Watchman Nee, in his writings, said these things about Islam.
NO BAPTISM, NO TESTIMONY
"But he that disbelieveth shall be condemned." Disbelief alone is enough for condemnation. As long as one belongs to the world brotherhood, his disbelief seals his condemnation. In contrast, he who believes must be baptized, for as long as he is not baptized, he has not come out of the world in outward testimony.
We discover three amazing facts in the religious world of Judaism, Hinduism and Islamism.
(a) Judaism persecutes the baptized. Among the Jews, a person may be a secret Christian without being persecuted. The greatest difficulty with many hundreds and thousands of Jews is not in believing the Lord Jesus but rather in being baptized. Once the person is baptized he is liable to be cast out and disowned.
(b) Hinduism ostracizes the baptized. In India, no one will lay hands on you if you remain unbaptized. But as soon as you are baptized, you will be ostracized. It is as if the world permits you to have eternal life but stands against anyone being baptized.
(c) Islamism murders the baptized. The reaction of Islamism is more severe. It is rare to find a living Mohammedan who has turned Christian, for the Moslems kill those that do. One of the most successful workers among the Mohammedans, Dr. Zwemer, once declared that his work would never be big since the results of his labor all ended in death; no one lived on. Among the Mohammedans, those who believe must immediately be sent away or else within two or three days after baptism they will be murdered.
Baptism is a public announcement that declares, "I have come out of the world." Never take the word "salvation" purely in the personal sense. According to the Bible, it is more a matter of coming out of the world than of escaping hell.
For up through the time of chapter 12, all you could see was the Work of Jerusalem—that even the Work done at Antioch was also that of Jerusalem; for in reading from chapter 11 onwards you will notice that the Work in Antioch had been done by the brethren coming out of Jerusalem. If only this evidence were available, you would just naturally have to confess that God’s Work has a single center on earth, which center was Jerusalem. At some future time in Church history it might have been removed to another place—this we cannot be sure about—but nevertheless there was a center. In other words, you would have to acknowledge, on the basis of only this amount of evidence from the Bible that Christianity was to have but a single capital. Jerusalem would become the capital of Christianity just as Mecca became the capital of Islam and Chufoo, the capital of Confucianism. But thank God that the Holy Spirit made another beginning in the Work—this time at Antioch. Because out from Antioch the Holy Spirit sent apostles also.
Original Sin
And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah. And again she bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Jehovah. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up? and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door; and unto thee shall be its desire; but do thou rule over it. And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. (Gen. 4.1-8)
What is the meaning of sacrifice? One aspect of its meaning is that God’s attitude towards a sacrifice is His attitude towards the offerer. Sacrifice is symbolic. In rejecting a sacrifice, God rejects the person who offers it. In Hebrews 11.4 we read that Abel saw Christ. He came to God through Christ. He saw Christ in the lamb that he offered from his flock, and God also saw Christ in the lamb. Cain, on the other hand, being a tiller of the ground, forgot that sin was already in him. He ignored the fact that Adam had sinned. He might even have said to himself, "I have not killed, nor have I done any unrighteous thing." So Cain offered to God what he himself reckoned as good. He was confident that God would accept his sacrifice.
Yet Cain did not realize that it was not just a matter of whether or not he had sinned. This man was spiritually dull, proud, and blind. He completely overlooked the fact that something was wrong in man’s relationship with God. He might have thought to himself that even though Adam had sinned, he had not sinned; so what? He did not know that "through one man sin entered into the world" (Rom. 5.12). This one man is Adam, and this sin is original sin. Cain viewed himself as having kept up with his conscience from his youth. He therefore came to God without fear and trembling. He forgot that mankind had sinned before God and that sin was already in the world.
Once I had a conversation with a Moslem. He suggested that what we both believed and worshiped was the same God. Yet this was the way I answered him: "Most people do not have a good feeling towards God. Even if they do, they cannot worship Him in their sins, because God is a holy God. The Moslems say they can come to God by their good works. To use a colloquial illustration: you may wish to have a wealthy man be your godfather, but what if he refuses? You may come to God as you would to your godfather, but if like your godfather God does not accept you, then what?"
Genesis 4.1-8 shows us how to come to God. If the way is wrong, you will not be able to approach Him. You may say you are showing Him a great honor. What if He rejects? It is a fact that sin is in the world, and this sin was committed by Adam. When Cain and Abel first came to God, they were both clean, for they had not committed any sin yet. Cain was a tiller of the ground, and he was an honest man. How did both of them come to God? Notice that in the garden of Eden it was God who sought man, not man after God. Outside the garden, however, it was a case of man seeking God. Neither of these two brothers was a man who had committed great and grave sins. They came to seek the presence of God. Yet to one of them (Cain) God declared that his way was wrong, and that therefore he could not come. But regarding Abel, we are told by the narrative that God accepted him because he brought a lamb slain.
The very fact that "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" (Gen. 3.19) indicates that man is no longer in the garden of Eden. In the Edenic garden God would come to seek man, the grass would grow naturally, and the grains would ripen spontaneously. There was no need of fertilizers, and the produce was abundant. But now, in tilling the ground, a force is there to oppose man’s wish, for the earth is under a curse. Whether in farming or in politics or in education, everything betrays the fact that man is no longer in the garden of Eden. How can men who are now outside the garden use the same way of sacrificing as in the garden? How can they presume to believe and act as though nothing has happened? Without Christ, there is no way to come to God.
The question today is not how bad men are, but rather how dull they are. Suppose, for example, that a child is unhappy. He has broken not only a bowl but even the wok (a Chinese cooking pan). Yet after school he comes home as though nothing had ever happened. He might forget, but his parents cannot forget, for they were most disturbed by the careless attitude of their child. Let me say that Cain was in his day like this child. Both Cain and his brother Abel lived in a sinful world. It was not sufficient for them to come on the basis of their own works. They needed to come with the Lamb of God.
If man does not see original sin, sooner or later his own committed sins will spring forth. The Christian gospel tells us that we need Christ Jesus not only for our committed sins but also for our original sin. For we are no longer in the garden of Eden. Cain believed in God, and he wanted to worship God. But his sacrifice was wrong, and so he was rejected. We may not be as good as Cain; yet God is such a noble and holy God. We come with fear and trembling, yet God accepts us in His beloved Son.
Knowing Psychic Force
Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, denied that there were death, sickness and pain; yet she died.
However, the Church of Christ, Scientist outlives her and continues on prosperously. They still give assent to the notion that if a sick person believes he is not sick, he will feel no pain; if a dying person believes he will not die, he will not die. As a consequence, many people are healed. Their propagators merely try to strengthen man’s psychic force for the relief of physical ailment. Through the release of man’s latent power of the soul, bodily weakness is overcome.
Because of the development of the soul’s latent force, wonders are increasing nowadays. Of these wonders, many are highly supernatural and miraculous. Yet all these are only the manifestations of the latent power of the soul. Though I am no prophet, I have read books on prophecy. I learn that hereafter soul’s latent power will have greater manifestations. For in the last days the enemy will seize upon man’s psychic force to fulfill his work. If he succeeds in seizing this power, he will be able to do great wonders.
There are two classes of people who hold to two extremes respectively. One class insists there is no wonder. When they hear about wonders such as divine healing, they refuse to listen. Another class lays stress on wonders so much that they do not care from what source come these wonders—from God or from the enemy. Today we should be careful not to bend to either extreme. Each time we see or hear of a wonder performed we must ask, Is this God’s doing or the enemy’s? Is it done by the Holy Spirit of God or by the law of human psychology?
Today we should use our abilities—such as that of the mind, the will and the emotion—to do things, but we ought not express the latent power that is in our soul. The mind, emotion and will are man’s psychic organs which he cannot help but use. For if man does not use them the evil spirit will take over their usage. However, if man desires to use the latent power behind these abilities, the evil spirit will begin to give him all kinds of counterfeit miracles. All works done by the soul and its psychic law are counterfeits. Only what is done by the power of the Holy Spirit is real. The Holy Spirit has His own law of operation. For it is stated in Romans 8.2, "the law of the Spirit of life". Thank God, the Holy Spirit is real, and the law of the Holy Spirit is factual. Wonders performed according to the law of the Holy Spirit come from God.
It is extremely difficult for Moslems to believe in the Lord Jesus. There are therefore comparatively few who become Christians. Now how do the Moslems pray? Three times every day they do so in their mosques. They say that if anything needs to be done, pray in one accord with tens of thousands of people. "Consider the mass of Mahomedans at prayer in the great Jumna Mosque of Delhi," writes Mrs. Penn-Lewis, "where an hundred thousand followers of Mahomet assemble inside the Mosque, with a still larger crowd engaged in prayer outside." For what were they praying? In unison they shouted that they wanted Turkey revived and freed from the domination of the white race. Their psychic force gained the victory. "It is sufficient," continues Mrs. Penn-Lewis, "to point to the revision of the Treaty of Sevres, under which all that was lost to Turkey had to be restored. A greater triumph of one Eastern nation over all Western nations put together, cannot be imagined. The explanation given, and believed in by millions in India, is expressed in the word ‘soul-force’."∗ Unfortunately the prayers of many Christians are not answered by God but are attained by the projection of the latent power of their soul. They accomplish their goals in much the same way as the Moslems.
∗Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis, Spirit and Soul. Poole, Dorset, England, Overcomer Literature Trust, 1968?, p.56. Also available in the United States from Christian Literature Crusade, Fort Washington, Pa.
Look now at the powers displayed in Hinduism. Some Hindus can walk on fire without being scorched. And this is not a fake. They walk on fire, and not just a few steps, but across a long course with their feet treading on red-hot iron; yet they are not hurt. Some of them can lie on beds with nails pointed up. (Naturally, those whom they consider beginners cannot bear such things and will feel pain and hurt.) This too is a matter of the development of psychic power. How disastrous for believers to perform wonders with the same power which the Hindus use.
Very often in meetings Christians can sense a sort of power pressing in on them, or even at times of prayer and Bible reading they may feel oppressed without any reason. All these come from Satan who uses psychic forces to depress us or to assault us. Experienced Christians all over the world are aware of the especially severe attacks of the enemy at the end of this age. Since the whole atmosphere of the world seems to be heavily charged with psychic force, we need to hide ourselves under the Lord’s precious blood and be protected by it.
While listening to a sermon in a huge cathedral, you can sense almost instantly if soul power is in operation—whether there is something present which seems to be inciting you. Although the preacher may announce that some people have repented and have been saved, you need to consider the consequences for those proclaimed to be saved. For there has been the mixing in of improper power into the work. If the power has come from God—which is that of God’s Spirit—you would have felt light and clear. But psychic force as used by the enemy is aroused by the presence of a big crowd. May we be able to discern the difference lest we too be deceived.
The time is now come. Satan is exciting all his energies and using all kinds of means to stir up the latent power of the soul in religionists, mental scientists, and even Christians. Such is the fact before us. We should ask the Lord to give us light that we may discern.
NOT CONSIDERED IMPROPER
Whatever recreation unbelievers judge improper, we Christians should not take up. Even certain kinds of recreation which they do approve, we still may not take up. These are the two rules about recreation in relation to unbelievers. What they disapprove, we certainly do not allow. And even what they approve we may not accept. To frequent theatres, to dance, to gamble—we do not approve.
It is not worthwhile to argue with people about recreation. For example: suppose in a certain place, it is commonly thought that playing ball is not permissible. Since our testimony is for the Lord and not for the ball, we just keep quiet. There is no need for us to sermonize on the justification of playing ball. Also remember that our standard cannot be lower than that of the unbelievers. If the Gentiles in a certain locality consider chess taboo, let us not speak for it. Let us not waste even an hour advocating the correctness of chess playing. Our desire is to witness for the Lord, not to try to encourage these minor things. Indeed, let us not even do them. Whatever thing the people of a locality judge as wrong, be it even such an innocent thing as fishing, let us refrain from doing it. Our standard cannot be lower than that of the unbelievers. This is especially applicable to recreation.
It is very foolish to argue with people over the question of recreation. Some missionaries have had a very bad relationship with the natives of a place because of insisting on a particular recreation. I think it is wrong to damage one’s work for the sake of a little recreation. Let us concentrate on the essentials and leave the non-essentials. If some brothers are led to go to a Moslem area, can they openly eat pork because Christians are allowed to? Eating pork is tabooed in that area, so, for the sake of the work, do not create trouble by these minor things. If you should go to Sikon [adjacent to Tibet] where people never go fishing, then you too should not fish. Otherwise it would not be right.
All these nine principles should be laid before the new believers. Lead them to deal carefully with the matter of recreation in the light of these principles.
