Note 96 - False Accusations Made Against the Co-workers

Accusing the North American Co-workers of Seeking to Control the Lord's Recovery

Brother Dong and his co-workers accuse the North American co-workers of seeking to control the Lord's recovery. This accusation is false. Their main evidence in support of this accusation is the oversight the co-workers have exercised to insure that the teaching in the Lord's recovery is according to the apostles' teaching in the New Testament. It is absolutely scriptural for the Lord's servants to guard the churches against different teachings:

1 Tim. 1:3-4 - [3] Even as I exhorted you, when I was going into Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus in order that you might charge certain ones not to teach different things [4] Nor to give heed to myths and unending genealogies, which produce questionings rather than God's economy, which is in faith.

Brother Lee defined the apostles' teaching on numerous occasions.

The apostles' teaching is the entire speaking of God in the New Testament. The entire speaking of God in the New Testament concerns God's New Testament economy frmo the incarnation of God to the consummation of the New Jerusalem. God's New Testament economy has been unveiled to us in the Lord's recovery. ( The Apostles' Teaching , p. 23)

The teaching of the apostles is the complete New Testament. It comprises firstly the teaching of the Lord Jesus in the four Gospels. The first group of apostles were charged by the Lord Jesus to teach the new believers what the Lord had taught them. This is clearly recorded in Matthew 28:19-20. The teaching of the apostles also includes what is recorded in Acts, the Epistles, and the book of Revelation. At the conclusion of the book of Revelation, John tells us that no one should add anything or take away anything from the divine revelation (22:18-19). This means that with the book of Revelation, the teaching of the apostles has been completed. From that time onward, no one is allowed to add or deduct anything. If you add something, you will suffer the plagues; and if you deduct something, you will suffer the loss of the divine blessing. The entire New Testament, which is the complete teaching of the apostles, must be considered the constitution of God's New Testament kingdom. ( Leadership in the New Testament , pp. 29-30)

Brother Lee pointed out that the real leadership in the New Testament is not vested in persons but in the apostles' teaching.

Today, among us the teaching of those who teach the New Testament apostles' teaching is the leading. The leadership in the Lord's recovery is actually not according to anyone's teaching, but according to the apostles' teaching, which is the teaching of the New Testament ( The Practice of the Church Life according to the God-ordained Way , pp. 33-34)

The New Testament leadership in the Gospels was a person. That person was the Lord Jesus Himself. But from Acts to Revelation, the unique New Testament leadership became the teaching of the apostles. Thus, neither Peter nor Paul controlled any church, but their teaching controlled. We can see this in 1 Timothy where Paul exhorted Timothy to remain in Ephesus in order that he might charge certain ones not to teach different things other than the economy of God (1:3-4). Different teachings are teachings which are different from the apostles' teaching concerning God's economy. This teaching is the unique leadership. ( Elders' Training, Book 9: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (1) , p. 80)

Our teaching should always be limited to the teaching of the apostles:

Titus 1:9 - Holding to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching of the apostles, that he may be able both to exhort by the healthy teaching and to convict those who oppose.

We always should be limited and controlled by the teaching of the apostles. We should not try to invent new kinds of teachings. We must always stick ourselves to the New Testament in our teaching concerning any matter...

We have no liberty to speak anything in the meeting that crosses over the limiting line of the apostles' teaching. We must be within this line and should always keep this in mind. Otherwise, we will be the creators of all kinds of confusions and divisions. ( The Scriptural Way to Meet and to Serve for the Building Up of the Body of Christ , p. 98-99)

Brother Lee often referred to the apostles' teaching as our constitution in the Lord's recovery. By this he meant that the thing that governs our teaching and our practice of the church life, the ministry, and the work must be the apostles' teaching.

Our constitution is the apostles' teaching. I came to this country and began my ministry in December 1962. I have been ministering and serving here for over twenty-seven years. From the first year I said that everything we do must be according to the apostles' teaching. The apostles' teaching is our constitution. ( The Apostles' Teaching , p. 8)

If our teaching is according to the apostles' teaching, we will follow Paul's example of teaching the same thing in every place:

First Corinthians 4:17, 7:17 and 16:1 indicates that Paul taught all the churches the same thing. All the churches were under one teaching, the teaching of the apostles (Acts 2:42). Whatever I have been teaching is the teaching of the apostles. I do not desire to pass on anything of myself, but whatever I have ministered is altogether according to the apostles' teaching. I do not have my own teaching. My teaching is a part of the apostles' teaching, the unique teaching....

We are not for the teachings which can be considered as winds, but we are for the oneness of the unique faith which is the very contents of God's New Testament economy. To have different teachings in the Lord's recovery is altogether not authentic. We have to keep the principle of one teaching, not my teaching nor your teaching but the teaching of the apostles. Our one teaching has to be the teaching which is our faith, the very contents of which are the New Testament Bible, the very constituents of God's New Testament economy. This is the teaching we should pass on, and this is the teaching all the churches should take and should remain in. By this way we surely can be one in one teaching. We will not carry out anything different which would produce different divisions. ( Elders' Training, Book 7: One Accord for the Lord's Move , pp. 39, 43)

If a teaching is according to the apostles' teaching, it will be good for all of the churches on the earth to receive:

Any teaching that is good for a particular church is good for all the churches on earth. Likewise, if a teaching is not good for a particular church, it should be rejected by all the churches. There is no thought in the New Testament that a teaching is good for one church but not for the other churches. Rather, the New Testament reveals that the churches should be the same in receiving the teachings. ( The Conclusion of the New Testament, Msgs. 189-204 , p. 2188)

This is manifestly not the case concerning Brother Dong's teaching. Rather, many of his teachings are divisive in nature and must be rejected by the churches. Concerning this, see the following notes:

86 - Dong Yu Lan's Disregard of the Churches in Paraguay in the Spread of His Work
92 - Dong Yu Lan's Teaching Issues in Division
121 - Establishing Churches Where Churches Already Exist
125 - Measuring the Standing of a Church by Its Oneness with Brother Dong
126 - Leaving Brother Dong's "Orientation" Is to Lose the Ground
129 - Those Who Leave Brother Dong Are in Rebellion and Lose the Ground

Examples of False Accusations

Miguel Ma, Conference in Uberlandia, Brazil, June 2, 2007:

A group of co-workers from North America took upon themselves to make decisions and no longer sought for fellowship on how to go on. At the same time they started to have an extremely dangerous tendency, because since 1997 in the trainings they started to give an excessive emphasis on the apostles' teaching. We participated in all these trainings. This excessive emphasis on the apostles' teaching was an extremely dangerous matter, because the apostles' teaching has not been defined.

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In fact, the apostles' teaching has been thoroughly defined in the New Testament and presented to the churches in the Lord's recovery through the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.

Miguel Ma, Conference in Uberlandia, Brazil, June 2, 2007:

Brothers, I have never spoken this to you because there was no need, but due to the things that have happened among us, I am obligated to speak. There is a group of brothers who took unto themselves the exclusivity of the oracles of God, as if only they could use the books of Brother Witness Lee and Brother Watchman Nee and only they could interpret those books. This started to generate an exclusivity of ministry.

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Actually, what Miguel objects to is that the aberrant teachings espoused by Brother Dong and his co-workers would be subject to any scrutiny by the co-workers generally. This is contrary to the attitude exhibited by Brother Lee:

I never published anything by myself. I always mailed my manuscript to the Gospel Room, which was under Brother Nee and his helper. It was up to their discernment whether my manuscript should be published or not. I liked to have my writings checked as to whether there might be some inaccuracy in the truth. It is not a small matter to write a book that expounds the kingdom of the heavens. I liked my material to pass through their checking. ( Elders' Training, Book 8: The Life-pulse of the Lord's Present Move , p. 161)

It is this type of care for the truth that prompted the co-workers to write:

At times there may be writings among us that could be considered for publication as part of the one publication among us. As Brother Lee points out in the quote from Elders' Training, Book 8 above, these proposals should be "checked as to whether there might be some inaccuracy in the truth." Discernment must always be exercised when expressing matters related to the divine truth, the divine life, and the gospel. The exercise of this sort of discernment not only protects the teaching among us and the spiritual supply to the saints; it also helps and protects those who endeavor to write. Hence, it is proper that those who endeavor to write in this way bring their work to those who take the lead in the ministry and those who take the lead in the publication work, and those who take the lead should exercise the discernment as to whether or not such proposals should be published as part of the one publication. This was the practice when Brother Nee took the lead in the ministry and in the publication work in China, and it was our practice when Brother Lee took the lead in the ministry and in the publication work among us. It should be our continued practice today. Thus, those who wish to write in this way should bring their proposals to the blended co-workers as well as to Living Stream Ministry and Taiwan Gospel Book Room and have their proposals checked to see whether they should be published or not. In every way, this practice of passing everything that we publish through a discerning check is best for all of us and best for the sounding of the one trumpet in the Lord's recovery today. (Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery, pp. 6-7)

Dong Yu Lan, Conference in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, September 16, 2007, Message 2:

But the American co-workers want us to submit to them and follow their command. We cannot have our own conferences; we can only listen to their messages in the conferences. If that is the case, how can we have the present truth? We should not turn back to the outdated truth.

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Brother Dong's criticism is wrong on both points:

• No co-worker has ever insisted that the churches in South America "only listen to their messages in the conferences." That is not the standard; the standard is whether the speaking of those ministering to the churches is according to the apostles' teaching in the New Testament. This does not mean simply that the speaker can find support for his teaching in the text of the New Testament but that the teaching is according to God's New Testament economy to build up the testimony of the one Body of Christ on the earth.
• Brother Dong's claim to have "the present truth" is false. Novel interpretations do not equal "the present truth," and merely claiming to have "the present truth" does not make it true.

Ezra Ma, São Paulo Regional Service Brothers Meeting, October 2, 2005:

The second connotation refers to the several groups of co-workers. When we they speak of work, they first speak of different regions, saying no region should do an isolated work. The second connotation of work are the groups of co-workers. Each group of workers is led by a senior co-worker, who is their spiritual father or older brother in the Lord. These distinct groups do the same New Testament work to build up the Body of Christ. No specific group controls the other groups in the work; no specific group of co-workers controls the work of the Lord, as today, the blended co-workers in South California, they want to have a full dominion of the work in the whole earth.

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Ezra's statement is misleading. Brother Nee and Brother Lee clearly taught that the co-workers do not control one another's movements but that they do have a responsibility to protect the standard of the truth.

The leading ones in the ministry were not strict in directing the move of their co-workers. First Corinthians 16:12 says, "And concerning our brother Apollos, I urged him many times to come to you with the brothers; yet it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity." The leading ones were strict, however, in the teaching of the New Testament (1 Tim. 1:3-4; 2 John 9-11). First Timothy 1:3 says, "Even as I exhorted you, when I was going into Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus in order that you might charge certain ones not to teach different things." Second John 9-10 says, "Everyone who goes beyond and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God...If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not say to him, Rejoice!" The apostles were not strict in directing a co-worker such as Apollos to go to a certain place. However, they were very strict concerning the New Testament teaching. This proves that the real leadership in the ministry is in the apostles' teaching. ( Leadership in the New Testament , pp. 48-49)

Ezra Ma, Regional Service Brothers Meeting, São Paulo, Brazil, October 2, 2005:

This matter of the [one] publication is just a banner, just a façade for something more subtle behind; that is the control of the work in the whole earth. Brother Lee is not together with us anymore. When he was among us, there was not such a thing. Now that our brother has left they have this strategy to try to control the recovery in the whole earth.

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Dong Yu Lan, National Conference in Barranquilla, Colombia, August 16, 2008, Message 1:

Recently, certain ones tried to deceive us, and some did get misled. This happened only in the past four or five years. They say that only Anaheim is the Body of Christ; if you do not stay in contact with Anaheim, you are not the Body. See, this is Satan's deception. Is there is such a word in the Bible?

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No co-worker ever said, "Only Anaheim is the Body of Christ." That is a false accusation. What has been said is according to the truth—that to be a genuine local church as a local expression of the Body of Christ a group of believers must maintain fellowship with all the other genuine local churches. This surely includes Anaheim, but it also includes the churches in Cali, Colombia; Madrid, Spain; Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal; Moscow, Russia; Taipei, Taiwan; Tokyo, Japan; Jakarta, Indonesia; Quezon City, Philippines; Johannesburg, South Africa; San Pedro Sula, Honduras; Mexico City, Mexico; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Boca Raton, Florida; Kitchener, Canada; and countless other places.

Comparing the North American Co-workers to the Judaizers

There have been many false accusations that the North American co-workers are like the Judaizers who stirred up persecution against Paul. In their accusations Brother Dong and his co-workers often accuse the church in Jerusalem of seeking to control the other churches. In their usage Jerusalem in this regard is a reference to Anaheim.

Dong Yu Lan, Daily Food: Practicing the Book of Acts: Week 12, Friday:

According to the leading of brothers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, when a worker of a region wanted to visit the churches from another region where others were already working, they had to do it with the same feeling of the workers that the Lord raised up for that region. However, the Judaizers who had gone out from Jerusalem went where others had already done the work of preaching the gospel and the propagation of the word in order to disturb the brothers.

Furthermore, this gave the mistaken impression that the church in Jerusalem was the head. But as we have seen, the ground of the church is the boundary of the locality. In this case, one church should not have control over another church. A church that is in one city does not belong to a church in another city. Each church is directly responsible before the Lord. There would not have been any problem if the brothers from the church in Jerusalem had gone to visit other churches to strengthen what Paul and Barnabas were doing there. But they went to disturb the saints and cause damage to the churches. May the Lord keep us from this kind of deceit.

Dong Yu Lan, Daily Food: Growth in Life for the Kingdom, Week 1, Saturday:

So today, there are some brothers who want to control all the churches. All the churches should be obedient just like the church in Jerusalem in the beginning. Some are afraid and they are under their control. Paul was also strongly influenced by James. Paul heard those words and he reconsidered, "Maybe James is right, I labored so much but here they have more believers than in the Gentile world. Maybe I was wrong. So what should I do?" So Satan put a question in him and Paul doubted. So James gave Paul a suggestion, "What about this? Everybody knows you have been speaking against Moses. How about paying a vow right now? The vow of a Nazarite (Num. 6:2-5). You go and pay the expenses for the vow and then you have a part in what all those people are doing. There are four men here who have a vow for themselves. So if you pay their expenses and be with them everybody will know that there is nothing to the things they have been informed that concerns you" (Acts 21:20-24). So Paul was convinced and he went with them.

Dong Yu Lan, Daily Food: Growth in Life for the Kingdom, Week 3, Monday:

Of course the Lord Jesus wasn't on this earth anymore. In those days the usual way was to go to Jerusalem in order to learn all the spiritual things. But the church in Jerusalem had already fallen into the traditional realm and the believers were influenced by their Jewish background. Many of them had been priests (Acts 6:7) and Pharisees (15:5). They brought many things from Judaism into the church (21:20).

Also, we can say that the church in Jerusalem exercised some kind of control over the other churches. All the churches had to follow the direction the church in Jerusalem was giving. If someone wanted to be an apostle, this had to be decided by the church in Jerusalem. If someone needed to preach the gospel, he had to go to the church in Jerusalem in order to be trained in the gospel.

These insinuations are the sowing of evil suspicions, which are the result of different teachings:

1 Tim. 6:3-4 [3] If anyone teaches different things and does not consent to healthy words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching which is according to godliness, [4] He is blinded with pride, understanding nothing, but is diseased with questionings and contentions of words, out of which come envy, strife, slanders, evil suspicions.

Accusing the North American Co-workers of Using Money to Bribe Saints to Follow Them

Brother Dong and his co-workers accuse the North American co-workers of bribing saints to follow them. These accusations are false; they have no factual basis whatsoever.

Dong Yu Lan, Conference in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, September 16, 2007, Message 2:

These things [described in 2 Pet. 2:1-3] are happening not only in many countries in South America but also in Brazil. Certain ones visited the saints from house to house. Dear saints, they were in covetousness, with fabricated words....We know where their support comes from. How did they get the money to feed and bribe so many?...Just as Balaam was bribed, the same thing is also happening among us right now....Nowadays certain traitors are utilized by Satan to walk around bothering our people. Brazil used to be in a very peaceful condition. Ever since those three traitors in the church in São Paulo were bribed by the US co-workers, they have brought much disruption and problem to Brazil. They do not know that they engage in defamation by telling lies. I simply don't know how to describe them.

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Dong Yu Lan, International Conference at Estância Árvore da Vida, September 12, 2008, Message 14:

But regrettably, some turned to follow them, because these rebels, ones living in the soul, gave them some benefits. They were deceived; not knowing what they were doing, they just got their money and began to do a work of rebellion. But there are also certain ones who are really taking the way of rebellion.

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Dong Yu Lan, National Conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 10, 2009, Message 1:

I do not know why they have so much money. When they held a conference in a certain place in South America, many people traveled there by airplane. Before, when we asked them to come to the conference, [they said,] no money, no money. Now they can go to the United States, to Chile, to Bolivia, to Argentina; where does their money come from? Oh, brothers and sisters, they serve their own stomach, and through smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.

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Accusing the North American Co-workers of Leading the Churches into Deviation and Degradation

Dong Yu Lan and his co-workers have falsely accused the co-workers of deviating from the truth and causing the churches in the Lord's recovery to degrade into the condition of Laodicea based on a misrepresentation of Benson Phillips' speaking concerning the attacks by Titus Chu and his co-workers on LSM, the co-workers, one publication, the international gatherings, the full-time training, and The Holy Word for Morning Revival.

E-mail from Ezra Ma forwarding Helcio Almeida's "Points of deviation in the essence of the Lord's recovery":

Beloved manager brothers,

According to our agreement in the managers' meeting on June 14, please find below the points that brother Helcio presented to the brothers from Taiwan concerning the fellowship that we had in São Paulo on May 29, 30, and 31, 2007. According to what was shared in the meeting, these points are very good for the perfecting and inoculation of the saints.

The points emphasized today by the blended brothers in Anaheim show us clearly the change in the essence of the Lord's recovery, with which we cannot agree. This is very bothersome and takes away all the base for fellowship. Even though we do have some differences in the way to practice and to carry out the Lord's recovery, in order for us to continue to have fellowship the essence of what we believe must be the same.

The points that will bring the churches into deviation and the recovery into Laodicea are:

• Concerning the four pillars—"The four pillars in the Lord's recovery":

The following six items were presented in an elders' training as being the six pillars in the Lord's recovery: LSM, the blended brothers, the one publication, the seven feasts, the full-time training, and the morning revival.

In the Bible the pillars are Christ, the church, the Spirit, and life, items emphasized by Paul.

John emphasizes Spirit and life. In Revelation in the epistle to Philadelphia what is emphasized is the name, the word, a little strength (dependence), and an open door (giving liberty to the Spirit). Those items characterize Philadelphia, and they are central points in the organic recovery.

• Concerning the ministry—"The Living Stream Ministry":

What the Bible shows us is opposite of what Living Stream Ministry promotes.

The emphasis given by LSM, the Ministry (capital letter) is bringing much confusion. Today, the continuation of the ministry of Brother Lee is a company, LSM.

• Concerning the teaching—Excessive emphasis given to the name of Brother Lee:

Brother Lee became superior to the apostles and to the Lord Jesus Himself. (The name of Brother Witness Lee is mentioned more than the name of the Lord.) Brother Lee became the master builder, dethroning the position of Paul. All the apostles made mistakes, but not Brother Lee; he is considered as infallible, as someone who never made a single mistake. In this way, nothing can be corrected, and the Spirit is void of function. John came to mend the net, but he did not mention the name of the apostle Paul even a single time. (Was he not in the same ministry?)

• Concerning the work—The leadership in the Lord's recovery today is in the hands of two teachers:

The leadership in the work should be of the apostles and not of the teachers: Ron Kangas and Ed Marks. The apostles need fruits, that is, the churches, and not only books.

• Concerning the perfecting of the saints—Selective and elitist:

The focus for the perfecting in the recovery, led by LSM, became selective and elitist: FTT, university students. The Bible emphasizes the perfecting of all the members of the Body, the one-talented saints.

The five points above will lead to Laodicea.

Helcio's five points are full of misrepresentations:

• Concerning the four pillars—"The four pillars in the Lord's recovery":
  • Brother Benson Phillips did not say what Helcio claimed. He did not say these items were the pillars of the Lord's recovery but that they were items that had been much used by the Lord in advancing His move in His recovery and, because of that, they were being attacked under Satan's instigation by Titus Chu, Nigel Tomes, and others (see "A Word regarding the Present Turmoil in the Lord's Recovery," The Ministry Magazine, Vol. 11, No. 3, March/April 2007, pp. 173-199; also available as an eBook on www.afaithfulword.org). Concerning the items mentioned by Helcio, see:
    • Note 97 - False Accusations Against Living Stream Ministry,
    • Note 96 (this note) - False Accusations Made Against the Co-workers,
    • Note 102 - False Criticism of the Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery,
    • Note 100 - Opposition to the International Conferences and Trainings,
    • Note 101 - Criticism of the Full-Time Trainings, and
    • Note 99 - Opposition to The Holy Word for Morning Revival
  • In 1984 Brother Lee gave some messages that were subsequently published in the book The Four Crucial Elements of the Bible: Christ, the Spirit, Life, and the Church . There is absolutely no dispute that these four elements are the intrinsic kernel of the Bible. Then in November 1984 Brother Lee released a series of messages entitled Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—The Four Great Pillars in the Lord's Recovery . These messages were spoken to elders and co-workers to help them know how to lead the saints into the intrinsic elements of the divine revelation. In other words, caring for the pillars of truth, life, the church, and the gospel forms a proper base to support the normal experience of Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. In this book the opening from Brother Lee's speaking is: " The Lord has raised up His recovery upon the truth." It is significant that Helcio's list of "pillars in the Lord's recovery" omits the truth. This is consistent with the depreciation of the truth by Brother Dong and his co-workers (see notes 50, 61, 62, and 63) but is in stark contrast with Brother Lee's view that the truth is the first great pillar of the Lord's recovery.

    The truths in the holy Word of the Lord were completed approximately two thousand years ago, but over a period of a little more than one thousand years they seemed to slowly vanish. Only in the last few centuries have the truths again been released little by little through the zealous and careful study of many lovers of the Lord. This is what we refer to as the Lord's recovery. The Lord's recovery is the recovery of all the truths in the Bible that were lost. Thus, the recovery of the truth is one of the great pillars in the Lord's recovery. The Lord's recovery lies with the recovery of the knowledge of the truth. ( Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—The Four Great Pillars in the Lord's Recovery )

• Concerning the ministry—"The Living Stream Ministry": See note 97.
• Concerning the teaching—Excessive emphasis given to the name of Brother Lee.

Helcio's statements are false, as the following points illustrate:

• No co-worker ever said Brother Lee is infallible or never made mistakes. No one ever exalted his ministry above Paul's. In fact, the brothers referred to Brother Lee as "the wise master builder" in the Lord's recovery because he brought the pattern of the building of God according to Paul's completing ministry to us.
• When Brother Lee died, the co-workers throughout the earth gathered together to consider the future direction of the Lord's recovery. At that time it was decided by all that the ministry in the Lord's recovery should continue along the lines developed by Brother Nee and Brother Lee. Brother Dong participated in this fellowship and endorsed the joint statement the co-workers issued.
• Helcio's criticism must be considered in conjunction with his vehement attack on Brother Lee's high peak ministry (see note 113).
• Helcio has made numerous statements undermining the standing of the Apostle Paul's ministry (see notes 61 and 62).


• Concerning the work—The leadership in the Lord's recovery today is in the hands of two teachers:

  This statement is false. The leadership in the Lord's recovery is in the hands of a much larger group of co-workers (see " The Way of Blending and the Leadership in the Ministry in the Lord's Recovery Today" on www.afaithfulword.org). Brothers Ron Kangas and Ed Marks were personally assigned by Brother Lee to serve in the capacity of preparing outlines for the international conferences and trainings, but the burden for and content of those conferences and trainings is a subject of fellowship among the co-workers.

• Concerning the perfecting of the saints—Selective and elitist: See note 101.

Dong Yu Lan, Daily Food: He Who Believes, Out of His Innermost Being Shall Flow Rivers of Living Water, Week 7, Saturday:

The organic recovery has a pillar of Spirit and life. If someone says that the church life has other pillars, you can forget about those. The only pillars we have in the organic recovery are Christ and the church, Spirit and life, the name and the word, an open door and a little strength. We give the Spirit freedom to work. This is the organic recovery.

Again, the absence of the truth in the list of "pillars" in the recovery is striking. Brother Dong and his co-workers claim to have the organic ministry of John. However, John's writings are not just concerning "Spirit and life" but are also strong defenses of and exhortations to know, walk in, and be fellow workers in the truth (1 John 1:6, 8; 2:4, 21; 3:19; 4:6; 2 John 1-4; 3 John 3-4, 8, 12).

Accusing the North American Co-workers of Seeking to Damage the Churches in South America

Brother Dong and his co-workers accuse the North American co-workers of seeking to damage the churches in South America. This accusation is false. The North American co-workers refrained from working in South America despite repeated cries for help (see note 23) and Brother Lee's express desire for his co-workers to labor in South America (see notes 21 and 22). This was done out of a deep desire to rescue Brother Dong and his co-workers and those who had been influenced by them. It was only as it became more and more apparent that deep disaffection with Brother Dong's ministry had caused some to depart from it and that those who had so departed were suffering fierce persecution and needed to be cared for that the co-workers began to respond to invitations to visit. See notes:

91 - Expulsion of Saints from Churches
93 - False Accusations Made Against Brothers
114 - Curses Pronounced Against Those Who Will Not Follow Brother Dong
121 - Establishing Churches Where Churches Already Exist
127 - Overturning the Local Leadership
131 - Expulsion of Brothers for Not Following Dong Yu Lan

Dong Yu Lan, Conference in Piracicaba, Brazil, September 29, 2007, Message 1:

Certain ones, in the name of the US work, came to South America to damage the churches.

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Dong Yu Lan, Service Meeting in Cochabamba, Bolivia, August 2004:

At the beginning, the situation in Bolivia was generally fine, but the problems came in from the United States. These problems got worse and worse. I thought after Ron Kangas came here, the problems would be resolved; but rather, they were aggravated. But where is the root? The root is in the United States....The United States is the source...

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Dong Yu Lan, Service Meeting in Cochabamba, Bolivia, August 2004:

Listen, I know that the source of the opposition to Brother Dong as well as to the orientation for South America is in the four-month training in the United States.

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In an e-mail dated July 5, 2008, André Dong told Ezra Ma, Amir Silva, Cezar Menegucci, Helcio Almeida, Ildeu Rodirigues, Miguel Ma, Nelson Matos, Pedro Dong, Reinaldo Silva, Roberto Graner, Salomon Ma, July 5, 2008:

To Brother Dong, they have already shown their intention and determination to come to South America to work. The fellowship with Albert Lim and Sherman demonstrates this. They will not stop. They come to us not for fellowship but to tell us what they are doing to do and not to submit to our fellowship. It does not make any sense to keep talking with them since nothing will change. They will continue what they are doing. For us they are like the tares among the wheat helping us to grow.

Cesar Menegucci repeated this thought in an e-mail dated September 4, 2008, to thirty-plus saints in the United States:

On the negative side, we've received very cold water from the attitude of some coworkers from US (Gary [Kaiser] and A[l]bert Li[m]) coming in July to Brazil to give conferences to dissenting saints here in different cities...They just do what is right to their own eyes...Some coworkers in US have also helped the dissenting ones (the same who are translating the Recovery Version and Morning Revival) to translate, and print in Portuguese, two books against Titus Chu. The dissenting brothers here are distributing these books among the normal saints to confuse them and to take them from the normal churches in Brazil. Well, of course we got very sad about this, but we know the source of all of this (Eph. 6:10-12). The saints are aware that there were and still are evil workers (Phil. 3:1) and false teachers (2 Pet. 2:1-2). What can we do? Let the Lord judge all things. The Lord has said to the disciples concerning the good seed and the tares "Let them grow together until the harvest" (Matt. 13:30). So let us grow...

[Note: It was actually Sherman Robertson, Albert Lim, and Victor Molina who visited Brazil at this time.]

Accusing the North American Co-workers of Not Calling on the Name of the Lord

Brother Dong claims that the North American co-workers do not call on the name of the Lord. This is not true.

Dong Yu Lan, International Conference at Estância Árvore da Vida, September 3, 2006, Message 3:

Why did they remain in Jerusalem and were not arrested? Here is an indication that they stopped calling on the name of the Lord. Dear saints, I would never imagine that the twelve apostles would some day stop calling on the name of the Lord. I would never imagine that so many co-workers that used to be under Brother Lee's leading, nowadays one seldom hears them calling on the name of the Lord.

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Dong Yu Lan, National Conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia, April 10, 2009, Message 1:

Regrettably, the leading co-workers do not continue to bring people into calling on the name of the Lord. They disobey Brother Lee's revelation and teaching concerning calling on the Lord. They have dropped this practice. Just see: in the churches of the recovery, if they don't call on the Lord, they will still fall into the soul. They think that to lose the soul life, it is not necessary to call on the Lord; they think that the natural life will be taken away simply by suffering. So, they despise those who are still calling on the Lord. But thank the Lord, we have received benefits from calling on the Lord.

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Dong Yu Lan, International Conference at Estância Árvore da Vida, September 12, 2008, Message 14:

The Lord Jesus would no longer remain with Jerusalem. If our condition is also like that of Jerusalem, then the Lord will not remain with them either. The Lord will depart from them, because what they do is not by the leading of the Holy Spirit. They live completely by their soul. They have forsaken the Lord Jesus. Why? We have not heard them calling on the Lord Jesus. In their meetings, they only say, "Let us call on the Lord Jesus three times." But the Lord does not approve of them, because their calling on the Lord is not in the spirit. Therefore, the Lord left such a Jerusalem, the present Jerusalem, and would be with them no more.

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Dong Yu Lan, National Conference in Barranquilla, Colombia, August 16, 2008, Message 1:

They do not call on the Lord; they do not pray-read the Word. They revert back completely to the church in Sardis, using their mind to study the Bible. What they practice is only to pay attention to the truth, but they fall into doctrine.

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Accusing the North American Co-workers of Hindering Brazilian Saints from Visiting Taiwan

Brother Dong's co-workers claim that the North American co-workers hindered saints from Brazil from visiting Taiwan for the 2009 International Chinese-speaking Conference. Brother Dong's co-workers had initially planned to take 300 saints to the International Chinese-speaking Conference in Taipei in January 2009.

E-mail from Ezra Ma to an undisclosed recipient list, May 20, 2008:

We are expecting approximately 300 saints. The purpose of this trip: 1) Visit the churches in the Island of Taiwan, 2) Attend the International Conference, 3) Blend with all the churches of the earth that will be there.

In his letter Ezra estimated the cost of the trip as $2000:

We recommend to the saints to prepare about US$2000.00 for this trip: US$1800.00 for air ticket and US$200.00 for extra expenses.

As part of the planning for the conference, a blending tour of the churches in Taiwan was planned and was presented to the churches as an option at a cost of $300. Based on this, Brother Dong blamed the co-workers from the United States for hindering the saints from South America from going to the conference.

Dong Yu Lan, Conference in Brasilia, March 14, 2009, Message 1:

"Why didn't you, Brother Dong, go to the conference in Taiwan, while everybody else went? Why didn't you go? You should have denied your soul life!" Later I explained to the brothers in Aracaju that I did not go to the conference in Taiwan exactly because I denied my soul life. Just the opposite of what they thought. They thought that I did not go because I did not deny my soul life; I told them that I did not go because I denied my soul life. Let me explain. For this conference, Taiwan had already invited us before. Originally we would like to have three hundred brothers and sisters to go to Taiwan for the conference. I think the brothers all know this. Many of us were willing to go and signed up. Then the trip was canceled. Surely, we were disappointed in our heart. Why canceled? Because from the United States came a directive that we must pay a certain amount of money. Prior to this we had already agreed with Taiwan that we would have three hundred people go there a week before the conference, so that we could go to visit the local churches. This is because after the conference, saints from many other countries would also go to visit the local churches for blending. If we went, we really denied our soul life, because according to our true condition we were not willing to go. We needed to pay more than two thousand dollars. But the Lord said, "Deny your soul life. Don't save this money. You need to spread the gospel of life, the gospel of the kingdom of the heavens to them." But the US brothers interfered. I told the brothers that because of this we would not go. Our not going was also denying our soul life, because we wanted to go in the first place. But now we are not going. So, dear brothers and sisters, they used various means to damage us. Thank the Lord, we still follow the Lord's intention.

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The $300.00 cost of the blending trip was not intended to interfere with saints attending the conference. Participation in that blending trip was not a requirement imposed by the North American co-workers but an option to allow economical booking of travel arrangements within the island of Taiwan to facilitate the blending with the churches.

Accusing the North American Co-workers of Being Unwilling to Suffer for the Lord's Work

Brother Dong falsely accuses the North American co-workers of being unwilling to suffer for the Lord's work.

Dong Yu Lan, National Conference in Santiago, Chile, July 14, 2007:

All the ones that are judicial haven't passed through any suffering because they are unwilling to suffer. We were told that when they went to Africa to preach the gospel, they stayed in a five-star hotel, because [the place where people lived] was too dirty. So, twenty to thirty brothers met in this five-star hotel. And they spoke judicial messages: first point, second point, third point, fourth point, and then it was over. Why? Because they do not have the willingness to suffer. One of them, a leading brother in the U.S.... When the saints in Brazil still went to the U.S. [for trainings], the Mexican brothers had a fellowship in Tijuana. Tijuana is a city on the US-Mexico [border]; the church was being established. They invited the saints in the U.S. to go to their first table meeting. These brothers said they would not go, because they did not want to suffer. At that time the Brazilian brothers were staying in one of their churches, so the brothers from Tijuana came to invite me. "We will go; all of us will go!" André was my translator. One brother even told me not to drink the water in Mexico but to bring water from the U.S. You see, they are not willing to suffer. We were the ones that went to the first table meeting in Tijuana, the church in Tijuana. Dear brothers, why? Because they were afraid of infectious diseases; they would rather protect themselves from getting sick than care for others in love. Dear brothers and sisters, all this belongs to the judicial realm—unwillingness to suffer.

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Brother Dong's account is inaccurate and thoroughly biased. To repeat an unfounded rumor ("We were told") as part of a "message" is unconscionable. Furthermore, it is well known that the water in some countries contains contaminants that make it unfit for non-residents to drink. Knowing this, Brother Dick Taylor offered bottled water to Brother Dong as a measure to care for his digestive health. Brother Dong received the water and thanked Dick for it. The matter of the water had nothing to do with whether or not the brothers were unwilling to go to Mexico because they were unwilling to suffer. Brother Dong himself recounted this incident to a group of co-workers in February 2008 at which Dick was present:

In 1975 and 1976 many took hospitality in Long Beach. Some with Dick. When we went to Tijuana for the table, you took care of me, telling me I needed to take a bottle of water, not to drink the water from the tap. Your attitude was humble. I can't say the same for the other brothers. (Dong Yu Lan, speaking in a meeting with co-workers in Cerritos, California, February 19, 2008)

This is clearly a case where Brother Dong told the co-workers one thing and the saints in South America something else. In fact, the co-workers regularly pour themselves out without regard to their comfort or convenience in order to minister to and shepherd the saints. In many cases they have risked their health to do so. Brother Dong's criticism of them based on a distorted account of this incident is reprehensible.