Faithful unto Death; the Crown of Life
"Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life." (Rev. 2:10)
These are the words of encouragement and promise the Lord Jesus spoke to the messenger of the persecuted church in Smyrna. We usually think that only the persecuted church and persecuted believers need such words, and that only they can produce such people; but in fact, in any environment such words are needed, and in any environment people who are "faithful unto death" are needed.
Faithful to the Ministry of the Age
The winter of 1992 in New Jersey was especially cold, yet the old meeting hall in Franklin was ablaze with fervor and full of warmth. Brother Wu was leading the faithful serving ones of the Gospel Book Room to recommend to the saints in New Jersey the newly published full set of the Collected Works of Watchman Nee. Brother Wu's words were resounding and forceful, and his recommendation of the Collected Works of Watchman Nee was full of a treasuring feeling. Because of this meeting and the fellowship with Brother Wu, this set of books is to this day a treasure in our home.
The last time I coordinated in fellowship on the same platform with Brother Wu was at the Cerritos meeting hall before the summer training of 2019, when Brother Wu chaired and led the fellowship for spreading the Collected Works of Witness Lee held in Southern California. This was just a few short months after Brother Wu had gone through a heart attack, a long resuscitation, and a coming back from death. He came to America with an extremely weak, sick body to chair the fellowship for spreading the Collected Works of Witness Lee. Brother Wu was faithful to the spreading of the ministry of the age, putting his own life and death out of his mind. He was a faithful slave who was faithful unto death, serving unto death. Because of that fellowship, in addition to the English Collected Works of Witness Lee, I also bought a set of the Chinese Collected Works of Witness Lee. Just as Brother Wu said, this one English set and one Chinese set of the Collected Works of Witness Lee will become our family heirloom.
We thank the Lord that, in this ultimate age, He gave us the two ministries of the age, Brother Watchman Nee and Brother Witness Lee, releasing to us the words of the ministry of the age over a span of nearly a hundred years; we also thank the Lord that He gave us Brother Yu Jielin (余潔麟) and Brother Paul Wu, leading the faithful serving ones of the ministry station, the Gospel Book Room, and the literature work to collect, edit, compile, and translate the words and writings released by Brothers Nee and Lee, and to faithfully spread them outward. Brother Wu was Brother Yu's faithful companion, devoting himself to the very end in the work of publishing and spreading the ministry's literature. The benefit and blessing that the brothers' faithful service brought to God's children will need eternity to recount.
Helping the Readers of Simplified Characters
To help the students and scholars saved on the North American campuses to enter into the ministry and know the truth, Brother Wu assisted Brother Yu and, in early 2001, established the Simplified-Chinese Publication Office in New Jersey. Brother Wu gave us a full set of the traditional-character ministry books for proofreading, the standards for the office's service, and personally perfected our serving ones. After more than ten years of coordinated service with the ministry station and the Gospel Book Room, the Simplified-Chinese Publication Office in New Jersey digitized and converted into simplified characters all the publications of the ministry of the Lord's recovery, which brought great convenience and blessing to the readers of simplified characters and to the later spreading of the ministry's publications through online platforms.
Perfecting Students and Scholars
In August 2003, the perfecting training for students and scholars began in New Jersey. For more than ten years, Brother Wu not only came in person but also sent seasoned co-workers from Taiwan to come together to perfect these young students and scholars. At each training, Brother Wu encouraged us to treasure the ministry, to love the ministry dearly, to be constituted with the ministry, and to be spreaders of the ministry of the age. He said, "We need, in the New Testament ministry, to lay down our lives. If we follow the Lord well, the Lord will bear all our responsibility." Brother Wu and the other co-workers not only perfected the students with their rich truth and rich life, but even more perfected and encouraged the young saints with their own testimony to love the Lord, consecrate themselves, pursue the truth, preach the gospel, shepherd the saints, and build up the church. More than ten years later, quite a few of the saints who were perfected in this way are coordinating in service and functioning in churches in various places. We are truly full of gratitude for Brother Wu's perfecting through both word and example.
"Big" and Also "Detailed"
Brother Wu was truly a big person. His capacity was so great that he could receive and bear with any person and all matters. Brother Wu bore the responsibility of the Gospel Book Room, the responsibility of the work of the Lord's recovery, and the responsibility of the churches, and was truly very busy; yet his care for the saints and his handling of matters were so meticulous and detailed.
Once, when we went to Taiwan to visit and fellowship, we happened to catch a service fellowship of a certain meeting hall, where the brothers were fellowshipping the burden and the concrete plan for expanding to a new meeting hall. After the service fellowship, Brother Wu fellowshipped with me in detail about every link of the service. He said that the Lord's work and God's move are like wheels within wheels; we need to put ourselves into every wheel and coordinate with the Lord, so that the Lord's move and the Lord's work can keep going on. He said, "Taipei Hall One is my first wheel, the church in Taipei is my second wheel, the gospel work in Taiwan is my third wheel, and the move in Asia, the move in Europe, and the move throughout the earth are my fourth wheel; every wheel needs prayer, fellowship, coordination, and promotion, so that the great wheel of the Lord's move can keep going on." We walked downstairs together and ran into several sisters who had just come from the mainland to visit and blend, and Brother Wu again carefully cared for the details of the sisters' visit arrangements in Taiwan.
Brother Wu was inwardly full of the Lord's move throughout the earth, and he also cared for the saints one by one and for the small matters one by one. He was truly a person who was "big" and also "detailed."
"No Problem"
Brother Wu's service not only gave us a clear vision but even more was carried out by him personally, laboring without ceasing. Not only the seven yearly conferences and trainings in the Lord's recovery, and the various blending conferences and trainings in different places, which Brother Wu never missed, but even the church's corporate morning revival, gospel preaching, and shepherding—he took the lead and did them personally. Especially in these last few years, every time I saw Brother Wu, I saw a person living by strong faith and by the great power of resurrection. As he himself said, I had my kidney transplanted, my gallbladder removed, three strokes, and a heart attack and came back from death; that I can serve now is all the Lord's mercy. No matter how weak or sick his body, it could not stop his service; it could truly be said: while there is life, the service does not cease. Last summer, my wife and I went together to Taiwan to visit and blend, to learn the children's service and to learn how to perfect the next generation, and for the first two days we were received at a certain meeting hall. At six in the morning, the meeting hall had corporate morning revival, and Brother Wu had corporate morning revival together with the saints; when the morning revival ended, Brother Wu was drenched in cold sweat and could not stand up by himself, and the brothers helped him back to his lodging. We had originally planned to fellowship with Brother Wu after the morning revival, but finding that Brother Wu needed rest, we thought to find him to fellowship in the afternoon or evening. But when we looked for him in the afternoon, we found that, after resting a little in the morning, he had gone again to serve in the Xinji Building. After a whole day of labor, in the evening he again accompanied us to eat and fellowship. This time we heard that the day before Brother Wu departed, he was still serving in the Xinji Building. He labored and served to the end of the road; he was truly a drink offering, his whole being poured out for the Lord's church and the Lord's recovery.
In the past twenty years of full-time service, every year there were several opportunities to meet Brother Wu, and each time I seized the opportunity to find Brother Wu to fellowship, inquire, and seek instruction—sometimes even fellowshipping until deep into the night. Each time I came to fellowship with many problems and difficulties, and after the fellowship, all the problems seemed to disappear, and none of the problems was a problem anymore. Whether the difficulties in service, the need to purchase a meeting hall, the need for the gospel propagation, or the need for perfecting the saints—as soon as I fellowshipped with Brother Wu, everything was "no problem." "No problem" almost became Brother Wu's registered trademark; even quite a few English-speaking and Spanish-speaking brothers in North America, when they saw Brother Wu, called him "Brother No Problem." From the brother we also learn, and have gradually come to realize, that as long as we, like the brother, simply love the Lord and love the church and are willing to be broken, none of the problems is a problem anymore, and the outward problems all become our benefit and blessing, strengthening and inspiring us to go on further!