在背道的召會裡,有許多所謂的奧秘;這邪惡的召會所教導的一切奧秘,都是屬撒但的哲學。他們有一項哲學說,如果不加一點東西在聖經的真理裡,人就很難接受。主很智慧,把這件事比喻為酵,放在細面裡,使餅比較容易吃。背道的召會說,若是沒有聖誕節,人就很難接受基督出生這個真理。聖誕彌撒就是加在細面裡的酵。這真是詭詐又惡毒!
《啟示錄生命讀經》
Stone's Blog
Spiritual experiences, the growth of life, and sharing are to me for you~ 屬靈經歷、生命改變、分享見證都是為你~
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2016/12/10
撒但的奧祕,撒但的哲學
2016/11/14
你正常嗎? Are you normal?
在非常的時候而不反常的人,就是得勝者。《召會的正統》
Those who are not abnormal during the time of abnormality are the overcomers.
(CWWN, vol. 47, “The Orthodoxy of the Church,”)
TRUTH LESSONS, LEVEL 4, VOL. 1 TRUTH LESSONS, LEVEL 4, VOL. 1 LESSON FIFTEEN
TRUTH LESSONS, LEVEL 4, VOL. 1
LESSON FIFTEEN
PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE CHURCH—THE BUILDING UP AND
THE STAGES OF THE CHURCH(1)
B. The Church in Smyrna—
the Suffering under the Persecution
of the Roman Empire
The second epistle was written to the church in Smyrna (Rev. 2:8-11). In Greek Smyrna means “myrrh,” which in typology signifies the sweet suffering of Christ. Thus, the church in Smyrna was a suffering church, prefiguring the church under the persecution of the Roman Empire from the latter part of the first century to the early part of the fourth century. The persecuted church suffered in the sweetness and fragrance of Christ, that is, in the tribulation of Jesus and in the fellowship of His sufferings, and thereby became the continuation of His suffering (Col. 1:24).
1. Suffering the Slander of the Jews
During the period prefigured by the church in Smyrna, there were Jews outside the church who were persecuting the church. The Lord said that they “call themselves Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9). They were Jews only in the flesh, not Jews in spirit (Rom. 2:28-29). They joined hands with the Gentiles who persecuted the church to persecute the believers by driving them out of the synagogues, casting them into prison (Rev. 2:10), preventing a supply of material needs to them, and even killing them. Furthermore, at that time there were also Judaizers within the church such as the Nazaraeans and Ebionites, who were Judaic Christians. These Judaizers stubbornly insisted on keeping their Judaistic system, consisting of the Levitical priesthood, the sacrificial rituals, and the material temple. Under Satan’s manipulating, maneuvering hand, the Jewish synagogues opposed the Lord Jesus (Matt. 12:9-14; Luke 4:28-29; John 9:22), the apostles (Acts 13:43, 45-46, 50; 14:1-2, 19; 17:1, 5-6), and the churches (Rev. 2:9). Hence, the Lord called the Jews, in particular the Judaizers, “a synagogue of Satan.” The overcoming church must not care about the slander of the Judaizers nor for any religious systems or ways but simply pursue and follow the Lord in spirit and in life.
2. Suffering the Persecution of the Roman Empire
The Lord also prophesied that the church in Smyrna would have “tribulation for ten days” (v. 10). Ten is a number of fullness. Ten days signify a period of time that is full yet brief (Gen. 24:55; Jer. 42:7; Dan. 1:12-14). Here it signifies that the affliction of the suffering church was full yet short-lived. As a sign, ten days indicate prophetically the ten periods of persecution that the church suffered under the Roman emperors, beginning with Caesar Nero in the second half of the first century and ending with Constantine the Great in A.D. 313, when he decreed the edict at Milan that proclaimed freedom of religion. These two hundred years were a period of martyrdom of the church. Severe persecutions were continuously instigated by the devil, Satan, through the Roman Caesars, who did their utmost to destroy and eliminate the church. However, they could not subdue and terminate the church. Although the believers suffered afflictions, they were faithful unto death and were more than victorious by the resurrection life. The Lord also promised them, “Do not fear the things that you are about to suffer...Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). History demonstrates that the church of the living Christ, who became dead and lived again, withstood the persecutions victoriously and multiplied flourishingly by the indestructible resurrection life.
THE OVERCOMERS CHAPTER THREE
THE OVERCOMERS
CHAPTER THREE
TO OVERCOME PERSECUTION, WORLDLINESS, AND SPIRITUAL DEATH
In the previous chapter, we saw that we need to be those who overcome the loss of the first love by giving Christ the first place, the preeminence, in everything. The loss of the first love is seen with the church in Ephesus. There are four main points in the Lord’s epistle to the church in Ephesus—love, life, light, and the lampstand (Rev. 2:4-5, 7). Love, life, and light are actually God Himself. God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), God is life (John 5:26; 14:6a), and God is light (1 John 1:5).
Actually, the Divine Trinity is love, life, and light. The Father is love, the Son is life, and the Spirit is light. The Father is the source as love, the Son is the course as life, and the Spirit is the flow as light. The Gospel of John says clearly, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (1:4). Then the Lord said in John 8:12 that He was the light of the world and that whoever followed Him would have the light of life. The Bible eventually reveals that the Father is the Son (Isa. 9:6), and the Son is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). This means that love is life, and life is light. Love is the source, life is the course, and light is the shining out to reach us. These are three aspects of one person. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one, so love, life, and light are one. We enjoy the Son as the divine life, the eternal life, the uncreated life, through the Spirit as light, and we touch the Father as love by the Son as life. The Triune God is love as the source, life as the course, and light as the flow to reach us. Every day and even every moment we are under the shining of the light, which means that we are under the reaching of the Triune God for our enjoyment. When we overcome to return to Christ as our first love, we will enjoy Him as life, and will shine forth the divine light as the lampstand to keep the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 1:9; 12:17) in our locality.
We have some hints about the overcomers in Paul’s writings, but only the apostle John in the book of Revelation speaks directly concerning the overcomers. We have seen that the book of Revelation covers two main things—the overcomers and the New Jerusalem. The overcomers issue in the New Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem is the consummation of the overcomers. The overcomers are precious stones, precious material, built together into a house, and this house is the consummation of all of the precious stones, the precious material. The house is the consummation, the building up, of all the precious stones.
In the beginning of Revelation, the Lord is calling for this precious material, for the overcomers. The Lord’s calling in Revelation is not for being saved but for becoming an overcomer, a precious stone for God’s building. The overcomers are the believers of Christ transformed into precious stones for the building of God. According to Revelation 2:17 every transformed believer as a white stone will bear a new name. This new name is the transformed name of a transformed person. In Revelation 2 and 3, the overcomers are not yet because the Lord is calling for them. Through the centuries, in the period of time from Revelation 4—20, the Lord has gained and is gaining a number of overcomers.
In this age the overcoming believers must pay the price to be built up together into one. There should be oneness among the saints and among all the co-workers. The Scriptures show that eventually there was no building between Paul and Barnabas. They were together for awhile, but after the conference in Jerusalem in Acts 15, there was a great split between Barnabas and Paul (vv. 35-39). Apollos was another problem. Paul told the Corinthians that he had urged Apollos to come to them many times. No doubt, the Corinthians were in desperate need, so he wanted Apollos to visit them, but Paul said, “It was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity” (1 Cor. 16:12). By this we can see that Apollos was not one with Paul. But Paul and Timothy and Titus were one. When Paul told Timothy or Titus to go, they went. When he asked them to remain, they remained. But between Paul and Apollos there was not such a pleasant oneness; there was a big shortage of being built up.
Thus, we can see that between Paul and Barnabas, there was the lack of building, and between Paul and Apollos there was also the lack of building. If we consider the situation among Christians today, we will see that no one is built up with others. Everyone is independent. The big speakers in Christianity build up something for themselves, but who is built up with others? To receive Christ as life for our regeneration is the initiation of our Christian life. To grow in this life is the second step. Then by this growth, we are transformed. After being transformed, we have to be built up together. This building is the consummation.
In this chapter we want to cover the three crucial points concerning the overcomers in the epistles to the church in Smyrna, the church in Pergamos, and the church in Sardis. The epistle to the church in Ephesus covers the overcoming of the loss of the first love. In the previous chapter, we saw the spiritual interpretation of the loss of the first love. To have the Lord as our first love actually means that we take our Lord as the first. We have to give Him the preeminence in everything. In everything He is the first. If we are not making Him the first in everything, we do not have the first love.
To have the first love is to give the preeminence, the first place, to the Lord Jesus in everything, even in all of the small things. When the brothers buy a tie, they need to give Christ the preeminence. When the sisters go shopping, they need to give Christ the first place. When the Saturday edition of the newspaper comes out, some sisters like to read it to find all of the sales in the department stores. To have this practice means that they do not give the Lord the preeminence. They do not let the Lord have the first place in their shopping. If we need something, we should go to the store to get that thing and nothing else. The sisters need to overcome the temptation of the department stores.
With the church in Ephesus, the Lord reveals that if we are going to overcome all the situations and be a real overcomer, we have to give the Lord the preeminence in everything. Then we will be ones who enjoy the Lord as the tree of life. First, we have love, and then we have life. Then corporately we will be the lampstand shining forth the divine light. Thus, we will have the four “l’s”—love, life, light, and the lampstand. This is the revelation in the first epistle, which is to the church in Ephesus.
I. TO OVERCOME PERSECUTION, COMPRISING TRIBULATION, POVERTY, TRIAL, IMPRISONMENT, AND THE SLANDER OF THE DEFORMED RELIGION OF SATAN
The second epistle is written to Smyrna. This epistle reveals that we need to overcome persecution, comprising tribulation, poverty, trial, imprisonment, and the slander of the deformed religion of Satan (Rev. 2:9-10a). Smyrna basically shows us only one thing—persecution. Do we love the Lord? Do we give Him the preeminence in everything? If we do, we must be prepared for persecution.
Persecution will come to us from many directions. Persecution may come to a brother from his wife. When he did not love the Lord as the first item in everything, he had no problem with his wife. But when he began to love the Lord by giving Him the preeminence in everything, his wife noticed that he was different. Now her husband was giving the preeminence to someone else besides her.
In my home town of Chefoo, we had a brother who was working in the Chinese customs making good money. He was very worldly, and his wife was very happy to go along with him in their pursuit of worldly amusements. One day, however, he began to love the Lord, giving the Lord the preeminence. He gave the Lord the first place in everything. That was a big change with him. As a result, the wife became very unhappy because her husband no longer desired the things of the world.
Because this brother had such a positive change toward the Lord, he wanted to invite some brothers to his home for fellowship. He told his wife that one evening he would invite a few brothers to their house for dinner. I was one among these brothers. We all went happily to this brother’s home for fellowship. When we sat down to eat, his wife served us with cold leftovers. The brother felt so bad about this that he was moved to tears. Instead of being affected by the situation, however, we all partook of the food set before us in a joyful way in support of our brother. This brother suffered much persecution from his wife because of his decision to make the Lord first in everything.
Some parents persecute their children because of their children’s love for the Lord, and some children persecute their parents because of their parents’ love for the Lord. The mother-in-law may persecute her daughter-in-law for loving the Lord. This is why the Lord said that a man who puts Him first will have enemies from his own household (Matt. 10:36).
The persecution revealed in the epistle to the church in Smyrna comprises tribulation, poverty, trial, imprisonment, and the slander of the deformed religion of Satan. The deformed religion of Satan was the synagogue of Satan (Rev. 2:9). At the Lord’s time and at the early apostles’ time, the synagogues of the Jews had become in the eyes of God the synagogue of Satan.
According to history the saints during the time of Smyrna had tribulation for ten days (v. 10). As a sign, the ten days here indicate prophetically the ten periods of persecution that the church suffered under the Roman emperors, beginning with Caesar Nero in the second half of the first century and ending with Constantine the Great in the first part of the fourth century. Roman history tells us that the Roman Empire had ten periods of time to persecute the Christians.
We may feel that unlike the saints in Smyrna we have a good government today, but persecution can come to us from many other directions. Thus, as the loving seekers of Jesus, we must be prepared to suffer. The martyrs for Christ can be martyrs physically. Paul suffered such a martyrdom (2 Tim. 4:6). Many of us, however, may not suffer a physical martyrdom, but a psychological martyrdom or a spiritual martyrdom. The aforementioned brother who was mistreated by his wife was surely a martyr under her persecution. He used to come to us for fellowship, and we tried our best to support him and comfort him. In a very positive sense, he was a martyr for the Lord’s interest. He would not change in his feeling for the Lord, and he has never changed.
Even among the elders in the church, there may be the experience of martyrdom. One brother among the elders might be very strong and controlling. He may be a good brother who loves the Lord and the church, but he controls the other elders. The other elders may feel that they cannot function under such a brother, and they may want to resign. Someone may ask them, “Don’t you love the Lord? Don’t you love the church? Don’t you have a loving care for all the saints?” They would say that they do, but they find it unbearable to serve under such a strong brother. But if these brothers resign, this means that they resign from martyrdom. Thus, they are missing the opportunity to be martyred, an opportunity which may never return in their lifetime. How good it is for these elders to be martyred under a strong brother who is like a dictator!
In 1935 and 1936, I was assigned to the work in northern China. The elders in the church in Peking could not get along with one another. They frequently wanted me to come and help them. I spent two or three days to fellowship with them, and they felt that their problems were solved, but a week later they called me again to come and help them because they still could not get along. These elders had the opportunity to be overcoming martyrs in the church life.
When the apostle Paul asked the Lord three times to remove the thorn from him, the Lord’s response was, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12:9). The Lord allowed the thorn to remain with Paul so that Paul would be able to enjoy the Lord as his all-sufficient grace. Sufferings, trials, and persecution are often ordained by the Lord for us that we may experience Him as grace. Hence, in spite of Paul’s entreaty, the Lord would not remove the thorn from him.
We do not need to travel all over the earth to experience suffering and persecution. There is persecution for us to experience in our local church. There is a narrow door at the front of the church life, but once we make the choice to enter into the church life, there are no “back doors” and no “fire escapes.” In a sense, all of the saints in the church life become our persecutors. When we initially came into the church life, everyone was pleasant to us. That was our church life honeymoon, but the honeymoon does not last long. After we have stayed in the church life for a number of years, we realize that the Lord uses nearly all of the saints to deal with us.
Some saints told me that they could not bear to stay in their locality and that they wanted me to help them choose a better place. I always say that the best place is the present place. No place is better than the present place. Many saints eventually were convinced by me. They realized that they should not move to another locality according to their personal preference. If they move to another locality according to their choice, the place to which they move will eventually be worse to them than the place from which they came. In the church life, we cannot avoid “persecution.”
We need to overcome all kinds of persecution by being faithful unto death, not loving our soul-life (Rev. 2:10b; 12:11b). Then we will be rewarded with the crown of life (2:10c), and we will not be hurt by the second death (2:11).
2016/9/25
A Crucial Question 一個重要的問題
Let me now ask you this question: As one who has both the human nature and the divine nature, are you wood with gold in it, or are you wood overlaid with gold? In other words, with you, is the gold in the wood, or is the wood in the gold? If you simply have gold in the wood, you are finished with the oneness. If you say that you are wood in the gold, I would then ask you another question: What do others see when they come in contact with you, wood or gold? And if others see gold upon you, how much gold do they see? How much have you been overlaid with gold? Yes, we are wooden boards in the gold, but how much gold do we have upon us? This is a crucial question. (Truth Messages)
現在讓我問你一個問題︰你既有人性又有神性,那麼你是金子在木頭裡面呢,還是金子包著木頭?換言之,對你來說,是金子在木頭裡呢,還是木頭在金子裡?如果你只有金子在木頭裡,在一的事上你就了了。如果你說,你是金包木頭,那我還要問你另一個問題︰當別人來接觸你時,他們看見的是木頭呢,還是金子?倘若別人看見你身上有金子,他們能看見多少金子?你被金子包裹有多少?是的,我們是包金的木板,但是到底有多少金子在我們身上?這是一個重要的問題。《真理信息》