Notes 118-120 - Spreading Brother Dong's Publications
118Spreading Brother Dong's Publications in the United States
Maryland/Virginia:
Letter from Bob Little to Dong Yu Lan, December 21, 2005:
At the end of this fellowship we asked these saints to please keep their publications (Brother Dong's) to themselves and not to promote or distribute them to the other saints. We believe the churches and the saints in the United States use the ministry of Brother Nee and Lee in the building up of the church, as His Body. As far as we know they have honored this fellowship and we appreciate their action....
My understanding through the fellowship of the blended coworkers is that none are happy with your publications or you having conferences in the US at this time. We hope you will honor this fellowship in the future.
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New England:
Letter from responsible brothers in Cambridge and Boston to Cezar Menegucci, August 30, 2007:
According to the attached email, you also have promoted a ministry that espouses teachings contrary to the apostles' teaching brought to us through the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. You have ignored requests by the brothers in your locality not to distribute the publications of that ministry. You have further sought to establish a particular relationship between the groups formed through your initiation and that ministry. You have even gone as far as to participate in planning for training centers and conferences apart from the fellowship of the brothers taking the lead in the churches in this area. These actions are also divisive.
Letter from the leading brothers in Cambridge and Boston to Cezar Menegucci, October 23, 2007:
Stop your work immediately including: establishing and incorporating churches and promoting a different teaching than that which we have received with a different publication, a different practice, and a different vision. Your working has been lawless, confusing to the saints, undermining the oneness, and damaging the Lord's move and testimony in this area.
E-mail from Ezra Ma to Cezar Menegucci, December 1, 2007:
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-mail from Sandra Menegucci to a sister serving in Editora Árvore da Vida, January 8, 2008:
... Our Daily Food volume 2 was lost within the USA!!! The great mystery!! We didn't find out what happened!!! For this reason, I would like you to send to me 60 of volume I and 60 of volume III by mail with those little papers that inform of the content and the price of the material.
On February 22, 2008, Cesar Menegucci sent an e-mail to Roberto Graner about an order of EÁV books in Spanish for distribution in the Boston area. He also mentioned that there were orders for Florida and Georgia.
Florida:
Letter from the church in Miami, November 1, 2007:
The Brazilians made strong and repeated efforts to introduce Dong Yu Lan's literature to the church in Miami. The leading brothers in this area – Tito Gutierrez, Vince Laviano Richard Annese, Freddie Perez and Ron Madore – met with Cezar Menegucci (a Brazilian worker active in this area) and Solomon Ma several times about this issue. We brothers took a firm stand not to compromise the ministry of the age. We told the Brazilians firmly and lovingly that we did not want the literature from Brazil in Miami. In spite of this, there were other attempts to distribute Dong's literature, including Alemiento Diario and some publications relating to the children's work to the church in Miami.
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Illinois:
Statement re: Chicago's Experience, William Barker, John Kan, and James Reetzke, October 29, 2007:
Later it became apparent that he [Anibal Arrancibia] was introducing literature and practices common to brother Dong's work in South America and without appropriate fellowship with all the elders in Chicago.
119Spreading Brother Dong's Publications in Other Parts of the World
North America:
" A Letter of Fellowship and Warning to the Churches with All the Saints in Mexico Concerning a Present Danger among Us", January 2009:
In one of the times of fellowship, brothers from Mexico expressed their concern regarding the spread of Brother Dong's publications into other countries, including Mexico. Based on the co-workers' fellowship, a co-worker from Mexico told Brother Dong that he should not bring his publications into Mexico.
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In our letter of September 30, 2008, we made it very clear to Brother Dong and his co-workers that a strong factor of the one accord in the work in Mexico has been our use of only the publications of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee and that we did not want his publications in Mexico. We pointed out that Brother Dong and his co-workers (including Ezra Ma) had agreed in a letter written in August 1997 "that there should be only one publishing work in the Lord's recovery." Rather than respect that agreement or the feeling of those leading the work and the churches in Mexico, Brother Dong's workers declared their intention to buy vans and to send colporteurs to begin to peddle Brother Dong's books and spread his work in Mexico.
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See pages 1 and 2 of the letter of warning issued to the saints and churches throughout Central America and the Caribbean, March 15, 2009.
Letter of warning to the saints in the churches in the Lord's recovery in Canada, March 17, 2009:
Brother Dong's workers in Canada have established a publishing arm to translate and disseminate his literature in English. A Canadian website has also been set up to promote Dong Yu Lan's literature, including Daily Food, a publication that presents Brother Dong's teachings in a format similar to Holy Word for Morning Revival (HWMR). Daily Food has supplanted Brother Lee's ministry as the regular diet of those who follow Brother Dong.
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Africa:
The website http://www.dailyfood.ca/ contains translations of Brother Dong's Alimento Diario [ Daily Food] into Swahili. In an e-mail report dated August 29, 2006, Helcio Almeida reported that Alimento Diario is being translated into local dialects in Uganda and Rwanda, Africa.
According to various Internet postings, Brother Dong's work has conducted CEAPE/GPP trainings to produce colporteurs (traveling book peddlers) in:
- Kenya (http://davieca.multiply.com/photos/album/54/GPP_em_Mombasa and http://stefanomozart.multiply.com/photos/album/9/GPP_Busia),
- Rwanda (http://stefanomozart.multiply.com/photos/album/5/GPP_Rwanda),
- Cabo Verde (http://leleozin.multiply.com/photos/album/16/16),
- Uganda (http://stefanomozart.multiply.com/photos/album/10/GPP_Jinja),
- South Africa (http://talityaraujo.multiply.com/photos/album/43/43 and http://igenarequipa.multiply.com/photos/album/37/GPP_EN_JOHANES)
Letter from a couple from Kenya, November 2, 2007:
The workers began to translate books from Portuguese into English for the saints. The Kenyans were largely dissatisfied with these. One brother commented to the Brazilians that the contents of their translations were shallower than what they were used to. The Kenyans thought this was due to problems in translation because the Brazilians lacked English skills. They suggested that it would be easier to get the books in English from Anaheim but the Brazilians did not want to do this.
Letter of warning to all the churches and saints in South Africa, May 10, 2009:
When Dong Yu Lan's workers discovered that a brother in Zambia still followed the ministry of the age, they forced him out of the house he was living in and confiscated six boxes of ministry books and Recovery Versions that the South African churches had purchased for distribution in Zambia. When brothers from South Africa visited Lusaka, one of Brother Dong's workers promised to return the books to South Africa. Although a great deal of time has passed since that promise, the books have not been returned.
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Letter of warning to all the churches and saints in South Africa, May 10, 2009:
Since then, Helcio and others with him have contacted many saints and have drawn some of the saints out of the church in Johannesburg to build up their separate work. They promoted and distributed "Daily Food," a published series of Brother Dong's teachings. As the examples above illustrate, these teachings are often contrary to the truth of the Bible and to the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.
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Europe:
Letter from Joe Davis to Salomon Ma and Joao Antonelli, October 19, 2006:
I told you that I believe Brother Dong's writings represent another publication work. You disagreed and asked me for evidence of Brother Lee's concerns relating to other publications encompassing Brother Dong's. I mentioned to you that at least one reference is in the Elders' Training which is available in Portuguese. This quote is from Elders' Training, Book 8: The Life-pulse of the Lord's Present Move , pp. 123-127...
Brothers, surely you can understand my concern about the new churches, the publications, and the lack of fellowship in light of these few quotes from Brother Lee.
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Statement from Jose Belmiro de Silva, October 29, 2007:
The Brazilian workers tended to manipulate the local Portuguese saints by either promoting them or setting them aside. This activity damaged the testimony in Gaia, São Joao da Madeira and Porto. Now there is no longer a church in Porto and only one couple remains in the Brazilian work. When the Brazilians tried to introduce Brother Dong's books into Portugal, I told them that they needed to fellowship with Joe Davis about this. Although we used "Daily Food" for a while, in 1998 I rejected the publications of Dong Yu-lan because they had a different flavor from the books of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.
The Brazilians then stopped visiting Gaia and even withdrew from Portugal for a time. In 2006, they returned to Portugal, this time to Lisbon. They ignored the church in Gaia and started their own work in Lisbon including a training center (see attachments). They also work in San Joao da Madeira and Aveiro. Brother Dong's supporters say that he is the successor to Witness Lee.
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Statement from David Martinez, Hector Aponte, and Cristaldo Ceveriano, November 1, 2007:
- Fernando Aguera distributed Dong Yu-lan's literature to the saints in the church in Madrid
without prior fellowship from and without the knowledge of the leading brothers there. Fernando maintained a separate
offering box for this work in his home. He distributed this literature after telling the brothers that he would not. This
literature caused confusion among the saints in Madrid.
- Fernando traveled to other cities in Spain with other Brazilian workers to distribute Dong Yu-lan's literature to those churches, again causing confusion among the saints. This activity was confirmed to the brothers in Madrid by phone calls from the churches and saints in Barcelona, Cordova, Huelva, Malaga, Valencia and Valladolid. In at least one of the churches, Fernando and those with him opposed the fellowship regarding the one publication work, criticized Living Stream Ministry and openly promoted the ministry of Dong Yu-lan....
In addition, it is evident that the work of Dong Yu-lan has been sending workers to Spain to carry out its own work, distribute its own literature, start a training center and establish churches and "Table" meetings separately from the existing churches in Spain and the co-workers in Europe.
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Letter from Hector Aponte to Joe Davis and Bill Lewallen, February 18, 2007:
We simply began by enumerating a few of the things that had been worrying us; chiefly, that the reason why he, and his entire family, had been absent from the meetings was that he was traveling with two coworkers of Brother Dong throughout Spain in order to promote the ministry of Brother Dong and Árvore da Vida publications....
We also knew that there was a separate offering box in his [Fernando Aguera's] house, and that he had been distributing Árvore da Vida publications although he had assured us that he was not doing it.
Letter from David Martinez, Hector Aponte, and Cristaldo to Fernando Aguera, March 5, 2007:
Besides these things, we also were worried concerning some things, personal and local in nature, that we had heard; among them, that you had been personally distributing Brother Dong's literature even when you had affirmed to us that you were not doing it...
We concluded by affirming, in regards to Brother Dong's publications, that all the matters of life and light in them have already been covered in the publications of Living Stream Ministry and have obviously been adopted from them. We also agree that there is no need for other brothers to publish their own literature and therefore are not interested in these other publications. This does not mean, however, that we reject Brother Dong personally nor any of the saints that appreciate and enjoy his ministry.
Letter of warning to the saints in the churches throughout Spain, February 8, 2009:
In late 2006 reports began to come out of Barcelona, Cordova, Huelva, Madrid, Malaga, Valencia, and Valladolid that Fernando was travelling throughout Spain with two of Brother Dong's co-workers to promote Brother Dong's ministry and publications...
Teams of workers have been sent by Brother Dong's work to travel throughout Spain to assist Fernando in disseminating Brother Dong's literature and starting "churches" with "table" meetings. This work likewise has been carried out independently of the churches and saints in Spain and the co-workers in Europe.
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Testimony of brother Emaus, CEAPE Spain, November 11, 2008, posted at http://nomeepalavranojapao.multiply.com/journal/item/5:
And here the literature has helped to gain people. Brothers this is our burden for Japan – passing out literature through the brothers. O Lord Jesus. No one can impede because the Lord is advancing here and in South America. I believe and I have faith that we will take all of Japan. The Order is to advance.
Japan
In an e-mail dated November 10, 2008, posted at http://nomeepalavranojapao.multiply.com/journal/item/2/Email_de_Encor, Gaspar, a co-worker of Dong Yu Lan, encourages the Brazilian saints in Japan to "Read the Daily Food" and "sell books, give out 'JAV' [Jornal Árvore da Vida], and invite people to the meetings."
Testimony of brother Emaus, CEAPE Spain, November 11, 2008, posted at http://nomeepalavranojapao.multiply.com/journal/item/5:
And here the literature has helped to gain people. Brothers this is our burden for Japan – passing out literature through the brothers. O Lord Jesus. No one can impede because the Lord is advancing here and in South America. I believe and I have faith that we will take all of Japan. The Order is to advance.
E-mail from Gaspar, January 5, 2009, posted on the Estância Árvore da Vida website:
I will still remain here for four more days, after which I will go out to colportage with Emaus, contacting some denominations with books, and also visiting some families of brothers in the region of Tokyo.
120Calling for More Colporteurs
Dong Yu Lan, Conference in Belem, Brazil, November 19, 2006:
So, brothers and sisters, you who participate in the CEAPE or are going to get into the CEAPE, you will be colporteurs in the future. A colporteur is not only one who supplies the word of God for people, but also upon you God has a charge that you be a person that establish churches everywhere, that raises them up and brings them to know the word of God and also to establish churches. This is the function of the apostle, not only to establish churches but to start the Lord's table from city to city, so that the Lord's authority may be in that city, the Lord's table may be in that city, and the Lord's throne may be in that city.
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E-mail from Amir Silva to Ezra Ma, Pedro Dong, Helcio Almeida, Ildeu Rodrigues, and André Dong concerning Mexico, July 9, 2008:
Let's prepare colporteurs to migrate, up, up.
Dong Yu Lan, International Conference at Estância Árvore da Vida, September 8, 2008, Message 5:
The churches in South America were mistreated, ill-spoken of, and defamed. What should we do? Remove the tares? No, that way the wheat will not grow as much. Leave them there. We will just go on positively. We will dedicate ourselves to the work of propagation. I will go to the CEAPE because I am going to be a colporteur. I am going to receive the Lord's commission to be a high priest, to be an apostle. I grow, grow, grow. Hallelujah. That in fact becomes an incentive for us to grow. Although I did not say "let them grow" as the Lord Jesus did, I did say, "Thank you, tares." Without the motivation of the tares, I would have stayed the same.
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Dong Yu Lan, National Conference in Concepción, Chile, October 18, 2008, Message 2:
Amir has already made the calling. Do you want to be an apostle, or a prophet, or an evangelist? Then you need to be perfected. Would you be perfected at school, or in college or at the training center? Where? Hallelujah! In the CEPPEV. The CEPPEV is for the perfecting and the producing of the colporteurs. Do you want to be a colporteur? I will ask again. According to the Bible, who are the colporteurs? Hallelujah! We are priests and apostles.
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