"The Normal Christian Faith"
Daniel Jackson writes: "Another practical thing you should know is that LSM has the advantage of having brother K.H. Weigh’s original manuscripts and notebooks. K.H. Weigh was one of Watchman Nee’s closest coworkers and a former classmate of his in schoolyears. K.H. Weigh was later sent out by Watchman Nee to Hong Kong and was an elder in the church there as well as the manager of the Hong Kong Church Bookroom. He later cooperated with LSM to provide them with much information as well as all of his notes and manuscripts from sitting in Watchman Nee’s conferences."
Seriously Considered Response
We need to ask ourselves if K.H. Weigh had a spiritual life, then why would he do this? He gave said things to the cult of modalism and apparently did not give such things to the Little Flock of Watchman Nee through Stephen Kaung (Christian Fellowship Publishers).
The proper course of action would have been for K.H. Weigh to publish those writings, if authentic, with non-modalists and particularly a remnant of the Little Flock. Perhaps money was his motivation. Or the information is false. We need to check the man as much as the material. I am really concerned that K.H. Weigh was unable to discern who he was giving this material too or whether the information is authentic to begin with. Part of his problem would be his own bad note taking.
It is more rewarding to read another without having to have radar on all the time, but unfortunately this will be necessary, always, in reading anything from LSM. So again always remember, when you read anything from LSM (which I would just avoid doing forever anyway), make sure you have your radar on all the way because this is where the seeds of deception are being planted, but you will be protected if your keep your wits about you.
A passage we read earlier says that we no longer know Christ after the flesh [since Jesus died on the cross]. Now if what we believe in is merely an outward religion [e.g. The Local Church and Living Stream Ministry] then we will need a Holy Land, a Mecca, or a Rome to be our center, for us to go for worship and service. But what we believe in is a Christ inside of us [by the Holy Spirit indwelling].
We know that He is both the God in heaven, as well as the Lord in us. Not only is He the very Creator, He was also the Christ that put on the flesh. And now He is in us as the Holy Spirit. The Christ in the flesh is over! Now the Christ in the Spirit lives forever in us. [1]
An inaccurate Pilipino Calvinist Berean website (thebereans.net) writes: Another one can be read on page 224 where it is clearly taught by Nee himself that Jesus when after resurrection was transformed into the Holy Spirit, “Now God has accomplished everything in Christ. He died and was resurrected, and has been transformed into the Holy Spirit; He is now ready to come into you”. [2]
[1] Nee, Watchman, “The Normal Christian Faith,” (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Church Book Room, 1977), 213.
[2] Ibid., 224.
I like how Watchman Nee said NOW, if properly translated and was Nee's writing, just like 2 Cor. 3.17 says NOW: "Now the Lord is that Spirit". The question becomes was this "transformed" the Son becoming the Spirit or the Son raised to the right hand of the Father, so the Spirit could be given to indwell since the veil is now rent? Since we don't have corroborating evidence of the authenticity of this Witness Lee book translation other than by the self-declaration of the Witness Lee group, and Watchman Nee never spoke like this in any of his writings found at Christian Fellowship Publishers and Christian Literature Crusade, we must conclude it is either a bad translation or it is not Watchman Nee at all.
Watchman Nee believes that now Jesus is the Spirit which means that now Jesus is resurrected, His very life is now afforded to us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, since the life of the Son is the Spirit. The Spirit is the life of the Father and the Son. That is the meaning of this verse which would be correct then. It would not be correct if it means as Leeists teach, claiming the Son is the Spirit literally (classic modalism).
One can’t help but wonder the source of this book, who did the translation, and was it the original thought in expression by Watchman Nee?
This is the source of the problem according to the appendices of The Normal Christian Faith which says "the notes" were taken by someone, but "they were not edited", and so that explains why the word "transformed" does not fit the language of Nee when it reads, "transformed into the Holy Spirit". "Christ in the Spirit" is appropriate in The Spirit of the Gospel (CFP, p.65) which agrees with "Christ in the Spirit" for The Normal Christian Faith, but "transformed" from LSM is not appropriate. Christ indwells us by the Spirit is Christ in the Spirit, but should we be so comfortable to say Christ Jesus transformed into the Spirit to confuse the 2nd and 3rd Person of the Godhead? Therein lies the issue.
There is a difference
because Christ in the Spirit speaks of God's life, while Christ transformed in
the Spirit speaks of modalism, which is unacceptable. We are still unable to
confirm the mysterious note taker and his note taking, and so shall it remain a
mystery who this note taker is and what he originally meant and whether it was
properly translated.
Unless you can find that same information and same-source information at CFP we
will have to disregard it as incidental (CFP upon request were also unable to provide
any corroborating evidence for this mystery note taker). Therefore, Jesus was not transformed into the Holy Spirit
because the Bible does not say Jesus was transformed into the Spirit.
Unable to Authentify the Source Material for The Normal Christian Faith
The information I've obtained
from the preface say that Chapters 1-15 are a series of gospel messages spoken by Nee in Tientsin
in 1936 [which may or may not be true]. Appendices 1 and 2 were messages given by Watchman Nee and published in
the magazine THE GLAD TIDINGS by the Shanghai Gospel Bookroom. The preface ends
as follows:
"The chapters in THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN FAITH were compiled from notes [a note
taker] taken during meetings; they were not edited by the speaker..."
How trustworthy can this really be then?
Troy Brooks