Notes 50, 61-63 - Dong Yu Lan's Criticism of Studying the Truth
50The Saints in the "Judicial" Recovery Are in the Mind and Do Not Deny Their Soul Because They Study the Truth
Dong Yu Lan, International Conference at Estância Árvore da Vida, February 21, 2007, Message 10:
If you are in the judicial realm, you are still in the mind. Even all the churches of the recovery on the entire earth are still very short in this matter: coming back to the Spirit. This recovery remains in the judicial realm.
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Dong Yu Lan, International Conference at Estância Árvore da Vida, September 7, 2007, Message 11:
Paul remained in Ephesus for three years. The Ephesians liked to argue; even Paul was carried away to argue with them. Later he realized that arguing does nothing but only brings men into their mind.
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Dong Yu Lan, International Conference at Estância Árvore da Vida, September 1, 2007, Message 1:
When addressing the church in Ephesus, he [Paul] did not want them to fall into their mind, only studying and arguing about what he had taught them. He said that the ministry of the New Testament is that of the Spirit. Instead, they took "the Spirit" as merely a topic of study and discussion. What kind of "Spirit" is this? Is it the Spirit of Jehovah, or the Spirit of Christ, or the Holy Spirit? All this is in the mind.
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Dong Yu Lan, Conference in Piracicaba, Brazil, September 30, 2007, Message 2:
In the judicial [recovery] they only care if the doctrine is presented correctly. "For the heart of this people has become fat." They are stuck in their soul. They do not pay attention to the growth of life, because they are not in their spirit. All those judicial people are in their mind. They focus only on the interpretation of the truth.
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Dong Yu Lan, Conference in Bariloche, Argentina, May 2, 2009, Message 1:
Some people like to criticize others' truths. They think they are the most right. Why? Because they study the truth. It is like Catholicism, the church in Thyatira, who puts the teaching of Jezebel into three measures of meal, getting deeper and deeper. But God has given us His Word for us to practice. But they study the truth, saying, "I stand on the truth."
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Dong Yu Lan, International Conference at Estância Árvore da Vida, September 12, 2008, Message 14:
The Lord would like to lead them unto the proper path of the church, but they are unwilling to come, because they are completely in the soul, completely stuck in the thought that they know the truth, and that they will get more truth and deeper truth simply by studying. Therefore, they are forsaken by the Lord.
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Dong Yu Lan, Conference in Piracicaba, October 4, 2008, Message 1:
Why in the end was the tent raised up by Paul torn down? Because this matter of life was not carried out. People started to give more attention to the truth and got into the realm of the mind.
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61Brother Dong Claims That Paul's Teaching the Truth Caused Asia to Turn Away From Him
Dong Yu Lan, Daily Food: He Who Believes, Out of His Innermost Being Shall Flow Rivers of Living Water, Week 4, Tuesday:
Paul gained his heavenly vision and his ministry according to the need. When he wrote his letters, he transmitted to us what he had gained from the Lord. But we also saw that his desire to lead the saints to be constituted with his vision brought him to the school of Tyrannus where he reasoned daily with those who came to hear him. In Acts chapter 28, we see Paul was imprisoned in Rome where he also remained two years receiving all those who wanted to know the things of the kingdom.
This kind of practice influenced all Christianity. It gave the impression that to serve God one needs to go to school to learn and study the truth and revelations in the scriptures. But what happened? Studying the truth became a substitute for the person of Christ; it became a substitute for a living touch with the Lord's name and the Word. Interpretation, studying, and the pleasure of discovering new things, became a substitute for the living contact with the name and the Word of God. Little by little, they hindered people from a living contact with the person of the Lord. That's why John wanted to bring us back to the beginning and he related the cases in his gospel.
Helcio Almeida, Conference in Boston, Message 1, May 25, 2007:
The way that Paul transmitted his vision was basically at the school of Tyrannus. If we take this way, all will abandon us. Abandon here signifies to abandon the way that the Lord established. It is right that Paul was in the way of the Lord, but something here did not work because the words of Paul ultimately became the doctrines of Paul. The words Paul came to be understood as a series of teachings that we must study. This is the way that the Christianity has taken throughout these centuries—to study the epistles of Paul, to study his teachings. What was his result?
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Helcio Almeida, Perfecting Meeting in São Paulo, Brazil, May 9, 2008:
We have seen this: that in some way another model was introduced in the church, which is the model of a school, perhaps even based on what is written in the Bible. We know that Paul in his third trip stayed for two or years in Ephesus and that he taught daily in a place called the "school of Tyrannus." What was the result? The first result was that the very church in Ephesus, which should have received the benefit after all these two years of teaching in the same place in Ephesus, oh now the church in Ephesus should become a model of the practice of all that he saw. But no, when he arrived there, they started to teach something else. And even worse: The problem there was spreading to the whole of Asia up to the point that all forsook him. All forsook him. How can you take such a model that resulted in all forsaking him and the way of the Lord?
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Dong Yu Lan, Daily Food: Practicing the Book of Acts, Week 23, Thursday:
On his second journey, Paul led the saints in Ephesus to receive the Spirit in the outward aspect. He also visited the synagogues, where he spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them concerning the kingdom of God. Some of them were hardened and unbelieving, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, so Paul separated himself and the disciples from them, and went on to reason daily in the school of Tyrannus. This gave the opportunity for all the inhabitants of Asia to hear the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks (Acts 19:8-10). However, Paul reasoned too much.
Dong Yu Lan, Daily Food: He Who Believes, Out of His Innermost Being Shall Flow Rivers of Living Water, Week 1, Thursday:
Paul had a burden of passing on his vision. He even rented the school of Tyrannus, speaking for two years. All from Asia came to learn from him (Acts 19:9-10). Why did Paul spend so much time in Ephesus? He was desperate that Judaism would not enter the church again. He was speaking, speaking, speaking for two years, so there were people who thought, "We need to study Paul's speaking. We have to be constituted with Paul's speaking. We have to memorize Paul's speaking. We have to follow Paul everywhere. We even need a school to teach all that Paul taught."
Why don't we do this? Because the Lord has shown us the ministry of John. If we had not seen John's ministry, this conference center would be a great school. These dorms would be schools to put the students to spend two years here to learn all of Paul's writings. And after that everyone would abandon the way of the Lord. Everything would be organized: how to preach, how to walk, what to say, how to speak, and we would put the Spirit in the last row inside a closed room.
62Young People Taught That Paul's Teaching the Truth Caused Asia to Turn Away From Him
Extracts from Conferência de Jovens - Segundo Período - Julho/2007, Message 1 (published at http://www.mensagensdasconferencias.com.br/conferencia.php?mensagem=237 on the website which makes Dong Yu Lan's audio messages available for download; see Extrato_Conf_Jovens_2007_Jul_2_Per_Mens01.doc in the zip file):
The apostle Paul dedicated a lot of attention to the church in Ephesus. However, the way that Paul took to help the churches in Asia, teaching daily in the school of Tyrannus for two years, was not adequate. For this reason in his last epistle he recorded the result of that way: all those in Asia abandoned him. Due to this, because of the hole in the net, the fish left him (cf. 2 Tim. 1:15; Acts 19:9, 10). In light of that situation, it was necessary to mend the net in order to finish the work....
The apostle Paul, taught for two years in Ephesus: Even though Paul taught so much, it was not enough for them. Rather, it became a negative model. The renting of the school of Tyrannus gave the impression that instead of practicing the truth, the truth became an object of study.
63Brother Dong's Co-worker Contradicts the Bible Concerning the Bereans
Pedro Dong, Message in São Vicente, Brazil, December 3, 2005:
Those from Thessalonica received the Word, receiving it as from God, not questioning, and those from Berea went to examine "the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." We are confused by the apparent praise to the Bereans—"more noble than the Thessalonians"—and we think they are superior to the Thessalonians. In reality, God confirmed the attitude of the Thessalonians, becoming a pattern church to the other churches in the two letters of Paul, while the Bereans were no longer mentioned in the Scriptures, no more counted with the blessings of God due to their lack of simplicity—examining, checking, and questioning the word they heard.
Pedro Dong's interpretation is a direct contradiction of the Bible, as well as of the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee:
Acts 17:10-13 - [10] And the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away during the night to Berea, who, when they arrived, went off into the synagogue of the Jews. [11] Now these people were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. [12] Therefore many of them believed, and there were not a few Greek women of high standing and men. [13] But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been announced by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds.
In The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Vol. 51: Church Affairs , p. 230, Brother Nee says:
In Thessalonica it was very clear: The brothers were together, Paul and Silas were in danger, and the Jews wanted to arrest them. What should they do? The brothers felt that they should still go forward, so they went forward. It seems that they were discussing together, and they went out. Therefore, the brothers sending them to Berea was simply a fellowship in the Lord. What was the result? The result was very good. The Bereans were better than the Thessalonians because they were willing to study the Bible.
On page 397 of the Life-study of Acts , Brother Lee says:
Acts 17:11 and 12 say, "Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and there were not a few Greek women of high standing and men." Vine says that the Greek word rendered "more noble" indicates that the Bereans were more noble minded. F. F. Bruce says that the word means to be liberal, free from prejudice.
I believe that these Bereans were not stubborn, but were quite wise. Whenever we are stubborn we cannot be noble. A noble person is always wise. The Bereans were noble in receiving the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
Depreciation of the Truth Being Contrary to the Bible and to the Ministry of Brother Nee and Brother Lee.
In the Bible the truth is a vital matter. It is the word of the truth that is the gospel of our salvation (Eph. 1:13; Col. 1:5). The apostle Paul was immovable that the truth of the gospel might remain with the believers (Gal. 2:5). Our God desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). It is the truth that sanctifies us (John 17:17, 19; 2 Thes. 2:13) and we purify our souls by obedience to the truth (1 Pet. 1:22). We are charged to hold to truth in love that we might grow up into Christ in all things to become the Body of Christ in reality (Eph. 4:15-16). One key function of the church is to be the pillar and base of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). The Lord's servants must be skilled workmen, cutting straight the word of the truth (2 Tim. 2:15). A strong sign of degradation is that men are deprived of, turn their ears away from, and even oppose the truth (1 Tim. 6:5; 2 Tim. 4:4; Titus 1:14; 2 Tim. 3:8). It is by the word of the truth that we are equipped to fight the spiritual warfare (2 Cor. 6:7; Eph. 6:14).
Brother Nee set forth upholding the absoluteness of the truth as a basic requirement for any Christian worker:
Every worker of the Lord must uphold the absoluteness of the truth. This is possible only when a man is delivered from himself. Many brothers and sisters are not absolute to the truth; they are affected by people, things, and personal feelings. If a man is not absolute to the truth, he will, in the course of his work, sacrifice God's truth for man, himself, or his own desires. A basic requirement for being a servant of the Lord is to not sacrifice the truth. We can sacrifice ourselves and our desires, but we can never sacrifice the truth. ( Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Vol. 52: The Character of the Lord's Worker , p. 151)
Brother Lee also stressed the need to study the truth as a balance to the inner life:
Second, we need the truth, the knowledge, of the Scriptures to balance the inner life. This is like a train, which runs on two tracks. It is dangerous for a train to run on only one track. Two tracks are necessary for a train to run in a proper way. Likewise, we need the track of life and the track of truth. This is why we spend much time to study the Word. The Word affords and supplies us not only with the life supply but also with light. Life is within, and light is without. We pay our attention not only to life but also to light. We may also compare this to our physical body, which needs energy within and the light without. If we are full of energy within but are in darkness, we would do many things wrongly; the more we would do, the more we would be wrong. If we have both the energy within and the light without, then the more we do, the better. We need life, and we need light. The light is the truth in the Scriptures. Therefore, every balanced, normal Christian must have abundant life within and must have adequate knowledge, truth, and light from the Word. This is why every one of us must be trained in and with the Word. ( Preaching the Gospel in the Way of Life , p. 78)
In the elders' training messages, Brother Lee expressed a strong burden that all of the leading ones would lead the saints into the truth:
Today we are here for the Lord's recovery. For the long run, we surely have to help the saints in the Lord's recovery to get into the top spiritual education. You must remember that we still uplift the living Christ, the life-giving Spirit, life itself and its riches, and the church in a living way. To promote these things, to carry these things out, and to bring people into these things so that they remain there, we need the Word and we need the truth. The standard of the Lord's recovery depends upon the standard of the truth we put out. The truths will be the measure and the standard. ( Elders' Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision , pp. 104-105)
In his book Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—The Four Great Pillars in the Lord's Recovery , the first pillar is the truth. In fact, Brother Lee defined the Lord's recovery as the recovery of the truth:
The truths in the holy Word of the Lord were completed approximately two thousand years ago, but over a period of a little more than one thousand years they seemed to slowly vanish. Only in the last few centuries have the truths again been released little by little through the zealous and careful study of many lovers of the Lord. This is what we refer to as the Lord's recovery. The Lord's recovery is the recovery of all the truths in the Bible that were lost. Thus, the recovery of the truth is one of the great pillars in the Lord's recovery. The Lord's recovery lies with the recovery of the knowledge of the truth. ( Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—The Four Great Pillars in the Lord's Recovery , pp. 43-44)
Thus, any teaching that depreciates the truth is a serious deviation from the way of the truth in the Bible (2 Pet. 2:2) and the way of the Lord's ministry in His recovery. Such a deviation is dangerous and should be rejected by all of the churches and saints in the Lord's recovery.
