1922
-
I (Herald Hsu ???,
one of the descendants of fallen Adam) was born into a family who were
members of the Presbyterian church in North China. When I was 6 years old,
my father died. At 14 years old, I was born-again by the Holy Spirit and
baptized by sprinkling (I did not understand the real meaning of baptism
at that time). Now I write down the spiritual realities and facts of the
Heavenlies (Greek, Eph.1:3; 2:6, etc.) in Chinese and English.
Being
disciplined by the Holy Spirit requires voluntary obedience and submission
to the disciplines of the Holy Spirit. These disciplines include all things
that happen in our lives. “All things work together for good - to those
who are the called according to His purpose - to be conformed to the image
of His Son.” (Rom. 8:28-29). "All things work together" which means the
disciplines of the Holy Spirit; being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ
as God’s Eternal Purpose.
Being
anointed by the Holy Spirit is the result of voluntary obedience to the
disciplines of the Holy Spirit. Christ in Greek means“Anointed”.
Christian means “Christ one”, i.e. union with Christ, or “in life, in business,
in service, manifesting and living out of Christ”. Paul says: “I (i.e.
my old Adamic or natural life) have been crucified with Christ; it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). This means that
my old man was crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:6); it is no longer I who
lives (i.e. because of voluntarily learning obedience through sufferings
and denying myself, taking up my cross daily, and following Him), but Christ
lives in me (i.e. Christ manifests or lives out through me).
(1)
Spiritual milk - Like the Boy Jesus...
1940
-
By grace, when in my third year of junior high, I read a lot of gospel
booklets by Watchman Nee. They were very interesting. I also learned to
sing, to play the organ, to pray, to attend meetings, and do all the things
that Christians do. After graduation, I was diagnosed with pleurisy, and
spent a year in hospital. My mother prayed for me.I
also prayed to God too,saying, “Lord,
if you heal me, I am willing to be a preacher.” (I thought that would have
to be the worst job around!) Later, the Lord answered my prayer and healed
me without the need for doctors to drain fluid from my lungs.
1942
-
The Pacific war (between Japan and the USA) was under way. By grace I went
to inland China to finish high school. After graduation, I went to Chong-Qing
(??),
Si-chuan (??),
and prepared for the college entrance examination. I planned to become
a mechanical engineer so as to advance China’s industry. I had totally
forgotten about my promise to become a preacher.
1945
-
The Japanese surrendered in the war and I entered Jiao-Tong University
(????known
as MIT in China). By God’s grace, a brother in Christ took me to a meeting
in Chong-Qing Christian Assembly Hall (????????where
the teaching was influenced by Watchman Nee ???).
Soon the university moved back to Shanghai and I got an opportunity to
attend the meetings of Watchman Nee’s group. By God’s grace I learnt fervent
Bible-reading, prayer, fellowship with saints, taking part in church services
and leading people to Christ.
1947
-
One evening, Watchman Nee, accompanied by Miss Wang Pei-Zhen (???),
came to our school. I had got the impression from a booklet by Watchman
Nee’s groups that they thought that spiritual light only came from them.
I didn’t believe that, so I asked brother Nee at the first opportunity:
“If a servant of the Lord from another Christian group gives us more or
higher spiritual light, do we receive it?” Brother Nee thought for a while
and then said: “God did not give us all the light. If somebody gives us
more light, we should be very glad to receive it!” As a result, I had a
lot of respect for him!
That
evening brother Nee emphasized to the young people who were attending and
who wanted to serve the Lord, these three things:
1.
Read the Bible
- if possible, memorize it word for word. The Chinese translation is one
of the best translations in the world - its mood, its wording, its expression,
are weighty and important.
2.
Obey the disciplines of the Holy Spirit -
there is a need to be like Jesus was in the days of His flesh. He learned
obedience through suffering. Men may be wrong, things may be out of order,
circumstances may be unreasonable - but God allows those things that are
happening to us to show on the one hand how deeply self-centered we are
and that we must voluntarily deny Self - we need to “bear the cross”; and
on the other hand, because we learn obedience through sufferings, Christ
can then manifest Himself and live out through us which means that we experience
the resurrection from the dead. Paul learned this lesson and said, “We
are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not to despair;
pursued, yet not forsaken (or left behind); smitten down, yet not destroyed.
Always bearing about in the body the dying (or putting to death) of Jesus,
that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body” (2 Cor. 4:8-10).
(Author’s note: The matter of “obedience to the discipline of the Holy
Spirit” was one of brother T. Austin-Sparks’ main emphases in ministry,
i.e. Christ and the Cross. Watchman Nee visited TAS for the first time
in 1933 and there was a big spiritual change in Watchman Nee as a result.)
3.
Embracing voluntary poverty
- Brother Nee introduced Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) to us; suggesting
that any true servant of the Lord has to voluntarily be in poverty in life
and in services. This means not pursuing money, interests, positions, powers,
reputation, fame, etc.. By God’s grace, I was and am greatly blessed!
After
this meeting, the Lord led me to be baptized again by immersion (recognizing
my union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection) and I began
to memorize the New Testament.
1948
-
After the war there was a special first time conference for Watchman Nee’s
groups, co-workers and elders in China. At that time I was the leader responsible
for the Christian Student Fellowship of our school, and as a result I was
invited to attend that conference. The oldest sister who was a co-worker
of Watchman Nee, Lee Yuan-Ru (???
four years older than Watchman Nee), asked brother Nee: “Why did you work
in the pharmaceutical industry thus causing offence to a lot of good believers?”
Brother Nee wept and said to those elders who were businessmen: “You forced
me to do that!” (in Chinese dialect ????????)
because the businessmen had not given financial support. As a result, brother
Nee had felt that he had no choice but to support the work himself. Then
sister Wang Pei-Zhen (???)
cried aloud and the whole assembly cried. I also cried, but I didn’t know
why. After that, almost all the workers and elders (including myself) surrendered
all things and dedicated ourselves again to the Lord. The Lord also reminded
me of my promise and indicated to me that from now on I really would be
a preacher.
This
conference led a spiritual revival in the whole of China! Every Wednesday
evening I would often go to sister Wang’s apartment for supper and we would
talk about the student’s work. I asked her about brother Nee and the pharmaceutical
business. She said in part: “Because brother Nee preached the gospel of
Christ to them, a few medical students dedicated themselves to ministry.
They were sent to inland China to preach the gospel. Brother Nee had no
financial foundation to support them, so they were all poor. One of them
got Tuberculosis and died. Brother Nee never asked for any donations for
them and now his heart is broken (i.e. "I encouraged them to come out of
the world; I sent them to die, I cannot support them"), and decided to
work in a business to support those young people." When I heard this, I
cried again! Subconsciously I resolved that later I would teach mathematics
in high school to support my ministry. (In 1951, when I was in Taipei,
I really did get to teach mathematics - in Jian-Guo high school. ????).
One
day we invited God’s servant to preach the gospel to our schoolmates.We
pasted a 50 feet high billboard on the wall of the school building which
said: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”. The head of the
school saw it and called me to his office, and said: “Firstly, there are
no sinners in our school; your public notice must be pasted outside of
the school. Secondly, you have made our school a religious school. I have
ordered workers to wash and to clean it away already”. (It took a whole
week's cleaning). Silently I was dismissed from his office. Under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, a brother, Jin Jian (??)
and I prepared 4 pieces of white cloth with written Bible words such as
“Believe in Jesus Christ, you have Eternal Life” etc. and wore them on
our chests and backs as moving advertisements in the school. On Sundays
we wore them when we went to church meetings. Lots of people called us
mentally deranged although we had no mental disorders. Later, Christians
in many cities heard these things and they organized gospel bands marching
in the streets to testify of Jesus Christ.
Some
would say, based on the biblical record, that the above experiences characterizethe
“spiritual milk stage” of the work of God (or Christ). This stage includes
works such asleading people to
Christ; taking church services; studying doctrines of the Bible, and so
on. Later the Holy Spirit revealed to me what spiritual milk was and showed
me that what I had received and done was different from the Boy Jesus.
When the Boy Jesus was 12 years old, He was in the temple, both hearing
and asking questions, (i.e. receiving spiritual milk), but He “must be
in the things of His Father” (in Greek)! "His Father" signifies two things:
(1) Origin; (2) the Household of God. This means that the Boy Jesus received
true spiritual milk in that: (1) the Origin or the Root was not from His
own likes or dislikes, but all began and came from His Father; (2) He cared
about the whole household of God and never built up His own denominations
or sects. But in my recollection, when I received spiritual milk the origin
was all from the likes or dislikes of myself and not from the Father, and
I didn't care about the whole household of God but only built up my denomination
or Watchman Nee’s groups (or local churches). May all of us in the future
receive true spiritual milk so that we are all beginning from the Father
and also building up the whole household of God!
From
1955 to 1957
1957
- Special talks on the Locality Law between TAS and Witness Lee.
1959
- A Tragic year for Watchman Nee’s Groups
"The
great enemy does not give up his determination to interrupt fellowship
and to spoil the work of the Lord by bringing division among His people.
Everywhere this evil work is being pressed with increasing intensity. The
enemy is set upon destroying anything that will result in the Lord Jesus
coming into His full place. We must stand and withstand and do all in our
power to keep this ground from him. It is costly, and it demands that we
let go all that is only personal, and that we stand for the glory of our
Lord's name and His interests alone... I am sure that you will never make
me or my ministry a ground of division. There is no need to fight for me;
the Lord is on the Throne, and He can order things to His Own Will - while
we pray and trust Him."
Chinese website: www.geocities.com/heraldhsu