The lesser known ministry of Watchman Nee

Freedom · 11-26-2014, 08:20 PM

This thread is intended to address parts of Nee’s ministry that aren’t commonly covered or discussed in the LC. I wanted to initially discuss one of Nee’s book titled “The Latent Power of the Soul” It is available to read online here:

http://www.worldinvisible.com/librar...f00.0634.c.htm

It can also be found in the Collected Works of Watchman Nee Vol. 10: The Present Testimony Ch 9-11.

While reading Philip Lin’s book “Sacrifice and Sail On”, Lin made reference to Nee’s “Latent Power” book, and the obviously peculiar sounding title caught my attention. Out of curiosity, I went ahead and read the book. I was a bit taken aback by this book (even a little freaked out), not so much because of the content, but because I realized that Nee really believed some bizarre things. Over the years in the LC, I have heard references to Nee’s “not recommended” works or people will say stuff like “you have to be careful about reading some of Nee’s books”. I guess this is one of those books. People outside of the LC have essentially said that this book isn't for the faint of heart. Nee himself said that he purposely didn't include the contents of this book in "The Spiritual Man". Nonetheless, I think that it is important to consider who Nee was by taking into consideration all parts of his ministry, not just what the LC focuses on.

To summarize “The Latent Power of the Soul”, Nee attempts to prove that Adam originally possessed superhuman abilities that were “immobilized” after the fall. He then goes on to warn that people can still possibly release this “latent” power today. He talks a lot about parapsychology and science from his day (now considered to be pseudoscience). In the latter part of the book, he attempts to apply his teaching to warn Christians against having highly “emotional” experiences of the Lord.

I don’t find any value in reading this book other than it being insightful into the “other” side of Nee. I will go more into detail of some of the contents of this book if there is sufficient interest in discussing this subject.

11-26-2014, 08:20 PM	#1
Freedom Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 1,636	The lesser known ministry of Watchman Nee This thread is intended to address parts of Nee’s ministry that aren’t commonly covered or discussed in the LC. I wanted to initially discuss one of Nee’s book titled “The Latent Power of the Soul” It is available to read online here: http://www.worldinvisible.com/librar...f00.0634.c.htm It can also be found in the Collected Works of Watchman Nee Vol. 10: The Present Testimony Ch 9-11. While reading Philip Lin’s book “Sacrifice and Sail On”, Lin made reference to Nee’s “Latent Power” book, and the obviously peculiar sounding title caught my attention. Out of curiosity, I went ahead and read the book. I was a bit taken aback by this book (even a little freaked out), not so much because of the content, but because I realized that Nee really believed some bizarre things. Over the years in the LC, I have heard references to Nee’s “not recommended” works or people will say stuff like “you have to be careful about reading some of Nee’s books”. I guess this is one of those books. People outside of the LC have essentially said that this book isn't for the faint of heart. Nee himself said that he purposely didn't include the contents of this book in "The Spiritual Man". Nonetheless, I think that it is important to consider who Nee was by taking into consideration all parts of his ministry, not just what the LC focuses on. To summarize “The Latent Power of the Soul”, Nee attempts to prove that Adam originally possessed superhuman abilities that were “immobilized” after the fall. He then goes on to warn that people can still possibly release this “latent” power today. He talks a lot about parapsychology and science from his day (now considered to be pseudoscience). In the latter part of the book, he attempts to apply his teaching to warn Christians against having highly “emotional” experiences of the Lord. I don’t find any value in reading this book other than it being insightful into the “other” side of Nee. I will go more into detail of some of the contents of this book if there is sufficient interest in discussing this subject.