EVERY CHURCH A POLICE STATION 
AND EVERY SAINT A POLICEMAN

However, because we did not have the pillar of truth, evil things were allowed to creep in. It seemed that there were no police stations and no policemen. Because there was no safeguard of the truth, thieves had an opportunity to steal and to cheat. Now we realize that every local church must be a police station and that every saint must be a policeman. If during the past four and a half years the churches had been police stations and the saints had been policemen, there would have been no way for the thieves to enter in.

Many have been reluctant to act as policemen for fear they might cause trouble. Suppose a robber comes into a bank. On the one hand, he steals the money, but on the other hand, he claims to be one with the bank and to be for the bank. Certainly the bank manager should call the police. But if he does not call the police for fear of causing turmoil, the robber will steal everything. If someone claims to be for the ministry and yet goes about stealing and deceiving, we need to fulfill our function as policemen by checking him out according to the truth. But because we have been short of the truth and short in the practice of the truth, we have not done so. We have paid a big price to learn that we are short of the truth.

Yes, the foundation of life has been laid, but the pillar of the truth has not yet been built up. Therefore, I am burdened to give a number of messages on the truth. If we have both the foundation of life and the pillar of the truth, no evil thing or evil person will be able to creep into the churches. Instead, all such ones and such things will be examined according to the truth.

Suppose a number of brothers come from other places to a certain locality to deal with the situation in the church there. Any saint who knows the truth and who practices the truth should rise up and say, “Stop! This is a hierarchy. What right do you brothers have to come here and carry on like this? Who gave you this authority? This is human organization. If you claim that Brother Lee has sent you, I’ll call him on the telephone to find out if that is true. And if it is, I’ll rebuke him for not acting according to the truth. I have received his ministry for years, but I will not receive it this time if it is not according to the truth.” Even if the apostle Paul were to speak against the truth of the New Testament, we should reject him. We must be faithful to practice the truth. If we see evil deeds but do not function as policemen, then we are not practicing the truth. For the Lord’s recovery we must have not only life but also truth. We all need to be impressed with the absolute importance of the truth.

THE FULL KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH

First Timothy 2:4 says, “Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.” God desires all men to have two things: salvation and the full knowledge of the truth. In the past we took care of salvation, but we neglected the full knowledge of the truth. Notice that, according to the Greek, this verse does not say that men should come simply to the knowledge of the truth, but to the full knowledge of the truth.

The last part of 1 Timothy 4:3 speaks of “those who believe and have full knowledge of the truth.” Here we see believing, which refers to salvation, and fully knowing the truth. To have the full knowledge of the truth is to fully know the truth. To know the truth in this way is a safeguard.

DEPRIVED OF THE TRUTH

In 1 Timothy 6:5 Paul says, “Perpetual wranglings of men corrupted in mind and deprived of the truth.” Those whose minds are corrupted are deprived, destitute, of the truth. They do not care for the truth. Some have actually said that the later they sleep in the morning, the more spiritual they are. This kind of statement could be uttered only by one who is destitute of the truth. Others have said that the best way to have a solid time on the Lord’s Day morning is to sleep late. Some have even told the young people that since they cannot conquer their flesh, they should let it do whatever it desires. Anyone who can accept such statements is short of the knowledge of the truth.

Someone has even said that we should care only for the Spirit, not for principles. How subtle! Anyone who knows the truth realizes that this means to accept only the Spirit and to reject the Bible, for all the principles are derived from the Bible. It is very dangerous to have only the Spirit but not the principles of the Word.

Perhaps you have heard some say that they would drink my spirit but not take my word. If the saints in the Lord’s recovery had the full knowledge of the truth, they would never accept this kind of word, a word that is an utter falsehood spoken by those deprived of the truth. During the last few years there has been a dreadful shortage among us of the practice of the truth. If we all had practiced the truth, certain sayings and practices would have been questioned a long time ago. We need to learn the truth; we must not be a people destitute of the truth.