III. False Leaders Who Are Lazy and Indulge in Comfort

We just fellowshipped on two types of false leaders. There is another type of false leader, which we have often talked about while fellowshipping on the topic of “the responsibilities of leaders and workers.” This type has some caliber, they’re not unintelligent, in their work, they have ways and methods, and plans for solving problems, and when they are given a piece of work, they can implement it close to the expected standards. They are able to discover any problems that arise in the work and can also resolve some of them; when they hear the problems some people report, or they observe the behavior, manifestations, speech and actions of some people, they have a reaction in their heart, and they have their own opinion and an attitude. Of course, if these people pursue the truth and have a sense of burden, then all these problems can be resolved. However, problems unexpectedly go unresolved in work that’s under the responsibility of the type of person we’re fellowshipping on today. Why is that? It’s because these people don’t do real work. They love ease and hate hard work, they are just making perfunctory efforts on the surface, they like being idle and enjoying the benefits of status, they like ordering people around, and they just move their mouths a bit and give some suggestions and then consider their work done. They don’t take any of the real work of the church or the critical work God entrusts to them to heart—they don’t have this sense of burden, and even if God’s house repeatedly emphasizes these things, they still don’t take them to heart. For example, they don’t want to intervene in or inquire about the film production work or text-based work of God’s house, nor do they wish to look into how these types of work are progressing and what results they’re achieving. They just make some indirect inquiries, and once they know that people are busy with this work and doing this work, they don’t concern themselves with it any further. Even when they know perfectly well that there are problems in the work, they still don’t want to fellowship on and resolve them, nor do they make inquiries about or look into how people are doing their duties. Why don’t they make inquiries or look into these things? They think that if they look into them, then there will be lots of problems waiting for them to resolve, and that will be too worrisome. Life will be far too exhausting if they always have to be solving problems! If they worry too much, food will no longer taste good to them, and they won’t be able to sleep well, their flesh will feel tired, and then life will become miserable. That’s why, when they see a problem, they evade it and ignore it if they can. What is the problem with this type of person? (They’re too lazy.) Tell Me, who has a serious problem: lazy people, or people with poor caliber? (Lazy people.) Why do lazy people have a serious problem? (People of poor caliber cannot be leaders or workers, but they can be somewhat effective when they do a duty that is within their abilities. However, people who are lazy can’t do anything; even if they do have caliber, it has no effect.) Lazy people can’t do anything. To summarize it in two words, they are useless people; they have a second-class disability. No matter how good the caliber of lazy people is, it is nothing more than window dressing; even though they have good caliber, it is of no use. They are too lazy—they know what they are supposed to do, but they don’t do it, and even if they know something is a problem, they do not seek the truth to resolve it, and though they know what hardships they should suffer in order for the work to be effective, they are unwilling to endure these worthwhile hardships—so they cannot gain any truths, and they cannot do any real work. They do not wish to endure the hardships people are supposed to; they only know to indulge in comfort, enjoy times of joy and leisure, and enjoy a free and relaxed life. Are they not useless? People who cannot endure hardship don’t deserve to live. Those who always wish to live the life of a parasite are people without conscience or reason; they are beasts, and such people are unfit even to perform labor. Because they cannot endure hardship, even when they do perform labor, they are not able to do it well, and if they wish to gain the truth, there is even less hope of that. Someone who cannot suffer and does not love the truth is a useless person; they are unqualified even to perform labor. They are a beast, without a shred of humanity. Such people must be eliminated; only this accords with God’s intentions.

Some people are responsible for farm work, and they are particularly diligent; they have a plan in mind, and they know what work to do in each season. When it comes time to till the fields, they go to each plot of land and take a look. They compare what they have planned to plant in each plot of land with the actual state of the plot itself, and see whether their plan is suitable and whether it is in line with the actual situation. Furthermore, they look at how wet or dry the soil is this year, what fertilizer is needed, and what is suitable for planting. Once they’ve taken a look and they have a grasp on these things, they immediately ask about whether seedlings have been raised and how many have been raised, then they go to the greenhouse to take a look there and see whether the person raising the seedlings is dependable or whether they will ruin the seedlings. If one person isn’t enough to do this work, they assign another person to work with them, and the two supervise each other. Will lazy people do this? No, they won’t. If no one supervises them and urges them on, they absolutely will not visit the site themselves; if God’s house doesn’t ask about the progress of a piece of work, then they absolutely will not take the initiative to inspect the real situation of that work. With people who have poor caliber, no matter what it is they are doing, they always do it themselves, but they’re incapable of distinguishing what is urgent and important from what is not, and they just act blindly. Whereas these lazy people are sufficiently clever, and no matter what they are doing, they just like to move their mouths and command others to do the work; they never do anything themselves, nor can they do real work. They think, “I just need to make a call or send a message to ask some questions, and that’s my job done, the issue is resolved. This saves me so much trouble! Look at what my caliber as a leader is like. I can finish the job with just a few words—isn’t this also me fulfilling my responsibilities? I’m not being derelict in my duties. If the Above asks me about these things, I can answer them very fluently and provide a clear explanation. What’s the point in going to the work site and taking a look? I’d have to endure hardships and suffering, and my skin would go dark from being in the sun. There’s no need to go through that formality. If I can save myself some trouble then that’s what I’ll do. There’s no need to make things so difficult for myself.” Aren’t they sufficiently “smart”? When this type of person works, they are particularly skilled at cutting corners to achieve their goals and finding shortcuts, and they have their ways and methods. They don’t do anything themselves, nor do they participate in anything. They just make calls to ask questions, going through the motions, and the minute they hang up the phone, they go to bed or get a massage and begin indulging in their flesh. This type of person really knows how to “do work,” they really know how to find opportunities to be idle, and they really know how to go through the motions and dupe people! What’s the use of them having that bit of caliber? They’re the same as those officials in the nation of the Communist Party, who just drink tea and read the newspaper after they get to work, and start thinking about what they will eat and where they will go to amuse themselves before work is even over for the day—life really is good for them. This is the principle this type of false leader adheres to as well in their work; they suffer no hardship, they endure no exhaustion, and yet they still act as an official and enjoy the benefits of status, and most brothers and sisters are not able to see that this is a problem. This is how this kind of false leader works, they do no real work, and they don’t go on-site to follow up on and inspect the work, so can they discover problems with the work? (No.) Pseudo-spiritual false leaders and false leaders who are of poor caliber are blind despite their eyes being wide open, and they can’t see problems, so what about this sort of useless person? They say, “I don’t participate in real work, and I don’t go on-site to integrate myself with the people working there, so if problems arise then you can’t say that I’m blind despite my eyes being wide open. I haven’t been on-site and I haven’t seen the problems, so what’s it got to do with me if problems arise? You should go find the people who are involved.” Aren’t these guys really cunning? They think that all they have to do is give orders and arrange people properly, that’s it, and then their responsibilities have been fulfilled and they can then enjoy their leisure and entertainment time in a brazen manner. No matter what problems there are below, they make no inquiries, and they only hurry to handle a problem if someone reports it to the Above. All they focus on every day is enjoying the benefits of status, strolling leisurely around everywhere, putting on a show of inspecting the work, but they actually never go somewhere that really has a problem, and they never inspect critical work—isn’t this just like communist party officials only ever making surface-level efforts and just performing work that makes them look good? They make nice promises to do the work they’re given, but they don’t follow up on it or supervise it, and even if they do go on-site, they just go through the formalities. They absolutely won’t do the work themselves or resolve issues themselves. They think, “There’s no need for me to suffer and pay a price to do these things. It’s enough that there’s someone there doing them. I’m not earning any money anyway, so it’s fine for me to just scrape by.” Can they do their work well when they have this mindset? They have a little scheme in their minds, thinking, “I’ll work only as much as the food I get to eat, and I’ll get through each day in a perfunctory manner.” Yet they never do specific work, and they are never seen on-site. So, where are they? They’re enjoying themselves in a beautiful and secure place where they can eat, drink, and sleep well, they’re living like a prince—taking regular showers, having regular massages, and regularly changing their clothes—and they’re not enduring any suffering at all. They never reflect on what real work they can do, what real problems they can resolve, what contributions they have made to the work of God’s house, and how they are qualified to enjoy all these nice things—they never consider any of this. What sorts of things are these people? These wretches have no self-awareness, they are shameless things, and they don’t deserve to be church leaders and workers.

All false leaders never do real work. They act like their leadership role is some official position, enjoying the benefits of status, and they treat the duty they ought to perform and the work they ought to do as a leader like an encumbrance, like a nuisance. In their hearts, they brim with resistance toward the work of the church: When they are asked to supervise the work and learn what issues exist within it that need to be followed up on and resolved, they are full of reluctance. This is the work that leaders and workers are supposed to do, this is their job, but they don’t do it and they are unwilling to do it, so why do they still want to be leaders and workers? Do they do their duty in order to be considerate of God’s intentions, or in order to be an official and enjoy the benefits of status? If they only became a leader so that they could hold some official position, isn’t that a bit shameless? These people have the lowest character, they have no dignity, and they are without shame. If they wish to enjoy fleshly comfort, they should hurry back to the world, and contend, take by force, and seize as they are able, and no one will interfere with that. God’s house is a place for God’s chosen people to do their duties and worship Him; it is a place for people to pursue the truth and obtain salvation. It is not a place for anyone to indulge in fleshly comfort, much less a place that allows people to live like princes. False leaders know no shame, they are dead to shame, and they have no reason. No matter what specific work is assigned to them, they do not take it seriously, and they put it to the back of their minds; though they respond very well in words, they do not do anything real. Is this not immoral? Not only do they not do real work, but they also want to have sole power—to hold power over financial, personnel, and all other matters in their own hands, and to get people to provide reports to them every day. They are actually very diligent when it comes to these things. When the time comes for them to make a report on work to the Above, they attribute the results of all the work done by brothers and sisters to themselves so that the Above mistakenly believes that they’ve done great work, when in fact it has all been done by others. How many people have been gained through preaching the gospel, which people have been promoted and are being cultivated, which people have been dismissed from their posts, which people have been cleared out, and so on—none of these specific tasks are done by them, and yet they have the nerve to report them. Aren’t these people dead to shame? Aren’t they engaging in deception? Such people are so deceitful and cunning! They think themselves to be smart—this is really a case of them falling victim to their own clever tricks, and in the end they get themselves revealed and eliminated. No matter what work some people do or what duty they perform, they are incompetent in it, they cannot shoulder it, and they are incapable of fulfilling any of the obligations or responsibilities that a person ought to. Are they not trash? Are they still worthy of being called human? With the exception of simpletons, the mentally incompetent, and those who suffer from physical impairments, is there anyone alive who ought not to do their duties and fulfill their responsibilities? But this kind of person is always slippery and slacking off, and does not wish to fulfill their responsibilities; the implication is that they do not wish to be a proper human being. God gave them the opportunity to be a human being, and He gave them caliber and gifts, yet they cannot use these in doing their duty. They do nothing, but wish to relish enjoyment at every turn. Is such a person fit to be called a human being? No matter what work is given to them—whether it be important or ordinary, difficult or simple—they are always perfunctory and slippery and slacking off. When problems arise, they try to push responsibility for them onto other people, taking no responsibility, and they wish to keep living their parasitic lives. Are they not useless trash? In society, who does not have to depend on themselves to make a living? Once a person becomes an adult, they must provide for themselves. Their parents have fulfilled their responsibility. Even if their parents were willing to support them, they would be uneasy with it. They ought to be able to realize that their parents have finished their mission of raising them, and that they are an able-bodied adult, and should be able to live independently. Is this not the minimum reason that an adult ought to have? If someone truly has reason, they could not possibly continue mooching off their parents; they would be afraid of others’ laughter, of losing face. So, does one who loves ease and hates work have reason? (No.) They always want something for nothing; they want to never fulfill any responsibility, wishing sweets would just fall from the sky and drop into their mouths; they always want to get three square meals a day, to have someone wait on them, and to enjoy good food and drinks without doing the slightest bit of work. Is this not the mindset of a parasite? And do people who are parasites have conscience and reason? Do they have integrity and dignity? Absolutely not. They are all freeloading good-for-nothings, all beasts without conscience or reason. None of them are fit to remain in God’s house.

Suppose the church arranges a job for you, and you say, “Whether the job is one that allows me to gain attention or not—since it’s been given to me, I’ll do it well and take on this responsibility. If I’m arranged to do hosting, I’ll give my all to doing it well; I’ll look after the brothers and sisters well, and do my best to ensure everyone’s safety. If I’m arranged to preach the gospel, I’ll equip myself with the truth and preach the gospel well with love and fulfill my duty. If I’m arranged to learn a foreign language, I’ll study it wholeheartedly and work hard at it, and try to master it as quickly as possible, within a year or two, so that I can testify of God to foreigners. If I’m asked to write testimony articles, I’ll conscientiously train myself to do so, view things according to the truth principles, and learn about language. Though I may not be able to write articles with beautiful prose, I’ll at least be able to clearly communicate my experiential testimony, to fellowship comprehensibly about the truth, and to give true testimony for God, such that people are edified and benefited by reading my articles. Whatever job the church assigns me, I’ll take it up with all my heart and strength. If there’s something I don’t understand or a problem comes up, I’ll pray to God, seek the truth, resolve problems according to the truth principles, and do the job well. Whatever my duty, I’ll use everything I have to do it well and satisfy God. For whatever I can achieve, I will do my best to shoulder the responsibility that I should bear, and at the least, I will not go against my conscience and reason, or be perfunctory, or be slippery and slack off, or indulge in the fruits of others’ labor. Nothing I do will be beneath the standard of conscience.” This is the minimum standard of human comportment, and one who does their duty in such a way may qualify as a person with conscience and reason. You must at least be clear of conscience in doing your duty, and you must at least be worthy of your three meals a day and not be freeloading. This is called having a sense of responsibility. Whether your caliber is high or low, and whether or not you understand the truth, in any case, you must have this attitude: “Since this work was given to me to do, I must treat it seriously, I must make it my concern, and I must use all my heart and strength to do it well. As for whether I can do it perfectly well, I can’t presume to offer a guarantee, but my attitude is that I’ll do my best to perform it well, and I certainly won’t be perfunctory about it. If a problem arises in work, I should take responsibility then, and ensure I draw a lesson from it and do my duty well.” This is the right attitude. Do you have such an attitude? Some people say, “I don’t necessarily need to do a good job on the work I’m assigned. I’ll just do what I can and the end product will be what it will be. I don’t need to tire myself so much, or become wracked with anxiety if I do something wrong, and I don’t need to take on so much stress. What’s the point of making myself so tired? After all, I’m always working and I’m not freeloading.” This kind of attitude toward one’s duty is irresponsible. “If I feel like working, I’ll do some work. I’ll just do what I can and the end product will be what it will be. There’s no need to take it so seriously.” Such people do not have a responsible attitude toward their duty and they lack a sense of responsibility. What kind of person are you? If you are the first kind of person, then you’re someone with reason and humanity. If you’re the second kind of person, then you’re no different from the kind of false leaders I’ve just dissected. You’re just idling your days away. “I’ll avoid fatigue and hardship and just enjoy myself more. Even if one day I’m dismissed, I won’t have lost anything. At least I’ll have enjoyed the benefits of status for a few days, it won’t be a loss for me. If I’m selected as a leader, that’s how I’ll act.” What do you think of the mindset of this kind of person? Such people are disbelievers who do not pursue the truth in the slightest. If you truly have a sense of responsibility, then it shows that you have conscience and reason. No matter how large or small the task, no matter who assigns you that task, whether God’s house entrusts you with it or a church leader or worker assigns it to you, your attitude should be: “Since this duty has been assigned to me, it is God’s exaltation and grace. I should do it well according to the truth principles. Despite having average caliber, I’m willing to take on this responsibility and give it all I have to do it well. If I do a poor job, I should take responsibility for it, and if I do a good job, this isn’t a credit to me. This is what I ought to do.” Why do I say that how one treats one’s duty is a matter of principle? If you really have a sense of responsibility and are a responsible person, then you will be able to shoulder the church’s work and fulfill the duty you are supposed to. If you take your duty lightly, then your view on belief in God is incorrect, and your attitude toward God and your duty is problematic. Your view on doing your duty is to do it perfunctorily and to just muddle through it, and whether it’s something you are willing to do or not, something you’re good at or not, you always approach it with an attitude of just muddling along, so you’re not suited to being a leader or worker and you don’t deserve to do church work. What’s more, to put it very bluntly, people like you are good-for-nothings, destined to achieve nothing, and just useless people. What kind of people are useless? Muddleheaded people, people who idle their days away. People of this sort are not responsible in anything they do, nor do they take it seriously; they make a mess of everything. They do not heed your words no matter how you fellowship the truth. They think, “I’ll muddle along like this if I want to. Say what you want! In any case, right now I’m doing my duty and I’ve got food to eat, that’s good enough. At least I don’t have to be a beggar. If I have nothing to eat one day, I’ll think about it then. Heaven will always leave a way out for man. You say that I have no conscience or reason, and that I’m muddleheaded—well, so what? I haven’t broken the law. At the very most, I’m just a little lacking in character, but that’s no loss to me. So long as I have food to eat, it’s fine.” What do you think of this perspective? I say to you, muddleheaded people like this who idle their days away are all destined to be eliminated, and there is no way they can achieve salvation. All those who have believed in God for several years but have never accepted any of the truth and are without experiential testimonies will be eliminated. None will survive. Trash and good-for-nothings are all freeloaders and they are destined to be eliminated. If leaders and workers are just freeloaders, all the more must they be dismissed and eliminated. Muddleheaded people like this still want to be leaders and workers; they are unworthy! They do not do any real work, yet they want to be leaders. They truly have no shame!

After some leaders and workers get dismissed from their posts, they say, “It’s great to not be a leader or worker. I don’t need to be so anxious or trouble myself so much. It’s wonderful to be an ordinary brother or sister. Why should I trouble myself with that? I don’t possess caliber just so I can exhaust myself.” Someone else says to them, “What will you do now that you’re not a leader or worker?” They reply, “I’m fine with doing anything, so long as it’s not too tiring and it doesn’t take a lot of effort—something that involves walking and looking around, or sitting and talking or looking at the computer, and doesn’t require very long hours or physical suffering would be fine.” What kind of talk is this? If you discover that the leader or worker you selected is this kind of thing, how will you feel in your heart? Won’t you feel very regretful? (Yes.) So, will you have any thoughts on this? You’ll say, “Originally, I saw that you had a bit of caliber and I wanted to promote and cultivate you, and give you a chance, so that you could understand some more truths. I never imagined you were less than nothing. I regret that I regarded you as a human being back then. I never imagined that you weren’t one after all. You are even lower than a pig or a dog, you’re trash. You don’t deserve to wear this human skin, and you don’t deserve to be a human!” Do these words sound unpleasant? (No.) They do not sound unpleasant to you, but don’t they sound very unpleasant to this kind of trash? (Yes.) Does trash like this have a heart? (No.) So can they tell whether someone is saying good or bad things about them? When people without a heart encounter any matter, they won’t change their attitude of idling their days away. They think that it’s fine so long as they themselves benefit and profit and feel comfortable. So no matter what anyone else says, they don’t care. Their famous saying is: “No matter what you say, no matter how you see me or evaluate me, or how you classify or handle me, I don’t care!” Aren’t these people just trash? No matter what you say, they do not have any sense of feeling and they don’t take it to heart. Why don’t they take it to heart? They’re just idlers, and they do not have a heart. People who do not have a heart have no dignity or integrity, they don’t care about anything you say, and no matter how sternly you speak to them, they won’t feel a sting in their hearts. Only those with dignity, integrity, and reason will be pained and feel that their hearts are being pierced when they hear such words. They will say, “That was a lowly way to comport myself, it made people look down on me, and I lost my dignity, so I won’t act that way anymore. I want to recover my dignity and not cause people to look down on me. I will strive to recover my honor, and I’ll do whatever it takes to live with dignity and satisfy God.” They have a sense of feeling when it comes to words that hurt their dignity and prick them in a sore spot, in a weak spot—these are people with hearts. When those who have a sense of feeling and possess dignity hear statements that are right and see positive things and distinguish between what is right and what is wrong, they resolve to change because they have dignity, and they don’t want others to look down on them. Those idlers and useless people have no dignity, and so no matter what you say to them, no matter how correct or accurate or in line with the truth your statements are, or how much your statements are positive things, they have no effect on these people and will not move them in the slightest. A person with no dignity has no sense of feeling at all with regard to any positive thing, any verdict, or any exposure, nor do they have the right attitude toward what kind of life path to choose. That’s why, no matter what you say to them, no matter how you expose or characterize them, they absolutely refuse to accept it, and they don’t care. So, is there any use preaching the truth and giving sermons to such people? Is there any use pruning them? Is there any use judging and chastising them? No! Such people are just useless. They muddle through their days, and they belong to the category of beasts—to be precise, they’re not human. They don’t deserve to hear God’s words. If these good-for-nothings, parasites, become church leaders, can they discover the problems that are present in the church? Can they resolve issues? Certainly not. If God’s chosen people raise an issue, can they resolve it? They certainly can’t resolve it, either. They’re incapable of resolving any issue, so how can they do the work of a leader? That would be unthinkable! As leaders and workers, people must at the very least be able to resolve problems that are present in the church work and problems that exist with the life entry of God’s chosen people. If they train for a time and come to have some experience, and they can also fellowship on some truths and talk about some experiential testimony, then they can gradually become competent in the work of a leader. If they’re not capable of discovering or resolving any problems, then there is no way they can do the work of a leader; they are then false leaders, and they should be dismissed, and new leaders should be elected.