"Early Nee" vs. "Later Nee"

[Oliver]

This is a very interesting thread. And a long one. I must confess that I did not read every one of the posts, but I did read enough to appreciate being reminded of the frailty of man, and not to idolize even the greatest of spiritual men whom the Lord has used to lead His people out of bondage into God’s eternal purpose.

Like all of you, I’m sure, I remember fondly of the day when glory broke upon me as I opened my first book by Watchman Nee, and another, then another…. O, the feeling of rapture! Heaven has never been so near….

In no time, Watchman Nee’s books were all I’d read and devour. Undeniably I, like you all, have benefited greatly from Nee’s ministry; I thank the Lord for using Bro. Nee to open up the mysteries of God’s heart’s desire hidden in His word and usher in a paradigm change in my pursuit of Christ. I remember too, the excitement upon seeing the Church for the first time as the Lord sees her – the heavenly bride of Christ. From that point on, there was a slow and subtle shift in my focus away from the Lord Himself to the bride - the Church, then naturally to the local assembly, a people with whom I could practically relate.

It is never blatantly obvious – the shift in our focus. If anybody had told me so, I would have vehemently denied. Who, me? Never! I’m in love with Jesus.

It wasn’t until 16 years later, after the Lord engineered a gut-wrenching exodus from the LC for my dear wife and I, that it dawned on me how seriously and dangerously we have strayed away from the Person of Christ. Sure, I can blame W. Lee and the Local Church for our demise, and it would have been true to a large extent. I should also lay the blame squarely on myself for willingly following Lee’s bad teachings, and it would have been very true too. But Watchman Nee? Never in a million years would I have imagined this man of God to be fallible and subject to error like the rest of us.

Deeply ashamed and repentant, I asked the Lord to restore the years that I’ve allowed the locusts and the cankerworms to consume. Once my relationship with the Lord was restored (and restoring), the Watchman Nee’s books did not read the same any more. I remember vividly reading Nee’s “Revive Thy years” which was given to us by a dear brother. Cold chills kept running down my spine. I had to keep flipping back to the cover to see if it was Lee and not Nee whose name appeared on the front cover. My 16 years in the LC flashed back to haunt me as I read the book….

That same year, 1997 (?) I sat at lunch during a Richmond Family conference. I had an opportunity to tell Bro. Stephen Kaung of my horrifying experience while reading “Revive Thy years” by W. Nee, and to ask him why he even published such a book. He smiled understandingly and sympathetically as I related my experience. His answer was that he felt the need to be truthful to both the writer and the Christian public to put out all of Bro. Nee’s books and not just hide the bad and put out the good, and let the Christian public be the judge….

I think many of you would agree that the more we intimate and endear the Person of Christ, the more we’d find ourselves disagreeing with some teachings or comments by Watchman Nee. It’s not an indictment on Bro. Nee’s ministry. It’s just part of the process of knowing God personally and intimately. Discernment comes with spiritual maturity.

KissTheSon mentioned a “What Are We?” paper by W. Nee in 1934 which contrasted sharply with a later claim by Nee in 1948. Interestingly, there was a conference by the Richmond brothers in 1993 (94?) on “Who Are We?” A couple of brothers and I from a fellowship in Houston attended the conference. I remember seeing old Bro. Stephen quoting John 1:19-23. The priests and Levites from Jerusalem asked John the Baptist, “Who are you?” Stephen says we also need to ask ourselves this question from time to time. And like John the Baptist, our only answer should be, “We are not.”

He delved into the early years of the work in China with apparent move and blessing of the Holy Spirit, then he said the Lord used the up-rising of the Communists to chasten the saints. With tears rolling and voice breaking he said, “because we have become proud….” Again, he repeated, “we have become proud!” Now if you know Stephen, you’d know that he is ever the lowly and humble person. I can’t say that Stephen became proud even in the height of the move of the Lord in China, but it’s not hard to discern Nee has indeed become proud. And I submit that it is the awful and ugly sin of pride that marked the difference between the “early Nee” vs. the “later Nee” that you brothers have clearly discerned in this thread.

Make no mistake, each of us is as capable, if not more, of becoming proud. We just haven’t been given the opportunity, that’s all. How we need the Lord’s mercy on this. How we need the work of the cross to keep us lowly. I am just as capable of doing what W. Lee did, if given the opportunity.

My prayer is that we’d be confronted with the question every now and then, “Who are you?” And may we truly come to the realization that we are not. May we all learn from our painful past mistakes of majoring on the church and minoring on Christ, and turn back to Him and Him alone. If our focus is the church we’ll lose sight of Christ; if we focus on Him we’ll gain both Christ and the church. Guaranteed.

Blessings to all.

Oliver
www.TheClosedDoor.com
The Way to an Open Door is Through a Closed Door.

[Paul Cox]

Hi Oliver,

Welcome! I really enjoyed your post. Oh, may the Lord have mercy on all of us. As you say, it is indeed subtle, but before you know it we looked up and there before our eyes stood two "perfect" men (Nee & Lee) whose teaching were never to be questioned...not ever. Of course, this was only the image that had been carved for us, and we fell for it.

I remember reading Nee and Lee when I was in the Local Church. It was as if I was reading the very Word of God. On a level that I was not aware of I had made the words of Lee and Nee equal to God's own breathed Scripture.

Now I am reading the Genesis Life-studies with my wife daily. In a strange way it is so refreshing to see all the holes, contradictions and hypocrisies. It's such an awful burden always having to wink at obvious falsehoods, contradictions and hypocrisies.

I think slowly the false images of Nee and Lee are topling over, much like that statue of Sadam Hussein in Bagdad. BTW, did you notice when it broke open near the base...it was hollow, and the one it glorified was hiding somewhere in a "spider hole." Now there is a god brought to nothing.

We got much help from the writings of Watchman Nee, and still do. We also got much help from the ministry of Witness Lee. In some ways I believe we did. But the image of the "man for the age," who is never to be questioned, has to be destroyed.

Roger