Notes 28-30 - Attempts by Brother Lee to Help Brother Dong

²⁸Brother Lee's Fellowship with Brother Dong on July 7, 1991

In a fellowship on July 7, 1991 (see note 20), Brother Lee made the following statements to try to adjust the way Brother Dong was presenting himself in South America:

• Brother Lee: Do not give people an impression that you are the overseer of the churches in Brazil and Argentina—they have to ask your permission in everything.
  
  
• Brother Lee: I cannot condemn you for doing the wrong thing intentionally, but you, perhaps unintentionally, wrote these letters to me. First, not just one letter, but many letters. All of them were long, with many signatures at the end. And all the letters that were sent to me had the same tone of voice: condemning others and justifying Brother Dong. Most of them were like this. Condemning Brother Lee Daw and justifying and exalting Brother Dong. One letter says that Brother Dong is something of South America...
  Andrew Yu: Overseer.
  Brother Lee: Like the archbishop in Catholicism.
  
  
• Brother Lee: You said that it has nothing to do with this, but in my eyes, it has everything to do with this. Whatever you say, there is only one thing with Brother Dong. In my opinion. There is only one thing right now: discord. No one accord in South America—whether selling books or other things. In principle, you should not write these letters.
  
  
• Brother Lee: Just to change an address, they had to write a letter, saying that Brother Dong is so-and-so of South America? This is not to walk according to the truth.
  
  
• Brother Lee: Brother Dong went there [Argentina] first to establish churches. My guess is that, after a while, Oscar also established churches, without giving due regard to Brother Dong. Then Brother Dong might say, "I started the work and established churches first in Argentina. If you want to establish churches, you need to have fellowship with me."
  
  Brother Dong: Brother Lee does not know the situation well.
  
  Brother Lee: But you, Brother Dong, keep talking and complaining. We should allow others freedom, regardless they are right or wrong, as long as they do not sin. If they want to meet, let them do so.
  
  
• Brother Lee: Second, you have a concept that if a work was started by Brother Dong, so anyone comes to Asunción must do the same thing as Brother Dong did, because that is a work started by Brother Dong. This concept is very bad. This is a trouble. This is the cause, the source, of the trouble. We shouldn't consider this way.
  
  
• Brother Lee: The same thing, I'm a little concerned with Brother Dong. The same principle, because I know the Chinese character—always, always, two faces. This damages a lot. Because I knew this and I still know this, I try my best, so I don't listen to any side, I don't listen to, until... I would not listen to, I would wait until the result comes out. Then I know what it is.

In that fellowship Brother Lee counseled Brother Dong to have a different attitude toward the work, his fellow workers, and the churches. Putting himself in Brother Dong's place, Brother Lee said his attitude should be:

Today I am a servant of the Lord. I received the grace of the Lord to labor in Brazil and have gained some good results. Now I am invited to Argentina to speak, then I go. If they want to meet as a church, I... I only know that I am not the apostle of Argentina, nor do I want to have a deep relationship with the churches in Argentina. Then all these problems won't happen.

Brother Dong has claimed that Brother Lee told him exactly the opposite:

Third, for many years Brother Dong has spoken publicly about a meeting that occurred in Brother Witness Lee's house in 1991 with Brother Lee, Brother Lee Daw-Jiueng, from Paraguay, and himself. Brother Dong has often shared publicly that in that fellowship Brother Lee vindicated Brother Dong and his ministry in South America. (Letter from Fernando Monte-Serrat, October 26, 2007)

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In a February 18, 2008, meeting with some in Cerritos, California, Brother Dong said that Andrew Yu, a participant in the 1991 meeting, knew that Brother Lee had entrusted the work in South America to him.

²⁹Brother Lee Would Not Go to South America in the 1990s, Because to Do So Would Build Up Brother Dong's Work

Reported by Ed Marks at the 2008 Winter Training.

³⁰Brother Lee Told Brother Dong That He Was Doing a Different Work in South America

Recounted by Francis Ball in a co-workers' meeting on April 6, 2005, and repeated again at two subsequent co-workers' meetings.