I personally passed through these few turmoils and took the lead in taking care of them. For this reason, I have many thoughts and realizations and have even seen many things concerning these matters. I am saying all this to let everyone know the cause and direction of our meeting at this time. Except for this reason, I have no desire to mention anything concerning the past. When we come together this time, the primary thing is to return to the word of the Lord. I believe a lot of you here, after hearing about the things that have happened in the last three to five years, would all feel that we have heard too much. The same words and the same things have been repeated again and again. It has really been meaningless. May the Lord cover me with the blood. During this entire time of turmoil, I did not say anything. Up until last November, I had been silent. I spent most of my time here in Taipei to bear the Lord’s commission for three things: 1) to conduct the training for the gospelization work of Taiwan; 2) to bring in the new way beginning from the church in Taipei; and 3) to work with the translation and editing of the Chinese New Testament Recovery Version. Actually, most of my time was spent on the New Testament Recovery Version.
During this period I was silent for another reason: I wanted to see what the Lord’s hand was doing and what the mind of the Lord was. I had indeed heard enough, but I did not think that I should express any opinion. That was why I was silent. I only released some messages to the church here according to the Lord’s leading. The supply on this side has never stopped, but I did not do anything to deal with the problem that had arisen. It was not until November of last year when we had the international conference on Thanksgiving Day in Anaheim that I received the clear direction from the Lord, had a clear understanding of all the situations, and began to speak officially. I spoke twice to all the elders and co-workers from different countries, once after the Thanksgiving conference and another time after the winter training. Based on the messages and fellowship in these two times, I compiled the two books The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion and The Present Situation of the Churches in the Recovery throughout the World. These two books are my clarifying and concluding word to the saints in the Lord’s recovery throughout the whole world. I also prepared this clarifying and concluding word for the sake of history. The book The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion includes my spoken messages, but its content was edited afterwards by me personally. I have carefully checked all the facts and have tried my best to be accurate, to be without any mistakes. In addition to an account of the beginning and development of the whole period of the rebellion, the content of that book includes personal testimonies from over thirty brothers. Therefore, concerning this storm, I have spoken the clarifying and concluding word that I needed to speak. I have absolutely no more interest in talking about this matter. This matter now stops here. I hope that you brothers who have come to attend this conference will not mention it anymore. It does not deserve any more mentioning. In these four days we will go on.
(The Mysteries in God's New Testament Economy, Chapter 0, by Witness Lee)