Note 31 - Admonitions by Co-workers in the Lord's Recovery
See also notes 28-30 concerning Brother Lee's attempts to adjust Brother Dong's course and note 95 concerning the history of attempts to fellowship with Brother Dong and his co-workers.
Concerning Daily Food
In a meeting with some of the co-workers at Estancia in 2002, Brother Dong agreed that after a certain period of time he would stop publishing Daily Food. According to Brother Benson Phillips, the time period Brother Dong agreed to was approximately one to two years. Brother Dong said he needed that amount of time to help the churches in South America make the transition to using The Holy Word for Morning Revival, and the co-workers agreed to his continuing to publish Daily Food only for that additional period of time.
At a conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia in August 2004, Ezra Ma misrepresented the co-workers' fellowship by stating the following:
In a meeting at Estancia the co-workers for all the countries decided that the brothers could read the Morning Revival, but as for the orientation of the church we are going to continue the use of the Daily Food. Many of the co-workers read the Morning Revival privately in their homes, but concerning the orientation of the churches in South America we will continue to use the Daily Food. We presented this to Benson and he agreed. ...Benson and Andrew Yu have already agreed that the churches in South America will continue the use of Daily Food, but the Morning Revival will be available for all those who desire to use it. (Ezra Ma, Service Brothers Meeting in Cochabamba, Bolivia, August 2004)
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Ezra's speaking in Cochabamba was already almost two years after the co-workers' fellowship with Brother Dong and his co-workers. Ezra's word makes it clear that no attempt was being made to transition the saints from Daily Food to Holy Word for Morning Revival. According to Brother Benson Phillips, Brother Dong did not carry out either part of the agreement. The Holy Word for Morning Revival was not made available to all those who desired to use it and ÉAV never stopped publishing Daily Food (Interview with Benson Phillips, December 15, 2007). Instead, it is more than evident that Brother Dong and his co-workers intensified their promotion of Daily Food and their criticism of Holy Word for Morning Revival (see note 99).
Concerning Brother Dong's Publication Work
In 1997 Brother Dong and his co-workers signed a letter in which they acknowledged the principle of the unique publication work in the Lord's recovery being the publication of the ministry of Brother Nee and Brother Lee. That letter said:
We agree that there should be only one publishing work in the Lord's recovery and in the whole earth, that is, the one that publishes and distributes the writings of Brothers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. We believe that these brothers are special gifts given by the ascended Head to the Body in this age to open up the intrinsic significance of the divine revelation, to complete the interpretation of the Scriptures, to minister the unsearchable riches of Christ to God's chosen, to take the lead in the recovery through their speaking, and to perfect the saints through their ministry to build up the overcoming part of the Body of Christ for the preparation of the Bride. In order to avoid concerns and unnecessary questions among the churches, we agree that today no other publications should appear to compete with, or even worse, replace the books of these two servants of the Lord. (Letter from the co-workers in North American, Taiwan, and Brazil to the Spanish-speaking churches in the Lord's recovery, August 1, 1997)
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However, Brother Dong did nothing to curtail the publication of his own ministry but instead gave publication and dissemination of his own writings increased stress (see note 26) and became more and more strident in his criticism of Living Stream Ministry (see note 97) and of the publication work in the Lord's recovery (see note 102).
On October 2, 2002, Brother Ronnie Chan wrote a letter to Brother Dong following the International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones in Brazil. In his letter Ronnie expressed his hope that Brother Dong would put aside his own view and stop publishing his own literature in order to "follow the feeling of the coworkers—that is, to follow the direction of Brother Nee and Brother Lee." (Letter from Ronnie Chan to Dong Yu Lan, October 2, 2002)
In a letter dated October 24, 2002, Brother Dong rejected Brother Ronnie's exhortation by recounting many positive things said about his work by many brothers. In it he says that Ronnie had "lost track of the current development of the Lord's work, in particular the Spirit's leading in Brazil and South America as a whole." Further, he misrepresented Brother Lee's fellowship in 1991 (noted above) to suggest that Brother Lee endorsed his independent publication work. He made no reference to the co-workers' fellowship with him during ITERO at Estância Árvore da Vida that he should stop publishing Daily Food. (Letter from Dong Yu Lan to Ronnie Chan, October 24, 2002)
On June 4, 2005, twenty-one co-workers from around the earth wrote to Brother Dong to express their concern with his work and ministry. One particular point was concerning his publication of his own writings:
Because of this controlling vision concerning the Body of Christ universally, we have become quite concerned about one particular matter among us today in the Lord's recovery—the matter of the publication work. The publication of the ministry of the age is the trumpeting of the leadership in the Lord's move on the earth, and if there are multiple publications by different ministers, there will be an uncertain sounding of the trumpet and a definite danger of multiple leaderships among us. This will no doubt result in confusion, contention, and ultimately, division. Such an uncertain trumpeting will bring the divisive characteristic of Christianity among us and will ultimately change the Lord's recovery and make it part of Christianity. Brother Lee has said regarding the publication work of the Lord's recovery in China, "We only had one publication. Everything was published through Brother Nee's Gospel Room because the publication is really the trumpeting. The sounding of our trumpet is not just in the verbal message but more in the publication" ( Elders' Training, Book 8: The Life-pulse of the Lord's Present Move , p. 162.) We must all rise up and with all our strength withstand any factor that would change the Lord's recovery into Christianity, even our own publications by our own ministers.
We all recognize that the vision and ministry of this age for the carrying out of God's move in this age was unveiled to and ministered within the Lord's recovery by our brothers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Their ministry builds up the Body of Christ and does not cause divisions, because it is, in truth, part of the New Testament ministry. This ministry has been the leadership in the Lord's recovery for over eighty years and must continue to be the leadership in the Lord's recovery today. Accordingly, our publication work must be to publish only the ministry as we have received it from these two brothers. There is no need for other publications by different brothers among us, which, though possibly based on the ministry of these two brothers, attempt to add another color or flavor to it, to reinterpret it for particular application, or to lower and soften it for easier acceptance by Christianity or easier understanding by the saints in the local churches in some places. This is quite simply the principle of the woman who leavens (Matt 13:33) and the way of Christianity. We cannot have this among us in the Lord's recovery at all, and we must all stand against it. Contrary to the natural concept of some among us, Brother Nee and Brother Lee did not minister in a way that made the riches of God's economy incomprehensible to the new or young believers among us. Time and time again even the newest believers among us have demonstrated that this ministry can be understood and grasped in its deepest significance by all. There is simply no need to simplify this ministry, to season it with the peculiar spices of various ministers, or to refashion it for local or cultural need. It is the one ministry of the one Body of Christ for the one testimony among all the local churches on the entire earth.
Brother Dong, when we look at the publication work of the Lord's recovery in the Portuguese and Spanish languages in South America, we are saddened that there are so many titles by you. To our realization, your writings have not added anything of significance to the revelation of the ministry of this age nor to the practical aspects of the recovery.
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Brother Dong did not receive the fellowship of the co-workers, nor did he respond directly to them. Rather, his co-workers responded on his behalf. Further, Brother Dong and his co-workers criticized the letter publicly in their speaking throughout South America (see note 102).
On December 21, 2005, Bob Little wrote to Brother Dong about problems being caused in the church in Dunn Loring, Virginia, by Brother Dong's publications, which are "in competition and rivalry with LSM publications," and by his conferences in the United States, which were being promoted privately to select saints without any coordination with the co-workers or leading brothers in the U.S. Bob wrote:
My understanding through the fellowship of the blended co-workers is that none are happy with your publications or you having conferences in the U.S. at this time. We hope you will honor this fellowship in the future. (Letter from Robert Little to Dong Yu Lan, December 21, 2005)
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Brother Bob's fellowship was not received. Dong Yu Lan's co-workers continued to promote his publications and hold conference in the United States, including in the Washington, D.C., area.
In 2006 Brother Joe Davis told Brother Dong's co-workers in Europe that "Brother Dong's writings represent another publication work" and quoted Brother Lee's fellowship in Elders' Training, Book 8: The Life-pulse of the Lord's Present Move concerning our need to "take the same way" and "spread the same truths." Toward the end of the letter, Joe wrote:
I hope the future will exhibit thorough fellowship from you with those of us who are laboring here under Brother Lee's direct and personal instruction; I hope that every attempt will be made by you to blend with all the other co-workers as personally requested by Brother Lee. Surely, at least one brother from Brazil could be present at each of the seven feasts. If cost is a factor, I would be more than happy to help with that. If your labor could be done according to the requests quoted from Brother Lee's writings in this email, then I believe we could go on in a sweet coordination. This would surely comfort many of the saints who have been confused and saddened by your recent activities. (Letter from Joe Davis to Salomon Ma and Joao Antonelli, October 19, 2006).
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Brother Joe expressed his concern over the damage and confusion Brother Dong's work was causing in Europe. His concerns were ignored.
During the 2007 Thanksgiving Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, some of the co-workers met with some of Brother Dong's co-workers. In that time the North American brothers talked about the damage and confusion being caused by Brother Dong's publications and Brother Dong's co-workers agreed to withdraw his books from the United States. However, it subsequently became apparent that they did not do this but continued spreading his writings surreptitiously. One week later, on December 1, 2004, Ezra Ma was already encouraging the continued use of Brother Dong's publications in the U.S.
As far as Brother Dong's books which are there, I think they can stay there to sell to the brothers for their private use. This needs to be explained to the brothers: do not openly display the books. Concerning the Daily Food, each one still can read in his home by downloading from the Internet. (E-mails among Brazilian Workers, Cesar Menegucci, and Ezra Ma, December 1, 2007)
On January 8, 2008, the wife of one of Brother Dong's co-workers in the U.S., ordered 120 copies of Brother Dong's Daily Food from Editora Árvore da Vida for distribution in the U.S. (E-mail from Sandra Menegucci re Order of Daily Food, January 3, 2008). This was less than six weeks after her husband, Cesar Menegucci, had been a party in the agreement to withdraw Brother Dong's publications from the U.S.
Concerning His Work and Ministry
In approximately November 2004, Paul Hon wrote to Benson Phillips to inform him of the following:
Concerning Brother Dong: On the way to Paraguay last July, I stopped by Brazil for a one-day visit. He mentioned at a dinner that because the coworkers would not send out the letter saying that he is doing fine, he is not going to be polite any more. (E-mail from Paul Hon to Benson Phillips, ca. November 2004)
In their 11-page letter of June 4, 2005, twenty-one co-workers reviewed the high vision with which the Lord's recovery has been entrusted and expressed great concern regarding Brother Dong's different teaching and speaking. Examples of different speaking cited by the brothers include 1) insisting that Matthew, Mark, and Luke were not in the Spirit when they wrote their gospels, 2) stating that in Joshua 24:15 Joshua was being selfish, 3) saying that Paul did not persecute the apostles in Jerusalem because they stopped calling on the Lord, and 4) teaching his personal "vision" of the world map and prophecy. The brothers also addressed the matter of Brother Dong not publishing and promoting the Recovery Version. The co-workers concluded their letter by affirming that the churches in South America are genuine local churches and that "all of you are part of the Lord's recovery today." (Letter from 21 co-workers to Dong Yu Lan, June 4, 2005)
On June 20, 2005, Brother Dong's co-workers wrote a response to the co-workers' June 4 letter to Brother Dong. On June 24 Ezra Ma forwarded the letter to the co-workers with a cover page that says that Brother Dong "did not feel led by the Lord to respond." The co-workers in South America, however, did feel the need to reply to the June 4 letter "because of the unfounded, unfair, inaccurate and judgmental comments contained in it." They warn the twenty-one co-workers that they are speaking against the Holy Spirit and that their "overemphasis on the matter of one publication is already causing irreparable damages." They express "deep concern for the direction the Lord's recovery is taking" and "for the leadership in the Lord's work on the entire earth, with the excessive emphasis on knowledge to the detriment of the experience of the Spirit and life." Regarding Brother Dong's interpretations of the Scriptures, they claim, "Everyone has the freedom to accept or not accept his interpretations." (Letter from Brother Dong's co-workers to 21 co-workers, June 20, 2005; cover letter by Ezra Ma accompanying the reply to 21 co-workers from Brother Dong's co-workers, June 24, 2005)
Ezra Ma attacked the co-workers' letter in a São Paulo Regional Service Brothers Meeting on October 2, 2005:
Now the saints know that for ten years Brother Dong has been target of negative speaking. And in these ten years we have had fellowship. We have gone to the United States to have fellowship with the saints. The Lord knows our hearts. Our desire is not to be in confrontation with anyone but to have peace so that we may go forward here, serve the Lord with happiness and peace, but unfortunately, saints, in these 10 years of fellowship there were little progress; we cannot say that there were no progress. But unfortunately in this last year, especially in the last six months, things got much worse. The saints took a very radical position against Brother Dong and some months ago they wrote a very ugly letter, a very ugly letter. I couldn't believe what I was reading. They accused Brother Dong of a lot of false things based on a report sent to them from Brazil, from "trustworthy" sources....
Brother Dong said, "We don't have to produce anything to defend ourselves," although we did write something to defend Brother Dong when he received that letter of accusation, that ugly letter of accusation. Some co-workers wrote a letter of about 3 to 4 pages to answer, but it was much less than this document that we had access to.
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In February 2008 Brother Dong apparently referred to the co-workers' letter of June 4, 2005, in his international conference at Estância Árvore da Vida. Characterizing the brothers' fellowship as criticizing and reviling, Brother Dong stated:
The workers who are currently leading the churches, the workers in the United States and in Taiwan, having defamed me in the past, are now reviling me and accuse me of many things. They even condemn the revelation given to us by the Holy Spirit. They criticize the vision that we saw in the Scripture. How should we respond? What should we do when we are wronged? Should we defend ourselves, saying, "You are all mistaken"? We chose not to answer these condemnations and accusations. Now we see that the Lord did the same thing. He, being reviled, did not revile in return. Thank the Lord; I do what I do because I follow the pattern of the Lord. We commit all things to the One who judges righteously. Another brother, by contrast, also received a letter, but he was unable to endure, so he wrote back to defend himself. After a few exchanges of letters, he got kicked out by the church.
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Neither the letter written by Brother Dong's co-workers, nor Ezra Ma's speaking, nor Brother Dong's speaking substantively addressed any of the concerns the co-workers raised.
Concerning Translation of the Recovery Version and of the Books of Brother Nee and Brother Lee
In their June 4, 2005, letter, the co-workers from around the globe also expressed their sadness that the completion of the Portuguese Recovery Version had been neglected by the publication work under Brother Dong's direction:
We are also saddened that while so much energy has been spent in putting out these books, the complete New Testament Recovery Version in Portuguese remains unpublished nearly twenty years since the work began. In contrast, the work on the New Testament Recovery Version in Russian was completed within five and a half years after the migration of the Lord's recovery to Russia, and now the Russian-speaking saints have it for their spiritual consumption and digestion. The saints, the churches, and the co-workers everywhere recognize the Recovery Version as a major source of life supply and divine truth in the one publication among us, and thus, to deprive the Portuguese-speaking saints of the Recovery Version with footnotes in their language while proliferating the work among them with your titles does not serve them well or faithfully. Certainly, there are places on the earth that currently do not have the resources to translate the Recovery Version properly into their local languages, but this is not the case in Brazil. In Brazil it is clearly a matter of misuse of resources, neglect of the need of the saints there, and abandonment of what the Lord has provided for His entire recovery for the building up of the one Body of Christ. While many protestations may be made about local needs consuming resources that could have been applied to the translation of the Recovery Version into Portuguese, the simple fact remains that much resource is spent on putting out book after book authored by you while the saints are deprived of the Recovery Version with footnotes in Portuguese. To our observation, it is not a matter of resource at all; it is a matter of burden, resolve, and hunger for the one ministry in the Lord's recovery.
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In March 2006 Benson Phillips, Ed Marks, and Albert Lim traveled to Brazil to meet with Brother Dong. Despite the fact that certain conditions had been agreed to for the meeting, Brother Dong manipulated the situation to try to conduct the meeting on his own terms. Nonetheless, it was agreed during that time that LSM would take over the translation of the Recovery Version into Portuguese and that LSM would do its own translation of books by Brother Nee and Brother Lee into Portuguese, beginning with The Holy Word for Morning Revival. Both the Recovery Version and The Holy Word for Morning Revival subsequently became targets of attack from Brother Dong and his co-workers (see notes 98 and 99, respectively).
Concerning Carrying Out Independent Work
Concerning the Work in Europe
In 2001, Brother Dong's co-workers met with the co-workers at Engedi. Miguel Ma has testified the following concerning that time:
During that time [of fellowship at Engedi in 2001], they asked us to withdraw from Europe, and we did, because that came out of the fellowship. (Miguel Ma, Meeting with co-workers in Taipei, November 7, 2007, Meeting 5)
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However, Brother Dong's work in Europe did not cease according to the brothers' fellowship at Engedi in 2001. On the contrary, in 2002 Joao Antonelli, a co-worker of Brother Dong, began to labor in Italy and eventually relocated there. Two co-workers in Europe have testified that:
Joao's presence and the Brazilian work in Italy were unknown to the co-workers in Europe for some time. Eventually, both became known. Joao and Soloman Ma came to London in early October, 2006 at the invitation of Joe Davis and others to fellowship about their work. During that fellowship time, the co-workers expressed surprise and concern at the scope and extent of the Brazilian work (in Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal) and the lack of fellowship involved with it. Soloman Ma indicated that he had purposely postponed fellowship with the co-workers in Europe but when challenged about this, offered no compelling reason for his decision. (Letter from Po-Yi Liu and Tim Klimmek, October 30, 2007)
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Brother Dong's work in Europe continues to spread aggressively and to cause damage among the saints to this day.
On October 19, 2006, Joe Davis wrote to Solomon Ma and Joao Antonelli to follow up their personal fellowship in London earlier in the week. In the letter Joe reiterated his concern that the brothers established churches in Rome, Milan, Lisbon, and other localities apart from the fellowship of the Body.
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The brothers did not heed Brother Joe's fellowship. Independent conferences carried out by Brother Dong's co-workers and followers continue to this day. (See note 123).
Concerning the Work in North America
During the 2007 Thanksgiving Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, some of the co-workers met with Ezra Ma, Emerson Diaz, and Cesar Menegucci at different times to discuss concerns regarding Brother Dong's work in the United States. Brother Dong's co-workers agreed that Brother Dong's independent work in the United States would cease. However, that did not happen:
As soon as January 2008, GPP (Gospel Preaching Perfecting) North America 2008 was carried out from Florida under the supervision of [name redacted], one of Brother Dong's co-workers (E-mail correspondence Helcio Almeida, Peter Dong, Cesar Menegucci, and another Brazilian worker, September 12-27, 2007; GPP North America 2008 registration list). The GPP was in direct violation of the commitment made to the co-workers in Boston, Massachusetts, during Thanksgiving Weekend less than two months earlier. Their activity proceeded as follows:
- Beginning in January 2008 approximately 13 saints from Brazil arrived in Boca Raton, Florida, and the surrounding areas to serve with the GPP.
- In February 2008 the GPP saints made a gospel and visitation trip to Georgia. (E-mail from David Franco, February 22, 2008)
- In March 2008 two brothers came to study at Florida Atlantic University, with their tuition being paid for by the work in Brazil. This may have signaled the commencement of a plan to have young people in Brazil take classes at U.S. universities in order to spread Brother Dong's work among the students in the U.S. (Interview with Tito Gutierrez, October 20, 2007)
In February 2008 Brother Dong and his co-workers met with some of the co-workers in Cerritos, California, following the International Chinese-speaking Conference in Anaheim. During those meetings, which spanned three days, Brother Dong and his co-workers continued to make many misrepresentations and unfounded accusations.
See also the following notes which contain admonitions to Brother Dong and his co-workers not to carry out a rival and independent work:
73 - Brother Dong's justification of his independent work
83 - Expansion of Dong Yu Lan's work in Europe
85 - Expansion of Dong Yu Lan's work in North America
