Witness Lee and Watchman Nee:
My own testimony,
of the powerful focus on

Jesus Christ

especially in the ministries of two dear Chinese Christians.

You can also get The Stream magazine (publishing the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee) for free via e-mail either once weekly with all of the articles, or once every two weeks with only half of the articles. SUBSCRIBE NOW FOR FREE!

This represents the obligation I feel to testify to the value of an under appreciated ministry service to the Lord. That ministry comes from a Chinese man named Witness Lee. I also wish to recommend highly Watchman Nee his predecessor and coworker for over 20 years. Of course "Witness" and "Watchman" are their adopted English names.

I also enjoy reading many historical Christian writers and have tried to link in as many such web resources as possible. But primarily, I would like to recommend the work of these authors here.

The Lord Jesus Himself told us clearly that those who follow Him and teach His word will be hated by some and loved by others. Most of the time, in the Bible, such persecution came from religious zealots for God, such as Saul of Tarsus. In an age where it seems so easy to criticize fellow believers, I want to state my appreciation, in a positive way, for these two brothers, and for the value of their ministry services to Christ, as well as for all of the best, biblical, Christian authors that I can find and have time to read.

The ministries of these two brothers, especially brother Lee's, have ministered greatly to me, and continually turned my heart to Christ. Because of this ministry, I can truly say that today, I love the Lord Jesus. I can testify, by the Lord's mercy upon me, that nothing is so important to me, in my consciousness, as His will.

Certainly, I was not born loving Jesus Christ, but He has caused me to love Him through years of calling me and attracting me. Now that I myself desire to serve the Lord for His own purposes, and not mine, I am realizing some very important characteristics of a proper ministry, which we can all learn from for our own service to Christ. May we all value highly these characteristics, and seek the Lord that we may express them in our service to Him.

TWO PRINCIPLES OF CONDUCT by Watchman Nee

Characteristics of a ministry
faithful to God for His purpose:

• Unashamed of the truth - The word of God is the most difficult, holy, and awesome writing on this earth. It is also the most exposing, the most shocking, and the most enlightening and renewing of all writing. It is actually God's very breath, which He so freely gives to us. It is easy to under-represent the intensity with which the Bible speaks. To speak and teach the Bible, will test every pastor, minister, shepherd, and teacher, because the Bible is not a political book, but the very standard of truth. The words of the Bible will rebuke, chastise, offend, and crucify people, even the Lord's own believers. So was Mary warned in Luke (Recovery Version):
  
  

Witness Lee on the Person of Christ.
another great quote
Nathan's extensive home page for Christ

• Focus on Christ Himself - There are so many things to discuss from God's holy word, that frequently every Bible teacher finds themselves pulled towards this and that doctrine, as the fervent love for the Lord Jesus Himself gradually wanes and, in some unfortunate cases, even dies altogether. I have even sensed that some servants of God, are working hard for One whom they know little, and love even less.
  
  Every minister must remember that the Lord Jesus Himself is the focus, the fellowship, and the one to be followed by His disciples. Even John the baptist who said in John 3:30 "He must increase, but I must decrease" knew that his own following could not follow him, but had to turn to Christ. One must be faithful to remind believers continuously and strongly, to unite in Christ Himself, and not behind any great teacher or man of God.

Witness Lee on the Trinity.
another great quote
MaryAnna's stand for the truth.

• Serving Christ for CHRIST'S purpose - The Lord has many servants, but not many will disregard their own interests, desires, and thoughts about what the Lord must surely want. It is easy to be presumptive in serving the Lord. The Lord has many who work for Him, but not many who know assuredly what the Lord is desiring to do. God wants to build up a corporate bride for Christ, a body of Christ as singular as anyone's. From proper ministers I have learned not to seek only individual Christian victory, but to seek THE LORD'S WILL which is undeniably tied to a CORPORATE VICTORY of the body of Christ. It is not enough for me to overcome the daily temptations and bad habits that entangle the sons of God. I must be built, knit and blended together with ALL other willing saints, for the Lord's church to be built, and for His heart's desire to be met.
  
  This can be a practical reality on earth today. We don't need special names, special kinds of believers. There is only one kind, God's kind, His own children. Our division before Him is a great shame to us all, and we should weep and repent for it.

great quote 3...
Berkeley Students' Christian organization

• Faithfulness - Surely the test of faithfulness is the hardest test of every servant of Christ. Every youthful convert to our mighty Savior runs after him, but where are they tomorrow. Without a doubt, Watchman Nee's absolute faithfulness to Christ, inspired, touched, and convicted many, and still does today through his writings and biography. At 92 years of age, Witness Lee has now offered an even longer life of service to Christ, with, I am sure, a multitude of tests.
  
  In one important way, Witness Lee's ministry service to the Lord is shown faithful, in being the only person in history to expound all 66 canonical books of the Bible, passage by passage, in volumes exceeding 20,000 pages, and more than 3000 messages.
  
  My Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus for faithful ministers! May we all learn to be useful to you!

Many Christian hymns and spiritual songs
another great quote

• Goodly Fruit - We should never neglect the Lord's own measure to apply to every person's work. The fruits bear witness to the roots. There have been close to 2000 churches raised up due to brother Witness Lee's ministry, in either a direct or indirect way. Countless others have benefited from his ministry in printed form. Brother Witness Lee has published over 3000 messages, been involved with the translation of the New Testament, and expounded specifically on every single book of the Bible, traveled extensively through China preaching the gospel, served for over 20 years with Watchman Nee, and been imprisoned for the Lord's work, in 70 years of ministry to the Lord.

Benefits I have received from these ministries:

• Nourishment - Of all the benefits I would recommend to you, the most consistent is the spiritual feeding. To be spiritually fed is to be presented the real and experiential Christ from the Bible. The Bible is such a joy to masticate, and provides a wide green pasture for the Lord's hungry sheep. However, it is not just the Bible only in doctrine, but the living CHRIST in the Bible that is our food.
• Revival and Renewal - Many needs of the Christian are repetitive, and REVIVAL is no exception. We need repetitive, if not continuous revival. Without revival, we all get old and stagnate quickly. The mentioned ministries of Witness Lee and Watchman Nee have helped me to SEEK the Lord continuously for revival. One matter which I have found especially important is the confession of sins to the Lord, a releasing and reviving daily habit.
• Growth - Although it is often foolhardy to estimate one's own spiritual growth, I would be wrong to say that I have not grown under these useful ministries.
• Shepherding and Character Training - From Watchman Nee's ministry, I have learned many things about faithfulness, diligence, and openness. From Witness Lee's ministry I have learned many things about usefulness and character as a servant of God.
• Revelation and Enlightenment - These two ministries are widely noted for their powerful exposition of the Bible. Detailed, fine and thorough studies, open the holy word in ways unimaginably rich. Using dozens, if not hundreds of previous authors as a base (a few of which are ascribed on this page), these brothers have continued a long-standing Christian heritage, and have progressed the detailed and careful interpretation of the holy word to a lofty peak of truth. One can easily find out what I mean by following the links of many authors on this page.
• Challenge - There have been many challenges to my own way of thinking presented to me in good ministries. The underpinning of all of these, I would have to say, is the basic challenge to use the canon of scripture itself, as the base for its own interpretation. For every single question of concern, there should be a counter question of, "what does the Bible say?" This is a surprisingly difficult habit for many believers, and even Christian teachers. Ostensible teachings are commonly taken as biblically founded, when in fact they are simply traditional. This is so pronounced, that a fervent truth-seeker challenging the ostensible theology can be martyred for iconoclasm, without a biblical search ever being undertaken, or even considered. This actually happened to the Lord Himself. As the Lord Jesus Himself said:

We in the body of Christ, must return to a solid stance on the word of God. This can only be accomplished by READING the Bible. Please don't give false assurance to yourself of your solid biblical foundation, if you are not an avid reader of it. If you don't READ and STUDY the Bible, rest assured, that you do not understand or fulfill it.

• Focus - Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, as well as other good writers like Paul Billheimer, lead the reader to focus strongly and solely on Christ and His masterpiece, the building up of His body. These two items are the focus of the entire Bible, book by book. If a person is not seeking for Christ or His builded masterpiece, then such person can only hope to gain vain knowledge to puff up himself. While this is not the intent of the scriptures, it is a commonly forgiven usage. One practice which I have found very helpful in reading the Bible, is to ask the Lord while reading, "Lord, what does this portion have to do with you or your body?" The answers have always been surprising and enlightening. I encourage everyone to try this and tell me if you don't get some surprises.

BELOVED SAINTS, RESOURCES, AND STATEMENTS OF TRUTH!

Nathan's stand for the Lord's work.
Berkeley Students' stand for the truth.
MaryAnna's stand for the truth.
Sarah's stand for the truth.
Mike Forbes' Page
Christian hymns and spiritual songs
Another sister Sarah who loves the Lord
Samuel Goh's Christian Kitchen Home Page
There is God (tract)
Statement of Faith
Cindy Greenwood

MORE RESOURCES (which I have looked at):

FREE GRACE by John Wesley or choose other great titles from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library or better yet…
SEARCH THE WHOLE LIBRARY of Christian Classics or download other texts that they have.
C.H. Spurgeon
Early Christian Documents
TWO PRINCIPLES OF CONDUCT by Watchman Nee
John Nelson Darby's Synopsis of the Bible
The Practice of the Presense of God by Brother Lawrence
Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (1678)
Download the Online Bible! or God's Word for Windows or WinBible v5.0
Read the gospel of John
SEARCH texts of the early church fathers.
BibleNet Library or a simpler topical view.
The GOSHEN Online Study Library
SEARCH THE RSV or do a compound search. Or search the KJV single or compound.
Athanasius on the Incarnation
The Best of ICLNet

OTHER RESOURCES (which I have hardly, if at all, looked at):

Greek texts of the Bible
Greek Lexicon
View a historical chronology of events from 200 to 640 A.D.
Read the Athanasian Creed
Nave's topical Bible
KJV by subject or another view of the KJV.
Dead Sea Scrolls

Copyright © 1996 Faron Moore. I am solely responsible for the contents of this page.