A LETTER FROM FOOCHOW, FUKIEN PROVINCE
Greetings in grace to my dearly beloved brother
in the Lord, Brother Nee:
My trip from Shanghai to this province was safe and peaceful. Brother Shen wrote saying that in Shanghai you began a Bible study on the nineteenth which meets every day. It is a shame that I have missed this good opportunity! Recently I have been asking the Lord to give me an opportunity to have contact with you often, so we can speak our hearts to each other and so I can receive your teaching and messages from the Lord as well as those of all the brothers. When are you going to southern China to visit the brothers? I hope you can let us know. If the Lord is willing, I can go with you. It would be profitable for me. I hope you will remember me often, praying for me and asking God to turn me from my foolishness so that I can testify for the Lord more and glorify His name. I do not forget your work in my prayers, and I pray for you often, asking God to give you physical strength so you can bear the burden God has required you to bear.
I am one of the last workers raised up by the Lord, and I am advanced in years, so I do not have enough strength. I do not have many days left to serve the Lord! I often regret that I did not turn to the Lord earlier, but I delayed until today to receive a little light and revelation; such revelation has dispersed the clouds and fog so that I can now see the sky. I regret that it is so late! Nevertheless, I should forget the things which are behind and stretch forward to the things which are before. I have set my mind to trust in the Lord.
Recently a sister has come from Ku T’ien to Foochow and has told me about the desire for the Word in Ku T’ien. I hope that some brothers among us will go there to work. It really is a good opportunity. If you come back to southern Fukien, it would not be bad if we could go to Ku T’ien with Brother Luk and do some work there.
Since returning to Fukien, I have been caring for the churches in the north of the province because there are seeds sown in many localities. For example, Chien Ou, Ch’ing Liu, Kuei Hua, Yen P’ing, and Yang Kou are places with seeds that have not sprouted yet. I hope you can come home to reap the harvest on the one hand and sow some good seeds on the other. Thank and praise God for what He has prepared. The transportation in the north of Fukien is gradually getting better. We can already get to P’u Cheng from the border of Fukien and Chekiang. The government is preparing to build roads from P’u Cheng to Chien Ning, Yen P’ing, and Foochow this year. We hope to be able to travel through by the end of the year. The major part of the north of Fukien has been pillaged by bandits. Nine out of ten houses are empty. It is really a pitiful situation! The people’s hearts are desperate, and there is no place to go. In addition to the cold, they are physically hungry. Their inner hearts have a hunger even more than their outward, physical hunger. If the Lord permits, fifty brothers could be raised up to go from the north of Fukien to the west, the south, and the east, which are the areas most disturbed by the bandits. They could go to save people’s souls and preach the precious gospel to them because those who have lost hope in their hearts receive the truth most easily. For this reason, I told the brothers in the prayer meeting to pray specifically for the entire country and for Fukien province and to ask God to send more than five hundred brothers to pioneer in all parts of the country, like Szechuan, Sinkiang, Tsinghai, Ningsia, Yunnan, Tibet, Mongolia, and other areas. Unless they go with God’s sending and calling, their going is not only useless but also harmful. I hope you tell all the brothers and sisters at Hardoon Road to pray for this matter. I bless you with this. May you overcome without limitation.
Your brother in the Lord,
Chung Ch’un Keng
February 27, 1934
A LETTER FROM TUNG SUN HO, HUAI AN,
KIANGSU PROVINCE
Greetings to Mr. Watchman:
Something happened in the meeting in this place. A brother sold part of his fields for five dollars to an unbeliever to build an idol temple. When he did this, the other brothers and I did not know. We found out after the transaction had occurred. We went to ask him, and he pushed it aside, saying that it was his wife’s and his son’s idea, but that he did not want to do it. We have already stopped him from partaking of the table. Is this according to the Bible? Is there any other way? I am small and ignorant. I am somewhat lost, and I am afraid of doing the wrong thing in the house of God and shaming the Lord’s name. I pray that you would not spare your instruction. I am waiting for your response. Peace.
Your little brother in the Lord,
Chia Ying Chung
February 25, 1934
(Answer: This is a sin. However, if he repents, you brothers should forgive him. There is a difference between "worshipping idols" and "being an idol worshipper." Worshipping idols is an action. Being an idol worshipper is a habit. We should cut off those who do it habitually. But we should forgive those who occasionally fall and who repent.—note from Brother Watchman)
(Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 2) Vol. 25: Collection of Newsletters (1), Chapter 6, by Watchman Nee)
