There is No Screaming in the Little Flock

House churches and underground churches and non-regular scheduled churches owe much to Watchman Nee's Little Flock Ministry. Apparently, Watchman Nee spent half as many years as Wesley and had perhaps double his readers and followers. That is impressive. It shows you how accurate Watchman Nee was in being spiritually profitable, especially on those points he was accused of extremism by Dennis McCallum. I find Dennis McCallum to be very unspiritual. Below you find men's flesh that went for ecstasy.

Dennis McCallum writes in the year 2000 - Finally, Cliff and Adeney report that in the past few years [The source cited for Cliff and Adeney was 1985 so how do say "past few years", which was over 15 years prior? I found this odd], some groups have split off from the regular Little Flock (Watchman Nee's legacy) churches to follow the teachings of Witness Lee [Actually this is not the case at all. What I have discovered is that those who leave leeism, also reject Watchman Nee as well]. These have been dubbed (no doubt by their enemies) the "screamers." The name derives from ecstatic prayers offered in unison in the meetings. The screamers have been the target of special persecution in the past five years.

Response - How soon we forget what really transpires still today and yesteryear: the Local Church controversy with "Members of the Little Flock [associated with Watchman Nee] Church at Shuman Reservoir, Taiwan" (1966). There was controversy over "Church property. In this rural church, the elders welcomed as Bible teachers [the] persons previously excommunicated by Witness Lee in Taipei. A church split followed, and control of church property became an issue." What did The Local Church cult do? "Followers of Witness Lee from out of town staged a sit-in in the church building and threatened to 'take the next step' if the keys to the building were not given to them." Do you see how this practice of legal aggressions is why the Little Flock wanted nothing to do with The Local Church? The typical outcome was as follows: "approximately 90 church members reluctantly gave up the church property to approximately 10 of Lee's followers. [Note: Two out of the three persons (leeists) listed on the title as owners of the building were sympathetic to Witness Lee]." And to this day, the legal actions continue against the body of Christ (little flock).

May I say in all sincerity that anyone that I know of that has been reading Watchman Nee's writings from CFP and CLC would never have anything to do with the lsm/lc cult. McCallum's work in general is very unspiritual, misrepresentative and inaccurate.

What is God's gracious call? "Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love" (Eph. 1.4). Yes. This is God's call. He calls us to be like Him. To be holy, positively, and without blemish, negatively. Who can say such screaming and shouting so violently is Christ-like? Such evil activity must be utterly refused.

A better source is the Word. Isaiah 42.2 reads, "He will be gentle--he will not shout or raise his voice in public." May we say that if we are to be Christ-like; that the public is present in true worship and gospel meetings and prayer meetings. Let us be Christ-like and not like animals who scream and tear panging noises with their throats and call this of God.

Troy Brooks

Let us not fall into ecstatic repetitive utterances; instead may Leeists find a better way,

(pp. 1-9, The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, CFP, Watchman Nee - white covers only)

For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which ye show toward all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Eph. 1.15-23)

A Prayer for Revelation

As we begin to know God, His purpose ordained in eternity, and His work throughout the ages, we shall increasingly realize how many-sided, lofty, and special are the insights which God reveals to us in Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. We cannot fail to notice this one thing, that in this letter God causes Paul to record the fact that he prays two prayers: the one prayer as mentioned in chapter 1, and the other prayer that is mentioned in chapter 3. The first prayer is foundational whereas the second prayer is for building up. In the first chapter Paul’s prayer is for us to know our relationship with the Lord, while in the third chapter his prayer is for us to know our relationship with the church as well as that with the Lord. We will at present only concentrate on the prayer found in the first chapter of Ephesians.

 Paul begins his prayer with these words: “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation.” Why does he long for the Ephesian believers to have the spirit of wisdom and revelation? Quite simply, that they may know the following three things:

(1) “The knowledge of him” (v.17)—This is knowing God himself.

(2) “That ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” (v.18)—This points to the eternal plan of God and its fulfillment. The gracious calling of God is a calling of us to be His sons, and these sons shall be His inheritance. The call of God was preordained before the foundation of the world, whereas the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints will be realized in the eternity to come. In eternity past God has a will, and in eternity to come He will have a possession. The putting together of these two facts reveals the eternal purpose and plan of God. So that what Paul wants us to know is God’s eternal plan.

And (3) “What the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe” (v.19)—This statement shows us what power God will use today to achieve His purpose and to accomplish His plan. Hence it deals especially with our relationship to Him today and also our relationship to His purpose in eternity.

These things we need to consider and to have revelation about before God. Let us take up each of these three matters more fully.

Truly Know God

We have seen that Paul asks God to grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation that we may know several things. And the very first of these is “the knowledge of him”—that is to say, that we may know God. How marvelous that we may indeed know the God of the universe!

When Paul passed through Athens he saw an altar with this inscription: “To An Unknown God” (Acts 17.23). In the minds of the Athenians at that time God was considered as being unknowable—that they could not know Him by the searching of their mind. Even with their many philosophies, they still could not understand Him. The Athenians had their imaginations and theories, but they had no way to know the one true God. Their situation was not any different from that of today with people who may say that there is a God yet who do not really know Him. On the verge of His departure from earth the Lord Jesus boldly declared these words: “This is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ” (John 17.3). Jesus shows us what eternal life is: simply put, eternal life is knowing God. Now the saints in Ephesus, as is made quite clear in the Scriptures, had already known God. No one could argue that they did not. They had actually known Him and already were in possession of eternal life. Yet we must note that Paul still prayed a prayer for them in which he asked God to give to them “a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” From all this we may easily conclude that while the Athenians plainly did not know God at all, even so, Christians who have eternal life and who have thus already known God need nonetheless to know Him more.

When we have believed in the Lord for several years—or even in the case of having just first believed in Him—we cannot say we do not know God, for we do know Him. Yet many times we find ourselves still needing the support of our mind or feeling to help us onward. We have a little knowledge of God, but in addition to such little knowledge we believe we need the help of many ideas; for without these ideas we feel as if our little knowledge of God is undependable and insufficient. With the result that we often require the assistance of these ideas to maintain our Christian life. Without such mental aids we find it hard to convince ourselves of the correctness in reason and doctrine for us to press on. And furthermore, many times we seek for warm, joyful or stirring feelings as additional help to our on-going walk with the Lord.

The day may come, however, when God gives us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in revealing himself in a fresh, special, and deeper way to us, so that we may declare that we now truly know Him. At that time we will boldly assert: “I now understand and see clearly. I no longer need the help of either ideas or feelings. I now truly know God.”

Perhaps some of you cannot fully comprehend what has just been said. Let us therefore illustrate this point with one or two examples. Once a Christian testified with the following words: “I have believed the Lord for 22 years. During the first two of those years I tried my best to believe. If I was asked whether I was saved, I was truly saved. None could say I was not saved, for I knew I was. I also knew I had eternal life. Yet I had a problem. For whenever I was asked whether I believed in God, I answered that I indeed believed in Him, but I found myself saying the word “believe” most emphatically as though I were forcing myself to believe—as though I consciously had to lay hold of myself lest I might then and there stop being a Christian. And hence my believing in the Lord Jesus required my own effort to believe. Did I believe in God? I did. Did I know Him? I honestly did not know if I knew Him. I needed the aid of many reasons and doctrines to protect my faith. I felt safe and could even talk with others so long as my reasons were logical and my doctrines were sound. I needed mental assistance in my Christian life. But today I can testify that I am no longer that way. Today I can say I know my God. I no longer require mental aids for support: I do not need outward evidence to protect my inward faith.”

What this Christian has said is what truly knowing God is. Such knowledge comes from revelation: not because the doctrine is good, but because you know it inwardly by revelation. It is different from the kind of knowing which you had immediately subsequent to the moment of being saved. For at that time you felt your knowledge had to be handled with the utmost of care out of fear lest it be damaged in some way or even be lost. For many people, their faith in the Lord Jesus is dependent continually upon their having to walk carefully: they are always afraid of hearing anything different which might overturn their knowledge of God. But one day God gives them revelation. They begin to know Him inwardly because they have truly seen Him; and all problems are solved.

Let me say that were you truly to know God, then neither the faith of the entire world would help you believe nor would the unbelief of the entire world shake loose your faith. Perhaps other people may assert so convincingly that the Bible is totally false and their reasons for unbelief may seem to be far more overwhelming than all the reasons for believing; yet no matter how many reasons they may marshal before you, your faith will not be shaken. Instead, you can now speak ever so boldly: “I have come to know God inwardly. My knowledge is deeper than thought and is deeper than feeling. I today inwardly understand; and therefore nothing from outside can sway me.”

This that we have been discussing is indeed a big problem for believers. Many Christians live too much by feeling. If they feel joyful and happy today they will say God has truly blessed them. If, however, they feel cold and flat today they each will almost be heard to say, How can I know where God is? Thus many Christians lean upon their feeling; and as soon as their feeling is missing, they waver. This proves that they do not really know the Lord. How the children of God need to be brought by the Lord to the place where feeling cold or warm, flat or stirred, presents no problem because they have known God with a knowledge which is deeper than any feeling. In spite of varied sensations outwardly—whether of joy or pain—they inwardly know. And only such persons as these can stand against all shakings. Such people alone will be used by God.

There was once a brother who, not long after he had believed in the Lord, was confronted by another person who told him that there were errors in the Bible. He was so exasperated that he nearly cried. Here was one who believed the Bible to be true; how then could there be any error? Nevertheless, this other man, in pointing out several places in the Bible, hinted that these were in error. So that the brother was really afraid. Shaken as he was, he thought: What can I do if these are real errors? Whereupon he laid this matter before an elderly sister, for he reckoned that since this sister loved the Lord and loved the Bible so much she certainly would be agitated if she realized there were these errors in the Bible. The strange thing was, however, that after this sister heard him out, she was calm as could be. Her reply to his presentation was: This is no problem. The brother now mused within himself with these words: Even if this creates no problem for her, it most assuredly poses a great problem for me! He therefore asked the sister to explain to him these questionable places in the Bible. Yet all she said was, that knowing God did not depend on the solving of these questions! To which the brother inwardly responded by thinking in his heart: These problems might not require any solution for an elderly person like you, but it is impossible for a young man with an active mind like mine to overlook them. With the result that this brother spent an entire year searching the Scriptures with regard to these questions. Upon finding out the evidence that the Bible passages in question were correct and not in error, the heavy burden upon his heart dropped away like a stone that is lifted from someone’s shoulder. Actually, though, if this brother had truly known God he would not have needed to worry for a whole year.

If we truly know God we will not carry in our hearts such a heavy burden nor be disturbed even though there may come our way many more questions. People may attempt to prove this or that thing, but we Christians can prove one very important thing—that God is indeed God and that we know Him who is so real. And by knowing Him, all problems are solved. Such knowledge does not rely on how logical are the reasons or how clear the doctrines; it relies only on revelation. How such revelation is absolutely necessary. We must ask God to give us the spirit of revelation so that we may really know Him. And knowledge such as this is the foundation of a believer and is of utmost importance.