Testimonies

 After living without hope, alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel, (Ephesians 2:12) and being divinely placed in the U.S. Military service I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. There were many times to witness the good news of salvation and my testimony of my God and Savior Jesus Christ to all who were surrounding me. Not to say that there wasn’t persecution, but as in Matthew 5 the blessing to those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake is the Kingdom of the Heavens.

By a step of faith I accepted a tour in Korea. Being in the medical corps, I was stationed in the MASH facility in We Joah Boe, Korea. To escape the worldliness of the military diversion to the so-called war (drinking, drugs, loose women) some fellow Christians and I would go to Seoul, to a Christian Serviceman Home run by a denomination. It was there that I discovered the writings of Watchman Nee. The first book was The Normal Christian Life. This book revealed that God not only redeemed me to be saved from my sins, but that the saving life of Christ was saving me from my natural man, to reveal the hidden plan of God through me as a member of his Body (Galatians 2:20).

In 1974 I returned to the States, and I was stationed in Ft. Lee, Virginia. My parents lived in New York, so after visiting them for a period of time I attended a meeting of the local church in New York City. I had received the address from the Christian brother in Korea who had given me the book by Watchman Nee. He said that if I really enjoyed the book that I could find the same ministry in many cities throughout the world. The local churches in these cities were raised up through the ministry of a co-worker of Watchman Nee named Witness Lee, who also wrote many books concerning truths of the Bible such as the church, the life-giving Spirit, the Body, and the economy of God.

After nearly 25 years of meeting with the local church in my city my salvation in the Lord (Rom. 13:11) has deepened and grown. I have also seen, experienced, and enjoyed more of the truths that are found in the living Word of God, the Bible. These words of life have been a constant refreshment to me, and to all the ones who love the Lord Jesus in incorruptibility (Ephesians 6:24).

-Bruce W. Blanc

My words will probably not be adequate in portraying my love and gratefulness both to the Lord and to this ministry, but here goes. I grew up in North Vancouver in beautiful British Columbia in a good but not a godly family. My teenage years were fettered by the issues of the seventies: drugs, sex, and rock-n-roll. I praise God that my earthen vessel was not destroyed during many dangerous adventures. I’m sure my guardian angels gave a big sigh of relief once Satan no longer enslaved me. I was a base-line alcoholic and weekend juvenile delinquent. From age 13 to 17, I enjoyed carnality, outdoor parties, and skiing. Today I still enjoy tennis, and pro hockey. My former life was loose, rudderless and as carnal as could be, but God being rich in mercy lovingly directed my paths to the church where the Father gave me His best robe and clothed me with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-10; Luke 15:22).

For thirteen years I experienced all that is mentioned in Galatians 5:19-21

However, although in many ways I tried to be popular, I never seemed to be well received by the tide of this age. There was always a void in me which could never be satisfied. Even before I was saved God was preserving and sanctifying me not to be swallowed up by the world. Eventually I realized there was a God-shaped vacuum in me that only God could fill.

On the day of my salvation, which will never be lost, the Lord poured into and regenerated my spirit and turned my heart of stone into a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). Some brothers from the local church in Spokane, Washington encouraged me to pray with them by calling on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13). As I breathed His precious name the darkness of my past life fleed. Although Satan tried with all his might to resist my calling on the name of the Lord, I felt an overcoming buoyancy burst up and audibly out of me, and I called Oh LORD JESUS. I felt freed and full of life. Praise His precious name.

-J.C

My heart is full of praises for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Deep in my heart there is the joy of God. My wife and I feel that the Lord’s blessing is upon us in our senior years because of our following Him. We are one with the Lord Jesus as well as one with the church composed of all His believers, which is His Body.

I appreciate the Lord as the Great Shepherd. He brings us to the green pastures and the still waters. He cares for us, loves us, feeds us and will never leave us. As Psalm 23 says “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

I was very worldly when I was a young man and had a number of bad habits. I received the Lord as my personal Savior around 1952 through my wife. Some years later, Witness Lee brought me closer to the throne of grace by speaking the powerful words regarding the Lord and His reality to the church. Over the years, the life-giving Spirit in me has been transforming me slowly but surely. He has been renewing me with His divine life (Romans 12:2). I have noticed the internal change in me and the disappearance of some of my bad habits which I thought would never leave me. Praise the Lord.

I pray the Lord’s transforming work in me and in every believer will continue strongly. I pray His church will grow as He plans. My wife and I are looking forward to the days of the New Jerusalem, when we become a part of that most glorious city and praise God forevermore.

-Carl Li

I was brought up in the home of a Baptist minister, definitely receiving the Lord as a jr. higher. I remained open to the Lord but I questioned the Bible, not giving my whole being to the Lord, pursuing worldly pleasures. My relationship with the Lord was superficial mainly because the only teaching I knew was concerning my initial salvation. I was encouraged to live a good Christian life, but not given the real supply or nourishment (John 6:35) to live this life (Philippians 1:19; John 6:35).

I continually feel short. However, I eventually found through the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee a key to unlock the experience of Christ living through me. This key is my human spirit. To be a person that lives in my spirit instead of my soul that always tries to do good apart from the supply of the life of God requires the revelation that my wonderful Savior, Christ, is now the life-giving Spirit living in my spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45b).

My wife and I began to meet with the local church soon after graduating from college. That was 20 years ago. Today we still are enjoying our wonderful, all-inclusive Christ. Also, now my parents in rural Pennsylvania are enjoying e-manna, an internet, daily, Bible message. We are happy they also are receiving some of this supply.

-B.L.

I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior while enrolled as a sophomore at a major fundamental, non-denominational Christian College. Shortly thereafter, I began to attend Christian meetings of various types including, but not limited to, major denominations, free groups and Pentecostal type gatherings.

Over a span of seven years I visited and participated in perhaps thirty different groups. Spiritually, it seemed the more groups I visited, the drier and more spiritually unfulfilled I became. Unbeknownst to me I was seeking for a deeper walk with Christ and a clear way to experientially know Him (Philippians 3:10).

One day while on my way from work, I met a Christian brother who loved the Lord dearly and possessed a personally rich experience and enjoyment of the riches of Christ (Ephesians 3:8). He shepherded me, by caring for me and helped me to know my human spirit (Proverbs 20:27). This dear brother also introduced me to the spoken and printed ministry of Witness Lee and the written ministry of Watchman Nee.

By being brought into contact with the ministry of these two brothers, I have been helped tremendously to grow in the divine life, to see that our God has an eternal purpose (Ephesians 3:11) for man, which is His eternal plan made by Him in eternity past, but is being carried out in time through the dispensing of Himself into the man He created. I also have been helped to realize through Watchman Nee and Witness Lee that I am simply a vessel (Romans 9:21) made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) to be filled with God as my content (2 Corinthians 4:7) that He might be expressed through me, a small member in His Body.

As a true believer, a living stone (1 Peter 2:5) and member of Christ, I must allow myself to be built up in spirit and oneness with others.

By seeing and experiencing so many rich aspects of our wonderful Christ and His body for the past twenty-two years in the local church, I can truly say I have been brought to a place in my Christian life where I “wander no more.”

-Chris Nerstad

I grew up in a religious home where we always went to church. I always had a question in my being as a young girl. I would think for hours asking myself “Why am I here on this earth?” The first time that I remember being touched by the Lord was when we sang a hymn about the Church, the Bride of Christ. The words were “and by His blood He bought Her and for Her life He died” (Hymns, #830). I was so small, but I was brought to tears as I asked, “Who is this one Jesus bought with His blood?” Although I didn’t understand, it was the beginning of my seeking.

I hit rock bottom at age twenty-five. A total stranger in a post office asked me to her denomination. I went and ran down the aisle to get saved. However, in order for me to live as a Christian in my hard situation I needed spiritual food to nourish me and supply me with life (Peter 2:2-3). I exhausted all that the denomination had to offer me. I cried to the Lord, “Lord, don’t let this be all that You have; I’m desperate your You!”

A few weeks later, a dear sister in the Lord came to my workplace, and rescued me! As I shared of how I was going to give up, she replied, “Sister, you need to enjoy the Lord”. Lights came on within me, and I shouted: “Wow! I can enjoy the Lord!” She took me to a small meeting of the local church in my city. There were about 15 Christian brothers and sisters sitting around in a circle and I had the speaking in my spirit: “I am home.”

Now let me share with you what a “life” supply I have received from Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. I had a situation where I could not always get to the church meetings. I also had an impossible personal situation. On my knees with tears, I read the writings of these two brothers. I was comforted and nourished and soon my whole family received a “practical life supply”. We all would have been distraught without these wonderful words of life! I, nor my family would be so alive today had I not been brought to Christ and the church; this is where God and man are at rest! Also I finally found out God’s eternal purpose for me. He wants to dispense His very being into me, to be my life supply, and my everything (Ephesians 1:17-18, 23)!

-Deborah Paulsen

Even though I was born and brought up in a Christian family, I rejected the Lord, religion, and I was not saved. But thankfully, the Lord did not give me up. From time to time I went to church when things got bad, but when things got better, I stopped going. One day in desperation, I prayed to the Lord, “I don’t want to be lost in the wilderness like the children of Israel were”. The Lord answered my prayer in a very mysterious way. As I looked through the newspaper for a church to go to; I saw an ad for a senator who was going to be speaking at a denomination. On Sunday I arrived there, and found out I was too early. Across the street I saw a banner that said, “God desires all men to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4) So I decided to go across the street. There happened to be a corporate meeting of the churches in San Diego County. I was so touched with the warm welcome I received from the believers there.

When I entered into the meeting, I was amazed at the speaking from the Bible. It was like nothing I had ever heard before I was impressed that the believers had such a living portion of Christ to speak. The thing that kept me coming back to the meetings was the care I received, both spiritually and practically, from all the believers. Also at a Memorial Day Conference I realized that there were churches like this all over the world.

The life supply that I received from reading the books of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee has made me love the Lord more than I ever knew I could. This is because they have opened the Bible to me and have made it more understandable. The more I understand the Bible and see God’s heart’s desire, the more I love the Lord.

-Don Paulsen