Read and pray: “To those who are without law, as without law (though not being without law to God but under the law of Christ), that I might gain those who are without law.” (1 Cor. 9:21)
THE LORD'S SPECIAL
COMMISSION TO US (3)
We sought to receive the spiritual heritage from others; we accepted things related to the gospel and the truth. However, this attitude led Brother Yu Cheng-hwa to the boldness of accepting everything from Madame Guyon, including things peculiar to Catholicism.
He acted this way because the co-workers had adopted the attitude of accepting anything related to the gospel, spirituality, or the truth that anyone had to offer, regardless of the denomination or sect they belonged to, as long as it did not sacrifice our ground.
In the co-workers’ meeting held in Shanghai in 1937, we fellowshipped concerning the line of Antioch. Brother Nee suggested that we proceed in two ways. On the one hand, we would all go to various places and establish meetings for propagation; on the other hand, those among us who were convicted of the truth would endeavor to work within the denominations, imparting the truth and supplying spiritual nourishment. After this fellowship, we began to carry out the work in these two aspects.
However, not long after this fellowship, the war with Japan broke out. This brought the propagation work to a halt. At that time, there were many intellectuals among us; many worked in the medical and educational fields.
During the war, many of them moved to provinces far from the front lines and were evacuated from areas occupied by the Japanese, such as Nanking. Only after the war ended did we begin to gather again in those places.
During the war, Satan was active and struck Brother Nee with a severe blow. As a result, those who had moved far from the war zones received very little supply, and the believers in enemy-occupied territories were weak. In this way, the testimony was weakened everywhere.
In this weakened condition, we realized that those working in the denominations were more effective in evangelizing, were like us in terms of spirituality, and were producing people who understood the truth. It seemed that bringing people out of the denominations was our only accomplishment. Our situation was sad and gloomy.
After the war, the leaders experienced great difficulties among themselves, having gone through a long period of neglect, trials, and frustration. The churches went through various trials. When the saints returned to Shanghai, all the co-workers gathered and had fellowship.
Based on our insights and experiences, we decided that we should maintain the testimony of our initial vision—the testimony of one church in each city—and that we should build all spiritual matters upon this ground.
We would continue to accept elements related to the gospel, spirituality, and the truth from other denominations or sects. The only thing we would not relinquish and would insist upon was the ground of the church. We would continue to insist on taking one city as the ground for one church and would hold firmly to the testimony of the Body of Christ.
Enjoy more:
Hymn “The Church—The Lampstand of Christ”
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