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 Six)

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

X. Spreading Baseless Rumors

At the last gathering, we fellowshipped on 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.” For the various people, events, and things that disrupt and disturb God’s work and the normal order of the church which appear in church life, we divided these up into eleven issues. Read them again. (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, engaging in improper relationships; seventh, engaging in mutual attacks and verbal spats; eighth, spreading notions; ninth, venting negativity; tenth, spreading baseless rumors; and eleventh, manipulating and sabotaging elections.) Last time, we fellowshipped on the ninth issue. Today, we will fellowship on the tenth—spreading baseless rumors.

A. The Manifestations of Spreading Baseless Rumors

Incidents of spreading baseless rumors have occurred in the church. Some people do not love the truth and do not focus on practicing the truth in the performance of their duty; whether in matters related to the truth principles or in their personal pursuits, they do not focus on seeking the truth—these focuses have no place in their hearts. In their belief in God, they just like to inquire about gossip and personal information, and collect strange and unusual stories. Of course, what they are more enthusiastic about is prying into matters related to God and God’s work, as well as matters concerning God’s house and the leaders and workers of the church. At the same time, they like to baselessly spread gossip, disseminating things that they have heard or imagined which are not true at all. Such people do not like reading God’s words, they rarely pray, and during gatherings they seldom fellowship the truth and rarely talk about their own state, personal pursuits and entry, or their understanding of God’s work, and so on. Of course, they are not interested in those who fellowship the truth or fellowship on their experiential testimony, nor in these matters. However, as soon as they hear someone talking about what point God’s work has reached, or see content in God’s words about disasters, people’s destinations, God changing His form, and so on, their eyes suddenly light up, and they become particularly focused. As soon as they read or hear these words, their interest is immediately piqued. Judging from the manifestations of these people, it is clear that they do not believe in God to pursue the truth, or to do their duty and follow God, and certainly not to submit to and worship God. They come to God’s house and put no thought into doing any duties at all. They only want to pry into and collect some gossip or spread some rumors. They take pleasure in these activities and have no interest whatsoever in the experiential testimonies, hymns, or movies of God’s house. They just like to go online to gather the statements and assessments that antichrist forces in the religious community make about God’s house, the church’s work, and God incarnate. Even if they occasionally look at videos from God’s house, it is not out of an internal longing to seek the truth to solve their own problems. So, what do they look at? They look at the comments under the videos, and they are selective about what they read. They skip over the comments from the brothers and sisters of the church but are particularly interested in the comments from the religious community and nonbelievers. They even specifically look at comments and statements from the great red dragon, trying to discover some things from them. When they see these negative propaganda, statements, and fabricated rumors, they do not seek the truth and discern them; instead, they can even accept some of these negative remarks and statements, and regard them as facts. No matter how many positive comments there are, they are unwilling to read them and do not believe they are true; only those negative comments or rumors attract their attention and whet their appetite. Every time they see these negative comments, they feel very pleased and comforted inside. They are especially interested in the totally untrue rumors and judgments, and even the attacks and slanders against God, that are circulating in the world, in the religious community, or online, and they always study and collect these diligently. By contrast, they have no interest at all in God’s words, sermons and fellowships, the experiential testimonies of the brothers and sisters, and other such things. So, when others read God’s words, fellowship the truth, and share experiential testimony during gatherings, they feel averse, and find these things bothersome and superfluous. In their hearts they are particularly averse to fellowship on the truth and talk of knowing oneself. So, what do they want to hear? They only want to hear strange and bizarre things, whether they are mysteries from the spiritual realm or rumors and gossip circulated by the religious community—they are just willing to listen to these things. Their hearts are filled and occupied with these negative things, and no one can take these negative things from them or divest them of these negative things. Why is this? It is because they are too interested in and fond of them! Therefore, when they are among the brothers and sisters, especially during gatherings, they like to talk about some baseless gossip, and even spread some negative comments about God’s house and the church that they find online. These people are extremely interested in these rumors. Even though they clearly know that spreading these things is not beneficial to others, they cannot control themselves and insist on spreading them. Even if they need to look for opportunities to spread these rumors and negative propaganda, or they need to spend time collecting such things, or use their minds to fabricate such things, they are still tirelessly enthusiastic about this. If, in a church, the church leaders have poor caliber and cannot do real work or discern people, then once there are people spreading rumors and fallacies, church life will be disturbed and affected, and some people will even be misled and controlled by these individuals. Why can many people often be disturbed and misled by others? One reason is that they do not understand the truth and have no discernment regarding the rumors that slander God’s house. Another is that some brothers and sisters who have only believed for a short time have immature stature, they do not understand the truth of visions, and they are hazy about God’s incarnation, God’s work of judgment in the last days, and God’s intention to save people, they are unable to see these things clearly, and they are uncertain whether this stage of work is God’s appearance and work. Consequently, they do not have true faith and do not even know how long they will be able to follow God. Naturally, they are also very easily misled, swayed, and controlled by those who spread rumors.

B. The Essence of Spreading Baseless Rumors Is Acting as a Servant of Satan

These people who spread baseless rumors not only do not believe in the truth and God’s words, but they also cannot discern right from wrong. They are always doubtful of positive things and are easily convinced by rumors and devilish words. These people claim to believe in God and follow God, but they still spread rumors that slander God and the church, and they spread the various rumors they have collected to the brothers and sisters, even wantonly and repeatedly spreading them and publicizing them everywhere. From this it is clear that these people do not love the truth and only believe the devilish words of nonbelievers. Strictly speaking, they are not God’s chosen people at all and they are not members of God’s house. So, what are they? To be precise, these people are disbelievers, they are servants of Satan. Some people say, “Are Satan’s servants spies sent by the CCP? Are they agents infiltrating God’s house?” Not necessarily. Those agents and spies are easy to discern, but these people who spread rumors appear to be true believers on the surface. However, they do not pursue the truth and often act as mouthpieces for Satan, and in Satan’s stead they spread words that slander and attack God, and spread the rumors that it fabricates about the church and God’s house. Judging based on this, regardless of who sent them, aren’t these people servants of Satan? (Yes.) Whether these rumors were actively collected by them or passively heard by them, these people do not think about seeking the truth and discerning them, but instead believe them as facts. They can even unscrupulously and unrestrainedly spread and disseminate them among people, and not just in one place or on one kind of occasion. Their purpose in spreading these rumors is to make more people aware of them, to make the weak even weaker, and to make those who are strong and have faith in God doubt Him and His work because of the rumors—it is to make everyone uninterested in the truth, in God’s words, in God’s work, and in being saved, and instead make them interested in various rumors and negative propaganda, just like these individuals themselves are, so that then, whenever people gather, they will talk about these negative things. Would normal people and people with humanity and reason do such things? When most people hear rumors or various negative propaganda, even if they do not know whether the rumors are true or false, because of their faith in God and the bit of a God-fearing heart they have, they will come before God to pray and seek the truth. Even if they are influenced by the rumors and feel a bit weak and doubtful, it will not affect their performance of their duty or their following of God. They will even warn themselves to guard their tongues and avoid doing things that resist or offend God. This kind of approach is something that most brothers and sisters can achieve. As long as people have some humanity, a bit of genuine faith, and a bit of a God-fearing heart, they can achieve this. Since people believe God exists, they should believe that everything God does is correct. Since it is done by God, people should not make any assessments about it. They should be certain that: “No matter what the rumors from outside the church say, I cannot believe them, and I certainly cannot spread them. Even if I feel a bit weak and shaken in my heart, I must not deny the existence of God!” If one believes in God’s existence, they should believe that everything God does is correct; if they believe in God’s existence, they should have a heart that is scared of and fears God—this is absolutely right. Because they have a God-fearing heart, no matter what rumors they hear, they will guard their tongues, not become spreaders of rumors, not be taken in by Satan’s ruses, and not fall for Satan’s schemes. Isn’t this something that most people can easily achieve? (Yes.) You possess normal thinking and reason, so when you hear rumors, whether you then spread them or not is entirely determined by you. Is anyone else controlling you? (No.) So, after hearing these rumors, shouldn’t people be clear about how they should handle them, and how they should treat them and practice so as to accord with the principles, and with humanity and reason? Everyone should have this bit of judgment and should understand this method and path of practice without needing others to teach them. Even children know not to spread gossip, and that it is disrespectful, immoral, and sows dissension, and that one should not be this kind of person; these are the thoughts and behavior that people with normal reason should possess. However, there is a type of person who lacks such reason and, to an even greater extent, lacks such humanity. This leads them to want to spread rumors and negative propaganda to those close to them as soon as possible after hearing these things, so that everyone can analyze, judge, and embellish them together, and then spread these rumors to a wider audience. They think, “Isn’t this great? Isn’t this lively? If church life were filled with this content, how rich it would be! People would gain so much knowledge!” What kinds of thoughts and viewpoints are these? Aren’t these the thoughts and viewpoints of a bad person? What kind of logic is this? Aren’t they someone who is desperate for chaos? Isn’t it that they can’t stand to see others doing well? In their heart, they even mock brothers and sisters: “You fools, rumors are flying all over the place outside the church; negative evaluations, attacks, and slanders against God’s house, especially against Christ and God’s work, are everywhere. In the churches of the religious community, all kinds of negative propaganda materials are hung up. As soon as people there hear ‘Eastern Lightning,’ they start to hurl condemnations and distance themselves. Everyone is criticizing and condemning you, yet you fools are still here believing in God and pursuing the truth!” Seeing these people following God with such firm faith makes them uncomfortable and also very repulsed. In particular, when they see that someone’s fellowship on the truth demonstrates genuine understanding and a change in disposition, and that everyone admires them, they hate that person. If they see someone holding to the principles, getting results, and showing loyalty in the performance of their duty in God’s house, they get angry and say, “Why don’t you listen to the rumors or to the propaganda from outside the church? Why are you so foolish and sincere? Look how shrewd I am—I have a foot in both camps. I participate in the church life of God’s house and I don’t say that I don’t believe in God, and if I wasn’t allowed to do a duty, I wouldn’t consent to that, but I also pry into the news from outside the church. I continue to pay attention to the negative propaganda and comments from the religious community, the world of nonbelievers, and the internet.” They always have an improper viewpoint. Seeing the brothers and sisters pursuing the truth and doing their duties makes them feel dissatisfied inside. They always want to mislead and draw away one or two of those people, and even constantly want to disturb and influence some of them. They also constantly wish to “awaken” some people by spreading rumors, so that they believe in the rumors and get misled. Tell Me, just what kind of person is this? Is it appropriate to regard such people as part of God’s house and as brothers and sisters? (No.) Then what is the most appropriate way to regard them? It is most appropriate to regard them as disbelievers, as servants of Satan. This is not ungrounded condemnation or wronging them; it is a fact.

What is detestable about these people who spread baseless rumors? Regardless of what channel they hear negative propaganda from, even when they clearly know that it is rumors and devilish words without any factual basis, they still spread them to others with tireless enthusiasm. What is the nature of this? Someone with a God-fearing heart will feel repulsed when they hear rumors. Especially when it comes to words that attack and insult God, they will not mention them at all to avoid defiling their mouth, which proves they have a God-fearing heart. They say, “Others judging and slandering God, and attacking and denigrating the church, is their business. I should not partake in their sins. Their slander of God is already an outrageous rebellion and a heinous sin—I cannot speak these words with my own mouth. I must not say the same things as them. I absolutely will not do this!” However, those who are Satan’s servants can recount negative propaganda and rumors they hear word for word, and they do so repeatedly and without any misgivings, even spreading them everywhere. Do these people have the slightest bit of a God-fearing heart? Are they scared of God? No, they are not. On the surface, they also believe in the existence of God, but believing does not equal acknowledging that God is the Creator who holds sovereignty over all things. Satan also believes that there is a God in the world and in the universe and among all things, but how does it treat God when He speaks to it? How does it converse with God? Does it have a God-fearing heart? Does it treat God as God? No. What method does it use to converse with God? It tests, deceives, and ridicules Him, as if joking around. When God asked, “From where come you?” how did Satan reply? (“From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it” (Job 1:7).) Are these human words? (No.) So, what do these words mean? Why did Satan speak in this way? What kind of attitude produces such words? Isn’t it one of ridicule? (Yes.) What does ridicule mean? It’s messing with someone, right? “I’m not going to tell you where I came from. What can you do about it?” Satan spoke to God, but it didn’t intend to let Him know what was really going on—it was refusing to tell Him that, and it was just messing with Him instead. This is ridicule. Does this attitude show any sense of treating God as God? Is there any sense of respecting or fearing God in it? Not at all—this is the face of Satan. Those who spread rumors can casually disseminate them among the brothers and sisters. They know full well that these rumors are not factual, yet they do their utmost to spread them, looking for every kind of opportunity and occasion to do so. Is this not the behavior and approach of Satan? This is how Satan acts. It acknowledges the existence of God and knows that God holds sovereignty over all things, but it has not the slightest fear of Him. This is the face of Satan, it is Satan’s nature essence. Some brothers or sisters may say, “Although this person does not pursue the truth, his belief in God is sincere. When he heard that the church was going to isolate or clear him out, he became so anxious that he cried and got very worried; he even developed mouth sores! He is unwilling to leave God’s house; he believes in the existence of God. So, no matter what he does, we should treat him as a brother, and give him love and tolerance, and even when he spreads rumors, we should still treat him with love to help and support him.” Are these words correct? Are they the truth? (No.) God has spoken so many words, but these people still do not believe them. And yet, no matter how many rumors devils and Satans utter, these people believe them all, and even unscrupulously spread these rumors to attack and slander God. Just based on this, they do not deserve to be called brothers or sisters. Is this correct? (Yes.) Because they can unscrupulously spread rumors, slander God, attack God, and slander God’s house and the church, we have good reason to regard them as servants of Satan, as Satans. They are enemies of God and enemies of all God’s chosen people. So, how should we treat our enemies? (Reject them.) That’s right, we should reject them.

Some people do not love the truth. After hearing rumors, although they do not openly spread them in the church, they do spread them behind the scenes to those close to them. Some undiscerning people become negative and weak upon hearing these rumors; some stop attending gatherings, and some withdraw from the church—yet the rumor-spreader still does not admit that it was their spreading of rumors that caused this. Despite repeated admonitions and fellowship, they continue to do this when encountering such matters, only refraining from openly and brazenly spreading rumors during gatherings or in public out of fear of exposing themselves, being rejected by the brothers and sisters, or cleared out by the church, opting instead to secretly spread some rumors by sending messages to others or through contact with people. Then is it that such people are not evil? Actually, they are even more insidious. No matter how secretly they act, their motives and the nature of their actions are the same as those of Satan’s servants. Their purpose in spreading rumors is to disturb people’s performance of duty, to make people negative and weak, to make people deny God, distance themselves from God, and abandon their duties. Has anyone ever said, “My purpose in spreading rumors is not to disturb people’s performance of duty or to undermine their initiative, but to help them develop discernment and increase their immunity, so that when they hear rumors, they will be immune to them, will not believe them, can pursue the truth properly, and can do their duties in peace”? Has anyone ever spread rumors with this intention? (No.) Does this claim hold up? In fact, it does not hold up. As long as they can spread rumors, especially those that attack, slander, and blaspheme God—casually speaking these whenever they open their mouths and spreading them everywhere without any scruples—regardless of how many rumors they spread, whether the rumors are spread openly or behind the scenes, and regardless of the impact on people, in short, their purpose in spreading rumors is not to help people understand the truth and develop discernment, but to disturb and mislead people, and make them doubt and distance themselves from God—what they are doing is disturbing and dismantling the work of the church. From this perspective, regardless of the reason or the context in which rumors are spread, the essence of people who spread rumors is undoubtedly that of Satan’s servants. Anyone who speaks rumors that slander, attack, and blaspheme God is resisting God and is an enemy of God. Is this correct? (Yes.) Although you are not the originator of the rumors, the fact that you can spread them proves that you believe the rumors are true or that internally you are very willing to believe them. “If only the rumors were true, then I wouldn’t have to believe in God, God wouldn’t be God, and the fact of God’s incarnation wouldn’t exist. He would just be a person, and I could freely make up rumors about Him, denigrate Him, and attack and slander Him.” Isn’t that the goal? If you believe in God but always want to speak and act arbitrarily, isn’t this wanting to oppose God? (Yes.) Some people say, “Is this rebelling against God? Is this having no faith in God?” The nature of this is much more serious. This is resisting God and opposing God. Only God’s enemies resist and oppose God in this way. Corrupt humankind, due to having Satan’s corrupt disposition and lacking an understanding of the truth and knowledge of God, can rebel against God. However, Satan does more than rebel against God; it betrays God, resists God, and opposes God. This makes it an enemy of God. The relationship between God’s enemies and God is one of opposition. What does opposition mean? It means being irreconcilable. Regardless of the situation or the environment, Satan’s opposition to God does not change with time or geography. Satan’s essence is to oppose God, and this is unchanging; Satan simply is God’s enemy. Satan’s resistance to God and its irreconcilability with Him did not last for one day or for merely a few years or decades; it started opposing God ever since it betrayed Him. So when will this opposition end? Will Satan ever be moved and reformed by God? Will its opposition to God gradually diminish over time? No. It will continue to oppose God. When will this opposition cease to exist? When God’s work has finished, and Satan has completed rendering its service and is no longer of any use, and God has destroyed it—that is when the opposition will cease. And what about those who are Satan’s servants? As long as they are in the church, they will continue to oppose the church, God’s house, and God. Some people say, “They believe in God, sometimes make offerings, give alms, and even host brothers and sisters. How are they opposing God? They are not opposing Him; they even do some good deeds.” Are these words correct? Can hosting brothers and sisters and giving a little money to poor brothers and sisters cancel out their opposition to God? Can it prove that they are compatible with God? (No.) So, how does this opposition come about? (It is determined by their nature essence.) That’s right, their nature essence is to resist and antagonize God. For such people, you need to discern them based on God’s words: See who likes to gather negative propaganda or rumors attacking and slandering God’s house and the church from various channels, and who is interested in these negative things and is willing to believe these rumors and devilish words. This will allow you to see the true faces of these disbelievers. These people usually do not read God’s words, are unenthused when listening to the brothers and sisters fellowship the truth, and are lukewarm in doing their duties. They always feel that believing in God is uninteresting. What do they focus on when watching videos and programs of God’s house? When they see positive comments left by religious people, they feel uncomfortable and skip over them. But when they see religious people and nonbelievers standing with the great red dragon, insulting the church, insulting God’s house, and insulting the brothers and sisters with their devilish words, they feel especially happy and excited. Whenever they hear these negative propaganda and rumors, they get as excited as if they’ve been injected with adrenaline, walking with a spring in their step and even waking up from sleep with joy. Isn’t this wicked? Observe those around you to see who belongs to this type of person; see if they have a disposition that hates the truth and hates God. If you do indeed find such a person, you should be particularly wary and discern them; observe their words, actions, and demeanor. Once you confirm they are an evil person, a servant of Satan, you should reject them and not treat them as a brother or sister. Such people should be cleared out of the church as soon as possible. Some people say, “Why should we clear these people out? In God’s house, having one more person means having one more source of strength for doing work; having one more person makes it a little livelier too. They have believed in God for many years, and although they do not love or practice the truth, they have believed in the existence of God since childhood, believing in the Old Man in the Sky. They also believe there is a god three feet above them, and even more so they believe that good and evil have their recompense. They generally do not dare to commit obvious bad deeds and are willing to help others. It’s just that they have this little hobby; they enjoy spreading rumors and gossip. In particular, they spread rumors from the great red dragon that smear God, repeating these things without even thinking much about them, maybe because they are ignorant and unknowledgeable.” On the surface, they do not seem like evil people and have not disrupted or disturbed the church’s work, but they are particularly active in spreading rumors and always want to be the first to spread them. Shouldn’t people be vigilant against such individuals? Aren’t they servants of Satan? The essence of such people is all too obvious! They are never interested in God’s words or the truth, and they never seek the truth principles when doing their duty. In anything they do, they do not display earnestness, do not apply their hearts, and are unwilling to endure hardship. They just act perfunctorily and go through the motions, constantly joking around. In their speech and actions they do not offend anyone and can get along with everyone, appearing friendly to others—it’s just that they like to gather and spread rumors. From these actions, can we conclude that these people are Satan’s servants? (Yes.) Why can we? Is this blowing things out of proportion? (No.) They have no interest whatsoever in pursuing the truth. As soon as they listen to a sermon, they get drowsy; as soon as God’s words are fellowshipped, they feel repulsed and restless, constantly getting up to drink water or go to the bathroom, always feeling uneasy inside—listening to fellowship seems as incredibly difficult for them as undergoing torture. However, as soon as they hear Satan’s rumors or the devilish words of nonbelievers, their interest is piqued, they become invigorated, and they start spreading these rumors and devilish words with great initiative. Are such people brothers and sisters? No. They are averse to the truth and despise the truth to their marrow. Regarding matters related to God and His work, whether it is God’s identity and essence, God’s status, God’s dignity, or the flesh in which God is incarnated, they hold these in contempt in their hearts. They are entirely devoid of a God-fearing heart. So, they always harbor notions about God and His work. They can easily repeat all kinds of Satan’s rumors and devilish words, thus achieving their goal of spreading them, without any pangs of conscience. What sort of wretch is this? Are they believers in God? (No.) These are the actions of those who verbally acknowledge God and claim to follow God, who believe there is an Old Man in the Sky, believe there is a god three feet above them, and believe that good and evil have their recompense. This is their attitude toward God. If someone insulted their parents or fabricated rumors about their parents behind their backs, they would undoubtedly fight to the death. However, when someone insults God, attacks God, or slanders God, they not only are not upset, but they can repeat it as a joke and even spread it everywhere. Is this something a follower of God should do? (No.) So, is it appropriate for many people to treat these disbelievers as brothers and sisters? (No.) Therefore, when such people are suspected of being Satan’s servants, others should be alert. Leaders and workers must promptly inform the brothers and sisters to be wary of these people, so that everyone can discern them. Once they are confirmed as Satan’s servants, as devils, everyone should collectively reject them and clear them out of the church. Does this align with principles? (Yes.) Then this is what should be done.