Someone observed that during the changing of the system I highly regarded the matter of education and edited some teaching materials to meet the need. Therefore, this person asked whether I could likewise prepare a set of teaching materials for the Full-Time Training in order to train different levels of trainees. He also asked whether we could even adopt some of the ways of the theological schools.
First of all, it is not according to the principle in the Bible to establish a school to train people to serve the Lord. In the Old Testament none of the prophets established a school. The prophets sometimes had disciples, but none of those disciples ever became prophets. Apparently, Elisha was Elijah’s disciple. In reality, however, Elisha had been chosen by God Himself. In the New Testament age, seminaries began to be established. According to church history, the establishment of seminaries led to professionalism, and once professionalism started, it was easy to bring in commercialism. Many corrupt practices were brought in, and subsequently there were endless struggles for power. The marvelous thing is that although most of those who were greatly used by the Lord throughout the generations did not come out of seminaries, I daresay that there were a few. They came out to serve the Lord not because they had been taught in seminaries, but because they were acting according to the principle of the Nazarite and were taking the way of voluntary consecration. John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Count Zinzendorf, for example, did not have a seminary background.
Actually, because all the saints have occupations, it is not easy to ask everyone to enter into the study of the truth. On the other hand, our preaching of the word in the past has not been very proper. This is why there are the Truth Lessons to make up for this. Regarding the Full-Time Training, since you are already putting in twenty-four hours a day, it is not necessarily appropriate to rely on others to instruct and guide you. The most appropriate situation is that you yourself would find a way to learn. In the recovery’s sixty years of history, there were many who were rich in truth and had much learning in the matter of life. If you want to learn from the books and seek help from others, you will find a way. This all depends on you. If you do not want to pursue, even the best way will be of no avail to you.
Regarding the church’s plan for the training of the saints, the co-workers in the past, being too quiet, did not act aggressively. They should have paid attention to the training earlier and given the young people the help they needed. Nevertheless, this kind of training can meet only a general need; it cannot meet the special need. To meet the special need, there must be a group of believers who would give themselves as Nazarites before the Lord. Therefore, you all need to consecrate yourselves thoroughly and voluntarily and take the initiative to pursue and learn before the Lord. The training can give you only a good, objective environment, including the church life, the rich truths, and the advanced saints who have had experience in both life and service. You need to go further and have a deeper and more solid pursuit by properly utilizing these resources.
I hope that the co-workers would endeavor to accomplish something and not be so passive, indifferent, and idle as before. George Whitefield was a very powerful preacher because on his knees he pray-read every word and line of the New Testament in both English and Greek. Thus, the Bible became a living book to him. When he released a message, he was full of power and authority. If you desire to accomplish something, you need to be like him in endeavoring to pursue and to learn. I am famous for being opposed in the United States. This is probably unprecedented in the history of Christianity. However, Christianity cannot defeat the truths that I preach because what the opposers have learned in the seminaries is so incomplete and limited compared to what I teach.
Many of the opposers first rose up to attack my teaching concerning the Triune God. Eventually, however, their mouths were shut. All they could do was revile me and twist my words. They were absolutely unable to refute me. I said that the three of the Divine Trinity are distinct but not separate. They said, however, that when the Son left the heavens, He left the Father there, so that when the Son was baptized, the Father spoke from the heavens. However, in the Gospel of John, the Lord said many times that He had come from the Father. The word from in Greek is the word para, which has the meaning of “from with.” This means that the Lord came from the Father and with the Father. Not only so, the Lord also said that the Father was always with Him and that the Father had not left Him alone (8:16, 29; 16:32). Therefore, the picture of the Son being baptized in the Jordan River shows us that the three of the Trinity are distinct. However, we cannot say that They are separate. No one can deny that when the Lord Jesus was baptized, He was in the Father, and the Father was in Him, because the Lord said that the Father was always with Him.
The truth never has only one side. When expositors grasp on to one side of the truth and neglect the other sides, this results in heresy. We do not deny any side of the truth. Rather, we pay attention to all the sides of the truth. The three of the Divine Trinity are distinct but not separate. John 10 says that the Son and the Father are one (v. 30). Chapter seventeen speaks of the Son lifting up His eyes to heaven to pray to the Father (v. 1). However, in chapter fourteen, before the Son prayed to the Father, He said that the Father was in Him and that He was in the Father (vv. 10-11, 20). People in Christianity cannot comprehend this because they have been influenced by traditional theology and have not carefully studied the text of the Bible.