Tribute to Brother Liu Suey

BROTHER LIU SUEY

                                                                             August 8, 2023

 

From my first meeting with Brother Liu Suey probably in Taipei during the days of the full-time training  in 1986, I realized that this one was a true man of God, a God-man, though unassuming and without any ostentation. He appeared to be quiet, kind, and friendly but behind that appearance was character, dignity, godliness, and spiritual weight. Infrequent were my experiences with him and usually at a distance but I perceived a brother constituted with Christ, absolute for God’s move, consecrated, tested, approved, and with profound endurance.

His oneness with and faithfulness to the Lord, to the Lord’s recovery, to Brother Lee and his ministry, and to the publication work were unsurpassed.  I wish I could have had more time with him to learn the secret of his mettle but seldom did our paths cross.

When I learned of his departure at age 98 to be with the Lord he loved, I was deeply saddened yet so comforted that he is in the Lord’s presence and surely an overcomer.  When he spoke, he spoke with weight and reality, exhibiting no showmanship. When he ministered the word in meetings and conferences, I was nourished, supplied, and uplifted.  During one meeting which I cannot forget, he used the simple illustration of eyeglasses to explain the spiritual difference between something objective and our physical eyes which are subjective to us.  We must give honor to whom honor is due.

May his pattern to us all of living a full God-man life be reproduced in all of us as a testimony of the renewing capacity of the divine life.

 

Recently I took the time to sort through some archives related to the life and work of Brother Liu Suey which give us a glimpse of his usefulness over many decades in the Lord’s recovery:

1. From A Memorial Biography of Brother Witness Lee
2. Photograph-p. 22 (left front)
3. Photograph-bottom, p. 35.
4. Photograph-bottom, p. 36.
5. Photograph-top, p. 57.
6. Photograph-top, p. 77.
7. Photograph-bottom, p. 96.
8. Photograph-bottom, p. 100.
9. From The Collected Works of Witness Lee, Letters and Gleanings, Vol. 1, 119 letters.
10.  Preface VII and pp. 1-112.
11. Letter 17. (December 18, 1961). This letter is most impressive and compelling as it affords us a view of Bro. Lee’s sentiment of Liu Suey’s service, saying “thank the Lord that you receive from your heart with joy the burden of the publication work! May your work for this matter be remembered by Him in eternity.
12. Letter 37. (September 18, 1963). This letter commends Liu Suey’s service in the publication work with this word “your letter mentioned the categorization of the books published by the Taiwan Gospel Book Room; that is an excellent idea. Also, publishing as individual books the biographies and the gospel messages on the eight kinds of people is a very good idea; I hope that you will do it immediately. Thank the Lord for giving you the burden to bear the responsibility for the publication work in the Book Room. There truly is a need everywhere for the supply of literature—especially overseas. May the Lord bless all that you are doing. I really have no time to take care of the Chinese publication work due to the Lord’s commission in the United States.”
13. Letter 119. (October 5, 1981). This letter speaks of how highly Bro. Lee regarded Brother Liu Suey in recommending him to care for a brother living in a remote place with no church, stating “I would like to introduce you to Brother Liu Suey. Brother Liu was a co-worker in Taiwan for more than thirty years, and now he has come to live in the United States and is serving the church and the saints in Berkeley. He is still responsible for the editing work in the Taiwan Gospel Book Room. I hope you will correspond with him for fellowship. I have written to Brother Liu and asked him to introduce you to some of our Chinese and English publications, which will benefit you greatly after reading them. The Lord’s grace be with you!”
14. Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery-Book 5 (Concerning Various Aspects of Church Service). Chapter 15 on Training for the Members in the Small Groups was spoken between April 24 and May of 1985 in Taiwan by Liu Suey (pp. 181-184) and Andrew Yu (pp. 185-190) on behalf of Brother Witness Lee.
15. In January 2018 Brother Andrew Yu charged me to begin editing his work on a proposed biography of Brother Witness Lee which possibly would be entitled—Witness Lee: A Master Builder in the Present Age (similar to Bro. Lee’s biography of Watchman Nee: A Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age) and would contain upwards of forty-four chapters with prologue, foreword, and epilogue. In addition, the biography would include the testimonies of five or six saints in the Lord’s recovery with extensive experience and knowledge of Bro. Lee, his person, his work, and his ministry. Hence, Andrew sent me some short biographies of the above category of saints which included one of Liu Suey. On April 16, 2018 Brother Liu Suey gave a 5-page spoken and recorded testimony of his service with Bro. Lee.

In the process of my passing through the editorial work on the lengthy biography and the few concluding testimonies, Andrew instructed me to send my edited work to Bob Danker for further editorial work. After Bob finished all the chapters and testimonies, he forwarded the material to the LSM editorial committee where it remains today. For more information on Brother Liu Suey’s written testimony, you may want to contact LSM to see if his testimony or excerpts thereof could possibly be made available for the memorial meeting scheduled for August 11 or September 9.

 

Brother Bill Lawson

The church in Storrs, CT

Bill Lawson