Shepherding Visitation

An invitation for visiting a brother came to me through my wife who has been praying with a sister. This particular brother was introduced to me many years ago when he stayed with a family I used to visit for shepherding and who now is shepherded into the church life. Since our first meeting, his main struggle was with faith in the word of God itself, which the Lord gradually clarified in due course. Now that he is married and has a son, things have become much better. His fundamental faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the word of God is firm, though he still has ups and downs as we all do. He and his family have been prayed for by my wife and another sister consistently.

It was last Friday night that a brother and I went to visit the family who came to visit his aunty. Our conversation began with the general human care of cherishing. I was led by the Lord to testify to him and his wife of my Christian life, family life, and church life: Christ must be the Head and He must have the first place in all things in the family life. The love between husband and wife must be the love of Christ operating in both. Only when Christ is given His rightful position in the family life that family life will be a normal and proper Christian family life.

On the nourishing side, the Lord burden me to lead them to pursue, "Calling Upon the Name of the Lord" together. We all pursue the truth concerning calling upon the name of the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord together. The family visit was an enjoyable one and a turning point in their Christian life, family life, and church life. They also fellowshipped to be in fellowship with the saints and the church in their locality, New Delhi, and also to have a regular phone call prayer with some brother and sister.

Though they had no intention to stay longer in Gurugram, they stayed over for the weekend, attended the prayer meeting on Saturday and also the Lord's Table Meeting on the Lord's day. The Lord is merciful to them as He is to all. The brother and sister also have decided to have a phone call prayer regular with a brother and sister. 

May the Lord shepherd His sheep into His flock.

Defense and Confirmation in India

The Lord has been blessing His testimony in India; through the propagation work of preaching the gospel and raising up local churches, through the free ministry literature distribution, and also through the promotion and distribution of the ministry of the word. This is the work of the Lord. As the Lord's work progresses through the ministry of the age, the enemy was stirred up. The sleeping Lion has been awakened and began to threaten us to thwart the Lord's work. But with full assurance I can declare in faith, "the enemy is the defeated foe". The more he raises up his ugly horns, the more the work of the Lord will progress until the consummation of the age. This reminds me of the Lord's word in Matthew 16:18:

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

The Lord Jesus Christ will build up His church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. (Full stop!)

In India too, as the Lord's move has been intensified we begin to experience the threatening and thwarting works of Satan. As throughout the history of the Lord's move all over the world, attacks came from the non-Christians and Christians alike in different flavor though. This time we received a very unprofessional attack on the ministry by a brother who barely read and understood what the ministry says or is. If the attacked were from a well-read and well-known person it could have had some weight at least on the truth side, but with this one, mentioning the Lord's recovery as an example or one of the groups of "cult" in India, my first impression was: this brother must either be spiritually blind or ignorantly misinformed. Anyway, spiritual warfare comes in different shapes and sizes. Sometimes, I wonder if it is worth taking it seriously. Yet for the sake of the truth and the Lord's testimony, I deem it right to give him a fitting reply. Perhaps, as defense and confirmation of the truth, for our learning and perfecting in bearing the Lord's testimony, and also to help the opposer see and know what the truth is as revealed in the Bible.

This first public attack came through a well-known Christian organization, whose founder is a reputed Christian preacher in India and he was not aware of such an attack which came from the organization he once founded, was more of surprise shock. Still, it is good for us,  brothers serving in the publication and propagation work of the Lord's recovery in India, as it blended us together more and prepared us to face such attacks, as this may not be the first nor the last one either. And this also ushered us into a sweeter and closer fellowship with the serving brothers of the Defense and Confirmation Project (DCP) in USA. We enjoyed a perfecting time of fellowship over Skype with the DCP brothers and we also learned how to defend the truth; an experience of the saints in Philippi with Paul.

Even as it is right for me to think this concerning you all because you have me in your heart, since both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel you are all fellow partakers with me of grace. Phillipians 1:7

Some portion of the reply concerning our attitude towards other believers in Christianity is worth mentioning. Our reply reads:

We understand your concern towards the change in attitude of those believers who were earlier meeting and serving with you. We are making sincere efforts to educate all the believers who are meeting as local churches in fellowship with us about the need to maintain a proper attitude towards fellow believers, which this ministry has always maintained and emphasized. The following quote from an elders’ training conducted in 1984 is just one sample among several such portions by Witness Lee.

“We not only love the Christians outside of us, but we also love all human beings….

We should never be sectarian, and we should always be open to all people. We should not only be open to all the Christians but also be open to all the unbelievers. Because we have received the Lord’s mercy and we are now a people bearing God’s testimony in His truth and in His life, we must learn to be open at all times to every Christian, teaching the truth and ministering the life supply to them…” 

He continued by advising the elders that when they meet other Christians, “Do not change your attitude, but still be open to them. Present the truth and minister life to them. Try not to consider, think, or feel that they are different from the saints who are with us, because they also are our fellow believers in Christ.” He charged the elders that “we should never try to proselytize Christians” from other groups but “we must always do our best, on the other hand, to preach the gospel, teach the truth, and minister life.” He concluded, “Let other Christians have their own choice regarding the matter of the church” (Elders’ Training, Book 4: Other Crucial Matters Concerning the Practice of the Lord’s Recovery). We quote this here to show that this ministry never advocates discrimination among believers, irrespective of whether they meet with us in a local church or not. We realize that in practice some may not have lived up to this standard, and it is our hope that we could work together with you to clear up any offenses that may have occurred.

On his lack of understanding what the author of the book says and immaturely coming to his own limited and biased conclusion ignorantly by picking a few phrases or lines out of context, our reply reads: 

We thank you for sharing your concern about the quotation you have cited from The History of the Church and the Local Churches, opening the doors for fellowship on this matter. We request you to examine the statement in its context, taking into consideration Witness Lee’s focus and burden in that portion. We believe that you will readily realize that what he is saying is that, believers should not stop with revivals, mission work, or study of the Bible, but should go on to fulfill God’s goal, God’s eternal purpose, which is to build up the Body of Christ. The foregoing paragraphs in that portion show that Witness Lee is neither disparaging revivals, mission work, or Bible study, nor discounting their need, but expressing the burden that all such revivals, mission works, and Bible study must be for the fulfilling of God’s eternal purpose, that is, the building up of the Body of Christ. We believe that you also would agree on this. We do not believe that you, or BYM, would want merely to do a mission work without aiming your labor to result in the building up of the Body of Christ. The following is a quote as a sample of Witness Lee’s appreciation of Christians in denominations and of his attitude towards the work of missionaries.

“We thank the Lord for sending the Western missionaries to China to bring us the gospel. They told people that Jesus is the Son of God who became a man and died on the cross for our sins. They said that if we believe in Him we would receive the forgiveness of our sins. We heard the proper preaching of Christ being our Savior. These missionaries also brought us the real name of Jesus Christ, and we treasured this. They also brought the Bible with them, providing us with one of the best Chinese translations of the Bible. We thank God for these three things: the gospel, the name of Jesus, and the Bible.” (The God-ordained way to Practice the New Testament Economy)

This experience is a perfect lesson for us to uphold the truth of the Bible. Officially as literature serving one, I was burdened to set by a miniature DCP for India for quite some time. Now, I believe the time has come. May the Lord grace us, train us, and perfect us for the defense and confirmation of the truth. 

Words of Warning

Words of Warning Against the Worldly Ways

These days in my village Keikhu the enemy seems to have been awakened as we have been strongly and regularly praying for the salvation of the entire village. As a family we are bearing this burden as the Lord blessed us with, therefore, every family praying at night we have been praying for the salvation of the entire village of Keikhu. Now that there are three groups of believers, the mainline Baptist and Catholics, and a few families of the saints in the Lord's recovery, the enemy seems to have injected an evil thought of corruption in the name of culture, tradition, and religion. 

I was informed that the brothers in my village who are in the church life were being asked to join hands with the ritualistic and traditional heathen practices of the village which were carried down from the forefathers who did not know the true and living God. This compromise came from the so-called mainline "churches." But the brothers were clear with the truths and stood firm against this evil infiltration. When a summon was made in the highest authority in the village, the brothers kept their faith and their stand for the purity of the truth. The village authority accepted the stand of the brothers.  I worship the Lord for this grace given to the few brothers. 

Few months later, due to the instigation of the enemy through religion, even Christianity as a religion, a re-evaluation of the previous decision made at the summoning was initiated, purportedly by a brother who is not clear with the truths of the Bible. When I was informed, I took it to the Lord in prayer not knowing how to respond. But today, the Lord impressed me strongly to bring out relevant Bible verses from both the old and the new testament to show how God has commanded us to be sanctified. Therefore, I composed a message, basically a collection of verses and notes and sent it to my family members, especially to those who are involved in the aforementioned matter. The message reads:  

Leviticus 18:1-3Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, I am Jehovah your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, in which you dwelt; and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, nor shall you walk in their statutes.

Footnotes from the Holy Bible, Recovery Version.

The Israelites’ not living in the manner of the Egyptians, among whom they once lived, signifies that the believers should put off, as regards their former old way of living, the old man (Eph. 4:22). The Israelites’ not living in the manner of the Canaanites, to whose land they were to be brought, signifies that, after being saved, the believers should not be conformed to the living and conduct of the worldly people (Rom. 12:2). The Israelites’ living a holy life according to God’s holiness (v. 4—20:27) signifies that the believers should put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the truth (Eph. 4:24).

Leviticus 20:23And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation, which I am about to send away before you. Because they did all these things, so I abhorred them.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18Do not become dissimilarly yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? And what concord does Christ have with Belial? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, even as God said, “I will dwell among them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” Therefore “come out from their midst and be separated, says the Lord, and do not touch what is unclean; and I will welcome you”; “And I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.”

These are words of warning against the worldly ways, that we may live a clean, holy, pure, and rejoicing life for the fulfillment of God's economy.

May the Lord sanctify and separate us for His pure and holy testimony.

Corporate Joshua

Joshua1:2 Moses My servant is dead; now then arise, and cross over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the children of Israel.1:3 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads I have given to you, as I promised Moses.1:6 Be strong and take courage, for you will cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them.1:7 Only be strong and very courageous, being certain to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you. Do not turn away from it to the right or to the left, that you may have success wherever you go.1:8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall muse upon it day and night so that you may be certain to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success. 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and take courage; do not be afraid or dismayed. For Jehovah your God is with you wherever you go.

The good land of the old promised to the Israelites is the all-inclusive Christ today. God had promised the good land and also granted the good land to the people of Israel already, yet they need to fight against the former inhabitants of the good land, drive them away, divide the good land among themselves, and possesses it to enjoy the riches of the good land flowing with milk and honey. 

Satan, the enemy of God, has been doing his utmost to hinder the people of God from enjoying Christ as the all-inclusive One; he will do whatever he can to keep us from enjoying Christ as the good land. To this day, evil forces are veiling the all-inclusiveness of Christ from God's people. 

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those who are perishing, in whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. 2 Corinthians 4:3-5

One of the foremost and notable veils is the subtle veil of religion. Besides, there are veils of philosophy, culture, natural life, the self, the flesh, the old man etc. Therefore, there is an exceeding great spiritual warfare in which we must engage; for these veils hinder the growth of the believes, and much more, hamper the building up of the organic Body of CChrist. Therefore, we need to be todays' Joshua and Caleb, fighting against and defeating the satanic forces so that we can gain more of Christ for the building uyp of the Body of Christ, for the fulfilment of God's eternal purpsoe.

The enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ also needs our fighting for it, yet to fight, we cannot do it by ourselves, we must do it corporately as the Body of Christ. Joshua was merely the deputy authority God had ordained to literally fight for, conquer, and possess the good land. He did not do it by himself but as a corporate Joshua, with all the children of Israel. Today, the same principle holds. We must fight as a corporate Joshua to possess and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ, our Good Land.

In order to possess the good land and defeat the satanic forces, we need to be formed into a corporate Joshua. As the good land, Christ is ready to be taken and possess by us; however, there is a need for us to fight the battle to take Christ and possess as our good land. In one accord and in oneness, Joshua and the children of Israel stood together to fight to possess the good land. In fact, Israel had become a corporate Joshua, chosen, called, redeemed, saved, trained, prepared, and qualified by God, ready to go on with God as one to take the land of Canaan. Similarly, to gain the all-inclusive Christ, we need to be a corporate Joshua, fighting the battle, taking the land, and enjoying Christ as our inheritance. After being formed, constituted, disciplined, trained, and qualified, God's people had come to the plains of Moab, where they were waiting to enter into the good land, to take it, and to possess it. This formation of the children of Israel into an army for God typifies the New Testament believers' being built up into the organic Body of Christ to fight for the carrying out of His economy. As a result, God's army, a corporate Joshua, was prepared and ready to take the good land under the blessing of God.

This burden was released in the last Pillars Training held for the saints in the churches in NCR. The Lord's speaking impressed me so deeply with the burden He has released for the churches. For my Christian life and for the church life to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ I need to fight a spiritual battle with the saints as the Body of Christ as a corporate Joshua. This is the timely need in the ongoing spiritual warfare.  

Finally, be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil, for our wrestling is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies. Ephesians 6:10-12

Strange Fire

All saved believers are today's New Testament priests to serve God. This is the universality of the priesthood, a blessing that saints of the Old Testament did not have. Nevertheless, in serving the Lord, there is a danger of serving according to our natural goodness, even serving the Lord in the flesh making use of all our natural talents and gifts which comes from God. On the one hand, we all must serve the Lord, yet on the other hand, we must not serve in our natural man, we must serve in the spirit by the Spirit of God according to God's ordination. The source of our service must be God, and the way we serve must be according to God, and the goal of our service must be to the glory of God.

Last week, I was so deeply touched by the prohibitions in serving God. I cannot and must not serve God with strange fire. The fire I use must be from God that came through the altar of burnt offering. Any fire not from God as the source is a strange fire; any service that I render as a priest to God yet not our from God is a strange fire. I cannot serve God with my natural zeal and enthusiasm. I must be burning in spirit, serving the Lord. If not, all my service is a service in the principle of strange fire.

Do not be slothful in zeal, but be burning in spirit, serving the Lord. Romans 12:11

As I prophesied and also gave the conclusion of the message on, The Basis of All Our Priestly Service—the Fire from the Altar of Burnt Offering, one of the burdens I released was on these verses:

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in them and laid incense on it, and they presented strange fire before Jehovah, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from before Jehovah and consumed them, and they died before Jehovah. Leviticus 10:1-2  

Then Jehovah spoke to Aaron, saying, Drink no wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the Tent of Meeting, that you may not die; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, both to make a distinction between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean; Leviticus 10:8-10  

What struck me most in this portion of the word is God's speaking directly to Aron on the prohibition of strange fire, "Drink no wine or strong drink." This implies that the offering of strange fire has a connection with wine or strong drink. The ministry portion below enlightened me to see clearly the relationship between strange fire and strong drink.

The offering of the strange fire might have been related to the drinking of wine. Right after Nadab and Abihu’s death, God charged the priests not to drink wine [Lev. 10:8-9].…Drinking wine, in the Bible, signifies the over enjoyment of the worldly, natural, or physical, material things. In other words, if we overly enjoy anything of this world, this always makes us drunk. When we are drunk, we are excited and out of control, doing things without regulation. It might have been that the two sons of Aaron were drunk, so they were excited and went beyond themselves to do something without being regulated. This means that they offered strange fire in a presumptuous way. The  offering of strange fire was a sin of presumption. They presumed to do something for God. Actually, that was not a real offering to God but something of their presumption against God’s regulation.

People do presumptuous things because they have overenjoyed something. They are drunk. When the priests are drunk, they lose the discernment of holiness (Lev. 10:10), and they are unable to teach God’s people (v. 11). When we lose our discernment because we are drunk, we are not being regulated; so we surely cannot teach others so that they can be regulated. (CWWL,1979,vol. 2, “Basic Lessons on Service,”pp. 106-109)

The Lord's speaking was so timely; for me and also for the saints in the local church in Gurugram. This message also enlightened our understanding of the word of God through the help of the ministry of the word. Besides, our experiences confirmed the point of truth. Praise the Lord for the ministry of the word!

Lord, save me from offering any strange fire. Lord, save me also from wine and strong drink. Lord, may my priestly service to You be according to your divine ordination.

A Seeking Sister

About three years ago, a new sister was introduced by two of our sisters in the church. We used to visit that seeking sister in her shoe showroom in Galaria Market at DLF-IV, once a week for an hour of home meeting with her. Later, she shifted out of Gurgaon and did work on a few other businesses. I have never met her again since she changed business. But the few home meetings we had and the ministry of the word ministered to her had a deep impact on her Christian life.

Last week I received a call from a sister about this sister informing me of how she prayed and searched the scriptures to find answers to many of her questions concerning her Christian life and her church life. One day, a sister happened to meet her and she fellowshipped what she had been going through. Then I was informed of a possible visitation for a fellowship to which I oblige immediately.

She came to visit me along with the same two sisters with whom I used to visit her for a home meeting. As the case mostly is, I allowed her to release whatever she had within her being. For about an hour she narrated her struggle with the truths of the Bible as many Christians and groups she knows are not in line with what the Bible says. She also has a doubt on baptism itself as she was baptised during her childhood by sprinkling, and she also fellowshipped her understanding of the law, the ten commandments. Her fellowship gave me the ground and point of truths to fellowship. 

Using the Bible, I led her through the main verses concerning baptism and its significances, asking her to read all the Bible verses quoted. Then I expounded the important points on baptism being the fulfilment of God's righteous requirement, the outward confirmation of one's inward belief, the identification with the death and resurrection of Christ, the organic union with the Triune God, the open declaration and testimony of being a Christian, the spiritual transfer from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God, and the baptism into the Body of Christ. I further expounded the timing and examples of baptism in the Bible and encouraged her to consider all these points of truths, pray and make her own decision.

Using the Bible, I also led her to see what the church is in her universal and local aspect, how the local churches were formed and established, and how we are a part of the church and meets as the church wherever the Lord has placed us. I also fellowshipped on the fulfilment of the ten commandments by Christ and how He has replaced the law with Himself as the law of the Spirit of life, and how we practically fulfil the law by living and working according to the Spirit. Later, I invited the sisters to attend the group meeting in one of the homes in Gurugram. The Lord's arrangement was such that the topic at the group meeting was on "What Are We," and we fellowshipped at length on the church and the beliefs and practices of the local the churches. The Lord was sovereign in His arrangment to shepherd a seeking sister.

May the Lord fully recover her and all the saints who are being gained into the church life for the Lord's testimony.

Sister's Short Sojourn

One of our sisters' sojourn on this earth came to an abrupt end last week. We were all taken aback by this surprise sad news that took us all by storm. Initially, it was hard to believe it. But she was no more. The church has lost one sister.

When I was informed of the matter, it came as a shocked reminder of what kind of life I should be living on the earth before my end day came too. Our sister had been very vibrant in life; she took care of her health, diet, physical exercise etc., and was from the upper-middle-class segment of society. Yet when the time for her departure came, she had to leave. God had already number her days and she was taken in due time. The real cause of her demise maybe attributed to heart attack, but the fact that it came so sudden and so soon was what surprised everybody. 

Our sister used to volunteer herself for the literature service in translating hymns and ministry books for a few years. She had a generous heart of taking care of the saints and the church in material offerings. She also loved cooking North Indian food and used to bring her potion for the Lord's day lovefeast. She is well remembered by many saints as one who provides good and tasty food to the saints.

Though as the church we are ready for her burial, funeral, and memorial service, we rather obliged to her family's preferences and participated in whatever the family did. We respect the family's wish, especially of her husband's and children's; they wanted her to be cremated in an electric cremation centre at Delhi. We did not insist on any of our opinions and followed whatever they arranged. We participated in the cremation and prayed for the family she left behind. We also participated in the memorial day service and prayed for the family. Within our capacity, we did our best to help and participate in all the activities which we felt peaceful about.

As we considered and fellowshipped concerning our sister's sudden demise, we all felt the urgency for our need to grow in life and gain Christ. Once the time appointed by the Lord comes, the same fate will be with all. Until that time, we must use every opportunity to love the Lord, pursue Him, gain Him, and grow up unto maturity. The only thing that will count before the Lord is how much of Christ is formed in us during the lifespan the Lord has blessed us. We take this as an instant reminder for the church as a whole to love the Lord, pursue the Lord, and gain the Lord. 

May Christ be formed in us during our short sojourn on this earth. May our sister's short sojourn be a reminder to all of us to pursue Christ.

My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you. Galatians 4:19