The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (13) Part One

Our last gathering’s fellowship was about the eleventh responsibility of leaders and workers. We fellowshipped about the responsibility leaders and workers should fulfill and the work they should do in safeguarding offerings. What work should leaders and workers do in safeguarding offerings? (The first task is to safeguard them; the second is to check the accounts; and the third is to follow up on, to look into, and to inspect whether the various expenditures align with the principles. Strict checks must be carried out, and unreasonable expenditures must be strictly restricted. It is best to prevent profligacy and waste before they occur. If they have already occurred, those responsible must be held accountable. Not only should warnings be issued, but compensation must also be demanded.) Those are basically it. The main thing is to safeguard them, and then to check the accounts, and after that, to follow up on and inspect expenditures, and to use and spend them correctly. Having finished our fellowship on the eleventh responsibility, people now have an accurate understanding and knowledge of offerings, and they also now know the work that leaders and workers need to do in safeguarding the offerings, as well as how false leaders do this work, and their specific behaviors in doing it. Whether our fellowship is about the responsibilities of leaders and workers or about the various behaviors of false leaders, and whether it’s fellowship about positives or the exposure of negatives, its main purpose is to get people to understand how to do the work of safeguarding offerings properly, and how to eliminate unreasonable practices in the safeguarding, expenditure, and distribution of offerings. All of God’s chosen people—whether or not they are leaders or workers—should fulfill their responsibility in the safeguarding of offerings. What responsibility is this, then? It’s to supervise and to promptly report any problems found—that is, to perform the functions of supervising and reporting. Do not think that “safeguarding offerings is the responsibility of leaders and workers and has nothing to do with us ordinary believers.” This view is incorrect. Since people have understood these truths, they should fulfill their responsibility. For issues that leaders and workers are unable to identify, or for blind spots, places that aren’t easy to identify, if anyone finds any problems of unreasonableness or of principles being violated in the safeguarding, distribution, and use of offerings, they should promptly report these to the leaders and workers, so as to ensure the reasonable safeguarding, reasonable use, and reasonable distribution of offerings. This is the responsibility of every one of God’s chosen people.

Item Twelve: Promptly and Accurately Identify the Various People, Events, and Things That Disrupt and Disturb God’s Work and the Normal Order of the Church; Stop and Restrict Them, and Turn Things Around; Additionally, Fellowship the Truth So That God’s Chosen People Develop Discernment Through Such Things and Learn From Them (Part One)

Now that the fellowship on the eleventh responsibility is completed, we move on to fellowshipping the twelfth responsibility of leaders and workers: “Promptly and accurately identify the various people, events, and things that disrupt and disturb God’s work and the normal order of the church; stop and restrict them, and turn things around; additionally, fellowship the truth so that God’s chosen people develop discernment through such things and learn from them.” What is the primary content of this responsibility? It is primarily about requiring leaders and workers to address the various people, events, and things in the church—as well as the various problems—that disrupt, disturb, and damage the normal order of the church. What must leaders and workers first understand to effectively address and resolve these problems, fulfill their responsibilities, and perform this work well? This responsibility is to “promptly and accurately identify the various people, events, and things that disrupt and disturb God’s work and the normal order of the church”; this is the scope of this work. With a goal and a scope, it becomes clear which issues need to be resolved, and what work and responsibilities leaders and workers are expected to undertake. Within the twelfth responsibility, what is the primary requirement for leaders and workers? It is to stop and restrict the various people, events, and things that cause disruptions and disturbances, and turn things around, while also fellowshipping the truth so that God’s chosen people can develop discernment through such things and learn from them. What preconditions must be met in order to do this? If you see various people, events, and things that disrupt, disturb, and damage the normal order of the church yet think these are not problems, then there’s trouble. This indicates that you cannot see through to the essence of the problem, that is, not understanding the harm that disrupting and disturbing church life can bring to the church’s work, and the consequences and impacts it may have on the life entry of God’s chosen people. Can such leaders and workers still do church work well? Can they resolve problems and turn things around? (No.) What then is the key point to be fellowshipped here? It is that only by first understanding the truth principles can leaders and workers see through to the essence of various issues and effectively solve various actual problems. To do church work well, leaders and workers first need to know what problems commonly arise in church work. Then, they must accurately understand, discern, and judge the nature of the problems that arise, whether they affect church work and the normal order of church life, and whether they are of the nature of disrupting and disturbing church work. This is a very important issue that leaders and workers should first understand. Only after understanding this is it possible to effectively solve these problems, and be able to “stop and restrict them, and turn things around” as mentioned in the twelfth responsibility. In summary, before solving a problem, you first need to understand where the problem lies, what the states and situations involved are, the nature of the problem, how severe it is, how to dissect and discern it, and how to practice accurately. This is what leaders and workers need to first understand. Since leaders and workers need to understand these things, let’s fellowship about them from several aspects specifically, so that both leaders and workers and God’s chosen people can understand how to face these problems when they arise, how to correlate them with God’s words, and how to use the truth principles to resolve them. This way, when leaders and workers encounter difficulties they cannot resolve, all of God’s chosen people can face them together and seek the truth for solutions, and when encountering issues of disruption and disturbance in church work, everyone can stand up to stop and restrict them. At the same time, for negative people and matters, they can carry out public dissection, discernment, and characterization, thus allowing these issues to be stopped, restricted, and eradicated at the root. Let’s then fellowship beginning with the most specific issues.

The Various People, Events, and Things That Disrupt and Disturb Church Life

To identify issues that disrupt and disturb God’s work and the normal order of the church, what are the areas that leaders and workers should start with? They should begin by looking into church life to discover these issues. Do you all know a bit about which problems typically come up in church life whose nature is that of causing disruption and disturbance? However many people there are in a church, there are sure to be more than a few who would disrupt and disturb church work. What are the acts of disruption and disturbance that you have learned of? (Always going off topic when fellowshipping the truth in gatherings, without centering around the core issues.) (Also, habitually speaking words and doctrines.) Going off topic when fellowshipping the truth. For example, when others are fellowshipping about how to be loyal in doing one’s duty, they’ll talk about how to attend to their husband (or wife) and children well. When others are fellowshipping about how being loyal in doing one’s duty is meant to satisfy God and submit to Him, they’ll talk about how being loyal in doing one’s duty is meant to gain blessings for one’s family and loved ones. Isn’t this going off topic? (Yes.) If you don’t interrupt them, they’ll go on endlessly. If you restrict them, they’ll become angry, and fly into a rage out of embarrassment, thereby taking their bad behavior a step further. This issue, then, is by nature on the level of disruption and disturbance, which is very severe. Although going off topic when fellowshipping on the truth is a common issue, objectively speaking, it can disrupt and disturb the life of the church. This is the first issue. Regarding the second, “speaking words and doctrines,” whether this qualifies as a disruption and disturbance depends on the severity of the case. Some people speak words and doctrines because they lack the truth reality; as soon as they open their mouths, it’s all words and doctrines, just empty theories. However, their intention is not to mislead others and win their esteem. With restrictions and dissuasion, they’ll gain self-awareness, and afterward, they’ll speak fewer words and doctrines, and they’ll no longer hinder the life entry of the brothers and sisters. This doesn’t count as a disruption and disturbance. However, those who intentionally speak words and doctrines with the intent to mislead others do so even when they know full well that what they say is words and doctrines. Their objective in doing this is to win others’ esteem; they want to draw people over to their side and mislead them, and to grab status. This is quite severe in nature. It’s different in nature from only being able to speak words and doctrines because of not understanding the truth. Such behavior constitutes a disruption and disturbance. The various people, events, and things that cause disruptions and disturbances in church life are pervasive. They’re not just issues like speaking words and doctrines or going off topic. What are some others? (Forming cliques, sowing dissension, and dampening others’ positivity.) (There’s also venting negativity, and troublemaking and persistently bothering people.) (When some people have notions about the work arrangements of God’s house, they spread these notions and vent their negativity, causing notions about the work arrangements to arise in others, too.) Those things do qualify as disruptions and disturbances. Forming cliques is one, sowing dissension is another, along with tormenting and attacking people, spreading notions, venting negativity, spreading baseless rumors, and vying for status—all of these are disruptions and disturbances. These problems are much more serious in nature than going off topic when fellowshipping the truth. There’s also an issue that relates to elections. What type of problems that arise during elections pertain to causing disruption and disturbance? There’s manipulating votes, for instance—promising benefits to secure votes for oneself. This is one way to undermine an election. And covert actions—working on people’s minds behind the scenes in order to draw them over to your side, mislead them, and get them to vote for you. These are all issues that arise during elections. Do these constitute disruptions and disturbances? (Yes.) These problems are collectively termed as violating election principles. Another issue is prattling about domestic matters, building personal connections, and handling personal affairs. Someone may come to gatherings for this stuff—not to understand the truth or fellowship God’s words, but to handle personal affairs. Is such a problem of a severe sort? (Yes.) It also amounts to causing disruption and disturbance.

Now, let’s summarize the various issues of disruption and disturbance that arise within church life: First, often going off topic when fellowshipping the truth; second, speaking words and doctrines to mislead people and win their esteem; third, prattling about domestic matters, building personal connections, and handling personal affairs; fourth, forming cliques; fifth, vying for status; sixth, sowing dissension; seventh, attacking and tormenting people; eighth, spreading notions; ninth, venting negativity; tenth, spreading baseless rumors; and eleventh, violating election principles. Eleven in total. These eleven manifestations are the issues of disruption and disturbance that often arise within church life. When living church life, if these issues arise, it’s necessary for leaders and workers to stand up and stop them, restrict them, and not allow them to develop unchecked. If the leaders and workers are unable to restrict them, then all the brothers and sisters should come together to restrict them. If the person involved does not have evil humanity, and is not intentionally causing disruptions and disturbances but simply lacks an understanding of the truth, they can be helped and supported through fellowship of the truth. If the person causing disruptions and disturbances is evil, and the case is minor, then their disruptions and disturbances should be stopped and restricted through fellowship and exposure. If they are willing to repent, and no longer speak or act in ways that cause disruptions and disturbances, are willing to be the least significant member in the church, can listen and obey dutifully, and do whatever the church arranges, accepting the restrictions set by the brothers and sisters, then they can stay in the church temporarily. But if they do not accept and instead oppose and become hostile toward the majority, then the second step—clearing them out—should be taken. Is this approach appropriate? (Yes.)

I. Often Going off Topic When Fellowshipping the Truth

Now, we’ll fellowship about the various people, events, and things appearing in church life that by nature constitute disruptions and disturbances. The first of them is often going off topic when fellowshipping the truth. How is going off topic when fellowshipping the truth to be determined? How can we clearly perceive words of fellowship that have gone off topic? Do you often go off topic in your fellowship of the truth? (Yes.) How far must this problem go for its nature to count as that of disruption and disturbance? If every instance of going off topic when fellowshipping the truth were classified as a disruption and disturbance, wouldn’t people be afraid to speak or fellowship in church life in the future? And if people are afraid to fellowship, doesn’t it mean that they haven’t perceived the issue clearly? (Yes.) So, when it’s accurately determined what sort of going off topic while fellowshipping the truth constitutes a disruption and disturbance, most people will be freed from their constraints. Seeing as you go off topic even in normal conversation, doing so when fellowshipping the truth is all the more common. Therefore, it’s necessary to fellowship about this with great clarity, to keep you from being constrained. Don’t let the fear of going off topic and constituting a disruption and disturbance deter you from speaking and make you not dare to fellowship even though you have knowledge, or—when you do want to fellowship—compel you to first consider: “Does what I want to say relate to the theme? Is it off topic? I should draft and outline my thoughts before speaking, and then stick to the outline so that I won’t go off topic, no matter what. If I do go off topic, it wouldn’t benefit anyone and would waste the gathering’s precious time, affecting the brothers’ and sisters’ understanding of the truth. And if it’s severe, it could even disrupt and disturb church life.” How should we view the matter of going off topic, then? First, we need to consider whether going off topic is beneficial to the brothers and sisters, and then we must clearly see what the consequences of going off topic are to church life. This way, we can see clearly that going off topic is not a minor issue; in serious cases, it can even constitute a disruption and disturbance to church life and the church’s work. Say that, on some topic, you look for a passage of God’s words to fellowship your knowledge and comprehension; or suppose that, on some topic, you fellowship about the knowledge you’ve gained, the truths you’ve understood, and intentions of God you’ve understood from something you experienced; or say that your fellowship on a certain topic is a bit long-winded, and you don’t express yourself so clearly about it, repeating yourself several times over—in these situations, are you going off topic? None of these count as going off topic. What is it to go off topic, then? Going off topic is when what you say has little or no relation to the topic of fellowship, when it’s just rambling about external matters, and isn’t edifying to people at all. That is completely going off topic. Now, let’s discuss what it is to cause disruption and disturbance. In the case of going off topic when fellowshipping the truth, what kinds of words and behaviors constitute disruptions and disturbances? What is the essence of the problem here? How does going off topic constitute by nature a disruption and disturbance? Isn’t this worth fellowshipping about? Once it’s been fellowshipped about, will you understand what going off topic means? (Yes.) You give your answers to the question, then. (When someone’s fellowship is about topics that have nothing to do with the truth—idle chatter and talking about domestic affairs, for instance, and discussing things involving social trends that disturb people’s hearts, preventing them from being quiet before God and contemplating His words—that fellowship has gone off topic.) How many main points does that speak to? (One is that the topics are unrelated to the truth.) This is a very important point: being unrelated to the truth. One point is idle chatter and prattling about domestic matters. Another is speaking of traditional culture, of human moral thinking, and of things people consider to be noble as if they were the truth. This is a problem of distorted comprehension; all these things are unrelated to the truth. For instance, God’s words say, “Young people should not be without aspirations.” Someone fellowships, “Since ancient times, heroes have emerged during their youth,” or “Ambition is not confined by age.” Or, when you talk about how to fear God, they fellowship: “There is a god three feet above you”; “When man acts, Heaven is watching”; “If you have a clear conscience, you need not fear ghosts knocking at your door”; or “One’s heart must lean toward goodness.” Isn’t this going off topic? Aren’t these words unrelated to the truth? What are these words? (Satanic philosophies.) They are satanic philosophies, and they’re also the traditional culture of a certain ethnicity. The first manifestation of going off topic is when the spoken topic is unrelated to the truth; it’s when one says philosophies and theories that nonbelievers hold to be right and lofty, and forcibly links them to the truth. That’s going off topic. The topic is unrelated to the truth—this manifestation should be easy to understand. The second manifestation is when the discussed topics disturb people’s minds. When the truth isn’t fellowshipped in gathering, and what’s fellowshipped about is knowledge, scholarship, philosophy, and law, or societal phenomena and various complex interpersonal relationships, then it disturbs people’s minds. This is when someone fellowships about issues that fundamentally don’t involve the truth and have nothing at all to do with it as if those things were the truth. This causes confusion in others’ minds, and as they listen, their thinking goes from fellowship of the truth to external matters. How do these people behave then? They start to focus on knowledge and scholarship. Disturbing people’s minds is in its nature a serious thing. The third manifestation is when the topics discussed cause people to misunderstand God, resulting in a lack of clarity about visions. Some people aren’t very clear about the truth themselves, yet they want to pretend that they have clarity and understanding. So, when they fellowship the truth, they throw some profound doctrines into what they say, jumbling together religious doctrines they’ve heard and understood, speaking baselessly and extravagantly. After listening to them, people lose clarity about visions; they don’t know just what truth the person meant to discuss. The more they listen, the more muddled they become and the more their faith in God is diminished, and they may even develop misunderstandings about God. People don’t just come away from this talk without an understanding of the truth—their minds become muddled. It has a negative effect. This is what comes from going off topic.

Going off topic when fellowshipping the truth manifests in several ways, and each of them by its nature constitutes a disturbance to people’s life entry. When people have listened to such fellowship, they don’t just lack a clear understanding of the truth and a path of practice. Instead, their minds become muddled, they grow hazier about the truth, and they develop some misinterpretations and misconceptions, too. This is the impact and the adverse consequence that going off topic when fellowshipping the truth has on people. Each of these three manifestations is quite serious in nature. For example, the first one is “the spoken topic is unrelated to the truth.” Saying things that seem right but aren’t, and bringing satanic things, such as human knowledge, philosophy, theories, traditional culture, and the famous sayings of renowned figures, into the church to preach and analyze, using a chance to fellowship the truth to mislead people, constitutes a disturbance to them. This is very serious in nature. If a discerning person were to listen to such fellowship, they would say, “What you’re saying isn’t right; it’s not the truth. What you’re speaking about is moral behavior and sayings that nonbelievers think are good. Those are nonbelievers’ tenets for how to comport themselves and conduct their worldly dealings, which are fundamentally unrelated to the truth.” However, some people lack discernment, and when they’ve heard these fallacies, they even go along with them, and adhere to them as the truth. If leaders and workers do not put a stop to this and restrict it at such times, if they don’t fellowship about it and dissect it so that people gain discernment, then some of God’s chosen people could be misled. What are the consequences of being misled? They’ll believe that the preachings of famous nonbelievers that people think are correct, good, and profound, such as folk proverbs and famous people’s maxims and theories of living as a person, are all correct and that they’re the truth, just as God’s words are. Haven’t they been misled? On the surface, it seems like they are fellowshipping the truth, but in actuality, it’s mixed with some human ideas and some of Satan’s misleading philosophies, and this obviously constitutes a disturbance to people. If someone misleads people by passing Satan’s philosophy and human knowledge off as the truth, then leaders and workers should expose and dissect the matter, so that the brothers and sisters grow in discernment and understand what the truth really is. This is the work that leaders and workers should do. The second manifestation is “disturbing people’s minds.” Some people always seize chances to fellowship the truth to speak about things that seem right but aren’t, exalting human knowledge, scholarship, gifts, and talents. They also speak about moral norms, traditional culture, and so on. They pass these things that come from Satan off as positive things, as the truth, which leads people to the mistaken belief that these are to be advocated for, to be spread and extolled in the church, to be adhered to by everyone; causes an increase in fallacies and heresies, which seem right but aren’t, in people’s minds; and confounds people’s minds and makes them feel adrift, not knowing what the truth actually is, or how to practice correctly when faced with issues, or which path is the correct one. This plunges their hearts into darkness. This is the consequence of spreading heresies and fallacies to mislead people. As for the third manifestation, we won’t fellowship on it in detail. In summary, some of the off-topic discussions involve knowledge, some involve human notions, and some involve morally good behaviors, among other things. But none of these things relate to the truth—they are all contrary to it. Therefore, when these issues arise, leaders and workers should put a stop to them and restrict them. If, after hearing someone fellowship, people not only lack clarity in their hearts on the truth, but are also disturbed, with their once-clear minds muddled, not knowing how to practice properly, then the fellowship of such a person should be stopped and restricted. For instance, in their fellowship on truths regarding normal humanity, some people say: “What God likes the most in normal humanity is the ability to endure hardship, to not covet fleshly enjoyment or ease, to forgo delicious food, to not enjoy what one should enjoy or what God has prepared, to be able to rebel against these fleshly desires, to restrain all desires of the flesh, to subdue one’s body, and to not let the flesh have its way. So, when you want to sleep at night, you need to rebel against the flesh. If you can’t, you need to find ways to restrain it. The greater your will to rebel against the flesh is, and the more you rebel against the flesh, the more manifestations of practicing the truth and the more loyalty to God you are proven to possess. I think the most prominent manifestation of normal humanity—and the one that should be most advocated for—is subduing one’s body, rebelling against the desires of the flesh, not coveting fleshly ease, and being frugal in material enjoyment. The more frugal you are, the greater the blessings you will accumulate in the kingdom of heaven.” Don’t these words sound quite positive? Is there a mistake in them? Measured by human logic, tenets, and notions, these words would pass in any religious or social group; everyone would give them a thumbs up to express their approval and say that what they say is right, that their faith is good and pure. Are there not some people in the church who’d believe this as well? Measured by human notions, all these words are correct—what’s correct about them? Some may say, “God does like such people. That’s the frugal way He lives, too.” Isn’t this a human notion? People harbor this kind of notion, so if some person were really to give this sort of fellowship, wouldn’t it just be conforming to the majority’s notions? (Yes.) When people approve of this kind of notion, aren’t they agreeing with that person’s point of view? And when people have agreed with and accepted that person’s point of view, aren’t they then agreeing with their actions? Won’t they then try to emulate them? And when they’re able to, won’t the path they follow, their path of practice, then be fixed? What does it mean to be fixed? It means that they’re determined that they’ll act and practice in such a manner. As they believe in their hearts that God loves such people and likes it when they act this way, that only by doing so can they be someone whom God accepts, someone who can enter the kingdom of heaven and be blessed in heaven, who has a good destination, they then resolve to act this way. When they make this resolution, haven’t their minds already been disturbed and misled by this kind of thought and viewpoint? This is a fact; this is the consequence. Their minds are disturbed, and they don’t even realize it. There’s another issue here, too: Once their minds are paralyzed and disturbed by such thoughts and viewpoints, don’t they then lose clarity on God’s intentions and requirements? Don’t they then develop misunderstandings about God, and become distant from Him? Doesn’t this indicate that they’re unclear about visions? Think about it carefully: When you are misguided by some thought or viewpoint that people see as right but is mistaken, isn’t your mind then disturbed? Can the visions in your heart still be clear then? (No.) So, is your knowledge of God accurate or is it a misunderstanding? Clearly, it is a misunderstanding. So, is what you understand and what you believe to be right actually the truth? No, it isn’t—it contradicts God’s words, the truth, running counter to them. Therefore, this sort of going off topic when fellowshipping the truth does indeed constitute a disturbance to people’s minds. Given that this going off topic constitutes such a great disturbance to people’s minds, can it be said to constitute a disruption of God’s work? It leads people into notions and into Satan’s philosophy and logic, so doesn’t it pull people away from God’s presence? When people misunderstand God, when they don’t understand His intentions and can’t practice according to His intentions and requirements, but practice instead according to Satan’s logic and human notions, are they then closer to God or further from Him? (They’re further from Him.) They’re further from Him. So, shouldn’t fellowshipping this sort of topic be restricted during gatherings? (Yes.) The nature of this sort of going off topic is that of a disturbance to people, so it must indeed be restricted. If it’s not made to stop and restricted, there will be a number of muddled people who are of poor caliber and numb—in particular, those without spiritual understanding—who imitate and follow the person who goes off topic. This is when leaders and workers should promptly stand up to stop it. They must not allow that person to continue to go off topic; they must not allow the topic of their fellowship to mislead more people and disturb more people’s minds. This is a responsibility leaders and workers should fulfill, a function they should serve.

That’s about it for our fellowship on the topic of going off topic when fellowshipping the truth. Next, we’ll summarize how far off topic one must go in their fellowship of the truth and what topics one must fellowship on for the nature of this to qualify as that of disruption and disturbance. Some sorts of going off topic are obvious: When someone is completely off topic, when they begin to engage in idle chatter or discuss domestic affairs, that’s easy to discern. For example, when everyone is fellowshipping about how to do their duty, someone may fellowship about their “glorious” past, talking about the good deeds they have done or how they have helped the brothers and sisters, and so forth. No one wants to listen to this, and the more they do, the more averse to it they become, until they ignore the person. The person will then find it embarrassing. As long as the majority can discern this person, they won’t be able to continue. It doesn’t take much of an understanding of the truth to be able to discern this variety of going off topic. Chatting idly, prattling about domestic matters, exalting oneself, showcasing oneself, and taking advantage of the topic of fellowship to speak about one’s own “glorious” past—this sort of going off topic is easy to discern. It basically doesn’t constitute much of a disturbance, because most people are repulsed by such things and unwilling to listen to them, and they know that they’re showing off and not fellowshipping the truth, that they’ve gone off topic. The group might try not to embarrass them right when they start speaking, but as they go on longer, people become repulsed and unwilling to listen further, and feel that it would be better to read God’s words on their own instead. If the person continued, they would stand up and leave. When the person sees that things have taken a turn and that they’re embarrassing themselves, they won’t go on speaking. What sort of going off topic has already had an adverse influence on people, yet people still can’t see through it as something negative, and instead take the off-topic content as the truth and listen intently to it? This sort of going off topic can constitute a disturbance to people, and one should be discerning of such cases. Give an example of this sort of going off topic. (When someone doesn’t reflect on themselves after being pruned, but focuses their talk only on the rightness and wrongness of the issue, it confuses everyone’s minds. This doesn’t just leave people unable to develop discernment; instead, people feel that what this person says is in line with the truth, and that they are correct. This gets everyone to side with them.) On the pretext of fellowshipping about how to accept being pruned, they defend and vindicate themselves, making people think they have been wrongfully pruned, getting people to side with them and sympathize with them, and additionally, making people admire their ability to submit and accept being pruned under such circumstances. This misleads people; it’s an intentional, deliberate instance of going off topic, which not only makes the listeners unable to submit when faced with pruning, and unable to accept pruning and reflect on and know themselves, but instead leaves them guarded against and resistant to being pruned. Such fellowship fails to help people understand the significance of being pruned, how people should adopt the correct attitude when faced with pruning, how to accept it, and how to practice. Instead, it leads people to choose another way to deal with pruning, a way that isn’t the practice of the truth and isn’t acting in accordance with the truth principles, but one that makes people more sly. Such fellowship serves to mislead people. Going off topic when fellowshipping the truth is one type of issue that arises in church life. If this type of issue reaches the level of disruption and disturbance, leaders and workers should step up to stop and restrict it, fellowshipping and dissecting it, so that the majority grows in discernment, learns from the experience, and learns a lesson.

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