Certain persons oppose us mainly on three points. They do not agree that Christ is the life-giving Spirit, that we need to exercise our spirit by calling on the name of the Lord, or that we are mingled with God by eating Jesus. This is because they do not have these experiences. They have rituals, ordinances, and practices. They may even have speaking in tongues and the manifestations of the so-called gifts. However, they do not know Christ as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17), they do not know that Christ is now with our spirit (Gal. 6:18; 2 Tim. 4:22), and they do not know how to turn to their spirit and exercise their spirit to contact the Lord and enjoy Him by saying, “O Lord Jesus” (Rom. 10:12-13; 1 Cor. 12:3). Because these things are foreign to them, they condemn us, calling us mystics, which was the name given to some in earlier centuries who sought the inner life.
A certain brother once told me, “Christian teachers in America tell people to look to the Lord in the heavens, but since you have been in this country, you have always told people to turn to their spirit. Your teaching is different from ours.” He even suggested that this teaching is “oriental.” This is altogether not logical. Our teaching does not come from the Orient; it comes from the New Jerusalem in the heavens. Romans 8:34 tells us that Christ is in the heavens at the right hand of God. However, in the same chapter, verse 10 says that the very Christ who is in the heavens is also in us. Christ is both in the heavens and in us. We may illustrate this with electricity. The same electricity is both in the power plant and in the room we are in. In order to apply the electricity, we do not need to call the power plant far away, pleading, “Please send me electricity.” Rather, because the electricity has been installed in our home, we simply need to turn on the switch. When we turn on the switch, we get the electricity. I am a small man sent to tell you, “Do not look to the power plant; simply turn on the switch.” Christ as the heavenly “electricity” is in the heavens, and He has also been “installed” in us. Christ is in you, and Christ is in me. We care for the Christ who is in us. When we need Him, it is not necessary to pray to Him as if He were far away in the heavens. This is foolish. The apostle Paul says, “The Lord be with your spirit” (2 Tim. 4:22). Therefore, we all need to turn to our spirit. When we turn to our spirit, calling, “O Lord Jesus,” we are in the third heavens. This is the true enjoyment of Jesus.
Christianity has missed the mark of the indwelling Christ. Some even oppose this teaching. Catholicism teaches people to listen to the pope, worship idols, and burn candles, and Protestantism teaches people to keep the traditional, doctrinal teachings. They do not tell people to enjoy the indwelling Christ, who is the life-giving Spirit. In fact, many who oppose us do not even agree that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit. I always point them to 1 Corinthians 15:45b, which says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit,” and 2 Corinthians 3:17, which says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” If Christ were not the Spirit, how could He be in us? We are not for mere doctrinal teachings, which mean little; we are for the experience of Christ. We have been fighting the battle for the enjoyment of Christ as the Spirit for over twenty years. The reason we are so much for Christ as the Spirit is that in order to experience Him, we must realize who He is and where He is. We know where Christ is and how to experience Him. He is the life-giving Spirit, and He is now in our spirit.
The objective “fundamentalists” mainly care for doctrines in a traditional way. In the church life, though, we are not for the traditional way. We are for the fresh and living experiences of Christ. We must check everything against the subjective experience of Christ. Some say that the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are three separate persons. However, we cannot say that there are three persons within us. According to our experience, the Triune God within us is one. Whether we call on Him, saying, “O Lord,” or “O Father,” He is the same One. When I was young, I was taught that I should address my prayer to the Father, not to the Son or to the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is only the “working power,” and the Son is the means through whom we pray to the Father. Sometimes, though, I became confused. As I prayed to the heavenly Father, I sometimes said, “O Lord.” Then I would repent, ask for forgiveness, and begin again to pray to the Father in heaven. Eventually I realized that this is unnecessary. Our experience tells us that the Father is the Lord, and the Lord is the Father (Isa. 9:6; John 14:9-10). We do not need to differentiate the Father from the Lord in our prayer and experience. Many in Christianity simply fight, oppose, and argue according to their traditional teachings without knowing the experience of Christ. Their experience is poor, and their traditional teachings keep others in poverty.