At the last gathering, we carried out additional fellowship for the second responsibility of leaders and workers, talking about what difficulties of life entry there are, and exposing certain practices and manifestations of false leaders. Then, we discussed several matters concerning the third responsibility of leaders and workers—“fellowshipping the truth principles that should be understood in order to perform each duty properly”—and exposed and dissected where the “falseness” of false leaders manifests through the attitudes, practices, and manifestations of false leaders toward these matters, in other words, manifestations of how false leaders fail to perform their responsibilities as leaders. Please list these matters. (One of them was about the printing of books of God’s words. That false leader didn’t do concrete work, they just spoke doctrines in an empty way. They also didn’t fellowship specifically on the truth principles or do the slightest bit of real work.) In this matter, that false leader didn’t do real work, they failed to fulfill their responsibilities as a leader and worker, and they didn’t clearly fellowship the professional requirements, specific principles, and points to note that were involved in the work. They merely shouted some slogans and spoke some empty words, and then thought they’d done a good job. What else did we discuss? (There was also the incident of buying a down coat for God.) What problem did this incident expose regarding false leaders? (It exposed that false leaders don’t do real work, and that they completely lack humanity and reason.) When someone bought Me an item of clothing, those leaders helped to carry out checks on it—is this a part of the work that leaders and workers should do? (No, it’s not.) They did work that they weren’t supposed to—what’s the issue with this? (They were not tending to their proper work.) This is one manifestation of false leaders. First, it exposed that false leaders do not tend to their proper work, and second, it exposed that they lack reason and only do disgusting things that are lacking in reason and humanity. You merely remember the examples, but you haven’t seen through to the issues these examples are meant to illustrate, or the essence of these issues that they are intended to dissect. What other examples did I give regarding false leaders not tending to their proper work? (There was the pastry-maker who kept making pastries for God. God told him not to do it, but the leaders and workers continued to allow him to do so, and even tasted the pastries themselves.) What problems of false leaders did this example expose? (That they don’t tend to their proper work, or do the work they should do, and insist on doing work they shouldn’t.) Primarily, it exposed that false leaders don’t tend to their proper work and fail to grasp the center and focal point of their work. In addition, false leaders have a serious problem. What is it? (They don’t obey God’s words or implement work according to God’s requirements.) Does anyone else want to add something? (They pretend to be spiritual and to show consideration for God’s burden, but in reality, they just run amok doing bad things.) That’s another one of their problems. Anyone else? (Before they act, they don’t try to understand God’s requirements; instead, they use their own imaginings to replace God’s desires.) This falls under the category of lacking reason. Anyone else? (The way that false leaders approached the matter of someone buying an item of clothing for God revealed their lack of normal humanity.) What aspect of normal humanity do they lack? They don’t understand the rules of how to behave and they don’t have manners. Isn’t that the case? (Yes.) In fact, these things you’ve mentioned are secondary; what is the main issue? Once these people become leaders, they want to enjoy the benefits of their status and special treatment, and crave comfort. For instance, they want to eat a few pastries, and when they see that someone is good at cooking, they think about trying some of their food to satisfy their cravings. It’s already nauseating that they do not tend to their proper work or do real work, but on top of that, they crave comfort and the pleasures of gluttony. They use the pretext of carrying out tastings and checks for God to satisfy their gluttonous desires, indulging in the benefits of their status. These are all manifestations of false leaders. While these manifestations cannot be called vicious or wicked when compared to the disposition essence of antichrists, the humanity of false leaders is enough to disgust people. In terms of their character, they fall short of having conscience and reason; their humanity is quite base and sordid, and they have low integrity. From these examples, it can be observed that false leaders cannot do real work. This is a fact.

Today, we’ll continue exposing the various manifestations of false leaders based on the responsibilities of leaders and workers. False leaders are basically incapable of doing essential, critical church work. They just handle some simple, general affairs; their work doesn’t play a critical or decisive role in the work of the church as a whole, and it does not produce real results. Their fellowship basically just covers a few trite and commonplace topics, it’s all oft-repeated words and doctrines and it is incredibly hollow, broad, and lacking in detail. Their fellowship only contains stuff that people can understand from reading something in a literal way. These false leaders cannot resolve the real problems God’s chosen people have in their life entry at all; in particular, they are even less capable of resolving people’s notions, imaginings, and revelations of corrupt dispositions. The main thing is that false leaders simply cannot shoulder the vital work arranged by God’s house, such as gospel work, film production work, or text-based work. In particular, when it comes to work that involves professional knowledge, while false leaders may know quite clearly that they are laymen in these fields, they do not study them, nor do they do research, and less still are they able to give others specific guidance or resolve any problems related to them. And yet they still shamelessly hold gatherings, talking endlessly about empty theories, and speaking words and doctrines. False leaders know very well that they cannot do this kind of work, yet they pretend to be experts, act conceited, and always use grand doctrines to chide others. They are unable to answer anyone’s questions, yet they find pretexts and excuses to chide others, asking why they aren’t learning the profession, why they do not seek the truth, and why they are unable to resolve their own problems. These false leaders, who are laymen in these fields and cannot resolve any problems, still lecture others from up on high. On the surface, they appear very busy to other people, as if they’re able to do a lot of work and are very capable, but in reality, they are nothing. False leaders are clearly unable to do real work, yet they enthusiastically busy themselves, and always say the same platitudes at gatherings, repeating themselves over and over again, without being able to resolve a single real problem. People get very fed up with this, and are unable to derive any edification at all from it. This kind of work is terribly inefficient, and it yields no results. This is how false leaders work, and the work of the church is delayed because of it. Yet false leaders still feel they are doing great work and that they are very capable, when the fact is that they have not done a single aspect of the church’s work well. They don’t know if the leaders and workers who fall under the scope of their responsibility are up to standard, nor do they know if the leaders and supervisors of various teams are able to shoulder their work, and they neither care nor ask if problems have come up in the brothers and sisters’ performance of their duties. In short, false leaders cannot resolve any problems in their work, yet they remain energetically busy. From the perspective of other people, false leaders are able to undergo hardship, willing to pay a price, and they spend every day rushing about. When it is time to eat, they need to be called to the table, and they go to bed very late. Yet the results of their work just aren’t good. If you weren’t looking carefully, it would appear on the surface that all the items of work were being done, and that everyone was busy performing their duties, but if you were to observe closely and be meticulous, and earnestly inspect the work, the true situation would be revealed. Every item of work that falls within their scope of responsibility is a mess, there’s no structure or order to it at all. There are problems—or even holes—in each item of work. The occurrence of these problems is related to false leaders not understanding the truth principles, and acting based on their notions, imaginings, and enthusiasm. False leaders never fellowship about the truth principles, nor do they ever seek the truth to resolve problems. They clearly lack spiritual understanding and aren’t able to do the work of a leader, and they can only spout words and doctrines and do not understand the truth at all, yet they pretend to know things they don’t and try to pass themselves off as experts. The work they do is just going through the motions. When a problem arises, they blindly apply regulations to it. They just hustle and bustle blindly and without producing any real results. Because these false leaders do not understand the truth principles, and just spout words and doctrines and advise others to abide by regulations, the progress of each item of the church’s work is slowed and no clear results are achieved. The most obvious consequence of a false leader having been at work for some time is that most people are unable to understand the truth, they do not know how to discern whenever anyone reveals corruption or develops notions, and they certainly do not understand the truth principles that should be upheld in doing their duties. Those who perform their duties and those who do not are all sluggish, unrestrained and undisciplined, and in disarray like scattered sand. Most of them may be able to speak a few words and doctrines, but while doing their duties, they only observe regulations; they don’t know how to seek the truth to resolve problems. Since false leaders themselves do not know how to seek the truth to resolve problems, how can they lead others to do so? No matter what befalls other people, false leaders can only exhort them by saying, “We must be considerate of God’s intentions!” “We must be loyal in the performance of our duties!” “When something happens to us, we must know how to pray, and we must seek the truth principles!” False leaders often shout these slogans and doctrines, and it doesn’t yield any results at all. After people hear them, they still do not understand what the truth principles are, and they lack a path of practice. In a surface-level way, people pray when things befall them, and they wish to be loyal in doing their duties—but they all lack understanding of issues like what they should do in order to be loyal, how they should pray in order to understand God’s intentions, and how they should seek when they encounter an issue in order to gain understanding of the truth principles. When people ask false leaders, they say, “When something befalls you, read God’s words more, pray more, and fellowship more on the truth.” People ask them, “What principles does this work touch on?” and they say, “God’s words say nothing about matters of professional work, and I don’t understand that area of the work either. Do your own research if you wish to understand—don’t ask me. I lead you in understanding the truth, not in matters of professional work.” False leaders use these kinds of words to evade questions. And as a result, though most people have a burning passion to do their duties, they do not know how to act based on the truth principles, nor do they know how to adhere to the principles while performing their duties. Looking at the results of each item of work within the scope of false leaders’ responsibility, most people are relying on their knowledge, learning, and gifts to do their work, and they are ignorant when it comes to issues such as what God’s specific requirements are, what the principles of doing a duty are, and how to act in order to achieve the result of bearing witness for God and how to spread the gospel more effectively so that all who long for God’s appearance hear His voice, investigate the true way, and return to God as soon as possible. Why is it that they are ignorant of these things? This is directly related to false leaders’ failure to do real work. The main cause of this is that false leaders themselves do not know what the truth principles are, or what principles people should understand and follow. They act without principles, and they never lead people to search for principles of practice and paths in their duties. When a false leader finds a problem, they cannot resolve it themselves, and they do not fellowship and seek with others, which leads to tasks frequently needing to be redone within each item of work. This is not only a waste of financial and material resources, but also of people’s energy and time. Such consequences are directly related to the very poor caliber and irresponsibility of false leaders. Though it may not be said that false leaders deliberately do evil and cause disturbances, it can be said that they do not seek the truth principles at all in their work, that they always act based on their own will. This is certain. False leaders do not understand the truth principles, nor can they clearly fellowship about them to others; instead, they just give people free rein to do as they please. This inadvertently leads to some people who are in charge of certain work acting arbitrarily and willfully, acting however they want and doing whatever they like. As a result, not only are there few actual results, but a mess is also made of the church’s work. When a false leader is dismissed, not only do they not reflect on or know themselves, they also engage in sophistry and argue on their own behalf, and they do not accept the truth in the slightest, and do not intend at all to repent. They may even ask that God’s house give them another chance, saying they can definitely do the work well. Do you believe them? They do not know themselves at all, nor do they accept the truth. Can they change their ways then? They do not have the truth reality, so can they do the work well? Is that possible? They did not do the work well this time—will they be able to do it well if they’re given another chance? That is not possible. It may be said with certainty that false leaders do not have work capability; at times, they may toil a lot and be quite busy, but it is a blind busyness, and it bears no fruit. This suffices to show that false leaders have very poor caliber, that they do not understand the truth at all, and that they cannot do real work. This causes many problems to arise in the work, but they are unable to resolve them by fellowshipping about the truth, and merely use a few empty doctrines to exhort people to abide by regulations, and consequently they make a mess of the work and leave it in shambles. This is the manner in which false leaders work and the consequences it brings about. All leaders and workers should take this as a warning.

The various unsatisfactory issues that appear within the church are directly related to false leaders—this is an unavoidable problem. These false leaders lack the ability to comprehend the truth, yet they think that they understand and get everything, and then they act based on their own imaginings and notions. They never seek the truth in order to address their lack of understanding of the truth principles or of the standards required by God. I have interacted with many leaders and workers, and I meet with them frequently. When we meet, I ask them, “Do you have any issues? Have you made a record of the problems that exist in the work? Are there any problems which you cannot resolve on your own?” After I finish, they stare blankly, and in their hearts they have doubts: “We are leaders; could we have any issues? If we did, wouldn’t the church’s work have become paralyzed long ago? What kind of question is this? We listen to sermons and fellowship, and hold the words of God in our hands. The church has so many of us leading it, how can You still be worried? By asking this question You are clearly underestimating us. How could we have problems? If we had problems, we wouldn’t be leaders. Your question is so inappropriate!” Every time I ask them if they have any issues, this is the kind of state they’re in–every one of them is a picture of numbness and dimwittedness. There are so many problems in the various items of church work, but these people just can’t see or discover them. They are unable to bring up issues related to personal life entry, or issues that exist in the work which involve the truth principles. Since they cannot bring up these issues, I ask them, “How is the work of translating God’s words progressing? Do you know how many languages should be translated now? Which languages should be translated first, and which ones later on? How many copies of God’s words should be printed for certain languages?” They reply, “Ah, they’re being translated.” I ask them, “To what extent has the translation progressed? Are there any issues?” They respond, “I don’t know; I need to go ask.” I have to ask them about these things, and they still don’t know the answers. So what work have they been doing this whole time? I ask them, “Did you resolve the issues that the brothers and sisters asked about last time?” They respond, “I held a gathering with them—a full-day gathering.” I ask them, “Were the issues resolved after the gathering?” They reply, “Do You mean that if there are still issues, we should have another gathering?” I say, “I’m not asking if you held a gathering or not. I’m asking if the professional issues have been resolved. Do these people understand the principles? Have they violated any principles in the performance of their duties? Have you discovered any problems?” They respond, “Oh, the problems? I resolved them. I held a gathering for the brothers and sisters.” Can this conversation continue? (No, it cannot.) Doesn’t listening to this conversation make you angry? (Yes.) How are these leaders? Aren’t these just pseudo-spiritual blockheads? They lack the caliber of leaders and workers; they are blind, they don’t understand how to do the work, and they answer “I don’t know” to every question, and when you keep on asking them questions, they respond, “Anyway, I held a gathering; just let it be!” Have these leaders done actual work? Are they up-to-standard leaders? (No.) These are false leaders. Do you like these kinds of leaders? If you encounter such leaders, what should you do? When some leaders meet with the brothers and sisters, they say, “Regardless of what issues you have today, let’s first fellowship on how to perform duties well.” Some people then say, “We have encountered an issue with professional techniques in our duties: Should we use the professional techniques that are popular with nonbelievers?” Isn’t this a problem that leaders need to resolve? If some issues can’t be resolved through fellowship among the brothers and sisters, leaders should step in to resolve them—this touches on the responsibilities of leaders. What do false leaders do when they encounter these problems? They say, “This is a professional issue; it’s your problem, what does it have to do with me? Fellowship on this issue yourselves, but first, I’m going to hold a gathering for you. In today’s gathering, we will fellowship on harmonious cooperation. The question you just asked is related to harmonious cooperation. You should be able to discuss things and fellowship together, and do more research; no one should be self-righteous, and everyone should accept any decision which has majority support—isn’t this a question of harmonious cooperation? It seems you don’t know how to cooperate harmoniously, or how to discuss problems when they arise. You ask me about every problem. What are you asking me for? Do I understand these things? If I did, wouldn’t you have nothing to do? You ask me about everything. Is this a problem that I ought to handle? I’m only responsible for fellowshipping on the truth; resolve professional issues yourselves. What concern are they of mine? Anyway, I already fellowshipped with you and told you to cooperate harmoniously—if you can’t do that, then don’t perform this duty. I’ve finished my fellowship; go resolve the problem yourselves.” Do these leaders know how to solve problems? (No, they don’t.) Despite not knowing how to do this, they think themselves to be very justified, and they are adept at shirking responsibility. By all appearances, they have done their work, they have arrived at the scene to carry out inspections, and they are not slacking off. However, they can’t do actual work or resolve actual problems, which means that they are false leaders. Can you discern this kind of false leader? When faced with any problem, they can’t fellowship on relevant truths: they only speak some empty doctrines and theories which they make sound quite lofty and profound, and after people hear them, they not only do not understand the truth, they also feel confused and disoriented. This is the work that false leaders do.

In the work of “fellowshipping the truth principles that should be understood in order to perform each duty properly,” false leaders are completely revealed. They are unable to fellowship on the truth principles, or lead people to abide by and practice the truth principles in the performance of their duties, or guide them to understand and enter into the truth reality—they cannot fulfill the responsibilities that leaders should. And that’s not all, they are also unable to keep abreast of the circumstances of supervisors of different work and personnel responsible for various important jobs, and even if they have somewhat of a grasp on this, it is not accurate. This causes immense disturbances and harm to various items of work. These are the various manifestations of false leaders we are going to expose today regarding the fourth responsibility of leaders and workers. What is the fourth responsibility? (To keep abreast of the circumstances of supervisors of different work and personnel responsible for various important jobs, and promptly alter their duties or dismiss them as necessary, so as to prevent or mitigate losses caused by using unsuitable people, and guarantee the efficiency and smooth progress of the work.) That’s right, this is the minimum standard that leaders and workers should be able to meet while doing work. Are you all clear on the main responsibilities of leaders and workers regarding this fourth item? Leaders and workers must have a clear understanding of supervisors of different work and personnel responsible for various important jobs. It is within the scope of the responsibilities of leaders and workers to keep abreast of the circumstances of supervisors of different work and personnel responsible for various important jobs. So, who are these personnel? Primarily, there are church leaders, followed by team supervisors and the leaders of various groups. Is it not critical and of great importance to understand and keep abreast of circumstances like whether the supervisors of different work and personnel responsible for various important jobs possess the truth reality, are principled in their actions, and can do the church’s work well? If leaders and workers are thoroughly abreast of the circumstances of the main supervisors of different work, and make suitable adjustments in personnel, that is the same as them keeping each item of work in check, and it is the equivalent of them fulfilling their responsibilities and duties. If correct adjustments are not made regarding these personnel and a problem arises, the work of the church will be greatly impacted. If these personnel are of good humanity, possess a foundation in their belief in God, are responsible in handling matters, and are able to seek the truth to resolve problems, then putting them in charge of work will save a lot of trouble, and most importantly will allow the work to progress smoothly. But if the supervisors of various teams are not dependable, have poor humanity, aren’t well-behaved, and do not put the truth into practice, and, furthermore, are liable to cause some disruptions and disturbances, then this will have an impact on the work for which they are responsible and on the life entry of the brothers and sisters whom they lead. Of course, that impact may be large or small. If the supervisors are merely neglectful in their duties and do not tend to their proper work, this will probably just cause some delays in the work; the progress will be a little slower, and the work a bit less efficient. If they are antichrists, however, the problem will be serious: This will not be an issue of the work being a little more inefficient or ineffective—they will disturb and damage the church work they are responsible for, causing severe harm. And so, keeping abreast at all times of the circumstances of supervisors of different work and the personnel responsible for various important jobs, and making timely reassignments and dismissals upon discovering that someone is not doing actual work is not an obligation that leaders and workers can shirk—it is very serious, very important work. If leaders and workers can promptly get to know the character of the supervisors of different work and the personnel responsible for various important jobs, and their attitude toward the truth and their duties, as well as their states and performance during each period and at each stage, and promptly make adjustments or handle those people according to the circumstances, then work can proceed steadily. By contrast, if those people run amok doing bad things and do not do real work in the church, and the leaders and workers are not able to promptly identify this and make timely reassignments, but wait until serious problems of all sorts have cropped up, incurring substantial losses to the work of the church, before casually trying to handle them, make reassignments, and rectify and salvage the situation, then those leaders and workers are pieces of trash. They are genuine false leaders who must be dismissed and eliminated.

Just now, we fellowshipped in a broad manner on the importance of understanding and having a grasp on the real states of supervisors of different work and the effectiveness of their work, using these real conditions to assess whether leaders and workers have fulfilled their responsibilities, and exposing what manifestations they display that prove they are false leaders, thereby dissecting the essence of false leaders. When serious problems arise in the church’s work, false leaders fail to fulfill their responsibilities. They cannot discover these issues promptly, let alone handle and resolve them in a timely manner. This leads to the issues being prolonged, which in turn causes delays and injury to the church’s work, and may even cause the church’s work to become paralyzed or fall into disarray. It is only when this happens that false leaders reluctantly go to observe the scene of the church’s work, yet they still cannot identify corresponding or appropriate solutions to solve the problems, and eventually they just leave them unresolved. This is the primary manifestation of false leaders.