The Testimony of God’s Grace
by Herald Hsu

(Student of Watchman Nee, co-laborer with the "little flock" in China and spiritually impacted by T. Austin-Sparks)

This testimony emphasizes “The gospel of God” - concerning His Son - Jesus Christ our LORD. Man was created for Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not only Man’s Saviour but also Man’s LORD. The real meaning of Man’s life, or the truth, the goodness and the beauty of Man’s life, is having Jesus Christ continue to fill all our thoughts and actions, and to live out or to manifest Jesus Christ. By the grace of God, I have Jesus Christ dwelling in me and continue to experience the infilling, living out and manifesting of His life. With this testimony, I am attempting to record certain historic facts and more importantly to share the spiritual principles of the Heavenlies (Gk, Eph.1:3; 2:6, etc.), so that we can all learn from these and be transformed by the renewing of our mind, that we may prove what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God!

From 1922 to 1954

By grace... born-again of the Holy Spirit

1922 - I (Herald Hsu 徐爾建, one of the descendants of the fallen Adam) was born into a family who were members of the Presbyterian Church in Northern China. When I was six years old, my father died. At 14, I was born again by the Holy Spirit and was baptized by sprinkling (I did not understand the real meaning of baptism at that time).

By grace... disciplined and anointed by the Holy Spirit

(1) Spiritual milk – the rudiments of the beginning principles of the oracles of God ---represented by the Boy Jesus before age 12

1940 - This was my third year of junior high and the first time I came in contact with Watchman Nee (WN--倪柝聲)’s writings. By God’s grace, I read many gospel booklets by him and found them very interesting. I also learned to sing hymns, to play the organ, to pray, to attend church meetings, and do all the things that Christians do. As the school year ended, I was diagnosed with pleurisy, and spent a year in the hospital. My mother prayed for me. I also prayed to God, saying, “Lord, if you heal me, I would be willing to be a preacher.” (I thought that was the worst job around!) The Lord answered our prayers and healed me without the need for doctors to drain fluid from my chest.

1942 - The Pacific war (between Japan and the USA) was under way. By God’s grace, I fled from my Japanese-occupied hometown to inland China to finish high school. After graduation, I went to Chong-Qing (重慶), Si-chuan (四川), and prepared for the college entrance examination. My plan was to become a mechanical engineer to help advance China’s industrial development. I had totally forgotten about my promise to become a preacher.

1945 - The Japanese surrendered in the war and I entered Jiao-Tong University (交通大學, known as the MIT of China). By God’s grace, a brother in Christ led me to a meeting at Chong-Qing Christian Assembly Hall (重慶基督徒聚會處), which was one of WN’s groups. Soon the university moved back to Shanghai and I became a regular attendee of the meetings of WN’s group there. I learned fervent Bible-reading, fellowshipping with saints, taking part in church services and leading people to Christ.

1947 - One evening, WN, accompanied by Miss Wang Pei-Zhen (WPZ--汪佩真), came to visit our school and we gathered in Professor Wong’s living room. I had gotten the impression from a booklet by W N’s groups that they thought that spiritual light only came from them. I did not believe that, so I asked brother Nee at the first opportunity, “If a servant of the Lord from another Christian group shows us greater or higher spiritual light, do we accept it?” Brother Nee thought for a while and then said, “God did not give us all the light. If somebody shows us greater light, we should be very glad to accept it! ” As a result, I had a lot of respect for him!

That evening, brother Nee admonished us (several young people) who were there and who wanted to serve the Lord, to do these three things:

1. Read the Bible - If possible, memorize it word for word, especially the Chinese translation. It is one of the best translations in the world - its mood, wording and expressions were all carefully chosen and weighty.

2. Obey the disciplines of the Holy Spirit – Brother Nee said, “Two sparrows are sold for a copper coin (Mat.10:29), five sparrows for two copper coins (Luke12:6). This tells us that sparrows are very cheap, buy two for one coin, buy four for two coins and get one free! Yet if it is not the Father’s will, you cannot catch even one of them! We ought to know that God the Father takes such good care of us (Christians) that even the very hairs of our head are all numbered (not just counted)! We need to recognize that all things happening to us are according to the Father’s will and are the disciplines of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, our attitude ought to be: obeying God’s will and accepting His disciplines with a thankful heart!

(Author’s note: The matter of “obedience to the disciplines of the Holy Spirit” was one of brother T. Austin-Sparks’ (TAS) main emphases in ministry, i.e. Christ and the Cross. WN visited TAS for the first time in 1933 and there was a significant spiritual enlightenment in WN as a result.)

3. Embracing voluntary poverty - Brother Nee introduced Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) to us; suggesting that a true servant of the Lord is one who forsakes money, position, power, reputation, fame etc. offered by the world or Christendom.

It was the grace of God! I was greatly blessed by his admonition to us young people and it left an indelible impression on me. After this meeting, the Lord led me to be baptized again by immersion (recognizing this act as a symbol of my union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection) and I began to memorize the New Testament.

1948 - After the war, there was a special first time conference in China for the co-workers and elders of WN’s groups. At that time, I was the leader of the Christian Student Fellowship at our school, so I was invited to attend that conference. Sister Lee Yuan-Ru (李淵如), being four years older than WN, was the oldest among his co-workers. At the start of the conference, she got up and interrogated brother Nee before the entire congregation, asking, “Why did you, a servant of God, go into the pharmaceutical business thus causing offence to many believers?” Brother Nee stood up and wept and said to those elders who were businessmen: “You forced me to do that!” (in Chinese, 你們逼我寡婦出嫁, which translated literally meant: You’re forcing me, a widow, to remarry (in order to support my kids)).

Upon hearing this, sister Wang Pei-Zhen (汪佩真) cried aloud and the whole assembly cried. I also cried, but I didn’t understand what brother Nee was saying. After that conference, almost all the elders and workers, including myself, surrendered all we had and rededicated ourselves to the Lord. Consequently, this conference led to a spiritual revival in the whole of China! The Lord also reminded me of my youthful promise to Him and indicated to me that from now on I really would be a preacher.

While in college, I would often go to sister WPZ’s apartment on Wednesday evenings for supper and we would discuss the student ministry at my school. Once I asked her about brother Nee and the pharmaceutical business. She said in part, “Because brother Nee preached the gospel of Christ to them, a few medical students dedicated themselves to the Lord’s ministry. They were sent to inland China to preach the gospel. Brother Nee had no financial foundation to support them, so they were all very poor. One of them contracted Tuberculosis and died. Brother Nee never asked for any donations for them and now his heart was broken, thinking, ‘I encouraged them to come out of the world only to send them to die because I could not support them.’ So he decided to start a business to support those young people."

When I heard this, I cried again and thought to myself, “If a popular, well-known servant of God such as WN ended up being ‘a widow forced to remarry’ for lack of financial support, how could I, an unknown preacher with limited gifts, expect any better?” Many Christians who had the financial wherewithal wanted to build beautiful church buildings with modern facilities and fund Sunday school programs for their children. Most were not interested in supporting the hidden ministries from which they themselves could not derive any direct benefits. Therefore, subconsciously, I resolved that in the future, I would teach mathematics in high school to support my ministry. (In 1951, when I was in Taipei, I really did get to teach mathematics - in Jian-Guo high school. 建國中學.) At that time, because I had a heart to serve God, I was becoming a legalist (killer of spiritual life), and condemned all Christian groups in my heart for not living up to my standards! I didn’t see myself as just another sinner saved by grace and that the Christ in me loved every child of God in the world without partiality and so should I!

One day during the same year, we invited a servant of God to preach the gospel to our schoolmates. We pasted a 50-foot high vertical banner on the wall of the school building, which said, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” The dean of the school saw it and called me into his office. He said: “Firstly, there are no sinners in our school; your public notice should be pasted outside of the school. Secondly, you have made our school a religious school. I have ordered janitors to scrape the wall and clean it up.” (It took a whole week of cleaning.) I kept my silence and was dismissed from his office.

Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, a brother, Jin Jian (金鍵) and I took 4 pieces of white clothes and wrote short gospel messages such as “Believe in Jesus Christ, Receive Eternal Life” etc. on them. We wore them on our chests and backs and walked about the campus as moving advertisement in the school on Saturdays. On Sundays, we wore them on buses when we went to church meetings. Many people called us mentally deranged. Later, Christians in many Chinese cities heard about it and they organized gospel bands marching in the streets wearing vests with gospel messages written on them to testify of Jesus Christ.

Some would say, based on spiritual principles, the above experiences characterize the “spiritual milk stage” of the Christian life. This stage includes works such as leading people to Christ; taking part in church services; studying doctrines of the Bible, and so on (Heb. 6:1,2). Later, the Holy Spirit revealed to me what spiritual milk really is and showed me that what I had received and done were quite different from the Boy Jesus.

When the Boy Jesus was 12 years old, He was in the temple, both hearing and asking questions, (i.e. receiving spiritual milk). But He “must be in the things of His Father” (in Greek)! "His Father" signifies two things: (1) origin; (2) the Household of God. This means that the Boy Jesus received true spiritual milk in that: (1) the Origin or the Root was not from His own likes or dislikes, but all began and came from His Father; (2) He cared about the whole household of God and was not interested in building up His own denominations or sects.

But in my case, the origin of my spiritual milk was mostly from my own likes or dislikes and not from the Father. And I didn't care about the whole household of God but only built up my denomination or WN’s groups (the so called Local Churches). May all of us learn to receive true spiritual milk in that all our endeavors are initiated by the Father and for the building up of the whole household of God!

(2) Solid food -- learning obedience through sufferings and manifesting God the Father, represented by Jesus between the years of 12-30

To take solid food means:

1. Being disciplined by the Holy Spirit --- i.e. voluntary obedience and submission to the disciplines of the Holy Spirit. These disciplines encompass all things that happen in our lives. “All things work together for good --- to those who are called according to His purpose --- to be conformed to the image of His Son.” (Rom. 8:28-29). "All things work together " are the disciplines of the Holy Spirit; “being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ” is God’s Eternal Purpose.

Just as Jesus was in the days of His flesh. In the story of ‘the Boy Jesus in the Temple’, the Bible recorded that when Jesus was 12 years of age, His mother complained or murmured, “Your father and I have sought you sorrowing... and He went down with them... and He was subject to them” (Luke 2:48,51). After that incident, there is nothing written about the life of Jesus between the ages of 12 and 30. Although the Scriptures are completely silent about those years, yet Hebrews 5:7,8 says that Jesus in the days of His flesh, learned obedience through sufferings, and attained full growth. Peter says, “Jesus did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; but when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not; He just committed Himself [His cause] to God” (1 Peter 2:21-23)! So we could say that during those 18 years, Jesus learned to take spiritual solid food -- learning obedience and subjection (self-denial and manifesting the Anointing -- Christ) through sufferings!

2. Being anointed by the Holy Spirit --- the result of voluntary obedience to the disciplines of the Holy Spirit. Christ in Greek means “Anointed”. Christian means “Christ one”, union with Christ or manifesting and living out of Christ in life, in business and in ministry.

The last three and one-half years of Jesus on earth was anointed by the Holy Spirit: “The Son can do nothing of (GK, out of) himself. I can of myself do nothing. My teaching is not mine, but His that sent me. I do nothing of myself.” (John 5:19,30, 7:16, 8:28) These words say to us that if we were anointed by the Holy Spirit, all our sayings and doings would be out of the Holy Spirit and not out of ourselves!

Men may be wrong, things may be out of order, circumstances may be unreasonable - but God allow those things to happen to us, to show on the one hand how deeply self-centered we are and that we must voluntarily deny or die to the Self and “bear the cross” or gladly embrace the disciplines of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, because of our willingness to learn obedience through sufferings, Christ can then manifest Himself or live out through us (i.e. being anointed by the Holy Spirit). In effect, we experience the resurrection from the dead.

Paul learned this lesson and said, “We are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not to despair; pursued, yet not forsaken [or left behind]; smitten down, yet not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body the dying [or putting to death] of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body” (2 Cor. 4:8-10). He also said, “I [my old Adamic or natural life] have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live [because of voluntarily learning obedience through sufferings and denying myself, taking up my cross daily and following Him], but Christ lives in me [Christ manifests or lives out through me!]” (Gal. 2:20)

1949 - By the grace of God, I left Shanghai on May 9 for Taiwan by boat. On May 18, 1949, the communist army occupied Shanghai. I had arrived in Taiwan with a letter of recommendation from a professor to the head of the Taiwan Railroad Co. (TRC) and started working there. During the 10-month training period at TRC, I finished memorizing the New Testament once. I also began to learn “obedience to the disciplines of the Holy Spirit” (bearing the Cross and genuinely surrendering my Lordship to Jesus). 

Since childhood, I had lived a self-centered life. Self was the lord of everything. Deciding things on my own and looking out for my self-interests had become a deep-rooted habit. Even though I was later born by the Holy Spirit and called Jesus my Lord, I did so only in prayers. It was just lip service; when in fact, I myself was still the real lord in my life, work and ministry. Obedience to the disciplines of the Holy Spirit was just a mental concept. I did not have the real experience or comprehension of what that meant in reality.

When I first began learning this lesson of the cross, it was not easy. I was working at the Railroad Company and shared the company’s dormitory with a roommate. His office was just behind the dorm and he usually came back at noontime with friends to take a rest in the dorm before going back to work. I, however, had to work out of town so I did not return to the dorm until around 4:00 pm each day.

One day I came back to my room and found my KIWI shoe polish, brush and cloth etc. in disarray and my roommate’s shoes looking bright and shiny. I decided that he had used my shoe polish. I was not happy with this and condemned him in my heart for not putting my things back how he had found them.

This experience was a discipline of the Holy Spirit and revealed my self-centered life - albeit my well regulated life - but I did not see it that way at the time. In the next few days he not only used my shoe polish, but also my wooden slippers and my face-washing basin (for washing his feet perhaps). In addition, he would wear my slippers to other rooms and would not bring them back. I would have to go and search for them, sometimes one in one room and another elsewhere. As a result of all this, I was angry with him in my heart. I still did not recognize that this was a discipline of the Holy Spirit and that it was revealing my self-centered life. After several days, I put those things under the bed and pushed them way back against the wall, which was meant to convey: “Don’t touch – I know you use them!” I just did this in the afternoon, yet that evening I still prayed loudly and led singing in the church gathering. This was really a false life but I did not see the light!

Twelve days passed, my roommate wasn’t getting the hint and I was becoming more and more infuriated. On the thirteenth day, as I continued memorizing the Bible, I came upon Romans 8:6, “For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.” The Holy Spirit opened the eyes of my heart and showed me that the past twelve days had all been about minding the flesh, and so death, death, death was the result. No happiness. Instead, I was full of anger, condemnation, reprisal, shame, disgrace, etc. Those attitudes all belonged to the life of the old Adam, the self-centered life!

I cried and cried before the Lord and repented (turned around or changed my mind) to God. I prayed, “Dear Father, have mercy upon me according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Dear Father, I now recognize your great love in arranging such a special roommate for me, so that I would have the chance of learning obedience to the discipline of the Holy Spirit and to live out Jesus Christ. I do thank you from the bottom of my heart!”

Immediately, I had the mind of the Spirit, so life and peace filled my heart, and I truly experienced “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me”! That afternoon, when I went back to my dormitory, I put everything in front of the bed, so they were very easy to get to and use. On the fourteenth day, my roommate continued his inconsiderate ways yet I was very glad to serve him and willingly learned obedience to the Holy Spirit. I was so full of life and peace and found what Jesus taught: “Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two” a blessed thing to do.

On the fifteenth day, I discovered that my roommate had bought all his own supplies. I praised God with tears! God knew that this lesson had resulted in a correct adjustment. He, therefore, took away the situation. Peter says, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:6). Praise the Lord! This was the very first time that, by grace, I truly learned obedience to the discipline of the Holy Spirit! This incident with my roommate may have been a trivial irritation in my daily living, normally unworthy of telling. But how it brought my self-centered mindset to light and revealed the way to deliverance, changed me profoundly. The lesson learned continues to impact my life today. This is one case.

However, there is another case. Paul says, “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor.10:13). This verse tells us that God at times does not take away the situation we wish removed. Paul had an experience that a thorn in his flesh buffeted him. He pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from him. The Lord said to him, ”My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor.12: 8-9)! This is how God led Paul to spiritual ascendancy (i.e. able to bear it)! Thanks be to God! You and I may have a thorn that causes us pain, which doesn’t depart from us, but God’s grace brings us through! That is God ‘s deliverance without deliverance! He leads us to spiritual ascendancy!

Since that time in 1949 to this day, there have been many, many situations that the Holy Spirit has allowed in order to discipline and train me. Thanks be to God, by His grace, it has become quicker and easier for me to recognize and obey the disciplines of the Holy Spirit. Before 1949, my mind was always minding the flesh, so death was always present. After 1949, because of learning this lesson regularly, my mind began to mind the Spirit in every situation, and gradually it was transformed from minding the Spirit to being “the mind of the Spirit”. Therefore it has become quite easy to experience life and peace because it is no longer I, but Christ who lives everywhere and in every situation!

Years later, my spiritual training under the Holy Spirit resulted in the following story. In 1980, after 35 years of no correspondence with my mother following the communist occupation of China, she was able to join us in the USA at the age of ninety. She lived with my wife and me for 16 years before she passed away. When she came, it was obvious to me that I could no longer travel to the Far East freely and leave her to the care of my wife alone. By the grace of God, I found a job in the Food Stamp Department of New Jersey.

One day I went to interview a disabled couple for food stamp eligibility. The husband opened the door and led me to sit beside the desk. His wife came out from the bedroom and started yelling at me in anger: “Get out! Get out! Get out!” Immediately I knew this to be the disciplining of the Holy Spirit. By God’s grace, I learned obedience through this suffering and was silent for a while. Then I followed the Spirit's leading and said to her, “I love you!” The wife was greatly moved by those words. She went inside the bedroom, changed her clothes, then came back quietly and completed the required paperwork before I left. Early next morning, the receptionist called me and said that a couple had come to see me without an appointment. When I went downstairs, I realized they were the couple whom I had visited the day before. They handed me a letter of apology and said to me, “Yesterday we gave you a hard time; today we come to humbly apologize for our behavior! ” I said to them, “I am a Christian, please don’t mention it” and sent them home happily. Therefore, “The mind of the Spirit is life and peace” is a great lesson for us to learn!

Paul says, “Having shod your feet with the PREPARATION of the gospel of PEACE” (Eph 6:15), which means that in every situation, in every circumstance, we have to live “in the mind of the Spirit”, (full of the Preparation of the gospel of Peace – Christ; peace with God, peace with man, peace with everything)! If we really learned Christ, there would be no bitterness, no anger, no clamor, no malice, no railing against anybody etc. in our lives! Paul says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments - bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

Before learning this lesson, I had a lot of arguments with God and with myself, but after learning

to subject myself and obey the disciplines of the Holy Spirit (willingly denying myself and allowing Christ to live out), the Holy Spirit brought every thought of mine into captivity to the obedience of Christ! This is really an experience of “abiding in Christ” or “sitting with Christ in the Heavenlies (Gk)”! Later (in 1951) I read a little booklet written by T. Austin-Sparks titled “The Cross and The Deliverance of The Mind”. It had a diagram Inside, explaining Romans 8:6. I was greatly impacted by this teaching and recently mailed this booklet to the Austin-Sparks.Net website where it can now be viewed.

1950 - There were five young brothers (belonging to WN’s group) who came to Taiwan from Shanghai. In 1948: Lin San-Gang (林三綱), 1949: Shi Bo-Cheng (史伯誠), the author (Herald Hsu - 徐爾建), Wei Jian-Zhang (魏建章), and He Guang-Ming (何廣明). We began full time service under the leadership of Witness Lee (WL). Although we were disappointed that WN decided to remain in China, the Lord had higher thoughts. At that time we didn’t know what those were.

(Author’s note: WN received or inherited much “Spiritual Life” (Christ Himself and eternal) from many servants of God, especially from TAS whom he first met in 1933. He also absorbed many “church management methods” (教會事務) or so-called “Bible Truths” (really not Truths, but only things and temporal, Jesus Christ is the sole Living Truth ) from others.

For a while, he considered both equally important. In particular, he adopted the “local church” (one locality, one church) teaching or method from the Exclusive Brethren in London. In 1937, he wrote and published the Chinese version of “Rethinking of Our Mission” and started to promote this practice in earnest among Christians in China. Witness Lee (WL) was the strongest exponent of this teaching in the Far East, and later in the USA and elsewhere!

Unfortunately, this teaching leads the people of God into legalism and exclusiveness. Legalism and exclusiveness are deadly to life in Christ! “As of things that are made” - Heb 12:27 refers to this kind of man-made legalism and exclusiveness. Please read TAS’ book titled "According to Christ".

Based on what he wrote, I believe WN changed his position on this Locality teaching after 1951-1952 and no longer considered the church methodologies as something comparable to Christ Himself. For example in a poem he wrote:

"He [not Locality] is most dear to me, the loveliest of all;

One whom my soul does seek, one whom I ever call.

He [not Locality] is my aid, in need, my help, in helpless hours;

Most precious at all times, most faithful at all hours.

He [not Locality] is my endless joy, Changeless as years go by;

He [not Locality] is most dear to me, No greater love have I.")

The Holy Spirit had not yet opened our five young people’s inner eyes so we were all following WN’s teachings and methods and unconsciously fell into legalism (dictatorship, which condemns others) and exclusiveness (egoism and monopoly). Later, WL sent each one of us to other places in Taiwan to work. We were called to build up the body of Christ in our mind, but in fact, we really built the new denomination (the Local Church) in our hearts. At that time, no preacher, elder, or anybody showed us a higher spiritual light. WN’s teachings were the highest in our minds.

From 1955 to 1957

1955-1957 - In the sovereignty of God, brother T. Austin-Sparks (TAS) was allowed to come to

Taiwan twice. When TAS visited Taiwan for the first time in 1955, WL introduced TAS and said:

“Brother Sparks' ministry was introduced and spread to the whole of China through Watchman

Nee. We will work with him!” Thirteen months later TAS came to Taiwan again. That was in January 1957. Through his messages, he pointed us to a higher spiritual light. What is this Higher Spiritual Light?

Higher Spiritual Light:

[1] The Main Revelation of the whole Bible: Christ and the Cross

(1) Christ – the Eternal Anointing. God’s main purpose in giving us the Bible is so that we may receive His Son, Jesus Christ, and be filled with Him (the Living Christ). This means that Jesus Christ must have the preeminence in all things.

Paul, in Colossians 1:9-29, speaks of The Matchless Revelation of Jesus Christ: “He is God’s Beloved Son [i.e. God’s heart secret], all things were created for Him, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” But this begins with Christians, “Christ in you, the hope of glory!”

The believers in Ephesus saw that Jesus Christ is “LORD”, and they were baptized in the name of the LORD JESUS. Then they burned everything of their past! He was their First Love! (Acts 19:5,19, Rev. 2:4).

As Paul said, “counting all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my [meaning it is personal, not our] LORD.” “For to me to live is Christ” (Phi. 3:8; 1:21). Today if you and I really see that Jesus is our LORD, we would burn everything in our hearts (including reputation, fame, position, fortune, money, and even Christian work itself or church services, doctrines, practices, preachings, teachings etc.) as things themselves!

(2) The Cross – This is the way for born again Christians to truly be filled with the Living Christ (or the Holy Spirit). We have to willingly learn obedience through sufferings (i.e. bearing the cross, or denying ourselves and living out Christ).

Paul answered and solved all the questions in the church in Corinth with “Jesus Christ and Him crucified”. (1 Cor. 2:2) Jesus Christ speaks of God’s Eternal Purpose (all things were created for Him). Him crucified speaks of the way for fulfilling God’s Purpose. 1. Substitution – He died for us sinners (Rom.3: 24-25). 2. Representation – Our old self (man) was crucified with Him through baptism (Rom. 6:3,6). Both aspects of God’s grace are brought about by our obedience of faith. In experience, we have died with Him and are raised up together with Him, and are seated together with Him in the heavenlies - Gk — Eph. 2:5-6.

Isaiah preached a crucified Christ. (He was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.) Isaiah asked, “Who has believed his report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Only those who are following the Lamb wherever He goes! (Gk – Rev.14:4) History tells us that only a remnant shall return (Shear-jashub—Isa 7:3)! May this crucified Christ in you and in me, by the grace of God, transform us and live out from us so that you and I are a part of the remnant.

In the Parable of the Sower the Lord speaks of three kinds of good grounds that produce and bear fruits: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Why? We know that the seed (the fullness of Christ) is the same. When we heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and obeyed the Holy Spirit, we received Him (the fullness of Christ) into our hearts. But then we continue to obey the disciplines of the Holy Spirit to different degrees; so the bearing of fruit (manifesting Christ or being the expression of Christ) is correspondingly different. Some express and manifest Him a hundredfold (100% obedient to the disciplines of the Holy Spirit or following the Lamb whole-heartedly), some sixty (60% following the Lamb), some thirty (30% following the Lamb). This is the challenge to you and to me! By the grace of God, may we all willingly follow the Lamb 100% wherever He goes and thus fulfill God’s eternal purpose.

“But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ [as a gift]” (Eph. 4:7). As soon as we are born again, we are endowed with the fullness of Christ in our spirit (or in our heart). But how much of the fullness of Christ is manifested or lived out in our daily personal life, family life, business life or church life? It is according to how much grace is given to each one of us. God's greatness is that He gives us free will. He never forces anything upon us! He told Adam, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, except of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat” (Gen. 2:16,17). If we willingly learn to be 30%, 60% or 100% obedient through the things we suffer, we will be given the corresponding grace; either 30%, 60% or 100%!

“For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” We are given grace (1) to believe in Him (being born again by the Holy Spirit). Every Christian has this starting grace. (2) to suffer for His sake (learn obedience through sufferings). Jesus said, “If [which means we must be willing] anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). This means that as we bear the cross, denying ourselves, we are decreased daily. And while following Him closely, we manifest and live out the living Christ and He is increased! So to believe in Him is the starting grace of our Christian life; to suffer for His sake is the grace of the life-long increasing of Christ.

The overcomers are given grace: (1) according to the Blood of the Lamb - this is the starting grace; (2) according to the word of their testimony - they love not their soul-life (GK) even unto death - this is the life-long grace (Rev. 12:11). The 144,000 (12x12x1000) followers of the Lamb standing on Mount Zion are the overcomers (Rev. 3:12,14:1). The Bible tells us that the overcomers who learned obedience through many sufferings did not suffer for their own sake, but for the interests of the whole household of God! Just like the Old Testament Joseph whose sufferings were not for himself, but for the whole household of his father (Gen. 50:20)!

The Old Testament Israel represents the New Testament Christian: (1) Because of the blood of the lamb, they came out of Egypt - representing how Christians, believing in Christ, are separated from the outer world of Egypt (i.e. worldly fame, fortune, power etc.); (2) They spent forty years in the wilderness and the old generation all died but the new generation went into Canaan -- representing how, through a Christian’s life-long suffering for Christ's sake, he is separated from the Egypt within him (i.e. the old self-centered life) and manifests Christ's virtues, character and life.

The Lord’s Supper also speaks of two things to us when we remember Him: (1) The cup - He shed His blood for us, so that Satan cannot accuse us before God. (2) The bread - His crucified life became our life, so thhat when we have been grieved by various trials, we could experience the real power of His Resurrection. This is grace that we not only believe in Him, but also suffer for His sake.

I mentioned earlier that in 1933 WN returned to China from London and held a special conference the following year, in 1934. At the end of that conference, he especially mentioned T. Austin-Sparks’ ministry – the teaching of Christ and the Cross.

Based on my observation, WN’s whole life was in “The School of Christ” (title of one of TAS' books). That meant he lived out Christ by learning obedience through sufferings. Unfortunately, most of his co-workers (including Witness Lee, the elders, and deacons of the Local Churches) and the following generation of leaders would not learn the lesson of the cross! Not only they, but many other Christians also refused to learn, right through until today, this truth about learning obedience through sufferings! The result is that today, churches are filled with carnal Christians and uncrucified workers everywhere. This is the great challenge for me and for you, and in fact for every Christian!

[2] The definition and the measure of the Church

The true definition of the Church (local or universal) is “the corporate expression of Christ”. Therefore, the Church is measured by Christ. The living Christ is the divine love, holiness, righteousness, the way, the truth, the life, the light, the meekness etc. When we touch the living Christ Himself, we touch those divine virtues. When we live out or manifest the living Christ, we are the expressions of those divine virtues. That is the Church.

Before 1955, I understood that the church was a people who came out from the world and gathered together as a congregation, an organization, a Christian body etc. according to Biblical examples or methods used by so called ‘New Testament Churches’ (especially one locality, one church). My mentality was that the church was a thing! However, through TAS' ministry, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes so that my concept of the church was changed from seeing it as a thing to seeing a Living Person (the Living Christ Himself).

I realized that a local church does not operate according to an earthly government’s definition of geographical boundaries. Instead, it needs to operate according to the Holy Spirit. “For where two or three are gathered together in My name [in union with and manifesting Christ], I am there in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). Although they may not understand the full meaning of the Church, yet because Christ is in their hearts, the real Church is beginning. As they live out or manifest the Living Christ in their daily lives more and more, the real Church is increased more and more for the Church is measured by Christ!

At the beginning of the Christian life, the measure of Christ manifested may be small, but there is always the potential for the manifestation of the full measure of Christ as we learn and mature (Rev. 14:1-5). We have to know that all Christians are in a process of transformation from glory (born again) to glory (fullness of Christ) (2 Cor. 3:18)! There is no need to judge or to condemn those who do not manifest the full measure of Christ yet. Our business is to pray and share our experiences with each other in God’s great love to have the measure of Christ increased in and through us.

Today, true Christians everywhere (in different denominations, organizations, clubs, large or small) all have some measure of Christ manifested in their lives. There may be certain things and conduct (like tares), which the Holy Spirit doesn’t allow us to follow or endorse. But we are also not qualified to pull them out or to gather them up. The Lord told us that will be the work of the angels in the consummation of the age (Matt. 13:29,39).

In my experience, only the Holy Spirit can truly reveal and bring to light those tares (i.e. carnal, worldly attitudes, conducts and practices) in us and causes us to repent and be corrected. Man’s teachings, advice, condemnations, and even judgments are all useless. Our real service is just to share and testify to each other, when appropriate, what we have learned from the Lord and let the Holy Spirit enlighten and change us accordingly. As Paul says, “for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ, till we all attain unto the unity of the faith [true faith is willingly learning obedience through sufferings], and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-13 RV).

By God’s great love, we have to pray and trust Him to increase the measure of Christ among our fellow Christians. He will do this according to His purpose. We have to learn patience, forbearance and perseverance, sometimes for many, many years! This is a deep lesson of the Cross. It is also a very real test to our natural (or soulish, self-centered) man.

Paul says, “If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness [or meekness]” (Gal. 6:1). This means that if a brother falls into sin, his old nature or something of the past, we who are spiritual (which requires us to learn obedience to the disciplines of the Holy Spirit, have Jesus Christ manifested in our lives and are living in a spirit of gentleness or meekness) can restore such a one. If we are not spiritual, but carnal or soulish, we would further spoil or ruin everything.

In the Old Testament, the wick-trimmers (or snuffers) were made of pure gold (Ex. 37:23). We know that the lamp with a wick (man) and oil (the Holy Spirit) can produce light. But when the wick is burnt, the oil cannot go through and the light becomes dim. This is a time when the trimmers are needed to cut off the charred part of the wick in order to recover the light. The trimmers were made of pure gold (representing God’s divine nature, i.e. a spirit of meekness, love etc.). They were not made of brass (man’s judgment, condemnation etc.). And only a priest (a spiritual person) is allowed to use the golden trimmers (with divine meekness) to trim away the burnt wick. It is not intended to limit, crush or quench; but to enlarge, restore, revive and increase!

Jesus says, “I will build My church [i.e. saints built together through fully manifesting Christ] and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). The gates of Hades shall not prevail against those fully (100%) manifesting Christ. If we (the church) manifest Christ only 30%, 60%, or 90%, then the enemy would still have a chance to prevail against us. May all of us learn to “buy up the opportunity” (Eph. 5:16 GK), and learn one hundred percent obedience through sufferings and be one hundred percent prevailing against the gates of Hades.

[3] The practice or method of the Church: Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit

Every local church has her current measure of Christ and people (the responsible saints) need to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in making decisions. They may be led to use some practices of the early church or to practice new ways. Whether old or new ways, they are all for Jesus Christ to be manifested and for increasing the measure of Christ. God has never ordered the churches in the new dispensation to follow the methods of the early church as an unchangeable law. He only wants the church to always be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

The practice at the church in Antioch offers an eternal principle to the local churches everywhere.

(1) They ministered to the Lord. (The Lord was the center and in all things He had the preeminence; and they served the Lord Himself only, not a denomination, organization, preachers, elders, etc.) (2) They fasted. (They denied or repudiated themselves. Although each one of them may have had expressed the leading of the Holy Spirit, first they all set aside their individual leadings, until the Holy Spirit confirmed His way.) (3) The Holy Spirit spoke. (After deliberating and meditating on all the leadings of the Holy Spirit, all co-workers agreed that a (some) particular leading(s) of the Holy Spirit was the best for the present situation; "the Holy Spirit said".) Everybody then surrendered to the Lord!

Adam’s fall occurred when he stretched out his hand to take the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Since then, thousands of years of Man’s fallen history are due to man’s hand stretched out to do things. Even many of the Christian denominations, organizations, missions, clubs, crusades etc. today are the results of man’s stretched out hands. That is, the first generation may have been full of the Holy Spirit, but the second or third generation is often mostly man’s hand stretched out to maintain. God wants everything to be initiated by men following the Holy Spirit and in keeping with His current leadings. Paul was always anxious that when he had preached to others, that he himself should be rejected (1 Cor. 9:27). Why did the Holy Spirit have it recorded that Paul in his last days was living in a rented house preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ? Firstly, preaching the kingdom of God is seeing that everything (all things both good and bad that happen in our lives) is under the sovereignty of the living God (not by man’s hand stretched out). Secondly, everything must come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, in absolute surrender to Him and His will (not man’s hand stretched out to make or do things on earth).

The great mistake of today’s Christianity is that many preachers search out examples of the early churches and make them a blueprint (calling them "Church Truths" when in fact, they are not Truths but Things) for all local churches to follow. That results in denominations, sects, even cults etc., and produces many legalists who condemn and judge others. Unfortunately, WN’s book titled “Rethinking of Our Mission” was one of these kinds of blueprints and led many believers to exclusiveness.

We asked TAS in 1955, “What is wrong with not following the methods of Christianity but only following the Biblical examples?” TAS answered, “If the Holy Spirit leads you to follow some Biblical examples, there is nothing wrong with that, but you don’t need to say so!” He meant that Biblical examples are not perfect and are not laws, you don’t need to proclaim, “ this is the Church Truth and every church must do things this way!”

However, WN’s exposition on the Locality Law in Chinese states there can only be one church at one locality, like a husband could only have one wife! If the husband had more than one wife, the others are illegitimate and could only be called concubines! WL brought the Locality Law to the Far East and USA. It has now taken hold around the world, leading many to exclusiveness and division! Due to this concubine insult, all other Chinese Christian bodies from WN’s time to this day are speaking against WN’s groups. We have mentioned earlier, Adam’s fall was because he stretched out his hand; this Locality Law leading to exclusiveness and division is also one of the falls due to man’s hand being stretched out! We must be careful!

Brother T. Austin-Sparks in his editorial to the Volume 36-6, 1958 edition of the “A Witness and A Testimony” periodical entitled “According to Christ” under "What is the Church and What are the churches?" section said,

Have we in the New Testament a clearly defined and completely set-out plan of the Church, its order, constitution, methods and work? Is there a concise and worked-out system in the nature of a ’blue-print’, which is ready for copying and reproducing everywhere, and can be recognized as true to type in every place? The answer is decidedly No! But if we mean: is there in the New Testament a revelation of God’s mind as to the Church, its nature, constitution, and vocation? It is no contradiction of the above when we say: Yes, decidedly Yes!

It is possible to take parts of the New Testament, as to doctrines, practices, work, methods, and order, to piece them together, and to frame them into a system to be adopted and applied. This is the mechanical or 'ecclesiastical’ method, and it is capable of an almost endless variety of presentations, resulting in a very large variety of organized bodies, every one of which claims the New Testament for its authority. This in turn issues in rivalries, competitiveness, controversy, and, eventually, in the presenting to the world of a Christianity divided into a vast number of independent and unrelated parts, far removed from ‘all speaking the same thing’ (1 Cor. 1:10). The external and objective approach to the New Testament, with a view to studying it as a manual or text-book of Christian life, teaching and work, is a false one, a dangerous one, and - so far as any real spiritual outcome is concerned - a dead one. If God had meant successive generations of Christians to imitate the first and proceed on the mass-production principle, surely He would have seen to it that in some way a precise and unmistakable prototype existed, with adequate safeguards against all the confusion and misapprehension, which has actually eventuated.

When men, Christian men, contemplate a project which is intended to last a considerable tenure, they set down precisely their ‘Principles and Practice’, consisting of their doctrines, their purpose, their practices, their methods, and so on. God did not commission or allow His first Apostles to act in this way, so that we might have a Jerusalem or Antioch Blue Book or Manual for Christian churches. In the Divine mind it is all definite, fixed, precise, and permanent, but when we come to the New Testament, and especially the formative period as covered by the Book of the Acts, everything seems so fluid, so open, and so subject to proving. There is the most wonderful and sublime reason for this; but, before we come to that, let us point out that the approach to which we have referred to above is the cause of more limitation, stagnation, deadly legality, than can be measured. In doctrine, it means that the doctrinal compass is boxed and no new light is allowed as to God’s Word. Of course, this is the peril of orthodoxy. The intense desire to safeguard the Scriptures can lead to a sealing off against any new light from them as to meaning and interpretation, and this makes for a static spiritual position. Spiritual pride, bigotry, exclusiveness, suspicion, are some of the unholy brood of this legalism. If Satan cannot force to the one extreme of superiority to the written Word, he will try the opposite of bondage to the letter without the spirit.

The merely objective approach of which we have written may or may not be characterized by all of the above-mentioned features, but it will most certainly be limited in its spiritual power and results. It may very well result in the responsibility being made to rest upon men, so that all kinds of devices and expedients have to be resorted to in order that the work and the institution can be maintained and furthered. Christianity has almost entirely come to be such a thing now, and it is practically impossible for the vast majority of Christians - their leaders especially - to understand or believe that God can do His work without committees, boards, machinery, advertisement, organizations, appeals, reports, names, deputations, patronage, propaganda, publicity, the press, etc. Unless these things are present with a ‘recognized’ backing, the thing is not trusted, even if it is believed to exist.

... The New Testament has within it a revelation, precise, definite, and full, as to God’s mind for this dispensation... What is that revelation? The answer is that it is not a system, as such, but a Person. ... The Apostles saw Him in the light of eternity. ... He was Himself the embodiment of a great, a vast heavenly and spiritual order and system. This seeing was absolutely revolutionary. It was a crisis out of which a new world and a new creation was born.

... The Apostles did not formulate in conference an enterprise, a mission, with all the related arrangements and organization. The new life forced off the old leaves and dressed the new organism with a new vesture from within. The might, energy and urge of the Holy Spirit within produced a Way and an order, un-thought-of, unintended by them, and always to their own surprise. What was happening was really that Christ was taking form within them, individually and corporately, by new birth and growth. The believers and the companies were becoming an expression of Christ. Here we come upon the essential nature of the Christian life and the Church.

What, in the thought of God, do Christians exist for? What does the Church exist for? What do local churches exist for? There is only one answer. The existence and function is to be an expression of Christ. There is nothing less and nothing more than that. Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and all between! Let that be the starting-point; let that be the governing rule and reality in all matters of life and work, and see at once the nature and vocation of the Church. This vast, incomprehensible heavenly system, of which Christ is the personal embodiment, touches every detail of life, personally and collectively. But remember, only the Holy Spirit sees and knows how it is so; hence, as at the beginning, there has to be an utter submission to and direction by the Lordship of the Holy Spirit... As an individual believer is the result of a begetting, a conception, a formation, a birth, and a likeness, so, in the New Testament, is a true local church. It is a reproduction of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Man cannot make, form, produce or ‘establish’ this. Neither can anyone ‘join’ or ‘enroll’ or make himself or herself a member of this organism. First it is an embryo, and then a ‘formation’ after Christ. So, all talk about ‘forming New Testament churches’ is nonsense. The beginning is in a seeing of Christ, and when two or three in one place have seen Him by the Holy Spirit, and have been “begotten again by the word of God”, there is the germ of a church." (Please read "According to Christ" 4 editorials.)

We have to know that every local church is independent and is directly controlled by the Lord Himself, not by any preacher or organization. “Christ walks in the midst of the seven golden lamp-stands” (Rev. 2:1). The sole mission of the local church is to increase the measure of Christ. The sole purpose and service of Christian workers is to help to increase the measure of Christ, drawing from their own experiences. It is not to give things, but to serve Christ. TAS said, ‘Things divide, Christ unites’!

Our time on earth is our school in learning Christ. We are to be conformed to the image of God’s Son through time and will serve Him in eternity (Rev. 22:3-5). Spiritual things and the services we perform here are all secondary. The increase of the measure of Christ through service is the primary purpose and has an eternal value. When we pursue the increase of the measure of Christ, our works or services may often be delayed or limited. We have to recognize that God’s eternal intention is for us to attain the full measure of Christ, not things, services, or works!

The people in the early church really did see the revelation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and they never built two or more local churches into one organization or denomination. Paul was a crucified man, he never built his own organization or denomination. He went everywhere preaching Christ and ministering Christ! All teachings, prayers, Bible readings, baptisms, tongues, elders, deacons, spiritual gifts etc., were all centered in Christ the Living Person and not as things in themselves. That was Paul's vocation!

In Numbers chapter 33, it is recorded more than forty times that the children of Israel “journeyed - pitched”, “journeyed - pitched”. Journeyed means they had to remove, move, set out, leave and break up camp. Pitched means they encamped or set up camp. And God said, “From the top of the rock I see him [Israel], and from the hills I behold him there! A people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations.  He [God] has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel.” (Num. 23:9,21). Why? Because they (1) received the blood of the Lamb and the flesh of the Lamb, meaning they were redeemed from the outward Egypt and baptized in the Red Sea, and (2) they were following the pillars of cloud and fire and were redeemed from their inward Egypt by this process of “journeyed and pitched; journeyed and pitched”; never staying at any place, till the old generation (their old nature) died in the wilderness, and the new Israel passed clean or had crossed completely over the Jordan river (Josh. 3:17), meaning that their natural or soulish life was all repudiated. When they pitched at a particular location, they first set up the tabernacle (or the tent of meeting, i.e. Christ Himself) in the center, and the 12 tribes pitched round about. This symbolizes that their lives, works and services were all centered in Christ, not in things! So God was pleased!

The Israelites’ 40 years in the wilderness typifies that we Christians (1) were redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, Received the Eternal life (Christ himself) and baptized (separated from the outside world) and (2) are going to follow the Holy Spirit and be redeemed step by step from our natural or soulish life by the power of His resurrection. On our journey in this world, we must not stay at any point, but must continue to move on. Christ is our center, not Christianity, spiritual works, Biblical doctrines, expositions or methods. Everything outside of Christ must be burned! In Paul’s words, we are crucified with Christ daily or in union with Christ’s death (self repudiation) and resurrection (Christ manifested). As Paul also said, “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life [meaning prosperity, success, prayers answered, etc.] or by death [meaning adversity, affliction, prayers unanswered, etc.]. For to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:20,21).

The historic facts are these, “Before Jesus Christ was taken up to heaven, He told His disciples that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit and they would be His witnesses [or martyrs, or always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also might be manifested through their bodies] in Jerusalem - and to the ends of the earth.” But most of the disciples including James (the brother of Jesus) and even the Apostles did not get the meaning of the saying at that time. They still hoped to build an earthly headquarters in Jerusalem. In the sovereignty of God, through Stephen’s ministry, the church in Jerusalem was persecuted greatly and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria even to the ends of the earth as they are today.

Later Christianity (including Roman Catholicism and all the denominations, crusades,

organizations etc.), also fell into the same terrible mistake! During 1949-1951 WN’s groups in Shanghai fell into this mistake and the Lord allowed a great persecution, which scattered the believers everywhere. WL also wanted to do the same thing in Taipei and in Los Angeles, but God allowed TAS' ministry to open the eyes of many people to see Christ in heaven (as our Heavenly Headquarters). Many believers went forth to Him, outside the camp (outside of all the denominations, including 'Local Churches'), bearing His reproach. This is the Divine Movement of the Holy Spirit!

About this Divine Movement, there is no earthly address, no organization, no telephone number; it’s not a club, not a crusade, not a TV show etc. This Divine Movement of the Holy Spirit is to make Christ all and in all by way of the Cross. (Please read TAS’ "Stephen - Thy Witness", and "According to Christ".)

Today most of Christianity (including Catholics, all the denominations, clubs, WN’s groups, independent churches etc.) had followed the Holy Spirit and journeyed for some steps, but many have stopped somewhere. We need to follow the Lamb wherever He goes!  As Paul at the end of his life said, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:10)! May the Lord have mercy on us and open the eyes of our hearts so that we really see the revelation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and follow the Divine Movement of the Holy Spirit, always going on, “journeyed and pitched, journeyed and pitched”, until we all enter into the fullness of Christ!

These points above were revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through TAS' ministry. Thanks be to God! This is really the way to increase the measure of Christ and is the higher spiritual light. We believe that the Holy Spirit will continue to lead Christians everywhere into a greater measure of Christ. And we do pray that you and I will continue to be led deeper into His unsearchable riches!

1957 - Special talk on the Locality Law between

TAS 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.oocities.org/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 14^th 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 Hsu

Los Angeles

February 2004

Chinese website: www.oocities.org/heraldhsu