II. Speaking Words and Doctrines to Mislead People and Win Their Esteem

The second manifestation of people, events, and things causing disruptions and disturbances in church life is when people speak words and doctrines to mislead people and win their esteem. Usually, most people may speak some words and doctrines. Most people have done this. We should regard the typical occurrence of one speaking words and doctrines as a result of that person’s small stature and lack of understanding of the truth. As long as they don’t take up too much time, aren’t doing it on purpose, don’t monopolize the conversation, don’t demand indulgence from everyone to speak at will, don’t require everyone to listen to them, and don’t mislead others and try to win their esteem, then it does not constitute a disruption or disturbance. Because most people lack the truth reality, speaking words and doctrines is a very common occurrence. Speaking somewhat inappropriately, it is excusable; it can be forgiven and not treated too seriously. However, there is one exception, which is when the person speaking words and doctrines is deliberate. What is it they do deliberately? It is not the speaking of words and doctrines that they do deliberately, because they also lack the truth reality. Their actions, such as speaking words and doctrines, shouting slogans, and talking about theories, are the same as everyone else’s. However, there is one difference: When they speak words and doctrines, they always want to be esteemed by others, and to compare themselves with the leaders and workers and with those who pursue the truth. Even more unreasonably, no matter what they say or how they say it, their goal is to draw people over to their side, to mislead people’s hearts, all for the sake of being esteemed. What is the purpose of seeking esteem? They desire to have status and prestige in the hearts of people, to become a standout individual or a leader among the crowd, to become someone extraordinary or uncommon, to become a special figure, someone whose words carry authority. This situation differs from the typical occurrences of people speaking words and doctrines and constitutes a disruption and disturbance. What sets these people apart from those who speak words and doctrines in the more commonly seen manner? It is their constant desire to speak; given any opportunity, they will speak. As long as there is a gathering or a group of people assembled—as long as they have an audience—they will speak, possessing a particularly strong desire to do so. Their purpose in speaking is not to share their inner thoughts, their gains, experiences, understandings, or insights with the brothers and sisters to foster an understanding of the truth or a path to practice it. Instead, their purpose is to use the opportunity to speak doctrines to showcase themselves, to let others know how erudite they are, to show they have brains, knowledge, and learning, standing above the average person. They want to be known as capable individuals, not just ordinary ones. They want it so that for any matter, everyone turns to them and consults them. For any issue in the church or any difficulty the brothers and sisters face, they want to be the first person others think of; they want it so others can’t do anything without them, so they don’t dare to handle any matter without them, with everyone waiting for their command. This is the effect they desire. Their purpose in speaking words and doctrines is to ensnare and control people. For them, speaking words and doctrines is merely a method, an approach; it’s not because they don’t understand the truth that they speak words and doctrines but rather, through doing so, they aim to make people admire them from the heart, look up to them, and even be afraid of them, becoming constrained and controlled by them. This type of speaking words and doctrines thus constitutes a disruption and disturbance. In church life, such individuals should be restricted, and this behavior of speaking words and doctrines should also be stopped, not allowed to continue unchecked. Some might say, “Such people should be restricted; then should they still be given a chance to speak?” In terms of fairness, they can be given a chance to speak, but as soon as they revert to their old ways of showing off, with their ambition about to erupt again, they should be promptly cut off, to make them lucid and calm. What should be done if they often show off in this way, and their ambition still is often revealed, and their desires are difficult to restrain? They should be restricted outright and kept from speaking. If no one wants to listen to them when they speak, and their tone and demeanor, and the look in their eyes, and their gestures are repulsive for everyone to hear and see, then it’s a problem of a serious sort. It reaches the point where everyone is averse. Shouldn’t such people, who play a foil’s role in the church, then exit the stage? It’s time for their role to exit. Doesn’t that mean that they’ve finished rendering their service? What should be done when they’ve rendered the last of their service? They should be cleansed away. As soon as they start speaking, it’s the same old talk of theirs, which restriction can’t put a stop to. Everyone is tired of listening to it. Their hideous face, that face of Satan, of a devil, becomes apparent. What kind of people are these? They are antichrists. If they are cleared out too early, most people will harbor notions and not be convinced at heart, and say, “God’s house lacks love, clearing someone out without even subjecting them to a period of observation, leaving them without any chance to repent. They just said a few words of outsiders, revealed a bit of corrupt disposition, and were a little arrogant, but their intentions weren’t bad. It’s unfair to treat them like this.” However, when a majority can discern and see through to the essence of evil people, is it then appropriate to allow such evil people to continue their reckless wrongdoing, disruptions, and disturbances in the church? (No.) It’s unfair to all the brothers and sisters. In such cases, clearing them out resolves the issue. Once they have rendered the last of their service and a majority is discerning of them, most people won’t have objections when you clear them out then—they won’t complain or misunderstand God. If there are still people who defend them, you can say: “That person committed many evils in the church. They have been defined as an antichrist and cleared out. Yet you still sympathize with them so much; you still think of the kindness they have shown you, and come to their defense. You’re being too sentimental, and you are entirely lacking in principles. What are the consequences of this? A little help from them, and you cannot forget it; whatever they say, you earnestly obey it, wishing always to repay them. They have now been cleared out. Do you want to accompany them? If you wish to be cleared out as well, then let it be so.” Is this an appropriate way to handle the situation? At this point, it is. If such people consistently speak words and doctrines to mislead others, disturbing people so insufferably that they do not want to come to gatherings anymore, isn’t this because the leaders and workers are numb and dull-witted, lacking discernment and unable to handle these people in a timely manner? This is an inability to do their work, a failure to fulfill their responsibilities.

By now, most people have some degree of discernment toward those antichrists who speak words and doctrines. Unless they keep their heads down, as soon as they rear their heads, performing specifically enough in various ways, and their various manifestations are sufficient for people to identify them as antichrists, then there should be no further delays or hesitation. They should be promptly restricted and isolated. If their service has no value anymore, then they should be cleared out straight away. It is easy to discern such hypocritical antichrists, who speak words and doctrines, because such people are obviously antichrists. It’s just that this type of antichrist always wants to mislead people by using the opportunity of speaking words and doctrines, to achieve their goal of holding power. This is one way in which antichrists manifest, and it’s easy to discern. This topic has already been discussed enough before, so it will not be elaborated on here. In summary, leaders and workers should pay close attention to such people, promptly and accurately understanding and gaining a grasp on their movements, thoughts, and viewpoints, as well as their plans and actions, and the erroneous remarks they spread, and promptly take care of them accordingly. This is a responsibility of leaders and workers. So, at the very least, leaders and workers should be spiritually keen and mentally meticulous in this task, not numb and dull. If an antichrist misleads many people by speaking words and doctrines during gatherings, and church leaders still do not recognize them as an antichrist and cannot expose and handle them promptly, this is a failure to fulfill their responsibilities. If many people have already been misled by antichrists, and they find gatherings meaningless when they can’t hear the antichrists speaking words and doctrines there, and so are unwilling to attend gatherings, or even unwilling to eat and drink God’s words and listen to sermons, preferring to listen to antichrists preach—if church leaders only realize the severity of the situation and start to take action and turn things around when people have been misled and controlled to this extent by antichrists—this would cause significant delays! Many of God’s chosen people’s life entry would suffer due to the numbness and dimness of such false leaders. When antichrists are dissected, discerned, and cleared out, some people may be misled and follow them. Some may even say, “If you clear them out, we won’t believe in God anymore. If you make them leave, we’ll all leave!” At this point, it becomes entirely clear that the church leaders are not doing any actual work whatsoever, which is a severe failure to fulfill their responsibilities.

In church life, the first thing that leaders and workers must do is to grasp the state of various individuals. They must carefully observe and understand what path each individual member of the church has taken and their disposition essence through interaction, and promptly and accurately discover and identify who is walking the path of an antichrist and who possesses the essence of an antichrist. Then, they should focus on these individuals, pay close attention to them, and promptly understand and grasp the viewpoints and statements they spread, and what actions they are currently preparing to carry out. When they want to mislead people and ensnare and control them, leaders and workers should quickly stand up to stop them, rather than wait passively. If you wait until God reveals them, or until the brothers and sisters are misled or the brothers and sisters have understanding and discernment of them before exposing the antichrists, that would already delay matters. Therefore, in guarding against antichrists, leaders and workers should take the initiative to strike first and prepare in advance. The first step is to promote and cultivate those who are relatively upright and can pursue the truth; that is, to properly water and supply those who take a leading role in various items of work, and to cultivate them to be pillars in the church. Only in this way can various items of church work proceed smoothly and unimpeded, and the gospel work can continue to spread. Regardless of what it is, if any work lacks a good leader, then it becomes very difficult to carry out. The main manifestation of antichrists’ defiance against God is to mislead God’s chosen people into following them so as to disrupt and disturb every item of work in God’s house. In a church, the first thing antichrists aim to do is harm those with a sense of justice and those who take a leading role in various items of work. They draw those they can mislead and control over to their side, and frame, entrap, and bring down those they cannot mislead or control, and ultimately clear them out. This paves the way for antichrists to control the church. They bring down the few key individuals who can pursue the truth first; the majority of the rest are those who go whichever way the wind blows. After that, it becomes much easier for them to deal specifically with leaders and workers. Without the cooperation and help of those pursuing the truth, the leaders and workers are essentially fighting alone without assistance. They are in the light, while the antichrists lurk in the darkness, ready to make sneaky attacks, frame, entrap, and slander them at any moment, knocking them down to the ground so that they can’t get up. Then the antichrists find people to kick them while they’re down, leaving them completely disheartened and despairing. Therefore, it is very difficult to thoroughly resolve the issue of antichrists if those who pursue the truth do not join forces against them. In church life, the first thing that leaders and workers must do is to maintain the normal order of the church. With these evil people who walk the path of antichrists present, no good results will come from church life, it will not easily get on the right track, and most people will often be disturbed and influenced. Therefore, discovering, understanding, grasping, and pinpointing evil people, antichrists, and those who walk the path of antichrists is the first and most important task for leaders and workers to undertake in regard to church life. Only by restricting or clearing out these people can the normal order of church life be maintained. If they are not restricted and are allowed to act with willful recklessness and cause disturbances, the various items of church work will come to a standstill. Since most people lack discernment toward them and cannot see through to their essence, and are even disturbed and misled by their various fallacious thoughts and viewpoints, it is difficult for God’s chosen people to get on the right track and enter into the truth reality in church life. If, during this period, church life is very normal, God’s chosen people make gains and progress in eating and drinking God’s words and fellowshipping the truth, and they finally have some life entry and a bit of the truth reality, but then they are misled and disturbed by the antichrists speaking words and doctrines, then not only do they lose that bit of pure comprehension and genuine understanding they just gained, but they also take in a lot of specious heresies and fallacies—they quickly become muddled again, like rowers pushed back by the current the moment they stop rowing, which is very troublesome. It’s not easy for people to realize life growth; it may take years to see a bit of progress, which is exceptionally slow. It’s difficult for people to acquire the bit of stature they do have—it’s not easily gained. Through the misleading and disturbance of the antichrists, the bit of pure comprehension people have is lost. What’s even more serious is that after the disturbance by Satan and antichrists, people are filled with a lot of Satan’s philosophy, Satan’s schemes and ruses, and the poison planted within them by Satan. These things not only fail to allow people to know and submit to God but, on the contrary, cause people to develop notions and misunderstandings about God, and drift away from Him, making people’s corrupt dispositions even more severe, further enabling their betrayal of God. The consequences of this are very serious. Tell Me, facing such serious consequences, is it necessary to stop and restrict those who mislead people with words and doctrines? Isn’t this an important task that church leaders should undertake? (Yes.) Therefore, restricting evil people and disbelievers is an important task for the church. Some people say, “I don’t have discernment. I don’t know how to do it.” In fact, as long as you have the will, observe carefully, and always examine people’s intentions and motives, you will gradually develop discernment. These disbelievers and evil people, as soon as they show themselves, have their own intentions and motives, all aimed at making people look up to and idolize them, and to have people listen to what they say. If you can perceive their intentions and motives, this is already having some discernment. If you’re unsure, you can fellowship about this matter with some people who relatively understand the truth. During the fellowship, for one thing, you can make a determination through the truth understood by everyone and the various pieces of factual evidence grasped. For another, you can—through God’s enlightenment and guidance and the light given by God during fellowship—get confirmation about this matter, confirming whether the person in question is indeed an antichrist and whether they are indeed someone who should be restricted. Through fellowship, if everyone gets confirmation and unanimously agrees, saying that this person is indeed an antichrist who should be restricted—after a consensus with the brothers and sisters is reached and everyone arrives at a shared perspective—the next step for the leaders and workers is to quickly handle and clear out this person according to the truth principles. This is the principle. Once people understand this principle, they ought to do actual work, which means fulfilling their responsibility and being loyal. Understanding principles is not for preaching or for filling your head with, but for applying them to the actual work of your duty. In actual work, understanding principles allows you to better and more thoroughly fulfill your responsibilities and obligations. Thus, this is also part of the work of leaders and workers. To maintain the normal order of church life and allow the brothers and sisters to live church life normally and enter into all the truths required by God, when antichrists who speak words and doctrines appear, leaders and workers should be the first to stand up to stop and restrict them. For those antichrists who speak words and doctrines, it’s not about restricting them just because they said a few wrong things. If long-term observation or the feedback of the majority and their specific manifestations are sufficient to determine that they are indeed of the antichrist type, then leaders and workers should come out to stop and restrict them, and should not allow them to continue to go unchecked. Indulging them is equivalent to letting devils, Satans, filthy demons, and evil spirits run amok in the church, which means such leaders and workers are neglecting their responsibilities, essentially working for Satan. The fellowship on the second type of issue regarding disruptions and disturbances in church life is now concluded.

III. Prattling About Domestic Matters, Building Personal Connections, and Handling Personal Affairs

Next, let’s fellowship on the third issue: prattling about domestic matters, building personal connections, and handling personal affairs. These problems contained within the third issue, which we shall address in our fellowship, obviously should not occur in church life. When living church life, people come to eat and drink God’s words, share God’s words, fellowship the truth, and fellowship their personal experiential testimonies, while also seeking God’s intentions and seeking an understanding of the truth. So, should problems like prattling about domestic matters, building personal connections, and handling personal affairs in church life be stopped and restricted? (Yes.) Some people say, “Is it not okay to greet each other? If two people are relatively close and already acquainted, and they meet during church life and chat for a bit, is that prattling about domestic matters? Should this be restricted too?” Is the third issue referring to these kinds of problems? (No.) Clearly, it is not. If even simple, polite greetings are to be restricted, then people would be afraid to speak when they meet in the future. The third issue—prattling about domestic matters, building personal connections, and handling personal affairs—may consist of only these three terms, but the problems these terms represent are not simple, courteous greetings or chats. They are evil actions that can disrupt, disturb, and damage church life. Since they constitute disruptions and disturbances, they are worth fellowshipping. What should be fellowshipped? Just which problems, which words people speak, which things they do, and which speech, behaviors, and demeanors of people can reach the level of disrupting and disturbing the work of the church. Let’s discuss some specific examples to see whether these problems are serious, whether they constitute disruptions and disturbances, and whether they should be stopped and restricted.

In church life, some people often talk about trivial family matters and their own notions and ideas as if they were main topics for discussion. She says: “Society is so dark now; it’s so tiring to interact with and live among nonbelievers. Nonbelievers are capable of anything; it’s really unbearable!” Then some brothers and sisters say, “We believe in God; no matter what situations we face, we must be able to exercise discernment and seek the truth and paths of practice. If you live like this, you won’t feel exhausted.” Yet she says, “God’s word is the truth but it’s not a panacea. I was worried that my husband was having an affair, and it turned out to be true—he found someone younger and more beautiful than me. How am I supposed to live my days?” Prattling on like this, she begins to cry sadly. Her speaking in this way stirs up the sorrows of some of the others. Some, who share her plight, immediately click with her and start chatting right there. During a two-hour gathering, she thoroughly discusses how she and her husband argued after he had an affair, how she tried to think of ways to transfer their shared property, how she consulted a lawyer so as to avoid suffering losses after the divorce, and so on and so forth. Is this the kind of topic that should be discussed in church life? (No.) If your family affairs are not settled and you are distracted from attending gatherings, it’s better not to come. The church’s gathering location is not a place for you to vent your personal grievances, nor is it for prattling about domestic matters. If you are facing difficulties at home and you do not want to be entangled, constrained, or restricted by these issues, and you want to seek the truth to understand God’s intention, and want to let go of all these, then you can briefly fellowship your problems during the gathering so that the brothers and sisters can fellowship the truth to help you. This can help you understand God’s intention and become strong, not be constrained by these issues, step out of negativity and weakness, and choose the path that is right and most suited for you. This is what you should fellowship about. However, if you bring these irritating trivialities from your home into church life to unload and preach about, and most people, out of embarrassment, don’t stop or interrupt you, but just muster their patience and force themselves to listen to you speak of these irritating trivialities, is this appropriate? Is this showing love? Is this being tolerant and patient? This behavior of yours has already caused disturbances to church life. Who suffers from this? It is God’s chosen people. Especially in the environment of mainland China, where gathering is not easy and believers must hide all over the place, even having to schedule things in advance—if someone unloads all these irritating family matters at the gathering place for everyone to hear and comment on, is this appropriate? Most people come to gatherings to understand the truth and God’s intentions, not to hear these irritating trivialities, not to listen to you prattle about domestic matters. Some people say, “I don’t have anyone else that I’m close to, so what’s wrong with speaking to the brothers and sisters about them?” You may speak about them, but timing is important. Outside of gathering times, as long as the other party is willing to listen, you may talk about them; that is your freedom, and God’s house will not restrict you. However, the place and time you now choose to talk about such matters are not right. This is in church life, during gathering time, and your endless chatter about family matters constantly perturbs the brothers and sisters and should be restricted. Is this not a rule? This is indeed a rule. Not understanding rules is unacceptable, as it can lead to acting without reason and disturbing others. Behaviors, speech, and demeanors that cause disturbances should be restricted; this is the responsibility of leaders and workers, as well as the responsibility of all brothers and sisters. Some people usually have little to fellowship at gatherings, but whenever issues crop up in their family life, they unload these irritating trivialities upon others for them to listen to. Are others obliged to listen? Are they obligated to judge right from wrong for those people? They have no such obligations. Those things are the personal affairs of those people, and they ought to handle them on their own; they shouldn’t talk about their personal affairs during the gathering time. This is against the rules and irrational, and such behavior should be restricted.

Some people’s children go to university, and they start worrying about their children’s prospects, seeking out connections for them, constantly pondering, “There aren’t any government officials in our family; what kind of job can my son find after graduating from university? What about his future? Will he be able to support me in my old age? I need to find a way to ensure he has a good job after graduation.” When attending gatherings, they say, “My son is very obedient. Not only does he support my faith in God, but he also wants to believe after finishing university. However, one thing is, even if we believe in God, we still have to make a living, right? I don’t know what kind of job he will be able to find after graduating. What jobs are well-paid now? Sister So-and-so, I heard your husband is a manager. Does he have any way to help out? My son is educated, he’s seen the world, he has better caliber than I do, and he’s good with computers; he can do duties in God’s house in the future. But now, the matter of finding a job needs to be resolved first; it would be tough for him if he can’t find a job.” Every time they come to the gathering, they bring up these matters, and the talk goes on endlessly. They look to see who might sympathize with them and then seek to build connections with those people. During gatherings, they try to get close to them, cater to their likes, and even give gifts, sometimes bringing delicious food or buying small items for them. Isn’t this building personal connections and laying groundwork? What is the purpose of laying groundwork? It is to use others to handle one’s personal affairs, to achieve one’s own goals. During gatherings, they aren’t willing to listen to the brothers and sisters sharing their experiential testimonies, they ignore whatever work God’s house arranges for them, and they are not willing to listen to the brothers and sisters who try to help and advise them about their state. They are only particularly enthusiastic about their son finding a job, talking endlessly about it. They not only speak to anyone they see but also during gatherings. In short, they are particularly attentive to this matter and put a lot of effort into it. At every gathering, they must take up some time from the brothers and sisters to talk about this matter. Even when fellowshipping their own experiences, they don’t forget to mention it, speaking until everyone is impatient and disgusted, with most people feeling too embarrassed to stop them. At this point, leaders and workers should fulfill their responsibility and restrict them, saying, “Everyone is aware of your situation. If any brothers and sisters are willing to help, that’s your personal relationship. If others are unwilling to help, you should not force them. Helping your son find a job is not the obligation or responsibility of the brothers and sisters; it is your personal matter and should not take up the precious time of the brothers and sisters eating and drinking God’s words and fellowshipping the truth. Do not interfere with others eating and drinking God’s words by fellowshipping about your own personal affairs. After the gathering, you can talk to whomever you want, seek help from whomever you want, but do not use the gathering time to talk about it. Utilizing gathering time for handling personal affairs is devoid of reason and shameful; it is a manifestation of disturbing church life. This matter should stop here.” This is what leaders and workers ought to do.

During gatherings, some elderly ladies find that the young sisters in the host families are good-looking, honest, and genuinely believe in God and pursue the truth, so they take a liking to them and want these young sisters to become their daughters-in-law. They not only bring this up all the time during gatherings but also give little favors and extra care to the young sisters every time they come to the gatherings. Even when the young sisters disagree, they persistently nag and pester them, not letting them go. What kind of people are they? Are they not of low character? Seeing as they’re all sisters in faith, most can only fellowship God’s intentions and His words to resolve these issues. However, some people lack conscience, reason, and self-awareness, have enormous personal desires, and want to bring whatever selfish desires they have to fruition without any sense of shame. Thus, some people become victims and feel uncomfortable during gatherings. Is this not causing disturbances to others? What should be done in such situations? Church leaders must step up to restrict and eliminate these kinds of matters from church life and among the brothers and sisters. Furthermore, some people carry all sorts of moods to the gatherings—their son being unfilial, their daughter-in-law always taking things to her parents’ house, conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law…. They speak of these irritating trivialities at every gathering, prefacing their complaints with: “Everything God says is true; humankind is so corrupt now! Just look at my son and daughter-in-law, lacking conscience, lacking reason—this is the lack of humanity God speaks of, they’re even worse than animals. Even lambs know to kneel when nursing, but my son forgets his mother once he has a wife!” Every time they attend gatherings, they express these complaints. There are also people who, upon attending gatherings, talk about matters in their companies—who has high performance at work and gets more bonuses; who will be promoted next month, while they have no hope; who dresses best and buys the most branded goods; who has married a wealthy husband…. For those who have believed in God for a longer time and have some foundation, they do not wish to hear such talk and are repelled by it. However, some new believers, who have not yet established a foundation or developed an interest in God’s words, find such topics stimulating, believing they have found a place to chat and build personal connections. During gatherings, they talk back and forth, and gradually, the two people find each other agreeable and form a connection, thus developing a private relationship. The gathering place has become a venue for transactions, a place for people to engage in idle chatter, build personal connections, conduct business dealings, and engage in commercial operations. These issues are what leaders and workers should promptly identify and stop.