulgences. The pope at that time sent out certain persons to sell certificates of forgiveness. If anyone sinned, he could buy an indulgence issued by the Vatican in order to be forgiven. This offended Luther, and he rose up to proclaim his ninety-five theses. This stirred up opposition against him. Because he did not have the capacity and the way to properly care for the church, he made the mistake of becoming instrumental in the forming of state churches. Before that time the church was called Catholic, which means “universal.” After that time, however, other nations followed to create state churches, such as the Church of England, of which the Queen is the head and into which every British subject has the right to be baptized. In Germany today people pay a church tax to the government, which uses the money to pay preachers. This is a real degradation.
About two hundred years later, in the early part of the 1700s, the Lord did something further with the Moravian brothers under the leadership of Count von Zinzendorf. This was the first major recovery of the proper practice of the church life. Then one hundred years later, in the 1820s, the Lord recovered a fuller and clearer practice of the church life among the Brethren in England. Eventually, however, religion came in through doctrinal debate. The first division was between John Nelson Darby and Benjamin Newton. Soon afterward there was another dissension of opinions between Darby and George Müller regarding the matter of receiving the believers at the Lord’s table meeting. This resulted in a second division. These divisions were caused by holding to doctrinal concepts. Regardless of how good, right, and proper our doctrinal concepts are, to hold to them in a divisive way is religious. When we practice the church life, we must drop all our doctrinal opinions. To hold to doctrinal opinion is religious.
We can testify from our conscience that in the almost fifteen years that we have been practicing the church life in the United States, we have not held to any doctrine in a divisive way. Because certain opposers hold to their doctrines, they have criticized our way of pray-reading the Word. What is wrong with pray-reading the Word and calling, “O Lord Jesus”? It would be better for those persons to oppose the evils of today’s Christian religion, such as the observance of Christmas and Easter, the use of rock music in Christian meetings, and the title Reverend, which is an insult to God because He alone is to be revered. Some of our critics claim that calling on the Lord is merely an Oriental practice. I came from China, but I did not come with anything Chinese. Rather, I came with the Holy Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the church. Those who question where calling on the Lord comes from should rather ask where Santa Claus, the Christmas tree, and other such matters come from. People justify the observance of Christmas by the historical fact that millions of Christians have accepted it. However, history means nothing with respect to the truth. It is better to oppose the things of religion, tradition, superstition, and falsehood. The Jews today are more zealous, the Catholic Church is absorbing spiritual practices, and many Protestants are seeking the things of the Lord. However, where is the real experience of Christ, and where is the church?