HOME MEETINGS
Pray-reading: “Jesus then said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven; but My Father gives you the true bread out of heaven.” (John 6:32)
THE SCARCITY OF EDIFICATION AND LIGHT
The subject of this message is very simple — “speaking in the way of life” — yet I feel the burden. We are nearly at the end of the twentieth century. We have studied church history, read the biographies and classic writings of the Lord’s servants of past centuries.
We have studied Christianity for a long time and have abundantly experienced the church life. We are in the United States, the leading country of Christianity, where there are many Christian activities, Christian denominations, Christian groups, and so on.
Despite all this, if we look at the present situation, we would be almost entirely disillusioned. What can we see today? We can see the Catholic Church, the large denominations, all the medium-sized Christian groups, the small ones, and the churches in the Lord’s recovery. It is not very encouraging.
Indeed, every situation is quite discouraging, or at least has something discouraging in it. The disappointment lies mainly in two things. First, there is no edification.
After twenty centuries of Christian history, what is the result today? The result seems to be only the continuation of the great Christianity. Including the Catholic members, today’s Christians make up at least one-fourth of the world’s population.
Among so many Christians, many are false, nominal, yet a good number are genuine. Among the genuine ones, however, we can see very little edification.
Second, there is ignorance in today’s Christianity. Most Catholics simply follow their superstitions. They believe that a statue in front of a cathedral can do something for them. This is superstition.
They also believe in superstitious tales about angelic activities said to have occurred centuries ago in Spain, France, and Italy. These things are abundant due to the nature of Catholicism.
Ignorance is also seen in the Protestant denominations, even in the Lutheran Church, which is founded on the belief in justification by faith. If we ask a Lutheran to say something about justification by faith, I do not believe he will be able to do it well. This is a strong indication of ignorance. In fact, it is not only ignorance but confusion.
Even among the genuine believers, few are in the light. Is there any edification in today’s Pentecostalism? Is there any light? Well, I would say that superstitious waves have also invaded Pentecostalism.
They like to talk about dreams, speak of great prophecies, and practice healings. I have attended some healing sessions and did not see any genuine healing. All I saw was a performance with a certain type of artificial healing. The leaders knew it was false, yet everyone believed in those healings. This is superstition, without edification and with no illumination.
Now let us consider our situation. Forget about others and let us criticize ourselves. Are you built up? How many of you are built up? I must admit that we are no better than anyone else.
If we compare ourselves with those who have nothing, at least we have something. And what about the light? During these last eleven and a half years, we have had two trainings each year. In each training, thirty messages were spoken and printed.
Many of you have hundreds of Life-study messages on your shelves, but I do not believe that ten percent of them are in your hearts and in your minds. Our situation is like that of a housewife whose husband bought many groceries, but she never cooked them.
🌿 Enjoy more:
Hymn: Experience of Christ – “As Food and Drink”
https://hinario.org/detail.php?tab=1&mainmp3=admin/Uploaded-mp3-Files/1147.mp3.final.mp3&id=1226
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