Hiding History About Witness Lee

Quote from: Rick on August 12, 2004 - Cslund claims that the author of "Hiding History" is still trying to meet with the WLC. Somehow this = they are "open" to him. Setting aside the weird psychological game they are playing with the poor fellow, I know for a fact that they expect him to recant everything he wrote before they let him back in their little sect. In other words, they want him to say the truth is not the truth for him to be accepted into their little subculture once again so they can all live happily ever after. If he ever succumbs to their nonsensical requirements it will only expose them further per how they treat those who have the integrity to speak out against their silly boyish antics.

Yes cslund is correct. The author is still trying to meet. The truth is only the locality leadership and a few close to the author know how and why he was excommunicated. Having said that, there is only ONE against his being brought back in. The other elders involved refuse to break the oneness despite the need for fellowship with the author of Hiding History. - Fisher

This website on hiding history brings out the negative aspects of our history that have had a serious detrimental effect on the recovery and on the Body of Christ. It is out of a high regard for the Lord's interests in His recovery and a concern for the oneness among His people that I have prepared this website.

I am currently not in any of the churches in a practical way, and I would like to share the reason for this. On a smaller scale, I had tried to address church matters a couple of years ago. I wrote a booklet and presented it to a leading brother, Dan Towle, from Southern California. I said in a cover letter, "I have written a little book for the sake of fellowship, mainly with leading ones, concerning our past 16-year history in the new way." I said that I didn't plan to have the booklet "widespread" and that I thought it was "safe" to come to him and that perhaps he could "catch me" if I was "inaccurate" or "unfair" in any matter so that I might make an "adjustment" or "terminate" the proposed fellowship. I also indicated my hope that the writing might build a bridge of communication to those who had left the recovery In the Wake of the New Way. To my surprise, rather than grant me time for fellowship, Dan recommended to elders in my locality that I be placed into a discipline mode until I could "repent". I remain in a discipline mode today after 2+ years. I also remain without fellowship on the matters I asked Dan to address, and that other elders had read about also, but have not addressed.

The action of discipline taken against me when I was specifically asking Dan for his fellowship served only to inspire me to consider what kind of spirit this was in our brother and what kind of spirit it is that has come into the recovery.

I had first encountered this spirit with local elders in 1996 and at that time began to consider tracing it back to its source. Something else compelling me to seek an understanding of this spirit was the lack of love and shepherding in the church in my locality. I began to search for answers by contacting former leading ones who left the recovery during a time of turmoil in the late eighties. They too had encountered this spirit in a major way during a time of crisis in the recovery. It was this association with these formerly beloved brothers who were once among us that I was put aside, along with the assessment that I was attacking the recovery in my booklet. In my heart, my desire was simply to address serious concerns that many of us have and to build a bridge of communication with those who left.

This website is about these brothers' experiences and the manifestation of a spirit that brother Witness Lee partly describes in A Word of Love, and that the documents and testimonies on this site describe further. Brother Lee points out that it is a spirit that "has filled all the churches", and "is now spreading everywhere around the globe in the Lord's recovery". It is a spirit that "labels others" and does not care for the ones who are "inferior to us". It is a spirit that "condemns and regulates others, rather than shepherd and seek them." It is a spirit that does not "love the opposers", even the "top rebels". It is a spirit that "we have lost among the coworkers, elders, and vital groups." It is a spirit of exclusion.

"As I have said before, the spirit of not shepherding and seeking others and being without love and forgiveness is spreading in the recovery everywhere. I believe that not having the Father's loving and forgiving heart and not having the Savior's shepherding and seeking spirit is the reason for our barrenness ...We condemn and regulate others rather than shepherd and seek them. We are short of love and shepherding. These are the vital factors for us to bear fruit, that is, to gain people. I am very concerned for our full-time training. Do we train the young ones to gain people or to regulate people? We have to reconsider our ways, as Haggai said (1:5). Our way is not right; something is wrong". (pp. 40-41)

In the late eighties turmoil this spirit was at full strength wreaking havoc in the recovery, and there was plenty that was wrong that was never brought out in fellowship to the churches. I refer to matters that I have discovered through a diligent research, including an extensive fellowship with former elders and coworkers, and the reading of their testimonies. The matters they were concerned about were related to integrity, which they were careful to keep; to righteousness, which they conscientiously sought for; and to sin, which they abhorred and distanced themselves from. In the process, they became labeled as "dissenters" and "rebellious ones". Some have even been "quarantined" from the churches, excommunicated in effect, and forgotten about. The grave concerns of these brothers were never brought to light before the saints, but had to do with certain divisive and incendiary elements in place at the heart of the recovery that led to and fueled rebellion among the saints? Was this a righteous rebellion? I think so.

This website will deal with those matters of our hidden history and with the real causes of dissension that occurred in the late eighties That is, it will tell the other side of the story, the untold side, that reveals what the primary factors of the division actually were. These factors did not involve the brothers who were "quarantined", who spoke and acted according to their convictions of heart and their Christian conscience amidst confounding circumstances that had arisen in the recovery.

Let honest people be honest, and fair people fair in their reading of the following accounts. Let righteous people also rise up to take righteous steps to address a wrong spirit among us in the recovery and the damage to others and to the oneness in the Body that this has caused. May we do this before the Lord and before His throne, knowing that one Day He will appear and begin His judgment in the house of God.

Our Hidden History and the Secret Causes of Division

"Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel...

"And he said to them, why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people. No, my sons: for the report is not good which I hear the Lord's people circulating."

"Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "Thus says the Lord..."Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at my offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me..."

"And the Lord said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever. So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli." (1 Samuel 1:12 - 3:21)

It has come to our attention recently through several witnesses that gross immorality and some other sins mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:11 have been committed by your son Philip Lee (who is identified as your Ministry Office) on more than one occasion over a long period of time. This deeply disturbs us. It grieves us even more that you and some of your close co-workers were aware of the situation and yet not only tolerated it but covered it up. What is worse is that, while this was happening, you and your co-workers were promoting and exalting him to the extent that he was able to intervene in the churches’ affairs in recent years. The peak of this promotion was evident at your elders’ training in Taipei in June 1987. Some of your co-workers were not only themselves under the influence and control of Philip Lee, but were also openly bringing elders and young people of many local churches to come under the same influence and control in your name and for your sake. The five brothers whom you and your Office sent to Europe in your place in May 1986 were trying to do the same here. Our young people who went to your training in Taipei have also testified of the same.

Before God, before the brothers and sisters in the local churches, before the Christian public, and for the sake of the Lord’s testimony, we are compelled by our conscience to fully disassociate ourselves from such sins and behaviour in your work.”

(A copy of this letter can be obtained by request, along with the signatures of twenty-one brothers from nine churches in Europe who withdrew from the recovery on September 17, 1989.) Witness Lee's Sons

"Well, this time when I came to the Philippines, I never dreamed that the things would happen this way. But in such a situation like this, I think we have to leave it to the Lord’s sovereignty. As our brother has shared, and I appreciate his word very much, I also hope that our sharing here is not for anyone to be able to take any sides, regardless of who is right and who is wrong. I think the ground of the church is not for any church to take any sides, right? Because a church or the churches should be standing on the ground of oneness. So I do appreciate our brother’s word. And I have prepared a little outline here knowing that tonight I have no choice but to share something concerning the matter. I will try my best to just follow the outline.

We all know the ministry of brother Witness Lee for many years. I’m quite surprised that this book came out. This is the first time I saw it—in Manila, I mean 2 days ago. I hope it is not the ministry, you know. I’m very sorry that due to my being here, you all had to spend 8 long hours to watch the videos. I believe it is a real suffering to all the saints. In the recent past two years I have been unfortunately branded as, even as, a “minister of Satan”, as a “wolf”, a “false brother”, even 1 John chapter 2, the “Antichrist” was referred to me; I’m a “rebellious one”, a “conspirator”, a kind of conspirator, a “dishonest man”, a “pretender”, and more. Therefore, I am being quarantined. Right, I am being quarantined. And I am thankful to the Lord that in spite of all this, you’re still hear willing to hear what I have to say. I mean without fear of being contaminated. I think the Lord will be able to disinfect you. Please bear with me, I really have a very hard time to prepare this. The Lord knows my heart. If I didn’t have to do it tonight, I wish I didn’t have to do it. I can testify this before the Lord."

An 8-page letter from Bill Mallon to brother Lee expresses Bill's grave concerns for the damaging and divisive behavior of the LSM office, and its representatives in the Southeast Brother Lee did not respond to Bill's letter and showed no interest in addressing his concerns. Bill went ahead with his conviction to resign from the work and from the eldership. Later, however, in the book Fermentation of the Present Rebellion, Brother Lee dismissed Bill’s concerns that he mentioned in his letter, stating that Bill’s concerns were groundless and his remarks accusatory and slanderous, although others had the same concerns and could confirm Bill’s statements and his understanding of the developments in the Southeast. MallonLee

"Brother Lee has told the brothers who were serving with him a number of times, including myself, that if he ever left the way of God’s recovery, we should not follow him; rather we should go forward according to the truth to follow the Lord. We believe that in some degree this very thing has occurred, and we are taking Brother Lee’s own word to go on in the truth. May the Lord grant us mercy and grace to be faithful.”

"... In Ephesians 4 there are seven factors of our oneness and only seven. But today other factors, at least in practice, have been added, such as, one ministry, one leadership, one deputy authority, and one divine oracle. These have been made factors of our oneness, so that if any individuals or churches do not adhere to the 'one ministry', or the 'one leadership', etc., they are cut off or labeled negatively. We have many examples to substantiate it... “I would like to know what truth we have ever changed or are in danger of changing. Rather we have sought to be faithful to the truth, much of which we have seen through the help of Brother Lee’s ministry. Our problem in the past has been related not mainly to the truth itself, but to its practice, which we are seeking diligently to remedy."

"...Moreover, many things have been spoken in recent elders’ meetings by Brother Witness Lee and his co-workers that totally misrepresent the facts and contain many untruths. Motives and intentions are imputed to us that we never imagined, not to say practiced. We are being called despicable names and are being displayed in the worst light. But we do not desire to stoop to the level of name calling, pejorative epithets, or blatant vindication. We would like to speak the facts sincerely before God in Christ. May the Lord judge us in every attitude and action, as indeed He has continually been doing with all of us. We commit ourselves to Him. We desire to give a true account of the facts and our intentions and let the readers judge."

"We certainly never imagined that we would pass through the experiences and conflict that we have in recent years. We loved the Lord’s recovery and gave everything for it for over a quarter of a century. It was this love and investment of our lives that compelled us to respond and speak out. We had seen something that was exceedingly precious, and it was in jeopardy. Moreover, we were concerned that the Lord’s testimony would be brought into shame and disgrace and suffer great damage. Sadly, our fears have eventualized. But we believe the Lord will still go on to recover and rebuild. I will now proceed with the account of my testimony."

Ken Unger and his wife approached Brother Lee for fellowship over a letter she wrote to him expressing her very serious concerns about the damaging and divisive effects that she observed taking place in so many localities in the United States and around the world stemming from the LSM office. Although sister Unger was in a position to observe much about the Living Stream Ministry operation, brother Witness Lee was not open to her fellowship.

She and Ken went to brother Lee to read him the 11-page letter, and as she began to read she was soon cut off by him and could not finish. She was very discouraged but brother Lee granted her another visit to him with Ken at Ken’s request, and again she began to read and was stopped before getting through half a page.

Brother Lee could not listen to what Ken considered to be a very mild part of the letter compared to other matters the letter addressed. His wife, thoroughly despondent over her experience, never tried again and never recovered from her experience and disillusionment with the church and the recovery.

A most graphic example of the new and militant mindset in the recovery causing division in a church happened in Rosemead.: “Frankly speaking, the root of the problem in today’s so-called local churches is that the leading ones have seriously deviated from the truth. Since February 1986, the movement started in the U. S. A. for all the elders to sign their names to a letter submitting absolutely to Witness Lee. From then on, it was to be under one leadership, with one goal, one trumpet, one way, and one ministry. Waves and waves of movements followed. This is what caused John Kwan and Francis Ball, (in order to show their absolute loyalty to Witness Lee), to lord it over the saints. They did not shepherd the church of God, but on the contrary, they used highhanded methods and did a lot of things to damage the church…At the beginning, we were expecting that [Francis Ball] came here to help the local church, especially the English-speaking saints. If he would come to Rosemead with the burden to take care of the church and shepherd the saints, he should first of all visit the saints and spend time to observe the saints and to realize their situations and needs. He should meet with the serving ones and pray with them looking to the Lord for leading. Regrettably, he disappointed all the saints. The first Lord’s Day after his arrival, he gave a message on following a man, meaning to follow Witness Lee. Isn’t this the spirit of division and parties which we see in the church in Corinth which resulted in the Apostle Paul’s condemnation? Due to Francis Ball’s message, anger was stirred up in the meeting. Most of the saints were already unhappy. He should have had some feelings about the reactions of the saints. The way Francis Ball delivered his message was not accidental or a mistake. After that, his behavior and actions proved his intentions. These included: contact with the ministry station in dealing with the so-called dissenters, locking up the meeting hall, and forcing the saints to go to Anaheim’s ministry meetings, to express his absolute oneness with “the ministry”. This is concrete evidence that Francis Ball came to Rosemead with the mission to force the church to submit to “The Ministry of Witness Lee” using highhanded tactics. This was not only against our intention to invite him to Rosemead, but also contrary to the vision which we have seen.

After the incident of Don Hardy was exposed, much blame was put on Francis Ball because he was one of the five-man committee [responsible for forcibly removing Don from his eldership in Rosemead.] As a matter of fact, at that time the saints lost their confidence in Francis Ball. If he was really concerned about the church and had some feeling for the saints, he should openly apologize, and voluntarily resign the eldership to show his responsibility and let the church have a chance to recover from the wound. He not only wouldn’t depart but seemed careless about the suffering and agonies of the saints. He acted as if nothing had happened, and continued to carry out his mission as usual. Was he a good shepherd led by the Lord, or a hired one?” - by David Wang, from True Account Rosemead

Church in Raleigh elders come to Anaheim to discuss with Brother Lee their seventy-one-page compendium entitled Concerns with our Practice Regarding Truth and Life, which they sent to Brother Lee months earlier. Brother Lee had told them that he would address each point in their time of fellowship. “But Brother Lee, they said, had no ear to hear them. It was as if they were talking to the wall. He didn’t want to clear up their points; he hadn’t even read the outline they had presented to him the previous summer. He would not answer their questions directly. They were impressed that he never asked how the saints in the church in Raleigh were doing, as if he was not concerned for them. The brothers were very disappointed…The brothers in Raleigh had labored for many hours over this work in the expectation that Brother Lee would read it, be apprised of their concerns, and realize the gravity of the situation, and hopefully make some major changes in the course we were taking in the recovery.”

Atlanta elders’ conference - 1988

Brother Witness Lee himself strongly reinforces the concept of his absolute authority and leadership in the recovery, stating that those who didn’t take his way would be “dropouts”, and also declaring that none were qualified to fellowship with him, so they should not have an opinion about what he does! This type of leadership and speaking helped fortify the new mindset among the elders that there was only one voice in the recovery and that Brother Lee, as the "commander-in-chief" in the Lord’s new move, did not require anyone’s opinion or fellowship. Our brother surely became a huge factor of oneness in the recovery and negative speaking about him and his leading was not tolerated, regardless of the legitimacy of complaint, and need. Elders Meetings in Atlanta

A current elder, who formerly was an elder in Tempe, told me that once he was helping a 24-year old brother who was troubled by matters related to Anaheim and the new way and that he, the elder, was doing everything he could to help this young brother and even called Brother Lee for fellowship. Brother Lee’s fellowship was for him to let this troubled one go as “a paper in the wind” and “let the wind take care of him”! His main concern and encouragement was for the elder to spend his time caring for the positive ones and new ones who were not contaminated or dissenting. Therefore, taking the advice of Brother Lee, the elder let the young person go,. He had changed his stance from caring for a young brother who had been stumbled, to lining up with the proper mentality of a soldier in the army for the Lord’s new move. Dissenting Ones

The new mindset in the Lord’s recovery is a closed one. It doesn't deal with opposition well, even mild opposition.

A sister in Norman, Oklahoma was concerned for a few things in the church - 1) an immoral situation involving an elder violating a sister/friend of hers; 2) her growing perception that a another spirit had come into the recovery; 3) the elders overbalance in spiritual things and lack of attention given to human matters, marriage and family.

She became outspoken and was reported for calling the church a cult. She stopped going to meetings.

The elders never went to her to ask her about her concerns. They just began to turn away from her, as did others. There was no warning given to her.

Her name was taken off the phone list, which was a shock to her and a great offense. She began meeting with another fellowship group.

She and her husband had been growing apart. He was absolute for the church, while she had serious concerns about it. He was cold, and she was nagging. She asked him to move out, and he did. She didn't expect him to stay away, however, but to work on the relationship with a view to returning. He had other ideas and began to pursue a divorce.

- anonymous writer - “In Watchman Nee's Foreword to his book, RECONSIDERATION OF THE WORK, he states: "We have one purpose, that is, to do our work completely according to the Bible. We have one desire, that is, to do the work according to God's Word. We believe the Bible is God's Word, the highest standard, the perfect example and full of commandments of authority. We do not want our work to come short in any way from God's full and complete written Word recorded for us in the Bible. We want to repeat with Paul, 'I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God' (Acts 20:27). In seeking to follow the leading of God's Spirit, we never would disregard or deviate from His written Word.

"Now in retrospect we see that Watchman Nee has shown in his entire life and work that he never deviated from that heavenly vision of Christ and the Church. For this vision he had a good conscience, unfeigned faith, unchangeable love, vast knowledge and even risked and gave his life for its fulfillment. We can say of him that he fought a good fight, he ran the race and was martyred. Hence there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness.

"We thank the Lord that through him this vision was imparted to others by the Lord not only in the orient but throughout the world, and thus many churches were established.

"The writer is the least of the brothers to undertake this writing, but through the Lord's mercy and the enlightenment he has received since giving himself to the Lord's Recovery, he must discharge the burden of what he has seen coming into the Lord's Recovery which is not according to the original pattern of God's plan and direction. There has been a turn to the world, sin and organized Christianity. Do we want to become a big tree full of leaven? This abnormal development fills those who have discernment with grief, deep sorrow and an intolerance to let it continue. A so-called teaching has been set forth that for the unity of the believers, there can be no opinion and only one trumpet must be sounded. This was very advantageously used to cover up many lies, darkness and fleshly motives and gains. The Bible's way is not to hide evil doings, but for the sake of the truth to boldly expose that which is contrary to sound biblical principles. (Gal. 2:11-14; I Cor. 5:1-13; Eph. 5:11-13; Rev. 2:12).

"Not to have an opinion and to keep silent cannot be accepted by this writer. To do so would be unfaithful to the moving of the Spirit. The writer must record what he has seen, heard and experienced in the light of God's Word and Nee's original vision in his book. Those who read can come to their own conclusions.” Reconsideration of the Vision

We, the elders of the church in Anaheim, want to ask you to forgive us for the letter which was sent to you on August 22, 1993 without signatures. All the elders are in full agreement that it was wrong and improper to send you such an unsigned letter. We deeply regret the suffering which this has caused you. Now we want to correct our wrong and improper action by signing this letter, which includes the body of the letter we wrote on August 22, 1993 as follows:

"We would like to let you know of a decision the elders made and announced today at both the Chinese and English speaking meetings of the church in Anaheim. The announcement which we read is as follows:

As many of the saints know, three former elders of the church in Anaheim took public action toward Philip Lee on November 6 ,1988.

The present elders would like you to know that we do not believe that the public declaration of those three brothers concerning Philip Lee was justified or proper. We feel very sorry that their action has caused suffering to Philip Lee's family.

Further, it is the unanimous decision of the elders that all discipline of the church toward Philip Lee be lifted, and it is our desire that he be fully restored to the fellowship of the church.

We would like to assure you that it is our sincere desire that your fellowship with the church would be fully restored so that we may go on together for the Lord's purpose in the church."

Signatures of Francis Ball, Ed Marks, Eugene Gruhler, Albert Lim Jr., Carl Althaus, Daniel Sun, Moses Kuo, Eric Lee lost in scanning of document.

In February 1997, in possibly brother Lee's last message given to the church, he sent an apology to the Body of Christ. His sharing was on reigning in life and specifically on imitating the apostle to bring the local churches into the fellowship of the Body of Christ.

He shared: "The coworkers in different places need to learn; all responsible brothers in all localities need to learn. The eyes of the brothers and sisters all need to be opened. Too many things we need to learn.

"I admit that in the past we have all made mistakes, including myself. For this I repented before the Lord in tears. I am sorry to the Body of Christ, and I am sorry not only to the brothers and sisters who are among us, but even to the people in the denominations. I am sorry toward them.

"Yes, denominations are wrong. God condemns division the most. But God still hopes that among all His children they would not have this kind of condemnation toward one another.

To understand and analyze these [points], we need to spend much time. You have to get together with a few people. I like the word in the outline...we have to receive people according to the Son of God, not deviating a bit from the path."

1986 - Elders and co-workers agreed to be in one accord to carry out a new move in the recovery under the absolute leadership of brother Witness Lee, declaring that he was indispensable to their oneness as the one trumpet in the Lord’s ministry and the one wise master builder of the churches. Indeed, this "pledge" clearly defined a new track and a new mindset for the elders and co-workers in the recovery:

Among the churches, the factors of oneness increased from the seven found in Ephesians 4 to a few more announced in this pledge: one ministry, one leadership, one deputy authority, and one divine oracle - even oneness with a ministry office and its manager was a factor of our oneness! Any dissenting opinion to brother Lee as the commander in chief was not to be tolerated; and matters of concern were not to be made an issue of, no matter how legitimate.

This new mindset became galvanized in conferences, trainings, and church meetings. The elders’ trainings conducted by brother Lee were especially useful to fortify the minds of the leading ones and to instill in them new standards of expectation in the churches. In those intense meetings and times of fellowship utilizing days at a time with one another, much instruction came forth concerning the details of carrying out the Lord’s new move in the churches. In these ways, the new mindset in the local churches was born.

In my contact with former leading ones in the recovery during, 2001-2002, they were all consistent in these three areas: 1) Their love for the brothers in the recovery and all members of the Body of Christ. 2) Their perplexity over a mindset exercised in the recovery leading to their departure. 3) Their love and regard for God's Word and their adherence to it.

They were also all open to reconciling fellowship with those heading up the recovery today.

> WORD. They perceive these to be God's "present day speaking." Unconsciously, this makes them infallible and unquestionable. They become part of one's very faith and foundation.

> makes an objective review impossible if not blasphemous. The longer one is in this mode the more of the lifetime that has been built on it the more

> so, then the above sounds extreme to you, at the same time others may also have sensed that you were never really clear about the "vision."

> cause. Their reactions will always be the same as yours would be if I would come to you and say, come let us question the authenticity of the Bible.

Thanks for sending the book. I look forward to reading it. I too think it's amazing that the brothers in the local churches who profess to be one with all the saints refuse to attempt reconciliation with those who left. For myself, I long to have fellowship with the ones still there. It seems their strong perverted concept of "the ground" causes them to be so exclusive that they even can't talk to those they consider not on "the ground". It boggles the mind! So much for doctrine that is not based in the reality of Christ's life. Dave

I have sent my book to you that I have failed to do until now. It should get to you early in the week.

It is very interesting to me to see that ones who have left the "recovery" can so easily identify with what I have written about and perfectly understand my heart. Ones in the recovery, the few leading ones who have received it are quite alarmed about it and have asked me not to take the Table or function in the meeting. I was also removed from a home meeting I was beginning to attend where an elder attended. The discipline is in place until I get "this book matter cleared up". I was not actively distributing it. Five books total in Seattle/Bellevue. The matters I brought up for fellowship in that book were for the sake of building a bridge of communication to those who left. The brothers who left are open for this; the ones in the recovery are not at all open. It is an amazing development that has taken place among us over the last 12-13 years.

(Two emails)

Dear Brother Steve,

Thank you for sending all the correspondence you have had with other brothers. Though I have not replied for some time, I want you to know that I am still very interested in your burden. There are many dear brothers in the LSM that I would love to have restored fellowship. Certainly two of them are Sherman and Dave Higgins. I met a brother the other day coming out of a store into which I was entering. I recognized him as one I had seen at times in the past, and then suddenly I knew his name, Rick Scatterday. We greeted one another and had most cordial and happy fellowship for a few minutes, with no mention whatever of any problems in the past or any special relationships to cloud us. It was most encouraging. Rick is travelling and ministering in various places.

May the Lord continue to bring His people together with Himself as the Head and center and the only focus. That is His house.

In His name, John.

From: JIngalls2@aol.com

Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2001 11:59 AM

To: SteveIsitt@msn.com

Subject: Re: Fw: letter to Dan Towle

----- Original Message -----

From: JIngalls2@aol.com

Sent: Friday, March 30, 2001 12:00 PM

To: SteveIsitt@msn.com

Subject: Re: My book

Dear Brother Steve,

I appreciate your sending me your letter to other brothers regarding your
book and your letter to me. I am sorry you have to go through this turmoil and, as you say, a "disappointing and confounding experience." I can fully understand this. May the Lord take you through it with Himself.

…We should be discerning with all and in all. Only the Lord Jesus
is spotless and peerless. I totally agree with you that we should address
the real situation and listen to the Lord's voice concerning it. That is
what we attempted to do in 1987 to 1989.

You mentioned Doug Higgins... I knew him very well when he lived in Spokane and was close to him. I didn't know that he was in Seattle. I haven't had any contact with him in 15 years. Oh, that the Lord would do something to break down these barriers, these walls! Oh,
that we could all be together under His headship with His centrality!

Your brother, John.

RETURN

This letter was not from a former co-worker, but it is concerning one. Ken Unger had been trying to hold two sides together during the new way transition in his locality. His desire and endeavor was surely to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace, but eventually, he received a letter from his fellow elders, asking him to leave the eldership. Keeping the oneness of the Body had apparently been hindering the progress of the one accord in his locality for the Lord's new move in the churches A brother told me that brother Lee wanted Ken to "get off the fence". He had stayed longer than other brothers who had left the recovery, trying to find a way for the church in Huntington Beach.

I thought I should let brothers in Anaheim know that I had an encouraging contact with Ken, and that he was interested in having fellowship with them. So I wrote to Ed Marks, hoping he could visit Ken.

I didn't hear back from Ed. Neither did Ken hear from him.

My letter to Ed:

----- Original Message -----

From: Steve Isitt

Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 11:16 PM

To: EdMarks

Subject: Ken Unger hopes for fellowship with you

Hi Brother Ed,

In a visit to Southern California last month, Dec. 3-10, I felt to visit different ones who were once among us in the recovery. It was quite an exercise and profitable to be with them. The exercise was in having a right spirit and an accommodating heart. What was consistent with them all was their love for the Lord and their considerable interest in the church and in the recovery...

Brother Ed, they were also alike in their very painful and perplexing experience in the church life that eventually led to their leaving. None imagined they would ever leave, but now they have left and the deep wounds are there. I was impressed with their willingness to forgive and to believe in the Lord's sovereignty, but they, nevertheless, are still hurt.

Praise the Lord! It was good to go to them, to consider their experience, and to pray with them. In the prayer, in each visit, we were raised up to the throne and received some sweet dispensing and some comfort as members of God's universal household meeting in a home.

Again I say, Praise the Lord! ...past their wounds is their spirit that matches God.... Brother, just the love and understanding shown them by us will please God...Who knows what love and understanding could bring in to the recovery concerning those of our family who have become estranged....

There is one brother that stood apart from others ... Ken Unger. He said he never left. He has quite a story to tell in this regard. He said that if I were to talk to him seven years ago he would have broken down crying. In his last contact with Brother Lee, after twenty meetings with him, they embraced in a very emotional scene. He said he has never had such a sense of glory with a brother.

I asked him if he would like to meet with one of the brothers and I mentioned your name. He said, "sure, I would like to meet with Ed, I know him." His attitude toward the brothers in Anaheim and concerning the recovery was one of understanding and respect. I was surprised by this and refreshed.

He is not wholehearted where he meets, but it is where he can get some fellowship and relatedness at this time. He said, "I have to meet", indicating that he meets there because of lack of having much choice. He asked me to arrange a time with you, saying that he could not do it. Will you meet with him, Ed? His wife, too, desperately needs to know our love.

The hardest field is here, with "former members". It requires the most Christ to go to them. They are in great need of our love, and if they receive our love, this will revive them - and us. Over a year's time, perhaps a revival would be brought in! Some would return, and some would become useful, very useful and productive in the Lord's hand.

It is a joyous labor and according to the Lord's heart to go after the one that was lost and bring him back home. What a glory if our hearts could be so accommodating and enlarged for this! Praise the Lord!

Steve I.

Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 10:37 PM

To: SteveIsitt@msn.com

Subject: Re: Bill Mallon

Hi Steve
Regarding Bill's letter to W.Lee. A tragic story. What kept going through
my mind was W. Lee's word of fellowship (I was there), You brothers have
never learned how to fellowship (with me). To understand this whole mess, you have to try and understand the Chinese mentality, their cultural background,
ie, the way they think. And don't tell me that we are in Christ, the new man,
and culture has nothing to do with it. Well I'm afraid in reality, it has
everything to do with most of the frustration you are dealing with.

I remember many times listening to Bro. Lee say never touch the Chinese
mentality. I never quite understood what he meant. In secular language, the
word inscrutable is used to describe the Chinese. To me this means, you can
never pin them down or get them to admit error. You can never figure them
out, and they seem sooo humble.

If you have following the negotiations with the US and China over the downed
plane, you will get a clue about them; wanting the US to apologize for their
errors. Against all truth, facts, reasonableness, logic, whatever... they want
us to kowtow, bend our knee, save their face, their honor, etc. etc. It is
crazy!! And yet to get our men and women back we had to say some kind of
political ....We're very sorry.... to make a deal.

Now transfer all this and more to the way they dealt with Bill and others and
then you will know why you will go crazy trying to bring them to some kind of
accountability.

When we attended the memorial service for W. L., we were amazed at the pomp,
the exaltation. It was like attending a funeral for a head of state, or an
emporor, or a king, Not a humble servant of the Lord!! Did Jesus have such a
regal ending? Did any of the Apostles? No, all died just like their master
and Lord. When we brought this up [with others], they said it was cultural and
his family's wishes.

When I was reading Bill's accusations of the way the office and Phillip
handled things in the S.E., I was shocked at his frankness. I said to myself,
you never, never talk to Bro. Lee like that, in that tone. I surmised that
Bill was thinking that surely B. Lee was not aware of all these under handed
dealings and if he only knew he would take steps to clear everything up and
possibly restore his standing in the S.E. NOT SO. It doesn't work that way
in the Chinese culture. The one at the top is Lord. You do not question, or
criticize, never, ever!! or you are through, finished. All those elders
mentioned by W.L. became a threat to his controlling and they had to be
subdued or removed. I think you had a little taste of this recently with the
brothers in Bellevue.

The Texas brothers learned this early on and became the inner circle around
Bro. Lee to defend him and explain how things work to the rest of the elders.
You mentioned Ray Graver. Have you had any dealings with Ray? Do you know
him? I would consider him the hardest of all the Texas bros. to touch. He has
been loyal to the death from day one. He has been loyal without question to
Bro. Lee and LSM for thirty-five years. What makes you think he is going to
change now? Maybe you know something I don't.

Their concept of the kingdom is.....Me King,,,,you dumb!....And this attitude
is passed down the rank and file. The smallest elder acts the same way. Those
who had a mind of their own have left. Those who stayed have given up their
own integrity and surrendered their person to Bro. Lee and the system. This
system has permeated the LC leadership. Can you change it? Can the Lord
change it? Of course He will change it in HIS TIME. Judgment must first begin
at the House of the Lord.

I understand about blowing the trumpet and pushing buttons; but are their
ears open? Jesus said to each church in Rev.....he that has an ear let him
hear! Ephesus did not repent, did not hear and lost their lampstand. Did any
of the churches hear? The Catholic Ch. is still here today. Sardis is still
lukewarm, and the Lord is still on the outside of Laodicea knocking to
stopped up ears! Only Philadelphia heard the Lord's word and let the Lord in.

My friendly and brotherly suggestion to you. Seek out the wounded, the
oppressed, the downcast, the discouraged in your area. There must be
hundreds of castaways, lost sheep needing a shepherd. Jesus left the
ninety-nine and went out seeking the lost sheep. He did not convert too many
Pharisees! They had no heart nor ear to listen to him!

You have a soft shepherd's heart. Bro. Steve. I assure you these bleeding
sheep will have an ear to hear you and respond to your care. Perhaps you and your wife could be a team ....

The verse in John 10:9...and will go in and go out and find pasture...has
been our experience. The Lord led us in and the Lord led us out...into the
pasture,,, where the Chief Shepherd of the flock is taking care of so many
who have been rejected.

Please read Ezk. 34 and Jeremiah 23:1-4, Isa. 35:3-7, 40:11, 42:1-4,
58:6-12.....for reference.

Dear brothers in the lead in the Lord's recovery: I feel that many of the following questions should be answered before the Lord and to His Body for righteousness sake, as we look to His appearing and judgment. Many of us would like to hear from you, hoping that either an explanation could be made to clear our understanding or confession could be made to validate our concerns. Brothers,

1. Was the idea of collecting "donations" from the saints for the trainings Philip Lee's idea?

2. Initially, was the idea of collecting these "donations" for the purpose of paying back Daystar debts?

3. After the debts from Daystar were paid, where did the money go from those "donations" for trainings?

4. Did Philip Lee become rich off the saints and their "donations" in trainings and from book sales?

5. Were brothers asked to encourage the saints to forgive brother Lee of any debts he owed them from the Daystar business failure?

6. Was Timothy Lee actually made president of the Daystar luxury motor homes business and Philip Lee made manager of operations for the Living Stream Ministry?

7. Why did brother Lee have his two sons in top positions in businesses that he owned and that involved interactivity with the saints, knowing full well their depraved state?

8. Did Timothy Lee get awarded a piece of land valued at one million dollars upon the dissolution of the Daystar business or in some other way from the saints' monies?

9. Did brother Lee become rich off the Living Stream Ministry operations, that is, through "donations" from trainings and book sales profits?

10. Did Timothy Lee have a prostitute staying with him on the Daystar manufacturing plant property?

11. Were not certain brothers disgusted, knowing this, and knowing that brother Lee was aware of what his son was doing?

13. When brother Lee was asked in an elders' meeting by John Smith about those who left the recovery due to the Daystar debacle, what was brother Lee's response?

14. Didn't he say that at first they were virgins, that they were pure for the Lord's purpose in the beginning, but that they had lost their virginity and left the recovery?

16. Is Philip Lee receiving money today in some way from the saints' monies or from the Living Stream Ministry operation?

17. Has he been receiving money since his official departure from the LSM in 1988?

19. Did Philip Lee commit sins of immorality as manager of the Living Stream Ministry operation?

20. Did reports of his immorality come to the ears of the church in 1978? If you don't know the details concerning Philip's history, shouldn't you, considering the devastation and division he brought into the recovery?

21. Did John Ingalls hear of such reports in 1978? Did Francis Ball, Gene Gruhler, and Max Rappaport hear of such reports?

23. Was Warren Peterson an eye-witness to Philip's sin with a married sister in his office one night?

26. Did Max after seeing that nothing was being done about Philip go to Philip and confront him?

27. Did Philip angrily deny the report and very nearly cause a fight in the restaurant with Max?

28. Did the brothers then go to the married sister, Ruby Wen, to confront her on the matter?

29. Did Ruby Wen then break down in in tears and confess that the report was true?

31. He remained in that job until years later reports again began to surface. Did brother Lee then immediately fire Philip?

32. Wasn't he removed reluctantly several months later by brother Lee due to the pressure from the saints and elders?

33. How much trouble and anguish did brother Lee and Philip cause the church in Anaheim and others in California?

35. Did Philip Lee also cause havoc in churches around the world with his interferences and manipulations?

36. Did Philip Lee have any business being in a position of leadership and influence in the Lord's recovery?

38. Did this mean that the churches were to be one with Philip Lee, a known sinner, and unsuited person for his position?

39. Did Benson and Ray Graver promote the following of Philip, knowing of his immoral state?

40.; Did Benson have a sister come to him and report Philip's violation of her? Did he go on to exalt Philip anyway?

41. Did you, like other brothers, hear of the reports of his drinking and reading pornography as the leader of the training?

42. Didn't Naomi Hunt, his secretary, report cleaning up his whisky bottles and porn magazines in the LSM office?

43. Wasn't she also violated by Philip and report this and quit soon after, leaving the church?

44. Didn't John So hear of this and become disgusted after hearing how it was covered over?

45. Isn't this the reason he left Anaheim during a training where he was to make amends with brother Lee?

46. Didn't Naomi's husband seek to kill Philip, taking a gun one night and going to look for him?

47. Didn't Beverly Goyer, Naomi's successor, witness Ruby Wen coming out of Philip's office buttoning up her blouse?

48. Wasn't this after Don Hardy had walked in on Philip and saw Ruby on top of him, Ruby rising up quickly to leave?

49. Did John Ingalls hear reports from sisters in deep anguish concerning Philip's immoral conduct?

50. Why do you cover Philip and his father, even allowing him back into fellowship in the church at his father's behest although pertinent brothers and, perhaps sisters, have never heard a word of repentance from him for violations in relationships of all sorts? Oh brothers! How much devastation, corruption, division, and ruin did this person cause with the support of those who loved him?

I have written this book both to those who no longer participate in the Lord's recovery and to those who currently do so. It is especially to those who no longer meet in the local churches that my heart goes out. My interest is not only in them; it is also in their reasons for leaving. I do remember, saints, that many of us once sang the song written above with a full heart and in one spirit. We did see the church as one in perfect harmony. We also sang and prayed and testified of Christ's reality, and we found Him as our proper food. We were at last home in the church, and we were glad to be home.

In reverence for the oneness the Lord prayed for in John 17 and in honor of all those who were valued genuine members of the Body of Christ among us, and still are such wherever they now may meet, I offer the following fellowship. I will speak according to the real situation as it unfolded in the “new way”. I want to address, particularly, the factors that led, or perhaps drove, many of us in different directions.

The new way was absolute and quite strong and many saints were overwhelmed by it. My wife was one lost from the recovery during the early years of the new way. She had been in the firstfruits of Seattle in 1970, the very first one added to the church there, while the migration to Seattle was still going on. She felt the Lord knew her need and sent the church just for her. Maybe your wife or your husband was such a one. There were also many young people who were adversely affected. Many saints became confused and did not come to appreciate the new way as brother Lee had hoped. It behooves the saints who remain, especially the leading ones, to give an account of the losses suffered in the churches from 1984 to the present, and to consider whether we have any fellowship of Christ for those who have left.

There were a number of families and saints who could not respond to our brother’s call to be in the Lord's army according to that call. We may owe some of them an apology and some restorative fellowship concerning our lack. If so, before the Lord we have responsibility to them as His members. I hope this little book will encourage a mutual reaching out in His life and presence. "He's the real love, that's what Christ is to us." The real love is what He must become in us to others. God is still carrying out His economy, and oh, how much has to do with our repentance in relationships!

If you are new to the local churches or are interested in knowing about us, this book will help to give you an accurate positive view from a person who has experienced being in the church for thirty years. It also will reveal our grave shortcomings and need.

We welcome you into the church family that we hope will grow in numbers and increase in love and care for all of its members for the building up of the Body of Christ.

I want to make a brief sketch of our history in the church life and then fellowship about the last sixteen years concerning the new way. I hope we all will open to Him.

In 1962 the church life began in the United States with brother Witness Lee fully charged and burdened by the Lord to minister the word of God in this country. He testified that he came with a "particular commission to bring the Lord's recovery to the top Christian country". Before coming to the U.S.A., brother Lee served the Lord mainly in China, Taipei, and the Philippines and helped greatly in the establishing and building up of the local churches there. The response to his ministry in the United States was immediate and many seeking ones were contacted and added to the church, a substantial number coming from around the country to Los Angeles to begin the church life.

The main burden our brother had at that time was to reveal Christ as the life-giving Spirit with all His unsearchable riches to the seeking believers. This burden began to be significantly discharged in the first conference meetings held in the United States in 1962, and the book The All-Inclusive Christ was published comprising those messages. His burden for several years was very much along this line as he ministered to the saints and to the churches that were raised up under his ministry. His focus was on the experience of Christ as life for the building up of the church. Many people were attracted by the enjoyment of Christ in the meetings and in the daily life of the saints in the local churches. The testimony “we’re home” was heard often in the fellowship of rejoicing brothers and sisters in the church life.

A significant turn was made in 1974 with the introduction of trainings to be held biannually in Anaheim. Brother Lee had the burden to establish the saints and the churches more in the truth of the word by going chapter by chapter through the books of the Bible. This he did until the last book was completed. The full exposition of the Bible was finally accomplished in 1995, a total of twenty years work. A line from a hymn appropriately describes our experience with brother Lee during that time: “The Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from His word”. Virtually everyone who attended those trainings or read the printed messages was greatly helped and blessed as the Lord opened book after book of the mystery of God that was “hidden throughout the ages” but revealed to New Testament believers.

While these trainings were in their tenth year, an extraordinary change took place in the recovery. Brother Lee was becoming increasingly aware of the stagnancy among the churches, especially in the Far East. It was a very serious problem to him that in many localities the saints had become complacent. He was, therefore, burdened to take a turn and have a new way, which involved several matters and changes based much on Paul’s word to Timothy that God “desires all men to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth”. He felt it was not enough for the saints to hear the messages, read them, and then place them on their shelves; he wanted the saints to become constituted with the truths and to ably speak them back to others, in church meetings and as the gospel.

The key, he said, to the Lord’s new move is the one accord among the saints in all the churches. If there could not be a good morale and one accord, there could be no move of the Lord. Thus, he sounded a call to have an army of followers under him as the "commander-in-chief" while brothers responded by constructing and signing a paper stating their allegiance to him and to his ministry. Our brother’s desire was to preserve and protect the churches from drifting into denominationalism by not taking his ministry seriously, a ministry fully unveiling God’s purpose in His economy for man.

In 1994 brother Lee took another remarkable step in introducing the high peaks of the divine revelation concerning 1) God becoming a man that man could become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead, and 2) the New Jerusalem. The first item was controversial even among many that had been in the church life for 25 or 30 years,

in that initially they had problems adjusting to and then accepting such a concept. Brother Lee continued on boldly and with strong assurance that he was speaking what God was speaking and what the churches needed to hear. He said that Satan would attack him for speaking this word and that he needed the prayers and covering of the churches.

His burden for the New Jerusalem was unabated and never-ending. He had an abundance in his heart to share and felt it was necessary to release many matters concerning the New Jerusalem, because it is the consummation, the final goal of God's organic salvation in the Bible and our destination. It is also the reason for God becoming man and for man becoming God. Brother Lee was so consumed with the matter of the New Jerusalem that he stated, "…If you ask me what my burden is, it is the New Jerusalem". He had summed up his burden in this way. It actually was the same as his ministry had always been, but now he felt he had reached the top, the summit, in utterance and expression of the full significance and definition of the ultimate goal of God's organic salvation.

In all of brother Lee's years of ministering the word in this country, he never spoke sugarcoated messages. He was bold to move past traditional or common Christian thought and teaching and to be faithful to the Lord and to the truth of God's word. In 1985 he spoke this in an elders training meeting: "Christians today are shallow because they would not pay the price to labor adequately. These riches are all here in the Bible, just like gold in a mine, but nearly no one would labor to dig them out. We are here to do the mining work. This is the Lord's recovery. I hope, brothers, that in your localities you would not repeat the old things. We should learn to go on, to learn the things in the heavenlies, and to learn to speak these higher and deeper things."

In many, the reaction to his speaking has been to this day extremely positive as they can testify with deep gratitude of having received from his ministry the truth of God's word in its rich depths and weighty content. The problems that came into the church life were concerning the new way with its amazing blueprint of teachings and practices founded on the Word and presented as God’s ordained way revealed in the Bible.

Not a small number of saints were troubled by the institution of the many changes in the churches following the call by brother Lee to be in one accord for the Lord's move. This new way in the church life suggested to them that certain standards and expectations were now to be met by them. Up to this point, they were glad to take the ministry of brother Lee. The new way, however, troubled them with its sudden new teachings and practices. Brother Lee many times pointed out that there are two things always dividing Christians: doctrines and practices. The teachings and practices introduced by the new way did just this -- it divided the brothers and sisters in the churches.

Again, brother Lee’s burden and concern was that the churches were drifting toward denominationalism through their complacency and lukewarmness toward the ministry that he had faithfully brought to this country by the Lord's leading. He felt that in just a matter of time the churches would thus repeat church history if he did not intervene. For that reason he did intervene as an apostle, as the "commander-in-chief", and as the wise masterbuilder on behalf of all those who had given their lives for the Lord's recovery of the church. He also did it for himself since he too had given his life for this. He was being faithful to his calling, to the Lord, and to the saints. This was his feeling.

So deep were his convictions about his direction in the new way that he was "willing to sacrifice people and localities". He said, "I have no time, dear saints, to fool around with people any longer. Let us go to fight the battle". He indicated that the Lord did not need that many people to fight, likening the Lord's new move to that of Gideon and his army: "When Gideon was called to take the army to fight the battle for Jehovah, the Lord told him that he had too many. Eventually, the Lord chose three hundred men and told Gideon to send the others home. This does not mean that whoever went back home was

no longer an Israelite. He was still an Israelite, but he had nothing to do with the fighting army". He gave the analogy that "to be a citizen of the United States is one thing, but to fight in the United States army is another matter".

Gideon only needed three hundred men and the rest could go home. This was the spirit of the Lord's new move. Many actually did go home and did not return.

There was to be "no uncertain sounding of the trumpet" for the army to follow with brother Lee as its unique leader. He had the burden to train this army to get into the deeper truths of God's New Testament economy and propagate them throughout the earth. While addressing the elders during an elders training, he said, "You may say that you follow Brother Lee, that you are one with this ministry. That sounds very good, but I am a little concerned that you may not know what it means to be one with this ministry. You may want to take me as your commander-in-chief and follow me, but I do not want to have many followers who know nothing about God's New Testament economy. We are not doing anything but carrying out God's New Testament economy." Speaking in this way, he showed that he meant business for the saints to rise up to become constituted with the word of God's economy for the Lord's move on the earth.

This manner of fellowship caused quite a stir in the churches, and most of the saints in the churches initially wanted to give their full cooperation for this turn. But not every brother and sister and not every church felt this way. Gradually, more members grew cold, though most churches were endeavoring to go on in the new way. Brother Lee did anticipate problems, saying, "I am prepared to meet a situation in which some in the Lord's recovery will not go this way. This will not surprise me. You and I should not consider these ones as strangers and should not cut them off from the recovery. We should still love them, respect them, and not despise them a bit. Do not consider them as another kind of people. Although they have not joined the army, they are still proper citizens."

It proved quite difficult, however, to realize the proper care and acceptance of churches or individuals who could not rise up for the new way. It was, in fact, impossible in many places and with a number of people. Many felt ostracized and out of function. Some just lost heart because they viewed the new way as a lot of activity with stress on numbers and production and less concentration on the person of Christ and our enjoyment of Him.

This, along with other matters, became an expanding concern for them and for many leading ones as they saw discouragement set in among the saints in their localities.

Brother Lee went to Taiwan in October of 1984 to raise up an army and begin to implement the changes for the Lord's new move. He got rid of everything old, including many longtime elders. He wanted a new start and a new way, which would include home gatherings, the truth lessons, the full-time workers, and the spreading of the gospel through door knocking. A major support of the Lord’s new move was to come from the instituting of a full-time training in Taipei. It was to produce trained soldiers continually to join this army. Basically, only qualified young people could take part in the training.

Two years later, in 1986, brother Lee took bold steps for producing this army by endeavoring to gain the full cooperation of elders, churches, and saints. He called the elders and co-workers together from around the world for an urgent meeting, the third such meeting in two years. It was in this third meeting that inspired elders and co-workers rose up to sign a pact, or a contract, pledging their allegiance to brother Lee and to his leadership. The following is included in the contract they signed:

After hearing your fellowship in this elders training, we all agree to have a new start in the Lord's recovery. For this, we all agree to be in one accord and to carry out this new move of the Lord solely through prayer, the Spirit, and the Word. We further agree to practice the recovery one in: teaching, practice, thinking, speaking, essence, appearance, and expression. We repudiate all differences among the churches, and all indifference toward the ministry, the ministry office, and the other churches. We agree that the church in our place be identical with all the local churches throughout the earth. We also agree to follow your leading as the one who has brought us God's New Testament economy and has led us into its practice. We agree that this leading is indispensable to our oneness and acknowledge the one trumpet in the Lord's ministry and the one wise master builder among us…."

It is worth noting here that in our brothers’ declaration, there was no mention of love. The thought of love was omitted. Love was not only strangely missing in this pact, it was also regrettably lacking in the practical application of it. The reason that leaders in this army did not consider love to be an essential element of their vow is simple -- an army doesn't need love! What an army needs is esprit de corp. They had that with the Spirit and the Word. Those not in the army, however, had neither esprit de corp nor the love to maintain them in the church life. Consequently, many saints left the local churches.

Although brother Lee called for the respect to be given those saints or churches not taking the new way, I do not know where that was done, how that was done, or if it was done. The atmosphere that was created was not conducive for a genuine acceptance of non-cooperating members and I don't know how such acceptance could have been possible. For instance, in a meeting in Taipei I attended in October 1987, brother Lee ended his message abruptly, pounding his fist on the table once, and pronouncing emphatically that anyone who didn’t take the new way was foolish, and then he sat down.

Another word he gave was to the elders: "Now you know where I am and where you should be. Also, you know what all of us should do -- go to fight as an army and in the army. Who are the us? Those that are in the army fighting for this ministry." This wasn’t a word of comfort or peace to those brothers or churches not in the army. Brother Lee had a vision and he had a goal, and the atmosphere in the recovery did not allow for a comfortable divergence from his objectives.

This was the spirit of the new way, a spirit very much of power, but not love. It was obtrusive in its pursuit for the one accord, while failing to consider, care for, or accommodate those strewn in its wake. The modus operandi of the new way violated the genuine oneness of the Body with all its precious members.

Brother Lee wanted to make it clear that the ministry and the church were separate matters. The army he needed was for the ministry specifically. He said that whether or not a certain church took the ministry did not decide whether that church is a genuine local church. The oneness he was after was for the ministry. If a church did not support his ministry it was still a genuine local church as long as it accepted the other churches and stayed in fellowship with them.

He gave the following analogy: "The citizens of the United States may say many things to criticize the government and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. But when you get into the army and become a soldier, you lose the right to say anything."

He continued, "you may be a member of a local church and yet have nothing to do with the ministry to fight the battle for the Lord's interest on the earth. All of you are the elders, the co-workers, and the apprentice elders, the leading ones, in the recovery. I am speaking to you all as the soldiers in the recovery, not to the citizens. I am speaking to the soldiers of the army. Are you going to remain in the army? You have to realize what the army is and what the army would do. The army has no capacity to take your opinion. There is no time for the army to fool around. The situation is quite urgent. The intention of this heavenly army is to evangelize and truthize Taiwan first and then the United States."

To repeat, it was quite difficult to really have the proper care and attitude for individuals and churches that were not in one accord in the new way. The ministry is such an integral part of the church life with the meetings, the trainings, the service groups, the small groups, hospitality, and morning watch, how could the fighting spirit of those rising up for the army not carry over to the church life? They would be pushing for new way practices while others would be uncomfortable with their army-oriented brothers and sisters.

The soldiers in an army are different than the citizens of its country. There was this difference among the saints in their localities in those days. Going on in one accord was not possible. In fact, it wasn’t even intended for all. The one accord presented for the new way was a separating word ordered to find out who would rise up for this army, and who would not. Many brothers and sisters felt out of favor and out of function and just lost heart.

It was becoming evident to “dissenters” that whereas the ministry had always been for the churches, now the churches were for the ministry. Indeed the churches were becoming “educational centers” for the major truths of the Bible to be dispensed into and constituted with the ministry of brother Witness Lee. Our brother strongly promoted this.

The Lord's Day morning meeting was called a prophesying meeting. There was no longer any real freedom to just give a testimony of an experience of Christ. Rather, all the saints were encouraged to prophesy, that is, to speak forth something of Christ from the ministry. Saints were also uncomfortable to share from other sources than the ministry. This restriction, discipline, and exercise was very profitable to the churches, on the one hand. On the other hand, a number of saints didn't have the liberty to share Christ as they felt led before the Lord, and several leading ones felt that they no longer had the flexibility to allow the Lord to lead them according to their locality's particular needs. The program was set, so to speak.

It seemed to these brothers and sisters that the church was becoming institutionalized with the churches not only using the same messages, but using them in the same way on the Lord’s Day morning; the truth lessons were being prescribed for group meetings; door knocking requirements for the churches were pushed heavily. The full-time training and support for it was being established with much emphasis on it and on predestinating our young people for it. The semi-annual trainings in the ministry were the fixed source of fellowship for the following months until the next training. And, saints were compelled to attend the video trainings with regular church meetings and service groups being canceled. Although this is a highly desirable format for most of the saints, many in the recovery became quite dejected and felt there was no way for them to be in the church in any other way then to comply with what was set down by administration.

What is very important to note is that the brothers and sisters who were beginning to leave the church were not against the word of God, the ground of the church, or normal church practices. They did not leave as opposers or dissenters to any of these matters. Neither did they leave because they did not love the Lord or the church or the ministry. They were meeting as proper "citizens" on the ground of unity, or oneness. The reason they left was because of questionable aspects of the new church practice, and they were no longer at home in the church life.

Certain features of the new way indeed were questionable, such as, the young people's full-time training, which was formed as a group of promising ones in the recovery. The establishing of such a group as a kind of centerpiece is what Watchman Nee had warned against, saying that according to church history to set up something in this way is the beginning of a move toward denominationalism.

The FTT, nonetheless, became the hope for the future of the churches as well as for their current vitality, and virtually all of the elders and churches supported and prized its existence. They were also benefited and blessed much as trainees began to enter back into the church life in various localities after their intensive two-year training. It posed very real problems, however, for a number of people, not the least of which was the disparity in interest and care for members outside the FTT.

With the enormous amount of time, energy, money, and manpower being invested into the full-time training, I asked a brother involved with the FTT about the care for those in Anaheim who were not in the full-time training. He confirmed that the overseeing care and interest was fully on the FTT, simply explaining that brother Lee’s burden was for the young people and for this training. This was in November 1995.

The emergence of the FTT was for the spreading of the gospel and the church life as well as for the producing of overcomers to become the spiritual Mt. Zion, the elevated part of Jerusalem in the midst of the church, manifesting the reality of the Body of Christ to usher in a new age. Its existence, however, is a constant reminder and clear example of the difference in care and interest in the members that has existed in the churches since the onset of the new way. Further, the FTT presents a formidable challenge to the New Testament where no precedent has been set for a special group of qualified ones within the church to receive such devoted care and wonderful selected attention.

There are very good alternatives to the FTT that would take away the focus on a few and put it back on the Body, while still preserving our young people, but making greater opportunity for all others to get intensified training and care. I say this with respect to those young people who have been trained in the FTT and who are now good dispensers of Christ and of the ministry in different places, some even going abroad in sacrifice of the human comforts of their soul for the gospel.

Another concern of the saints was the concept of there being one unique leader. Brother Lee was very strong to claim such a distinction in the recovery. It offended many of the saints for him to be so resolute about himself. It was not clear to them what he was doing and why, but, it seemed to them that this too was extra-scriptural as well as unprecedented in church history.

It is true that there has never been a brother in the line of God's economy with so much influence over so many churches and people glad to respond to whatever word and direction he might set. Certainly neither the Apostle Paul nor Watchman Nee had such a wide sphere of influence. Moreover, it is quite unlikely that if they did that they would have considered such colossal undertakings as our brother took in the churches. His boldness and absoluteness was very disconcerting to a good number of people.

It would neither be fair to brother Lee nor right for any of us to think that our brother could not make a mistake. He himself warned the elders that if they thought he couldn’t make mistakes they would do damage to him and to themselves. He was assuring them that he could make a mistake, reminding them that Peter made mistakes, and even Paul made a serious mistake.

Another matter of concern was the burden for the gospel that was being carried out in the new way by door knocking. Some saints and elders were quite alarmed at the amount of dissatisfaction door knocking generated in several places among the saints. Some elders went to brother Lee asking him to reconsider this and other practices in the new way, that brothers and sisters by the scores were becoming discouraged. Our brother did consider the reports with much interest and thoughtfulness to what was happening. He decided, however, that God's ordained way was worth fighting for, even at the expense of others. So, we "sailed on", but not all of us.

Here is a paradox: Oneness with the ministry was gained at the price of division in the church. For some to sail on in one accord was to provide the fertile bed of discord among the rest -- the believers, the members of the Body of Christ meeting as the church in their locality.

Maybe an illustration is needed to aptly describe what the experience of many was who suffered in the new way.

It is interesting that the upheaval in Anaheim and the trouble in other churches that the new way helped spawn, took place concurrently with the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989. In principle, the disconcerted saints in the recovery were handled much in the same way as those dissenters to the communist government in China. The primary concern of the leaders and the army was not for the persons in their way. The concern was for their “ism”: "If you expect to have one accord in any kind of society, group, or movement, you need the same kind of thinking that comes out of the same kind of knowledge. The Socialist party stresses socialism. Any political party has its own “ism”. They stress their “ism” in order to have a party, to have what we call the one accord. Without the one accord, no party could accomplish anything. Any society, group, or movement needs this one accord that comes out of the same kind of thought, the same kind of knowledge” (One Accord For The Lord’s Move, W. L.).

We have to be honest brothers and sisters. The new way took a toll. It was intrusive to our fellow members in the Body. Regardless of the condition of the recovery that brought about the need for change, we should not have lost people. If the call was indeed just to gain an army to fight for the ministry, why wasn't this more clearly defined and separated from the church? Brother Lee said that Paul never controlled the churches or insisted that the saints follow his ministry; nevertheless, he added that, "there still is a need for leadership". Hence, he took the lead as he did. To say our brother wasn't controlling the churches, however, is hard to comprehend. Gaining a fighting unit for the ministry took place in the church! It was inseparable from the church. To be sure, there was no respect or regard for those not in one accord for this, but in word only.

(I recently talked to a sister who left the church in 1985 after a leading one proclaimed in a meeting that the saints who were not in the church for brother Lee and his ministry didn’t need to be there. This word of absoluteness with the ministry and the resulting effect of losing a sister and the spiritual harmony at home for that family is an example of the spirit of power, not love that prevailed during the new way. Her husband has continued in the church, and one of their sons might leave for Russia soon, having recently completed the full-time-training.)

We lost many who at one time were happy to meet with us and their stories are often tragic. Married couples have suffered much, for example, with easily over a hundred divorces taking place in the churches since the new way began! I know of six separations or divorces happening currently in four different localities, and this kind of shameful occurrence among us has been taking place frequently for sixteen years. The new way for these members means a new way of life without their mate or their children and, very possibly, without the church. Many other couples that have left the church are still together, but with very unpleasant and painful memories of the church life since 1984.

Most of these brothers and sisters were dispirited and disheartened by the changes in the church life and felt forced out of participation. Some experienced getting "knocked down", such as leading ones standing up before “officers” of the army to fellowship their concerns. These brothers may not have been ambitious or conspiring as some brothers were alleged to be; rather, they were ones trying to stop the carnage that they were experiencing in their locality and hearing of in different places. Some brothers were afraid to stand or sensed the futility of doing so. One prominent brother, close to brother Lee, approached him at least twelve times, usually with others, to express his and others' concern for what was happening in so many churches to so many saints. Their efforts were to no avail as brother Lee's prophecy was coming to pass that he was "willing to sacrifice people and places". Their concerns were founded and legitimate, and attempts to address those concerns ended in their frustration and sad departure from the church.

Where was the principle of the Body in the new way, the keeping of the real one accord that is in the inclusive nature of Christ? Where was the same care for every member that there be no division in the Body that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians? It was not there in the new way. The oneness in the Lord’s new move was not a oneness of the Body. Rather, it dishonored the oneness that includes every member.

Brother Lee had warned the saints about division requesting that they "not criticize or oppose the army, since this would cause trouble and then division”. He said, like Gideon he would gain an army, pointing out that “those who followed Gideon to fight against the Philistines defeated them and rescued the entire nation of Israel" (W. L.). In other words, the "citizens" were to respect what the army was doing and not cause a problem. This went on for months and then for years with the focus being on the army and the new way.

During this time, priceless saints who did not fit the configuration of new way practice and procedures were leaving continually from the "ground of oneness". They may have ended up eventually meeting with other Christians who were glad to accept them or they may have gone to the world, some plunging into a sinful and dissipated life. What a loss to the church in favor of seeking new ones who might configure well in the new church life!

In brother Lee's warning about causing division, the onus was placed on those dissenters to the new way. I have a serious question to ask. Who or what caused the damage and division during the Lord's new move? Those who were standing on the ground of oneness as proper "citizens" in the church or the fighting army?

Saints, we should know assuredly that oneness with brother Lee and his ministry is not automatically oneness with the Body. These are two different matters. As highly significant and noble as it is to pursue oneness with brother Lee and his ministry, if this pursuit isn't balanced with a practical and genuine care for all the members, a wide gulf is created between the saints. This is division! "In the Body life the same care should be given to all the different members. A difference in care causes division" (1 Cor. 12:25 footnote, RV). In the new way we were not eager to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace with every member (Eph. 4:3).

While the army was being formed and sent to fight the "Philistines", the enemy had no problem attacking the unattended "citizens" in their homes. While the army had its goals, it did not have in mind the protecting of its own "citizens"! Thus, the “kingdom of Israel” was easily defeated, a great number having fallen, and the churches have still not fully recovered from the devastation.

The army has been fighting the “Philistines” (by the propagation of the ministry) ever since, but the "nation" has been laid in ruin. This was the “experiment” of the new way. It was an experiment that was carried out with a back toward the “old way” church life and those who wished to remain in it, while taking a new direction with the soldiers of a special army for the ministry of our brother. This would be similar to parents in a family of six children embarking on a venture with two of them for a few years while ignoring the proper and adequate care for the others and reaping the fruit of it – discord.

Brother Lee said at one point, "some saints came to me a number of times with reports concerning serious and even negative situations. They may have misunderstood my not responding to them with any kind of seriousness…I feel that it is altogether wise to be patient. When the fruit of a particular tree is growing, the fruit itself will show what it is. When the fruit becomes ripe, it will fall from the tree." This word should apply to the new way experiment, for we have seen the fruit of it now brothers and sisters.

With so many left in the wake of the new way, it is hard to argue with the results; the casualties speak for themselves. The Lord was not doing a purging work of incongruent members. It is not He that scatters the sheep! The Lord is the Great Shepherd of the sheep gathering His people together as one flock for a testimony of His love and keeping power. We should be one with Him in this work of shepherding.

If the incongruent members were indeed thought of as weaker members, God's thought is that weaker ones are “necessary” and that “more abundant honor” should be given to those members that lack. This is for the sake of the blending together of all the members into one Body. The new way did not accomplish this. It did just the opposite with the members who were "different", thus affecting an immeasurable loss among us and to the Lord's recovery.

From the beginning of brother Lee's ministry in the United States clear to the end of it, although we heard marvelous things, we heard comparatively little about love. Near the end of his ministry, however, he did speak more concerning the need for love among us. He said, "In the last few years, we have appreciated the Lord's showing us the high peak of the divine revelation. My concern is that although we may talk about the truths of the high peak, love is absent among us. If this is the case, we are puffed up, not built up. The Body builds up itself in love".

He actually began to speak in this way starting in 1988 and, intermittently, to the end of his ministry, addressing the elders on a number of occasions more definitely about this need. He said, "according to my observance throughout the years, most of the co-workers have a human spirit of "power" but not love. We need a spirit of love to conquer the degradation of today's church…this is what the recovery needs." He also stated, "only love prevails" and that "love is the most excellent way". He said it is the way to be an elder or a co-worker, and that it is the way to handle the saints. He proclaimed that it is the way to do everything and to be anything in the church life.

It was about this time that he looked back over his church life experience and recalled that his best days were in Chefoo. He said that that was his most prosperous, fruitful time in the church due to the love and the practical shepherding of the saints. He testified that it was the shepherding that brought in the blessing. Although he had shared so much with the saints on the revelation of life in the scriptures throughout the years, he said that even the gospel of John, a gospel on life, needed the last chapter on shepherding to make it meaningful. The shepherding is needed to bring the loving seekers of God into the corporate relationship of God and man.

Our brother seems to have pondered the non-encouraging results of the Lord's new move and the damage that had been done, having summed up his feeling in an elders training, testifying that the result of his labor in the United States had not been satisfactory. In fact, it had been “disappointing”. He also testified that his work in both Taipei and the Philippines never brought "satisfactory results", and that only one place had done so where he had labored -- "Chefoo, my home town." He was locked in by the war then and could not leave to minister to the churches. So, he gave his full attention to the needs in his locality.

An extremely vital practice in Chefoo was for the leading shepherding ones to meet for hours and consider all the “difficulties and deficiencies” among the saints in their locality, then find a way to meet the need. He said, "This fellowship was not superficial, but deep, getting to the bottom of things." Brothers, as well as sisters were there, and they fellowshipped, prayed, and coordinated in oneness with the Lord for the shepherding of all the saints. As a result, the morale in that place was high and the real one accord was produced that made an impact on their city. This caused a revival to break out that lasted for ten years. They were the real spiritual parents taking care of the spiritual welfare of their spiritual children.

The church in Chefoo was like a family. It was a church family with an atmosphere of a spirit of love prevailing there. The love inspired the people and motivated them. Love kept people in the church, and love brought new ones in. This church family experience was their oneness providing the Lord a base to move in their locality.

Besides being one of the shepherding ones visiting the saints in their homes regularly and when there was special need, a young brother Lee liked to have meals at the meeting hall and invite ten or twenty brothers and sisters to come and eat. During that time he would talk to them one by one. In this way he made contact with every one of the few hundred brothers and sisters. He said that by sitting down with them, chatting with them and getting acquainted with them he could get a clear impression about them and their need.

In Chefoo there was no centerpiece, no special group as a distraction from the fundamental need to care for the members equally. The ministry was in place with no special emphasis on it or allegiance to it. All the leading ones gave their attention, time, and energy to the Body. Thus, the one accord was struck. Their increase came due to the love and the one accord! They had the same care for the rickshaw boy as for the banker, the same love for the coolie and his wife as for the "promising ones." It was their family. The Lord poured out His blessing on this!

Today, we all need to be in a strong church family and deal with any atmosphere of a spiritual institution or education center. That is, we should have an atmosphere of a spirit of love prevailing, not just of spiritual seeking and of learning the deeper truths. We should notice if a brother or sister hasn't been meeting, or if they are having difficulty. Our thought is often about certain members that because they aren't meeting the church standard and expectation, maybe they're just not for the church. That wasn't the apostle Paul's thought. He said to "uphold the weak". They are our brother or sister, and they are necessary family members.

Strong church families form the essential base for the one accord. Regardless of the outward activities and move of the Lord taking place in the churches, we all belong to a church family that should be practical in caring for its members. This is where the breakdown has been. A real family takes care of its members, being accountable for each one of them. It is the secret to having morale. A thriving church family affords the Lord a way to move on the earth with joy.

Brother Lee recognized four years into the new way that there was the need to sound another trumpet call quite different from the first. He spoke messages to that effect in 1988 that are in print in a book called, A Timely Trumpeting For The Present Need. This was a trumpet call to elders and co-workers expressing the urgent and present need to care for people. He said, "Today, there are many brothers and sisters who need help. Hence, we have to do our best to contact them, to be concerned and care for them in love, and to strive to help and shepherd them."

"I hope the elders and co-workers would take this word of fellowship and exhortation to give their all and their time to contact and shepherd people. This was our shortage in the past. Now we must recover this matter." Until his death, he would sound this trumpet again and again in 1989, 1991, 93, and 96 --at least in these four years, in an ardent way.

In speaking to the elders in 1996, he made a statement that took them aback. He said, "As I have said before, the spirit of not shepherding and seeking others and being without love and forgiveness is spreading in the recovery everywhere. I believe that not having the Father's loving and forgiving heart and not having the Savior's shepherding and seeking spirit is the reason for our barrenness. I realize that you all work hard, but there is almost no fruit. The Lord says, 'By the fruit the tree is known' (Matt. 12:33), but we are a tree without any fruit. Everywhere among us barrenness is very prevailing.”

"Many of you are good speakers, knowing the higher truths. The truths we hold are much higher than those in Christianity. However, we do not have fruit because we are lacking in the Father's loving and forgiving heart and the Son's shepherding and seeking spirit. We condemn and regulate others rather than shepherd and seek them. We are short of love and shepherding. These are the vital factors for us to bear fruit, that is, to gain people. I am very concerned for our full-time training. Do we train the young ones to gain people or to regulate people? We have to reconsider our ways, as Haggai said (1:5). Our way is not right; something is wrong."

It is wonderful to have the high and rich ministry of brother Lee. We in the churches enjoy and appreciate it immensely, and most of us would never leave it. Yet, "our way is not right; something is wrong"! This is a very sober and serious word and should be taken as such, especially by our leading ones. Something is wrong, brothers. This is the reason for my writing.

I have to ask what was wrong with the way in Chefoo? Why was an experiment needed in the recovery? Chefoo was right! They had the real one accord. Love speaks louder than words, even the words that unlock the mystery of God and of Christ.

For the saints in the recovery, this trumpet call is still going out to the churches. It is still the present need. There is the vital need not only to uphold the New Testament ministry in the proper way, but also to uphold as essential, the critical revelation and practice of receiving the believers.

To uphold the weak and those with differing views is to be according to the Lord’s heart and to answer the trumpet call. It is also to respond to the Lord’s prayer in John 17, “that they all would be one”. The Lord's move should be a move in His Body involving all the members, not forgetting any among us -- and remembering those who left.

~ The following footnotes seemed to have been missing from our Bibles in the new way~

As long as one is a genuine Christian and has the fundamental faith of the New Testament, we should not exclude him, even though he may differ from us with respect to doctrine; rather, we should receive him in the same one Lord" (Rom. 14:1 footnote, RV).

Receiving the believers should be an active practice. Brother Lee said that “the real oneness is an acting and active oneness. The genuine oneness will cause us to take action when we hear of a need among the saints in the Body.” During the first couple of years in the new way, several saints either testified in a meeting or spoke to me personally, that they wished the door knockers would knock on their door, indicating that they were in need of help. Yet, no help came. There were many people like this in the recovery, who, after a period of dormancy, left the church.

"Regardless how much they differ from us in doctrinal concepts and religious practices, we must receive them. When we receive people according to God and not according to doctrine or practice, we demonstrate and maintain the oneness in the Body of Christ" (Rom. 14:3 footnote, RV).

One sister became dormant during the new way and began to take another direction and adopt a new life-style. Her husband tried to get other sisters involved with her to help her, but they did not respond to his plea. The elders also were showing no interest in what was happening with this couple. While the elders and those contacted sisters were quite active in the new way, none of them took action to demonstrate their oneness with this couple and help to maintain them in the church life. This couple's marriage ended in divorce after 26 years together. This happened in 1989, one year after my wife left me, the church, and our two boys under very similar circumstances. There was simply no help for my wife or for us as a couple in the church with serious and obvious needs.

"God sets up Christ Jesus as the standard for the church life that we may do everything in the church life according to Him, not taking any doctrine or knowledge as the standard. This will issue in the one accord" (Rom. 15:5 footnote, RV).

Paul spoke here of having the “same mind one toward another according to Christ Jesus” that with “one accord” the saints could glorify God. The one accord that Paul was after was for the whole church. It was the issue of receiving one another according to a Person, Christ, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified. The call to be in one accord for the Lord's new move, however, was different. It covered two Old Testament principles. One was the calling of a select few, the three hundred, to be Gideon’s army. The other was a drawing of the line in the sand, a call for those who were on the Lord’s side to cross over. In effect, those that crossed over were separating themselves from the rest to be on the Lord’s side. This was a call to be in one accord for the ministry of our brother. It was not a one accord for the Body spoken of here. The trumpet call that is sounding today, however, certainly is for the one accord in the Body.

“Lord, I join with many who would pray to raise up strong “church families” to take care of your need for oneness in your Body for preserving and protecting all the saints in love for your move on the whole earth and in every place.”

A poignant story could be told of a sister’s quest to save her marriage that recently ended in divorce. The brother, who is still in the church, put away his wife who had not been meeting for some time. The leading ones knew there was no ground for the divorce, and

the sister had apologized sincerely and profusely on more than one occasion for her mistakes and shortcomings in their relationship. She said that their relationship had been good for ten years then it began to change. It was related to differing views of the church and of the ministry that had been developing. He was becoming more absolute and she was becoming more discouraged over what she determined to be diversions from the truth in the church life. An elder told another brother and I directly, “we will not throw any stones at him if he chooses to divorce her. He is a good brother…he would be better off without her". This speaking is based on the oneness these elders and the brother have with the ministry, and their apparent lack of oneness with the Body, and care for a marriage.

This was in the face of her testimony to her husband and to all who would listen to her that she didn't want the divorce, but wanted her husband to come home. The following

e-mails show her desperate attempts to recover their relationship. I use them with her permission for the purpose of showing how gravely defective our concept of oneness with the ministry can be. The leading elder actually said that they were using a verse from Titus concerning opposers to give some justification for the divorce, which another elder did not agree with and seemed to have heard for the first time.

“My husband is going to the training in Anaheim. Are you going? I hope you can meet him there…Here my husband is at the training and He’s divorcing his Christian wife! I pray every day God will STOP this divorce. My girls are just devastated by this, especially my sixteen-year-old.”

“I have made a vow to the Lord that even if the divorce goes through I will continue to stand for my marriage and the covenant that I have made to my husband and to the Lord…I am sending out several cards and letters to people who know my husband and I and ask them to really pray for God to intervene to stop this divorce. I am also going to spend some time fasting. I really believe to break this yoke of deceit the enemy has brought on, there needs to be some fasting. I have not fasted yet….I have prayed earnestly but I have not fasted…So that is what the Lord is leading me to do. Then I am going to approach my husband one more time to appeal to him…perhaps he will spare my head!” (Reference is to Esther before seeing the king.)

“I don’t know where to even start in this conversation. There is so much in me. The tears are just rolling down my face….what about the Lord Jesus and what He says and what He wants…does anyone care that I love Him and want to follow Him. Why do I continually have to prove myself….I will never meet the standard. One elder said I called the church a cult. Did he ever come to me to find out the whole story? No!

“If there is anything that has caused me to think the church is a cult it’s his treatment of me. Where is my husband’s heart. He needs me and I need him. We are not complete without each other. I was told face to face by one of the full-timers here that the reason that no one has helped in this situation is that no one cares.”

“I am getting scared. I have been here before. I cannot believe that they {the elders} have such little regard for the marriage union. It is so hypocritical. Where is the oneness, it is so unreal. Doesn’t God’s Word matter…I am just overwhelmed…please pray for my physical body and my emotions. I could just cry an ocean right now.”

“Yes, if to oppose what is wrong is what an opposer is, then I guess you can call me an opposer. What has gone on here is wrong. It is not of the Lord. The real problem is…I am seen as “THE PROBLEM” instead of as a vital member of the body of Christ. I am a sinner who Christ died for. What right do they have to reject me when the God of the Universe gave His life for me? God receives me…are they greater than God? The hypocrisy makes me sick.”

“All I know is that my husband is in the trainings, he is in the messages, yet...he is willing to go against the Lord who he confesses to love. There is something missing.

No matter how wonderful and right the ministry is…it cannot replace Christ. I am in the word and prayer…I am not in the printed messages, I am not reading the up-to-date books, I am not in the church meetings…but I desire to follow the word and the Lord. I can say what the Lord says is what matters. It is above Brother Lee, it is above the eldership. His word abides forever. If Brother Lee said to divorce your wife I believe my husband would do it. Even though Jesus said not to. That is what bothers me. It is not enough that I love the Lord…no I have to prove that I agree with Brother Lee’s writing. That is not right. The center should be Christ. If my husband wants to meet with the church, then that’s up to him. I will not try to pull him out. The problems arise when he neglects me and the children for his spiritual pursuits. Family is important to God. Marriage came first. I just want my husband to have a normal Christian life. How he is living now is unhealthy and unscriptural”.

“It would be helpful if the brothers would direct my husband into the obedience to the word and then believe God will then supply the grace.”

“If I sound to strong I am sorry. Sisters are supposed to be quiet and submissive. It is wrong for a sister to speak up! I am out of line. This is the attitude here. It’s because I am a sister. {The elder’s} marriage counseling for me was to do whatever my husband wanted. That what I wanted didn’t matter. He believes that if you take care of the church, God will take care of your family. In other words, it’s OK to neglect your wife and children. The fruit of this teaching is very evident here.”

“If what I have said has offended you, that is not my intention. But I’m tired of the real issues not being addressed. Let’s not sugar-coat over serious, serious sins.”

“I LOVE YOU LORD JESUS! THANK YOU FOR YOUR FAITHFULNESS! YOUR TRUTH IS MARCHING ON! I BELIEVE YOU TO STOP THIS DIVORCE I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT MY MARRIAGE COVENANT WOULD BE BROKEN!!!!”

“The Brothers are always right, I am the liar. This is really going to take a miracle from God. The only way for my husband to have respect for me is to address these very serious matters that I have mentioned. Do you really think that these elders would deal with these matters? In their eyes I am a throwaway. I’m not worth it. Change will occur only when we are able to allow the Spirit to examine our own hearts. Has anyone asked the brothers to consider their own hearts…problems that they could have caused because of their lack of sensitivity and care? Repentance on all sides is the only way God will move. I don’t believe they are able to face their own demons.”

“I have not left the church, the church is not a place. The church is NOT a place. My husband does not love the Body of Christ he loves the church institution. To love the Body of Christ, he would have to love me. The Holy Spirit only leads us to do what is right. If my husband wants to divorce me then at least let him confess that he is wrong. Let’s not be told that this is God’s Will because I’m an opposer. (That is what my husband calls me…not his wife, not the mother of his children, not a sister in Christ…but I am “an opposer”.

The elders and the husband did not realize the help she was getting concerning the church over a year and a half period because no one was in touch with her and she hadn’t been to meetings for that long of a time. She was encouraged to the point of going to a conference meeting in her neighboring locality where a brother from Anaheim was going to speak. One sister hugged her as she came in the door, but one of the elders saw her and immediately told her she would have to leave, that she wasn’t welcome there. She turned and left, the sister following her out to where they talked near the edge of the property. The elder paced nearby until after several minutes he interrupted them and ordered her off the property, threatening to call the police if she didn’t comply.

She was mortified, of course, by the whole incident. One reason she went to the meeting was to ask the church to pray for her and her husband. She said had there been a different reception for her by the brothers and the church, she would have been encouraged to begin meeting again. Her experience produced just the opposite effect, reaffirming her strong considerations that the church had become a cult.

It is true that not many other local churches, if any, would have treated this couple in this way. Yet, the principle is the same in most places, that oneness with the ministry is far more important than oneness with the Body--and far more a reality.

Through fellowship, prayer, and coordination the elders, coworkers, and concerned ones

can bring the saints into one accord for the Lord's move. We would find out by visitation that a number of the saints cannot move with the Lord because they are having difficulties and need help. There is no lubricating oil for their inward parts. Love is the oil. Love will move them. To visit them is to provide the lubrication they need enabling them to move. Brother Lee describes his experience in Chefoo in this little known writing from the early fifties: "More than ten years ago when we were serving in Northern China, each Monday from 8 a. m. to 2 or 3 p. m. -- the length of seven or eight hours -- over ten of the elders and the leading brothers and sisters always came together for fellowship. We touched upon the welfare of the brothers and sisters, the matters relating to the church, the Lord's Table meeting the night before or the last gospel meeting on the Lord's Day. That was not a superficial fellowship, but deep, getting to the bottom of things. Sometimes the sisters might mention the names of quite a number of sisters, stating their present condition, their progress, their function, their gifts, and their shortage. Finally, one among us would have the burden and the supply to meet their need. Both the difficulties and the deficiencies were all fellowshipped (underlined in the paper). The field we touched was broad and the time we spent was long. It was because of this kind of fellowship that the church became living and the responsible ones were transparent.

In 1943 the church had a great revival. We then felt it was not enough to fellowship once a week, but that we must hold meetings every evening and gather for fellowship each afternoon. At those fellowship meetings, we always discussed the direction and flow of the Spirit, the manner in which different ones had a spiritual turn, the meeting the night before, the feeling for the meeting that evening, the persons we must look for and contact, etc. Oh that fellowship was truly living! For example, a brother would suggest to contact a certain person, but someone else would interpose with the feeling that the time was not yet right. All the visitation done after such a fellowship truly reveal the Lord's blessing.

If the brothers who are elders would have continuous fellowship, the church will be revived; there is no need to seek help from the workers or apostles. The church would definitely be revived if the elders would fellowship from morning to evening and from evening to morning for a period of thirty days. I hope you will pardon me for being emphatic, but I know this is true. Without any fellowship the Holy Spirit finds it difficult to work.

If the elders are willing to fellowship, many (saints) among them need to be guided, contacted, taught, dug open developed, and perfected. …You can be certain that where the elders are in leisure, the church will not be blessed. But where elders are busy like those in a market, the blessing will be poured down upon the church. If you work to make a brother very living in the Lord, consider how many he will bring into the church! However, if you decide to take it easy, some in the church will become numb and cold while others will backslide, dry up and die. At last you are the only one left. -- now you can really take your ease! Remember, if you desire to bring in God's blessing daily, you must certainly be very busy."

These are the principles that brought in revival in Chefoo. They did not merely have a routine church life. They fellowshipped, prayed, and coordinated to contact people. The church life there was people-centered and the Lord came in and blessed them. From the book One Accord For the Lord's Move by brother Lee in 1986, he shares, "We need to realize that if the one accord is absent, everything is gone. There was a time when the real one accord was among the eight hundred saints in my hometown of Chefoo. This issued in a revival. This revival was brought over not in full but partially to Shanghai. When I went to Taipei I had learned from our past what was useful and what was not prevailing. I dropped what was not useful or prevailing, and we had a marvelous beginning in Taiwan. Anyone who was there in those first six years can testify of the one accord, the morale, and the impact. Within this period of time our number increased from about four hundred to forty thousand, a hundredfold increase. Ninety percent of the new believers among us did not turn this way from Christianity but were typical Gentiles. The impact was with us".

It is true that brother Lee expected personal and intimate care to be rendered to the saints in all the churches. He discharged this burden to the elders and to those involved with the group meetings. However, he did little to care for the saints in a practical way himself. Saints, brother Lee once told the elders that if they wanted to get the saints to do something, they needed to take the lead as an example. He made a big point of this saying that the verse that charges the saints to "obey the ones leading you and submit to them" means that the "leading" should be by example and that the elders shouldn't be surprised or disappointed that the saints don't follow them after having merely instructed and encouraged them to do something.

Brother Lee's example to the saints was strongly as a teacher and minister of the word; it was not in the visiting and caring for the saints in a practical way. You would have to go back to his Chefoo experience for that, or maybe to Shanghai or Taipei in the forties and fifties. In the 1990's, he shared that his burden was in the study of the Word and the ministry of the Word to the churches including the use of the printed word and the video trainings for the propagation of his ministry throughout the earth. Because this was his burden taking up all of his time, he said that he "didn't visit much".

The elders, therefore, rather than caring for people through visitation in demonstration of a practical oneness, have mainly followed brother Lee's excellent example of study, teaching, and propagation of the ministry. The much more demanding work of shepherding and labor of love has not been adequately taken up in most churches.

In the book, Church Affairs, Watchman Nee declared to the elders that they “need to always remember the principle of the record book…In every meeting place there must be a record of the names of all the brothers and sisters with important information such as dates of spiritual turns or their present spiritual condition” being recorded… “With good records we can follow people closely…records can keep you informed…

The responsible brothers in all the localities need to look up the names of these people frequently and their cards. This is their responsibility. With all these cards there, you can divide and assign certain ones to be responsible for a certain number of people. You have to map out districts to find out who are in this district and who are in another district. You who are responsible should remember that you are overseers; therefore, you need to oversee. Your job is to oversee. Often you need to observe and ask, ‘Brother, have you done this?’ ‘Brother, have you taken care of that matter?’ Everywhere you go you should ask, ‘You have just finished visiting five brothers. What is the situation with these five?’ ‘You have just finished visiting ten brothers. What is the situation with these ten? Have you overlooked one and not visited him? During this past week, have you visited all of them?'”

“The responsible ones should not merely preach a message once from the podium and then consider the job is over. It is your responsibility to motivate the brothers…This is what you need to accomplish; this is the way today…."

"After you go down the mountain, I will write letters to ask you how many people you oversee in a week. We cannot have an elder who does not oversee…."

“We recognize that we cannot do away with the ministry of the word; this ministry is very precious. But on the other hand, you have to bring every one of the brothers and sisters [into function].”

In that early fifties writing by brother Lee, he also gives strong encouragement to the elders for their involvement in maintaining and enriching the group meetings. If his fellowship was applied today, many groups would be strengthened and made so living. Other groups would be started and raised up. A key element in actually attaining vital groups is the elders’ direct participation with the saints in demonstration of their intimate concern for them.

“If a church is to be filled with life, void of difficulties, perfecting and bringing others upward and forward, elders must fellowship [with one another and with the saints]…I can never exhaust itemizing the benefits, but the blessing will be seen if only we will practice it".

“Some of the elders feel that once a home meeting is established within the church, all the responsibility goes to the leading ones, thus making themselves jobless. If you are an elder, you must tread the pathway of an elder rather than giving in to your natural inclination. When the church increases to the point where it divides into a few home meetings, you as an elder will be out of a job if your natural concepts govern you."

"However, if you are led by the Lord instead of your natural disposition, you as an elder will discover many matters in which you can become engaged. True, the home meetings are in the hands of certain responsible ones, but you can fellowship with them about how they are progressing. For example, there are over 35 home meetings in the church at Taipei with over 170 responsible brothers. What a time-consuming undertaking and what a responsibility and blessing if the elders should seek a thorough fellowship with them all! What a great and glorious task if 20 elders can have a thorough and consistent fellowship with 170 brothers responsible for the home meetings!"

“For example, here are two elders specialized in management. They both should coordinate together and fellowship with the responsible brothers of the 35 home meetings concerning their management. Or, two other elders are specialized in leading the saints to study the Bible. They should go and fellowship with the responsible brothers of the 35 home meetings. As a result, 170 responsible brothers will know how to lead others to study the Bible in their meetings. Or, if one or two of the elders have learned to fellowship and pray in the presence of God, then they should help others to live before God. Or, if one or two know how to preach the gospel, they should always blow their gospel trumpet and fellowship with the responsible brothers of these 35 home meetings. Brothers, what glory will result if the riches among the elders were shared with all the different home meetings.

“Not only should elders fellowship with the serving ones, they should also study the results. For example, the elders specialized in management, after having fellowshipped with the responsible ones, should go back and observe the results. Possibly, these elders might supply a little more fellowship, thus advancing them further from where they had left them. All must learn from each other until the ruling of the church will be improved and profited unto an endless measure.”

I want to share with you a few things before I leave Seattle for a job possibility in Southern California. I thank you again for communicating with me recently. For certain reasons the elders' contact with the saints in a personal way brings a grace to them that others cannot bring. Their contact with as many people as possible in a personal way is surely crucial for the blending of the members and the building up of the Body.

I want to share what my motive was in meeting with the brothers in the morning from 1992-94, then what my goal was in writing to the elders. I would say before my wife left I had very little sensitivity to people in the way of personal care. I was very centered on spiritual matters, meetings, and the ministry. After my wife left I began to get some impression of the need for personal care of one another in the church. Then I became more and more impressed with this need as each week and month passed without my receiving the help I needed in the Body. After one year, then two, and eventually over six years passed (before I got married) without ever having heard of any concern leading brothers had for me and my situation. I missed 3-4 months of meetings 6-7 periods of time without a call or word of concern from an elder. As a result, a deep, definite, thorough impression developed in me of the Lord over those years, through my experience and through the ministry, on the subject of shepherding, which (I found out later) was put out in books and tapes beginning in 1988, my first year alone, and almost

With the emphasis and focus that we have had on young people and the Russian work over the years, it was evident that the burden for personal and human care for many individuals and families was lacking. In 1992 I began to meet for this very matter with the brothers in the morning, but due to the needs in their own complex situations at home, we were never able to come into a fellowship and coordination for visiting and helping the saints for their increased participation in God's economy. This certainly was Watchman Nee's burden in Church Affairs, 1948, when he exhorted elders and coworkers to care for all the saints one by one to bring them into function. He said "overseers must oversee" and stressed the need of a system of keeping a weekly record of the saints' progress, needs, spiritual condition and all the pertinent information concerning them. All, not just some part, of the Body was to be cared for that the Body could be fully manifest. All the saints were accounted for by the system and all responsible brothers and sisters were accountable for the care of each one that none would "fall through the

This, actually, was the goal of my writing to the elders. As Ron Kangas said in the recent

training, this isn't a church of the young people, and there has been far too much emphasis on more prominent ones among us. This honest, accurate account of the situation invokes the need for change, which the ministry has called for in the past in radical terms with leading ones in 1948 and 1991 to bring full attention to all the members of the Body, not just some. Brother Lee's Chefoo experience exemplifies this kind of care and testifies to the excellent resultant condition of the church.

"Over ten of the elders and leading brothers and sisters always came together for fellowship. We touched upon the welfare of the brothers and sisters and the matters related to the church. That was not a superficial fellowship, but deep, getting to the bottom of things. Sometimes the sisters might mention the names of quite a number of sisters, stating their present condition, their progress, their functions, their gifts, and their shortage. Finally, one among us would have the burden and supply to meet their need. Both the difficulties and the deficiencies were all fellowshipped. The field we touched was broad, and the time we spent was long. It was because of this kind of fellowship that the church was living and the responsible ones were transparent."

This way of mutual fellowship and accountability in a coordinated way for the care of the saints is what Robert and I had in mind when he came to the brothers several months ago. It is the way to have and show the "same love" to one another in the Body. It is the way Watchman Nee took and the way Brother Lee took. It is the way the Apostle Paul took in going from house to house and laboring in love to present every man full-grown in Christ. Vital groups would result from such organic, meaningful, aggressive desperation to gain the saints. Thus, this way would include all the brothers and sisters in the building up of the Body in love and provide a way for new ones to be attracted and gained through the vital groups, as well as through the campus work.

I offer this as fellowship since the question was asked by a leading one how we should go on. This wholehearted approach and follow-through for the gaining of all the saints into vital groups would build up an organic corporate container for adding new ones for the Lord's move and also for his expression on the earth in our locality.

~This is the fellowship that I offer based not only on my observations and experience, but also on the Word and the ministry. I welcome fellowship from anyone who is of a mind to thoughtfully consider these matters I have presented. In the church life, we know the value of being positive and not dwelling on negative matters, but we must also be able to recognize and to acknowledge the real situation and be able to deal with it before the Lord. The offenses of the new way should be discussed and fellowshipped over, not only for the sake of the truth, but also for the sake of those who were overwhelmed by the new way. A proper understanding of that period should be achieved and addressed in love for yet another new way among us that would not fail to touch the Lord’s heart and bring in a full blessing in the churches, based on the proper oneness in His Body with all its members~

Note: Most of my source of information on the new way came from elders training fellowship that I received in books or tapes. Book Seven in the Elders' Training series, One Accord For the Lord’s Move, was used extensively.

Note: References to people or local churches were not limited to a certain region.

Some Added Fellowship

One brother, who was close to brother Lee from the beginning in Los Angeles, had given the most high appraisal of brother Lee and his ministry only months before dropping the practice of the new way. Later, this brother left his eldership and, ultimately, the church life altogether. It seemed to most who knew the brother or to those that appreciated his ministry throughout the churches that he had made a sudden decision to leave, and they were shocked and perplexed that this could happen. None were more puzzled than brother Lee at the turn taken by the brother and also by other leading brothers who did likewise during the first few years of the new way.

This has been a question still not answered adequately in the minds of most of the saints presently in the Lord's recovery. In studying the situation carefully and honestly, however, it is not hard to understand why so many left. In many cases, their reasons were logical, legitimate, and according to Scripture and their conviction before the Lord.

Again, a main reason for people leaving the church was the leadership. Because brother Lee helped us all so much in the spiritual life and in the church life, it wasn't common for anyone to think that he could make a significant mistake. But, we have to remember that our brother was also human and therefore subject to error. As I shared previously, he said that we should not think that he could not make mistakes. Peter made serious mistakes. Paul also made a serious mistake. "If you don't think I can make a mistake you do damage to me and to yourselves."

It was said of Abraham Lincoln by an author who wrote a book on him, that Lincoln "reserves the right to be human", dealing with the common perception that this notable president was flawless. The book was realistic and showed that he actually did have

flaws and he did make mistakes. This author, thereby, helped Lincoln to join the human race.

If our brother did indeed make mistakes, let us do him the favor of acknowledging that he is human, after all.

Something that the apostle Paul took very seriously was the stumbling of the very least of the brothers, indicating that every brother was precious. Paul knew the Body, not a great work. In the new way, we experienced the stumbling not only of the least, but also of the best. Since the Bible uses the terms "least", "less honorable", "great" and "small", I am using the term "best". Brothers and sisters who were stumbled in the new way, whether they were the least or the best among us in our eyes, fell by the scores throughout different localities and regions around the country and the world. These were hundreds in number.

That general estimate is mine and unofficial. If there has not been an official count, shouldn't there be, along with a study of why each one left according to their own testimony? This would show accountability in our leadership for these saints, as well as responsibility toward God. Not least of all, love toward our brothers and sisters who have been thought of as casualties could be demonstrated. What an exercise and labor of love that would be!

The brother mentioned above who made a perplexing exit had approached brother Lee twelve or more times with his concerns and that of others about the damage that was taking place in the churches as a result of the new way teachings and practices. To overlook such concerns was a mistake. To "sail on" has been our mistake. Sail on to where? To the oneness? The oneness of the Body had been broken and many of the saints "trodden" upon. The would-be constituents of the oneness have been left behind. If they could be picked up, cared for, and brought back to the "inn" with full attention given to the wounds suffered, we will experience a glory and entrance into the heart of God that has surely eluded us these sixteen years of the new way practice.

Consider again brother Lee's word just four short years ago, "our way is not right; something is wrong". Our way cannot be right without firstly acknowledging that we caused so many people to stumble who loved the Lord and the church. And, secondly, to apologize and reach out to them with the understanding that we failed to accommodate and to love these brothers and sisters for whom Christ died.

In our dear brother Lee's zeal to be absolute to have a new way, he waxed exceedingly strong and daringly bold. His choice of words to describe the brothers who had served with him in support of his ministry and the churches for many years was astonishing. He asked that any brother who did not agree with the new way should keep quiet and not oppose him or the new practices: "To those who would not take this way, I would give a word of love, advice, and warning. Do not criticize, do not attack, and do not oppose. If you do, you will suffer the loss. This would mean that you would betray the recovery. You would become a betrayer, a traitor. Some may feel that they are not betrayers or traitors but protectors. According to their concept, they do not like to see that I am the unique leader to control the entire recovery. This is a very good cloak for them to put on. I have been with the recovery for fifty-five years, since 1932. In all these years I have not controlled anyone. I do not have the intention to control anybody or to exercise any control. But we need a proper leadership.

If anyone of you could rise up to render the Lord's recovery the proper leadership, I would be the first to follow you, to take your leadership. But what kind of leadership could you give us? How much truth do you know? Could you open up the entire New Testament from Matthew to revelation in a detailed way to bring the churches into the depths of God's New Testament economy? If I am boasting, I am forced to be a fool like the Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 12:11)."

In talking to certain brothers recently who are considered to be opposers, I heard them testify that they had no thought to usurp brother Lee and take over the recovery as we have been told. They say that they not only did not have this consideration, but that according to their natural makeup they could not and would not do such a thing, one noting, “who would want that responsibility.”

According to them, their burden and concern was indeed to be “protectors”, protecting what they had received from brother Lee through the years in his ministry and even doing it according to brother Lee’s own exhortation. He not only taught them strongly to stay in the central lane of God’s economy as late as the year before the new move, he told them many times to keep on this course even if he should happen to ever veer from it. Specifically, he told the brothers that they should focus their attention on the dear Lord Jesus and their enjoyment of Him. He said they should minister Him by speaking and teaching God’s economy, Christ and the church. He announced that they should never place emphasis on numbers, that if they did they would be off from the central lane of God’s economy. He noted that neither the Lord Jesus nor the apostle Paul had many followers and that the Lord today only needs a small number for a testimony. The emphasis on numbers, nevertheless, was unquestionably a basic characteristic of new way practices that held the attention of many of the saints and leading ones in many localities. The “opposers” did think that the new way practice was a movement that was not of the Lord, that it was unscriptural, and that many people were being hurt, damaged, and displaced as a result of it. They felt that they needed to come together to fellowship over the obvious needs that had developed in the recovery -- not to take over the leadership, but to show leadership according to the word as elders to “take care of the flock according to God”.

Brothers who continued on in the recovery have testified against these stated motives and intentions of our “dissenters”. In the book, Fermentation of the Present Rebellion, a number of co-workers of brother Lee alleged repeatedly that the “dissenting ones” had an agenda in mind behind their stated “concerns”. That is, their real concern was to “bring down brother Lee and his ministry” and to “take over the recovery”. The following has also been said generically about those who were dissenting:

“What we see in the present rebellion are exaggerated criticisms, cruel backbitings, unreasonable opposings, subtle underminings, wicked defamations, vicious slanders, unethical anonymous letters, bitter attacks, ill-intentioned conspiracies, crafty innuendos, double-tongued pretenses, fabricated falsehood, flagrant lies, reckless devastations, and unbridled destructions, with unimaginable hatred, fleshly jealousies, and unchristian avengings” (Fermentation of the Current Rebellion).

We in the churches have taken a certain view of this “mountain” of a problem that developed among us. We have seen it only from the angle that we have been taught, however. We have not seen the complete picture. Every story has two sides, every mountain several angles from which to view it. Because we have been given a certain view of the mountain, we might believe that there is no more to see. There is more to see, however. Our view of it has been limited; it is neither adequate nor is it completely accurate.

It would be most foolish of me or of anyone reading this book on the fermentation of rebellion to simply take this word without hearing a word of defense on behalf of our accused brothers and sisters about the defamations and devastations of their own character as set forth in this book and other writings and speakings. The book depicts brothers representing the heart and mind of the dissenting ones without giving them opportunity to express for themselves what their intentions and motives were. It does not record the responses of dissenting ones to very serious allegations about them.

The book may be one hundred percent correct according to your understanding and the new way mentality. But according to God is it correct? If not, we in the churches should know for our awareness of the wrong and sin against these saints.

Did these people just all of a sudden rise up in rebellion and begin to speak contrarily to the ministry without a reason? Were they really against brother Lee and his ministry? Were they really against God’s ordained way revealed in the Bible?

Their dissenting, actually, was solely to those elements in the new way that they found to be absolutely objectionable to their Christian conscience and to their understanding of Christ and the church. To them, these elements of the new way were irreconcilable with the word, with church precedent, and with prior church ministry.

We have been taught to believe the worst about all the dissenting brothers from southern and central California without ever hearing their defense. Their wives and other sisters might be implicated as well, as possible supporters of an alleged conspiracy, for they too no longer meet with the church or support the ministry. Thus, they might also be deemed betrayers or traitors. Are all those who left really to be condemned for not supporting brother Lee and the questionable aspects of the new way?

Should we still condemn them today? Brother Lee had former elders, co-workers, and saints in mind at the end of his life and ministry: He said, “The Lord can testify for me that I don’t condemn anyone…We love people. We love the opposers, and we love the top rebels. I really mean it. We love them and do not hate them. Who am I? I am not qualified to condemn or hate. Am I perfect? Even the prophet Isaiah when he saw the Lord, said, “Woe is me, for I am finished / For I am a man of unclean lips, / And in the midst of an unclean people I dwell” (Isa. 6:5). Who is clean today? If we criticize people and say something bad about them, we are not clean.”

Has there been any mercy, understanding or grace shown the former elders in Anaheim, and their wives for the convictions they stood by during a very difficult time? These brothers withstood condemnation, criticism, and slander AS ELDERS in a local church in the midst of a turmoil engendered not by them, but by what was considered by them to be intruding elements and factors coming into their local church. A careful, thoughtful consideration of what their concerns were and what they endured, and also what it was that pressed some of the saints in Anaheim into such a shameful display of rebellion could help give the saints in the recovery a much better understanding and a less exaggerated view of our uncelebrated brothers and sisters in Christ.

The idea that all who left the recovery should be painted black with the same broad brush is highly questionable as well as unethical and careless. It is undeservedly defaming and devastating to many of them! One former elder’s wife is quite supportive of brother Lee, for instance. Many of those who left have never had a chance to express themselves in an environment that is conducive for hearing them clearly, and considering genuinely what they have to say. Maybe we could give them this opportunity soon, brothers.

Do we really love the “opposers”, even the “top rebels” as brother Lee said we should do? Is our view of them fair? Is our view of each one right according to God? Is the Person of Christ involved in our judgment of them? I can testify that in my little bit of contact with a few former elders, their spirit of love and careful manner today in handling the saints is evident, such that I have not seen in the recovery. Their testimony in this regard is that once they left the church life, they began to seek the Lord Himself. He was their Shepherd, and they learned to shepherd and care for one another. They did not become unsaved when they left the church, and they did not become beasts of the field wandering about like Nebuchednezzar. They have learned the way of shepherding and caring for one another’s needs. These were the casualties of the new way.

We should listen to their stories and their testimonies, brothers? If “something is wrong” among us, maybe listening with respect and regard to our brothers and sisters will help us to understand our lack of feeling and sensitivity to the Lord’s heart and mind for others, even those He bought with His own precious blood and had brought at one time into the church. Not walking “according to love”, brothers, is surely our basic failure and need.

~The following excerpts from our brother’s ministry prior to the new way show the proper view of receiving the saints with considerate love for them all, and give a stern warning as well to the perils of holding even the most sound doctrines and scriptural teachings above the tender and caring Person of Christ for His members.

Love and One Accord in the Scriptures

In Romans

In the book of Romans, which covers the normal Christian life and church life, Paul speaks about the need to receive the believers in the principle of love. In fact, love is the underlying theme of Paul’s writings interwoven throughout nearly every one of his epistles. The following is a summary of Romans 14:13-15, “If we receive the believers in love, we shall not judge others, not put stumbling blocks before them, not grieve the brothers, not destroy the man for whom Christ died, but rather walk in love.

…Therefore, in Romans it seems that Paul was telling the saints ‘you must receive others in the principle of love. Love must govern you. Love must be the controlling principle in receiving the saints’.”

“The receiving of the believers is not an insignificant matter. It is related to the judgement seat in the future, and it concerns the kingdom life in the present.”

“Chapter 14 can be considered a supplement to the constitution of the church life. In setting forth every article, the author’s heart was tolerant, his attitude was broad, and his view was noble. In order to practice the church life that he instituted in chapter 12, we must strictly observe the supplement set forth in this chapter. Many saints who love the Lord and seek to live the church life have failed because they were either negligent or mistaken in this matter.”

“To practice the Body life revealed in chapter 12, we must learn the practical lessons of receiving the believers, as revealed particularly in 14:1—15:13, that the church life may be all-inclusive, able to include all kinds of genuine Christians.”

Rom. 14:17 -- “According to the context of this chapter, this verse was written for our receiving of the believers. If we receive believers according to the apostle’s instruction in this chapter, we will be right and proper toward those we receive and will have peace with them; thus, we will have joy in the holy Spirit, proving that we are living in the reality of God’s kingdom and are under God’s rule.”

“When you are about to receive the saints, you must realize that the saints are not to be received according to your doctrinal concepts….”

Rom. 14:18 -- “For he who serves Christ in this is well pleasing to God and approved by men.”

“To live in the kingdom of God in the way of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit is to serve Christ as a slave. This is well pleasing to God and approved by men, and it preserves the oneness of the church for the practical Body life.”

“This means that to receive the believers is to serve Christ. We have to do this as in the kingdom of God and in the way of serving Christ as a slave, in the way of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, not in the way of taking care of doctrinal concepts. Surely, this way will be well pleasing to God and approved by men. And this way will never cause any division, but always keep the unity of the spirit for the practical Body life.”

Rom.14:19 -- “So then let us pursue the things of peace and the things for building up one another.”

“For the proper church life we must pursue the things of peace, the things that keep the oneness of the Body, and we must pursue also the things that build up one another, the things that minister life to our fellow members for mutual building up.”

“The things that build up one another are the things that minister life to the members of the Body for the mutual building. We must pursue both categories of things. We have to seek after the things that keep the unity of the Body with peace and the things that minister life to others. In order to do this, we have to leave all doctrinal concepts behind and overcome all the frustrations that originate from mental knowledge. Satan is subtle. Through all the centuries, he has used and still is using doctrinal concepts and mental knowledge to frustrate the ministry of life and to divide the Body of Christ. Therefore, we must overcome his subtlety by pursuing the things of peace for keeping unity, and the things that minister life to others for the building of the Body.”

Rom. 14:20 -- “Do not break down the work of God …it is evil for a man…to be a stumbling block…It is good not to…do anything by which your brother stumbles.”

“In all saved persons there is a measure of God’s work. God has called and saved them. God has done at least this much divine work in them. If we cause any of the believers to stumble because of our doctrinal concepts, we break down, destroy, God’s work of grace in him. We should take care of God’s work, not our doctrinal concepts. All our doctrinal concepts must be cast aside for the sake of God’s work of grace in others. We are free to eat anything and to do anything that is not sinful, but we should not eat anything or do anything by which a brother stumbles. We must take care of the building of the brothers in life, not the keeping of our religious concepts in knowledge.”

“Paul was very wise. If we are not in the spirit as we read this portion of Romans, we will miss much of the depth of what Paul wrote. Paul began the section on receiving the saints with the matter of doctrinal concepts…and he concludes it with receiving the saints according to Christ. We must not receive the believers according to doctrinal concepts, but according to Christ.”

“Most of those who talk about the Body in Romans 12 have neglected the practice of Romans 14. However, it is impossible to have the reality of chapter twelve without the proper practice of chapter fourteen.

“Without Romans 14, we cannot have the Body, because without the practice of receiving the believers revealed in this chapter, Christians will remain divided over doctrinal concepts. Doctrine divides; life unites. Christian history has proved that no doctrine builds up; every doctrine is divisive. Whether or not a doctrine is scriptural or unscriptural, right or wrong, it still divides. Christianity has been cut into thousands pieces by all the different doctrines. Without exception every doctrine has produced a sect or division. There is no need to say that cultic doctrines divide, even the proper, sound, fundamental, scriptural doctrines are divisive. Therefore, we should not devote our attention to doctrine. Instead, we should pray, ‘Lord, rescue us from all doctrinal concepts. Lord, bring us into yourself. You are our unique concept’. Our concept is Christ. Christ is one; doctrines are many. Christ must be our unique concept…This was Paul’s meaning when he told us ‘to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus’” (15:5).

Bearing the Weak Ones

Rom. 15:1 -- “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those who are weak, and not to please ourselves”.

“In receiving the believers, we must bear the weaknesses of the weak and not please ourselves. The Lord Jesus always bears the weaknesses of His believers (2 Cor. 12:9) and does not please Himself. In receiving the believers, we have to do the same according to Him, not pleasing ourselves, but bearing others’ weaknesses.”

Rom. 15:2-3 -- “Let each of us please his neighbor unto what is good for building. For even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you, fell upon Me.”

“We have to please ourselves that they may be built up in the Body. For the sake of this purpose, we must pay the price that we may please others. Christ did not please Himself; He pleased the Father by bearing the reproaches, which should have fallen upon the Father. Likewise, we should not please ourselves; we should please others by bearing their weaknesses that they may be built up in the Body of Christ.”

Rom. 15:4-5 -- “For whatsoever was written before was written for our instruction, that through endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures we may have hope. Now the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus.”

“‘Whatever was written’ refers to what is quoted in verse 3 concerning Christ and is for the instruction that produces endurance and encouragement with hope. The record concerning Christ in the Scriptures is surely full of instruction. If we receive its instruction, we will be supplied with the endurance and encouragement of Christ that we may have hope. In receiving the believers, we need to endure the weaknesses of the ones whom we are going to receive. We also need to be encouraged with the hope that they may improve and be empowered in faith by the Lord’s grace. In receiving the weaker believers, we have to realize that our God is the God of endurance and encouragement who can cause us to endure others’ weaknesses and to be encouraged with what He can do in others by His grace. If we are so encouraged by such a God, we shall be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus, not according to anything else.”

“Since there is only one Christ Jesus, if we are all according to Christ, we shall be likeminded with one another. However, if our mind is in accordance with teachings, concepts, religious practices, or any other such thing, we shall be divided.”

“The only way to be likeminded toward one another is to be according to Christ. To receive the believers according to our teachings, concepts, gifts, or religious practices does not need any endurance or encouragement with hope. But to receive all believers according to Christ does need an amount of endurance and encouragement with hope which the very God of endurance and encouragement will supply us if we care for the keeping of unity and the building up of the Body.”

Rom. 15:6 -- “That you may with one accord and with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. “Some versions say ‘with one mind and with one mouth’. However, in Greek the word is accord, not mind. Nevertheless, the word actually means one mind. We all need to be likeminded. When we are likeminded, we shall be in one accord and shall have one mouth, meaning that we shall have the same concept and the same way of speaking. There will be many believers, but only one mouth. Whenever we have the same mind and are of one accord, we shall say the same thing. Therefore, with one mind and one mouth we glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…If in receiving the believers, we behave ourselves according to the Lord Jesus, we shall glorify God as He does.”

Rom 15:7 -- “Wherefore, receive one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.” “This verse, when taken along with 14:3, proves that Christ’s receiving is God’s receiving. What Christ has received, God has received. Christ has received us to the glory of God. Our receiving of the believers must be according to God’s and Christ’s receiving, not according to anything else. Whomever God and Christ has received we have to receive, regardless of how much they differ from us in doctrinal concepts or religious practices. This is for the glory of God.”

In 1 Corinthians

“After Paul presented a full sketch of the Christian life and the church life in Romans, he gives an illustration of the Christian life, the church life, and the Body life in 1 Corinthians”.

“In Romans 1:10 Paul says, ‘now I beseech you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but, that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion.’ To keep the oneness in the Lord and to avoid divisions, we need to uplift and exalt the unique name of our Lord by dropping all names other than this highest name.”

“In 1 Corinthians 1:10 Paul urges the believers to speak the same thing so that there be no divisions among them. In this Epistle Paul deals with eleven problems among the believers in Corinth. The first is the matter of division. Division is nearly always the leading problem, bringing in all other problems among the believers. It may be considered the root of the problems among the believers. Hence, in dealing with all the problems in the church at Corinth, the apostle’s ax first touches the root, that is, the divisions among them. The first virtue of the walk worthy of God’s calling is the keeping of the oneness of the Spirit in the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:1-6).”

“In verse 12 Paul goes on to say, ‘Now I mean this, that each of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.’ In principle this is just the same as saying I am a Lutheran, I am a Wesleyan, I am a Presbyterian, I am an Episcopalian, I am a Baptist. All such designations should be condemned and rejected. They can only be terminated and eliminated by taking Christ as the unique center among all the believers.”

“To say ’I am of Christ’ in the way of excluding the apostles and their teachings or of excluding other believers is as divisive as to say ‘I am of this or of that’.”

“These verses indicate that divisions among Christians always result from placing another name above the name of the Lord Jesus. When certain of the Corinthians said, ‘I am of Apollos’, they automatically uplifted the name of Apollos above the name of Christ.”

“It is very significant that in verse 10 Paul beseeches the brothers through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This indicates that we should not uplift any name above this name. Through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Paul charged the believers at Corinth to all speak the same thing.”

“When I was a young Christian, certain Christian leaders told me that I should not expect all Christians ever to speak the same thing. Do you think it is possible for us as Christians to speak the same thing? If you regard this as possible, I would ask you how we can speak the same thing. As we consider the differences among nations and races today, we see that people do not speak the same thing. For example, the Chinese do not speak the same thing as the Japanese, nor the Germans, as the French. How is it possible for believers of different nationalities to speak the same thing? To answer this question we need to understand what Paul means by the expression ‘the same thing’.”

“When Paul speaks of ‘the same thing’, he means Christ and Him crucified. Thus, for us to speak the same thing means that we all speak concerning Christ and Christ crucified. From experience I can testify that, although according to history it is impossible for Chinese and Japanese, Germans and French, to be truly one, I have seen real oneness among the believers from these different nationalities. It is beautiful to see the genuine oneness between Chinese and Japanese believers and also between German and French believers. Such a oneness is possible only when we concentrate on Christ as our unique center and unique portion. As our unique center and portion, Christ is in all the saints (Col. 1:27) to even become all the saints (Col. 3:11). Whereas many of today’s Christians are divided because they emphasize many things in place of Christ, we are one because we have nothing but Christ.”

“Because the Lord has raised us up to carry out His recovery, we focus our attention on Christ and not on any practices. We have turned away from everything else to the Lord Himself…In the past some were distracted by what they thought was a better way of meeting. However, our center is not a certain way of meeting – our center is Christ Himself.”

“Many Christians today do not talk at all about Christ. In their conversation they are preoccupied with many other things. In the local churches we all need to speak of Christ crucified. Do not discuss the meetings, whether they are high or low, and do not talk about the church, whether it is good or bad. Likewise, do not speak about the elders, whether they are right or wrong, capable or incapable. Our attitude should be that we care only for Christ, for the church of God in every place, and for the Lord’s recovery. God’s goal in His recovery is to recover Christ as everything to us.”

“During more than fifty years in the church life, I have observed that many saints in different countries and cities have not yet been absolutely rescued from the degraded situation of Christianity. Even some of the dear saints in the Lord’s recovery talk in the way of the practice of today’s Christianity. Instead of speaking of Christ and Him crucified, they talk about the meetings, the elders, and the saints. When others want you to talk with them in such a way, you should say, ‘I do not have any heart for this. My only preference is Christ. I only care for Christ, not for the condition of the church or the meetings’.”

“Whether or not a local church is a genuine church is not a matter of condition. Do not think that if a certain church is healthy, it is the church, but that it is no longer the church if its condition becomes unhealthy. Brother so-and-so is the same person whether he is strong or weak, healthy or sick. Likewise, even if the condition of the church is poor and very unhealthy, it is still the church. If we see the church in the Lord’s recovery in this way and care only for Christ as our unique center, we shall not have any divisions.”

“…Whether the church is good or bad, healthy or unhealthy, living or dead, it is still the church. If we realize this, it indicates that we have seen that Christ is God’s unique center”.

“It is crucial for us all to learn the secret not to know anything except Christ and Him crucified. However, it is actually quite difficult to practice this. It is not easy for us to speak the same thing. Nevertheless, we need to learn to speak the same thing – Christ and Him crucified.”

“In verse 10 Paul also tells the Corinthians to be ‘attuned to the same mind and in the same opinion’. The Greek word rendered attuned is the same word that is translated mending in Matthew 4:21. It means to repair, to restore, to adjust, to mend, making a broken thing thoroughly complete, joined perfectly together. The Corinthian believers as a whole were divided; their oneness was broken. They needed mending to join them perfectly together that they might be in harmony, having the same mind and the same opinion to speak the same thing, that is, Christ and His cross.”

“The testimony of the church in Corinth had been severely damaged, and Paul wrote this Epistle to mend this situation. This mending was also an attuning. The word attune is a musical term. Among the saints in Corinth there was no harmony. In writing this Epistle Paul was seeking to restore the harmony, to attune them so that they might be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion.”

“If we would be attuned in the same opinion, we need to have a vision of the place of Christ in God’s economy. I am burdened that all the saints would see Christ and know Him. When you have seen the all-inclusive Christ and learned the secret of enjoying Him, your way of thinking and of speaking will be changed. Then you will become pure and simple. Instead of expressing your own opinions, you will care only to enjoy Christ and speak of Him. Having become a person who does not know anything except Christ, you will be faithful to the Lord’s recovery.”

“Today the Lord is seeking a people who care only for Him. Collectively, here and there, these people will be lampstands. Among them there will be no preferences or opinions – only Christ. May we all learn this secret.”

“In the Lord’s recovery we care only for Christ. In the recovery the Lord is not recovering anything other than Christ Himself in our experience. Only by focusing on Christ can we be saved from division.”

“By nature we are all divisive. We were born with a divisive element. The only way to be rescued from this divisiveness is to see the all-inclusive Christ and learn the secret of enjoying Him. Please be impressed that the only way to avoid division is to see Christ, receive Christ, and enjoy Christ. This and only this will cause us to be attuned in the same opinion. Then there will be real harmony among us.”

“If you visit another locality, do not seek to know things about the church there. Do not ask about the elders or about the young people. Instead, care only for the harmony which comes from the enjoyment of Christ. When I visit any church, I care only to behold such harmony. If this harmony is not present in a particular church, I realize that the saints in that place have not been enjoying Christ adequately. But if we enjoy Christ continually, there will be harmony among us.”

“Whenever you visit another local church, you should seek to be blind and not see anything other than Christ. Then you will be one who has learned the secret, who speaks the same thing, and who has the same mind and the same opinion.”

“Let us learn to have no other choice, preference or taste other than Christ. The all-inclusive Christ is our unique choice, preference, taste, and enjoyment. This will preserve us in the church in the Lord’s recovery until He comes back. Otherwise, eventually we shall be disappointed or distracted and forsake the Lord’s recovery.”

“In verse 13 Paul asks, “Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? Christ is unique and not divided. This unique and undivided Christ, taken as the unique center among all the believers, should be the termination of all divisions.”

“Christ, not any other person, was crucified for us. The one who was crucified for us should be the one to whom all the believers belong. This surely is Christ, not anyone else. All believers were baptized into the name, that is, into the Person, of the crucified

and resurrected Christ. This issues in an organic union with Him. His unique name and unique Person cannot be replaced by the name and the person of any of His servants.”

“...In verses 10 through 17 Paul goes on to show that Christ is not divided. He beseeches the saints through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to all speak the same thing – Christ and His cross – and to be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion.”

1 Cor. 8:1 -- “Now knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” “The outward, objective knowledge that puffs up comes from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the source of death. The spiritual, not fleshly love, which is an expression of life as described in chapter thirteen, builds up. It comes from the tree of life, the source of life. This is the love of God (1 John 4:16) infused into us by faith, which has brought us into the organic union with God. By this love we love God (1 Cor. 8:3) and the brothers (1Jn 4:21), and according to this love we should walk (Rom. 14:15). Thus, our walk builds up (1 Cor. 10:23). The expression “builds up” in this verse refers not only to the edification of individual believers, but also to the building up of the corporate Body of Christ (1 Cor. 14:4-5, 12); Eph. 4:16). This book stresses the matter of building up (3:9-12 10:23).

1 Cor. 8:9-13 -- In these verses, “Paul speaks about causing weak brothers to stumble. In verse 9 he says, ‘but beware lest somehow this right of yours becomes a stumbling block to the weak ones’.”

“Verse 11 says, ‘For the one who is weak is being destroyed by your knowledge, the brother because of whom Christ died.’ The words ‘being destroyed’ signify perishing not for eternity, but in the Christian life. The weak believer may be destroyed by the carelessness of the stronger one’s knowledge. A brother for whom Christ died may be destroyed in the Christian life by our improper eating.”

“In verse 12 Paul declares, ‘and thus, sinning against the brothers and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.’ The Greek word translated wounding literally means smiting unto damage. Because Christ died for the brothers, we sin against Christ if we wound them and cause them to stumble.”

“In verse 13 Paul concludes, ‘wherefore if food stumbles my brother, I will by no means eat meat forever, that I may not stumble my brother.’ The Greek word for stumble is ‘skandalizo’, meaning to snare, to entrap. Hence, to stumble the brother is to snare him, to put a trap in his way. In order not to stumble a brother, Paul says that he will ‘by no means eat meat forever’.”

“It is important to touch Paul’s spirit as revealed in this chapter. Here the burden in Paul’s spirit is absolutely for Christ and His Body. Because Paul was for Christ and all the members of the Body, when he gave instructions concerning eating idol sacrifices, he did not say whether this practice is right or wrong, good or bad. Paul had a completely different view of the situation. His view was focused on Christ and the Body.

Concerning the matter of eating idol sacrifices, Paul considered how this would affect the members of Christ, whether it would build them up or cause them to stumble. By this we see that Paul’s heart and spirit were concerned for Christ and His members…He wanted the saints to realize that they should consider whether the members of Christ would be caused to stumble or be built up by their eating. Paul wanted them to have regard for Christ and the members of Christ. Therefore, Paul answered the questions and gave instructions from the standpoint of Christ and the Body.

We all need to learn from Paul to have Christ and the Body in view when we consider various matters. However, we often talk with others about something with no consideration of this view. Instead, we focus on our own interest, profit, or loss. If this is our view, we are far off from the central vision of God’s economy. In chapter eight we see once again that Paul did not deviate from the central vision of God’s economy. Even in giving instructions concerning the eating of idol sacrifices he endeavored to bring the believers back to the central lane, that is, back to Christ and the Body.”

“This book was written not to help lost sinners to be saved but to help saved sinners to grow (3:6-7).”

“In chapter nine the apostle presented himself to the Corinthian believers as a pattern, that they might not stumble others but build them up by practicing the principle of considerate love set forth in 8: 1, ‘that I may not stumble my brother’.”

1 Cor. 9:19-21 -- “In verse 19 Paul continues, ‘For though I am free from all, I have enslaved myself to all, that I might gain the more.’ By the word all here Paul means all men. He was free from all men…However, being free from all, Paul enslaved himself to all in order to gain more people for the Lord.”

“…In verse 22 Paul declares, ‘To the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak. To all men I have become all things, that I might by all means save some.’ To become all things to all men means that Paul adapts himself to all things, that is to different ways of eating and different practices (v.23), for the sake of all men. He was willing to live in the way followed by others. For example, when he was with vegetarians, he would not eat meat. With Jews, he would not eat pork. In this way he became all things to all men in order to save some.”

“…I have pointed out that there are certain brothers and sisters who apparently do not have any gifts. However, they are absolutely for the Body. To be for the Body is a matter of love, and to care for the members of the Body requires love. If we do not have love how can we care for others? Love is necessary to care for the members so that the Body may be built up. Thus, love is the greatest gift. Nothing edifies people as much as love does. Love is a spiritual antibiotic. If there is love in a local church, there will be no need to worry about spiritual diseases. Love is the best medicine to cure such diseases. Love is a gift, even the greatest gift.

Paul takes a whole chapter to emphasize the crucial matter of love. His first emphasis, on speaking, occupies just three verses; his second emphasis, on the Spirit, occupies nine or ten verses; and the third and fourth matter he emphasizes, the Body and administration, occupy sixteen verses and three verses respectively. But when Paul comes to the crucial matter of love, he devotes an entire chapter to it. This shows how important love is.

As those who love the Lord, who are absolute with Him, and who are seeking the building of His Body so that He may have the instrument to carry out God’s administration on earth for the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose, we must pursue love. Elders and coworkers, you need love. Brothers and sisters, you all need love. Only love builds up the Body. Moreover, according to chapter thirteen, the gift of love is everlasting, for it is constituted of the divine life and is the expression of God, the expression of eternal life. Therefore, we all should pursue love.

“…If we consider the fifteen virtues of love listed in these verses, we shall realize that love is nothing other than God Himself. Who other than God could have all these longsufferings? Only God has all these virtues. Hence, the love described here is God Himself. Furthermore, the Bible elsewhere says clearly that God is love (1 John 4:16). God is also life…The love which is God Himself with His divine essence as life has these fifteen virtues. This is the reason that in 1 Corinthians Paul charges the believers to grow in life. They were short of life, short of love. In other words, they were short of God and needed to grow in life.”

“In 13:8-13 Paul speaks concerning the excelling of love. In verse 8 he declares, ‘Love never falls away; but whether prophecies, they shall be done away; or tongues, they shall cease; or knowledge, it shall be done away.’ For love never to fall away means that it survives everything, holds its place forever. Love never fails, never fades out or comes to an end. It is like the eternal life of God. All the gifts, whether prophecies, or tongues, or knowledge, are means for God’s operation; they are not life to express God. Hence, they shall cease and be done away. They are all dispensational. Only life, which love expresses, is eternal. According to the following verses, all gifts are for the immature child in this age. They will all be done away in the next age. Only love is of a mature man and will last for eternity. When we live and act by love, we have a foretaste of the next age and of eternity.

Nothing can shake love or remove it. All the other gifts, including prophecy, will eventually be done away with, but love remains. It never falls away. In the coming age there will be love, but there will be no tongues, interpretation, or prophecy. Both tongues, the most childish of the gifts, and prophecy, a more mature gift, will be done away”.

In the foregoing fellowship from Romans and 1 Corinthians, we can see that brother Lee laid a very good foundation for the church to practice the love and one accord revealed in the Scriptures. His exposition of the book of Philippians does likewise, contributing further to the laying of a proper foundation for church life practice. In this book a vivid picture of the one accord is presented by Paul, a one accord that included all the saints, for the letter was written ”to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons”. He exhorted the saints there to “stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving together along with the faith of the gospel” and “to think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking the one thing” (1:27; 2:2).

This exhortation to the Philippians speaks of the one accord of an army. To stand firm in one spirit and strive together with one soul surely requires training and discipline. This heavenly army on earth also required something further. They needed to have the same love for one another, indicating it was also a family. For this army to achieve and maintain their one accord and be one with the Lord for His move on the earth, they were to have such a love.

“It is possible that we in the church life today may not have the same love for all the saints. Instead, our love may be on different levels. We may love a certain brother much more than we love another brother. Because we may love a particular brother only to a small degree, we may not be inclined to render much service to him...It is possible in the church life to have different levels of love for different saints. If this is

our situation, our love is not the love with one soul ...As a result, instead of practical oneness, there will be dissension.”

In a message given by Minoru Chen in 1998, he expressed his feeling about his own condition and that of the recovery. There were other messages that were given also by other brothers on the matter of shepherding taken from the book of Ezekiel, but Minoru’s message stood out due to his transparency in dealing with the real situation among us.

“…Get this burden: the Lord needs to bring in a revival in His recovery, a revival that is only brought in by a prevailing shepherding church life everywhere. Saints, this is what was on the heart of brother Lee. I hope that there will be a genuine revival among us by our receiving the burden of shepherding. If all the churches receive this teaching to participate in Christ’s wonderful shepherding, there will be a big revival. In the recovery. I thought revival would come in some other way, but brother Lee left us with a clear promise, that if we receive this burden of shepherding in the recovery across the board, there will be a certain revival. I believe this is not just a word of men, but a word from the Lord’s heart. Saints, don’t we want a revival, a revival where there is blessing that we cannot contain, a revival that overwhelms and baffles us. Don’t you think that kind of revival belongs to the Lord’s recovery?

I tell you, right now someone is waiting for your shepherding. It may be a young person, or it may be a backslidden saint, or one sitting in the periphery. It may be one in your family. Dear saints, someone needs shepherding. You may say, didn’t you say the Lord is shepherding them. Yes, but the Lord today is moving in the principle of incarnation. Even I say this with reverence to the Lord, there are some things He cannot do. He wants so desperately to shepherd that weak one, but He can only do so much. If there is not a member of His that would respond to Him, correspond with Him, to pray and to be filled with the heart of God, that one will stay in that condition for quite a long time. And, we have seen this among us. We have seen this in the churches. And, we have seen this in our lives. Think about it, how many times you wish the doorbell would ring. You may say you are just being bad, you are just being naughty, but actually you wish so-and-so would come now. Saints, we need to shepherd. All of God’s recovery work by life is in this shepherding. I tell you, our main service in the church is shepherding.

I say again that shepherding is the all-inclusive care that includes two things: the side of cherishing and the side of nourishing. Cherishing is in His humanity; nourishing is in His divinity. Cherishing is just to warm up someone, to make them happy, to make them joyful…By then they would be ready for any message you want to give them. Don’t despise cherishing. I feel, actually, in the Lord’s move we are rather short of shepherding. This is why in many places the feeling is cold, the atmosphere is icy, the relationship is distant in many churches. It is not warm, it is not ardent, it is not hot, it is not burning. Dear saints, don’t try to pray and then the Spirit comes down and we will all be hot. Start to care and start to warm up. I don’t mean this in a natural way. We have to do this in the humanity of Christ, which is altogether in resurrection and not in the natural man. Nevertheless, Christ in resurrection is not cold. I tell you, some of us think that the ascended Christ must be like a piece of ice, ruling and reigning there. I don’t think so. I think today His Manhood is more than ever before. Why? He’s become a man! I tell you, He is the warmest Person in the universe. Saints, let His warmth go as the electrum through you. Let His warmth come out of you.

You know, I was born an icy person. I still am. Oh, I need help. I really do. Because I found out my icy nature is not suitable for shepherding or for God’s recovery work. Too many times when I see a saint I turn away or pretend not to see them. For people like me, I need to practice hugging. Brother, come up here. I need to practice hugging. (He hugs the brother.) I don’t mean holy hug movement. Please don’t do that. But, surely, the recovery has a lot of icemen that need to practice some hugging. I know that if it is from the source of God, something is transmitted, passed on of a healing nature, of an encouraging nature. Dear saints, how about let’s make all of our church life hot, loving. How about that? You can do it with the love of God. Love prevails. Love prevails. I tell you, to do this kind of shepherding, love is the first thing. Love is everything. In fact, if you read 1 Corinthians 13 love believes, endures, hopes, love is everything. Why? Because in true shepherding, the greatest need is longsuffering and patience. That is something I found out. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s what I found out. Oh, you look at this one and almost you hate him. But you cannot hate him, he is your brother. In fact, you have to shepherd him. Oh, what do you need? You need something you don’t have. It’s called what? Not just love, but patience, endurance. Yesterday, I talked to a brother. Oh, I just complained to him about this one. Afterwards, I had to call the brother and say ‘brother, I’m sorry’. What kind of shepherd is this? Oh dear saints, we need the Lord as our longsuffering, as our endurance, and as our hope. I tell you, in shepherding the saints you have to be always hopeful. Even the worst situation is hopeful; the most terrible brother, hopeful; the most impossible case, hopeful. Then you can shepherd. Aren’t you a hopeless case yourself? Anyway, the burden is, may the Lord recover the spirit and heart of shepherding in His recovery, to bring in a genuine revival that will carry out God’s recovery work of life….”

Although we have no shortage of New Testament revelation and understanding of the truths of the Bible, we need to come to the Person, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, for the shepherding of the saints. Our brother’s testimony is a very telling barometer of where we are in this regard after sixteen years of new way practice.

Recently, one of the leaders in the recovery ended his speaking and the training on the crystallization of 1 Corinthians with a word to all the saints: “Let us all go back to our localities and have no problems with persons, things, or matters.” This exhortation came from a quote in a footnote in the Recovery version: “We should concentrate on [Christ], not on any persons, things, or matters other than Him. We should focus on Him as our unique center appointed by God, that all the problems among believers may be solved.” A few months later a brother wrote to two elders describing a set of problems that he was having with them, that were of a very serious nature and that covered a three-year time period. When the brother did not hear back from the elders in the next three months, he found out through another brother that the reason the elders did not respond to him was because they thought he should just go on in a positive way, not having problems with persons, matters, or things. There was no addressing of the concerns of this brother by the elders and no attempt to be reconciled with him. There was no communication with him or show of care or interest in him whatsoever.

This lack of proper and normal human response is certainly not conducive for creating warmth between brothers and sisters in the church life. Accordingly, this type of treatment of the saints is one of the chief factors of coldness in the churches, that is, the holding of the concept that we are being negative to bring up legitimate matters of concern for fellowship with the elders or other saints instead of simply dropping the matter and letting the Lord cross us out.

This dehumanizing and unreal approach to problems in the church life is a false spirituality -- based on technically right teaching -- that creates distance between us

in our relationships with one another. This is one reason “why in many places the feeling is cold, the atmosphere is icy, the relationship is distant in many churches. It is not warm, it is not ardent, it is not hot, it is not burning.”

Other factors for our coldness are the mere routine of meetings and activities in the church, along with a lack of gracious visitations bestowed on the saints. For the elders to visit the saints in earnest would make such a “big difference” brother Lee says in a strong word to them in 1991: “The condition of a church depends upon the eldership in that church. The proper eldership is one in which all the elders contact people daily, weekly, regularly, and consistently. The number of people the elders contact is the deciding factor of the condition of the church in their locality.”

2. “We must first pick up a concern for people and go to contact them. Then we will learn their condition.”

3.“They need to go to each of the saints’ homes outside [the meetings of the church]. This is why Paul said in Acts 20 that he taught the saints publicly and from house to house and that he admonished each one of them night and day with tears. Paul used both the day and the night.”

4. “We mostly use the meeting time to contact the saints. We think that as long as we have attended every meeting we have fulfilled our duty. But that is not the complete fulfilling of our duty. The fulfilling of our duty is also outside the meetings.”

5. “…The elders must pick up the burden of a slave to serve the big family of their Master”.

6. “Paul did not withdraw from his responsibility. Rather, he taught the believers publicly in the meetings and privately from house to house.”

7. “From now on the elders should do more home visitation. By visiting the homes of the saints, the elders can teach and shepherd the saints”

8. “To shepherd is not just to give a message. This is neither adequate nor primary. The primary responsibility is to go to the saints and shepherd them in their homes. So Paul set up a pattern for the elders by teaching the saints publicly and from house to house. If there is a house, the elders should go. If there are ten houses, they should go to each one to visit each of the saints.”

9. “By visiting a home the real situation of that person’s environment could be seen. Then the elders could render them the proper shepherding.”

10. “Although we need to mow the lawn, keep our house clean and neat, clean the windows, and vacuum the carpet, do not spend that much time on these things. Rather, we should save some of the time to shepherd the saints. If we go to the homes of the saints to shepherd them, there will be a record of this in the heavens.”

11. “In Acts 20:27 Paul continues to say, ‘For I did not shrink from declaring to you all the counsel of God’. Not only did Paul teach them, care for their interests, and care for the things that were profitable to them, but he declared also God’s counsel, God’s plan, and God’s economy.”

12. “In verse 28 Paul admonishes the elders to ‘take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers.”

13. “An overseer should not be sloppy or sleepy but all the time watchful. He must be aware of the situation of the church, and oversee each member of the flock. If so, he will know what the need is and what they should do.”

14.“Our lack is in the actual practice of the God-ordained way. According to the actual practice, the God-ordained way replaces the papal system and the clergy-laity system.

This practice altogether depends upon the functioning of all the members of the Body of Christ to contact people individually, one by one.”

15.“We should not despise the individual contact with people. As long as we do not practice the New Testament priesthood of the gospel by contacting people, one by one, we are still somewhat remaining in the papal and clergy-laity systems.”

16. “It is easier to practice the old, organizational clergy-laity system than it is to gain people one by one and present them as sacrifices to God.”

17. “…We need the individual, direct contact with people, one on one…This requires much endeavor and labor. Instead of doing this, though, many of us are occupied with other things that we think are necessary. For the managing of the church, these things may be right, but actually they are not so necessary. For the managing of the church in their locality the necessary thing for the elders is to visit people and contact them one by one.”

18.“We have to endeavor to pick up our ‘fork’ and throw away the ‘chopsticks’. To pick up the fork is to pick up the practice of contacting people one by one. This is why I have said that the elders should endeavor to contact twenty people a week. Contacting people

one by one saves us from building up a religion. This personal contact with people builds up the Body of Christ. This is a very serious matter.”

“Paul charged the elders not only to teach but to shepherd the church of God which God obtained through His own blood. To obtain also denotes to acquire, or purchase. His own blood is a dear term. God considers the church as a treasure, which is very dear and precious in His eyes. He loves the church to such an extent that He purchased it with His own blood.”

“Similarly, the elders should also love the church as God does. Even the parents always save the best things for their dear children. God used His own blood. So we must love the church with this kind of fine feeling and affection.”

20. “Finally, verse 31 says, ’Wherefore watch, remembering that for three years, night and day, I did not cease admonishing each one with tears.’ Paul did not only go to their house, but he also admonished each one of them with tears day and night. The elders among us must learn to pick up a burden to do this day and night. They should go to the homes of the saints and admonish each one with tears.”

21. “…At times rebuking and advising may not do as much good as dropping your tears.”

22. “Paul was a very emotional person. Acts 20 mentions tears twice. In verse 19 Paul served the Lord with humility, tears and trials. Again, in verse 31 he spent three years,

night and day, admonishing each one with tears. This kind of admonishing is the necessary responsibility of the elders.”

23. “The necessary thing for the elders is to visit people and contact them one by one."

24. “First Peter 5:1-2 says, ‘…the elders…shepherd the flock of God.’ This shows us that the church is the flock of God. It is entrusted to the shepherding of the elders. An elder is a shepherd. He cannot care for the sheep according to his mood, enthusiastic today, negligent tomorrow. The care for the flock is a daily matter. We have to care for the flock daily and unceasingly, until the Chief Shepherd is manifested (I Pet. 5:4). This means that there is no end to the care for the saints. We do not know on what day the Lord will come. We only know to labor in care for the flock. If we do not have this spirit, it will be impossible for any of us to be a co-worker or an elder.”

25. “In order to take care of the church properly, the elders have to take this charge from the Lord. They must shepherd the saints conscientiously.”

26. “To shepherd the saints is to take care of all the needs of the sheep.”

27. “[The elders] should do their best to shepherd and care for the saints. As soon as we hear of anyone sick or of anyone encountering problems, we must be concerned for him, pray for him, and go to visit him. The impact that this little bit of concern, prayer, and visiting affords is far more powerful than ten messages.”

28.“Care can touch people’s feeling in a far deeper way than messages can.”

29. “...The elders must have the compassion of a caring mother. They must be desperate to care for the Lord’s lambs.”

30. “If the elders and co-workers would love the saints like a mother who loves her child and would render a loving, willing service to them…every one of them will be able to do the work that the co-workers and elders do.”

31. “The first responsibility of an elder is to always have an interest and concern for others’ spiritual welfare.”

32. “When the elders are very involved with the church’s business affairs, the church does not have a promising future. It is better that the elders spend most of their time to contact people.”

33. “It is better that their heart not be in the [business] affairs but on people.”

34. “They should be concerned for people, have an interest in people, and be fully occupied with people.”

35.“The elders should pick up the habit to care for people and seek the help of others for the business affairs.”

36. “The elders must also learn to contact people. According to my observation and experience, an elder should contact about one hundred persons a month. This means he would contact about 3-4 persons daily.”

37. “Many of the elders are not full-timers. Therefore, they must budget their time to contact people each day. An elder in a local church must budget his time to contact at least two people each day.”

38. “The elders should contact all kinds of people, including unbelievers, new believers, and weak believers.”

39. “The elders must pick up a burden to contact people in this way and to assign all the business affairs to the serving ones. This will save the elders from the business of the church so that they can care for people.”

40. “The interest in others’ spiritual welfare is the interest concerning people’s condition with the Lord, which ministers life in the organic building up of the Body of Christ. We cannot know people’s condition with the Lord except by direct contact with them”.

41. “No one can know someone’s real condition unless he contacts him a number of times.”

“We must contact someone again and again, until he has a trust in us and will open up the things on his heart. Without this, we cannot know his real condition.”

43. “The elders must be burdened with the contacting of people for the Lord’s kingdom. It is not sufficient merely to be concerned for people. The elders must pick up the burden to contact people.”

44. “When the elders go to contact people, or when people come to contact them, they must always open themselves up in order to gain the credit of the ones they contact.”

45.“The contact we have with people is always based upon our opening to them” [with

46.“The elders must also learn to pray with a particular burden for the relationship with the Lord of those for whom they are concerned.”

47.“If the elders take the way we have fellowshipped here, they will be very approachable. It will be easy for people to contact them.”

48. “All the elders should learn to contact people. The elders should save their time from meaningless telephone calls and conversations. We must change our way of living.”

49.“The elders should schedule their time in a very narrow and strict way. In this way, they can fulfill their responsibility in the eldership. Without contacting people they will have no way to fulfill their responsibility.”

50.“The condition of a church depends upon the eldership in that church. The proper eldership is one in which all the elders contact people daily, weekly, regularly, and consistently. The number of people the elders contact is the deciding factor of the condition of the church in their locality.”

51. “We must pick up a concern for people and go to contact them. Then we will learn their condition.”

52.“In a local church the first thing that is needed is for the elders to contact people.

It is very convenient, profitable, and necessary for them to contact people…before and after the meetings. However, many elders have not picked up this habit.”

53.“The elders should contact two or three persons a day. Whether or not this is difficult for us depends on our habit. We may not have practiced and exercised to contact people until it has become our habit.”

54.“Moreover, we may not have been born as persons who like to contact people. However, in the ministry we are compelled, forced, to forget about ourselves and contact people.”

55. “The elders need to be adjusted in the matter of contacting people in a successful way. They must answer to the Lord regarding how many persons have been brought to the Lord through them since they became elders and whether their way to contact people is more effective today then it was five years ago.”

56. “An elder should be concerned about whether or not he has contacted people in an

57. “It is a failure for an elder not to contact people for several days. All the people in the church need the care of the elders.”

59. “In their contact with people, the elders should minister Christ to them to meet their need” (Eph. 3:8; Col. 1:28).

60. “They should minister Christ to everyone – stronger ones and weaker ones, the overcoming ones and the defeated ones, those with good background and those with a bad background.”

61. “We must be the same toward every person. It is easy for us to minister life to a brother we regard highly, but we may be cold and indifferent toward another kind of brother.”

62. “In the matter of ministering Christ to others, we may still have our own choice and preference.”

63. “We may be willing to contact a brother like Timothy, but we may not take the time to help a brother like Demas, who loved the world and forsook Paul.”

64. “We may welcome Timothy but despise and reject Demas because Demas had a failure.”

65. “Many of us like to help the good ones, but it seems that we feel the undesirable ones are destined to be lost. No one seems to care for them.”

66. “If we only care for the good ones, it is no wonder that the church does not have the increase.”

67. “The Lord Jesus was zealous in contacting the bad person [like Zacheus]. The elders should learn how to help the ones who are not good “

68. “If we learn that certain persons are not good and as a result do not care for them, we lose the opportunity to minister Christ to them.”

69. “Every member of the Body is indispensable (I Cor. 12:22). Do we really believe that every member of the Body in our local church is needed? We may say this, but we do not practice it.”

70. “We actually think that some of the saints are not that important. Whether they are among us or not, we feel about the same. But Paul said that even the weakest ones, the smallest ones, are needed in the Body of Christ.“

71. “Paul said that the less honorable members of the Body are clothed with more abundant honor, and the uncomely members are given more abundant comeliness; but the comely members have no need. According to Paul, God adorns only the less honorable and the comely ones.”

72. “We may feel that the one who is not smart is useless and that the Body does not need him. But the Body of Christ needs all the members because every member is indispensable.”

73. “We should not evaluate anyone, but we need to have the same care for one another.”

74. “Regardless of what we see or hear about others, we should not forget what our responsibility is...to minister Christ to them.”

75. “We should not care much for others’ position and condition. Regardless of their condition, we should still minister Christ to them with Christ’s salvation.”

76.“When we contact people, we should not care for what we see about them or hear about them. We must take care of our business to minister Christ with His salvation. Whether someone is a ‘Zacheus’ or an ‘immoral woman of Samaria’, we should do the same thing.”

77. “Suppose a backslidden brother comes to us. If we still remember and are deeply impressed with his backsliding, this remembrance will reduce our usefulness in the hand of the Lord. We should forget about his backsliding. He is still a brother, and our duty, our business, in the eldership is to minister Christ to him.”

78. “We should love everyone on the same level of love. We should care for all the saints though some may not like us.”

79.“Nearly all the elders, full-timers, and co-workers serve people according to their choice, their preference, and their evaluation.”

80. “When a certain one invites us to their home we will go because they are our favorite. If another one invites us we will refuse, excusing ourselves because we are too busy or too tired.”

“In the flesh everybody is nothing. In Christ, we all are the new creation. Therefore, we should not evaluate people. We should just learn to minister Christ to others. We minister Christ to someone to build up the new creation within him.”

83. “We should not trust our evaluation of others. We should simply minister Christ to build them up.”

84. “In their contact with people, the elders should seek a way to get people to open to them. We must find a way to create a hunger for the Lord within them.”

85. “If we would practice to always seek a way to get people to open to us, to find the proper utterance to touch people’s spirit, to catch the proper time to dispense Christ either by a verse or by our inspiration, and to know how to create an appetite to cause people to hunger and thirst after the Lord, the attendance of the church meetings will be increased.”

86. “We must change our way of contacting people, staying away from catching or condemning people, and learning to minister Christ to every kind of person. Eventually, people will be gained by the Lord through our contact.”

87. “I have rarely seen a place where the elders promoted, adjusted, and improved the spirit, attitude, and preparation of the saints in coming to the meeting. The elders must bear the responsibility to stir up each member of their church to function. In order to do this, the elders themselves must have personal contact with the saints. This requires their time and energy, and this is a real sacrifice.”

88. “In a previous message, I said that a good elder should contact twenty people a week. This may sound like a large number, but actually it is not. You can contact people by telephone at least three times a day. You can call one in the morning, another one at noon, and still another one at night. If you did this seven days a week, twenty-one people could be contacted.”

89. “In your contact, you should not just inquire about the saints’ welfare. Take the opportunity to fellowship with the saints about the Lord’s interest on earth, and take time to have a little prayer with them. If you contacted twenty saints in this way, after one month you would see a fresh situation in your locality. To contact the saints makes a big difference. To be an elder today, the major thing is to contact people, but you must contact them in the new way.”

90. “I have been speaking concerning the new way, the God-ordained way for the past seven and a half years, but I have not seen much real practice of the new way. Today, everyone welcomes the new way. Thank the Lord for this. But I still beg you all to have a change.”

91.“The co-workers and elders should learn how to contact individual saints to fellowship with them particularly concerning the group meetings. We need to fellowship with them how to have the mutual teaching, the mutual asking and answering of questions, the mutual fellowship, the mutual interceding, the mutual care, and the mutual shepherding.”

“The elders should spend time to teach each one of the attendants of the group meetings. They need to go to go to each of the saints homes outside the group meeting. This is why Paul said in Acts 20 that he taught the saints publicly and from house to house and that he admonished each one of them night and day with tears. Paul used both the day and the night. We mostly use our meeting time to contact the saints. We think that as long as we have attended every meeting, we have fulfilled our duty. But that is not the complete fulfilling of our duty. The fulfilling of our duty is also outside the meetings.”

93. “There is no way to carry out the God-ordained way except by the individual contact with people. What is needed today is for the full-timers, co-workers, and elders to spend their time, energy, and spiritual capacity to take care of people individually.”

95. “This does not mean that since I am shepherding you, I do not need your shepherding.”

96. “We all have defects and shortcomings. Everyone has defects. Therefore, we have to humble ourselves to meet God’s grace. This strengthens our spirit to visit people and to take care of people regardless of whether they are good or bad. Regardless of what they are, we must go to visit them and keep visiting.”

97. “…We have no such law forcing us to go out. However, I am trying my best to help the church build up the vital groups with such a shepherding spirit full of love and care for others.”

98. “We need to have this kind of love and go to tell all the dormant ones who think that the church condemns them that the church does not condemn anyone. Rather, the church wants to see all the dormant ones come back. If they all would come back, I would weep with tears of thanksgiving to the Lord.”

99.“The Lord can testify for me that I do not condemn anyone. We have no qualification to condemn anyone. Without the Lord’s mercy, we would be the same as the dormant ones. Therefore, we must love them.”

100. “It all depends upon love…’love covers all transgressions’ (Prov. 10:12).”

101. “We love people. We love the opposers, and we love the top rebels. I really mean it. We love them and do not hate them. Who am I? I am not qualified to condemn or hate. Am I perfect?”

102. “Even the prophet Isaiah, when he saw the Lord, said, ‘Woe is me, for I am finished / For I am a man of unclean lips, / And in the midst of a people of unclean lips I dwell” (Isa. 6:5). Who is clean today? If we criticize people and say something bad about them, we are not clean.”

Brother Lee shared all these matters above with the elders, and he also shared more besides. In only a few years after this fellowship, he shared that the spirit of not shepherding and of not seeking others is spreading everywhere in the recovery. Oh, brothers, would that we would think and be like Paul:

“And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith…but do not have love, I am nothing.”

If our spiritual parents do not conduct themselves as parents in a warm, human way among the saints, mingling with them in their homes and rendering timely help to them, how could the church in each locality have the genuine and practical oneness of a family? How could morale be high and division kept away?

Without a warm, intimate, loving atmosphere in our church life, how could we avoid becoming institutionalized? We are left with a church life that is very spiritual in which we know all mysteries and all knowledge, yet might be cold, icy, and distant in our actual relationships. “Contacting people one by one saves us from building up a religion. This personal contact with people builds up the Body of Christ. This is a very serious matter.”

“…The elders must pick up the burden of a slave to serve the big family of their Master.”

Another factor of coldness among us is having a lack of new ones in our midst, another big subject.

In the book, Church Affairs, Watchman Nee talks about the need to care for people who are having problems. His concept was to help people by solving, not avoiding their problems. He said, “I want the brothers and sisters to know about a foolish thought. I do not know when this thought began. Some people indeed have thought that in the church life we should not encounter problems. But please remember from the time of the apostolic church problems have existed. The church has always been a church of problems and not a church without problems…Many foolish brothers think that being free from problems is a sign that a church is spiritual. But please keep in mind that the sign of a church being spiritual is not that it is free from problems. Instead, the sign of a church being spiritual depends upon whether it has ways to solve problems and whether those ways are appropriate. Once a church becomes spiritual, many problems will have to be considered. If a church is not spiritual, it is peaceful and without problems. The more spiritual you are, the more problems you have to solve” (p. 48, 151).

In a section called Caring For Problems, brother Nee suggests that certain weightier brothers and sisters take care of a those “encountering hardship” and those having “difficulties and conflicts in the family” and “pray for them” and “solve the problems” they are having. He said, “Whenever brothers and sisters hear that something has happened among some brothers and sisters, they need to notify immediately these brothers and sisters and allow them to find a way to meet the need”.

He had a definite system in mind of helping the saints with their problems and not ignoring the needs in the Body (p. 47).

Concerning coordination with others he said, “Brothers, if you do not learn how to bear the burdens of others, and if you do not seek out the help from others regarding your own burdens, you do not know what the Body is, nor can you have coordination in the work…If we stay in our former condition, we are still tightly wrapped in ourselves…Then my affairs are still my affairs, and I will not let you touch them. He told leading ones, “when problems come, you have never once sought someone saying ‘I need help’. We need to be an open person…Toward your brother your spirit needs to be open, your thinking needs to be open, and many times your mouth needs to be opened. I hope there will be those among us who can say to the brothers and sisters, ‘I have had trouble with this one matter for many years. Please help me overcome it.’ If this is the first time in your life that you ask for help, let it be here (on the mountain)” (p.179-181).

At the end of brother Lee’s ministry he said, “In the past we emphasized the spirit and encouraged the saints to reject the soul. But their soul is where their problems are. How can we expect them to release their spirit when they have problems in their soul. We need to learn to touch their soul where their problems are” (paraphrase, Vital Groups Fellowship).

In the Lord’s new move, to think and to speak the same thing changed in meaning from what it was previously in the ministry. Because of the great need for the saints to become constituted with the Word, our brother focused his attention and ours on his teaching. To think the same thing was now to be fully absorbed with his New Testament ministry and to become constituted with it. And, to speak the same thing was to speak according to the constitution we had of the New Testament ministry as expounded by our brother. According to the new way and high peaks fellowship, this is what it was to think and to speak the same thing in the churches. In all honesty, this was also our basis for receiving one another. In 1996 brother Lee stated, “All across this country all the churches are speaking the same thing, which are the high peaks”(A Word of Love p.44}.

“The only way to be likeminded toward one another is to be according to Christ.”

“To receive the believers according to our teachings, concepts, gifts, or religious practices does not need any endurance or encouragement with hope.”

“ But to receive all believers according to Christ does need an amount of endurance

and encouragement with hope which the very God of endurance and encouragement will supply us if we care for the keeping of unity and the building up of the Body.”

The new way espousal of what it is to think and to speak the same thing was a push by our brother for all the saints to think and to speak the same thing according to the constitution of his ministry in them. This sounds very good, and it is, except for the exclusive and limiting nature of the “push”. There was no need to push all the saints, but there was the need to care for them all. There was no need for grand sweeping changes and a call to conform. The very attitude of our brother that he was willing to “sacrifice people and localities” even after hearing several reports of individuals, families, and localities that were troubled and dropping out of the church life, shows that the spirit was not right. He did exactly the opposite to all his previous fellowship that was graciously afforded the churches in trainings, conferences, and elders’ meetings for protecting and preserving the saints in the church life.

Brother Lee had the right doctrine, the proper teaching related to God’s ordained way, but this time he did not have patience, mercy, or the proper concern for the saints. The truth is that the right teachings and practices presented by our brother in a rather militant way did not do a work of shepherding the hundreds who left the recovery worldwide; instead, just as he had warned us, we saw that “proper, sound, fundamental, scriptural doctrines” divide. Therefore, we should not devote our attention to doctrine.” Our attention was given to the new way doctrine and practices more than to the receiving of “all believers according to Christ”, which “does need an amount of endurance and encouragement with hope which the very God of endurance and encouragement will supply us if we care for the keeping of unity and the building up of the Body” (Romans L. S. # 29, p. 351).

Our orientation, focus, attention, and endeavor should not be on the ministry more than on the welfare of the saints. Actually, if the ministry of the Word is taken properly, it will issue in the genuine interest and concern for the spiritual welfare of every saint and family above all else. Our capacity would be for this. Our desire would be for this also. The reason brother Lee could say our way is not right, that something is wrong is because our interest is basically not in people, and our capacity and desire are not for them. Our interest, desire, and capacity are taken up in the teachings and in the ministry of our brother, thus creating the abnormal atmosphere that we have been experiencing the last sixteen years in the new way. So much so, that division has resulted and exists today because of the lack of genuine overseeing care for all the saints. “Our way is not right; something is wrong”. To overlook so many saints in the church life, and not have the same care for them as for other members, surely is against the Scriptures and God.

As brother Lee shared in 1993, “…the oneness among us is not a living oneness…it is a dormant oneness. Our oneness should be very active. The genuine oneness will cause us to take action when we hear of a need among the saints in the Body. The real oneness is an active and acting oneness.” To take care of needs in the Body, gracious home visitations are often necessary. There, in the homes of the saints, we can think and speak the same thing, Christ and the church, for the building up of the Body IN LOVE.

I support the ministry of brother Witness Lee. I am for the speaking and dispensing of it to carry out God’s economy for the spreading of God and the increase of Christ. With its proper use, it does have the potential to restore, mend, and adjust our relationships, and to not only bring in a revival in the churches in the Lord’s recovery, but also on the whole earth with so many seeking believers and unbelievers.

I would like to see all the saints involved in diligently covering the New Testament teachings of brother Lee in every book of the New Testament using weekend classes in every locality and region. The subject of each book could be learned, along with major points and verses of each chapter. Memorization should be encouraged and learning and studying groups raised up for preparation throughout the month for the next class. The Old Testament could be covered also to some degree. Classes in church history featuring God’s move throughout the centuries could be presented, as well as inspiring biographies of men or women of God. Encouragement and instruction for gospel preaching would be a much-needed class. Classes on group meetings and shepherding should be an ongoing class until the churches are fully brought into the experience of the vital group fellowship brother Lee so desperately wanted to implement. A class on prophesying would be valuable! Covering books such as The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation, The Constitution and the Building Up of the Body of Christ and many, many more could be outlined and discussed and portions memorized.

Further, classes could be briefly covered on the ministries of brothers upon whose shoulders brother Lee stood throughout his own ministry. He gives much credit, for instance, to the brethren teachers for his fundamental Bible knowledge, especially in prophecy and typology. He received much help from Andrew Murray on the Spirit and the inner life. The church in Chicago has a very nice website where they advertise the sale of books of many former Bible scholars and men of God that could render help and spiritual benefit to readers.

A very good atmosphere could be developed in this way for the saints to sign up for a class and encourage a friend, classmate, colleague, relative, or neighbor to attend with them. Regionally, there could be traveling quarterly to the locality hosting the weekend classes. This would also afford the Lord a way for blending and mutual care and shepherding of the saints. There should be testing at least on paper and in speaking in voluntary groups of two or three or more for becoming constituted with the truths set before us. Teachers from different localities could come in, including those currently giving classes daily in Anaheim. What a blessing that would be to the churches and to the young people in and outside Anaheim, including current FTT members and teachers.

One thing brother Lee hated was routine. He said the church life is too routine and predictable. That is right. The spirit of the saints can be stirred up by offering this kind of care for them, with the vision and goal of God’s economy in mind and the crucial need to become constituted in the New Testament ministry. The overbalance in regard and care for the four-year graduates of college in the full-time training should be adjusted for the sake of mutuality and blending of the whole.

The Lord's move in the local churches is going on across the globe, and His interests and the hearts of seeking ones are being satisfied daily, as the participants in the Lord's recovery cooperate with Him to distribute literature and to speak and dispense God's economy to others for the spreading of God and the increase of Christ. The following report received recently in the churches speaks of His move today in detail.

In the Lord’s recovery there is only one work—the work of the one New Testament ministry, which is based on the teaching of the apostles. This one work is carried out by the one Body of Christ through the intimate fellowship and coordination of the churches, the ministry, and the work. As the ministry of the age has reached the Lord’s children in diverse places through the work in the Lord’s recovery, a consistent pattern has emerged. If we consider the effect of the mass distribution of literature in the former Soviet Union and the radio broadcasts in London and Mexico City, it is clear that the advance of the ministry into new areas creates an immediate response among the seeking ones. This in turn results in a growing need for co-workers to harvest the Lord’s loving seekers into His recovery. Without the faithful laborers to coordinate with the spread of the ministry through various means, our work cannot continue.

In 1991, as the doors into the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe opened, the Lord burdened Brother Lee to establish the Lord’s Move to Europe (LME) to facilitate the practical support and care for the co-workers who migrated for the Lord’s unprecedented move in that part of the earth. Since that time, under LME’s oversight there have been four major migrations of co-workers, to the former Soviet Union (1991), to Eastern Europe and Israel (2000), to London (2001), and to Mexico City (2002). At present there are more than 300 co-workers laboring in 34 countries in five regions. Under the Lord's abundant blessing, the labor of the workers in coordination with the Living Stream ministry has resulted in approximately 180 local churches and thousands of saints being raised up. A summary of this work and its fruit is shown in the following table.

*Most of these churches existed before the migrations, but the number of saints has increased significantly.

New ground and new opportunities to spread the recovery appear nearly every day, but inevitably it is the shortage of workers that limits our ability to respond to these openings. For example, many of us have heard of the dramatic response to the ministry in the United Kingdom. The radio program Life-study of the Bible has aired daily in London for two and a half years, drawing many seekers into contact with the ministry. Because of the laborers now laboring in London, many of these new ones have been gained. The church in London has more than doubled in the past two years. In addition, as a result of the radio broadcast and the 9,000 New Testament Recovery Versions that have been distributed throughout the UK, the mailing list of new contacts in the UK now numbers over 11,000. How many more of these could be gained if the support for more co-workers was available?

Another example is the recent migration of a number of saints to Israel, which has resulted in the first genuine local church to stand for the testimony of the Lord in the Land of Emmanuel in nearly 2000 years. In Israel, as in so many places, it has been the spread of the ministry, followed up by the faithful labor of co-workers, that has produced a lasting testimony.

As the Lord works throughout the world to reap the hungry believers into the move of His economy, the need for training also grows. The seeking ones, like all of us, must be perfected unto the work of the ministry--to do the work of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers--unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

Brother Lee expressed his strong burden that all the saints be perfected through training:

"To the present moment, I have not yet discharged my burden in the matter of training. We need to be trained for the practice of the church life...To be trained is to have the rich supply of Christ ministered to us that we may grow, and it is to be equipped that we may be skillful in speaking, in contacting new ones, in shepherding, and in preaching and teaching...The way to perfect the saints is to feed them so that they may grow and to train them so that that they may learn certain skills....I am extremely burdened that we all grow in life and that we all receive training in order to function. We are here to be absolute with the Lord.....The Lord needs a people who are willing to grow, to be trained, and to be disciplined....In these days I bear I bear a very heavy burden concerning the perfecting of the saints." (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 353, 358, 360, 351)

To meet the need of perfecting through training, full-time trainings have been established in Moscow (1992), London (1997), and Mexico City (2002) with LME's continued support. Through these trainings hundreds of seeking ones who have been perfected in life, truth, and service to become functioning members of the Body. The number of trainees who have passed through the three trainings is shown in the table below.

These trainings have been greatly blessed by the Lord and used by Him to uplift and strengthen His testimony in the churches and to raise up additional full-time workers. Approximately one-third of the graduates have gone on to serve the Lord full-time in their respective regions.

The perfecting of the saints through training requires both trainers and adequate training facilities. To meet the increasing demand in Europe, a training facility has recently been acquired. in the countryside just outside of London. This property, called Heckfield Place, will soon house the expanding Full-time Training in London, which serves all Europe. May the Lord bless this property for the sake of his move in Europe, using it for the care and shepherding of His seekers, the perfecting of the saints, and the building up of His Body.

In Mexico City the need for co-workers and a facility is also pressing. Work continues on a new training center well located for the Lord's move there. However, the need for many more laborers throughout Latin America is critical.

As we review the history of the Lord's recovery over the past decade, the importance of the Lord's Move to Europe cannot be underestimated. Without support for saints to serve in all of these places, our work cannot endure. At present, the need for the financial support of LME in all of its endeavors is between 3.5 and 4 million dollars per year. Giving by the saints in recent years has averaged around 3 million dollars per year. Of this amount, the majority has been supplied by the churches from which the co-workers have migrated. However, a significant fraction, about 40% has come from the giving of other churches and saints around the world. This underscores the crucial need of the continued regular and faithful giving of the churches and the saints to support the Lord's move through LME.

What the Lord has done and is doing through His Body for the spreading of His testimony around the globe is truly worthy of our praise. As the Lord has entrusted us with the propagation of the divine truths in the New Testament ministry for His recovery and restoration, let us look to Him in faith to meet every need in carrying out this great commission.

Those burdened to give to the Lord's Move to Europe can do so either by check or by bank wire transfer. Checks can be mailed to: The Church in Anaheim/LME P.O. Box 9107 Anaheim, CA 92812.

Wire transfers can be sent to: United California Bank, Branch 211 619 South Brookhurst Street Anaheim, CA 92804. Telephone: 714- 533-8440 Routing #122003516 Beneficiary: The Church in Anaheim/LME Account #2119-02778

REGION	COUNTRIES	WORKERS	CHURCHES	SAINTS
former USSR	11	159	146	3600
Eastern Europe	6	82	28	500
Middle East	2	22	1	10
Western Europe	14	45	22*	700
Mexico	1	20	50*	4000