THE NEED OF MONEY TO MATCH
THE NEED OF THE GOSPEL
Brother Nee said: According to statistics compiled by evangelists around the world, the more money a person puts into the gospel work, the more people there are who will be baptized. They calculated that on an average a person has to spend one thousand U.S. dollars on a person before he can be saved. But it takes a very small amount of money to have people saved among us. Although I cannot say that of one thousand people saved among us, every one of them counts, I can say that at least nine hundred ninety-nine of them count. If we have one thousand U.S. dollars, we can save one hundred people. It does not mean that there is no money in Christianity today. It means that people do not get saved as quickly as they do among us.
The money in Christianity today comes from foreign countries. Let me ask you: Where does that money come from? Does it not come from God’s children also? It is better for us to give some money to them than for them to send some money to us. But where does our money come from? It comes from all the poor brothers and sisters. Those who should give do not give, and those who should not give continue to give. Up to a point, when I received the money, I felt unable to take it. That money was like the water of Bethlehem; it is water that we cannot drink (2 Sam. 23:13-17). One student offered four million dollars. Although a person cannot buy even a sack of rice for four million dollars now, this student had to save his bus fare and walk with his feet to come up with this amount for his offering. Do not think that God’s worker will take any kind of money that is offered up. We are like David. Although we may be thirsty, we cannot drink that kind of water. That kind of water has to be poured out before God.
THE NEED FOR A MORE THOROUGH CONSECRATION
The difficulty of our work today lies in the fact that we lack both people and money. At present, we have seven brothers who have left their jobs. Among us, we have over twenty widows of former co-workers. I can see two brothers who really should have left their jobs. Yet I cannot help them to leave their jobs, because in the past I have asked some co-workers to leave their jobs, and not long after that, they died. It was as if I had sent them to their graves. Among our co-workers who have died, other than one who died of cholera, one who was killed by the Communists, and two others who died of other diseases, the rest all died of tuberculosis. Even you who are sitting here are saved because we have spent money on you. Even if you were saved in another place and then came to us for perfection, we have spent money on you. Today, even if it means sacrificing your life, you have to give your money away to allow others to hear the gospel and to share the good that you have received. If this generation will give up everything, it will pave the way for the next generation to go on. This is how the way of the gospel is paved. Today, in the north and in the south, a few dozen brothers are ready to give themselves full-time for the gospel. On the one hand, we may say that it is not that easy for the work to go on. On the other hand, we find that it is very simple for men to be saved among us, and the price we have to pay is very little. As soon as a person touches the gospel, he is saved. For this reason, we need to have more thorough consecrations.
(Messages Given During the Resumption of Watchman Nee's Ministry (2 volume set), Chapter 74, by Watchman Nee/Witness Lee)
