My second burden is to expose the subtlety of the enemy. When we were in the denominations and began to see the light concerning the Lord’s way, the subtlety of the enemy was to condemn us by saying that we were only causing more divisions. This is a real subtlety of the evil one. Do you think we could have genuine oneness in Babylon? It is impossible. In Babylon is the false oneness. That is the oneness in the realm of division. We must not be cheated. If anyone is causing division, it is Babylon, the place of division. Even the oneness in Babylon is a divided and dividing oneness.
In the good land of Canaan, Jerusalem was the only place where all the people of Israel were united to be one. Later, they were all carried away in captivity to Syria, to Egypt, and mostly to Babylon. How could the oneness be kept in Babylon? Strictly speaking, anything in Babylon is a division. To realize the proper and unique oneness, we must go back to the ground of oneness. That is the proper realm, the proper place, the proper standing, and the proper position for the children of God to realize the real oneness. We must not be cheated by any kind of nice talk. We need spiritual discernment to see through the situation of Babylon.
There are some who say that it is rather difficult for the Lord’s people to go back to the original standing. They say, “See how many believers there are in the denominational churches. It is too difficult for them to leave.” But even in the type in the Old Testament, not many of the captives went back to Jerusalem. Only a small number returned; the majority of the captives remained in captivity. We must not be cheated. We do not care so much for the numbers as we do for the place of real oneness.
Still, there are some who say that since the church includes all the believers, and as we could not expect all the believers to come out of the denominations, then it is not possible to have the church. If we could not have all the believers, how could we have the church?
In reply, let us refer to a certain situation in the world today. We know there are at least thirteen million Hebrew people now on the earth—in New York alone, there are about three million. But of these thirteen million, only about two million have gone back to Palestine to form the nation of Israel. The number of Hebrew people in New York, then, is much greater than those who returned to Palestine; yet those in Palestine are called the nation of Israel. Suppose some of the Hebrews in New York are unhappy with this and say, “Why do you call yourselves the nation of Israel? Aren’t we Hebrews as well as you?” If I were one of those who went back, I would answer, “All right, if you would like to be the nation of Israel, come back to the right position of the nation of Israel. Do not stay in New York.” They could have no argument.
Many times people have asked me, “Why do you call yourselves the church in Los Angeles? Are we not the church?” I answered by saying, “You are if you come back to the right position.” Do not remain in the Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, or some other denomination. Do not remain in any kind of denomination. As long as you remain in a denomination, you simply lose your position. In other words, in the setting of the illustration we have used, you are Hebrews, but you are in New York. You are not in the right place to be the nation of Israel. If you claim to be the nation of Israel, you must come back to the place where the nation of Israel should be.
There are others who say that we should not say we are the church in a certain place because we are so small a number. This sounds good, but it is also in the realm of the subtlety of the enemy.
Let me illustrate it in this way. Suppose the Smith family has twenty-two members, yet due to certain reasons, they gradually leave until only one remains. Later, one or two realize that they are the members of the Smith family, and they return. But they are still short of nineteen, and the others will not come back. So these three say, “By the Lord’s mercy, we are the Smith family.” But those who left begin to argue with them by saying, “Why do you call yourselves the Smith family? You cannot represent us. Although we will not come back, please do not say that you are the Smith family.” Then those who came back will say, “If we are not the Smith family, then what are we?”
Some time ago in a certain meeting I was asked, “Would you explain why you call yourselves the church in Los Angeles? Since the church in Los Angeles should include all the believers in Los Angeles, how can a small number there call themselves the church in Los Angeles?” I answered by saying that we all know that the church in a city includes all the saints in that city. But today’s situation is abnormal, and so many have left to join the different denominations. Now only a small number of us in Los Angeles realize that we must be in the local church and that we should not join any denomination. We realize that we are a small number, but if we do not call ourselves the church in Los Angeles, and yet we are in the city of Los Angeles, what should we call ourselves? The brother who asked the question nodded his head.
We realize that we are only three members of the Smith family, and we also realize that we cannot represent all the members of the Smith family; yet we are still here. If we are not the Smith family, then what are we? We have no other name but Smith. Some say that since we cannot represent the entire Smith family, we had better call ourselves the Smith Center. But what is this? Is this something according to its kind? There is not such a “kind” for us to be after. Genesis 1 tells us that in God’s creation all things are “according to their kind.” If we say that we are not the Smith family but the Smith Center, then we are not according to our kind.
Some think they should not call themselves the church in order to avoid trouble, but they do not realize that they cause more trouble than they avoid. What are we then? Are we the great Babylon? Are we the denominations or the free groups? Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! We are the local churches. If we do not admit it, we had better call ourselves a free group. Everything must be according to its kind. The hybrid of an apple and a peach cannot survive in the second generation. An apple must be an apple, and a peach must be a peach. God does not like anything of mixture. If you are the denominations or the free groups, you are the denominations or the free groups. If you are the local churches, then you are the local churches. There is no neutral ground. We all must be according to our kind.
There is too much confusion today. Some say that today’s situation is so confused that no one can clarify it; therefore, we should not speak about the local church, for the more we do, the more trouble we will create. As long as we have two or three coming together in the name of the Lord, Matthew 18:20 tells us that the Lord is in our midst. This sounds very nice, but it simply causes more confusion. Suppose we have a group of brothers and sisters meeting together. If we say that two or three meeting together is all right, after a time some brothers will not feel happy meeting with us and will start another meeting of two or three on the next street. They will say that they are not divided from others but are one with all the Lord’s people. Then after a certain time, these brothers will have the same kind of experience, and some among them will start another meeting in another brother’s home. I think we can realize that this kind of division will be endless. Yet all these little groups claim that they are not narrow but open to everyone. Yet regardless of how open they are, they are divided. Is this the way God ordained? If so, where is the impact, and where is the limitation?
God’s way is very wise: it is the way of one church in one city. Whether you are happy with me or not, you must be one with me. Whether I like you or not, I must be one with you. There is no escape. We have to stay on the proper ground where we are to keep the unique oneness. In this way, our natural man is crossed out, and the church is built up.
There is one thing more. The local churches are also the present stepping-stones to the New Jerusalem. I believe that all the local churches are today’s entrances to the New Jerusalem. Could we get to the end without passing through the beginning? The local churches are in the first three chapters of Revelation, and the New Jerusalem is in the last two chapters. It is impossible to skip over the beginning. We must be in the local churches in order to be built up, to be disciplined, to learn the lessons, and to grow in life. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! He has shown us the local churches.