The following story illustrates the functions of the inner law of life and the anointing. In 1943 northern China was under the occupation of the Japanese army. The church there was very much blessed by the Lord, and this caused the Japanese military police to arrest me and put me in prison. Approximately one week before I was arrested, I had the sense deep within that something might happen to me. A few days later, on the Lord’s Day morning, the church had a gospel preaching meeting. Because it was customary for someone else to be responsible for that meeting, I was free that morning. During the meeting I was sitting in the deacons’ office, and inwardly I had a clear sense, an anointing, to clear my bag of all my mail. For a number of years I had been working for the Lord and had corresponded with nearly all the provinces in China, including Chungking, Nanking, and the South Sea islands. Thus, there were many different names and addresses in my correspondence. The inner sense was very clear: I had to tear those letters up and throw them away, which I proceeded to do. At noon I went home. After lunch the same inner sense prompted me to clear the drawers of my desk and cabinets of all the old correspondence, which stretched back about fifteen years, and burn them. My family wondered what I was doing, but all I said was that I felt I should do this.
This was indeed the Lord’s leading. At eight o’clock the next morning, while I was still at home, a brother came to tell me that two men from the Japanese military police were waiting for me at the meeting hall. I went to meet them, and the officer said to me, “Mr. Lee, there are certain things we do not understand about you. Would you come with us?” This was actually an arrest, so I told the brothers to inform my family. At that time everyone was afraid of the Japanese military police, because once a person was in their hands, his life could end very quickly.
They brought me to their office and told me to sit down and wait; then they left. At that time I did not know where they went, but later, after I was released, my family told me that they came back to my home and searched it thoroughly. However, they found nothing there except a notebook containing one page of notes on Song of Songs. These notes concerned Christians loving Christ, as a lover seeks her bridegroom. They brought this notebook back to the office, and that night they put me in prison.
The very next day the tests began. Before they arrested me, I had the anointing, and now during the tests the anointing came to me many times. Undoubtedly, I experienced the Lord’s word which says that when we are brought before rulers and authorities, the Holy Spirit will teach us in that hour what we should say (Luke 12:11-12). Although they had found almost nothing in my home, they were still suspicious that I was working against the Japanese occupation. Whenever they began to ask me a question that would be difficult to answer, I prayed, “Lord, help me.” Then I noticed that their questioning would immediately turn to another point. Moreover, at that time I also experienced something regulating me, that is, the law of life. In certain instances there was no need for me to seek guidance. I only needed to stand with the law of life.
Over a period of thirty days there were several tests each day, each test lasting several hours. One day, approximately three and a half weeks into my imprisonment, I was asked, “Mr. Lee, tell us which is first: your nation or your God?” This question was very threatening. If I had said that God was first, they might have put me to death. However, I was guided by the inner anointing to remain quiet and not say a word. Although the officer demanded a response, I had the inner anointing not to speak but just to look at him. Then he asked me why I would not answer, and I had the inner anointing to say that I was afraid my answer might offend him. He responded that I would not offend him but that I had to give him an answer. According to the inner law within me, I could never say that anything other than God is first. I told him boldly, “Of course, God is first. The nation is something given to us by God.” Then he said, “You are a fool! Today we will not give you any food. Let us see what your God will do for you.” After this they sent me back to my cell.
What followed is a testimony to God’s glory. Because the Japanese police were suspicious of me, they did not put me in a cell with other Chinese prisoners; they feared that news about me would leak out. A young Greek man had been arrested, and because all the cells were full, he was put in my cell. That day when the Japanese soldiers distributed the food to the prisoners, they gestured to me that they had no food for me and that they would let God give me some food. The Greek man, as a foreigner, was given better food than the other prisoners. When he saw that there was nothing for me, he asked me why, and I explained to him that I was a servant of the Lord who was being treated this way for the sake of the church and the gospel. This man was a Greek Orthodox Christian, and he insisted that I take his food, asking me to afford him the privilege of helping me in the name of the Lord. Thus, that day I ate better food than the local people. The next day when they brought me out of the cell and asked about the food I had eaten, I told them that I had indeed eaten better food than usual.
The anointing gives us living guidance time after time, and the inner law regulates us all the time. The latter is something established and unchangeable. Wherever we go, we cannot say that anything is first other than God. This is not only the law written in the Bible (Exo. 20:3) but also something written within us. We do not need to seek the Lord’s mind and guidance as to whether or not God is first. On the other hand, for many matters, including what we should do or say and where we should go, we need the living, present guidance of the inner anointing.