(Student of Watchman Nee, co-laborer with the "little flock" in China and spiritually impacted by T. Austin-Sparks)-------------------------------------------------1957 - Special talk on the Locality Law betweenTAS and Witness Lee I had earlier recommended to WL that we collaborate with TAS, so that together we could build a worldwide spiritual testimony with his spirituality and our local church methodology. Therefore one Friday evening in 1957, WL asked me to stay in Taipei when all the other co-workers had gone back to their respective cities of service, because he would talk to TAS about the Locality Law (or church ground). A total of five people were at that meeting: TAS, Poul Madsen, Witness Lee (李常受), Zhang Wu-chen (張 晤晨), and Zhang Yu-lan (張郁嵐). I stayed downstairs in the Worker’s Home waiting to hear the report. The meeting ended before 9:00 pm. WL came to the Worker’s Home immediately afterwards to talk to me. He said, “I (Lee) asked TAS, ‘If there are five different Christian groups in Taipei City, which one is the real church?’ TAS thought for a little while and said, 'If those in the five Christian groups are really born again by the Holy Spirit (i.e. they have Christ in their hearts), then they are all churches, because the church is measured by Christ.’” The three Chinese brothers in the meeting were deeply influenced by WN’s Locality Law or Church Ground teaching and TAS saw by their facial expressions that they did not agree with what he said. So he asked, "What do you mean by Church Ground?" WL said, "Drawing from the ‘type' in the Old Testament, Israel could not build the temple in Babylon, nor in the desert, but only in Jerusalem on the original ground." TAS said, "Yes. But what is Jerusalem's original ground?" Lee said, "It is where the Holy Spirit built the church for the first time in Acts on the ground of one locality, one church." TAS immediately knew that was the teaching from WN’s book "Rethinking of our Mission" (English version published in Honor Oak, England 1939), so he said, "This is your interpretation! As far as I know, the real Church Ground is not one locality, one church, but is Christ Himself!" When I heard this it was a shock to me because I also held fast to Nee’s teaching at that time. It was really a great shake-up to me personally to realize that Jerusalem's original ground is not one locality, one church, but is Christ Himself! Then WL argued with TAS saying, " We say that the Church Ground is one locality one church, which means Unity in one city." TAS said, "If you mean that the Church Ground means Unity in one city, it means that you agree with me, and disagree with yourselves! One locality one church teaching or other teachings cannot bring Unity among Christians. Only Christ Himself can bring Christians true Unity, not only in one place, but also in all other places! The truth is: Things divide; Christ unites!" When I heard this, it was a second shock to me; in fact, the Church Ground teaching collapsed within me and I totally abandoned that teaching from that moment! WL wanted to argue further, but TAS said, “If you follow the Holy Spirit's leading and do certain things according to the examples in the New Testament, that is good, but don’t say 'this is the only way!’ The Holy Spirit is too vast to comprehend.” Then TAS said, "There really is no need to continue this meeting!" And immediately the meeting ended right there! After WL told me all of the above, he said, "We will never invite TAS into our midst again!" However, because my viewpoint on the church ground was totally changed through what I had heard, I argued with him till after midnight – in fact until 1:00am. One thing I remember saying was, “TAS never intended to control or to seize our work, he only ministers Christ to us! If you don’t work with TAS or you refuse his ministry, which is Christ Himself, then that means you are shutting out Jesus Christ (Rev. 3:20)! That is a very serious and dangerous matter!” Finally, Brother Lee seemed to be convinced by me and said, “I will work with him (TAS) again!” and I was appeased. I said to brother Lee, “ If brother Watchman Nee were here tonight, he would have changed his position on the Locality Law”! But Brother Lee seemed to disagree with me. (This conversation was on the Friday night.) The next Monday morning, brother TAS continued his messages on “The Persistent Purpose of God”. When he spoke (chapter nine, page 69 of the book by the same title) he said, “We must be very careful not to make Christ or His Church smaller than it really is. We must not make Christ smaller than what God has made Him. We may not make Him just our Christ, our little Christ, the Christ that belongs to us, the Christ of our particular locality!” WL didn’t like translating this passage into Chinese! On the same day, at around 3:00 pm, WL came to the Workers’ Home to see me. He pounded on the table angrily and shouted at me, “We hold fast to the Church Ground, why does that make us a Little church, a Little Christ?” I was astonished and kept silent! It seemed to me that WL would no longer work with TAS in the future! This conversation was in private, not in public. At that time I said myself, " Whether WL works with TAS or not, it no longer mattered to me because I was no longer interested in the locality law! Through TAS’ ministry, I have been given a new Bible by the Holy Spirit, in which I see the living Christ everywhere. The greatest need of every local church is spiritual food (the living Christ). The elementary principles of Christ (spiritual milk) are good but not enough; we must go on and learn obedience through sufferings (solid food) to reach full maturity. If the elementary principles become merely traditions, we would lose the freshness and impact of life: ‘The grapes of Eshcol became raisins’ (Num 13:23). We have to abide in and minister new light and life (the new living Christ from the Bible) and feed Christians with solid food." Now I had begun to get this spiritual food directly from the Bible! 1958 - WL sent me to Gao-Xiong (the second largest city in Taiwan) to serve. 1959 - A Tragic year for Watchman Nee’s Groups 1959 - In the sovereignty of God, 1959 was the beginning of a tragic and terrible year for WN’s groups (including WL). The reason: In April, after one of the Thursday evening Bible study meetings on John chapter 4, at around 8:40 pm, WL (his face red with anger ) made a public (not private) announcement when all the co-workers of the Taiwan churches and the local saints were gathered together in Taipei. This announcement consisted of: (1) His formal proclamation: "From now on, I will no longer work with TAS." This contradicted with his public announcement and comment in 1955: “We are going to work with TAS! He is like refined pure gold and a pressed diamond! In 1934 WN introduced TAS and spread his ministry to the whole of China!” We were all glad to hear that in 1955, which was the first time TAS visited the Far East. WN also referred to TAS as a spiritual man several times while I was in Shanghai in 1947. This meant that in effect, WL had stated that he would no longer work with spiritual people from 1959 onwards. (2) He spoke evilly against TAS. He used the Shandong dialect in speaking against TAS, which basically meant, "TAS’ message (little church, little Christ) in 1957 was like passing gas"! (1957 那天晚上[拜五] 我叫他吃了一口氣﹐他第二天 [其實是第三天﹐拜一] 就放出來了.) When I heard WL’s terrible words, my whole being was shocked and I was shaken right to the core. I sighed in my heart: “O dear brother Lee, what are you doing?! Why?! Those dirty words... let it not even be named among us, as is fitting for saints – Eph. 5:3!” (3) He cursed himself: Using Jacob's words he said, “If there is a division among us due to my refusing to work with TAS, I shall go down to Sheol in mourning!” (Gen. 37:35). (如果因為我不與史弟兄同工﹐而使我們中間發生分裂﹐我就悲悲慘慘的下陰間!) This was the first time ever that a meeting ended without a concluding prayer, and everybody went home sad! The day after, WL became sick. He could not do any public speaking for the next six months. After this public announcement, I went back to Gao-Xiong the very next morning. Following the leading of the Holy Spirit I prepared to leave brother Lee’s co-worker relationship. Thanks be to the Lord, my wife got a teaching job in Gao-Xiong high school. From then on, I ceased to participate in brother Lee’s co-workers’ meetings. At the time, some leading brothers and sisters came to my home and wanted to support and follow me. I said to them, “No! Don’t follow me! I am nothing! If you follow me now, in a little while, you would want to kill me because I am not your ideal Christian! You and I need to pray that God reveals His Son in us, so that we will all follow Him! Because of TAS’ ministry, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes and I have really begun to see the revelation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. My life has been changing and in a revolutionary way! Please study TAS' books and receive the revelation by the Holy Spirit of God’s Son! Then we can work together in that day with a heavenly vision!” 1960 - I started to publish the “Overcomer” periodical in Gao-Xiong and later in Manila. Most of the messages in it were TAS’ messages translated into Chinese. On July 29, 1961 I received official permission from TAS to translate his messages. Now these can be read in Chinese at www.austin-sparks.net and also www.geocities.com/heraldhsu. 1961 - WN’s (including WL’s) groups began the long history of repeated divisions. First it was the church in Manila, subsequently, churches in Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Taiwan, all suffered breakups. Even today, forty years after these initial divisions, those who followed Nee’s Locality teaching and work, continue to divide and be exclusive! It’s a tragedy! In principle, those who followed WL’s co-workers and elders, including many of the second generation were, and are, really experiencing “going down to Sheol in mourning”. Finally some of them separated from Witness Lee! In the midst of all this great turmoil, TAS wrote to this Author on 7/26/1961: "The great enemy does not give up his determination to interrupt fellowship and to spoil the work of the Lord by bringing division among His people. Everywhere this evil work is being pressed with increasing intensity. The enemy is set upon destroying anything that will result in the Lord Jesus coming into His full place. We must stand and withstand and do all in our power to keep this ground from him. It is costly, and it demands that we let go all that is only personal, and that we stand for the glory of our Lord's name and His interests alone... I am sure that you will never make me or my ministry a ground of division. There is no need to fight for me; the Lord is on the Throne, and He can order things to His Own Will - while we pray and trust Him." After WN’s group (including WL) in Manila divided, God’s servants Simon Meek (繆紹訓) and Luke Wu (吳仁傑) invited me to Manila to serve. When I arrived in Manila at the end of 1961, the first thing that I asked them to do was to write an invitation letter to TAS inviting him to come to Manila to help us, because only TAS' ministry (Christ Himself) could solve the Far East problems. Upon receiving the letter, TAS shared it with other servants of the Lord. Brother C.R. Golsworthy and his wife were led by the Holy Spirit to accept the burden. TAS confirmed it. Brother and sister Golsworthy came to Manila in 1962. Finally in 1964, TAS and his wife also came to Manila where they stayed and ministered to us for a month. TAS held two special conferences and also spoke in regular meetings. He delivered 42 messages in all, leading us and the whole body of Christ into the spiritual and heavenly realms. Thanks be to God! Now these 42 messages have been published in two volumes titled “That They May All Be One, Even As We Are One”. These books are available free upon request by writing to: Emmanuel Church, 12,000 East 14th Street, Tulsa, OK 74128-5016, USA. Or they can be viewed at www.austin-sparks.net. Concerning the "Locality law", TAS wrote to us in Manila from London on April 12, 1962: “Dear Brother Wu: Your letter addressed to me in London has been sent on to me here in U.S.A. Thank you for writing so fully regarding the situation there in Manila, I came to America near the end of February, and have had a very full time in various parts of this country. Now I am preparing to return to London in four days from now, to be there for the special meetings that we have always had at Easter. I have carefully read all that you have told me as to the reason for the division with brother Lee and those who have formed another assembly on the special basis of “Locality”. Soon after I arrived here I had a long talk with brother Lee in which he gave me his own views on the matter. He read to me many letters, which had passed between you, brother Herald Hsu, and himself. He also told me of the serious event in Manila when armed guards took charge of the Assembly Hall to lock the doors and keep people from meeting there. He showed me the copy of the official letter of the lawyer demanding that the property, finances, etc. be handed over to you and brother Meek. I still refuse to take sides in all this. Knowing very well that there are always many things on both sides, which I do not know nor understand. I can only take any position on what I believe to be fundamental. For me, the basis (or ground) of the Church is quite fundamental. I cannot accept that the basis is what is called "Locality". I believe that where Christ truly is, even if it be in only "two or three" there the Church is in effect. Christ is the "foundation" (or ground), and "other foundation can no man lay". But when I have said that, brother, I feel that you are, perhaps unconsciously, involved in the "Locality" position. Do you know that that is precisely and positively the teaching and position of the people called "Exclusive Brethren"? This teaching first went to Shanghai with the leading Exclusive Brethren who tried to capture the whole work of brother Nee. Brother Nee refused to be made an official part of that body, but the teaching got in, and has gone on ever since. When I came to Manila and Hong Kong I was very sorry to see that in both Assembly Halls there were for sale many of the books from the Stow Hill Bible Dept. in England. I feared that this would lead to both exclusiveness and division, and as late as last year one of the biggest divisions took place among them. Their whole church teaching is based upon this "Locality" law. (That is, the church ground.) Brother Lee is the strongest exponent of it in the Far East. I love brother Lee and will do all possible to avoid separation from him. We must all fight hard to prevent divisions, and our ground must be Christ in all His own... I shall continue to pray for you all, and that the Lord will get a great victory over all the evil powers which are working so hard to bring dishonor upon His name everywhere... Give my greetings to all the brothers and sisters. Yours in the love and grace of our Lord Jesus,T. Austin-Sparks" Forty years ago, the Holy Spirit forbade me to write down these historic facts because at that time, I was learning the lessons of the Cross (obedience through sufferings, and subjecting myself to the disciplines of the Holy Spirit). Men may have been wrong, things may have been incorrect, situations may have been difficult etc. but God allowed them to happen to bring my self-centered life to light (my self-conceit, self-righteousness, self-murmuring, self-discontent, self-arguments, my spiritual work, my ministry, my zeal for the Lord, etc.) That was good! When I willingly denied myself, the measure of Christ was spontaneously increased. Thanks be to the Lord! Although at that time the Holy Spirit did not allow me to work with brother Lee, the Christ in my heart still loved him and prayed for him and that has never changed! In fact, all the followers of the Lamb are going to repudiate the things of the flesh, the things of the world, this natural life, legalism; even so-called spiritual works, but the living Christ in their hearts not only loves the brethren, He also loves their enemies! When under the disciplines of the Holy Spirit I discovered my self-centered life, by God’s grace I was always led to repent and to be corrected accordingly! Jesus says, “Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” (Matt. 5:26). Thanks to God, in February 1997 at a special conference, our dear brother WL showed public repentance before he died, (in Chen Xing Sheng Yan - 晨興聖言 1997, page 50) “I have sinned against the Body of Christ, I have sinned against many brothers and sisters. For this, I have deeply repented before the Lord!” (對不起基督的身體, 對不起許多弟兄姊妹﹐為著這件事我在主面前有很深的悔改!) (Author’s note: According to the Author’s knowledge, these included elder brothers and sisters such as TAS (史百克), London; Simon Meek (繆紹訓), Manila; Faithful Luke (陸忠信), Singapore; Luke Wu (吳仁傑), Manila; Chen Ze-Xin (陳則信), Hong Kong; Stephen Kaung (江守道), USA; Ma Kui-Chun (馬葵春), Taiwan; Hou xiu-Ying (侯秀英), Taiwan; and many other dear brothers and sisters.) Although brother WL had repented, many of his followers have not! This is to serve as a warning and a challenge to us! We need to repent immediately, and not wait! We have to be “buying up the opportunity, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16 Gk)! Satan wants us to spend all our time engaging in Christian activities, but never to learn obedience through sufferings in our homes, in our businesses, in our service, and manifest Christ Himself in our mortal bodies! Isaiah and other saints were allowed by the Spirit to write the history of King Uzziah, how he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and God made him prosper. But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction! He became leprous, and remained a leper until the day of his death (Isa. 6:1; 2 Chr. 26)! What a tragic story it was! Paul and Luke were allowed by the Spirit to write down the history of Barnabas. He was a Levite, a son of encouragement, and sold his land for the Lord. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. He was sent out to Antioch to help Saul of Tarsus and he worked with Paul. But in the end he played the hypocrite. “Even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy” (Gal. 2:13)! Forty years later, the Holy Spirit urged me to write down these facts. Why? The Holy Spirit says,"For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we... might have hope." (Rom. 15:4). Our hope is in Christ, not in men, even great men of God. Out of the Old Man comes praise of man and glorification of man. Out of the New Man, any reference to historical happenings should be seen as simply increasing the measure of Christ. The lessons are not only for our learning, but also for the succeeding generations. The Bible treats a number of God’s servants in an unusual manner: Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, John and Paul were all crucified men and greatly used by God, but there are no records about their deaths, funerals and graves. Why is this? Because they themselves were all nothing and don’t need to be remembered. They were called by God only as instruments and their vocation or function was ministering Christ; which was important and eternal. And so the Bible only records their vocations or functions. Why did God allow those things to happen? (1) The Holy Spirit leads us to “see His glory”, and shows us that men (even those greatly used by God) are nothing. (Please read: “Because He Saw His Glory” and “Even Barnabas” on the www.austin-sparks.net website) (2) The Holy Spirit used the divisions of WN’s groups as a background and opportunity for TAS to minister the invaluable spiritual and heavenly messages to the whole body of Christ, from 1957 through till this very day; even though the servant of the Lord has passed away, yet Christ still ministers abundant life through His servant’s words! Truly His name is Wonderful. HE has set free those who were in legalism and exclusiveness! In the sovereignty of God, there were many who opposed Paul. His opponents included the Galatians, the Corinthians and the Ephesians. But Paul learned obedience through sufferings and his wonderful testimony shines through: “Now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ”! For two thousand years, Christians have been ministered to through him! We have to thank those who opposed Paul! Today we have to thank those who oppose spiritual people! We have to recognize that through all ages and generations those who have chosen the spiritual and heavenly way and stuck to it, were opposed by earthly and soulish people! This was, and is, the woman (all saints in the Old and New Testaments) who cried out in labor and in pain to give birth to the Man Child (overcomers) (Rev. 12:1-5; 2:27; 3:21). But God’s eternal purpose will be fulfilled! “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ, and He shall reign for the ages of the ages, Amen” (Rev. 11:15 VM)! From 1962 until today - I spent an additional 13 years in Manila before moving to the USA in 1973. After 17 years in New Jersey, I relocated to California with my family where we have been living for more than 13 years. In all those years I have served Christians according to Paul’s words: “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Phi. 1:29)! By the mercy of God, may all the Christians everywhere enter into the full revelation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, so that God’s eternal purpose might be fulfilled! Herald HsuLos Angeles February 2004Chinese website: www.geocities.com/heraldhsu--------------------------------------------------The Complete Article:http://www.geocities.com/heraldhsu/testimony_grace_of_god.htm--------------------------------------------------Vasile - Praise the Lord!
