The two attempts to practice the church life—under Zinzendorf and the Moravian Brethren and under John Darby and the British Brethren—were good, but eventually they were nullified by religious concepts. One hundred years later, in 1920, the Lord was forced to go to the heathen land of China, which was truly a “Galilee of the Gentiles.” At that time the ground in Europe and America had been ruined for the Lord’s work. This is not my thought alone; it was Brother Watchman Nee’s also. Early in the 1930s he and I had a long talk concerning the Lord’s recovery. He told me, “The Lord was forced to come to China because, as far as the practice of the church life is concerned, it is still virgin soil.” As one of the few persons who knew Watchman Nee very closely, I can testify that he was fully burdened for Christ being our life in order to produce the church. He dreamed of churches in all the localities in China. This was his vision, and it was his ministry, which was the most important ministry in this century.
However, there have been several attempts to dilute Brother Nee’s ministry concerning Christ and the church. First, over fifteen years ago a certain source in England began to spread the rumor that after World War II, Brother Nee changed his concept concerning the ground of the church, but that I, as his co-worker, did not change. Thus, this source says that I am different from Brother Nee. This forced us to publish Further Talks on the Church Life, documenting every message in the book, giving the year, month, day, and location of the message. These messages, all of which Brother Nee gave in 1948 and afterward, are even stronger than his messages in The Normal Christian Church Life. After the publication of Further Talks on the Church Life, the source of the rumor was forced to admit that it was wrong.
Following this, some changed their tone and a biography of Brother Nee was published in which the author claimed that Brother Nee was wrong in the matter of the church. Since they had been forced by Further Talks on the Church Life to admit that Brother Nee did not change in the matter of the church, they utilized Brother Nee’s ministry on the side of life to build up their religion, at the same time refusing to promote anything that Brother Nee wrote concerning the church. To utilize Brother Nee’s ministry in this way for their own purposes is subtle, dishonest, and unfaithful.
In addition, certain ones among us who were co-workers of Brother Nee, being afraid of men, have not been bold to speak his true ministry. One told me, “We should not offend Christianity, because our work depends upon Christianity.” I do not agree with this. Our work does not depend upon anyone. When I came to this country, I received the burden to speak to people concerning the local church, but these weaker ones advised me: “We must take care of our situation. Do not speak in this way, because people will not be able to bear it.” My answer is, “If Martin Luther had cared for the situation and not spoken faithfully, there would have been no recovery of justification by faith.” Today Brother Nee’s books have begun to fill this country, but what has been the result? Have many begun to know Christ and be for the church? On the contrary, Brother Nee’s books have been utilized to build up something in religion.
The Catholic Church and other denominations are now trying to form a kind of spiritual oneness. This is altogether a counterfeit. According to prophecy, Catholicism and the denominations will continue until Antichrist is used by the Lord to terminate Judaism, burn Catholicism, and destroy all religions (Rev. 17:16-17; Dan. 9:27; 11:36-37). Under the present situation, then, what is the Lord doing? Some spiritual seekers may say, “The Lord is bringing all the spiritual things together, including Brother Nee’s ministry, the charismatic things, speaking in tongues, the manifestation of gifts, and the Catholic Church.” We must not believe this. The Lord never does anything in the way of mixture. His way is always pure, in which all things are “according to their kind” (Gen. 1:11-12, 21, 24-25). Spiritual things are not according to the “kind” of the Catholic Church, nor are they according to the kind of the denominations and free groups. To mix these things is against the spiritual principle (Deut. 22:9-11).
What the Lord is doing today is to go to “Galilee” to catch the young Galileans to have a new, pure, and clean start. These young ones should not merely be excited; this is not sufficient. They must exercise their spirit to know Christ, live by Christ, and gain Christ day by day. Then with, in, and by Christ they will have the proper church life without any religious concepts. The young people must first be caught by the Lord. Then they need to be trained and sent to other young ones. On the practical side, we must know that the church includes all ages. According to the record of the Gospels, it seems that the Lord did not call the older ones to follow Him directly, but neither did He reject them. Not all the one hundred twenty in Acts 1 were young people. At least some must have been older women (v. 14; cf. Luke 8:2-3; 24:10). Therefore, the young people must never say that the Lord will use only them; this is absolutely not correct.
In actuality, all the saints should be encouraged to bear the burden for the Lord’s testimony. Whether we are young, middle-aged, or elderly, as long as we have a heart and a clear spirit for the Lord’s recovery, we will all be fully useful to the Lord. However, we are in a battle today, and we need a strategy for fighting. The present need is to send the young people to the front, that is, to the campuses, to fight the battle with a strong burden. The older ones can support them, help them, care for them, and pray for them. In this way we will all coordinate together to win the war.
We must not compromise with religion. If we compromise, we will give up the Lord, and we will cause the Lord to give us up. The Lord has no way in any kind of religion. He must have a new start with the young people, and the older ones must stand with the young ones, bearing the burden to support them, pray for them, care for them, cover them, and do everything they can for them, so that the young ones can fight the battle on the front lines to gain the victory. This is the right way for us to take.