We just fellowshipped on the criteria and aims of promoting and cultivating various kinds of qualified talents, as well as on the understanding and view that one should have with regard to the promotion and cultivation of various kinds of talented people by God’s house. Yet another aspect is the attitude and approach that one should have toward the various kinds of talented people who are promoted and cultivated. These are some issues that should be fellowshipped in item six. So, next, specifically with regard to item six, let us expose and dissect how false leaders carry out the work of promoting and cultivating various kinds of talented people. This is the main content we will be fellowshipping on.

False leaders do not understand the truth and do not seek the truth. Therefore, when it comes to the important work of promoting and cultivating all kinds of qualified talents in God’s house, they also make a hash of it, completely mess it up, and simply fail to meet the requirements of God’s house. Because they don’t understand the criteria, let alone God’s intentions, as regards the promotion and cultivation of various kinds of qualified talents, and neither do they understand the significance of promoting and cultivating various kinds of qualified talents, it is very difficult for them to do this work in an up-to-standard and principled way. The various kinds of “talented” people that false leaders cultivate in the course of doing their work are a decidedly mixed bag. Instead of promoting and cultivating qualified talents, false leaders promote people who should in no way be promoted and cultivated to serve as leaders or workers, and allow these people to live off the church and squander God’s offerings. False leaders all do things like this, causing some people who pursue the truth and have a sense of justice to be trodden underfoot and not promoted and used. Instead, those who are good-for-nothings become so-called talented people in the eyes of these false leaders, and are promoted by them and cultivated. So what are the manifestations of false leaders when doing this work? Let’s assume, for example, that due to the needs of its work, God’s house must find some people to handle external affairs. So, which people should it look for? I just listed several criteria, namely having work capability, being able to do one’s duties according to the principles required by God’s house, and being able to defend the interests of God’s house. Does a false leader know these principles? Obviously they don’t, so how do they find people to handle external affairs? They think to themselves: “Who can handle external affairs? There is one sister who is sharp-witted and has quick reactions, is a good talker and knows how to handle people. Her eyes dart around calculatingly when she speaks, and the average person can’t figure her out. She would be somewhat unsuitable as a church leader, but she’d be brilliant at handling external affairs, so I’ll pick her. It’s just that with her level of education being a bit low, I worry that nonbelievers will look down on her, so I’ll find a university graduate—who was president of her student union—to partner with her. This person is fairly clever but has relatively little experience in society and has seen comparatively little of the world, so she can learn from her partner. Of these two people, one has a low level of education and the other is highly educated, one has experience in society and the other has none—they make a suitable pairing, don’t they?” One is eloquent and articulate, sharp-witted, and very much a social hotshot; whenever she interacts with nonbelievers, they can’t tell that she is a believer. The other is highly educated and has social status; whenever she interacts with nonbelievers, they don’t look down on her. What do you think about the principles by which this false leader selects these two people? The false leader believes that as long as someone has the gift of the gab, a sharp wit, and quick reflexes, they can handle general affairs for God’s house. Is this a suitable way to select people? (No.) How isn’t it suitable? (Such people are often quite shrewd; although they can engage in philosophies for worldly dealings with others, and know how to handle people, they may not necessarily be able to defend the interests of God’s house.) That’s right. The most important thing is that no matter what affairs a person handles for God’s house, at the very least they must be upright and able to defend the interests of God’s house. Does being silver-tongued and able to talk the dead back to life mean that they can defend the interests of God’s house? Does being quick-witted, eloquent, and articulate mean that they can defend the interests of God’s house? (No, it doesn’t.) Even if they swear an oath, it’s useless, and it’s just as pointless if you place demands on them—they must have that character. But the false leader doesn’t investigate these things, they just look at who has experience in society, who is shrewd, quick-witted, eloquent and articulate, who knows how to act to suit the occasion, and who is like a chameleon, and a social hotshot. They think that such people can handle general affairs in God’s house. Is this not a mistake? This is a mistake in terms of the principles and standards for selecting people. The fact is that this kind of person is silver-tongued in the extreme: No matter who they are dealing with, everything they say is a lie, and they can’t change no matter how many oaths they swear. When doing things, they only defend their own interests, and particularly when faced with danger, they protect themselves first and foremost, and never once consider the interests of God’s house. As long as they have a good relationship with nonbelievers, that’s enough for them; as for whether the interests of God’s house are harmed or not, they couldn’t care less. Neither is the safety of the brothers and sisters something that they take into consideration, nor do they care whether God’s name is dishonored; they just look after their own back. The false leader can’t see through this kind of person and thinks that such people are the most suitable for handling the external affairs for God’s house. Isn’t this foolish? That person sells out the interests of God’s house but the false leader doesn’t even know that and yet assigns them important tasks, and depends on them for everything. Isn’t this the height of foolishness? Are people who are eloquent, articulate, and quick-witted people with upright intentions? If you haven’t had dealings with them or observed them carefully, you won’t know. When you have dealings and handle affairs with them, just watch whether what they say is consistent with what they do. This can be tested out through one event. Let’s say, for example, you are moving things. When they see this, they will not help you. Only when you finish the work will they come over and say, “How can you do such a tiring job by yourself? I would’ve helped you if you had just asked, no matter how busy I was. You look worn out. I’ll cook for you later, you don’t have to do it today.” After saying that, they disappear. You are totally worn out and yet you still have to cook. Then once you’ve finished cooking, they come over to eat and even say, “Why didn’t you call me when you were about to start cooking? You’re completely worn out and yet you’re still cooking a meal for me—how is that right? Since you’ve already made it now, I’ll just eat it. I’ll cook the next meal, and give me a shout whenever you have any work that needs doing in future.” This one event is all it takes to see right through them. They are very smooth-tongued, quick-witted, and know what to say. They know how to act to suit the occasion, and all they ever do is say nice-sounding things, without ever doing any real work. Are such people reliable? If you ask them to handle general affairs of God’s house, can they defend its interests? Can they uphold the reputation of the church and protect the safety of the brothers and sisters? (No.) Is the property of God’s house and all its interests their number-one priority? Far from it. The eyes and minds of false leaders are blind to such easily detectable problems, they just can’t see them. Instead, they can only speak words and doctrines. Who is loved by God and who isn’t loved by God, who loves the truth and who doesn’t love the truth, what it means to possess a foundation in one’s faith in God and what kind of people have no foundation, what kind of people are loyal in doing their duty and what kind of people aren’t loyal in doing their duty—they speak about these things in a reasonable and logical way, and they seem to really understand them, but it’s all empty talk and doctrines. Whenever they are asked to discern people, their eyes and minds are blind; they just don’t know how to read into people. No matter how long they interact with this kind of people, they still can’t see through them, and even assign them important tasks.

It is already an abominable thing for false leaders to use the wrong people, yet they also add to this misdeed by doing even more abominable things. Say, for example, that a false leader used the wrong person. This person isn’t at all suited to being a supervisor and doesn’t meet the criteria of God’s house for being promoted and cultivated. Yet the false leader still insisted on using them and never inspects this person’s work, believing, “One should neither doubt those they use nor use those they doubt. Since I’ve chosen you and promoted you, you will be able to do this work well, so just go ahead and do the work however you see fit. I’ll support you whatever you do, and there’s no point in anyone objecting to this!” They used the wrong person, and yet they let their mistake persist right to the end—that is how much they believe in themselves. False leaders are all blind. They cannot see any problems, they cannot tell which people are evil people or disbelievers, and no matter who disrupts and disturbs the church’s work, they don’t have any awareness of it, and they even assign important tasks to muddleheaded people. False leaders place great trust in whomever they promote, and blithely entrust important work to them. As a result, those people mess up the church’s work, seriously affecting the spread of the gospel and harming the interests of God’s house. False leaders even pretend that they don’t know anything about this. The Above asks them, “How is the person you promoted doing in their work? Are they suited to performing this work? Are they defending the church’s work and the interests of God’s house? At critical moments, will they protect themselves, or will they defend the church’s work?” These false leaders reply: “They swore an oath to defend the church’s work. Besides, they have believed in God for 20 years. How could they protect themselves and sell out the interests of God’s house? They will probably defend the interests of God’s house.” The Above replies: “Is what you say accurate? Have you inspected their work?” These false leaders reply, “I haven’t inspected their work, but I told them not to defend their own interests, and that they must defend the church’s work, and they promised me they would.” What was the use of that person making them a promise? That person can’t even fulfill the oath they swore before God. Do they think that just because that person made them a promise, they’re a safe bet? Can they definitely do what they promised? Since these false leaders haven’t inspected that person’s work, how do they know if they are someone who defends the interests of God’s house? How come they believe in themselves so much? Are such false leaders not scoundrels? In using the wrong person, they have already made a great mistake, and then they compound their error by never inquiring about, looking into, or inspecting this person’s work, and by not supervising or observing it. All they do is just keep tolerating this person acting recklessly and committing misdeeds. This is how false leaders work. Whenever an item of work is short of people, false leaders blithely arrange for someone to be responsible for it and that’s the end of it; they never inspect the work, or actually go on-site to interact with that person, observe them, and try to find out more about them. In some places the environment is not conducive to meeting and spending time with them, but those leaders must ask about that person’s work, and make indirect inquiries about what they’ve been doing, and how they’ve been doing it—they can ask the brothers and sisters, or someone who is close to them. Isn’t this achievable? But false leaders don’t even bother to ask any questions, that’s how confident they are. In their work, they just hold gatherings and preach doctrines, and when the gatherings are over and the work has been arranged, they do nothing else; they do not go on to follow up on or find out whether the person they selected is able to do real work. At the start, they didn’t understand that person, but based on their caliber and their surface-level manifestations and enthusiasm, they felt they were suitable for this work and so they used them. There is nothing wrong with this, because no one knows how people will turn out. But after promoting them, shouldn’t those leaders follow up and look into whether they do real work, how they work, and whether they have been perfunctory, slippery, or slacking off? This is exactly the work they should be doing, but they don’t do any of it, they don’t take any responsibility. They are false leaders, and they should be dismissed and eliminated.

False leaders make a serious mistake, which is that after they promote people, they explain the work to them, then spout a bit of doctrine, offer a few words of encouragement and leave it at that, without ever following up or getting involved in specific tasks. If they say that they have poor caliber and lack insight into people, then they could follow up and find out how the specific tasks are going, and they could fully get a handle on the situation. However, false leaders do not follow up and find out how the work is going at all. Take printing books, for instance, which is a specific piece of work. A false leader assigned someone to be in charge of this work, but didn’t check up on them even once in half a year. As a result, after six months, all the printed books turned out to be defective—what an utter shambles! This is how false leaders are—they don’t do any specific work at all. What should you do if you are arranging to have a book printed? You must first allocate a suitable supervisor, and then supervise and check up on how well they are doing the job, and whether they might make a mess of it. You must supervise and follow up on the work, and directly resolve problems if you discover any—only this can ensure that no issues arise. But false leaders don’t do this. They think that their responsibilities are just to spout doctrines at people, and get them to understand doctrines, and that as long as people understand doctrines, problems can be resolved. Therefore, they only pay attention to spouting doctrines and shouting slogans, and don’t get involved in specific tasks. As far as false leaders are concerned, they think that it isn’t their business to get involved in specific tasks, and that this should be the concern of the people beneath them. So, what do they themselves do? They command the overall situation from on high and become an ineffective official. No matter what the work is, they aren’t present or involved in it. After telling people the principles, if they’re asked about detailed issues or specific paths, they will say, “The specific work is up to you, I don’t understand this stuff.” Therefore, they don’t know how those beneath them go about doing the work. As for whether the supervisor is competent and up to the job, or what their humanity is like, or whether they are a person who pursues the truth, or whether they are responsible in doing their duty, or whether they are perfunctory or run amok doing bad things, or whether there are delays to the work, and so on—false leaders don’t know about any of this, they just saunter around like nonbelieving, pen-pushing officials, not doing any actual work. In the churches where they work, false leaders don’t know it when some supervisors have brought the work to a standstill, or when some supervisors are establishing their own independent kingdoms, or when some supervisors don’t attend to their proper duties and instead spend their days eating, drinking and having fun, and they’ll even turn a blind eye to it when some supervisors have caliber that is exceedingly poor, distorted comprehension, and can’t do the work at all. Such false leaders are just empty shells, they are leaders in name only, and they don’t do any of the substantive work of a leader. On the surface, these false leaders seem quite well-behaved. They assign supervisors for each item of work, convene these people for a gathering every once in a while, and spend the rest of their time in one place engaging in spiritual devotions, praying, reading God’s words, listening to sermons, learning hymns, and writing their own sermons. There are some false leaders who don’t even leave their rooms all week. There are also false leaders who do nothing but hold online gatherings, without ever going to the places of work to understand the situation. The brothers and sisters don’t see them in person for long periods, and have no idea about what the false leaders’ life experiences or stature are like. During gatherings, false leaders only handle some general affairs, but as for specifically what each supervisor is doing, and whether the people they promoted and cultivated are suitable for the given work, or what the attitude of these people is in doing their duty, or whether they are attentive and thorough in their work, or if they are negative and perfunctory, or whether these people are following the right path, or whether they are right people, false leaders don’t care or ask about any of these matters, and don’t want to know about them either. Isn’t the nature of this problem serious? (Yes.)

God’s house needs some talented people who understand certain professional fields and who possess certain skills, and it will cultivate these people to study those professions so that they can do a duty in God’s house. What kind of people do you think false leaders find? They gather together all the young people who have been to university and followed their parents into believing in God, and they look at who is articulate and who likes to be the center of attention, and say to them, “God’s house wants to cultivate you; you are the reserve army and the new forces.” Then, they assign these people to do a duty. In actual fact, these people have never performed a duty, they lack various sorts of experience, and they don’t understand the truth whatsoever. But false leaders favor them and like them, so they start cultivating them. They assign these people to do duties based on what their expertise makes them suited to learning; some are assigned to do text-based work, some are assigned to film production, some are assigned to make videos, and some are assigned to be actors. To false leaders, as long as these people have a duty to do, that’s enough. False leaders don’t investigate whether these people love the truth or whether they can accept the truth, nor do they look into what these people are pursuing or what their goals are. In the end, what happens? Some of those people are eliminated. This is because they are dissolute and unrestrained, and they pursue worldly trends, and spend their days dressing themselves up and hooking up with others, and they don’t understand any rules or have any manners at all—it is obvious that they are disbelievers and nonbelievers. They do not attend to their proper work while performing their duties, and they do everything in a perfunctory manner, but false leaders cannot see this at all. Aren’t false leaders blind of eye? (Yes.) What causes this blindness of eye? Isn’t it due to false leaders being blind of mind? Blindness of eye and blindness of mind are two characteristics of false leaders. Though their eyes are wide open, false leaders cannot understand anything or see through anyone—that is, their eyes are blind. In their minds, they have no discernment or views on anyone or anything, and no matter what they see, they have no ability to distinguish right from wrong, and they have no attitudes, no opinions, and no definitions—this is a serious case of being blind of mind. False leaders are all people who have believed in God for many years and often listen to sermons, so why is it that they cannot identify those disbelievers? This is further proof that false leaders are of very poor caliber, that they are incapable of comprehending the truth, and that no matter how many truths they hear, it is to no avail, and they do not understand them. They are blind of eye and mind, and they are completely incapable of discerning people. How could they be fit to be leaders or workers in the church? They believe that good talkers are talented people, and that people who can sing and dance are also talented individuals; when they see people who wear glasses or people who have been to university, they think them to be talented individuals, and when they see people of status in society, people who are rich, people who know how to do business and engage in deceptive practices, and people who do some sort of important work in society, false leaders think that they are talented individuals. They believe that God’s house should cultivate these kinds of people. They do not look at the character of these people or whether their belief in God has a foundation, and less still do they look at the attitude with which these people treat God and the truth. They look only at people’s social status and background. Is it not absurd for false leaders to view people and things in this way? False leaders view people and things in the same way as nonbelievers—theirs is the view that the nonbelievers have of things. This suffices to prove that false leaders are not people who love and understand the truth, and that they lack any discernment. Are they not extremely shallow? They are truly blind—very much so!

In the past, I met a false leader who would talk and laugh when I conversed with him, but as soon as I asked him about work, he stared into space in a numb and dull-witted manner, and was unresponsive to anything I said to him. This person’s caliber is too poor for him to be used. It’s no wonder he didn’t understand anything that I told him and couldn’t carry it out. Whatever I talked to him about, he kept saying, “I held a gathering and I checked up on the work a few days ago.” I said, “Don’t you have any other jobs besides holding gatherings? There is so much work to be done in the church, why don’t you find something else to do?” He said: “Isn’t being a leader or worker just about holding gatherings? There’s nothing else to do except hold gatherings, I don’t know how to do anything else!” This shows that he was destined to be a false leader when he took on that post, and that he cannot do any real work, because his caliber is exceedingly poor! Exceedingly poor caliber leads to blindness of eye and blindness of mind. What does blindness of eye mean? It means that no matter what a person sees, they are unable to spot specific problems, and so their eyes serve no purpose. What does blindness of mind mean? It means that no matter what happens, a person is not aware of and fails to understand the problem therein, and they cannot see where the essence of the problem lies—this is what it means to be blind of mind. If a person is blind of mind, then they are utterly finished. False leaders are blind of eye and mind in this way. Would you say that false leaders feel upset when they hear these words? They think, “My eyes are pretty big, but He says I am blind of eye; and I have good intentions in mind, yet He says I am blind of mind—His definition is not particularly accurate, surely? Why not just call me a false leader? Why add that I’m also blind of eye and mind?” If I didn’t phrase it like that, judging by the caliber of the false leaders, could they realize that they are poor of caliber? (No, they couldn’t.) Doesn’t saying that these false leaders are blind of eye and mind explain the matter perfectly? For example, let’s say that an antichrist is establishing their own independent kingdom in the church. But a false leader says, “This person is very capable. They used to be a university professor, and they speak clearly, methodically, and in a well-ordered and articulate manner. What’s more, they don’t get stage fright, no matter how big the audience.” It’s clear as day that the person they speak of is a Pharisee who is establishing their own independent kingdom, and yet the false leader still praises them. Is that not blindness of eye? (Yes.) If someone is singing out of tune and you don’t hear it, can that be considered blindness of eye? (No.) That is a professional issue, rather than an issue of caliber. But after they have listened to so many truths, false leaders can’t even discern antichrists for what they are, and they can’t tell whether a person’s humanity is good or bad, or whether someone is a candidate for promotion and cultivation by God’s house, or whether someone is a disbeliever or whether that person sincerely believes in God, and they can’t tell whether someone is loyal in doing their duty—what, then, have they gained from listening to sermons for all these years? They have not gained any truths, which means that they are blind fools; this is how blind false leaders are. They believe that the primary job of a leader is to be able to preach sermons, and to preach for two or three hours, and that as long as they can speak words and doctrines, shout slogans, and rouse people, they are an up-to-standard leader, they are able to shoulder the work, they have the truth reality, and God is satisfied with them. What kind of logic is this? Because false leaders do not understand the truth and are too poor of caliber, and blind of eye and mind, they possess absolutely no ability to discern various types of people, and cannot see through various types of people. So, are they able to use various kinds of people in a reasonable way? (No.) They just have one strategy: Those who used to be teachers are assigned to preach sermons, those who have been involved in foreign trade are assigned to handle general affairs, those who can speak English are assigned to be translators, and whoever is articulate and has a thick skin is assigned to preach the gospel; those who are timid are assigned to write experiential testimony articles at home, those who are daring and love to perform are appointed as actors, and those who want to become officials are appointed as leaders or directors. This is how false leaders use people, without any principles whatsoever.

Within the scope of the work that false leaders are responsible for, oftentimes there are some people who truly pursue the truth and meet the criteria for promotion and cultivation that get held back. Some of these people preach the gospel, and some are assigned to do hosting duties. The fact is that they all have caliber, and understand some truths, and are worthy of being cultivated as leaders and workers, it’s just that they don’t like to flaunt themselves or be the center of attention. And yet, false leaders don’t take any notice whatsoever of these people. They don’t engage with them or inquire about them, and they never cultivate talented people for God’s house. They only ever focus on ensnaring those who fawn over them, in order to satisfy their own selfish desires. As a result, those people who truly pursue the truth don’t get to be promoted and cultivated, whereas those who like to be the center of attention, who are articulate, who know how to butter people up, and who are fond of fame, gain, and status—they all get promoted, and even those who have been officials, company CEOs, or who have studied corporate management out in society are assigned to important positions. Regardless of whether those people are true believers or not, or whether they are people who pursue the truth or not, in any case, those are the people who get promoted and used within the scope of the work that false leaders are responsible for. Is this using people in accordance with the principles? Isn’t false leaders only promoting such people exactly what the society of nonbelievers is like? During the period that false leaders are working, those who can actually get stuff done when doing their duty, who have a sense of justice, and who love the truth and positive things—they don’t get to be promoted or cultivated, and it’s hard for them to get opportunities to train. Instead, it is those who are articulate, who love to flaunt themselves and who know how to butter people up, as well as those who are fond of fame, gain, and status, who get assigned to the important positions. Those people seem to be fairly smart, but in fact they have no comprehension ability, very bad caliber and poor humanity, they bear no real burden toward their duties, and they are not worthy of being cultivated at all. However, it is they who occupy the positions of leaders and workers in the church. The result is that much of the church’s work isn’t able to launch smoothly in a prompt manner, or makes slow progress, and the work arrangements of God’s house take too long to be implemented. These are the impacts and consequences caused to the church’s work by false leaders using people improperly.