What other specific manifestations do false leaders have? Can false leaders see through and grasp the principles and standards required in work arrangements? (No.) Why can’t they? They can’t see through to what the principles of this work are, and they can’t carry out checks on it. When special situations arise during the specific implementation of the work, they don’t know how to resolve them. When the brothers and sisters ask them what to do in one of these situations, they get confused: “This isn’t mentioned in the work arrangement, how would I know how to handle it?” If you don’t know, how can you implement this work? You don’t even know but still ask others to implement it—is that realistic? Is that reasonable? When false leaders and false workers implement work arrangements, for one thing, they have no idea about the steps and plans for implementing the work arrangements. For another, when problems are encountered, they can’t conduct checks according to the principles required by the work arrangements. Therefore, when myriad issues of all sorts arise during the implementation of the work arrangements, they are completely unable to resolve them. Because in the early stages false leaders cannot identify or anticipate problems and cannot fellowship in advance, and in the later stages, when problems arise, they cannot resolve them but just emptily preach doctrines and rigidly apply regulations, problems keep recurring and persist, with some work suffering delays in implementation, and other work not being implemented to a sufficient degree. For example, regarding the work arrangement of God’s house for clearing out and expelling people, when false leaders carry out this work, they only clear out the obvious evil people, antichrists, and evil spirits that cause disruptions and disturbances, as well as the disbelievers whom the brothers and sisters all find repulsive and loathsome. However, there are still some who should be cleared out, that is, those hidden, insidious, cunning evil people and antichrists. The brothers and sisters cannot see through them, and neither can the false leaders. In fact, according to the work arrangements of God’s house, these people have already reached the level of being cleared out. However, because false leaders cannot see through them, they still regard these people as good and even promote, cultivate, and use them for important work, allowing them to hold power and occupy important work positions in the church. Can the work arrangement of God’s house to clear out and expel people be implemented then? Can various problems be thoroughly resolved? Can the work of spreading the gospel proceed normally? Clearly, the work arrangements of God’s house cannot be thoroughly implemented, and a lot of important work cannot be done well. Because the people used by false leaders have no truth reality whatsoever and can even commit evil deeds, this prevents various items of church work from being carried out well. False leaders use these evil people, letting them do important duties and undertake important work in the church, even allowing these evil people to manage offerings. Will this disrupt and disturb the church’s work? Will it cause losses to God’s offerings? (Yes.) This is a very serious consequence. Because false leaders cannot see through these people, are unable to screen them, and let these evil people take on important jobs, the work gets completely bungled. In doing their duties, these evil people always act perfunctorily, deceive those above them and conceal things from those below them, and do no real work; they act with willful recklessness, mislead people, and commit all manner of evil deeds. However, false leaders cannot see through them, and by the time they notice the problems, a great disaster has already occurred. For example, in the Henan pastoral area, some evil people who became leaders used various despicable means to steal God’s offerings; they stole huge amounts, and these amounts have never been recovered. Does this have anything to do with leaders and workers choosing and using the wrong people? (Yes.) According to the work arrangements, if one cannot see through the people selected, they can first be assigned to do some simple work, and one can then follow up on their work and observe them for a period of time. People who cannot be seen through absolutely must not be assigned any important work, especially if it entails risk. Only after long-term observation and seeing through their essence should decisions be made on how to treat and handle them. False leaders do not work according to the work arrangements and cannot grasp principles; even more so, they cannot see through people and they use the wrong people. This leads to losses in both church work and God’s offerings. This is the calamity brought by false leaders. Antichrists deliberately make use of evil people, while false leaders are muddleheaded, cannot see through anyone, and cannot see through to the essence of whatever problems they identify. They use and assign people based solely on their feelings. Most of the people arranged by false leaders are unsuitable; they cause losses to the church’s work, with consequences identical to those of antichrists deliberately using evil people. False leaders, with poor caliber and inability to do work, also bring quite serious consequences, don’t they? (Yes.) So don’t think that only antichrists violate work arrangements; false leaders can also violate work arrangements. Even if it is not intentional, the nature of it ultimately is still a violation of the work arrangements. False leaders, due to not understanding the truth principles and not being able to see through people or matters, end up violating work arrangements and being unable to perform real work. This delays the church’s work and harms God’s chosen people. The nature and consequences of their actions are the same as those of antichrists doing the work, also causing losses to the church’s work and causing harm to the life entry of the brothers and sisters.

False leaders, when doing work and implementing work arrangements, just go through the motions and turn things into a complete mess. They are quite self-righteous and never seek or fellowship, foolishly thinking that they have good caliber; they dare to take action, and can speak eloquently. Because the brothers and sisters elect them or God’s house temporarily promotes and cultivates them, they think they are up to standard as leaders and can fulfill their responsibilities. Little do they know that they are nothing and cannot fulfill any of the responsibilities of leaders and workers. They have no measure of their own inadequacies; they just shamelessly dare to do things. As a result, after various work arrangements are issued, they cannot implement any of them according to the requirements from the Above. Every work arrangement they handle ends up being a complete mess and utterly chaotic. Their implementation of administrative work is poor; they are unclear about how many new believers were gained through preaching the gospel, how to establish churches, select leaders and deacons, and how to conduct church life. As for who has the most results in taking charge of gospel work, who testifies the most effectively, who is best suited to watering the church, which team leaders should be reassigned and dismissed for being irresponsible, and how to resolve problems that arise in certain aspects of the work, false leaders are unclear about all these specific tasks, and they make a complete mess of their work. For the various professional tasks in the church that require a higher level of technical expertise, false leaders also make a complete mess of them. They have no clue how to carry out these tasks specifically. Even if they want to inquire about them, they don’t know how to do so. They want to ask the Above how to approach these tasks, but they don’t even know how to frame their questions. As a result, the work cannot be done. Even the simple task of managing assets required by the work arrangements—assigning suitable people to safeguard and allocate assets, and establishing various systems—is something false leaders cannot handle. They make a complete mess of it. False leaders are in utter confusion about every task they handle. When asked if they have implemented the work arrangements, they feel proud and confidently say, “Yes, I have. Everyone has a copy of the work arrangements, and everyone knows what work God’s house requires.” If you ask them how they did it, to explain the specific work steps, which tasks were done relatively poorly, which tasks were done more smoothly, whether each task was done properly, which tasks need continual follow-up and inspection, and whether any problems were found after inspection, they are oblivious about all of these. Some false leaders, since becoming leaders, don’t even know what tasks they are required to do or what the scope of their responsibility is. Isn’t this even more troublesome? Do most leaders and workers currently have this problem to varying degrees? (Yes.)

The Criterion for Testing If Leaders and Workers Are Up to Standard

Through today’s fellowship, do you now have a clearer understanding of the responsibilities that leaders and workers and supervisors should fulfill? Do you have a better idea in your mind? Is your understanding of the role of leaders and workers more accurate? (Yes.) For one thing, leaders and workers have gained some understanding of which tasks they should perform; for another, everyone else now has some paths for how to discern whether a leader or worker is up to standard. According to the requirements of the ninth responsibility of leaders and workers, are most leaders and workers up to standard? (No.) So, which leaders and workers can become up to standard, and which cannot? Those with qualified caliber, some practical experience, some principles in their handling of things, and a sense of burden for church work can become up to standard as leaders and workers after a period of training. However, those with poor caliber and no comprehension ability, who cannot grasp principles no matter how much truth is fellowshipped, cannot become up to standard as leaders and workers and can only be eliminated. Therefore, if you want to become a leader or worker who is up to standard, and want to be chosen by others as a leader or worker, you should first assess whether your caliber is sufficient. How can you evaluate this? By seeing whether you can implement work arrangements. Take a recent work arrangement, read it over, and test yourself to see if you have the steps and plans for its implementation. If you have ideas and plans and know how to implement it, then you should take on the work as your bounden duty when brothers and sisters choose you. However, if after reading the work arrangement your mind is blank, you utterly cannot see through to who is most suitable to be arranged to take charge of the work, and even more so you cannot see through to how to specifically implement the various items of work of the church, nor do you know how to fellowship, supervise, inspect, and follow up, and you have no steps or plans for implementation in your mind, but some brothers and sisters mistakenly think you are very talented and suitable to be a leader or worker, what should your attitude be? You should say, “Thank you for your praise, but I actually don’t have much talent. I don’t have what it takes—you’ve misjudged me. If you select me as a leader, it will delay the church’s work. I know my own stature; I don’t even know how to implement a simple work arrangement—I have no idea where to start and don’t have any leads. Without understanding the truth, the church’s work cannot be done well. Even if the Above appointed me, I wouldn’t be able to do it. I’m truly not cut out for this role.” What do you think of this kind of admission? This approach shows reason; people who say this have much more reason than false leaders. False leaders could never say something with this much reason. False leaders think, “I was chosen, so I ought to be the leader. Why shouldn’t I be? I’m talented, so I deserve it. Is not being able to implement work arrangements a problem? Who is born knowing how to do it? Isn’t it something I can learn? As long as I can preach, that’s enough. I have spiritual understanding, I know and understand God’s words, I can fellowship, and I can find the path of practice in God’s words. I am adept at resolving people’s corrupt dispositions and various states. Implementing the work arrangements of God’s house is no big deal. Isn’t it just administrative management work? I studied administrative management before, so this bit of work of God’s house is no problem for me!” Isn’t such a person in danger? (Yes.) Where does the danger lie? Can you see through this matter? (They cannot do the work and will disrupt and disturb the work of God’s house, not only harming themselves and the brothers and sisters but also delaying the work of God’s house.) Is it just harm? Is that what it ultimately leads to? If it were only this, it could still be remedied. The key issue is that if a false leader continues in their role for a long time, they will follow the path of antichrists and eventually become an antichrist. Do you think being a leader or worker is that simple? With status comes temptation, and with temptation comes danger. What is this danger? It is the possibility of following the path of antichrists. The worst consequence of following the path of antichrists is becoming an antichrist.

Some people say, “Some false leaders just have somewhat poor caliber but their humanity is not bad. Can they follow the path of antichrists?” Who says that having humanity that is not bad means they won’t follow the path of antichrists? How bad do they have to be to be considered antichrists? Can you see through this? If a false leader continues in their role for a long time, they have already started down the path of antichrists. Is there a gap between following the path of antichrists and becoming an antichrist? (No.) Think back: What path are those false leaders following? False leaders do not do specific work, nor are they capable of doing specific work, yet they still want to stand in high positions to lecture others and make people listen to and obey them. Is this following the path of antichrists? What is the consequence of following the path of antichrists? (They naturally become antichrists.) Although false leaders are not innately antichrists or evil people, if they follow the path of antichrists for a long time without supervision or anyone reporting and dismissing them, can they seize power and establish independent kingdoms? (Yes.) At that point, haven’t they become antichrists? So you see, isn’t the role of a false leader dangerous? (Yes.) Being a false leader is already very dangerous. Although we are currently dissecting false leaders and not touching upon antichrists, there is a connection between the essence of these two. In fact, false leaders are following the path of antichrists. Following this path will naturally lead them to become antichrists, which is determined by their nature essence. At that point, there is no need to look at their humanity essence; their path alone determines whether they are antichrists. Consider those false leaders who have been dismissed. If they were not dismissed in time, then, judging their essence by how they behaved and what they revealed during their tenure, would they eventually follow the path of antichrists? Would they become antichrists? In fact, some people have already shown signs of this, and it was God’s house that promptly dismissed them. If they had not been dismissed, they would have started leeching off the church and misleading people. They would have begun to act like officials or lords in high positions, bossing people around and issuing commands, making others obey them as if they were God. They would even claim to be perfected by God and to be people used by God. Isn’t that troublesome? So how should we view and characterize the states and manifestations of such false leaders? They can be preliminarily characterized as those of hypocrites, people who leech off the church, Pharisees. And what happens if this continues to develop further? Although false leaders may not be as vicious or wicked as antichrists, and although on the surface they may appear capable of enduring hardship and doing hard work, helping others at every turn, and capable of being patient with and tolerating people, just like the Pharisees who traveled over land and sea to preach and work, what does it ultimately matter? If they cannot implement a single task, how are their actions and behavior any different from those of the Pharisees? Are their deeds in cooperation with God’s work, or are they defying and disturbing God’s work? Clearly, they are resisting God’s work and hindering the normal progress of the church’s various items of work. Isn’t this no different from the behavior of Pharisees and those pastors and elders in the religious community? False leaders are just like them. So how should we characterize them? What will happen if false leaders continue to operate? They will not only fail to implement the work arrangements of God’s house but will also start to denounce, criticize, judge, condemn, and do other such things to these arrangements—a whole series of antichrist behaviors will emerge. Not only do they fail to implement the work arrangements, but they also find various excuses to resist and hinder their implementation. This is not cooperating with God’s work but hindering and disturbing the work of God’s house. This is them using their own notions and imaginings, and the power and status given to them by God’s house, to hinder the implementation of the work arrangements of God’s house. Isn’t this the essence of the problem? (Yes.) False leaders do not do real work and cannot implement the various tasks arranged by the Above, yet they still assert their status to preach to people, feeling that they are the heads, the captains, of God’s chosen people. This already makes them antichrists—bona fide antichrists. Is this characterization of such people accurate? It is extremely accurate, without any error! This is not logical reasoning but a characterization based on their essence. Those who cannot implement the work arrangements of God’s house are false leaders, and those who do not implement the work arrangements of God’s house are also false leaders. Before they are revealed as Pharisees, they can be characterized as false leaders. However, from the moment they become Pharisees and leech off the church, rely on their “past achievements,” and occupy positions without implementing work arrangements or doing specific tasks, becoming stumbling blocks to the work of God’s house, such people should be characterized as antichrists. How do you determine whether someone is a false leader or an antichrist? A false leader is characterized based on whether they can implement work arrangements and do real work. Those who do not implement work arrangements and do not do real work are false leaders. However, if they know they cannot do real work and cannot implement the work arrangements from the Above, yet still want to assert their status to preach and shout slogans to win people’s hearts, and ignore the work arrangements of God’s house, and expect God’s house—in light of the fact that they have believed in God for many years and have suffered for the church’s work for many years—to keep them around so they can leech off the church and exploit God’s house as a retirement home, continuing to mislead brothers and sisters, even seeking the power to frame discourse and decision-making authority, then such people are antichrists. This is how you determine whether someone is a false leader or an antichrist. Is this principle and standard for characterization clear? (Yes.)

The ninth responsibility of leaders and workers primarily involves work arrangements. Whether or not a leader or worker implements work arrangements is the criterion for testing if they are up to standard. Evaluating whether leaders and workers are true or false based on whether they carry out church work according to work arrangements is the most accurate method. Using their attitude toward work arrangements to discern and dissect false leaders, and to determine whether they are false leaders or antichrists, is completely fair. Evaluating leaders and workers based on how they implement work arrangements, whether they can implement work arrangements, and the effectiveness and thoroughness of their implementation is fair and reasonable for any leader or worker. It is not intended to deliberately make things difficult for anyone. Can you discern that some false leaders do not implement work arrangements and eventually become antichrists? Does this assertion hold up? (Yes.) Why does it hold up? (Because false leaders do not implement work arrangements and occupy their positions to establish their own independent kingdoms. This means they have already started down the path of antichrists.) This is the phenomenon—what is the essence of the problem? Not implementing work arrangements is resisting God and opposing Him. What does it mean to oppose God? Those who follow the path of antichrists are opposing God, standing in direct opposition to Him. If one is merely a false leader, they simply do not know how to do the work or implement work arrangements; they are not deliberately resisting God. However, the qualities of antichrists are much more serious in nature than those of false leaders. Some false leaders have long been following the path of antichrists. These individuals start by not doing real work and not implementing work arrangements. After being leaders for a long time and being able to preach some words and doctrines, they feel that their position is secure, that they have capital, and that they have gained prestige among people. They then dare to start doing whatever they want and oppose God. They always overestimate themselves, believing they have gained prestige among the brothers and sisters, that their words carry weight, and therefore they should have absolute discursive dominance and decision-making authority in everything they do. They think people should listen to them; people should save face for them if they embarrass themselves while doing something or flub their words—as should God’s house. God’s house should consult them on any issues that come up and give them a share of good things, and they should receive better perks and higher praise than others. They think God should also regard them in a different light. Given these perceived advantages and superiority of theirs, they believe God’s house should not easily prune them or expose their corrupt disposition in front of others, much less dismiss them without giving any consideration to their feelings. Such people are in danger. They are relying on their “past achievements.” They are Pharisees, and have already become antichrists. Isn’t this determined by their nature essence? If someone pursues the truth and possesses the truth reality, would they make these unreasonable demands of God’s house and of God? (No.) There is one kind of person who, after doing work for a long time, feels that they have gained status and have capital, and thus develops these kinds of thoughts and this sense of superiority. What kind of person is this? It is someone with the essence of an antichrist. Because they do not pursue the truth and follow the path of antichrists, they are arrogant and self-righteous, making all sorts of unreasonable demands of God and God’s house. They rely on their “past achievements,” leech off the church, cling to their status, and ultimately become an antichrist. This is a textbook antichrist. Are there such people in the church? Anyone who prides themselves on being a spiritual person is of this type. They are clearly worthless and cannot do any specific work, yet still consider themselves spiritual; they consider themselves to be people who are looked upon favorably by God and who are the targets of His perfection. They believe they are God’s beloved sons, the overcomers. What path are such people following? Are they people who pursue the truth? Are they people who submit to the truth? Are they people who submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements? Absolutely not, one hundred percent not. They are people who pursue status, reputation, and blessings, and walk the path of antichrists. When such people hold a position for a long time, serving as false leaders for a long time, they will inevitably become antichrists. Antichrists are obstacles to the work of God’s house. They cannot possibly do work according to work arrangements, and they cannot possibly follow God’s will or do things according to God’s requirements; even more so, they cannot possibly give up their status, reputation, and interests to do the work of the church, because they are antichrists.

The fellowship on the ninth responsibility of leaders and workers is primarily about the implementation of work arrangements. Whether a leader or worker is up to standard and fulfills their responsibilities is primarily determined by how they implement work arrangements and the results of these implementations. Of course, this standard is also used to expose false leaders and the paths they follow, as well as the consequences they bring to the church’s work and the life entry of God’s chosen people. All these determinations, judgments, and final characterizations are based on false leaders’ implementation of work arrangements. Implementing work arrangements is a primary task, so determining whether a leader or worker is up to standard based on their implementation of work arrangements is very realistic and extremely fundamental. Furthermore, holding every leader and worker to this standard is perfectly reasonable and fair, without any impurity.

April 24, 2021