Note 102 - False Criticism of the Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery

In 1986 Brother Lee spoke a serious word to all of the co-workers and elders in the Lord's recovery concerning being restricted in one publication:

Even though I wrote some books in mainland China, I never dared to publish anything by myself. I do not like to have another sounding. Our sounding must be one, so we must be restricted in one publication. ( Elders' Training, Book 8: The Life-pulse of the Lord's Present Move , p. 163)

He spoke this because a number of brothers in the work in the Lord's recovery were putting out publications to build up their own private works. Brother Lee frankly told them:

It bothers me that some brothers among us still put out publications. According to my truthful observation there is no new light or life supply there. They may contain some biblical doctrines, but any point of life or light has been adopted from the publications of Living Stream Ministry. There is nearly no item of life or light that has not been covered by our publications. Based upon this fact, what is the need for these brothers to put out their publications? Because all the publications are mine, it is hard for me to speak such a word. But I am forced to tell the truth. By putting out your own publication, you waste your time and money. You waste the money given by the saints, and you waste their time in reading what you publish. Where is the food, the life supply, and the real enlightenment in the other publications among us? Be assured that there is definitely at least one major revelation in every Living Stream Ministry publication. ( Elders' Training, Book 8: The Life-pulse of the Lord's Present Move , p. 163)

It is clear from Brother Lee's subsequent direct speaking to Brother Dong that he included the publications Brother Dong was putting out under his own name in this category. On July 7, 1991, he had an extended fellowship with Brother Dong and some of his co-workers. At that time he told Brother Dong:

Joseph Feng did not produce anything; he published a book, in which everything was spoken by me. When I could not tolerate anymore, I called him in and said, "You have published this book for many years. From the beginning you told people that Brother Lee's words were not understandable and required your explanation... You may still use my materials, but you have to promise me two things: number one, you have to keep everything unchanged; number two, you have to note at the end that this is taken from Living Stream Ministry and written by Witness Lee."

This is the exact same rationalization Brother Dong gave for replacing Brother Lee's messages with his own (see note 25). Later in their fellowship Brother Lee repeated his fellowship from 1986 about how he did not publish anything independently of Brother Nee while they were co-laboring in China:

I did not write anything in China. If I did write anything, I did it by Brother Nee's request. Besides Brother Nee, there was no one else...

This [publication] is governed by one recovery, one work. Don't think that to publish a book is a light matter. It is not. The question is what you publish, and how you publish. How is the copyright determined? This matter shows whether or not you are one with the work; it shows your view and attitude toward the work.

Brother Dong did not heed this fellowship and has, in fact, misrepresented it as an endorsement of his work generally and of his publication work specifically. Over time his own publications increasingly supplanted those of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee as the main output of Editora Árvore da Vida (see note 26).

In 2005 the co-workers in the Lord's recovery throughout the earth became concerned with the increasing spread of different publications with different teachings, primarily those put out by Titus Chu and Brother Dong. After much prayer and fellowship the co-workers issued a statement at the end of the summer training entitled Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery . In that statement they reiterated their commitment to Brother Lee's charge.

We all must realize that the one publication in the Lord's recovery is quite a serious matter. Anyone who participates in it must genuinely have the portion from the Lord to do so, and this portion should be easily recognizable to the churches and affirmed by those who take the lead in the ministry and those who take the lead in the publication work. No one can take up this portion in the Lord's recovery on his own. While we all have a basic right to publish, in the Lord's recovery we are governed by the higher vision of serving under the cross in a blended way in the Body, especially when it affects the churches and the dear saints everywhere. Since Brother Nee's day we in the Lord's recovery have been "restricted in one publication" ( Elders' Training, Book 8 , p. 161), and this restriction has resulted in one testimony among us. For decades we all have been nurtured and richly supplied by the one publication. The benefits of being restricted in one publication can hardly be denied.

...The elders and saints everywhere should exercise the same caution that Brother Lee spoke of when he testified concerning the one publication in mainland China: all the saints and all the churches everywhere should similarly be restricted in one publication in the Lord's recovery. (Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery, pp. 7-8)

At the same time the co-workers stressed that whether or not a church or a worker chose to be restricted in one publication was not a matter of the faith and was not the basis for receiving them in the common fellowship of the churches in the Body of Christ.

Finally, all the churches and saints everywhere must understand that the matter of one publication is not a matter of the common faith but something related to the one ministry in the Lord's recovery. The ministry is the sounding of the trumpet among us in the Lord's recovery, and there should be no uncertain sounding of this trumpet, as Brother Lee has mentioned on a number of occasions. However, the one publication should not become the basis of our accepting or rejecting any persons in the communion of faith or in the fellowship of the churches; it should not be insisted on as an item of the faith. If any are not inclined to be restricted in one publication, these ones are still our brothers; they are still in the genuine local churches. (Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery, p. 9)

This fellowship has been grossly misrepresented by Brother Dong and his co-workers to engender enmity in the saints following them toward the co-workers and Living Stream Ministry.

On August 18 and 19, 2005, approximately five weeks after the booklet Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery was released, Ezra Ma sent out two e-mails to undisclosed recipient lists. The first included as an attachment an eleven-page version of Nigel Tomes' statement "Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery – Analysis & Response", August 2005). In it the author makes several accusations against the principle of one publication, calling it "a public policy, mandated upon the saints and the local churches," comparing it to the practice of Roman Catholicism, and questioning the legality and ethics of LSM's stand. The second included four attachments:

• A revision of Tomes' statement, shortened to nine pages and retitled "Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery - Review & Response".
• An anonymous document that wrongly attributes Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery to LSM and attempts to use the words of Brother Nee and Brother Lee to refute the principle of one publication (Concerning the LSM Promulgation dated June 30, 2005).
• An anonymous document from Toronto, Canada, criticizing LSM ("Points to Fellowship regarding the pamphlet 'Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery'," July 2005).
• A Portuguese translation of the booklet Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery (see " A Obra de Publicação na Restauração do Senhor").

In the August 19 letter, Ezra included his own dissenting comments in the e-mails that accompanied the divisive writings :

The co-workers and the elders of the Great Lakes region and of the Boston region have decided not to stay quiet anymore, and are producing documents to show the 'deviation' practiced by brothers connected to LSM: deviations from the New Testament practice according to the Bible's revelation and deviations from what even brothers Nee and Lee have taught us." (E-mail from Ezra Ma to an undisclosed recipient list, August 19, 2005)

Ezra further promises that the chronology he is working on concerning matters related to one publication will be sent to "all the co-workers," referring to those co-workers who follow Brother Dong's "orientation."

In an effort to spread the same dissenting writings beyond South America, Ezra charged a brother traveling back home to Japan, "Show these to the elders in Japan." ("A Statement Concerning Ezra Ma's Attempt to Turn the Churches in Japan Against LSM," Andy Tsuyoshi Kusagawa and Carlos Kenji Endo, November 3, 2007)

In mid-2007, Editora Árvore da Vida sent an e-mail (E-mail from Editora Árvore da Vida, June 22, 2007) to an undisclosed recipient list with links to two postings on concernedbrothers.com:

• An open letter from Sergei Kuznetsov, a dissenting brother in Russia (Open Letter from Sergei Kuznetsov criticizing Benson Phillips). See note 33.
• Nigel Tomes' "Analysis & Response".

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

So because of this, some saints who publish in the U.S., including Brother Dong in South America, are the target of attack, fierce attack. And one of the last strategies was the publication of this small booklet, Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery. Who read this article? Nobody, thank the Lord. If you want to read it, you may read it; if you don't read it, you don't gain anything by reading it. What's happening is that this booklet was translated into Portuguese by some here, and it was sent to the U.S. Today it is on the Living Stream site and, unfortunately, in Brazil. Before it was only in the Spanish-speaking countries because they had access to the publications in Spanish, and that attacked Brother Dong.

This matter of the publication is just a banner, just a façade for something more subtle behind, that is, the control of the recovery 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. They never put their hands in South America because Brother Lee had put the work in Brother Dong's hands. Now they are using these means, which are not from light. We may say these means are from darkness to try to put unbelief in Brother Dong and in the Lord's work in South America.

To declare, when he [Brother Lee] declared to the local churches that there should be only one publication, Living Stream is coercing all the saints in all the churches to be conformed to this declared position, that is, all the saints and all the churches everywhere must be restricted to one unique publication in the Lord's recovery. This document has come, saints, after nine revisions because many co-workers did not agree with the terms. After revisions they softened a little bit the terms and under the "action" of some radical ones it was published, but the consensus was that it should not be published, but there were some radicals that pressed and pressed and pressed and they took advantage of the situation and they published, but the reaction was not good in the States. It was not a good reaction.

If there is something that God hates more than sin it is death. When you sin, you repent, you're soon recovered, but when you touch death, it takes years to be recovered, so a lot of care, saints. So let's read some items here. Living Stream recently has published a booklet called Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery. The main item in this booklet is that all saints in all churches everywhere should be restricted to one unique publication in the Lord's recovery. When the brothers say "one unique publication," they understand the books published by Living Stream and Taiwan Gospel Bookroom. Before this question, this matter, a good number of saints told the blended co-workers, quoted of course, their objections to the publication of this booklet. They were worried. We'll talk about this. In the Lord's recovery we all need, we all want to maintain, to keep the oneness of the Spirit and be in oneness. So the brothers felt that because of this unique publication, many saints are using this to cause division. They are raising ministerial churches. The church was meeting regularly. Now they took this publication and they say, who are those who want to be, who are those want to be, those who use only the books of Living Stream, let's go out, and they start to meet separately, and they raise another church. So some people use the books of Titus, some churches use the books of Silas in Chicago. So because of these things, this attitude, those brothers decided to open their mouths and speak.

Concerning only one publication, Brother Lee speaks in the book, Elders' Training, Vol. 8, page 55 in Portuguese, "If the Lord may gain 1,000 saints to serve full time in U.S. with only one kind of teaching, only one kind of preaching, one kind of material, and one kind of publication, one way, and everything of one kind, this will be our morale, this is the way the Lord needs." If 10,000 saints have only one kind of publication, it implies that there is more than one publication. It's one kind of publication, one kind of food, protein....

As for the public declaration of July 30, 2005, entitled Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery, Living Stream Ministry, a nonprofit organization in Orange County, United States, declared itself the institutional successor of the personal ministry of brothers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.

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Ezra's statement contains many falsehoods and misleading statements. For example:

• Ezra represents Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery as Living Stream Ministry's declaration. It is not. It was composed through much prayer and fellowship among the co-workers in the Lord's recovery from many parts of the earth. Under the co-workers' fellowship it was published by LSM.
• The co-workers' fellowship published in Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery was not pushed through by a "radical" faction of LSM. Rather, it represented the common feeling among the co-workers that a distinction needed to be made between those publications that represented the general ministry in the Lord's recovery and other publications that did not. This distinction was needed to help saints who were being brought into confusion by workers who were carrying out their own private publication works to build up their own personal ministries. Nearly all of the brothers who expressed concerns during the course of the fellowship were those who were involved in private publication works. The co-workers even accommodated their concerns by clarifying the statement to say that what they were talking about was the publication work that represents the common and general ministry of the co-workers in the Lord's recovery.
• Ezra's claim that "one kind of publication" includes the publications of Brother Dong's writings is not supported by the following facts.
  • Brother Lee statement about "one kind of publication" is from the end of chapter 8 in Elders' Training, Book 8: The Life-pulse of the Lord's Present Move . Brother Lee's explicit call for "being restricted in one publication" is on pages 161-164 in chapter 11 of the same book. It is not a faithful treatment of our brother's fellowship to justify a separate publication based on spinning Brother Lee's words in one passage and ignoring his plain word three chapters later.
  • On page 126 (the page before he mentioned "one kind of publication"), Brother Lee said:

    If we all would go out in this way, I believe each one of us would get some persons every week. We would begin to have the increase, not just in percentage but in fold. We could even triple our number in one year. If we would all gain one person every three months, we would have a fourfold increase in one year. If you use the "gold bar" (the Recovery Version), the rainbow booklets, and all the Life-studies, and present them to the believers and unbelievers all the time, within three months you will get one person. I believe that you may even get one person every week. In the Lord's ministry, we are not building something to ourselves but something altogether to Him. (Elders' Training, Book 8: The Life-Pulse of the Lord's Present Move, p. 126)

    From this (as well as the full context of Brother Lee's fellowship in chapters 8 and 11) it is apparent that the "one kind of publication" refers to the different publications—the Recovery Version, the rainbow booklets, and the Life-studies—put out by the one literature work carried out by the ministry in the Lord's recovery, not to different publication works.
  • According to the passage Ezra cites, whatever is part of the "one kind of publication" must "speak the same thing, think the same thing, present the same thing, and teach the same thing, having the same essence, appearance, and expression." However, Brother Dong's publications contain many different teachings that contradict the teaching and fellowship of the apostles as it was brought to us through the ministry of Brother Nee and Brother Lee. They are not speaking, presenting, and teaching the same thing with the same essence, appearance, and expression. Thus, Brother Dong's publications are disqualified as belonging to the "one kind of publication" even based on the passage Ezra cites to justify them.
• Living Stream Ministry did not declare itself the "institutional successor of the personal ministry of brothers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee." What the co-workers' statement says is that Living Stream Ministry will continue to publish the ministry of Brother Nee and Brother Lee as well as the current ministry in the Lord's recovery and that "the ministry should be carried out by a group of co-workers who are blended." This group of co-workers is not synonymous with LSM.

  It is important to note that Brother Lee spoke directly about the continuation of the ministry among us. He felt that after his departure the ministry should be carried out by a group of co-workers who are blended, just as his own service in the ministry was under his coordination with the co-workers. Further, the need to publish the ongoing ministry still exists, and to this end Living Stream Ministry and Taiwan Gospel Book Room, a blended service overseen by a group of blended brothers who serve in coordination with the blended co-workers, continue to publish the Lord's speaking among us in all the seven annual "feasts" and the weekly ministry meetings. In a meeting with the brothers to whom he committed the responsibility for Living Stream Ministry, Brother Lee said, "My burden is for the recovery based on the interpretation of Brother Nee and me. I am the continuation of Brother Nee; I would like to have a continuation of me, and this needs a corporation... The Living Stream corporation will continue this ministry" (from unpublished notes of a meeting of Living Stream, July 12, 1996). He placed the direction of this corporation for the continuation and publication of the ministry in the hands of a group of blended brothers, who labor to fulfill this charge before the Lord. (Publication Work in the Lord's Recovery, pp. 4-5)

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

They started to speak about the "one publication." Brother Dong published books. Brother Titus published books. Brother Titus, in the American Midwest, raised up almost a hundred churches, and he publishes books. Brother Dong has always published books. But the action of this group [the blended brothers] did what? Excommunicated Brother Titus, and they put him into quarantine. In others words, almost one hundred churches were put aside from the fellowship. Why? Because they were not under the unique ministry, because they did not speak the same thing. They say it like this: that Titus preaches different teaching.

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Miguel's statement includes many falsehoods, including the following:

• Titus Chu did not raise up 100 churches in the Midwest. The number of churches in the Midwest was much smaller than that, and many of the churches were raised up through Brother Lee's ministry.
• Titus Chu was not excommunicated. He was quarantined. There is a significant difference (see " Quarantine in the Bible and in Practice" on www.afaithfulword.org).
• Titus Chu was not quarantined merely for carrying out a different publication work. He was quarantined because:
  • His work was promoting division in the Lord's recovery.
  • He and his co-workers isolated the churches under their work from the common fellowship of the churches in the Lord's recovery.
  • He and his co-workers carried out independent work to build up a personal following in rivalry with the one work of the Lord's recovery.
  • He and his co-workers openly criticized the leadership in the ministry and the churches in the Lord's recovery.
  • His work brought worldliness into the churches under their influence.
  The co-workers' letter was a warning to preserve the churches from the damaging effects of Titus Chu's work.
• None of the churches were "put aside." The co-workers' letter only mentioned "Titus Chu and certain of his co-workers." Eventually, because of the actions of the leadership of the churches in Mansfield, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Toronto, Canada; Montreal, Canada; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Madison, Wisconsin, some saints were either forced out of the churches in those cities by Titus Chu's followers or chose to stand up against the deviations and abusive practices engendered by Titus Chu's work.

In a "managers' meeting" on June 14, 2007, Helcio Almeida gave five points that allegedly will " bring the churches into deviation and the recovery into Laodicea." The first of the five points includes the matter of one publication (see the discussion of these five points in note 96). On June 15 Ezra Ma e-mailed those points to an undisclosed recipient list (Pedro Dong, André Dong, Ildeu Rodrigues, Roderick Wilson, and Helcio were cc'd) to demonstrate that the "essence" of the Lord's recovery has changed.

Claiming That "Being Restricted in One Publication" Does Not Apply to Brother Dong's Writings

Brother Dong and his co-workers claim that Brother Lee approved the publication work of Editora Árvore da Vida and therefore the co-workers' statement regarding publication work does not apply to EÁV. This claim is a misleading half-truth. Brother Lee did approve EÁV's original mission, which was to translate the ministry of Brother Nee and himself into the Portuguese language (see note 27). However, Brother Lee never approved of Brother Dong publishing books under his own name.

Dong Yu Lan, Regional Conference in Brasilia, September 27, 2008, Message 19:

Dear brothers, our publication in Brazil, Editora, was approved by Brother Lee. All of Brother Lee's messages were translated by us into Portuguese, and we paid royalties to Brother Lee. After Brother Lee passed away, this group of people attacked another brother, Titus Chu, concerning the matter of one publication. But our one publication was approved by Brother Lee. We are not handling English but Portuguese and Spanish. Brother Lee authorized us to do it, so the matter [of one publication] has nothing to do with us. Now, however, those who have gone out from us attack [audio is indiscernible]. Dear brothers and sisters, what is this? This is leaven; this is the different teaching.

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Dong Yu Lan, Regional Conference in Brasilia, September 27, 2008, Message 19:

But our one publication was approved by Brother Lee. We are not handling English but Portuguese and Spanish. Brother Lee authorized us to do it, so the matter [of one publication] has nothing to do with us.

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

It comes to a point that once without noticing the brothers spoke: One Lord, One Baptism, One Body, One Spirit, One Lord, One faith, One God Father of all etc... And One publication; eight ones instead of seven. Then they say, and today in the document says (this was not there before; now it is there) that this is not an item of the common faith that we receive all the saints as genuine of the Lord Recovery, as part of the Lord's recovery, and that all are brothers in the Lord's recovery and that is not mandatory to accept this; because it is not an article of the common faith. This is what they say publicly, but behind, those who do not received it are put aside; they are considered another ministry, they're considered the work of Christianity.

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Dong Yu Lan, Conference in Piracicaba, Brazil, March 22, 2009, Message 2:

I believe that one publication does not apply to us but to them in the United States. Many ignorant people, however, deceived by others, especially those in Central America, apply one publication to me. It is not about me. These brothers, being deceived, are telling lies.

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Dong Yu Lan, Conference in Piracicaba, Brazil, March 22, 2009, Message 2:

Many saints who did not take the same path with him [Brother Lee] were thrown out of the church. Many co-workers, originally very intimate with him, left one by one. Those who went out began to publish books. Therefore, the one publication that he talked about was one publication in the United States. He was referring to this group of people, not Editora Árvore da Vida. Our publication was recognized by Brother Lee; otherwise why would he ask us to translate his books?

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Brother Dong's speaking here is factually wrong and misleading in several respects:

• Saints were not "thrown out of the church" because they "did not take the same path with Brother Lee."
• The problem Brother Lee was addressing was not books published by brothers who had left, but brothers who were building up their own private works within the Lord's recovery by carrying out separate publication works.
• There is no qualifier in Brother Lee's statements. He plainly spoke about being restricted in one publication in the ministry in the Lord's recovery.
• Again, Brother Lee's recognition of Editora Árvore da Vida was based on its original purpose, which was to translate his books and Brother Nee's. He never approved of Brother Dong's publication of his own books.

Eight "Ones"

Brother Dong and his co-workers picked up an accusation made by Nigel Tomes that one of the co-workers said that "one publication" should be added to the seven "ones" in Ephesians 4. To the contrary, the co-workers' statement clearly says that "one publication" should not be treated as an item of the faith and hence should not be the basis of receiving saints or churches. Furthermore, it was conclusively shown in an article on www.afaithfulword.org entitled " Adding 'One Publication' to the Seven 'Ones' in Ephesians 4 — What Did James Lee Really Say?" that James Lee, the co-worker accused by Nigel Tomes, never said what Nigel had claimed. It is disturbing that Brother Dong and his co-workers continue to repeat this accusation even though the error was pointed out as early as June 1, 2006.

Dong Yu Lan, in a meeting with some co-workers in Cerritos, California, February 18, 2008:

We believe in the seven ones, and you brothers believe in eight ones....My publication is not another publication but a record of my messages.

Helcio Almeida, Perfecting Meeting, the church in São Paulo, Brazil, July 4, 2008:

In recent years, there is a wind that we must follow the "seven ones" plus one. Ephesians chapter 4 speaks about the oneness, the seven ones, but it should have a 'plus one'. The Bible speaks about seven; but there is the need of a 'plus one' more, that is, to have just one publication in the whole recovery. It is a good idea, but it is not the truth.

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Pedro Dong, Regional Service Brothers Meeting, São Paulo, Brazil, October 2, 2005:

Okay, saints, as for what Ezra spoke about, the practice of this matter of one publication became the eighth one of Ephesians 4, although in the brochure they say no, no, no, the one publication is not an item of the basic faith, but in practice they are excluding everyone who does not accept this matter of the one publication.

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Dong Yu Lan, Regional Conference in Brasilia, September 27, 2008, Message 19:

Today's Pharisees say that there is only one ministry, which is Brother Lee's ministry. But in the Bible we cannot find such a thing as one ministry. Ephesians 4 tells us that the saints are perfected. Who are the saints? We are the saints. The saints are perfected to do what? The work of the ministry. How many ministries? Only one? I, Brother Dong, have a ministry, Solomon has a ministry, and you have your ministry. If you preach the gospel you have the ministry of an evangelist. If you teach, you have the ministry of a teacher. If you shepherd, you have the ministry of a shepherd. If you give a message, you have the ministry of a prophet. If you preach the gospel, and a church is raised up, then you have the ministry of an apostle. Dear brothers and sisters, we need to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. They change the truth. According to Ephesians, we all need to keep the seven "ones". From the Brethern to Brother Nee and Brother Lee, we all keep the seven "ones". But now they claim that there are eight "ones". What is the eighth one? One publication. See? Absolutely not from the Bible. They are not causing you to sin but causing you to sink deeper into the soul.

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Dong Yu Lan, Conference in Piracicaba, Brazil, March 22, 2009, Message 2:

Certain ignorant people even added to the seven "ones" in Ephesians 4, by which we abide, and made it eight "ones". What is it? One publication. Is this the word in the Bible or the word of someone? Now they know that it is not well grounded, so they stop talking about it. Now they stop talking about one publication. When Living Stream Ministry wanted to print, to publish, the Portuguese Recovery Version, they wrote to us, asking Editora to print for them. Think about it. If there is only one publication, why would they write to us? See? Dear saints, they are telling lies! They do not know the truth; they are ignorant! Dear saints, we need to speak according to the Bible. What is the Body? We here are the Body. This is what Brother Lee and Brother Nee taught us. What do they say right now? The Body is in Anaheim. There exists even such a saying! Speaking recovery, Ephesians has not only seven ones but eight ones—one recovery. This is not in the Bible.

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It should be noted that in fact the Bible does speak about many other "ones" beside the seven "ones" in Ephesians 4. The Bible speaks explicitly that the believers should:

• have one heart and one way (Jer. 32:39);
• be in one accord (Acts 1:14; 2:46);
• think the one thing (Phil. 2:2; 4:2; 2 Cor. 13:11);
• have one mouth (Rom. 15:6) to speak the same thing (1 Cor. 1:10).

These "ones" are not related to the faith, but they are vital to the health of the Body. As such, it is appropriate for the co-workers to address these as matters of fellowship with the churches (see " Is 'One Publication' Scriptural?" on www.afaithfulword.org). What cannot be denied is that the competing publication work of Brother Dong is not in one accord with and does not speak the same thing as the general ministry in the Lord's recovery. Furthermore, there are many things apart from the seven "ones" in Ephesians that are unique and are by their very nature one, including:

• the revelation in the Bible itself (2 Pet. 1:20-21; Rev. 22:18);
• the divine economy (1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10; 3:9);
• the teaching and fellowship of the apostles (Acts 2:42; Titus 1:9; 1 John 1:3; 1 Cor. 1:9);
• the ministry of the New Testament (Acts 1:17; 2 Cor. 3:6; 4:1); and
• the one work of the ministry, which is the building up the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12).

The very fact that Brother Dong has sought to vindicate his private publication work irrespective of its damaging effect on the building up of the Lord's unique recovery on the earth demonstrates his deviation from measuring his work by these standards.