Abraham—Called by God, by Witness Lee

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THE MOTHER—THE HELPER IN LIFE

We have seen that the mother, who, as the wife, should have been the helper in life, became a pillar of salt because of her worldliness (19:26). When Lot’s family came into the cave, there was no function of life, for there was no function of the proper wife. As a result, they turned to incest, using such a sinful thing to replace the lost function of life. This is also the situation among many so-called Christian groups. They have lost the function of the Body of Christ, the proper function of life, and use worldly methods to fill the gap. Like Lot’s group, they cannot produce the proper “Isaac” for the fulfilling of God’s purpose. Because they use incest to secure seed, they produce “Moabites” and “Ammonites.”

THE DAUGHTERS—THE MEMBERS

We have seen that the leader was drugged and befuddled and that the function of life was lost. But the daughters, the members of this free group, still wanted to bear fruit and have the increase. Although they had neither the proper leadership nor the function of life, they had an evil way of acquiring the seed. The same is true among many free groups today. In order to bear fruit, we should live by Christ, live out Christ, pray, and help people to receive the living word of God so that they might be reborn. This is the way to bring forth the proper fruit to be the “Isaac” for the fulfilling of God’s purpose. But look at today’s situation: some groups use rock music, dancing, drama, movies, and games to satisfy their desire of securing the increase. In the eyes of God, this is spiritual incest. The free groups adopt these methods because the wife, being worldly, has lost her function. In the churches we need the function of life to produce seed. Once people have lost the proper wife with the function in life, they use ugly and worldly means for securing the increase. This is the way of “incest” which brings forth “Moabites” and “Ammonites.”

HAVING LOST THE SENSE OF MORALITY • Lot’s daughters had lost their sense of morality, having been drugged with the wicked current of the evil world. If they had had any sense of morality, they never would have considered lying with their father. The first daughter laid with her father without any sense of shame and encouraged her sister to do the same. They talked peacefully with one another about this without any feeling of guilt. When they were all in Sodom, Lot even proposed sacrificing his daughters to satisfy the Sodomites who were indulging in their sodomitical lust. How could a man with a proper sense of spiritual morality have proposed such a thing? He should have said, “Let them kill me and my guests, but I will never do this to my virgin daughters.” Where was Lot’s sense of morality? Lot had been drugged. The result was that his daughters had no sense of morality and that their humanity was degraded to the lowest level. Some free groups today have also been drugged with the wicked current of the evil world and only care for success, not for the means. They need the de-drugging of God’s sobering word.

DESIRING TO HAVE THE SEED REGARDLESS OF THE MEANS • Lot’s drugged daughters were desirous of having seed regardless of the means (19:31-35). They cared only for the goal, not for the way. Many Christian groups are like this. They say, “What is wrong with preaching the gospel in this way as long as we bring people to Christ? We have won a great many people. How many souls have you won?” They care for soul-winning, but they do not care for the proper way of doing it.

HAVING COMMITTED INCEST • Lot’s daughters committed incest, breaking the governing principle ordained by God (19:36). Here we need to refer to Matthew 7:21-23. The Lord said that when He comes back, some so-called Christian workers will say, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many works of power?” (Matt. 7:22). If they had not done these things, they would be unable to talk like this. The Lord will not deny that they did such works. But in Matthew 7:23 the Lord said that He will “declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, workers of lawlessness.” For the Lord to say, “I never knew you” means “I never approved of you because you are a worker of lawlessness.” The runners in a race must stay in their lane. However fast they run, they are not permitted to run lawlessly outside the boundaries of their lane. Likewise, we need a governing principle for our spiritual activity. It is not a matter of prophesying, casting out demons, or working miracles. It is a matter of the Father’s will (Matt. 7:21). Our spiritual activities must be the doing of the Father’s will. Our preaching, loving one another, and all we do must be the Father’s will. If we lack the assurance deep in our spirit that what we are doing is the Father’s will, we should not do it. If we do things without this assurance, we shall break the governing principle and commit spiritual incest. This is lawlessness in the eyes of God. The Lord will never approve of such lawless workers.

(Abraham—Called by God, Chapter 18, by Witness Lee)