As we pointed out earlier, in their rebellion the dissenting ones in the recovery today have damaged the matters of the teaching of the apostles and the fellowship of the apostles. First, the dissenters taught people that the apostles’ teaching includes only the portion of the New Testament up to the book of Acts. They said that the teaching in the Epistles after the Acts should not be considered the apostles’ teaching. Their intention in saying this is to put me aside, because in my teachings I stress very much matters such as Christ as the mystery of God, the church as the mystery of Christ, God’s economy, etc., according to the Epistles. Today the dissenting ones do not like to touch these things. Whatever I teach, they want to put aside. Their aim is to poison the saints so that they will give up anything that Witness Lee teaches.
When we were raised up by the Lord in His recovery, we were in a situation of mixture. Nearly everything that we received from Christianity was a mixture. That was a very difficult situation. We spent a great deal of time to clear up all the different terms and complex items of the truth. In order to clear up the mixture, we spent many years to find the proper way to classify the different items of the truth in the Bible. Therefore, we need to regard the truths concerning the New Testament ministry, the teaching of the apostles, and the fellowship of the apostles presented in these two messages as a treasure. We need to keep these matters and study them carefully.
We need to be aware that in the recovery today there is a sickness full of germs. Therefore, we all need to be on the alert and beware. The dissenting ones plan to remain in the recovery, and they are now desperate to take the opportunities and create openings in North America and in the Far East for them to work on those who, in their eyes, might be good for their poisoning work. Thus, we all need to be on the alert and pray against this. Such a turmoil in the recovery is not merely a human activity. Behind the scene of the human activity there is the invisible scene, where Satan, the subtle and evil one, is working out his evil scheme to damage the Lord’s recovery. We are not fighting against blood and flesh but against the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12). Christ through His death on the cross has destroyed the one who has the might of death, that is, the devil (Heb. 2:14). When we put our trust in the Lord and His work on the cross, Satan is defeated and Christ is Victor.
To avoid further damage by the present turmoil, we need to practice a strict quarantine over this contagious disease. Whenever any of the dissenting ones attempts to contact you, no matter in what way and in what polite or "spiritual" manner, you should keep the apostle’s teaching in Romans 16:17 and Titus 3:10 to turn away from him and reject him. Do not try to exhort or argue with such people or to find out what and how they really are. If you say anything to them, you will "swallow their bait" and they will "hook" you. You are a gentleman, a sincere, honest Christian, and a humble follower of the Lord, but they are under the deceiving of the devil and unavoidably bear some of his poison. It is impossible to talk or argue with them without being contaminated by their poison. Instead of spending the time to meet with this kind of dissenting ones, we had better save our time to pray and get into the Word so that we may have some riches of Christ to minister to the saints.
To serve the Lord, to be one of the co-workers, the first requirement is faithfulness not only to the Lord but also to His recovery. We must regard the Lord’s recovery and not consider it as anyone’s personal work. Merely to be faithful to the Lord is not adequate. We must also be faithful to the Lord’s recovery. To show our faithfulness to the recovery, we must consider ourselves married to the recovery. We all need to get ourselves married to the Lord’s recovery. May the Lord have mercy on us all.
(The Ministry of the New Testament and the Teaching and Fellowship of the Apostles, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee)