G. Consistently Engaging in Licentious Activities

The seventh type is those who engage in licentious activities, a commonly mentioned group. Although the manifestations of their humanity aren’t so evil—nothing like sowing dissension, or committing evil deeds and causing disturbances—they share a common trait, which is that problems and incidents always come up in their relationships with the opposite sex. Regardless of the availability of opportunities, such problems are always emerging for them, and if there are no opportunities, they make them, so that such “stories” will occur anyway. No matter the circumstance, who the other person is, or how distant that person might be from them, such incidents do happen for them from time to time. What kind of incidents? They date with someone, or always want to get close to someone, or develop feelings for someone, or set their sights on someone, among other such things. They always fail to live normally and do their duties normally, constantly influenced by lustful desires. That is, in ordinary situations where normal people would not get involved in such issues, they frequently do. They don’t need any special circumstances or anyone to create opportunities for them; these incidents just happen naturally. After such incidents occur, regardless of the consequences, a group of people or a particular person is always made to pay for it. What prices do they pay? Their performance of their duty is affected; church work is delayed and hindered; some young people are perturbed and fall into temptation, and lose interest in believing in God and doing their duties; and some people even lose their duties or give them up. People who engage in licentious activities are too troublesome. At every turn, members of the opposite sex flock around them, drawing close to them, flirting with them, and even engaging in playful banter. Although no serious problems of an essential nature might arise, they gravely disturb the normal states of God’s chosen people as they do their duties. Everywhere they go, they bring trouble and disturbance to others, to the work, and to the church, even seducing members of the opposite sex they find attractive at any opportunity, and establishing relationships with them. This is far too much of a nuisance. Once they fall for someone, that person is doomed to misfortune, unable to normally believe in God or do their duties anymore. The consequences are unimaginable. That person can’t go without contacting or seeing the seducer, and while they are busy doing their duties, they’re unable to marry or settle down, and the relationship remains unbreakable. What happens in the end? They start to suffer terribly, with such pain! If they endure until they are punished in disasters, it’s entirely over for them, their hope of being saved dashed. Some offend once and don’t repent when they’re pruned, but offend a second or even a third time, engaging in three or four relationships over two or three years, which constitutes a disturbance to God’s chosen people and to church life, and it makes God’s chosen people detest them. This leaves a stain on them that they regret for the rest of their lives.

Some people, because they are somewhat good looking, and have a certain amount of elegance and some gifts and talents, or have taken on some important work, always have members of the opposite sex clinging to them like flies, surrounding them. Some serve them meals, some make their bed, some do their laundry, some buy them health supplements and cosmetics and give them small gifts, and so on. They welcome all comers, knowing in their hearts that such behavior from others is inappropriate but never rejecting it, seducing several members of the opposite sex at once. Those people vie with one another for a chance to serve them, competing with and becoming jealous of each other, while the licentious person enjoys the feeling, believing themselves to be highly charming. In reality, matters of men and women are well understood by adults, and even some minors understand them; only fools, the intellectually disabled, or the mentally ill do not understand them. Why do these people compete so fiercely to serve and please a member of the opposite sex? It’s all about wanting to seduce, isn’t it? There’s no need to spell it out; everyone knows what’s going on. It’s a thing people are well aware of, a thing that’s obviously inappropriate, yet that person doesn’t refuse it, but silently acquiesces—what is that called? It’s called flirting. They know it’s about seduction between men and women, but for the thrill brought by satisfying lustful desires of the flesh, they don’t want to refuse. They feel that this sensation is a kind of enjoyment, one that’s even better than any delicious food in the world, so they don’t refuse. When the person in question doesn’t refuse, those seducing them are even happier, thinking themselves the one that person likes, enjoying the situation internally. And that person thinks that so long as no substantial relationship has occurred, it doesn’t count as anything serious, that licentiousness among nonbelievers is much worse, and that this is at most considered seduction, akin to normal dating. But is dating supposed to be like this? Today with one person, tomorrow with another, recklessly engaging over and over in dating and seduction with anyone. Wherever they go, such licentious people prioritize releasing their lustful desires, showing off, and engaging in seduction. The more people they seduce, the happier they feel. What ends up happening? After showing off repeatedly, some brothers and sisters discern their behavior and collectively write a letter to the upper-level leaders. An investigation verifies their claims, and the licentious person is cleansed away from the church. See what happens? Doesn’t their path of believing in God end there? Their outcome is revealed. Their actions and behavior, which people find intolerable, are even more detestable to God. The behavior exhibited by these people does not represent proper relationships between people, nor does it reflect normal human’s needs. Their actions can be described with only one word: “licentiousness.” What does licentiousness refer to? It means recklessly engaging in relations with the opposite sex, irresponsibly seducing others at will, and enticing and harassing members of the opposite sex. It’s playing with lust, and doing so without considering the cost or the consequences. If eventually someone does take the bait and engages in romantic flirtation with them, they then refuse to acknowledge it, saying, “I was just joking. Did you take it seriously? I didn’t actually mean it; you’re reading too much into it.” Isn’t this a devil tempting people? After tempting one person, they look for their next target, seducing others. How awful and wicked they are! After seducing someone, they refuse to acknowledge it. If someone is misled by such a person and gets entangled, isn’t that disgusting? (Yes.) Are people who recklessly seduce others hateful? (Yes.) God’s house has stated from the very beginning that if a person reaches the age for marriage and is an adult, God’s house does not oppose their normal dating or their getting married and living out their days together in a normal way, and that it permits them and grants them freedom to engage in that. However, there are several conditions: Engaging in licentious activities is not allowed; recklessly seducing and flirting, and casually harassing the opposite sex, are not permitted. God’s house does not restrict dating, but it does not allow reckless seduction. What does reckless seduction mean? It means harassing any member of the opposite sex, and after doing so, not admitting that they have. The people they harass are not their true loves; they do not intend to engage in long-term relationships or get married but merely wish to seduce, to toy with the other person, to get their kicks from them, to seek thrills, to be involved with several partners, to act like a lecher—this is called licentiousness. In the church, licentiousness is not permitted, and if it occurs, those involved should be handled according to the principles of clearing people out. Of course, within gospel teams, such circumstances aren’t permitted to occur for people who preach the gospel, whether they be from full-time duty churches or from ordinary churches. If someone uses the guise of preaching the gospel to recklessly seduce others, choosing only members of the opposite sex to cooperate with, or only preaching the gospel to members of the opposite sex, thereby taking the opportunity to engage in improper relationships, this disrupts and disturbs God’s gospel work. Leaders and workers must promptly cleanse such people away.

In order to find members of the opposite sex and engage in licentious activities, some people give no regard to age and have no age limit. They just try to seduce as many as they can, without a shred of shame. Some don’t just satisfy their lustful desires of the flesh in seducing of members of the opposite sex—they’ll even demand the other party pay for their living expenses, buy them things, and so on. If you discover such people or someone reports such happenings, they should be handled promptly. The only solution is to clear these people out, to clear them out permanently. This is because for people who have such issues, it’s absolutely not just a momentary problem. This is especially so for those who are married—despite having a spouse at home, they still specifically target the opposite sex under the pretext of preaching the gospel. They look for any sort, rich or poor, and if they find someone they like, they may even elope with them, not even preaching the gospel anymore—simply no longer believing in God. If such people can be discovered early, they should be quickly and permanently cleared out of the ranks of those who preach the gospel, without giving them another chance, and without the need for further observation. Do you understand? Some say, “For some, life is hard. If they seduce someone of the opposite sex to form a family, and the other person can believe in God and support them, wouldn’t that be a win-win situation?” I tell you, such people need to be cleared out as early as possible; they are not in it for family life at all but for engaging in licentious activities. Why am I so certain? If they weren’t the type to engage in licentious activities, then after coming to believe in God, they would absolutely not continue with such behaviors and would find them repugnant, especially if they are married. The trends throughout the whole world now are licentious and wicked; people indulge in their lust and compete over who can seduce more members of the opposite sex without any need for restraint, because this society and this humankind do not condemn or deride these actions. So, people think that if they can earn money through engaging in licentious activities and selling their flesh, it’s a mark of skill or capability. They view it as something to be proud of. However, after coming to believe in God, people’s views on these matters change completely. They find the correct way to treat lustful desires of the flesh, which first and foremost involves restraint. How can one exercise restraint? People need to know shame and have a sense of shame. That’s what’s called normal humanity. Everyone has lustful desires, but people need to know to restrain themselves, to have a sense of shame. Even if they have some thoughts of this sort, they should restrain themselves because they believe in God and have a conscience and reason. They absolutely must not follow improper thoughts in their minds, let alone indulge them. They should seek the truth to resolve these issues. Even if they are new believers who do not understand the truth, they should still measure themselves against the most basic standards of human morality. If you lack even this level of restraint, then you lack normal humanity and the conscience and reason of normal humanity. All kinds of animals obey a certain order and follow rules in this regard, not acting recklessly; as humans, people should be even less likely to act recklessly, and have even greater restraint. If you lack even this level of restraint and self-control, how can you hope to seek and practice the truth? If you can’t even resolve your own wicked lust, how can you resolve your corrupt dispositions? Your nature of resisting and betraying God would be even more impossible to resolve, wouldn’t it? (Yes.) If you can’t even handle the lustful desires of the flesh, then how can you hope to resolve your corrupt dispositions? Don’t even think about it. You won’t be able to achieve it.

Some people always look for opportunities to date while preaching the gospel, and such incidents happen frequently. Those who habitually engage in romantic relationships while neglecting their proper tasks have been cleared out and handled, while those who occasionally transgress are warned. Once these individuals with wicked dispositions find the right circumstances and encounter someone they consider a lover, they fall into temptation. Their intention to receive blessings by believing in God thus vanishes amid their wicked lust. As soon as they enter into a romantic relationship, they neglect everything else, even abandoning their intention to be blessed, and pursue only the happiness of the flesh. After one or two offenses, they might feel a bit self-accused and distressed, but after three or four times, it becomes licentiousness. Once licentiousness sets in, they no longer feel self-accusation or distress because the layer of shame which is the bottom line of one’s humanity has already been breached. They no longer consider licentiousness shameful and thus continue to engage in it. Those who can continue to engage in licentiousness are particularly indulgent in their lustful desires, not showing any restraint. Such individuals are not allowed in the church, and must be cleansed away; don’t indulge them or make any excuse to keep them. God’s house does not lack people to preach the gospel; it does not need such lechers to fill up seats, as this severely disgraces God’s name. Therefore, if someone reports or if you personally discover such individuals within the gospel preaching team, you should know what to do. If some new believers have this issue, then you should first fellowship the truth regarding this issue, letting everyone know what the church’s principles and attitudes are toward those who commit acts of licentiousness. At a minimum, they should be given an initial warning to prevent them from falling into it and from using the preaching of the gospel as an opportunity to engage in such behaviors, ultimately blaming those in charge or the leaders and workers for not fellowshipping the relevant truth principles beforehand. Therefore, before such incidents occur, before some people are aware of the attitude of God’s house toward such individuals and matters, when people are unclear about these issues, leaders and workers must explicitly and clearly fellowship these principles to them so that they know what kind of behavior and nature these matters fall under, and what the attitude of God’s house is toward such matters and individuals. After these principles have been thoroughly fellowshipped, if they still cling to their own course and persist in their ways despite knowing these principles, then they must be handled and disposed of, they must be cleared out. If such individuals appear in the church, often causing incidents by seducing others or frequently causing harassment to members of the opposite sex, they definitely have problems. Even if no substantial issues have occurred, leaders and workers should warn and handle these individuals, or remove them from places where people do their duties; in severe cases, they should be directly cleared out. This concludes our fellowship regarding the seventh aspect of the manifestations of people’s humanity.

December 18, 2021