The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (23) Part One
14. Promptly discern, and then clear out or expel all manner of evil people and antichrists (Part Two)
At the last gathering, we fellowshipped on the fourteenth responsibility of leaders and workers: “Promptly discern, and then clear out or expel all manner of evil people and antichrists.” The fellowship covered one aspect of this: what a church is. After fellowshipping on the definition of a church, are you clear on the relationship between this and the fourteenth responsibility of leaders and workers? (After God fellowshipped on the definition of a church, we understood why churches exist, the role a church plays, and the work a church does. Based on this, we can discern which people in the church are causing disruptions and disturbances, and not playing a positive role, and then clear out or expel these people.) After understanding what a church is, leaders and workers should know why God establishes churches, the effect the formation of churches has on people, the work churches should do, the types of people who make up a church, and which people are true brothers and sisters. After understanding and knowing these things, you have a basic concept and definition, as well as a foundation of principles for the work outlined in the fourteenth responsibility: “Promptly discern, and then clear out or expel all manner of evil people and antichrists.” This is something you should be clear on and understand in terms of theory and vision. After understanding this, the first work leaders and workers should undertake is to discern all manner of evil people. What are the standards and principles for doing this? Discerning all manner of evil people should be based on the definition of a church, the significance and value of a church’s existence, and the work that God establishes churches to do. Last time, the standards and bases for discerning all manner of evil people were divided into three main categories. What are these three categories? (One’s purpose for believing in God, one’s humanity, and one’s attitude toward their duty.) Are these three main categories specific and comprehensive enough? Some people say, “Why is discerning all manner of people not based on the degree to which they love the truth, and the degree to which they submit to and fear God, but instead based on their purpose for believing in God, their humanity, and their attitude toward their duty? Aren’t these standards too low? In other words, judging from the specific content of these three categories, why is there not a deeper discussion on people’s attitude toward God and the truth? Why is there no mention of whether people are willing to accept pruning, judgment, and chastisement, whether they have a heart that submits to and fears God, and other more in-depth content related to the truth?” Have you ever thought about this question? Let’s not get into this issue for now. Let’s first look at the three criteria: people’s purpose for believing in God, their humanity, and their attitude toward their duty. Judging from their titles, are these three criteria shallow or not? If a person is not up to standard in terms of these three most basic criteria, can they be called a brother or sister? (No.) Can they be considered a church member? Can they be recognized by God as part of the church? (No.) None of these things are possible for them. So, if a person is inadequate or substandard in terms of all these three criteria, then such individuals should be discerned; they belong to the ranks of various sorts of evil people, and they should be cleared out or expelled. Whether a person is a brother or sister, recognized by God, or a member the church should accept, depends at the very least on whether they are up to standard and pass muster in terms of these three criteria. If they do not even meet these three criteria, then they definitely are not a brother or sister. Naturally, God does not recognize them, and the church should not accept them either. So, how should the church treat and handle them? (They should be cleared out or expelled.) Once they are discerned, they should be cleared out or expelled. That’s exactly how it is.
The standards and bases for discerning all manner of evil people
1. According to one’s purpose for believing in God
(4) Opportunism
At the last gathering, we fellowshipped and listed three purposes for believing in God. If we list them as headings, the first is to satisfy their wish to become an official; the second is to find a partner of the opposite sex; and the third is to avoid disasters. We finished fellowshipping on these three purposes. Next, we shall fellowship on the fourth purpose: Some people believe in God purely for opportunistic reasons, so the heading of this purpose is “opportunism.” Some people see that all religions and denominations in the religious world are desolate and do not have the work of the Holy Spirit—that people’s faith and love have grown cold, that people themselves have grown increasingly depraved and see no hope for salvation, and that people have believed in the Lord for many years without gaining anything. Seeing that the religious world has completely turned into a wasteland, they seek a way forward for themselves. They ponder, “Which church now has more people, is thriving, and has development prospects?” They find that The Church of Almighty God, which is resisted and condemned by the religious world, is thriving, that it has the work of the Holy Spirit, and is developing well both domestically and overseas. They think, “I heard that this church’s membership is growing, that it’s developing well, and that it possesses abundant manpower, material resources, and financial resources, and has development prospects. If I seize this good opportunity to join their church, won’t I be able to gain some benefits? Won’t I secure good prospects for myself?” With such an intention and purpose, and a bit of curiosity, they infiltrate the church. After these people infiltrate the church, they are not interested in the truth, believing in God, or in the transformation of their life disposition. Their purpose in joining the church is just to find a backer or a place to stay and to gain the prospects they desire. In fact, in their hearts, they have no interest in believing in God, in the truths that God expresses, or in the work of salvation that God does, and they do not want to hear about or seek regarding these things. In particular, they completely lack interest in God’s work and the work of the Holy Spirit. These people are like opportunists in society who, no matter which industry they join, do so only to find opportunities to obtain fame, gain, and status, and just make investments and pay a price for the sake of their own prospects and destiny. Once they discover that there are currently no apparent prospects in the field or industry they have thrown themselves into, or that this industry does not allow them to display their strengths and rise up in the world, they often calculate in their minds whether to change jobs or switch industries. In whatever they do, such people are always waiting for the opportunity to make a move; they have an intention and purpose for joining the church. When the church is thriving, when it can stand firm and has development prospects in society or any country, they actively and enthusiastically throw themselves into the church’s work. But once the church is oppressed and restricted, or cannot satisfy their personal desires and demands, they contemplate whether to leave the church and find another way forward for themselves. Clearly, the real purpose of these people joining the church is not because they are interested in the truth; they did not join the church on the basis of acknowledging the existence of God and God’s new work of saving people. Even when they choose a church, they opt for a well-known, large-scale one with many members, especially one that has a certain level of renown both domestically and overseas. For them, only this kind of church meets their standards and completely aligns with the goals they aspire to or pursue. But no matter what, they have never truly believed in the truth, nor have they genuinely acknowledged God’s existence or God’s work. Even if it appears that they sometimes do something for the church or throw themselves into some part of the church work, in the depths of their hearts, their attitude toward the truth and toward God remains unchanged. What is their attitude? Their consistent attitude is to just follow along for now, to see what exactly they can gain from this church, to see exactly how many of God’s spoken words can come true and to what extent, and to see when the blessings promised to man by God can be obtained, and if these blessings can be witnessed and fulfilled in the short term. Their attitude is always like this. They come to God’s house with curiosity and a desire to give it a go, and an attitude that if God’s words are fulfilled and come true, then they will receive blessings and not lose out. Such people come to God’s house and, even if they appear to be friendly with others, to abide by the rules, to not cause disruptions or disturbances, and to not engage in mischief, based on their attitude toward God and the truth they can be identified as obvious disbelievers.
How can we discern the type of disbelievers who believe in God only to opportunistically gain blessings, and have no wish to gain the truth? No matter how many sermons they hear, no matter how the truth is fellowshipped to them, their thoughts and views on people and things, their outlook on life and values never change. Why is this? Because they never ponder God’s words seriously and are utterly unaccepting of the truths expressed by God or what God says about various issues. They just cling to their own views and the philosophies of Satan. In their hearts, they still believe that the philosophies and logic of Satan are right and correct. For example, “Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost,” “Officials do not make things difficult for those who bear gifts,” or “The good have peaceful lives.” There are even those who say, “When people believe in God, they must be good, which means never taking a life; to take a life is a sin, and is unforgivable to God.” What kind of view is this? It is a Buddhist view. Though the Buddhist view may fit with people’s notions and imaginings, it is devoid of any truth. Faith in God must be based on God’s words; only the words of God are the truth. In their faith in God, some people even accept the absurd views of the nonbelievers and the mistaken theories of the religious world as the truth, they hold them dear and cling to them. Are these people who accept the truth? They can’t differentiate between the words of man and the words of God, or between the devil and Satan and the one true God, the Creator. They do not pray to God or seek the truth, nor do they accept any of the truths expressed by God. Their thoughts and views on people, the outside world, and all other matters never change. They cling only to the views they have always held, which come from traditional culture. No matter how ridiculous those views are, they cannot perceive this, and they still hold fast to those mistaken views and do not let them go. This is one manifestation of a disbeliever. What is another? It is that their zeal, sentiments, and faith change as the church increases in scale and as its status in society continually grows. For example, when the church’s work spread abroad and increased in scale, when the work of the gospel fully spread, they saw this and felt immediately invigorated. They felt that the church was becoming more and more influential and would no longer suffer the oppression and persecution of the government, they believed that there was hope for their faith in God, that they could hold their heads high; and so they felt that by believing in God, they had made the right bet, that their gamble was finally going to pay off. They felt that their chances of gaining blessings were growing greater and greater and they finally started to cheer up. During previous years, they used to feel oppressed, pained, and anguished because they often saw the great red dragon’s arrests and suppression of Christians. Why did they feel anguish? Because the church was in such dire straits, and they were concerned about whether they had made the right choice in believing in God, and more than that, they were troubled and worried by whether they should stay or leave the church. During those years, no matter what adverse circumstances the church was facing, it would have an impact on their emotions; whatever work the church was doing and however the church’s reputation and status within society fluctuated, it would affect their emotions and mood. The question of whether they should stay or go was always lingering in their minds. Such people are disbelievers, are they not? When the church is condemned and suppressed by the national government, or when believers are arrested or judged, condemned, slandered, and rejected by the religious community, they feel deeply disgraced and even great shame and humiliation about having joined the church; their hearts waver and they regret believing in God and joining the church. They never have any intention of sharing in the joys and hardships of the church, or to suffer alongside Christ. Instead, when the church is flourishing, they appear brimming with faith, but when the church is persecuted, rejected, suppressed, and condemned, they want to run away, to leave. When they cannot see any hope of receiving blessings, or any hope of the gospel of the kingdom spreading, they want to leave even more. When they do not see the words of God fulfilled, and do not know when the great catastrophe will descend and when it will end, or when the kingdom of Christ will be realized, they waver uncertainly and are incapable of doing their duty with peace of mind. Whenever this happens, they want to leave God, to leave the church, and to find a way out. Such people are disbelievers, are they not? Their every move is for their own fleshly interests. Their thoughts and views will never gradually change through their experience of God’s work, or by reading His words, fellowshipping the truth, and living the church life. When something happens to them, they never seek the truth, or search for what God’s words say about it, what God’s intentions are, how God guides people, or what He asks of people. Their only aim in joining the church is to wait for the day when the church can “hold its head high,” so they can make a grab for the benefits they have always desired. Of course, they joined the church also because they saw that God’s words are the truth—but they are totally unaccepting of the truth, and they do not believe that all the words of God will be fulfilled. So what do you say, are such people disbelievers? (Yes.) No matter what happens in the church or the outside world, they gauge how much their interests will be affected, and how great an impact it will have on the goals they pursue. At even the slightest sign of trouble, they will immediately think of their own prospects, interests, and whether they should stay or leave the church with great acuity. There are even people who keep asking, “Last year it was said that God’s work would end—so why is it still going on? What year exactly will God’s work end? Am I not entitled to know? I have endured long enough, my time is precious, my youth is precious—surely you can’t keep me hanging on like this?” They are especially sensitive to whether God’s words have been fulfilled, the situation of the church, and its status and reputation. They don’t care about whether they are capable of gaining the truth or if they can be saved, but are very sensitive to whether they will be able to survive, and whether they can obtain benefits and blessings by staying in God’s house. Such people are opportunistic in their desire to be blessed. Even if they believe to the very end, they will still not understand the truth, and they will have no experiential testimony to speak of. Have you met people like this? Actually, people like that exist in every church. You must take care to discern them. Such individuals are all disbelievers, they are a scourge in the house of God, they will bring great harm and no benefits to the church, and they must be cleared out from it.
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