Rom. 16:17 - Now I exhort you, brothers, to mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them.

2 Tim. 2:25 - In meekness correcting those who oppose, if perhaps God may give them repentance unto the full knowledge of the truth.

Notes 113 and 114 - Tragedies and Curses Used to Intimidate

113Claiming Tragedies Occurred As God's Judgment

Statement of Giulianno Capillo, October 20, 2004:

Soon after, Brother Dong came to Lima and shared that Brother Daniel was already an overcomer and this is why the Lord took him. But I was greatly surprised as I traveled to other countries, when mature brothers in the Lord and trustworthy, mentioned to me that was said in some fellowships by Brother Dong that Brother Daniel Capillo was taken away for being a rebel. Until today this is being spoken in almost all South America. There are witnesses for this.

Account of an interview with a brother as recorded in the history of the church in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, October 29, 2007:

Ezra said, "There are brothers who had the same attitude that you have now, and they are dead, in the cemetery." And then he referred to Brother Daniel Capillo, a brother from Lima, Peru, who according to them had the same attitude and was now dead because God dealt with him. [Quando el hermano] replied, "Ezra, speak clearly. What do you want to tell me?" Ezra Ma responded, "If you take this way, you will also die."

Interview with Julio Hinostroza, a brother in the church in Chiclayo, Peru, June 18, 2008:

One time I was diagnosed with appendicitis and needed surgery. Two co-workers of Brother Dong, Alejandro Calixto and Milton Amarra, told the saints that I had to be taken to the emergency room because I was a rebel.

Letter from a couple from Kenya, November 2, 2007:

After this, Helcio became wild in his speaking. In Nairobi in 2004, he was critical of the high peak truths. Helcio said that the knowledge involved was so high that it discriminated between the learned and the unlearned. The high peaks were too high; what they needed in Kenya was a simple, understandable gospel like the Brazilians had. Then Helcio said that when Witness Lee began to speak the high peak truths, to say that "God became man to make man God," God struck him with cancer as a punishment and Witness Lee died. Helcio compared this to Herod in Acts 12 where Herod received worship from the people as God and was struck by God with worms and died.

Interview with Dick Taylor and James Lee, October 5, 2007:

Helcio Almeida said in Kenya that Witness Lee was punished by God with cancer like Herod. Helcio drew the parallel that Herod was punished because people said that he was a god and he received it, and Brother Lee preached that God became man to make man God. Therefore Brother Lee got cancer and died.

Statement from the church in Ambato, Ecuador, October 24, 2007:

Brother Jorge Navas also said that Andrew Yu had cancer because he didn't want to sign a letter recognizing Brother Dong as the apostle assigned by Brother Lee for South America.

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114Curses Pronounced Against Those Who Will Not Follow Brother Dong

Interview with Marcio Silveira, December 29, 2007:

In São Paulo for a few years the ground was being prepared to establish the matter of authority. They were reading Watchman Nee's Authority and Submission . The authority of Dong Yu Lan through the channel of the elders was to be obeyed absolutely, even above the conscience. They live in terror that they will be cursed if they say or think anything about Dong Yu Lan. I even know of the case of a sister who hit her head with her hands because she had thought something bad about Dong Yu Lan. They say you'll lose your job, that your son will separate from you, that there will be sickness in your family. These things were spoken in meetings publicly. Many saints want to meet with the brothers who have left, but they are terrified of being under a curse.

A brother from São Paulo compared the situation to the oath Saul laid upon the people of Israel not to eat until he was avenged of his enemies under penalty of death (1 Sam. 14:24-30). In this passage, Saul usurps God's people to carry out his own personal revenge on his enemies. All of the children of Israel were fearful of the oath, so even when they came across a honeycomb flowing with honey, none dared eat of it, except for Saul's son Jonathan who had not heard Saul's charge. The brother from São Paulo wrote:

The wild honey is everywhere, but the leading of the leader prohibits from eating it. If we taste it a little, our countenance could be brightened. But we are afraid of being cursed by rising against the leader. (A letter from a brother in São Paulo, Brazil, February 22, 2008)

Letter from Marcos Morgado, November 2, 2007:

In those days one of the brothers in Piracicaba challenged me by e-mail, saying that I was creating problems among some brothers, creating division, and that I should follow the ministry in Brazil or else I was going to have problems an even a curse upon my family. I responded with an e-mail sharing with him about the oneness and the Body with a view to helping him, but that e-mail was forwarded to a responsible brother in my locality and I was denounced as being divisive.

Statement from Josué de Carvalho, April 2008:

There were threats made and curses of unemployment and misery pronounced against me and my family during these meetings. Two responsible brothers from Floriano, Erivaldo and Luiz Neto, said that if I came to their homes and refused to leave, they would kill me. Joel talked with my wife, Juracy, and told her that if she did not stand with the "work" she could not continue to serve as the only area "colporteur" in the literature work....

Joel dismissed sister Juracy from the colportage (the sale of recovery books), which represented half of the monthly income of our family.

Upon arriving at work on Monday, immediately after the meetings, I was fired from my job at a local school where I taught Spanish. The director said that his decision was based on the fact that he and I did not share the same faith. This was strange because some of the teachers at the school were unbelievers. The director's decision may have been influenced by a brother who meets with the church in Floriano who is the director's friend. (As a result of these two actions, my family lost our income and the "curse" pronounced in the meetings was "fulfilled.")

On April 20, 2008, Joel returned to Floriano for a meeting with a few saints from nearby churches. Joel claimed that the problem with me was a regional matter and did not involve the American co-workers. In tears Joel implored the local brothers to continue persecuting me and to concentrate their threats on my wife. We are being ostracized and there are attempts to prevent the saints from contacting us. A responsible brother from Barão de Grajaú, Gilberto Vieira de Melo, and Eisenhower, from Floriano, are being used to pressure Juracy. They have "prophesied" that the family will suffer a calamity.

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