But whatever you practice, whatever you experience today, must be the things of the New Testament ministry. This ministry is one. Paul did not have one ministry and Peter another. Especially after the training on the Epistles of Peter, you can see how much they were both one in the unique ministry. The coming training will be on John’s Epistles. You will see that these three—Paul, Peter, and John—were one. They had one ministry, the ministry, the New Testament ministry. This does not mean that Peter used the same terminology and way of presentation as Paul. Their terminology and presentation differ. Especially John’s differs. Yet they were all on the central lane. Now I understand Peter’s word at the end of his two Epistles, where he said, “Even as also our beloved brother Paul...wrote to you” (2 Pet. 3:15). Fifty years ago I thought it was good of Peter to recommend that the saints read Paul’s writings. Now, however, I have begun to understand in a deeper way. Peter meant that what he ministered in his two Epistles was the same as what Paul had ministered. Maybe what Paul wrote is hard for you to understand, but don’t twist it; if you do, you are twisting the Scripture (v. 16). These two apostles ministered the same thing. Now I understand Paul’s word in 1 Timothy, where he charged Timothy to remain in Ephesus to “charge certain ones not to teach differently” (1 Tim. 1:3). They might teach according to the Scripture yet different from the New Testament ministry.
What is the New Testament ministry? Paul told us in that very chapter: the economy of God (1 Tim. 1:4). What is the economy of God? Chapter three calls it the mystery of godliness (3:16). What is the mystery of godliness? It is God manifested in the flesh. This is the focus of God’s economy; this is the central lane of the Lord’s New Testament ministry.
I do have the full assurance that the Lord has given this ministry to us. From the first century apostles up till now, this ministry has never been as definitely and clearly commissioned to Christians as it is to us today. We do have the assurance to boast that we have surely seen what the Lord’s New Testament ministry is. I can boast that I am one of the co-workers of the apostle. Because of this I was one with Brother Nee.
When I was with Brother Nee, I did not preach anything other than what I had heard and learned of him. It was not that I did not know other doctrines. If I had wanted to, I could have had a successful work by myself in northern China. But when Brother Nee asked me to Shanghai to be with the co-workers there, I went to the Lord and saw one flow. Only this one thing, brothers, has preserved me: to be always one with Brother Nee. Thank the Lord, He has preserved me even till today. After fifty years, I am still here. Many have come and gone. Some of those who left are still alive. If you consider their present situation, however, you will realize that not one is under the Lord’s blessing. They have no way to go on, because there is no way. There is only one way.
Even in this country, consider the ones who left us. How are they doing? I never spoke anything to tell the saints to oppose them or to be careful of them. My work, as I have said many times, has no wall. It has no defense. How about what happened in 1978? What is that today? Again, they have no way.
God is the unique source. There is only one God, one Savior, one Lord, one way, one testimony, one ministry, one flow, one throne, and one goal. Where are we? Praise Him! We are in the one way, the one flow, the one ministry with the one goal.
The opposers say I speak this way to threaten people not to leave. That is their devilish thinking. I have never had such a thought. My thought was loving, not threatening; I just wanted to warn you. Out of a loving heart I wanted to tell you the truth. I spoke this way with the brothers from Hong Kong. Look around you, I said. Even in Hong Kong, where is there a way? There is no other way. If you do not believe in this Lord Jesus Christ, you have no lord to believe in. If you don’t worship this God (because you don’t want to worship the same God as Witness Lee), try to find another god to believe in. You will not be able to find one. But human beings are stubborn. Once they leave, it is hard for them to come back. Very few have come back. Do you believe those who left have satisfaction? They may say that the way they are taking is satisfying, but I don’t believe their words. With me, however much opposition I face, however heavy the burden is, I have the full satisfaction. I have no doubt that I am in the way.
If we see this, we will practice the matters of the central lane and experience them. We will live this. Then we shall use our meetings time after time, maybe four or five meetings a week, week after week, just for this one thing. It is like digging a well. You don’t dig one spot, and then another, and another. What is the use of a thousand holes and not one bucket of water? You have to dig and keep on digging until water springs up. This is the way to work. This is the way to build a local church.