The proper exercise of quarantine preserves the building up of the Body of Christ and crushes Satan under our feet (Rom 16:17, 20). However, quarantine may also be misunderstood and misused. We see this in the experiences of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, of which we present some examples below.
The Experiences of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
In 1924, Watchman Nee was excommunicated by his six co-workers because he opposed the ordination of some of them as pastors, among other reasons. In this case, Brother Nee was excommunicated because he stood for the truth. While many believers who met with them sided with him, the Lord would not allow Brother Nee to vindicate himself.
In 1942, almost the entire church in Shanghai became rebellious towards Brother Nee due to a misunderstanding among the brothers. This was after Brother Nee agreed to manage his brother’s pharmaceutical business to supply the Lord’s work, and several brothers working in his factory became ambitious for a higher position and caused a misunderstanding. While not strictly a quarantine, Brother Nee had to stop his ministry for six years as a result of this rebellion. However, after these six years, there was a revival, and nearly all the rebellious ones repented.
In 1989, twenty-one brothers from nine churches in Europe wrote a letter of disassociation from Witness Lee. The brothers who wrote the letter said that it was written “before God, before the brothers and sisters in the local churches, [and] before the Christian public.” In a way, this was a call to disassociate with or “quarantine” Brother Lee. While this letter was made public, the churches around the world did not follow suit. This response shows the feeling of the Body regarding this matter.
From these, we see that quarantine may be wrongly applied. Hence, we should take great care in our application of this matter. Below we will examine more examples of the misuse of quarantine as a warning and for our learning.
Examples of the Misuse of Quarantine
Without a proper basis
The Bible only presents three specific cases which are to be dealt with by quarantine, which are division (Rom. 16:17, Titus 3:10), heresy (2 John 7-11), and living in fornication (1 Cor. 5:2, 11, 13). Outside of these, we do not have a basis to quarantine believers. These were discussed in detail In “Quarantine in the Bible and its Misuse (1).”
For example, Diotrephes was a person who loved to be first among the believers, babbled against the apostles, and did not receive the brothers. While these sins appear serious, John did not tell the believers to quarantine Diotrephes.
Improper reasons to quarantine believers would include differences in opinion and ways of service, misunderstandings and disagreements among the saints, ambition for position, even receiving quarantined saints, or attending certain conferences and trainings, and differences in teaching and practice of truths not part of the common faith (Titus 1:4), among others. Brother Lee made it clear that even if churches chose not to follow his ministry, they should still be treated as brothers and as genuine local churches (Elders’ Training, Book 7, pp. 74-75). The Lord Himself referred to the church in Ephesus even after all in Asia, of which Ephesus was a leading city, had turned away from the ministry of the apostle Paul (Rev. 2:1; 2 Tim. 1:15), though the Lord did warn Ephesus that it was in danger of losing its lampstand (Rev. 2:5).
Without a “second or third admonition”
Titus 3:10 says, “A factious man, after a first and second admonition, refuse.” This shows that quarantine must not be conducted in a hasty way. This is also according to the principle in Matt. 18:16-18.
As an example, the quarantine of Brother Titus Chu was only carried out after 1) it became increasingly clear that his work was divisive and 2) the co-workers made multiple efforts to rescue him. The co-workers issued the letter of quarantine on October 7, 2006, over twenty years since problems were initially manifested. This was also after several efforts to rescue him, which include letters dated June 30, 2005, August 25, 2005, and June 27, 2006. Please see “From Such Turn Away” in www.afaithfulword.org for a more detailed account of this matter.
Beyond the divisive ones
The Bible only tells us to turn away from “those who make divisions and causes of stumbling” (Rom. 16:17). There is no mention of those who receive or simply follow the divisive ones. This means that receiving one who is quarantined by itself is not a cause for quarantine.
Moreover, we do not see any instance of a quarantine of local churches in the Bible, as all cases of quarantine cover specific persons. In practice, although there were many who participated in the rebellion of the late 1980s, Brother Lee only mentioned four names of those who should be quarantined in The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion. He did not recommend any quarantine for saints or churches who followed these ones.
Based on position or majority opinion
Quarantine is a matter that affects the entire Body. Notably, just because quarantine is carried out by leaders or by the majority does not mean that it is proper.
In Brother Nee’s case, he was excommunicated by six co-workers in 1924, despite his standing for the truth. In 1942, Brother Nee faced a rebellion by almost the entire church, but nearly all the rebellious ones eventually repented. Those who excommunicated him, although they were in the majority, were eventually proven wrong and Brother Nee’s ministry was vindicated by the Lord.
On the other hand, the broad affirmation by various churches of the four names that Brother Lee mentioned in 1989 expressed the feeling of the Body regarding this matter. See The Problems Causing Turmoil in the Church Life, Chapter 2 for further details.
Without the opportunity for recovery
Quarantine should be exercised with a view to recover those who are affected. While “excommunication” has been used in the past, Brother Lee urged the elders not to excommunicate believers as this does not give the opportunity to recover the affected one.
“Also, I feel that we had better avoid using the word excommunication because we must leave the ground, the opening, for the sinning one to come back. If we use the word excommunicate, this is too strong. This may close the door to the sinning one. We should remember that when we need to give “forty stripes” we should give only thirty-nine (Deut. 25:3). Never punish someone over the limit. Try your best to punish less.”
(Elders’ Training, Book 04: Other Crucial Matters Concerning the Practice of the Lord’s Recovery, Ch. 7)
We also see this in the type of lepers in the Old Testament. While lepers were required to stay outside the camp, they were eventually permitted to enter the camp after their leprosy cleared.
Not out of love
To quarantine a person does not mean that we hate the person. This is similar to one who has caught a contagious disease in a family. The family may have to quarantine the sick one to prevent the spread of the disease, but the family would still love him and would want him to be recovered.
“I do feel that all the churches must do something to help the saints to know the real situation in the recovery. The saints must be helped to realize that a ‘contagious disease’ is now among us, and, as in the field of medicine, we must quarantine the diseased ones. To quarantine does not mean that we do not love those who are ‘ill,’ nor does it mean that we cut them off. It means that we do something to preserve both the contagious ones and the rest of the Body.”
(Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Ch. 6)
May we all be saved from any misuse or misunderstanding of quarantine, and may we be recovered to the proper application of this matter for the building up of the Body of Christ!
Excerpts from the Ministry
Examples of Quarantine
BROTHER NEE’S SUFFERINGS FROM WITHIN THE CHURCH
Being Unjustly Excommunicated
Brother Nee’s sufferings from certain ones among us were more serious than those from Christianity. As we have pointed out, the church life began in Brother Nee’s hometown in 1922. In 1924 he was excommunicated by six brothers. This was carried out not just by an announcement in the meeting but by something in writing, and it happened while he was away. He related the whole story of his being excommunicated to me in detail.
He was working in the city of Hangchow, which is very close to Shanghai, when he received a letter telling him that he was excommunicated. Brother Nee told me that when he was about to react to this, the Lord checked with him, “Are you going to be in My hand, or are you going to be in your own hand?” Thus, Brother Nee had no choice in this matter. After his preaching work was finished, he returned to his hometown. Most of the brothers and sisters there were students saved through him, and they were furious about what had happened. They absolutely did not agree with what was done to Brother Nee. They went to the pier to wait for the arrival of his boat. When he arrived, they told him that he should not stand for this excommunication and that he had to do something. He was seasick from his journey, so he told them to come to his home that night to have fellowship about this matter. (The History of the Church and the Local Churches, Chapter 7, Section 1)
The Two Reasons for Excommunication from Foochow in 1924
I was excommunicated in Foochow in 1924 for two reasons. First, I opposed inviting Mr. Woodberry from the Christian and Missionary Alliance to ordain some of us to be pastors. Second, I opposed putting up a sign that said “The Foochow Church.” Later, the brothers tried to change the name to “The Chuan-Chien-Shan Church.” [Chuan-Chien-Shan is the name of a district in the city of Foochow.] I opposed it because such names cannot include all the believers in Foochow. For example, there are various Chinese Associations in the city of San Francisco, each affiliated with a different province. There is constant fighting among them, sometimes even with firearms. Suppose a few Chinese among them put up another sign that just said “The Chinese Association.” This sign would be torn down immediately. They can only claim to represent all the Chinese in San Francisco when all the Chinese in the different associations have become one in everything. Of course, under the present circumstance, a few of them who are of one mind can still bind themselves together and have an unofficial Chinese Association that does not bear an official name and which includes all Chinese. Such an association would be standing on the ground of the Chinese Association, but would not declare anything in an outward way. Our practice of the local church should be the same in principle. If there is absolutely no other denomination in a locality, an assembly can declare itself to be the local church in that locality. If any denomination comes afterward to set up another congregation, it is setting up a division. The one who is there first has the right of priority. In a place where there are existing denominations already, one can only say that his meeting is one that meets in the name of the Lord. The words church and assembly are the same in Greek, which is ekklesia. (Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The (Set 2) Vol. 41: Conferences, Messages, and Fellowship (1), Chapter 8)
Having His Ministry Stopped for Six Years because of Rebellion among the Saints
Many were raised up to serve the Lord full time, but the financial situation was not that good. As a result, the co-workers had to pass through many trials of poverty, and many became sick. In one meeting Brother Nee told us that about one-third of our co-workers had died of tuberculosis. I pointed out in a previous chapter that Brother Nee used one-third of his income to support others for the Lord’s work, but the need among us was great. Brother Nee’s second brother was an expert in pharmaceutical chemistry, and he began to produce some medicine in China. He did not know how to manage, so he asked Brother Nee to do it. Brother Nee took that as an opportunity to do some business in order to supply the Lord’s work.
He was in this business a little over two years, from 1940 to 1942. Then there was a misunderstanding among the brothers. I would say that this mostly came from ambition. Some of the brothers who were working in the pharmaceutical factory were ambitious for a higher position. The misunderstanding became bigger and bigger and developed to such an extent that the entire church in Shanghai became rebellious toward Brother Nee with a few exceptions.
At the same time, the Japanese military police were there trying to arrest Brother Nee. This situation forced the church in Shanghai to “close its doors.” The Japanese military police attempted to force the church in Shanghai to join the false Christianity association under the Japanese military police. The church could not do this. Also, within the church there was a big turmoil against Brother Nee. Thus, the church had no way to go on.
Brother Nee was wise to flee and escape from Shanghai. Otherwise, he would have been arrested by the Japanese military police. He went to the interior of China and carried on his pharmaceutical factory in Chungking, the capital of China during the war. Brother Samuel Chang was a great help to Brother Nee in that pharmaceutical factory. Due to the great turmoil in the church in Shanghai, Brother Nee had no other choice but to stop his ministry. His ministry was stopped for six years. There was a rumor that he was too occupied with his pharmaceutical business and did not have the time to minister. This was false. He did not minister because of the rebellion. This was the last and greatest suffering that Brother Nee had to endure before his imprisonment.
In 1948 a big revival was brought in among us, and Brother Nee returned to his ministry. Through that revival nearly all the rebellious ones repented to him. Though many had become rebellious toward Brother Nee, they were not against the church. It was a real testimony that almost everyone stayed with the church and did not go back to the denominations. During the time of the rebellion, some went to Brother Nee and encouraged him to set up another meeting. He said that this should not be done. He told these saints that regardless of whether the church was against him or for him, it was still the church, and they had to continue in the church.
When Brother Nee returned to his ministry, there was a bigger revival. The church then decided to buy a big piece of land for a meeting hall that could seat three thousand inside and two thousand outside. The price of the land was about one hundred thousand dollars, and the price to build the meeting hall was about the same. I was bearing the responsibility in these financial matters. One day Brother Nee’s wife told me that he wanted me to go to his home that night. When I went to his home, he handed over to me thirty-seven gold bars at ten ounces each. This was three hundred seventy ounces of gold at fifty dollars an ounce at that time. He said, “Take this and use it for the payment of the land.” He told me he got it from the pharmaceutical business. (The History of the Church and the Local Churches, Chapter 7)
The Misuse of Quarantine
Diotrephes did not receive the apostles and babbled against them with evil words; neither did he receive the brothers, and those intending to do so he forbade and cast them out of the church. If the apostle John would have come to the church, he would have brought Diotrephes’s works to the remembrance of the believers (v. 10). We need to be careful in dealing with such a case. Diotrephes’s actions surely constituted a great sin. However, the apostle did not indicate that Diotrephes’s sin was intolerable to the extent that he needed to be quarantined. John did not tell us to quarantine such a person. Even sinful acts such as this in the church life should be dealt with through much consideration, with the expectation that the sinful acts could be corrected after a certain amount of loving rebuking and punishment. (Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Chapter 5)
We have studied 1 Corinthians 5:13 particularly. The word translated remove here was taken from the Septuagint (Greek) version of the Old Testament. The removal of the sinful brother in 1 Corinthians 5 was like the putting of a leper outside the camp in the Old Testament (Lev. 13:45-46; Num. 5:2). In Numbers 12 Miriam rebelled against Moses, and she was stricken with leprosy. She was removed from the camp for seven days, until her leprosy was cleared up. This was a form of quarantining. There has been much talk among Christians concerning the matter of excommunication. It is wrong to excommunicate a believer. To excommunicate someone is to give him up, but to remove a person is to quarantine him with the hope that he would become sound. (Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Chapter 5)