(8) To pursue political aims

Next, we will fellowship about the eighth purpose: believing in God with political purposes and political aims. The likelihood of such individuals appearing is not very high, but regardless of how likely it is, as long as there is a chance of these people appearing, we should list out examples of them, and expose, fellowship about, and define them. We must do this so that everyone will have discernment toward them, and then they can be cleared out as soon as possible, thereby preventing trouble and danger from being brought upon the church and the brothers and sisters. This is done to protect the church and the brothers and sisters. Therefore, those who believe in God with political aims are people we should discern and guard against, and they are also evil people that the church should clear out as soon as possible. What are the manifestations of those who have political aims? They will not speak their true thoughts to you. They will not clearly say, “I am just interested in politics, I like to participate in politics, so I believe in God with political aims and political purposes, and not for any other reason. You can handle me however you ought to.” Will they say this? (No.) So, what manifestations do they have that allow you to discern that they have political aims? That is, what words do they say, what things do they do, what expressions, looks in their eyes, and tones of speech are enough for you to confirm that their purpose for believing in God is not pure? No matter what they say or do, they hide things in their hearts, and no one can fathom them. They have a special identity and background; from their speech and behavior, it can be seen that they have schemes and plots, and that their way of speaking and doing things is strategic. When they talk, the average person cannot grasp their true motives or thoughts, and does not know why they say the things they do. Although outwardly these people show no enmity or judgment toward believing in God or fellowshipping the truth, and may even display some fondness toward these things, you just feel that they are odd—they are different from the other brothers and sisters and somewhat unfathomable. What do you usually do with people who are somewhat unfathomable? Do you just guard against them in a simple manner? Or do you take the initiative to investigate them and find out what’s really going on with them? (We should observe them.) No matter what someone is doing, their purpose and aims are generally not easily exposed within a short period of time. But as more time passes—unless they do absolutely nothing—when they act, they will surely give the game away. Observe and look for clues from the small details—you can discover some information and clues from their speech and behavior, from the intent and direction of their actions, and from the words and tone they use when speaking. Being able to do this depends on whether you are meticulous and whether you have a certain level of intelligence and caliber. Some fools aren’t able to recognize the danger and viciousness that exists in human society; regardless of whom they encounter, they always use the same method to interact with them. As a result, when they encounter crafty and sly politicians with political aims, they easily become Judases and tools for selling out the church, and unknowingly do foolish things that entrap the church.

What manifestations do these people with political aims actually have? These people have a certain social background; they are individuals who mingle in political circles. Regardless of their status in the political circles, whether they are officials, doing odd jobs, or preparing to gain a foothold in the political circles, in short, these people have a political background in society; this is a complex and special situation. Regardless of whether these people believe in the existence of God, judging from their pursuits, the paths they take, and their nature essence, can these people become those who sincerely believe in God? Can they transform from disbelievers, from politicians enthusiastic about politics, into those who sincerely believe in God? (No.) Are you sure? Or is there a possibility? (Absolutely not.) It is definitely impossible. Believing in God and politics are two different paths; these two paths develop in opposite directions, have no commonalities, and absolutely cannot intersect. They are completely divergent paths. Therefore, those who have political aims or love and are enthusiastic about politics, even if they believe in God without any explicit political purposes, still harbor other purposes; and it is certain that their purpose is not to gain the truth or be saved. At the very least, it can be determined that they do not sincerely believe in God. They only acknowledge the legend that there is a God but do not acknowledge the existence of God or the fact that God is sovereign over everything. Thus, these people will never transform from disbelievers enthusiastic about politics into true believers who believe in God’s existence, can accept God’s work, and accept God’s judgment and chastisement.

What purposes do these disbelievers with political aims actually have for believing in God? This relates to their pursuits and the professions they engage in. For example, some people always have certain personal demands within a political circle, with grand political goals and aspirations, and so on, which—regardless of what they are—are all related to politics. What is meant by “politics?” Simply put, it is related to regimes, power, and governance. Therefore, their belief in God with political aims is of course related to their political pursuits. So what are their aims? Why do they take a fancy to the people in the church? They want to use the institution that is the church, the large number of people in the church, and the influence of these people in the church from various professions and social strata, to achieve their goals. After learning about the church’s teachings, the operation of various items of church work, the way God’s chosen people live church life, their practice of duty, and so on, they attempt to integrate themselves into the church. They keep things like the spiritual terminology and various expressions frequently used in fellowship by God’s chosen people firmly in mind, hoping that one day they can use these things to rally everyone to listen to them, to be used by them, thereby achieving their political goals. Just like what nonbelievers say, after things have been brewing for a period of time, when they can raise a banner and get people to rise up in rebellion, more people will respond to their call and follow them, so that they can gain a portion of people in the church to become their force to contend with their rivals. Such things have happened several times in modern Chinese history. For example, the White Lotus Rebellion and the Taiping Rebellion during the Qing Dynasty were instances where people with political aims used religion to fight against the government. The teachings of their religions deviated from the true way and had many absurd and ridiculous aspects that did not conform to the truth at all. Those with political aims made use of such teachings to unify people’s minds, bind their minds, and influence and indoctrinate their minds. Ultimately, they exploited these indoctrinated people to achieve their political goals. From the beginning, when these people with political aims come to believe in God, it is the name of the church that they take a fancy to. That is, they can hide their identity and their aims under the title of the institution that is the church—this is one aspect. Another is they think that as long as they spread their political views under the banner of believing in God, it will be very easy to indoctrinate the people in the church, and that these people are likely to worship and listen to famous people. Consequently, these individuals who have political aims are liable to view the people in the church as objects to be utilized. They believe that it is very easy for the church to become a place where they can hide their identity, and that the members of the church are objects that can be easily utilized by them—simply put, this is how they see things. Therefore, their purpose for joining the church is to hope that one day, once they are on the ascendant, they can contend with their political rivals and gain power—this is their political aim. They want to use the nominal pretext of believing in God to expand the people who idolize and follow them into part of their political sphere of influence. Some people say, “They may have this purpose, but if they don’t make any moves, at most we can only see that they are disbelievers or false believers. How can we see that they have clear political purposes?” This is not difficult. Just take the time to observe. As long as they have political aims, they will definitely take action. If they don’t want to take action, why would they have infiltrated the church? If they haven’t taken action yet, it’s because they haven’t found the opportunity. Once they have the opportunity, they will act accordingly. For example, if the government enacts a wrong policy or suppresses and arrests God’s chosen people, the brothers and sisters would at most discuss and discern this matter, and that would be the end of it. No matter what, believing in God, doing their duties, and following God’s will are what’s important. They wouldn’t lose the big picture for small matters; they would continue believing in God and doing their duties in the manner they should, as usual. However, people with political aims are different. They would make a big deal out of the matter, rampantly expose and widely publicize it, and wish desperately to incite everyone to rise up against the government to serve their own political aims, and they would not stop until they achieve their goals. For the sake of engaging in politics, they completely set aside the matters of believing in God and doing their duties, and disregard God’s requirements of man and God’s intentions. This is how crazy they are—can people still not discern them? Are such individuals following God or following politics? Some people, lacking discernment, are easily misled. These people who engage in politics do not know what the truth is, much less do they understand that God’s work is to cleanse people’s corrupt dispositions and save them from Satan’s influence. They think that engaging in human rights and politics means having a sense of justice and submitting to God. Does engaging in politics and human rights represent that a person has the truth reality? Does it represent that a person submits to God? No matter how well you handle human rights and politics, does it represent that your corrupt disposition has been cleansed? Does it represent that your ambition and desire to hold power have been cleansed? Many people cannot see through these issues. Apparently, Sun Yat-sen was also a Christian. When he was in danger, he prayed for God to save him. He spent his whole life engaging in revolution—did he receive God’s approval? Was he someone who practiced the truth and submitted to God? Did he have experiential testimony of practicing God’s words? He had none of these. After Paul was called, he continuously preached the gospel and suffered much hardship, but because he did not truly repent, did not have life entry, repeatedly committed the same old sins, and exalted and testified to himself at every opportunity, he became an antichrist and was punished. No matter what, believing in God without accepting the truth, always pursuing fame and status, and always wanting to be a superman or a great person is very dangerous. All those with political aims are antichrists. These people will not easily give up on realizing their political aspirations and will always look for opportunities to incite and win over believers as their political force. If one day they see that believers are not easily exploited, that believers only love and pursue the truth, and that they only follow Christ and not people, only then will they completely give up on these believers.

At root, the minds of people with political aims are occupied entirely by ideas related to politics—power and influence, governance, conspiracies, political means, and so on. They do not understand what it means to believe in God, what faith is, what the truth is, or much less how to submit to God. They also do not understand what the will of Heaven is. Their survival principles are “Man will triumph over nature” and “A person’s destiny is in their own hands.” Therefore, trying to change such people is impossible and is a foolish idea. These people often spread political viewpoints among the brothers and sisters in the church, inciting them to engage in political activities and participate in politics. It is very clear that their purpose for believing in God is driven by political aims. This essence can be quickly and easily discerned by others. These people are completely ignorant of faith, walking the right path, and submitting to the will of Heaven—they believe that any person’s thoughts and paths can be changed using political tactics, and they especially believe that a person’s destiny can be changed through human means and methods. Therefore, they are completely ignorant about the profound yet obvious matters of the laws of nature created by God and God’s sovereignty over man’s destiny; they are laypeople when it comes to these matters and simply cannot wrap their heads around them. What do I mean by saying this? If you find anyone whose purpose for believing in God is driven by political aims, you absolutely must not try to change or persuade them, and there is no need to fellowship so many truths with them. Besides being on guard against them, you should inform church leaders at various levels or reliable brothers and sisters about them as soon as possible, and then find a way to expel them from the church. You should not secretly and quietly guard against them while letting others remain in the dark. So, what kind of people can have a bit of discernment concerning those who like to talk about politics and have political aims? Is it older people or younger people? Is it brothers or sisters? (Older brothers.) That’s right; older brothers, that is, those who have social experience, have had contact with politics, or have been politically persecuted—people with insight into these matters—can perceive political issues with relative clarity. Naturally, they can exercise a bit of discernment toward those who engage in politics, and in particular they can perceive their ambitions and desires, as well as their thoughts, viewpoints, ideals, and aspirations, with relative clarity. Therefore, they can discern these people relatively faster than others. Once someone discerns that these people have political aims and are disbelievers, they should guard against them and expose these disbelievers. At the same time, they must also protect the foolish and ignorant ones who don’t understand the truth, preventing them from being misled and exploited, and from unintentionally leaking some of the internal information of the church. It is necessary to notify church leaders and discuss this matter with them, and to inform more older people or those who understand some truth and have some stature to guard against these people with political aims, as soon as possible. It is important to help others see clearly the essence of these people as disbelievers, thereby protecting the foolish and ignorant brothers and sisters from being exploited by them. If you cannot see through these matters and have no discernment, when some sinister, sly, crafty people talk and chat with you, you will willingly spill your guts about the details of your true situation and everything you know without even being asked, inadvertently becoming a Judas. Are there such people? (Yes.) When you speak, you don’t know what purpose the other person harbors and treat them as a brother or sister, telling them everything in your heart without realizing it—after you’ve spoken, you don’t know what consequences will come about. Seeing others guarding themselves against such people, you say, “You’re too cautious. What’s there to hide between brothers and sisters?” You don’t realize why others don’t speak up—this is called being a fool.

People with political aims are certainly disbelievers as well because they do not love the truth and will not accept the truth. Even if they believe in God, they entirely belong to the category of evil people that are antichrists. Guarding against such people is actually the most passive approach. The proactive approach is to discover them early, and deal with and expel them as quickly as possible, to avoid bringing any trouble to the church and the brothers and sisters. Because these people can influence others anytime and anywhere within the church and can destroy the normal order of the church anytime and in any situation, do not keep tolerating or exercising patience with such disbelievers. Do not give them another chance to repent; do not be foolish. Once discovered, they should be expelled as soon as possible to prevent future misfortune. The purpose of doing this is to prevent those who do not pursue the truth from being misled and used, becoming puppets of Satan and demons. Of course, what you most ought to do at the moment is to prevent those with political aims from learning any important information about the church. The sooner you discern and expel them, the less contact the brothers and sisters will have with them, and the less they will be misled and influenced by them. Therefore, in terms of timing, it is better to deal with and expel such people sooner rather than later—the earlier, the better. Being proactive is better than being passive. People with political aims are ill-intentioned; they cannot possibly have any sincerity for doing anything for the church and God’s house. If they cannot mislead or use the brothers and sisters, they will be completely humiliated and will leave the church voluntarily, even without saying goodbye. This concludes our fellowship on the eighth purpose for believing in God: to pursue political aims.

October 30, 2021