Margaret Barber and the Danger Faced by Watchman Nee

Many people today will struggle to comprehend what it was Margaret Barber saw decades ago when she wrote a letter to D.M. Panton concerning Watchman Nee.

For a little background, Watchman Nee was only recently saved when he came into contact with Margaret Barber, a wonderful servant of the Lord based in China. Very little is known about Margaret Barber, yet she was one of the choice believers on the earth at the time.

Watchman Nee said of her that she taught him more of the Lord than any other person on earth, and Watchman Nee had traveled around the earth and met many great ones of that time.

Margaret Barber wouldn't have cared about any of that, but I only mention it to underscore the situation this letter was written in.

Watchman Nee came to visit Barber a number times, taking advantage of a shelf of books she had. He would even attempt to trick her into giving them to her, and if she thought he wasn't ready for them, he would figure out where to get them elsewhere, even if Margaret Barber didn't approve.

What Barber saw was that Watchman Nee was going to be a major influence in China for Christ, but he was in extreme danger. The danger wasn't in reference to suffering in Christ or the future imprisonment of Nee, rather, the danger was that Nee was focusing on a mental apprehension of the Lord rather than experiencing Him.

Here's a portion of what Barber wrote to Panton:

"Please do not let Faithful Luke & Watchman Nee worry you with letters. It is so good & kind of you to have written once to them. They are likely to be tiresome. They write to Mr. Wright Hay or any Editor whose address they can get & do not understand how precious time is to a busy Editor. For many reasons I think you should not be feeling obliged even to answer their letters. These two young men are in great danger. They have a mental apprehension of God’s Truth which unless lived out will be their peril."

What's amazing about this letter to me is the fact that someone saw the danger at all. Today most believers in contact with someone like Nee would think they were spiritual giants or potential giants because they mentally acquired a knowledge of the scriptures and "truths" concerning Christ.

Barber understood the extraordinary danger Nee was in by pursuing that path, and she graciously pointed that out to Panton.

Again, a reason I think Barber took the extraordinary step of writing this way to Panton was because she saw what the Lord wanted to do with Nee, and if Nee traveled the wrong path, those that followed him would take the same path. She was fighting to see this not happen.

In our day and age of cheap Christianity and self-focused lifestyles, it's amazing to recall this great (in God's eyes) woman of God who saw the extreme dangers that can come about for a zealous believer apprehending truth without practical and experiential living out the life of the Lord.