The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (5) Part Five
Most false leaders are of poor caliber. Though they seem articulate, they have no ability at all to comprehend the truth, to such an extent that they do not have spiritual understanding. They are blind of eye and mind, they cannot see through any matter and do not understand the truth at all, which itself is a fatal problem. They have another, more serious problem still, which is that when they have understood and mastered a few words and doctrines and can shout out a few slogans, they think they have the truth reality. So whatever work they do and whomever they choose to put to use, they do not seek the truth principles, and they do not fellowship with others, and less still do they adhere to the work arrangements and the principles of God’s house. They are so confident, they always believe that their ideas are right and do whatever they wish. As a result, when they encounter some difficulty or exceptional circumstance, they are at a loss. Moreover, they often mistakenly believe that, as they’ve been working for many years in God’s house and have sufficient experience serving as a leader there, they know how to get the work of the church to operate and develop. They seem to have understood these things, but really, they absolutely do not know how to do any work. They do the work of the church in whatever way they please, following their own notions and imaginings, their experience and routines, and their regulations. This makes a mess and chaos of the various items of church work, and prevents them from producing any real results. If there are a couple of people in a team who understand the truth and can do a bit of real work, they can maintain normalcy in that team’s work. This, however, has nothing at all to do with their false leader. The reason the work could be done well is that there are a few good people in the team who can do a bit of real work and keep the work on course; it does not mean that their false leader has done real work. No piece of work can be done without there being a few good people like this in charge. False leaders are simply unable to do their job, and they serve no function whatsoever. Why would false leaders make a mess of the church’s work? The first reason is that false leaders do not understand the truth, they cannot fellowship about the truth to resolve problems, and they do not seek how to resolve problems, resulting in problems piling up and bringing the church’s work to a standstill. The second is that false leaders are blind, and they are unable to identify talented individuals. They cannot appoint team supervisors appropriately, which results in some work not having anyone suitable in charge, making it come to a standstill. The third is that false leaders act too much like officials. They do not supervise or guide the work, and where there is a weak link in the work, they do not proactively participate or provide guidance in the specifics of the work. Say, for instance, that in a certain item of work, several people performing the work are new believers without much of a foundation, they do not understand the truth, are not very familiar with the field of work, and have not quite grasped the principles of the work. A false leader, being blind, cannot see these problems. They believe that it is fine as long as someone is doing the work; it does not matter whether it is done well or badly. They do not know that wherever there is a weak link in the church’s work, they should be following up on it, doing inspections, and providing guidance, that they should personally participate in resolving problems and support those doing their duties until they understand the truth, can act according to the principles, and enter onto the right track. Only at this point do they not need to worry so much. False leaders do not work in this way. When they see someone is there to do the work, they pay it no more mind. They make no inquiries, no matter how the work is going. Where there is a weak link in the work, or a supervisor who has low caliber, they do not personally provide guidance on the work, and they do not participate in the work themselves. And when a supervisor is able to shoulder the job, even less do false leaders personally check up on things or provide guidance; they just take it easy, and even if someone reports an issue, they do not ask about it—they think there is no need. False leaders do not do any of this specific work. In summary, false leaders are degenerates that do not do a shred of real work. They believe that for any work, so long as someone is in charge and all hands are on deck to take on the work, things are over and done with. They think that all they have to do is hold a gathering every once in a while, and make inquiries if an issue arises. While working in this way, false leaders still believe they are doing a good job and are quite pleased with themselves. They think, “There are no problems with any of the items of work. The personnel are all completely arranged, and the supervisors are in place. I’m so good at this work, so talented!” Is this not shameless? They are so blind of eye and mind that they cannot see any tasks to be done and cannot discover any problems. In some places, the work has ground to a halt, yet there they are, contented, thinking, “The brothers and sisters are all young, they’re all new blood. They tackle their duties like human dynamos; they can definitely do the work well.” In actuality, these young people are novices, with no understanding of any professional skills. They must learn as they go. It is fair to say that they do not know how to do any work yet: Some may understand a little, but they are no experts, and they don’t grasp the principles, and when they have done a task, it requires repeated correction or even frequent redoing. There are also some young people who are untrained and have not experienced being pruned. They are exceedingly scummy and indolent, and greedy for comfort; they do not accept even a bit of the truth, and when they suffer a little, they grumble incessantly. Most of them are perfunctory, comfort-seeking degenerates. With these kinds of young people you absolutely must fellowship often with them on the truth, and even more so must you prune them. These young people must have someone taking charge of them and watching them. There must be a leader or worker there to take personal responsibility for their work and to provide personal supervision and guidance. Only then might their work bear a bit of fruit. If the leader or worker leaves the workplace and does not attend to the work or ask after it, these people will fragment into disarray, and their performance of their duty will bear no fruit at all. Yet false leaders have no insight into this. They see everyone as brothers and sisters, as people who are obedient and submissive, and so they have great confidence in them, and assign them jobs and then pay them no more mind—this is the best evidence of false leaders’ blindness of eye and mind. False leaders do not understand the truth at all, cannot see matters clearly, and are incapable of uncovering any problems, yet think they are doing just fine. What do they spend their days thinking about? They think about how to act like an official and enjoy the benefits of status. False leaders, just like thoughtless people, do not pay the least consideration to God’s intentions. They do no real work, yet they wait for God’s house to praise and promote them. Truly, they know no shame!
False leaders are completely useless at doing their jobs, and there is nothing commendable about them. They fail to grasp the principles in terms of the big picture, let alone the ones related to specific detailed work. For example, some people have strong professional abilities but exceedingly poor humanity, whereas others have no problems in terms of their humanity, but have poor caliber and poor professional abilities. When it comes to how these people should be used and allocated in a reasonable way, false leaders know even less about these more specific and detailed matters. So whenever false leaders are asked if they have found anyone of fairly good caliber who can be cultivated, they say they haven’t found anyone yet. False leaders are so blind—how could they find anyone? If you ask them what Sister So-and-so is like, they will say that she covets the comforts of the flesh; ask them what Brother So-and-so is like, and they will say that he is often negative; ask them what someone else is like, and they will tell you that person hasn’t believed in God for a long time and lacks a foundation. In their eyes, no one is up to scratch. They only look at other people’s faults, shortcomings, and transgressions; they aren’t able to look at whether a person conforms to the principles of God’s house for promotion and cultivation, or whether they are a good candidate for promotion and cultivation. They can’t tell who is genuinely suitable for promotion and cultivation, but they promote those who don’t meet the requirements and principles of God’s house with great enthusiasm and speed. They promote all the wealthy women, affluent men, and sons and daughters of rich families in the church, as well as those who have served as officials out in the world, those who are articulate, and those who know how to cheat and swindle—in any case, they promote whoever is well-known and distinguished out in the world and whoever loves being the center of attention. They believe that these people are the only talented ones, and they do not spot or promote a single person who truly possesses comprehension ability and can accept the truth. It would be harder for a false leader to provide a single, truly qualified talent for God’s house than it would be for them to put themselves on the moon. For example, say that God’s house currently needs talented individuals for text-based work—there is an individual of this sort in a church that a false leader is in charge of, but that false leader doesn’t put this person’s name forward. When the false leader is asked why they didn’t promote or cultivate that individual, they say: “That person engaged in fornication twice while at university, but they haven’t done it again since getting married. I didn’t know if they should be promoted or not.” What kind of statement is this? Can the false leader guarantee that the wealthy and powerful people they promote have never engaged in fornication? Don’t those people do it even more? How come they just don’t see that? False leaders are so falsely spiritual, making out that they know some principles, and finding excuses to justify not promoting those who should be promoted and cultivated. In their eyes, everyone is inferior to them. What happens in the end? Have the “elite” and “talented people” promoted by false leaders stood firm? We are not saying that these people are definitely not good people. What we are mainly exposing is that false leaders’ principle for how they treat people is to use human notions as their measure, rather than the truth, and that their principle for promoting and cultivating people is to go by their own notions, imaginings, and preferences, and entirely the viewpoint of nonbelievers, rather than using the required standards of God’s house as their measure. Why are false leaders able to do this? Because they don’t understand the truth or God’s intentions, they are able to promote those who simply don’t meet the requirements of God’s house, focus on cultivating them, and let them hold important jobs in God’s house. Such is the work that false leaders do. Take a look at the false leaders around you; is this not how they work and how they treat people?
There is a certain view that is often revealed in false leaders: They think that those with knowledge, those with status, and those who have served as officials in the outside world are all people of talent, and that such people should be cultivated and used by the house of God after they start believing in God. They really esteem and worship those people—they even treat them like their own kin and family members. When they introduce these people to others, they often speak about how in the outside world, they were the boss of some company, or the leader of some government department, or the editor of some newspaper, or some director in the department of public security, or they talk about how rich they are. False leaders think particularly highly of such people. What do you say, do false leaders have caliber? Is it not the case that they are falsely spiritual, and can’t see through to things? False leaders think that since these people were talented individuals in society, the house of God should cultivate them and give them an important role to play when they come here. Is this view correct? Is it in line with the truth principles? If these people have no love for the truth at all, and are devoid of conscience and reason, can they be cultivated and given an important role by the house of God? They are not qualified to be cultivated. The fact that they were talented individuals among the nonbelievers does not mean they are people of talent in the house of God, but these false leaders love being officials, and they particularly worship others who have been officials. Whenever they see people who have been officials or had status in the outside world, they bow and scrape and act very obsequious toward them, like slaves before their master; they desperately want to call them mother or father, or older sister or older brother, and they also wish to get these people promoted to be leaders or workers in the church. Tell Me, are these people who pursue the truth? Does them having a little status and enjoying some renown in the outside world mean they are fit to serve as a leader or worker in God’s house? If they do not understand the truth and are filled with arrogant and conceited dispositions, are they worthy of being a leader or worker in God’s house? Is it in line with the principles to promote people by only focusing on their status and renown, and ignoring their character? Do false leaders know what kind of people God likes, what kind of people He promotes and uses? Time and time again, the work arrangements of God’s house have stressed that people are to be promoted and cultivated according to three standards: Number one, they must possess humanity, conscience, and reason; number two, they must be someone who loves the truth and is able to accept the truth; and number three, they must have a certain degree of caliber and possess work capability. Only those who meet these three standards are able to be promoted and cultivated, and are qualified to be candidates and to be leaders or workers. Merely possessing caliber and talent won’t do at all. Character comes first, and secondly, it is essential to be able to accept the truth—these two are the most important standards. If evil people who have no love for the truth are promoted, the consequences will be disastrous, so those who lack humanity are absolutely not allowed to be promoted. But false leaders ignore the requirements of God’s house. When selecting and using people, they always focus on whether the person has status in society, what their background and position are, whether they have received a high level of education, and how elevated their reputation in society is—these are the aspects they focus on when promoting and cultivating people. Is this in keeping with the principles stipulated by God’s house? Is this in keeping with the truth of God’s words? Who are those people who have status in society? It can be said that they are all people who fight for power and status by any means, and that they belong to Satan. If they wield power in God’s house, would God’s house still be the church of God? What is the aim of false leaders in promoting people who belong to Satan to become leaders? Is acting thus in keeping with the principles of God’s house for cultivating and using people? Is it not blatantly disturbing and damaging the church’s work? The unprincipled promotion and cultivation of people by false leaders is what causes the greatest disruption and disturbance to the church’s work, and is a way of resisting God.
False leaders have exceedingly poor caliber and no ability to comprehend the truth. No matter how many sermons they listen to or how many of God’s words they read, they still do not comprehend purely, or understand the truth, and no matter how many years they have preached doctrines for, they do not understand what they are saying, it is all simply claptrap, and it is impossible to make head or tail of it! They can remember and preach a little bit of doctrine, so they think they have the truth reality, but nothing they do is related to the truth—these are archetypal Pharisees. Outwardly it appears that they often preach to people, and say nice-sounding things, as if they understood the truth, but what they do is antithetical to the truth and runs contrary to it. They also claim that they are serving God and doing the church’s work, whereas in fact everything they do is utterly hostile to God. False leaders never promote talented people who are useful to God’s house, and they ignore and turn a blind eye to relatively honest people who truly pursue the truth. Instead, they promote and cultivate those who engage in flattery, those who are slippery and deceitful, and those who have ambitions and desires to take on work in the church. The result of all this is that, once those people have been in the work for a certain period, various items of the church’s work grind to a halt and practically enter a state of paralysis, and thus the church’s work is ruined at the hands of these false leaders. Are they not detestable, the kind of people that these false leaders are? Should they be dismissed? They must be dismissed! Each day of delay impacts on the church’s work for a whole day. Some false leaders, even though they know that they are incapable of doing real work, are unwilling to resign voluntarily, and constantly covet the benefits of status, and would even go so far as to harm the church’s work. Do these people have even the slightest ounce of reason? False leaders have no comprehension ability, or any true talent and real knowledge, and are not people who pursue the truth, and they also covet the benefits of status—they are shameless people; so they absolutely must not be promoted and cultivated. If you think that your caliber is very poor, and that you have no ability to distinguish right from wrong, and that you have no ability to comprehend the truth, then whatever you do, do not indulge your ambitions and desires, and do not ponder how to strive toward becoming some official in the church—toward becoming a church leader—being a leader is not that easy. If you are not an honest person and have no love for the truth, then as soon as you become a leader, you will be either an antichrist or a false leader. Both antichrists and false leaders are people devoid of conscience and reason, and people who are capable of doing evil and disturbing the church’s work. While it is true to say that antichrists are devils and Satans, false leaders are not good people either; at the very least, they are brazenly shameless people devoid of conscience and reason. Is there anything glorious in being a false leader and getting dismissed? It is shameful, a stain, and there is absolutely nothing glorious about it. If you have a sense of burden toward church work, and wish to be involved in it, this is good; but you must reflect on whether you understand the truth, on whether you are able to fellowship the truth to resolve issues, on whether you are able to truly submit to the work of God, and on whether you are able to carry out church work properly according to work arrangements. If you meet these criteria, you may run to be a leader or a worker. What I mean by saying this is that at the very least, people must possess self-awareness. First look at if you are able to discern people, whether you can understand the truth and do things according to principle. If you meet these requirements, you are suitable to be a leader or a worker. If you are not capable of self-appraisal, you can ask the people around you who are familiar with you or close to you. If they all say that you are of insufficient caliber to be a leader, and that just doing your current job well is already good enough, then you should quickly come to know yourself. Since you are of poor caliber, don’t spend all your time wanting to be a leader—just do what you can, do your duty properly with both feet firmly on the ground, so that you can have peace of mind. This, too, is good. And if you are capable of being a leader, if you are truly possessed of such caliber and talent, if you possess work capability, and have a sense of burden, then you are precisely the kind of people of talent that the house of God lacks, and you are certain to be promoted and cultivated; but there is the time of God in all things. This wish—the wish to be promoted—is not ambition, but you must have the caliber, and meet the criteria, to be a leader. If you are of poor caliber yet still spend all your time wanting to be a leader, or to take on some important task, or to be responsible for overall work, or to do something that allows you to distinguish yourself, then I tell you: This is ambition. Ambition can bring disaster, so you should be wary of it. People all have a desire to make progress and are all willing to strive toward the truth, which is not a problem. Some people have caliber, meet the criteria for being leaders, and are able to strive toward the truth, and this is a good thing. Others are not possessed of caliber, so they should stick to their own duty, performing the duty that is right in front of them properly and doing it according to principle, and according to the requirements of God’s house; for them, that’s better, safer, more realistic.
Those who are elected to be leaders and workers or promoted and cultivated should not engage in wishful thinking, by feeling that, “The brothers and sisters chose me from among so many people, God’s house promoted me, so I do indeed have some talent, and I am better than ordinary people; true gold is destined to glitter eventually.” Is it good to think this way? Is it not the revelation of a corrupt disposition? (Yes.) Being promoted and cultivated is a good thing and a good opportunity, but whether or not you can walk this path well depends on how you approach this opportunity and whether you can value it. God has given you this chance, but that doesn’t mean you really are any better than anyone else; it may be that your caliber is a little better than others or that you have some gifts, but it is hard to say what your life entry is like and whether you have the truth reality—because everyone’s corrupt dispositions are the same, and you are also a member of the corrupted human race. If you can realize this, you will be able to correctly approach your promotion and cultivation by God’s house. You shouldn’t regard yourself as a talented person, nor should you think that you have the truth reality. It’s just that you have a bit of caliber and can also strive toward the truth, so you have been enabled to train yourself. This is a probationary period, and it is not yet certain whether you are truly someone who pursues the truth, or whether you are worthy of being cultivated. It’s hard to say whether you will be able to stand firm after being given a tryout during this period. It may be that you are retained to continue being cultivated, or it might be that you are eliminated—it all depends on how much effort you make. This is what promoting people to be leaders and workers is all about, and you should understand that. It’s pointless that you yourself think you are a talented person. If God’s house doesn’t promote you and cultivate you, then you are nothing. If you don’t pursue the truth and are unwilling to be used by God’s house, then you can’t accomplish anything. If you then say, “God’s house doesn’t use me, I’ll go out into society,” well then, go out into society and try it, see who promotes you, and see what you are able to accomplish. What I mean by saying this is to tell you that you must have the correct understanding and approach toward your promotion and cultivation by God’s house. Those who are of poor or mediocre caliber and who cannot meet the standard required for promotion and cultivation in God’s house need only to fulfill their duty compliantly and steadfastly. As long as they do their duty with all their hearts and minds, God will not treat them unfairly. Therefore, don’t fight over matters of promotion and cultivation, but don’t refuse them either, just let everything take its natural course; in one sense, you must obey the arrangements of God’s house, and in another sense, you must have a heart of submission to God—this is the right way. Is it simple to do this? (Yes, it is.) Is there any benefit in a person of poor caliber being a leader? In the end, when they are classified as a false leader and eliminated, how will they feel about this? Will it be what they had wanted? (No.) They will carry the title of “false leader” over their head, and wherever they go, people will say that this person was once a false leader. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? It is not a good thing, and it is not something glorious. People must have the correct understanding and attitude toward promotion and cultivation; in these matters, they must seek the truth, and not follow their own will, or have ambitions and desires. If you feel that you are of good caliber but the house of God has never promoted you, nor has any plans to cultivate you, then don’t get frustrated or start complaining, just focus on pursuing the truth and striving forward. When you have some stature and are able to do real work, God’s chosen people will naturally select you to be leader. And if you feel that you are of poor caliber, and that you don’t stand any chance of being promoted or cultivated, and that it is impossible for your ambitions to be achieved, is this not something good? This will protect you! Since you are of poor caliber, if you encounter a group of blind muddlers who choose you to be their leader, are you not going to be walking over hot coals? You are incapable of doing any work and your eyes and mind are blind. Everything you do is a disruption; your every move is evildoing. You’d be better off doing the work of your current duty well; at least you won’t embarrass yourself, and it’s better than being a false leader and being the target of criticism behind the scenes. As a person, you must have the measure of yourself, you must have a little self-awareness; if you do, you will be able to avoid taking the wrong path and making serious mistakes.
Do you wish to be a false leader, or an ordinary follower? (An ordinary follower.) If the brothers and sisters elect you, give it a go; maybe their view of you is more accurate than your own feelings about yourself. If the brothers and sisters think you can do it, you should give it your all. If you really try your best but still fail in your work, and your heart burns with anxiety such that you can’t eat and you lose sleep over it, and you simply don’t know how to do it properly, then stop being a leader or worker—it’s too hard on you. If you carry on, you will likely become a false leader, so you should write a letter of resignation without delay, declaring: “Because I am of poor caliber and incapable of doing real work, if I continue to be a leader, before too long I will definitely end up becoming a false leader, so I request to resign, and willingly relinquish the position.” This is the wisest course of action, and the most suitable thing to do! It is rational, and better than occupying the position and being a false leader. If you know full well that you are of poor caliber and incapable of being a leader but cannot bear to give up status, and say to yourself, “Why can’t I do this? Who can give me some help? How great it would be if I were to maintain my status as leader with someone else devising all the plans and strategies for me! Right now there is no one suitable to take my place, so I can only continue being a leader and basking in the enjoyment of it each day that I am in the job; even if I can’t do the work, I’m still the leader, and being a leader is better than being an ordinary brother or sister. If God’s house does not dismiss me and I am not removed by the brothers and sisters, then I won’t resign.” Is this appropriate? (No.) Why isn’t it appropriate? (It’s unreasonable; if I am incapable of doing real work and yet I don’t resign, this will only delay the church’s work.) Acting thus delays the church’s work—it hurts others, and it hurts yourself. Do you know what it means to be a leader? It means you have a direct relationship with many people’s entry into life, and your leadership has a direct relationship with how they walk the path before them. If you lead well and lead them onto the right path, they will be able to set foot on the right path. If you lead poorly and lead them into a ditch, and they become a Pharisee like you, then your sin is great! And after you commit this great sin, will that be the end of it? It will be recorded by God! You know full well that your caliber is poor, that you are a false leader, and incapable of doing real work, yet you do not admit your faults and resign, but brazenly cling to your position, and do not give it up to anyone else. This is a sin, and God will keep account of it. And will His keeping account be good or bad for you in the future? You’ll be in trouble! I’ll tell you the honest truth: God keeps account of such things for each and every person, and every item is clearly written down. If something so severe were to happen on your path to salvation, then the impact on you would be huge! Whatever you do, do not walk this path, and do not be this kind of person.
We have briefly fellowshipped on some of the practices and manifestations of false leaders with respect to promoting and cultivating various types of talented people. In summary, the type of person who is a false leader does not do real work, and is incapable of doing real work. Their caliber is poor, their eyes and mind are blind, they are incapable of discovering problems, and cannot see through various kinds of people, so they are unable to shoulder the important work of promoting and cultivating various types of talented people. Thus, they have no way to do the work of the church well, and will cause many difficulties for God’s chosen people in their life entry. Considering these factors, it is clear that false leaders are unfit to be church leaders. There are other false leaders who do no specific work of the church and do not make contact with the supervisors of specific work, so they do not know which talented individuals are capable of doing what work, nor which are suited to what work, nor whether their working accords with the principles. They are thus unable to promote and cultivate people of talent. How, then, could such people do the work of the church well? The main reason that false leaders cannot do real work is that their caliber is poor; they have no insight into anything and do not know what real work is. This leads to frequent states of stagnation or paralysis in the work of the church. These are directly related to the false leaders’ failure to do real work. For the past several years, the house of God has stressed, over and over, that evil people and disbelievers must be cleansed away and the false leaders and false workers dismissed. Why must the various evil people and disbelievers be cleansed away? Because after years of believing in God, these people still do not accept the truth at all, and have reached the point where they are beyond hope of salvation. And why must all false leaders and false workers be dismissed? Because they do not do real work, and never promote or cultivate those who pursue the truth; instead, they just engage in pointless efforts. This causes the work of the church to be thrown into chaos and paralysis, with existing problems lingering on, unresolved, and it also slows the life entry of God’s chosen ones. If all these false leaders and false workers were dismissed, and if all these evil people and disbelievers who disturb the church were cleared out, the work of the church would naturally come to flow smoothly, the life of the church would naturally grow much better, and God’s chosen ones would be able to normally eat and drink the words of God and do their duties, and to enter the right track of faith in God. This is what God would like to see.
February 27, 2021
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