Staying away from Wandering Stars and Following the Living Stars in the Church Life

On the positive side, we need to follow Christ as the Star and also follow the living stars He has put in the churches, and on the negative side, we need to beware of wandering stars.

When the Lord was born a star rose up in the heavens, and heathen magi from the east saw it; they followed it and eventually they reached Bethlehem and saw the newborn King, Messiah, Christ, and they worshipped Him.

However, those in religion were troubled, and they even tried to do away with Him. Christ didn’t just have a star that announced His coming, but He Himself is the Star out of Jacob; He came to shine on His people, and He drew many to follow Him and even become like Him, living stars.

Today we are becoming the living and shining stars who shine in this dark age, the duplication of Christ as the living star.

In Rev. 1:16 Christ as the Son of Man walking among the local churches has seven stars in His right hand; these are the messengers of the churches, those who exercise to be under the Lord’s shining and let Him speak to them His fresh message for the churches.

For us to be a star, the duplication of Christ, is for us to be a messenger in the church, a person who enjoys Christ as the Messenger of God and as the fresh message of God to God’s people.

There are many indications in the Bible of how can we be produced to be living stars, and in Gen. 1:14-19 we see the fourth-day lights – specific light-bearers in the expanse of heaven to separate the day from the light, to be for signs and for seasons, to give light on earth.

We were shined on by Christ through His word – He is the Sun – and we are becoming His reflection, the moon, the church.

Furthermore, the stars are a type of those in the churches who are becoming Christ’s duplication; He is the living star, the morning star, the Star out of Jacob, and we are becoming His duplication.

The Lord rules over us by His shining, and where He shines, there’s the ruling of God for the growth of life (just as the sun, the moon, and the stars rule by their shining for the growth of life on earth).

We need to grow in life unto maturity in life so that, by that maturity in life, we can participate in God’s army to bring in His kingdom on earth. May we be those who are filled with God as the shining light, those who God can rule through by our shining.

Realising that there are Wandering Stars and staying away from them

In Jude 12-13 we are told of “wandering stars”.

The metaphor of wandering stars indicates that the erratic teachers, the apostates, were not solidly fixed in the unchanging truths of the heavenly revelation but were wandering about among God’s starlike people.

If we look at such people, the seem to be stars, for there’s some sort of shining there, but they are not solidly fixed in the heavenly revelation, in the unchanging truths of God’s economy.

Even more, they are not in and among the local churches, but the wander around among God’s starlike people. These are the heretics, those like wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shames; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of darkness is kept for eternity.

These apostates are false shepherds (they seem to be shepherds but are just pretending to be shepherds), empty clouds (they do not water others), dead trees (they seem to be trees bearing fruit but are dead with no real fruit), and wandering stars.

They are hidden reefs and wild, raging waves of the sea, foaming out without any restraint their own shame. Oh Lord Jesus!

We need to be fixed in the unchanging truths of the heavenly revelation, knowing God’s economy and God’s purpose, and be solidly rooted in the local churches, for it is here that Christ as the star is (see Dan. 12:3; Phil. 2:15).

We should be stars, but we should not be wandering stars; we should not be false shining ones.

Many Christians today are not stars – you can clearly see that they are not shining; other Christians, however, are stars, for there’s some shining there, but they are wandering stars.

Many religious leaders and teachers in Christianity are in this category.

A star according to God’s ordination has a certain position and a fixed orbit; it continues in its course steadfastly, and it shines properly. However, some stars are wandering stars; some Christians seem to be stars, for they shine a little, but their shining is a deception.

Those who follow them are deceived and misled; these ones don’t know where they go, they have no ground and no standing, and they have no certain way to go on with the Lord.

Today the wandering stars say one thing, and tomorrow they say something different; they are simply wandering. How can we recognize such ones? Some of the signs is that they are autumn trees without fruit, and they are waterless clouds.

Looking at the fruit of these wandering stars, we will know what they are; the Lord Jesus said that we know a tree by its fruits (Matt. 7:16-20).

Those who follow the wandering stars will eventually be like them, and their portion will be the gloom of darkness that has been kept for them for eternity. Oh Lord Jesus!

We need to be living stars, and we need to avoid any such stars that are wandering! May we tell the Lord,

Lord, make us Your living stars in this dark age today. Grant us to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches and to be filled with God’s fresh message for His people. May we be under Your shining, and may the divine life grow in us in a normal way, so that we may be under God’s rule and our very being and living would be shining with God as light. Oh Lord, may we discern those who are wandering stars and stay away from them. May we remain in the church life enjoying Christ as light and following the living stars whom the Lord as the living star has produced!

Following the Living Stars to become Shining Stars and Staying away from Wandering Stars

Praise the Lord for the church life in all the local churches all around the earth!

Today the living star and the living stars are not far from us – they are in and win the local churches as the practical expressions of the Body of Christ.

Christ as the Son of Man is walking among the local churches (Rev. 1:11, 20), and He has the living stars in His right hand; He also speaks to the living stars in the churches.

Among all the local churches there are some living stars; we simply need to contact them and keep company with them, and they will lead us to the place where Jesus is.

However, as we follow the Lord as the living stars and keep company with the living stars in the church life, we need to be aware that there are some wandering stars.

We may also say that anyone who keeps us from the genuine local church and from meeting on the ground of the church with the Lord’s people is a wandering star; they may seem to be shining, but they are actually wandering around.

The true stars are those who turn many to righteousness, those who do not lead people astray but turn them to the right way.

We need to follow those who are the shining stars; they have a definite standing in the word of God, they know God’s economy, and their aim is to fulfill God’s purpose.

The living stars are the stable stars, the steadfast ones. If anyone comes to us without a definite standing and a certain course, we should avoid him.

May we take the proper standing and keep ourselves in the right course.

For example, if we want to go to a certain place, we need to make sure we have a map and get the right road, in the right lane, and drive to the destination.

If we look around in Christianity in general we will see there’s so much confusion; there are many dead works, dead things, and even dead people in the so-called Christian churches.

There are so many frustrations, so many distractions, and so many wandering stars leading people astray! Oh Lord Jesus!

May we be those who find Christ by the living star; may we see the living star, follow Christ, and be produced as the duplication of Christ as the living star to be the shining stars today.

Hallelujah, the living star is not far away from us – Christ as the living star shines among us in the local churches, and there are many living stars in the local churches.

We simply need to contact Christ as the living star; we need to contact the living stars among us in the church life, and keep company with them, for they will lead us to the place where Jesus is.

Amen, may the Lord have mercy on us that we may be kept in the right way to serve the Lord, to worship Him, and to offer our love to Him.

May we be like the magi of the old, following the star to find Christ, and giving our presents to Him, even wasting ourselves on Him.

May we find Christ as the living star, may we follow Him, and may we keep company with the fellow living stars, staying away from the wandering stars, so that we may also be produced as living and shining stars on earth today!

Lord Jesus be merciful to us that we may always be kept in the right way to serve the Lord, to worship Him, and to offer our love to Him. We want to pay the price to find Christ as the living star and keep company with the living stars in the local churches. Praise You Lord, the star is not far from us – it is with us in the local churches. May we stay away from the wandering stars, those who keep us from the genuine church and from meeting on the ground of the church. Amen Lord Jesus, make us the shining and living stars in the churches today!

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References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1970, vol. 1, ”New Testament Service,” pp. 291-293, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Numbers (2), week 10, Christ as the Star out of Jacob.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # I have ceased from my wandering and going astray / By saying Amen to God’s Word. / And my old inclinations are passing away / By saying Amen to His Word. (Hymns #1219)
  # Freed from self and Adam’s nature, / Lord, I would be built by Thee / With the saints into Thy temple, / Where Thy glory we shall see. / From peculiar traits deliver, / From my independent ways, / That a dwelling place for Thee, Lord, / We will be thru all our days. (Hymns #840)
  # O Morning Star! Spring forth from my heart’s fountain, / As we attend to Thy prophetic word; / Glow as a lamp amidst apostate darkness, / Until the morn arrives in all the earth. (Song on, O Morning Star!)