The God-ordained way is a way of labor, but the traditional way does not require labor. Christianity today mainly depends upon the clergy, but the majority of the people in the denominations do not labor. We ourselves have to admit that we are greatly lacking in our practice of the God-ordained way. The Lord has shown us the details of His ordained way, but we have not yet come up to His standard in our labor.
In traditional Christianity, not only has the labor become the labor of a few, but also many of the matters of the Lord's interests have been replaced by natural and worldly things. Hence, the service and worship of traditional Christianity has become a mixture. In the appearance of the kingdom in Matthew 13, tares were sown among the wheat (vv. 24-30), leaven was mixed with the fine flour (v. 33), and the mustard seed grew out of proportion into a great tree (vv. 31-32). In these parables the Lord Jesus prophesied concerning the religious system we see today. Many of the Lord's chosen people who love the Lord have been misled. They do not realize that the situation in Christianity is wrong. We do need Christ, but we do not need the unscriptural system of Christianity.
The God-ordained way is carried out by labor. The Lord Jesus labored strenuously during the last three and a half years of His life on this earth. He labored to overcome two great obstacles. These obstacles were the Jewish religion and the misuse of the Word of God. The misuse of the Old Testament became a big obstacle to the work of the Lord Jesus. Religion and the misuse of the holy Word were not only a frustration to the Lord Jesus in the beginning of the New Testament, but also a frustration to the apostles' work. Peter and John confronted these two obstacles in the beginning of Acts, and the frustration of these two obstacles intensified with Paul. Wherever Paul went, the religious Jews persecuted him. Some even made an oath that they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul (Acts 23:12). The obstacles of religion and the misuse of the Bible are still with us today. In order to take the God-ordained way, we have to labor as the Lord Jesus and the apostles did. If we do not labor like this, we will not have a way.
The new way, which includes preaching the gospel, feeding new ones in their homes, perfecting the saints in the group meetings, and prophesying for the building up of the Body of Christ, was initiated in 1984. At the present time, six years later, the majority of the saints in the recovery are convinced that the new way, the God-ordained way, is right and scriptural, but the practical outworking of the new way is still lacking. The reason for this lack is that we are short of labor. In this matter, we should not consider others; we should consider ourselves.
In an urgent elders' meeting in February 1986, I spoke concerning the one accord. At that time, I told the elders that I could no longer tolerate the situation among us and that I had received a burden from the Lord to have a new start. I also said that I was sounding the trumpet like Gideon (Judg. 7:16-18) for anyone willing to be absolutely in one accord to fight for the interest of the Body of Christ. I did not mean that all the brothers had to follow me, nor did I say that those who did not follow me were no longer churches in the Lord's recovery. But I did ask those who did not follow the trumpeting not to criticize or oppose. I also warned the brothers that those who criticized and opposed would make trouble and might even cause division. Eventually, what I spoke as a warning has become a prophecy. In 1986 I did not ask all the saints in the recovery to be absolutely one with me. Today I say the same thing. I have anticipated that not all of the saints will practice the new way. At the time of the Lord Jesus, not all of the disciples followed the Lord absolutely. The Lord appeared to above five hundred brothers at one time (1 Cor. 15:6), but in the upper room in Jerusalem only one hundred twenty disciples remained, including the sisters. These ones persevered with one accord in prayer (Acts 1:14-15). The Lord Jesus did not expect that all of His believers would follow His way absolutely. Today I do not expect that all of the saints will take the new way. I surely hope, however, that at least one-third of the saints will practice this way.