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Second Generation in the Local Churches for God's Eternal PurposeIsaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts And your ways are not My ways, declares Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, My ways are higher than your ways, And My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.” “God has not only decided each of our individual ways, much more He has ordained a unique way for the Church. All God's children have the duty to seek out the appointed ways of God and bear responsibility to walk within” (from The Orthodoxy of the Church, Chinese edition, by Watchman Nee). Being one who has been in the local churches since childhood, I wish to give a testimony of what I have seen and learned. I was born in Fukien, China, into a Christian home. My parents attended a denomination ministered by an old Chinese Pastor and supervised by some foreign missionaries. Sometime later in my childhood, I remember the local church meetings had begun in the big hall next to my father's medical clinic, and my family started to meet there. As we children grew older, we came to understand that we were meeting together according to God's appointed ways, that is, simply in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Believers from the vicinity would gather in our home to enjoy the Lord. After the breaking of bread, everyone would partake of a common meal prepared then and there by some sisters. It was a real brotherly love in God's family. Before that time a young Chinese student named Watchman Nee, from the province of Foochow, China was ministering. His teachings were deep, soul-searching and profound and there was a great awakening of the local churches all over China, and it was then my father found out about Watchman Nee. Watchman Nee visited us a few times and my impression of him then was that he was like Moses. He often spent time “face to face with the Lord,” and like Moses, it seemed there was nothing concerning God that he did not know. Watchman Nee told us that we must treasure the truth recovered as heritage from God, but not to hold on to a certain truth so as to make it distinct from another. I remember him as a vessel of God raised to recover His pure truth, as he would search the whole Bible if he came across a certain doctrine which was not quite sound. From the writings of past believers, he learned about successes and failures of the churches in church history. So, the speaking in the local churches at that time was rich and abundant. Those in some other Christian groups, warned their members not to mix with those in the local churches nor to attend our meetings, because the seeking ones who attended our meetings loved it so much that the leaders of the other groups said they would become like a bee stuck in honey. The opposers said this for fear of loosing members from their congregation. Thus we saw that wherever the truth is, the enemy was also busy at work just like the times when Jesus was on earth. In some places due to opposition, the young people could not meet openly--they had to break bread in cemetery grounds. Many young people were raised up to help with Watchman Nee's ministry to shepherd the churches all over China (John 21:16). Among them was Witness Lee. Watchman Nee had seen a great future for the local churches. So with foresight he took special care to train Witness Lee, sharing with Lee all that he had received from God. He trained Lee just as Moses trained his assistant Joshua, who eventually became the one who lead the Isrealites into the promised land. This was of God's sovereign plan, although unknown by Nee at that time, and was later proven in history. Just prior to the Communist takeover of China, Watchman Nee realized their advances and managed to purchase a ticket and sent Lee at once out of the country in order to preserve the local churches. It proved to be God's sovereign hand. The Lord used Witness Lee to raise up local churches in Taiwan, and even unexpectedly led him to the U.S. Witness Lee indeed helped many believers to practice Nee's teaching and to enjoy Jesus Christ as their good land. In the local churches, the whole Bible has been opened to us from Genesis to Revelation. In addition, through these brothers' faithful labor, the mystery of God and His eternal plan, and the way to reach God's goal, the New Jerusalem has been revealed to us (Rev. 21:2,10). May the Lord's mercy be upon us to follow Him faithfully by His grace and pursue toward the goal with Him. May glory and honor and power be unto God, the Lamb of God-our Savior Jesus Christ--and the Spirit, forever and ever. J.H. | Back to List |
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