Living Stream Ministry
2431 V. la Palma Ave. /Anaheim, CA 92801 P.O. Box2121/Anaheim, CA 92814/U.S.A.
September 30, 2016 Dear Brothers,
For some time, we have been burdened about encouraging the saints to read ministry publications. In 2013, we released some excerpts from Brother Lee’s speaking on the burden and importance of the matter. He said: “I hope that all the churches in all the localities, which have received the supply in the Lord’s word from this ministry, will do their best to help the publication of the ministry…We want to encourage the brothers and sisters to build up the habit of reading spiritual books.” He hoped that the elders in each locality would “give the saints some help and encouragement so that each household would have a supply of spiritual books.” He charged us to lead the saints to have “a proper attitude to be positive and aggressive, doing our best to urge people to read His word.” He also said,
If we have a clear view and know the Bible, the condition of today’s Christianity, the truth, and the mercy given to us by God, we would spend our whole life being immersed and soaked in the truth. Then we would surely have the burden to propagate this truth as much as possible among the brothers and sisters in the churches. We would endeavor to create among the brothers and the sisters an atmosphere of desiring the truth and the Life- studies…I hope that we could all learn to appreciate the Life-studies by diving into them, bathing in them, and allowing the light of the truth to penetrate us. Only then will we be able to spread the blessings and benefits that we have received, thereby creating an atmosphere in which the saints desire the truth and the Life-studies.
The Lord’s word will require that we bear the responsibility to labor willingly to zealously encourage and urge everyone in all the local churches to pursue the truth and read the spiritual publications. In this wav the Lord’s truth will spread widely, and there will be a real revival.
If all the six hundred churches on the earth would seriously read the Life-studies and thoroughly study the truths contained in them, I absolutely believe that a great revival would begin not only among us but even on the whole earth.
“We should help the saints to build up a practice or d habit that every day they would spend at least thirty minutes in the Word…l think we need to remind them week after week, and sometimes the elders need to give the saints some direction, some encouragement, and some incentive.”
Moreover, we recently found the following quotation from page 163 of The Economy of Cod and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity regarding Brother Lee’s view concerning the publications.
“…I hope that we could live to be eighty or ninety, even to over a hundred, so that we might be able to see the fulfillment of all that we have fellowshipped today. I wish to live on this earth and witness with my own eyes the truth of the Lord not only being printed into books through our hands, but also being sent through us to every part of the world and prevailing in every place. I absolutely believe that this will hasten the Lord’s return because it is through this that Lord will prepare His bride. I hope that we all can see the manifestation of such a situation.”
North American Elders
September 30, 2016
Based on the above words, we hope that you will fellowship about this matter among the saints. In particular, we hope that you will devote a dedicated time to share this burden to the whole church. Jim Miller, Steve Watts, and Michio Miyake are quite burdened to help carry out this burden among us. We have proposed that the brothers visit the churches to fellowship more in depth about this burden. The brothers will be contacting you soon. We hope that you will arrange a time for these brothers to share with the elders and the saints the importance of this reading habit. This can be done over a weekend, or during a blending time of the churches in your region, or any time convenient to you.
May the Lord bless His recovery through His rich supply in His ministry and through the cooperation of the saints.
Your brothers,
Benson Phillips, Ray Graver, Andrew Yu
