God’s work and the truths God expresses always exceed human imaginings and are always beyond human notions. No matter how people try, they cannot fathom or measure them. They don’t know just what the methods of God’s work are or what goals it intends to achieve, so eventually, some people start to doubt: “Does god really exist? Where exactly is god? God keeps expressing truths, but doesn’t he express too many? Didn’t god say that he would bring us into his kingdom? When can we enter the kingdom of heaven? How come these things haven’t come true or been fulfilled yet? Exactly how many more years will it take? It’s always said that god’s day is at hand, but this ‘at hand’ has been mentioned for years now—why is it so far away and seemingly endless?” They not only think this way, but they spread these doubts everywhere. What problem does this indicate? Why, after listening to so many sermons, do they still not understand the truth at all? Why do they always use human notions and imaginings to delimit God’s work? Why can’t they look at these things according to God’s words? Can they confirm God’s existence and determine a path to salvation through God’s words? Do they understand that all of these words God says and everything He does are in order to save people? Do they understand that only by gaining the truth and achieving salvation can people gain all the blessings God has promised to humankind? From what they say and the notions they spread, it is evident that they fundamentally do not understand just what God is doing or just what the purpose of God doing all this work and speaking all these words is. They are simply disbelievers! After listening to sermons for so many years and muddling away in God’s house for so many years, what have they gained? They haven’t even confirmed whether God exists, they have no definite answer to this. What role do they play in the church? After laboring for a while without gaining blessings, they unscrupulously spread notions to mislead and disturb others. The things they casually say are judgments against God and His work. Some of them say, “I used to think god’s work would be finished in three to five years; I didn’t expect that it still wouldn’t be done now that ten years have passed. When will this work be completed? Testimonial articles are constantly being written; videos of hymn performances and movies are continuously being produced; the gospel is continuously being preached—when will it end?” They even ask others: “Don’t you think the same? Well, no matter what you think, that’s what I think. I am an honest person; I say whatever’s on my mind, unlike some people who don’t say what’s on their mind, and keep it all bottled up.” How “honest” they are, daring to say anything! Even worse, they say, “If god’s work doesn’t end soon, I’ll just go find a job, make some money, and live my life. For all these years of believing in god, I’ve missed out on so many good meals, so many enjoyable places, so much material enjoyment! If I didn’t believe in god, I’d have been living in a mansion, owning a car, and might even have traveled the world several times over these past years. Thinking back, life without believing in god was pretty good; I was quite happy. Although it was a bit empty, I could enjoy fleshly pleasures, eat and drink well, and do whatever I wanted, without any restrictions. During these years of believing in god, I’ve suffered so much, and been too hard on myself! Although I have gained a bit of truth and feel a bit more secure in my heart, these truths can’t replace those fleshly pleasures! Besides, god’s work never ends, and god never appears to people, so I never feel truly secure. They say understanding and gaining the truth brings peace and joy, but what good is having peace and joy? I still don’t have fleshly enjoyment!” These thoughts have run through their mind countless times, and they’ve repeated them to themselves many times. When they believe their notions have enough justification to stand firm and they feel that the time is ripe and they are sufficiently qualified to nitpick God’s work, they cannot help but spread the remarks and notions quoted above. They spread their dissatisfaction with God and their notions and misunderstandings about God’s work, trying to mislead more people into misunderstanding God and His work. Of course, there are also some with ulterior motives who want to prevent more people from expending themselves for God, wanting them to abandon their current duties and reject God; if the church were to disband, for them it would be the best thing of all. What is their goal? “If I can’t gain blessings, none of you should hope to either. I will mess things up for you all so that none of you can hope to gain the truth or the blessings promised by god!” Seeing no hope of gaining blessings, they lose the patience to wait any longer. They do not gain blessings themselves, and they don’t want others to gain them either. Therefore, when they spread notions, in one sense they are venting their dissatisfaction, complaining that nothing about God’s work aligns with human notions and imaginings, and that God’s method of working is inconsiderate toward people’s feelings. At the same time, they want to mislead and draw more people into misunderstanding and complaining about God, developing notions about God, and losing faith. They want more people to abandon God due to their misunderstandings and notions about Him, just as they have.

B. How to Treat People Who Spread Notions

What consequences result when someone in the church spreads notions and dissatisfaction with God? Does it directly affect the results of church life? Does it disturb normal church life and the church’s work? (Yes.) This impacts people’s faith in God and affects their ability to do their duties normally. Therefore, those who spread notions must be restricted. Even if they only occasionally mention such things, they need to be restricted and discerned; see what kind of humanity they have, whether their spreading of notions is due to momentary negativity and weakness or if it’s due to an issue with their nature essence—if they are consistently not pursuing the truth and intentionally spreading notions to mislead more people and disturb and damage church life. If it’s just occasional negativity and weakness, it’s sufficient to support and help them through fellowship of the truth. If they don’t heed advice and continue spreading notions and disturbing church life—even causing others to become negative and weak, affecting their ability to do their duties normally—then that means they are servants of Satan and should be cleared out according to principles. Why not give them another chance? Do you think such people are disbelievers? (Yes.) No matter what their humanity is like, such people are disbelievers. Disbelievers are like the tares among the wheat—they should be pulled out. If they only exhibit some manifestations of disbelievers and have not caused disturbances in church life, and can still serve as friends of the church and render service, they can be left alone. But those who constantly spread notions always express the viewpoints and remarks of disbelievers. They are not just saying things casually; their purpose is to incite, mislead, and draw in more people to distance themselves from God. Their intention is: “If I can’t gain blessings, I won’t believe anymore. None of you should hope to gain blessings, and you shouldn’t believe either! If you keep believing, what if you persist and eventually gain blessings some day—won’t that put me in a difficult spot? How could I feel internally balanced then? That won’t do. To avoid future regret, I’ll disturb you and unsettle your faith, make you distance yourselves from god, betray god, and leave the church with me—that would be best.” This is their purpose. Shouldn’t such disbelievers be cleared out? (Yes.) They should be cleared out. If some disbelievers stop believing, the church will simply take back their books of God’s words and strike them off. There are other disbelievers who have some positive feelings about believing in God and toward believers. They do not play a positive, affirmative role in the church; they just occasionally help out as friends of the church. Such people, even though they do not pursue the truth or fellowship the truth, do not spread notions or disturb church life. As long as they can render a bit of service, they should be allowed to stay in the church and need not be cleared out. However, for those disbelievers who constantly spread notions, they should not be shown any mercy. They spread their notions and misunderstandings about God, disturbing church life and causing disruptions and disturbances to the church’s work. These disbelievers are servants of Satan. They have notions; however, not only do they not seek the truth to resolve them, but they even spread their notions to mislead God’s chosen people. They betray God and want to drag a few others to their ruin along with them. It is with these kinds of intentions that they disturb the church’s work. Can God forgive them? No, they must not be spared. This is not just a matter of having to restrict or isolate them; they must be cleansed away and forever stricken off, without being shown any leniency whatsoever!

In the church, some people never pursue the truth and never understand how God works to save people. After experiencing certain things, they develop misunderstandings, resistance, and complaints toward God; some of the things they say and do serve to spread notions. The notions they spread are not just deviations in comprehending God’s words and work or misunderstandings about God. Some are more serious, directly denying that God’s words are the truth—they thoroughly judge and condemn God. And other notions they spread even openly attack and blaspheme God. They are not dissecting or trying to know their own corruption and rebellion with a heart of submission, standing from the perspective of a created being or a follower of God, nor are they accepting the truth and fellowshipping about their understanding of God’s work and their comprehension of His intentions. The notions they express are exactly opposite to these positive understandings. When others hear their notions, they do not gain an understanding of God, nor do they develop genuine faith, and of course their faith in God does not grow either. Instead, their faith in God becomes vague, diminishes, or is even lost altogether. At the same time, the vision of God’s work becomes blurred to them. The more people listen to the notions they spread, the more muddled their hearts become, even to the point that they feel unclear about why they should believe in God and they start to doubt whether God exists. Whether God’s words are the truth, whether God’s words and work can purify and save people, and other such matters—these all become blurred and doubtful to them. When people hear the notions and misunderstandings spread by such individuals, they begin to doubt and guard against God; they start to delimit God in their hearts, develop misunderstandings and complaints against God, and even distance themselves from God internally. This is very troublesome. Once they have these negative, adverse thoughts, views, plans, and designs, it becomes clear that the information and remarks they have accepted are not in line with the needs of normal humanity, let alone the truth—it is one hundred percent certain that they come from Satan. Regardless of the intentions or motives of those who spread notions, whether they spread rumors and fallacies intentionally or unintentionally, as long as they cause a detrimental impact in the church, they should be restricted. Of course, if such people are discovered and discerned outside of church life, they should also be promptly stopped and restricted. If someone who understands the truth can use God’s words or their own understanding to refute and expose those who spread such things, helping the brothers and sisters to discern them, this is even better. This is fighting against Satan. If you lack the stature, you should learn to discern and stay away from them. If you have the stature, you should expose them. Do you dare to do this? Do you know how to do this? This most reveals whether someone has the truth reality. When some new believers hear the notions and misunderstandings such people spread about God, they are shocked and say, “How can someone who believes in God speak like this?” If people without a foundation hear these notions and fallacies, will they become negative and weak? Will they accept these fallacies? Will they be misled and leave the church? These are all possible. When someone who spreads notions says, “I will never believe in god again,” regardless of what kind of state they are in when they say this, it indicates that they have completely lost faith in God and are a disbeliever. Regardless of their purpose for spreading such words, can you gain any edification from hearing them? (No.) When you are weak and hear these words, you might feel, “This person shares my pain; when they talk about their notions, it’s like they’re giving voice to my own innermost thoughts.” However, if someone with faith hears these words, they would think, “This is outrageously rebellious! How can such words be spoken? Isn’t this blaspheming God? I wouldn’t dare say such things, as it offends God’s disposition!” The fact that they can spread these notions indicates that these ideas developed a long time ago and have already taken root in their heart. If such ideas have just started to form and are still in the budding stage, and they haven’t fully developed into notions, as long as one doesn’t verbalize them and hasn’t misled or disturbed others, this shows they have a bit of reason; they can guard their tongue and thus avoid the consequence of being cleared out. But if they speak out and disturb church life, then they cannot be shown further courtesy; they should be exposed and cleared out. People who do not love the truth and lack the ability to comprehend the truth are prone to frequently developing notions. However, those who often read God’s words and have comprehension ability will seek the truth to resolve their notions, even if they arise. Those who frequently spread notions are revealed and eliminated by God’s work; they are people who do not love the truth whatsoever and who cannot accept the truth, they are all averse to the truth and hate the truth. This is beyond all doubt.

In church life across various countries and places, the issue of spreading notions certainly exists because people who do not love the truth are a ubiquitous presence. Those who do not pursue the truth, those who are averse to the truth, those who seek fleshly pleasure, as well as disbelievers, evil people, and others, because they do not pursue the truth, always harbor notions about God’s words and about God incarnate. Their hearts are filled with notions, full of imaginings about God and demands toward Him, and they cannot purely comprehend and understand every word God says; they only understand them based on their own notions, preferences, and even their personal gains and losses. Their hearts are filled with various notions, imaginings, and unreasonable demands toward God, along with various misunderstandings and judgments about God, and so on. Therefore, it is natural for these people to spread notions—this is nothing new. As long as such people exist, the spreading of notions will occur from time to time and can happen at any moment. When something God says or does does not align with their notions and wishes, and when it harms their interests, they fly into a rage and start to speak out for the sake of their own interests and contend with God and His work. These people always stand in opposition to the truth and to God, analyzing and scrutinizing God’s words, God’s disposition, and God’s work. They continuously scrutinize and examine the correctness of God’s words and work, and they also want to verify whether God’s incarnate flesh aligns with God’s identity and status. During their process of verification, they find it very difficult to obtain accurate answers; in their eyes, it is even very difficult for God’s words to be fulfilled and come true. Therefore, they have much to say when spreading notions. They spread their notions regardless of time, place, or context. Whenever they feel dissatisfied in any way with God, they measure things using their notions. If God’s words and work do not align with their notions, they quickly express their notions. We characterize this kind of expressing as spreading. Why is it called “spreading”? Because the things they express do not have a positive effect on God’s chosen people, church life, or the work of God’s house. Instead, they only cause disturbances, disruptions, and damage. Therefore, it is accurate to refer to the utterance of such remarks as “spreading.”

After you gain some basic discernment about the issue of spreading notions, you should dissect and discern the various erroneous notions and remarks of people based on the truth, and then handle and resolve them according to the regulations of God’s house. Leaders and workers have, of course, an unshirkable responsibility for resolving such issues. At the same time, all of God’s chosen people, after listening to this fellowship, also have the obligation and responsibility to expose and dissect the people who spread notions and their words and behaviors. If you do not have the courage to stop or restrict them, you can fellowship and debate with them based on God’s words and the truth you understand. What is the purpose of such debating? It is to enable those with small stature and no understanding of the truth to realize whose words are in line with the truth after they listen to the debate, instead of being confusedly misled by the notions and fallacies spread by some people. This is beneficial for God’s chosen people and for church life. When it is discovered that someone is speaking words that are not in line with the truth—whether they are human notions or fallacies—there should be a debate. Such debates edify people. At the very least, after listening to these debates, onlookers can clearly see that the words of those who spread notions are indeed notions, and they can understand which aspects of these notions do not align with the truth, what the essence of the notions is, why they do not conform to the truth, why they are characterized as notions, why the people who spread them should be restricted, and so forth—they are able to have accurate insight into these matters, rather than getting misled and toyed with in a muddled manner. Although the notions spread by people can cause some disturbance and damage to the life entry of God’s chosen people and to the church life, experiencing these things really isn’t a bad thing for people. At the very least, it allows them to grow in discernment, see what the true colors of those who spread notions are, see what dispositions they reveal when spreading notions, and see the difference between the notions they spread and the truth. For one thing, people will be able to discern these remarks and have an immunity to them. For another, they will also have some discernment of such people, and know what kinds of words are spoken by disbelievers, by those who do not possess any of the truth at all and often harbor notions about God, and know that their faith is not genuine—at the very least, people can gain this kind of discernment. Of course, if you haven’t yet encountered these issues, do not recklessly pray, saying, “O God, please arrange an environment for me so that I can see what is meant by ‘the notions that people spread.’” Witnessing the spreading of notions is not a game and can easily cause you to be misled. And when these things do happen, you should handle them correctly. Do not allow them to slip by or avoid them; face them correctly, and approach each environment that God has arranged for you with a serious and rigorous attitude. This is the attitude a person who pursues the truth should have in order to obtain the truth. When you encounter someone spreading notions, you should learn to pray to God: “O God, please be with me, enlighten me, and guide me, so that I can discern these words and this type of person, and also enable me to recognize whether I have any of these people’s notions within me.” Then, after praying, go and experience this matter. Of course, this will also be the time when you are tested regarding how much of the truth you truly understand and how great your stature is. When someone is spreading notions, if you hear them and have no internal reaction or thoughts, and are instead just like a radio—accepting whatever notions they express and spread, without any resistance or ability to reject them, and even more so without any ability to discern them—isn’t this very troublesome? Some people, when they hear someone expressing notions, feel in their hearts that what is being said is wrong, and they want to fellowship and debate with that person, but they do not know how to express themselves appropriately, or how they should expose and dissect that person. They also fear that if they fail to argue back effectively, they will get all red in the face, and then when they are ultimately defeated they will lose face and be stuck in an awkward situation. However, they also feel unwilling to let it go without debating, thinking: “I’ve listened to a lot of sermons and understand quite a bit, so why do I lack the words to refute them? I have no notions about God, and I have true faith in God, so why can’t I explain things clearly now that it’s time to refute their fallacies?” They watch the person spreading notions speak more and more, with their words becoming increasingly outrageous and detestable, but they just cannot refute or dissect them, and they are unable to stand up and expose them, much less stop them, which makes them feel extremely anxious and worried inside. It is only at this moment that they realize their stature is too small and see that their understanding of the truth has not yet formed into a complete and correct viewpoint, that it is just some fragmented phrases, scattered bits of light and ideas, and not genuine knowledge of the truth at all. They know very well that this person is spreading notions and misleading people, and that they are a disbeliever, and they want to expose them and refute their views, it’s just that they lack appropriate and powerful language to do so. They can only manage to say, “Everything God does is good; you have to accept it. God is holy and perfect; He is not at all like you say. God is sovereign over all things, and people are created beings. They should submit to God. People do not lose out by submitting to God.” They can only voice these superficial theories that do not hit the vital points at all. After experiencing this special event, they realize their stature is too small and think, “Why am I so incapable? Usually, I can go on and on about grand doctrines, speaking quite eloquently; I can talk for an hour at a gathering without any problem, and write three to five pages of sermon notes without batting an eye, feeling very confident in this regard. But when faced with someone spreading notions like this, judging and blaspheming God like this, why do I have no alertness, no response? Why can’t I give a powerful exposure and rebuttal?” What do they discover from this? Isn’t it that they realize they do not understand the truth? Is this realization a good thing or a bad thing? (A good thing.) Finally, they discover their actual stature. If they hadn’t encountered someone spreading notions, they might still think they have stature, understand the truth, have discernment, can see through everything, can preach various spiritual doctrines, and can fellowship a bit about every truth with great familiarity. However, when faced with someone spreading notions, even though they know it is wrong, they find themselves helpless, unable to do anything, and end up defeated. Is this embarrassing? Is it a glorious matter? (No.) So, how should this be resolved? If you don’t have the right words to dispute with them, and you also want to avoid embarrassment and stand firm in your testimony to utterly shame and defeat Satan, what should you do? I’ll tell you an effective method: If you see them endlessly spreading notions, and most people lack discernment and are influenced by them, but you can’t outargue them, then it’s time to take the gloves off; slam the table and say, “Shut up! What are you talking about? I may not be able to outargue you, but I know you are a disbeliever! Look at what you’re saying; is there a single word that aligns with the truth? You’ve enjoyed God’s grace for so many years—have you ever spoken a word of praise or testimony for God? You have grievances against God; if you have what it takes, go straight to the third heaven and speak to God directly. Stop causing disturbances here. I now formally order you to beat it!” Would you dare to say this? Is this being impetuous? (No, it’s not.) This is issuing a declaration to Satan. Just do this. Tell them, “Beat it, you disbeliever! You’ve enjoyed so much of God’s grace for nothing, you conscienceless wretch; you are unworthy of being human!” Just two words: “Beat it!” How does that sound? It’s powerful, but it can’t be used recklessly. You shouldn’t say this to new brothers and sisters to the faith who don’t understand the truth yet, but to disbelievers and Satan’s servants, you can mercilessly give such orders: “This is God’s house, the home of true brothers and sisters, the home of those who follow God. This is not the home of devils and Satans. Devils and Satans are not needed here. You are a devil and a Satan, so beat it!” Is this appropriate? (Yes.) This is not the best method; it’s just because your stature is small, because you don’t have enough stature to battle with Satan, that I’m teaching you this method. Actually, it is not ideal. The ideal method is that—if you understand many truths and have genuine faith in and genuine knowledge of God—you are able to refute them, and you refute them so thoroughly that they are utterly shamed, so that finally they say to everyone: “I can’t keep my faith; I’m too ashamed to face any of you. I am a devil and a Satan; I will leave the church myself.” Since you don’t have this ability now, you should treat those who frequently spread notions according to the method I’ve taught you.

Do you now know how to handle those who frequently spread notions in the church? Can you now discern those who spread notions to mislead people? (Yes.) What are the main types of speech that spread notions? One type targets God’s words, another targets God’s work, and yet another targets God’s disposition and essence. These types of speech range from mild—imaginings and misinterpretations of God—to severe, such as judging, condemning, and blaspheming God. Besides these, there are also people’s negative and resistant remarks—expressing things like their complaints, defiance, and dissatisfaction toward God. In summary, the words that spread notions are all of the nature of defying, judging, condemning, and blaspheming God, and the consequence they cause is to make people suspicious of and guarded against God, misunderstand and distance themselves from Him, and even reject Him. These should be easy to discern.