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Division is all-inclusive; it includes all negative things, such as Satan, sin, worldliness, the flesh, the self, the old man, and evil temper—Rom. 16:17-18; Titus 3:10:
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We should not think that division stands by itself and is not related to the flesh, the self, and worldliness—Gal. 5:19-21; Matt. 16:23-24; 1 John 2:15-16.
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If we are enlightened concerning the nature of division, we will see that it is not only related to all negative things but includes all negative things.
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To be in division is to be in death; Christianity is filled with death and darkness because the genuine oneness in life is lacking.
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Divisions come out of different teachings, teachings other than God’s economy—1 Tim. 1:3-4:
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Whatever we teach should not be measured by whether it is wrong or right; it must be measured by whether it is divisive or not; only one kind of ministry builds up and never divides—this is the unique ministry of God’s economy.
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It kills people to teach differently; to teach differently tears down God’s building and annuls God’s entire economy; we all must realize that even a small amount of teaching in a different way destroys the recovery.
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The only way that can preserve us in the recovery is the unique ministry; if we say that we are in the recovery, yet we teach something so lightly, even in a concealed way, that is different from God’s economy, we sow the seed that will grow up in division; therefore, the only way that we can be preserved in the eternal oneness is to teach the same thing in God’s economy.
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The different teachings of the dissenting ones are winds used by God’s enemy to distract His people and carry them away from His economy—Eph. 4:14.
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The dividing teachings are organized and systematized by Satan to cause serious error and thus damage the practical oneness of the Body life—v. 14.
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The different teachings are the major source of the church’s decline, degradation, and deterioration—1 Tim. 1:3-4, 6-7; 6:3-5, 20-21.
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 4:14 That we may be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error.1 Tim. 1:3-4 Even as I exhorted you…to remain in Ephesus in order that you might charge certain ones not to teach different things…which produce questionings rather than God’s economy, which is in faith.
The dividing teachings are organized and systematized by Satan to cause serious error and thus damage the practical oneness of the Body life. The sleight is of men, but the system of error is of Satan and is related to the deceitful teachings that are designed by the evil one to distract the saints from Christ and the church life. (Eph. 4:14, footnote 5)
Never regard division as an insignificant matter….To be in oneness is to be in life, but to be in division is to be in death.
Division is all-inclusive. It comprises such negative things as Satan, sin, worldliness, the flesh, the self, the old man, and evil temper. If we are enlightened concerning the nature of division, we will see that it includes every negative thing. Do not think that division stands by itself and that it is not related to such things as the flesh, the self, and worldliness. Division is not only related to all negative things; it includes all negative things. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” pp. 253-254)
Today’s Reading
Throughout the twenty centuries of church history, the divisions, confusions, and problems that have taken place among all the Christians were all due to a ministry….All the different kinds of Christian groups come out of different ministries. A ministry is mainly a teaching. We must realize that the teaching that a Christian teaches ministers something….A teaching always issues in something. Based upon the issue of your teaching, your teaching may be considered as a ministry. …To serve others with something is to minister.Poison after poison was injected into the Christian church while the church was going on. At the conclusion of his writing ministry, Paul wrote 1 Timothy to inoculate the church against all these poisons….This phrase not to teach different things [1:3] seems so simple….We may not think that this is serious, but actually it is more than serious. It kills people to teach differently. To teach differently tears down God’s building and annuls God’s entire economy. We all must realize that even a small amount of teaching in a different way destroys the recovery. There is a proverb that says, “One sentence can build up the nation, and one sentence can destroy the entire nation.”…Just speaking one sentence that conveys your kind of concept tears down everything.
The only way that can preserve us in the recovery is the unique ministry. If we say that we are in the recovery, yet we teach something so lightly, even in a concealed way, that is different from God’s economy, we sow the seed that will grow up in division. Therefore, the only way that we can be preserved in the eternal oneness is to teach the same thing, God’s economy. This kind of teaching is called the New Testament ministry, the ministry of the new covenant. The ministry of the new covenant is to minister only the processed Triune God to be dispensed into His chosen people as life and life supply to produce members of Christ to form the Body to express the Triune God. This is the New Testament economy. To teach anything, even good things and scriptural things, that is even a little apart from God’s New Testament economy will still issue in division, and that will be very much used by the subtle one, the evil one. We must, therefore, be on the alert. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision,” pp. 267-268, 273)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1979, vol. 2, “The Genuine Ground of Oneness,” chs. 3, 9; CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision,” ch. 4