December 6, 2004

Dear trainees of FTTMA:

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for praying for me and standing with
me and my family during my illness in recent months. In particular, I was overjoyed
and very much touched when I received the greeting cards written to me by the
Korean, Spanish, English, Chinese trainees, plus some teachers, in FTTMA. Your
words have become a great encouragement to me in my weakness, and I thank both
the Lord and all of you for this. At present, I am slowly recovering from the effects of
my treatments and am trusting in the Lord’s timing for the full recovery of my health.

I would like to share with you some of the things that the Lord has been showing
me during this period of time. Because of my physical limitations, I was given more
time to review Brother Lee’s messages, especially those he gave after his illness in
1994. Through reading them in a prayerful way, I began to realize that Brother Lee
was very burdened that the recovery would enter into a kind of proper living—the
God-man living. It is true that during this time he released the precious high-peak
truths. But alongside with that was a burden that we would live the life that the Lord
Jesus lived as a God-man while He was on earth.

In a note I found in his notebook which he wrote after his illness, dated 5/9/94,
he said that his burdens from the Lord were 1) The Body of Christ and the life of the
Body, and 2) the reality of the life of the Body of Christ. We released this note a few
years ago and at that time what we noticed mostly were the words the ‘Body of
Christ’. But upon reading it again now, it dawned on me that he was not just burdened
for the revelation and realization of the Body but the LIFE and the REALITY of the
Body. And what is this reality? One week after he wrote this note, he began to speak
publicly for the first time, first to a small group of coworkers from Taiwan. These
talks are now published in the book “The High Peak of the Vision and the Reality of
the Body of Christ.” In it he first reviewed the advance of the revelations from
Brother Nee, which began with the assurance of salvation, and ended with the vision
of the Body of Christ. Brother Lee then continued with this revelation and he said that
from spring of 1994, he began to see that it is only by God becoming man to make
man God that the Body of Christ can be produced. This, he said, is the high peak of
the vision. But how can this matter of ‘God becoming man to make man God’ become
practical and real in our Christian life? In the last message he pointed out that it is
only by having the proper living—one that the Lord Jesus lived as a God-man while
living on earth—that ‘man becoming God’ will be made practical and that the reality
of the Body of Christ will be produced. Without this living, there is no reality of the
Body of Christ and no high peak truth. In that message Brother Lee asked why the
Lord had to take 33 years to live on earth when He only worked for 3 years. The
reason is the Father sent Him to show us a pattern of the proper kind of living—a
living in which the human life lives side by side with the divine life and in full
dependence upon and even complete incorporation with the divine life. This was what
John 6:57 means when it says that the living Father has sent the Son and the Son
LIVED BECAUSE OF the Father. The Father did not send the Son to do a great work,
but to live a God-man living. “SO, he who eats Me, he ALSO SHALL LIVE
BECAUSE OF ME.” This means we should live the same way the Son lived, by
living by, with, and because of the Father.

After the Lord lived this kind of life, He went to the cross, died, and resurrected.
In His resurrection, He uplifted that humanity which went through that human living,
and brought it into divinity. In resurrection with His humanity, He became the
Firstborn Son of God. Now in resurrection, the Only Begotten Son has become the
Firstborn Son, and has also produced many brothers in this same resurrection.
Through regeneration, the many believers now receive the same life as the Firstborn
Son to live the same living that the Firstborn lived when He was on earth. The result
of this kind of living in the believers is the producing of the one New Man. This is the
reality of the Body of Christ. Without this living, there is no reality, and hence there is
no Body of Christ.

In order to live this God-man living, there is the need to be ‘conformed to His
death’ (Phil 3:10). The Lord’s death was not restricted to the six hours at Calvary.
From the manger to the cross, He lived under the shadow of death, rejecting His own
natural life, and choosing moment by moment to live the Father’s life. It was not a
once-for-all death, but a moment-by-moment death. Before He died on the cross, He
was already living by the cross. His human living was lived out under the operation of
the cross. Before He died His death, He first lived His death. In chapter 8 of the book
“The God-man Living,” we see that the Lord was living constantly under the reality
of His baptism, which was the putting aside of His human life. This includes: 1)
Recognizing that a man in the flesh is good for nothing but death and burial , 2)
Denying His self and His natural man, 3) Placing His self constantly under the cross
and living under the shadow of the cross, 4) Humbling Himself to live a lowly life
(Phil.2:8), 5) Being meek and lowly in heart, living under God’s yoke (Matt11:28-29),
6) Charging men not to make Him known (Matt.12:16), 7) Not striving, not crying out,
not allowing anyone to hear His voice in the streets, and not breaking the bruised reed
or quenching the smoking flax (Matt.12:19-20), 8) Having compassion for God’s
sheep (Matt. 9:36), 10) Not having a place to lay His head (Luke 9:58), 11) Correcting
His disciples that they would have a right spirit towards the opposers (Luke 9:53-36),
12) Not taking revenge, or reviling in return, leaving a pattern for us to follow (Isa.
53:3, 7; 1 Pet.4:1; 2:21-23), 13) Praying for those who crucified Him (Luke 23:34), 14)
Giving salvation to one who was crucified with Him (Luke 23:42-43), 15) Being
tempted but never sinning (Heb.2:18; 4:15; 1 Pet.2:22), 16) Not doing anything out of
Himself (John 5:19, 30; 8:28), 17)Not speaking anything out of Himself (John 14:10),
18) Not seeking His own will, but the will of the Father, choosing God’s will rather
than denying the cup (John 5:30; 6:38; Matt.26:39, 42), and 19) Being obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8). The important thing to see here is that
this is the pattern of the Lord’s living under the shadow of the cross, and this is the
pattern that we have to be conformed to. The only way the Lord was able to do this
was that He chose not to live by His human life, instead living by the divine life. To
live the God-man living, we have to be conformed to Christ in the same way.

I can testify throughout my time of serving with Brother Lee, not just through
seeing him in the short time ministering in the meetings, but through almost living
together with him day by day, that he truly exercised himself to live the God-man
living. It was manifested not so much in what he said as in how he lived. When for
every little action he took or decision he made, he prayed before and many times
during his actions, you realized that he was not talking about a theory when he said
that to live the God-man living we should pray unceasingly, in the way of breathing,
not in a religious way or even in a ‘Christ-seeking way,’ but in the way of a man in the
flesh praying to a mysterious God in the divine and mystical realm (God-man Living,
chapter 10).

The purpose of the Full-time Training is not to produce people for some
WORKS, but to perfect believers for this kind of LIVING.. Although the Nazarites in
the Old Testament had taken a vow to consecrate themselves to the Lord, and
although such a vow was precious to the Lord, what was important was the
subsequent living that the Nazarites were required to live. Consecration is good, and
the recent work of the Spirit among many saints in the US and many churches in
Taiwan and Korea and Hong Kong in touching the saints to consecrate themselves to
the Lord is, according to Brother Nee, something that everyone ought to do in the first
place when they are saved. But consecration is just a gateway, after which there is still
a pathway, and the pathway is the proper living according to God. To be sanctified to
the Lord, as a Nazarite is required to do, does not mean to be separated from the
world, from sin, and from the flesh only. It means to be separated from everything that
is common, everything that is not of God, including our natural life, our self, and our
own natural disposition. Only God is holy; besides Him everything else is common.
We have to live a life that is 100% human yet 100% not according to itself but
according to the divine life. This was how the Lord lived. Indeed, He was the true
Nazarite, the model Nazarite. In the book “Living According to the High Peak of
God’s Revelation” chapter one, Brother Lee said: “We have to see the New Testament
fulfillment of the highest type in God’s eternal economy. We must all be the Nazarites,
living a life like the one Jesus lived on earth, denying the self, rejecting the flesh,
accepting the cross, which is to take up the cross, and daily giving ourselves to be
crucified. We must be a person who is crucified to live, living by another Person and
another life…” Prior to this he said, “My burden is very heavy. The Lord also covers
me with His prevailing blood to oppose the enemy. I am full inside. I need more
conferences [to release this matter]. But my body is under the attack of the enemy.
Please pray for this.” This was spoken as an additional word after the Summer
Training of 1994. In this same book, chapter 4, he said, “In this message I want to
fellowship about the real burden in my heart, which is my concern regarding the
Lord’s recovery. In particular, during the past 32 years the Lord has shown us His
economy and has shown us the content of His economy. Most of the messages
released through this ministry are in the tapes and the videotapes, and have been
published as books. But according to my observation, generally speaking, we have not
practiced what we have seen from the Lord….Recently I fellowshipped with the
coworkers and elders and spoke a frank word to them. I said, ‘Brothers, many of you
are working for the Lord, or are taking care of affairs. The way you take the lead
among the saints is not according to the spirit but according to your own kind of
understanding. That is why you created many forms and ask others to agree to your
forms. This often causes opinions and even divisions…To live the crucified life and to
live Christ—where is the model of it? This kind of living is not that strong among us.
Through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ to live and magnify
Christ—where is the model of that? Where is the living that manifests that? We have
released the revelation concerning all these matters, and the messages are all in the
books. But where is the model? My burden is to influence you through my fellowship,
so that you will be burdened by the same thing. We have the local churches, but we do
not have the model. For all the things that the Lord has shown us we do not have a
model. In the matter of calling on the Lord we do not have a model. In the matter of
praying unceasingly we do not have a model. In the matter of the Lord being rich unto
all who call upon Him we do not have a model…This is the very strong burden within
me which I want to fellowship with the elders. Every local church needs this. Do not
come up with many forms. You should practice calling on the Lord. You should
practice prayreading the word which is the Lord Spirit…All the elders and coworkers
should pursue after this reality so that the Lord can have a model, a model of living in
God’s economy. In this way, they and their churches will become such models. This is
what I mean by the real revival when I pray for this. In the US there are over two
hundred churches. In southern California alone there are 50. If all these churches
become such a model, that would be a very strong testimony.” Then in the next
chapter, chapter 5 Brother Lee continued with his burden: “Since we have seen the
high peak of the divine revelation, we need to practice what we have seen. Our
practice will bring in a success, and that success will be a new revival, the highest
revival, perhaps the last revival before the Lord’s return….From today on, our
practice should be the living of a God-man life, knowing the power of Christ’s
resurrection, taking up His cross, in the same way that He took up His cross daily,
being crucified, and being conformed to His death to live another life. Our life, our
self, our flesh, our natural man, and everything of us have been brought by this One to
the cross. Now we are living Him. Hence every moment and in every part of our
living, we should remain in His crucifixion, being conformed to the mold of His death.
In this way, spontaneously we will live Him and take Him as our resurrection. This is
the God-man living….From today on, this should and must be our practice in the
church…We treasure our family life, our church meetings, and the way we train our
young people. But these are not the goal of our practice. The goal of our practice
should be the God-man living. This is the goal that we have to achieve….In the
recovery, what we ought to practice is this kind of God-man living…the highest
family life, marriage life, and social life, all come out of this kind of living…This
kind of living is the living that Jesus Christ lived for thirty three and a half years on
earth. This living will deliver us from all the negative things, great or small.” Then he
said emphatically: “Dear saints, THIS IS MY BURDEN. All of us, whether old or
young, brother or sister, elders or ordinary saints, we must live this kind of living.” He
pointed out that if we live this kind of God-man living, we will have some results “If
we practice this, we will be those who are faithful to what we hear, …If we live this
kind of living we will surely contact people to preach the gospel. The vital group is
such a group of people; the vital groups should be groups of people living this kind of
living…If we practice what we have heard, we will spontaneously build up a model,
and this model will become the greatest revival in the history of the church. I believe
this revival will bring the Lord back.” (Please note that my quotes are not verbatim
because I am quoting from the Chinese version of the books.) In my scheduled
reading through the Old Testament, I saw that Samson was a Nazarite, but he failed to
lived such a life, while Samuel was also a Nazarite, yet he did live a life of being
intimate with the Lord, and he brought in the kingship. He became a type of the
overcomers in the New Testament, who should all be reigning in life through the
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness (Rom 5:17).

In reminding us to live this kind of living, Brother Lee never meant that we
should just imitate what the Lord Jesus did on earth in an outward way. Again and
again he pointed out that it is by the life we received at the time of regeneration that as
the many sons we can be conformed to the Firstborn Son of God. Christ is not only a
model, a prototype to us, but our Firstborn, our prototokos. We have His life and His
nature, His very divine gene, within us. In His resurrection, the Lord accomplished
three unprecedented things in the universe: 1) becoming the Firstborn Son of God, in
which humanity is uplifted into divinity (Rom 1:3-4), 2) regenerating millions of
believers to be His brothers (1 Pet. 1:3), and 3) becoming the life-giving Spirit (1
Cor.15:45). As the life-giving Spirit, who is the reality of resurrection, He sustains and
supplies us with the resurrection power to live this life. As Phil. 3:10 says, “To know
Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being
conformed to His death.” As part of the God-man species with the first God-man’s life
and nature within us, we are not only able to more than overcome, but are on our way
to become God, in life and nature, but not in the Godhead.

In the book “The Practical Points Concerning Blending”, which was Brother
Lee’s first public speaking after his illness, he was so burdened about this matter. “We
know the term the Body of Christ. We may even have seen the revelation of the Body
of Christ. Yet we have to admit that thus far…we can see very little of the reality of
the Body of Christ within us and among us. I am speaking not of the revelation, not
even of the vision, but of the reality of the Body of Christ. This reality has nothing to
do with any kind of organization or with anything which remains in the nature of
organization…The reality of the Body of Christ is not just a corporate living, but a
mingling living. If we use the word mingled, this means that this living is
consummated, completed. Instead, we use the word mingling because this living is not
completed; it is still going on. It is the mingling living in the eternal union of the
regenerated, transformed, glorified tripartite God-men with the Triune God in the
resurrection of Christ…Anyone who lives such a mingling life would never be a
trouble to anyone. They have been delivered out of themselves and have been
transformed and perfected. They would not despise or condemn anyone nor would
they be bothered by others. They would not have anything to do with dissension,
rebellion, or division. Instead they would be here in the recovery as the high peak,
Mount Zion, in Jerusalem.” Then in chapter 5 he said: “Although in this point what I
am going to fellowship with you, doctrinally speaking, is quite common, it has not
been practiced among us very much…We may know this already, but we have not
paid sufficient attention to it. In other words, I do not believe anyone among us,
including me, is constantly and instantly living with the indwelling Lord….Many of
you are co-workers, and you do not know what a heavy burden I have for you all.
Since the Lord has opened my eyes, I cannot deny that I have seen something. But I
am very concerned about whether you have seen this or not…I do ask you to
reverently consider this matter…I am thankful to the Lord for the spreading of His
recovery, but on the other hand, in these few years my heart is very heavy not only
concerning you but also concerning myself.”

Dear brothers and sisters, if we all live this life, we will have the reality of the
Body of Christ. However, when we do not live this life, we may serve God in the
church, but with our natural life. We can talk about many works, but we may end up
in division. Or we can talk about oneness and blending, but we can end up in
organization and outward uniformity. We may say that we are now trained and that we
know the high peak of the divine revelation, but in reality we are only better than
others in knowledge. Everything apart from this living—wanting to be a ‘somebody’,
wanting to be better than others, wanting to manage and take control, wanting to boast
in one’s own achievements, wanting to assert one’s rights, wanting to insist on certain
ways and methods, being mean towards others, being angry with others, not forgiving
and not forgetting others’ mistakes, trying to maneuver oneself into some positions,
trying to retaliate, despising others—these and many other things, are part of the
natural life and are wood, hay, and stubble. They are signs that we are not living by
the divine life, and they mar God’s building.

It is significant to know that within the time when Brother Lee released the high
peak truth after his illness in 1994 to his passing away in 1997, in his first speaking to
the elders and the coworkers (recorded in the book ‘The High Peak of the Vision and
the Reality of the Body of Christ’ April 1994) and in his last speaking to the elders
and coworkers (recorded in the book ‘A Word of Love to the Coworkers Elders,
Lovers, and Seekers of the Lord’ September 1996, and in the book ‘How to be A
Coworker and An Elder And How to Fulfill the Duty of the Coworkers and Elders’
October 1996) he was consistent in his burden concerning the God-man living. In
chapter 2 of his book on ‘A Word of Love..’ he said: “We must also be aware of not
conforming to the death of Christ. We should always conform ourselves to His death,
but often we do not. We should be warned. Beware of this!…To not conform to the
death of Christ is to not absolutely deny your self, not others’ self, and bear the cross.
To bear the cross is to keep your self on the cross. Do not leave the cross. That is the
right place for your self to be. Not to conform to the death of Christ is also not to
always crucify your natural man…Sometimes we crucify our natural man, but most of
the time we do not. Not to conform to the death of Christ is also not to put to death
your disposition by birth. A person may boast of his race or that he is from a certain
country with a prideful spirit and an air of superiority. Some even boast of their
disposition by birth…This is the word of love which I am burdened to pass on to you
all. Ambition, pride, self-justification, and not conforming to the death of Christ are
four “gophers.” If we deal with these four matters, the Lord’s recovery will
immediately have a revival, and within one month we will see fruit as a result.
Trouble after trouble has come to the Lord’s recovery over the years simply because
of these four matters…Dear saints, I know that you all love the Lord, and I know that
you love the recovery. I also believe that you receive my ministry from the Lord, but
there is a big “but.” If you would not deal with these four gophers, everything else
means nothing. We may have some capacity, but our capacity will be annulled,
annihilated, by our disposition, our pride, and our unwillingness to put our disposition
by birth on the cross…The Lord is giving us the high peaks of the truth, and we
appreciate them and are learning to speak the same thing, but on the hidden side, these
four negative factors are still remaining among us. This will annul whatever benefit
we receive from the high peaks of the divine truths. This is my concern…
Intensification is not only to give you more of the Spirit; it is also to cause you to be
conformed sevenfold to the death of Christ. Your being crucified, your denial of the
self, and your bearing the cross should be intensified sevenfold. Your cannot preach
only the side of the Spirit without the side of the cross…On the one hand, I feel
burdened to minister the high peaks of the truth concerning the full ministry of Christ
in the flesh, as the life-giving Spirit, and as the sevenfold intensified life-giving Spirit.
On the other hand, the Lord has charged me to minister the cross. Your natural man,
your self, can be fed with the high-peak truths. They can make you more ambitious
because they give you more capacity, and they can make you prouder because now
you have the high peaks….I am concerned for the Lord’s recovery. Nothing else on
this earth is upon my heart, especially at the end of my course. I must treasure the end
of my course. I want to do the best to minister the all-inclusive Christ and the
compound, all-inclusive, consummated Spirit, but not without the cross.”

In his book “How to be A Coworker and An Elder And How to Fulfill the Duty
of the Coworkers and Elders”, which is his final speaking to the elders, in chapter 5 he
said: “Christianity is poor. The light among us is rich. Yet in our daily lives, we have
very little application of these riches, so that in our daily lives there is not much
manifestation of the riches of Christ. This is why the burden on me today is very
heavy. I love to have this meeting. Many elders and coworkers from all over the world
are here. I would like to seize the opportunity to speak to you a word of love. Brothers,
wake up! We have the messages, and we have the songs, but we are short in our
practical living…When I look at the situation among the saints in the Lord’s recovery,
I cannot help but sigh. On the one hand, I thank the Lord because He has spread His
recovery to all parts of the world. But on the other hand, the real condition of the
saints makes me sad, because we are lacking in reality…Today there is a shortage of
such a situation among us. This is what makes me sad and sorrowful. On the one hand
I worship and thank the Lord for your love to the Lord and for your knowledge of the
Lord’s way in His recovery. Yet we still need His mercy, because our practical living
is too far from what we are talking about.” In conclusion to the message he said: “I
hope all the points of this message will become the practical living in the homes of all
the brothers and sisters, as well as the practical living in all the churches. Our work
for the Lord must produce this kind of result. If our work does not produce this kind
of result, our work will not satisfy the God, and it will not satisfy men.”

It is clear from all the above quotes where Brother Lee repeated spoke about his
‘deep concern’ and his ‘heavy burden’ that up to the last minute, he was still very
burdened that the saints in the Lord’s recovery, including all the elders, leading ones,
and coworkers, would live this kind of living. It is only by living this kind of living
that that we will be delivered from all the negative things in the natural life. It is only
by living this kind of living that we will be perfected to become the many sons of God
as God’s species to accomplish God’s full salvation in His economy to be men
reigning in life. It is only by living this kind of living that we will have the reality of
the Body of Christ and hence become the Zion of today’s Jerusalem. It is only by
living this kind of living that we will have a model on earth today. Finally, it is also by
living this kind of living that there will be the real revival that brings the Lord back.

Brothers and sisters, let us give ourselves once again to the Lord and to His
recovery to be those who will live this way for the rest of our days. May the Lord
bless us, and thank you once again for standing with me and my family.

Your brother in Christ,