The brothers in the West thought that I, as a well-known evangelist, had friends all over the world, and therefore that I must have been receiving financial support. At the same time, the brothers in Taiwan considered the United States as a land of gold, and since I was there, there was no need for them to support me. At the beginning of 1965 I asked a brother who was an accountant to file my 1964 income tax return. It is difficult to imagine that, under his investigation, the offerings that I had received from the church in Los Angeles that year were less than eight hundred U.S. dollars. This amount was just enough to cover one month’s living expenses. Perhaps you would ask what I lived on for the remaining eleven months. Of course, I did not steal or rob; I just lived. I did not starve; rather, I ate well. Now, in the hand of this ministry there are two large ministry stations, one in Anaheim, California and the other in Irving, Texas. The property value of each is approximately four to five million dollars. This is all the Lord’s doing.
I would like to take this opportunity to give a testimony. Because the truth I brought to the United States was fresh and new, some became jealous, saying, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth? In the past, American missionaries went to China to preach the gospel. Yet today, an old Chinese is here to teach us Americans.” I began the Lord’s work in America at the end of 1962. It was a good start. The local churches were flourishing, and I was invited to speak in one place after another. Wherever I went I was told the same thing: “Brother Lee, in the past it was the Americans who went to China. Today, it is the Chinese who come here to America.” I said, “Isn’t that proper? Isn’t that the case with the circulation of the blood in the body? It flows from the left side to the right side and from the right to the left; from the top to the bottom and vice versa. In the past the Lord flowed from the West to the East; today, why should He not flow back from the East to the West? Without circulation, the body becomes dead; with circulation, the body becomes living.”
At a conference in December 1962 I spoke from Deuteronomy 8:7-9 concerning the all-inclusive Christ. Once these messages were released, the eyes of the Americans were opened. They invited me from all over. I went from the East Coast to the West Coast, from the South to the North. Through this the Lord gained a group of people who truly loved Him.
This evening I purposely set up this meeting as a pattern so that you might see that a meeting does not need to be conducted in a formal way and that it does not need to have a sermon. I feel that this meeting tonight is quite sweet. At the beginning of the meeting we sang three hymns. Then I mentioned that the denominations invited me for dinner and that I challenged them concerning the truth. I have the boldness and perseverance because what I preach is the truth. I proclaimed the truth all over China as well as in the United States, and I desire to proclaim it all over the world. This truth cannot be put down. Then at the end of the meeting I gave a testimony.
What do you think about such a meeting with hymns, truth, and testimonies? Do you think it is good or not? If you desire to have such a meeting, you need to have some capital. Suppose those three hymns were never written; or suppose that they were written, but that you do not know how to sing them, or that you can sing them, yet you do not have the understanding. If this were the case, there would not be any response within you. Then I used a kindergarten teaching method to give a message concerning the truth of the church. This kind of speaking seems quite shallow, but to speak in this way is not so simple. Finally, I gave a testimony. I want you to see that to have a meeting requires capital. First, you need to be familiar with the hymns; second, you need to be equipped with the truth; and third, you need to have spiritual experiences. Having these three things, you may use them in whatever way you like. A meeting with hymns, truth, and testimonies will surely be living, fresh, and rich.