2. What Antichrists Do Toward God

After fellowshipping about the various wicked manifestations that antichrists exhibit toward people, let’s fellowship about what manifestations antichrists exhibit toward God within them only thinking about wicked things all day. We have covered much on this topic before, so let’s summarize. We’ll start with milder cases and then gradually transition to more severe ones. First is doubt, followed by scrutinizing God, and there is also suspicion, guardedness, making demands, and bargaining. Is there anything else? (Testing God.) The nature of this behavior is quite serious. As we proceed, the nature of each behavior becomes increasingly more severe—denial, condemnation, judgment, blasphemy, verbal abuse, attack, clamoring, and opposition. While some of these terms may seem to have somewhat similar meanings on the surface, upon closer examination, their depth or emphasis differs. By adopting various perspectives or considering the different approaches of antichrists, we can make distinctions in the nature of these terms.

a. Doubt

Doubt, scrutiny, and suspicion are relatively preliminary manifestations. Some people merely harbor doubt in their hearts, thinking, “Is the incarnate flesh really God? He seems like a person to me. Are all His words the truth? Which of them sounds like the truth? Some of what He says may be beyond human speech and knowledge. People may not clearly explain mysteries and prophecies, but can’t prophets also say such things? It is said that God is righteous, but how is God righteous? It’s said that God is sovereign over everything, but then why is Satan always doing bad things? When Satan captures and persecutes us, when it abuses us, why doesn’t God step in? Where is God? Does God really exist?” When people lack genuine faith, don’t recognize God’s sovereignty, don’t know God’s disposition, or God’s essence, and don’t understand the truth, such doubts will arise in their hearts. However, as people gradually experience God’s work, comprehend the truth, and recognize God’s sovereignty, these doubts are progressively resolved and will transform into genuine faith. This is the inevitable path for everyone who follows God. But for antichrists who possess a wicked essence, can their doubts be changed? (No, they cannot be changed.) Why can’t they be changed? (Antichrists are disbelievers—they don’t acknowledge God.) In theory, they are disbelievers, so they persistently doubt God. The objective reason is that people like this inherently refuse to accept the truth and positive things. However, everything God does is positive and the truth. Because antichrists are averse and hostile to the truth, even if everyone acknowledges that every single thing God does is a fact, that all of it is under God’s sovereignty, and that God’s sovereignty—like God—definitely exists, antichrists do not acknowledge or accept that these are facts. In their hearts, doubts about God persist forever. Clearly, these are facts, they are witnessed by everyone, and even those who usually have the smallest faith have their doubts about God eliminated after experiencing God’s work for many years, and they develop genuine faith in God. Antichrists alone cannot change their doubts about God. Objectively speaking, in theory these individuals are disbelievers who do not accept the truth, but in fact, it is because antichrists are averse to the truth and possess a wicked essence—this is the fundamental reason. Regardless of how many people confirm or bear witness to what God has done, or how overwhelming a piece of evidence is put before antichrists’ eyes, they still refuse to believe in the essence of God or that God is sovereign over all things—this is excessively wicked. This can be illustrated by one point: When antichrists see the overwhelming and evident fact of God’s sovereignty over all things, they neither believe in nor acknowledge it, and they even doubt God. However, when it comes to the deeds of the so-called Buddha or immortals that nonbelievers, devils, and evil spirits speak about—deeds that antichrists have not witnessed, and which lack any tangible evidence—they readily believe. This is an extreme display of wickedness. Regardless of how great or earth-shattering God’s actions may be, antichrists still doubt and show contempt, constantly harboring doubts in their hearts. Yet, when devils or Satan do anything bizarre, they are won over, and they bow down in admiration. They cannot generate fear or genuine faith in God, no matter how great the things God does. Conversely, they readily believe in all of Satan’s fabrications, and revere these wholeheartedly. This is a display of wickedness. The fact that antichrists doubt God always exists. They never believe that God is sovereign over all things, and they never acknowledge that God is the truth; regardless of how many people bear witness to or how much evidence is presented for these things, they can neither admit nor believe them. In one respect, this is due to the wicked disposition essence of the antichrists, and in another, it indicates that such individuals are indeed not human, because they lack the thought processes of normal humanity. What does it mean that they don’t possess the thought processes of normal humanity? It means that they lack the correct judgment and understanding of positive things, the truth, and the essence and origin behind all things. Even through reading God’s words, listening to sermons, and experiencing and appreciating God’s words, they cannot confirm or believe but remain in doubt. Clearly, these individuals lack the thought processes of normal humanity. Are people who lack normal thought processes, who cannot comprehend the truth, God’s words, and positive things and facts, still human? (No, they are not human.) They aren’t human, but it can’t be said that they’re animals, because animals lack a wicked disposition; since these individuals do have a wicked disposition, the statement holds true: These individuals indeed are bona fide antichrists, possessing a demonic nature. Doubt is a state in the thoughts that antichrists manifest toward God, and it is also a kind of disposition essence revealed in their behavior, which is the most superficial, fundamental, exterior, and common manifestation.

b. Scrutiny

In their hearts, antichrists are full of doubt concerning God, so do they genuinely accept God’s words, His disposition, and His work? Do they truly submit to all these? Do they genuinely follow God? Clearly, the answer is no. What follows from this? When these individuals come to the house of God, they think: “Where is god? I can’t see him, I can only hear his voice. Judging by the voice, it seems to be female; judging by the words, she seems educated, not illiterate; but judging by the manner of speaking and the content of her words, what is she saying? Why does it sound confusing? After listening, many people say it’s the truth, but why doesn’t it sound like it to me? It’s all about matters of humanity, of human disposition, of various states people reveal in their actions—is there life and the way in this? I don’t really understand. Everyone says after listening that they should fulfill their duties loyally, satisfy god, and pursue salvation. Many people even write articles of experiential testimony and bear witness. Is this person god? Does she resemble god? I haven’t seen her face; if I had, perhaps I could read her features and have a definite answer. Right now, just hearing her voice and listening to what she says, I still feel a bit uncertain.” What are they doing? They are scrutinizing, testing, trying to grasp the actual situation, to see if this is indeed God, and then determine whether to follow Him, how to follow Him, and ascertain if they can find an answer in this person for the blessings and destination they want to gain, as well as for their desires, and if they can accurately know through this person what God in heaven is like, whether He truly exists, what His disposition is, what His approach and attitude toward humans may be, and what kind of abilities, skills, and authority He has. Is this not scrutinizing God? Clearly, it is.

While scrutinizing God, can antichrists accept God’s words as their life, and take them as a guide and goal for their daily lives and behavior? (No.) An ordinary corrupt person might scrutinize God for a while and then think, “This path is wrong, I feel uneasy at heart; I can’t find answers through scrutinizing God in this way. How can a believer in God scrutinize Him? What can be gained from scrutinizing God? When believers scrutinize God, God hides His face from them, and they can’t gain the truth. It’s said that God’s words are the truth and that people can find the way and obtain life from within His words. It’s no good for me to act in this way—I can’t continue scrutinizing Him.” As they listen to sermons and read God’s words, they gradually discover that people have corrupt dispositions, and they steadily realize that they cannot be compatible with God, fulfill their duties properly, or do anything well, unless these corrupt dispositions are resolved. They gradually discover that the reason people cannot fulfill their duties well is because their corrupt dispositions and rebelliousness are obstructing them, and because they are acting according to their corrupt dispositions, and aren’t able to handle matters according to the truth principles. Next, they begin to think, “How can I act in accordance with the truth principles? When my corrupt dispositions reveal themselves, how can I resolve them?” The best solution to people’s corrupt dispositions is the truth and God’s words. The most direct way for people to enter into the truth is for them to seek the truth principles, and to find the principles for everything they do. This establishes goals, direction, paths, and methods of practice. Once these are established, people have a path to follow, and when they act, they aren’t likely to violate the administrative decrees, to reveal their corrupt dispositions, or to cause disturbances and disruptions, and they are even less likely to resist God. After going through such an experience, they feel that they have found a suitable path for their belief in God, and that it is the path they need, the one they should enter into, the right path for belief in God and for life, and that it’s much better than scrutinizing Him and always adopting a wait-and-see approach toward Him. They realize that scrutinizing God is futile, and that no matter how much one scrutinizes Him, it won’t resolve the various corrupt dispositions that they reveal, or the problems that arise when they perform their duties. Therefore, they gradually transition from scrutinizing God to the path of seeking the truth principles. This is the normal way of entry and experiential process for ordinary corrupt humans. However, for antichrists, it’s different. From the first day they enter the house of God and cross over its threshold, they think, “Everything in god’s house is so interesting, everything is so new—it’s different from the world of nonbelievers. In god’s house, everyone has to be honest; it’s like a big family, and so lively!” After scrutinizing, getting familiar with, and thoroughly understanding their brothers and sisters, it’s time for them to scrutinize God. They think to themselves, “Where is god? What is god doing? How is he doing it? Scrutinizing god in heaven is difficult; he is hard to fathom and we fall short of this. But now, there’s a convenient shortcut—god has come to earth, making it easy to scrutinize him.” Some of them are fortunate enough to come into contact with God on earth, seeing this person with their own eyes, which makes it even more convenient for them to scrutinize Him. How do they do this? They scrutinize the cheerful conversations of God on earth, in what matters He uses one manner of speaking and in what matters He uses another, the context in which He laughs and is happy, and what He’s talking about at those times, as well as what He talks about when He’s not happy or when He’s angry. They scrutinize in what situations He ignores people or is quite amicable with them, when He prunes people and when He doesn’t, what matters He pays attention to and what He doesn’t care about, as well as whether He knows when people scrutinize Him, trick Him, or hurt Him behind His back. After scrutinizing the broader aspects, antichrists delve into specifics, such as what God on earth eats, what He wears, and His daily routine. They scrutinize what He likes, where He likes to go, and even what colors He likes or dislikes, whether He prefers sunny or cloudy weather, and if He goes out in bad weather—all these specific details. From start to finish, antichrists are always scrutinizing, ignoring what this person who holds the identity of God has come to do. They say, “I don’t care what you’re here to do; whenever I see you, you will become the subject of my scrutiny.” What is the purpose of their scrutiny? They think, “If I can confirm that you are truly god, then I can steadfastly and wholeheartedly leave everything behind to follow you. Because believing in god is like placing a bet, and since you claim to be god and the incarnate flesh of god, believing in you is equivalent to placing a bet on you. How can I not scrutinize you? If I didn’t scrutinize you, it would be unfair to me. If I didn’t scrutinize you, I wouldn’t be taking responsibility for my own destination, prospects, and destiny. I must scrutinize you to the very end.” Even today, after all their scrutiny, they’re still not sure: “Is this person really christ? Is he truly god incarnate? It’s not very clear. Anyway, many people are following him, and the state of the gospel expansion is relatively promising. It looks like it could spread further, so I shouldn’t allow myself to be left behind. But I still need to keep scrutinizing him.” They are incorrigible.

Antichrists have a wicked disposition essence, so they never cease their scrutiny. In an organization or community of nonbelievers, they scrutinize and exploit all kinds of people, finding out what their superiors like, identifying their vulnerabilities, and then tailoring their actions and catering to their superiors’ tastes to curry favor with them. After entering the house of God, their nature remains unchanged—they continue in their scrutiny. They fail to understand that scrutinizing God is not the path that believers should follow. In scrutinizing God, they will never comprehend God’s actions, or see that everything God expresses is the truth, or understand that all these truths and actions of God are for the salvation of humankind. Antichrists will never understand this point. All they see is that God’s chosen people continually suffer the persecution and pursuit of Satan. They only observe evil people committing evil acts and causing disturbances within the church, and the forces of antichrists in the religious community continuously slandering and condemning God, while God never resolves any of this. Thus, antichrists keep clinging to their own notions and imaginings, adamantly refusing to accept any truths expressed by God. What is the result? Their notions and imaginings become their evidence for resisting God. In the eyes of antichrists, these so-called pieces of evidence are the reasons why they don’t believe in or acknowledge God’s identity and essence. It is precisely because they refuse to accept the truth that they will never, ever see the truths contained beneath these facts, the truths that people should understand and comprehend, and God’s intentions. This is the result of their scrutiny. Faced with these facts, those who pursue the truth, love the truth, and have genuine faith in God, can accept things from God and respond correctly no matter what occurs in God’s house, and they can wait on God, quiet themselves before God and pray to Him, seek to grasp God’s intentions, and also understand and comprehend that God’s good intentions are behind the occurrence of all these things. For the sake of revealing and cutting off evil people, God does many things that people would not think of. At the same time, for the sake of perfecting God’s chosen people, and enabling them to gain discernment and learn lessons, He also uses evil people and their evil deeds to render service. In one respect, God reveals and cuts them off; in another, He enables His chosen people to see what things are positive and negative, whom God approves of, whom God detests, who is eliminated by God, and whom He blesses. These are all lessons God’s chosen people need to learn, the positive results that those who pursue the truth should achieve, and the truths people should understand. However, due to their wicked disposition essence, antichrists will never attain these most precious things. Therefore, they only have one state—while they are in God’s presence, aside from doubting Him, they are constantly scrutinizing Him. Even if they can’t get to the bottom of this, they continue scrutinizing Him. If you ask them if they’re tired, they say, “Not at all. Scrutinizing god is a fun, fascinating, interesting, and engaging thing to do!” Aren’t these devilish words? They possess the countenance of Satan, they have the nature essence of antichrists. They have no intention of accepting the truth or God’s salvation; they are solely here to scrutinize God.

c. Suspicion

Next, we will fellowship about antichrists’ suspicion toward God. What does suspicion literally mean? There are some specific manifestations, thoughts, and behaviors for scrutinizing God, and it is absolutely correct to say that the same is true about suspicions. After scrutinizing God, some people still don’t know what God’s disposition really is or what kind of emotions God has, and they aren’t sure whether God truly exists. They are even less able to determine whether this ordinary person is Christ or whether He possesses God’s essence. They do not understand and are unclear on these things. Afterward, when they have the opportunity to interact with God, they think, “Christ fellowshipped with me about people doing duties in a perfunctory manner; could it be that someone has spoken about me doing my duties perfunctorily and christ found out about it? Is that why he brought it up when we met? This is definitely because someone told on me, and after christ found out he targeted me for exposure. Does christ still like me, knowing what kind of person I am? Does he feel averse toward me, or does he think little of me? Is he preparing to replace me?” After waiting for a while and seeing they haven’t been replaced, they think, “Phew, I was so scared. I was thinking that christ might be petty, but he didn’t do it. Now I can relax.” Some might say, “During my last meeting with christ, I spoke incoherently, like an uneducated person, and my speech was a bit off. I exposed my true self. Will christ have a bad impression of me? Will he eliminate me later? Everything’s fine when I don’t see him—my problems only come up when I meet with him. I must not meet with him again, I have to avoid him when I see him, and stay as far from him as I can, and I absolutely must not have dealings, interactions, or close contact with christ. Otherwise, he might think little of me.” What kind of thoughts and approaches are these? (Suspicions.) These are suspicions. There are also those who say, “At the last gathering, god asked a simple question, but I didn’t answer it well, which revealed my flaws. Will god think I don’t have good caliber, and will he not cultivate me in the future? Last time, someone exposed something I did, saying I was foolish and acted in a thoughtless way. If god finds out about this, will he still perfect me in the future? What is my status in god’s mind—is it high or low, superior or inferior? Which bracket do I belong to? In the future, whenever I speak with god, I need to draft my words. I can’t speak casually or say whatever is on my mind. I must contemplate more, mull things over more, consider more, organize my language well, and present the most outstanding and skillful side of myself to christ. How wonderful and perfect that would be!” This is also suspicion.

Suspicion is another feature of the wicked disposition of antichrists. Apart from doubting and scrutinizing, antichrists also harbor suspicions. In short, regardless of which aspect dominates their thoughts, none of them has anything to do with practicing and seeking the truth. Can these approaches, thoughts, or methods confirm that the disposition essence of antichrists is wicked, then? (Yes.) Whether antichrists are doubting God, scrutinizing God, or harboring suspicions toward God, in any case, they always fail to focus on the truth, they never turn back, and they persistently use these methods to contemplate matters related to God and approach God, without seeking the truth at all. Regardless of how exhausting and hard these actions may be, they tirelessly continue to do them and repeat them. No matter how long they have scrutinized or been suspicious of God for, or whether they have gotten any results or not, they keep following this path as before, continuing to act in this way and repeating their actions. They never examine themselves, thinking, “Is this the method and attitude with which a created being should treat God? What is the nature of how I treat God? What kind of disposition am I revealing? Is treating Him like this in line with the truth? Does God detest it? If I keep doing things God detests, what will be the ultimate result? Will I be abandoned and eliminated by God? Since there will be negative consequences, why can’t I act and practice according to God’s words and requirements?” Do they reflect on these matters? (No.) Why don’t they reflect? Because they lack conscience and rationality in their character. They do not have a conscience, so they perform such unreasonable and absurd actions without being aware of it. Lacking rationality causes them to never understand who they are, or the position, perspective, and status they should assume. They never feel that they are an ordinary person, a corrupt human, or the ilk and offspring of Satan that is detested by God. The things that people should accept are God’s words, God’s requirements, and the truth that God supplies to them; they should not be scrutinizing God as though they were His equals, and laughing and talking with God as if they were interacting with another person—aren’t these things a non-human would do? At this moment, the character of antichrists is revealed, and the wicked disposition essence of antichrists dominates them, making them tirelessly engage in these worthless and meaningless actions that harm others and offer no benefit to themselves. Yet, they can’t let go; they remain unaware of the error of this path and the nature that lies behind these actions. Regardless of the amount of effort, suffering, and failure that are involved in this matter, they feel no self-blame, no accusation, and no indebtedness. They insist on being on equal footing with God, even scrutinizing and despising God from on high, repeatedly doubting and being suspicious of Him. Regardless of how many years they have believed in God, their attitude toward God and how they treat Him have never changed. If they’re not doubting Him, they’re scrutinizing Him, and if they’re not scrutinizing Him, they’re suspicious of Him. It’s like they are possessed by a demon or bewitched—these are several manifestations of the wicked essence of antichrists. Antichrists are naturally wicked; some people who cannot see through to the essence of antichrists might say, “Can’t you abstain from scrutinizing God? Can’t you stop doubting Him? Can’t you stop being suspicious toward Him? If you stop doing these things, you will be able to understand the truth, to treat God as God, to develop genuine faith in God, and to legitimately become one of God’s people; you’ll have an opportunity to become an adequate created being, and won’t you then be worthy of the name of one of God’s chosen people? How wonderful that would be!” However, antichrists retort, “I’m not that foolish. What’s the benefit of being an adequate created being? That’s boring. It’s only interesting when I doubt, scrutinize, and am suspicious of god!” This manifestation of antichrists is like what the great red dragon says: “Fighting with other people and with heaven is a source of endless fun.” This is an accurate definition and true reflection of antichrists’ wicked nature essence. In summary, antichrists are exceedingly wicked, they are wicked to the extreme. Those who believe in God but outright refuse to accept the truth are wicked people. Many people always want to give antichrists a chance to repent, thinking that they will repent one day—is this argument correct? As the sayings go, “The tiger can’t change its stripes” and “A leopard can’t change its spots.” Therefore, you cannot use standards and methods for dealing with humans to deal with or make demands of antichrists. They are what they are. If they don’t scrutinize or doubt God, or if they’re not suspicious of Him, they feel uncomfortable, because they are governed by their wicked nature.

d. Guardedness

Next, we’ll fellowship about guardedness. Antichrists have one most predominant and clearest thought and viewpoint. They say, “People mustn’t let god control or be sovereign over their destinies; if god is in control of a person’s destiny, then it’s over for them. People must be the ones in control of themselves in order for them to attain happiness, and in order for them to eat, drink, and have fun without worrying. God doesn’t let people eat, drink, and have fun, he doesn’t let them live well; he only makes people suffer hardship. Therefore, we must take charge of our own happiness; we can’t entrust our destinies to god, or passively wait for everything, or let god make preparations, and enlighten and lead us—we can’t be that kind of person. We have human rights, and the right to autonomous action, and free will. We don’t need to report everything to god and seek from god on everything—that would make us look so incompetent; only fools do that!” What are they doing? (Guarding against God.) Some people say, “Be careful when you make an oath before god; think carefully about your words. When man acts, heaven is watching!” Some pray, “Oh god, I dedicate my entire life and youth to you; I won’t look for a partner or get married.” But after saying this, they regret it, thinking, “Will god bring my words to pass? What if I really need a partner or want to get married? Will god punish me? This is bad!” From then on, they become depressed and joyless, avoiding the opposite sex and fearing punishment. What are they doing? (Guarding against God.) Another kind of person says, “Expending oneself for god is neither easy nor simple. You need to have a backup plan; you need to prepare a way out for yourself before expending for god. Otherwise, when you run out of resources, god won’t take care of you! Expending yourself for god is your business; god being sovereign over all things is another matter. God is sovereign over all things—will he take care of a small person like you? God only takes care of major matters; he doesn’t bother with these minor things. Therefore, you must plan and prepare your way out; if god no longer wants you later and sends you away, he won’t show you any mercy.” What kind of thinking is this? (Guardedness against God.) People are so calculating. Some, after becoming leaders, pay a few prices, and genuinely expend themselves a bit, but due to their bad humanity, abominable disposition, and the disposition of antichrists that they possess, they bring considerable losses to God’s house. As a result, they are sent away. Afterward, they learn to behave themselves and keep a low profile, not confiding in anyone, saying, “I used to always confide in people, so everyone knew what was really going on with me, but then someone reported me to god’s house and I was sent away. So now I have to learn to close myself off, to conceal myself, and to defend and protect myself. I must be cautious about confiding in people, and I shouldn’t even confide in god. I no longer believe that god is the truth, that he is faithful. I have even less trust in the brothers and sisters. No one is worthy of my trust, not even my family members or relatives, let alone those who pursue the truth.” What are they doing? (They are being guarded.) When antichrists experience pruning, failure, slips, and being revealed, they take stock of this, and come up with a saying: “Never intend to harm others, but always guard against the harm they might do to you.” In reality, they have harmed others quite a lot, and in the end, they disguise themselves and come up with this fallacy. After many years of believing in God and experiencing numerous failures and setbacks, as well as God’s revelation and His pruning, under normal circumstances, people should reflect on and know themselves through the lessons of these failures, seeking the truth to solve problems, and finding the reasons for their failures and slips in God’s words, as well as the path of practice they should take. However, antichrists do not do this. After multiple slips and failures, they escalate their behavior, their doubts about God grow in number and become more severe, their scrutiny of God grows more intense, their suspicion of God grows deeper, and likewise, their hearts become filled with guardedness against God. Their guardedness is full of complaints, anger, defiance, and indignation, and they even gradually develop denial, judgment, and condemnation against God. Aren’t they in an increasing amount of danger? (Yes.)

Judging by the attitude of antichrists toward God, toward the environments and people, events, and things arranged by God, toward God’s revealing and disciplining of them, and so on, do they have the slightest intention to seek the truth? Do they have the slightest intention to submit to God? Do they have the slightest faith that all of this is not accidental but is rather under God’s sovereignty? Do they have this understanding and awareness? Obviously not. The root of their guardedness can be said to come from their doubts about God. The root of their suspicion of God can also be said to come from their doubts about God. The results produced by their scrutiny of God make them more suspicious of God, and at the same time more guarded against God. Judging by the various thoughts and viewpoints generated from antichrists’ thinking, as well as the various approaches and behaviors produced under the domination of these thoughts and viewpoints, these people are quite simply unreasonable; they cannot understand the truth, they cannot develop genuine faith in God, they cannot thoroughly believe and acknowledge the existence of God, and they cannot believe and acknowledge that God is sovereign over all creation, that He is sovereign over everything. All of this is due to their wicked disposition essence.

December 19, 2020