Item Thirteen: They Control Church Finances As Well As Controlling People's Hearts (Section Three)
B. Squandering, Embezzling, Lending, Fraudulently Using, and Stealing Offerings
1. Squandering Offerings
Antichrists think that having status and authority gives them the power to prioritize their possession and use of offerings. Well then, once they have that power, how do they allocate and use the offerings? Do they do this according to the church’s rules or the principles governing the needs of the church’s work? Can they do this? (No, they cannot.) The fact that they cannot touches on many things. Once antichrists have gained status, they cannot avoid doing some things that involve the work of the church, and a part of this work involves outlays and allocations of church property. In that case, what are the principles by which they approach the allocation of church property? Is it to be frugal? Is it to be meticulous in planning expenditures, to economize wherever possible? Is it to consider God’s house in all things? No. If they can get to a place by bicycle, they still spend money on a bus. And when they find it inconvenient and uncomfortable to always be going by bus or rental car, they begin to consider using the money of God’s house to buy a car. While shopping for a car, they turn their nose up at low price and average performance models, and specifically pick a high-performance car, a name-brand model imported directly from overseas, that costs over a million RMB. They think, “This is no big deal, and in any case it’s god’s house that’s paying, and the money of god’s house is everyone’s money. There’s nothing difficult about everyone buying a car together. God’s house is so big, the entire universe world belongs to god, so is it such a big deal if god’s house buys a car? In Satan’s world, the cars people drive all cost several million RMB, so our church buying a car for just one million RMB is pretty frugal. Besides, the car isn’t for me to use alone, the whole church is going to share it.” The second antichrists open their mouths, out goes more than a million RMB, without so much as the batting of an eye or the flutter of a heartbeat, and without the faintest twinge of guilt. Having bought the car, they start enjoying it. They no longer go to places they should walk to on foot, they no longer ride their bikes to places they should bike to, and they no longer rent cars for places they can get to by rental car; instead, they insist on using their own car. They really put on airs, as if they’re capable of doing great work. Antichrists spend money very wastefully, everything they buy has to be the good stuff, high-end, and state-of-the-art. For instance, the difference in price between basic and high-end models of certain kinds of machinery and equipment can vary by several tens of thousands of RMB. In these situations, antichrists will want to buy the high-end model, and as long as they’re not spending their own money, doing this won’t bother them at all. If they were to pay out of their own pocket, they wouldn’t be able to afford even a basic or low-end one, but when you say that God’s house is going to pay for it, then they’ll want the high-end one. Aren’t these beasts? Aren’t they unreasonable? Isn’t this squandering offerings? (Yes, it is.) People who squander offerings have poor humanity, they are selfish and despicable! Once antichrists have attained the power to use offerings, they wish to seize the offerings for themselves, using them in total disregard of the principles, and insisting on getting high-end items for every purchase. When they shop for a pair of glasses, they want the high-end ones, the kind that block blue light and ultraviolet rays, with the clearest lenses, and when they shop for a computer they want the high-end one, the latest model. Regardless of whether or not they would have a use for various tools and equipment in their duties, as soon as the subject of buying such things comes up, they want to go high-end. Isn’t this squandering offerings? They know to be thrifty when it comes to their own money, any item will do as long as it’s practical, but when it comes to buying something for God’s house, then matters of practicality and saving money cease to be a consideration. All they think about is that it must be a famous brand, it’s got to show their standing, and they buy whichever one is the most expensive. Isn’t this seeking their own destruction? To spend offerings like water—isn’t this what antichrists do? (Yes.)
There was a guy who went out shopping for toothbrushes together with the brother Above. He bought a toothbrush costing a little over one dollar for the brother, but he got an imported one that cost more than 15 dollars for himself. Now, between the brother Above and this ordinary brother, wouldn’t you say there was some difference, some disparity in terms of their status? (Yes.) In terms of logic—let’s not mention things such as status, standing, or the way in which God makes allocations, and just discuss the fact that the brother Above has been working hard all these years—shouldn’t he be using something of superior quality? But he wasn’t particular about this. What are the principles he was following? To be thrifty wherever possible: This type of item isn’t anything sophisticated, so it’s not worth using such an expensive one, and there’s no need to spend that much money on it, one that’s usable will do. Now, when it comes to the identity, standing, and status of these two people, there’s a disparity between them, and an item of the most average quality had been bought for the one who should have been using the good kind, and an item of the best quality had been bought for the one who should have been using the average kind. What was the problem here? Which of these two people had the problem? The one using the good item was the one with the problem. He had no idea who he was and he had no sense of shame, and would buy the best and most expensive item as long as God’s house was paying. Did this person have an ounce of reason? If he did this when shopping together with the brother Above—making these choices in front of him—what would he have done if he’d been shopping alone? How much would he have splurged? He would have gone much further, and it would not be a difference of ten-odd dollars; he’d be bold enough to buy items of any price, to spend any amount of money on them. He spent offerings and the money of God’s house in this way; wasn’t he seeking his own destruction? There are those who think, “I’ve done such great work for the house of god, taking on so many risks, enduring so many hardships, and I have been thrown in prison several times. I should by rights enjoy special treatment.” This “by rights” of yours, is it the truth? In which one of God’s words did He make the provision that whoever has been imprisoned, or endured hardships, or traveled around for Him for many years, should by rights enjoy special treatment, and should by rights enjoy first priority in using and seizing offerings, and squandering them at will, and that this is an administrative decree? Has God ever uttered a single word to this effect? (No, He has not.) Well then, what did God say about how this kind of person, along with leaders, workers, and all the people who do their duties in the house of God, are expected to use offerings? They are to use them for normal outlays and normal expenses; no one has any special authority to make use or take possession of offerings. God will not make His offerings the private property of any one individual. At the same time, God did not stipulate that people should squander money on the use and allocation of offerings. What kind of person squanders money? What kind of disposition does a person who squanders money have? This is something that beasts, tyrants, ruffians, gangsters, and despicable villains with no sense of shame do, it’s something that’s done by antichrists. Anyone who has a little humanity and knows some shame would not stoop to this. There are some people who, having become a church leader, believe that this gives them the authority to use offerings and the property of the church. They want to and dare to buy anything and everything, and they want to solicit anything and everything. They feel that anything they buy, anything they enjoy, is well deserved by them; what’s more, they never bother to inquire into the price. And if someone buys them an item that’s cheap and ordinary, they will even get angry and hold a grudge against them. These are antichrists.
2. Embezzling Offerings
Another manifestation of antichrists attempting to control the church’s finances is embezzlement. The term “embezzlement” should be easy to understand. Does embezzlement mean to take the property of the church and give it to the brothers and sisters or to allocate it to the work of the church so that it may be put to proper use? (No, it does not.) Then what does “embezzlement” mean? (It means not spending it in an appropriate manner, but using it at will or in a stealthy way.) Although it is correct to say “using it in a stealthy way,” it is not particularly specific. If a person uses the church’s property in a stealthy way for the living expenses of those who are doing their duties full time, then there’s nothing wrong in this, and it is not embezzlement. Embezzlement is condemned, and it is not in accordance with the principles. For instance, some church leaders take control of the church’s money, and when their children lack the funds to go off to college, and they just don’t have that much money at home, they come before God to pray, saying, “Oh god, let me first admit fault and beg your forgiveness. If you must exact punishment, then please punish me and not my child. I know that this isn’t right, but right now I’m in a difficult spot, and so I’ve got to do this. Your grace is ever bountiful, so I just hope you will let me off the hook this time and give me your blessing. I’m short by some twenty or thirty thousand RMB for my child’s college tuition, and even after scraping money together and borrowing left and right, I still don’t have enough. May I use your money to pay my child’s tuition fees?” Then, after they have finished praying, they feel quite at peace and, thinking that God has agreed to this, they take the money for their private use. This is embezzlement, is it not? Not using the money for what it ought to be used for, but using it elsewhere, violating the principles governing the use of the offerings in God’s house: this is called “embezzlement.” When a family member falls ill and needs money, or they run short of funds in a business transaction, they start to hatch plans about the offerings, and in their hearts they pray, saying: “Oh god, please forgive me, I didn’t mean to do it, my family is really experiencing some difficulties. Your love is as vast as the ocean and as boundless as the sky and you do not remember people’s transgressions. After I have used this cash up, I will pay you back double when the family business makes some money, so please let me use it.” This is how they use the offerings to God. No matter if it is a relative or a friend that needs money, as long as these leaders have the money in their hands, they will give it to them, neither acting in accordance with the principles nor obtaining the agreement of others, much less giving a moment’s thought to the fact that these are offerings to God. Instead, they’ll take it upon themselves to make the decision, move the money out of the church and use it for other purposes. Is this not embezzlement? (It is.) This is embezzlement. Now, some people return the money in full after stealthily embezzling the offerings; does this mean that they are no longer guilty of the sin of embezzling offerings? Does it mean they might be let off the hook? Or, if at the time of the embezzlement, they had their reasons, a certain context, or hardships, and they had no alternative but to embezzle the money, can this embezzling be pardoned and not be condemned? (No, it cannot.) In that case, the sin of embezzling offerings is a serious one! Is it any different from what Judas did? Aren’t people who embezzle offerings of the same kind as Judas? (Yes, they are.) When their children are going to university, when someone in their family is doing business, or an elderly person needs medical treatment, or they don’t have fertilizer to farm with, in all of these situations, they want to spend the church’s money. Some even destroy the receipts for offerings made by the brothers and sisters, then stuff the money into their own pockets to spend as they please, without so much as a blush of embarrassment or a flutter of their heartbeat. Some even take in offerings of money from brothers and sisters at gatherings, and then, as soon as the gathering is over, they go and buy things with it. And then there are some brothers and sisters who, having seen with their own eyes these people embezzling the offerings, still let them keep the money, with no one taking responsibility, and no one coming forward to put a stop to it. They are all afraid of offending these leaders, so they just watch on while they spend. Well then, did you offer this money to God, or not? If you are giving charity to other people, you should make it clear that you are not offering this money to God, and then God will not remember it. Then, as for who this money belongs to, who spends it, and how it is spent, these things will have nothing to do with the house of God. On the other hand, if this money of yours has indeed been offered to God, yet before the church has had a chance to use it, a person spends it like that, squanders it like that, and you aren’t in the least concerned, neither putting a stop to it nor reporting it, then, in that case, there’s a problem with you, you are implicated in their sin, and when they are condemned, you won’t be able to get away either.
3. Lending Offerings
Everything that involves the arbitrary use of offerings, the improper consumption and expenditure of offerings, invariably concerns administrative decrees, and has the quality of violating them. There are some who, in managing church property, may say, “The property of the church is just sitting there. Nowadays, banks have all kinds of investment programs, such as bonds and funds, all giving good interest rates. If we take the money from the church and invest it, and earn a bit of interest, wouldn’t this bring benefit to god’s house?” Then, without discussing it, without getting the agreement of anyone at the church, they take it upon themselves to lend out the money. What is the purpose of doing that? To put it nicely, this is earning some interest for God’s house, taking thought for God’s house; but in actual fact, these people are harboring a selfish motive. They want to lend the money without anyone knowing and then, in the end, return the principal amount to God’s house while keeping the interest for themselves. Wouldn’t this be a case of harboring a disloyal intention? This is called lending offerings. Can lending offerings be considered the proper use thereof? (No, it cannot.) There are others who say, “God loves mankind, god’s house is warm. Sometimes, when our brothers and sisters are short of money, can’t we lend god’s offerings to them?” Some people then take it upon themselves to make a decision, and some antichrists even appeal to and incite the brothers and sisters, saying, “God loves mankind, god gives life, gives everything to man, so it wouldn’t be a big deal to lend some money, would it? Lending money to our brothers and sisters to tide them over in times of urgent need, to help them through the difficulties in their lives, isn’t that god’s intention? If god loves mankind, how can people not love each other? Go on, lend them some money!” The great majority of ignorant people, hearing this, say, “Sure, if you say so. In any case, this money belongs to everyone, so let’s just regard this as us all helping someone.” And so, with one person spouting high-sounding ideas and a bunch of bootlickers sucking up to them, in the end, out the money goes. So, does you saying that “this money has been offered up to God” count? If it does count, then the money already belongs to God and has now been sanctified, and so it would only be proper to use it according to the principles that God has put in place. If it doesn’t count, if the money that you offer doesn’t count, then what kind of action is your making of this offering? Is it just a game? Are you playing a joke on God and deceiving Him? Having put the things that you want to offer upon the altar, you start to begrudge them, as those things have been placed there, yet God isn’t using them, and it looks like He doesn’t have a use for them after all. So, when you need to use them, you take them and use them for yourself. Or maybe you offered up too much and, regretting it afterward, you took some of it back. Or maybe you weren’t thinking clearly when you made the offering, and now that you’ve discovered a use for it, you are taking it back. What is the nature of this behavior? This money and these things: once a person has offered them up to God, it is the same as presenting them on the altar, and what are things that have been presented on the altar? They are offerings. Even if it is no more than a stone, or a grain of sand, a steamed bun, or a cup of water, as long as you have placed it on the altar, this object belongs to God, not to man, and no human is to touch it anymore. Whether or not you covet it for yourself or think you have a legitimate use for it, no human has a right to it anymore. There are some who say, “Doesn’t god love mankind? What of it if he lets mankind have a share? Right now, you’re not thirsty and you don’t need water, but I’m thirsty, so why can’t I have a drink?” But then you’ve got to see whether or not God is in agreement. If God agrees, this proves that He has given you the right and that you have the right to make use of it; but if God doesn’t agree, then you have no right to use it. In a situation where you do not have the right, where God has not given you the right, using something that belongs to God would be violating a major taboo, which is what God abominates most of all. People are always saying that God doesn’t tolerate offenses from man, but they have never understood what God’s disposition is really like, or which of the things they do is most likely to offend His disposition. In the matter of God’s offerings, many people constantly have them in mind, wanting to use or allocate them as they please, to use them, possess them, or even squander them according to their own will; but I tell you, you’re finished, you deserve death! Such is the disposition of God. God does not allow anyone to touch His belongings; such is His dignity. There is only one situation in which people are given the right by God to use them, and that is their proper use according to church regulations and the principles governing their usage. Staying within these limits is acceptable to God, but straying outside these limits would be an offense against God’s disposition, and a violation against the administrative decrees. It is as strict as that, leaving no room for negotiation, and there is no alternative way. Therefore, those who do such things as squandering, embezzling, or lending offerings are regarded as antichrists in the eyes of God. Why are they treated with such severity as to be deemed antichrists? If one who believes in God can go so far as to dare to touch, or use, or squander at will objects that belong to God and that have been sanctified, then what kind of person are they? Such a person is God’s enemy. Only God’s enemies would hold such an attitude toward His belongings; no ordinary corrupt person would do this, not even an animal would do this, only God’s enemies, Satan, and the great red dragon would do such a thing. Is this putting it too strongly? No, this is a fact and completely accurate. How can Satan’s kind touch things that belong to God? Such is the dignity of God!
4. Fraudulently Using Offerings
There are some other people who, under all sorts of pretexts, ask God’s family for money and goods, saying, “Our church is short of a chair, so buy one for us. Some of the brothers and sisters in our church don’t have a computer to use for doing their duties, so buy a Mac for us. We frequently contact people in the course of our work, and it won’t do for us not to have a phone, so buy us an iPhone. But it’s no good to have just one, that would be too inconvenient, because sometimes we have to get in touch with different people. And a single line is too prone to being monitored, so it’ll only work if we get several lines.” And so, some of these people have four or five cell phones on them and carry around two or three laptops at a time; they have a very impressive appearance, but their work performance is poor. How did they come by all this stuff? They got it all fraudulently. In the past, we’ve talked about an idiotic woman, who was a typical antichrist. When the house of God was renovating a church building, she joined forces with a guy to fraudulently use the church’s money, causing considerable losses to God’s house. When this guy carried out the renovations, he took a bite out of the middle in the same way a nonbelieving contractor might do, going high-end in everything he bought and spending a lot of additional money. When some people noticed there was a problem, this idiotic woman helped him conceal and hide this, and together they defrauded God’s house of its money. In the end, they got caught, and the two of them were both expelled. In this, they courted their own destruction, and ruined their lives. Did sniveling do them any good? Since things turned out like this in the end, why did they act like that to begin with? How come that idiotic woman didn’t think things through when she was fraudulently using the offerings? Was it excessive for God’s house to expel her and make her return the money? (No, it was not.) It served her right! This kind of person doesn’t deserve pity. There’s no being merciful with them. And then there’s the female leader we talked about before. She secretly took a good bit of the church’s money, and lent it to a nonbeliever. Later on, she was also handled. There may be some who think to themselves, “Didn’t she just lend a bit of money? Let her pay it back and be done with it. Why clear her out? That means a fairly good person becomes a nonbeliever in the blink of an eye, and has to go out to work for a living. She’s so pitiful!” Is this person pitiful? Why don’t you say that she’s detestable instead? Why don’t you take a look at the things she’s done? What she’s done is enough to disgust you for the rest of your life, and here you are taking pity on her! The ones who take pity on her—what kind of people are they? They are all dimwits and people who show indiscriminate kindness to everyone.
5. Stealing Offerings
There is one final manifestation of antichrists controlling church finances, and that is stealing offerings. Some ignorant people, when making offerings, hold to the principle of “not letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing,” and then they put the funds they are offering into the hands of a person who they are not even sure can be trusted. They say, “The offering I’m making this time is a fairly large sum, so don’t let anyone else know about it, and don’t put it down in the account book. I’m doing this before God and not before other people. As long as God knows about it, that’s fine. If we let the brothers and sisters know, they would probably worship me. So, in order to avoid them esteeming me, I’m doing this in secret.” Having done this, they feel quite good about themselves, thinking, “I made my offering in a principled, low-key, and cool-headed manner, keeping it off the record, and doing it without the knowledge of any of the brothers and sisters.” But this ignorant way of doing things has created an opening for greedy people to exploit. As soon as the offering has been made, the antichrist they gave it to goes and deposits it in the bank, taking it as their own. And they’ll even tell the person making the offering, “The next time you make an offering, you must do it in the same way. Doing it this way is correct and accords with the principles; one must keep a low profile while making offerings. The house of god has said not to call on people to make offerings. This means that it’s asking people to keep a low profile, to not speak of their offerings even after making them, nor to divulge the amount that was given, and less still to say to whom they were given.” Can the person who made this offering see through people? Why would they make such a foolish move? With no idea just how wicked and sinister the human heart can be, they put all that faith in this person, and in the end, their money gets stolen. This is a case of somebody giving an opening to an antichrist, allowing them to steal the money. But is there a case of an antichrist still being able to steal money without being given an opening? Are there cases where somebody, while keeping accounts, deliberately records the wrong sum or records a lower sum, and stealthily extracts the money, a little at a time, when people aren’t paying attention? There are quite a few people of this kind. Such people are greedy for wealth, they are of low and malicious character, and capable of doing anything as long as they have the opportunity. There is a saying, “Opportunities are for the prepared.” People without greed do not take note of these things, but greedy people always do. Their minds are constantly thinking about hatching plans and looking for openings to exploit when it comes to money, working out how they can take advantage and sneakily spend the money.
There was this fool of a woman. One time when I was talking to her, I brought up the subject of the church wanting to get some books printed, and asked if she knew anything about printing. She responded with a whole cartload of theories and then immediately followed up by saying, “Typically, printers give a commission when they print books. If we get a nonbeliever to do the job, there’s sure to be a fair amount of shady dealing going on, and they’ll definitely make a good bit of profit for themselves under the table.” As she talked, she began to beam with joy. Her eyes brightened, her brows arched high on her forehead, and her cheeks grew flushed, and she got happy and excited. I thought to Myself, “If you can handle this printing job, then take it on, and however much you know about it, just tell Me that much. What are you getting so excited about?” But once I began to turn this over in My mind, I figured it out: There was profit to be had here. She wasn’t at all concerned about how the printing was to be done, which books were to be printed, what the quality was going to be like, or how to search for a printing house—all she cared about was taking a cut. Nothing had even been done yet, and already she was talking about taking a percentage. I thought, “Poverty must have driven you out of your mind. How could you hope to get a percentage on printing books for God’s house? When distributing books, God’s house does not make a single penny, everything is given out for free, and you want to get a cut?” Was this woman not courting death? Before God’s house even agreed to let her take on this job, when I was merely making an inquiry, she was already talking about taking a cut. If the job were indeed put in her hands, she wasn’t going to stop at getting a percentage, and she could very well have made off with all the money—however much you give her, that’s how much she would defraud you of, that’s how much she would steal. Am I overstating this? This foolish woman was a real piece of work, wasn’t she? If you ask Me, she was a bandit and a gangster who would dare to gain any money that she could. Let’s put aside asking whether God agrees to this for the moment, and just ask the brothers and sisters whether she handles this conscientiously, whether they can accept the way she handles it, and whether God’s chosen people can forgive her.
Then there are some people who are repulsive even to mention. When they take on a job for God’s house, they band together with nonbelievers to jack up the price, making God’s house pay an exorbitant amount and suffer a loss. If you say you’re not buying it or that you won’t agree to their proposal, they’ll get all het up, and try this, that, and the other to persuade you or dissuade you, and obtain the money from the church. When the money’s been paid to the nonbelievers, and they’ve benefited, and their reputation has also gotten a boost, they’re as happy as if they’ve just won the lottery. This is biting the hand that feeds them, squandering offerings, and never striving to obtain the least bit of benefit for God’s house. Why were those stupid women who took charge of printing books dismissed? Because they made God’s house suffer a loss, and acted recklessly. When they negotiated with nonbelievers, they kept pushing the price down as hard as they could, to the point that it was even lower than the cost of production, to the point where it was repulsive and the nonbelievers no longer wanted to do business with them. In the end, the nonbelievers reluctantly agreed, but the quality was greatly compromised. Tell Me, is there a single person who would willingly do business at a loss? People in this world have to survive, and in doing business they have to earn enough money to cover their living expenses and labor costs in addition to the cost of production. These women didn’t let these nonbelievers make any money, negotiating the price in an unreasonable way and pushing it down as hard as they could, all the while thinking they were saving money for God’s house, and how did it end? The other side wound up cutting corners on the quality of the work and the binding. If they didn’t make up for the deficit here, wouldn’t they be suffering a loss? If they had to suffer a loss, would they have done the job? Could they afford to let those women get the better end of the bargain? No, that would be impossible. If they were to allow those women to get the better end of the bargain, then they wouldn’t be doing business, they would be doing charity. Those stupid women couldn’t see through to this, they handled the task for God’s house in this way, and made a total mess of things. In the end, they were still full of excuses, saying: “I was thinking about God’s house. I was saving money for God’s house. A penny saved is a penny saved, and two pennies saved means a penny earned!” They were spewing nonsense! Did they know what is meant by industry regulations? Did they know what is meant by established practices and being reasonable? And so, what was the final result? Some of the books were of very poor quality, the pages started coming loose after being turned a few times, and the whole book would fall apart, making it impossible to read, so there was no choice but to reprint everything. Did this save money, or cost more? (It cost more money.) This was the fiasco that those stupid women brought about.
The fact that the way in which antichrists approach offerings is completely lacking in principle and humanity, and is proof positive of their wicked and vicious disposition. Judging from the way they approach offerings and all that belongs to God, the disposition of an antichrist truly goes against God. They regard the offerings that belong to God with the utmost contempt, toying with and treating them however they want, showing not a shred of respect, and lacking in any boundaries. If they are like this in their treatment of things belonging to God, how do they treat God Himself? Or the words spoken by Him? The answer is self-evident. This is an antichrist’s nature essence, an antichrist’s essence that is dominated by wickedness and viciousness; this is a veritable antichrist. Commit this to memory: When it comes to someone who is capable of squandering, embezzling, lending, fraudulently using, or stealing offerings, there is no need to observe other manifestations. As long as one of these categories is present, it would be sufficient for this person to be deemed an antichrist. You need not inquire into or investigate, much less examine them, to see if they are this kind of a person, and if in the future they may be capable of doing these kinds of things. As long as they fit even one of these categories, this dooms them to be an antichrist, to be an enemy of God. Take a look, all of you: Whether it be a leader you have already elected, or a leader that you have decided to elect, or one among the people you hold to be quite good, whosoever exhibits this kind of conduct, or this kind of tendency, cannot escape being an antichrist.
Have you learned some sort of lesson from the things that I have fellowshipped about today? Have you gained an understanding of a truth? You cannot speak clearly about this, so I’ll tell you what kind of lesson you should learn. You must not hatch any plans about the things that people offer to God. Whatever these things may be, whether or not they are valuable, whether you have a use for them or not, whether they are precious or not—you must not hatch any plans about them. Go out and earn money if you’ve got the ability—earn as much as you like, no one will interfere with this, but you absolutely must not hatch any plans about God’s offerings. This vigilance is something you should have; this rationality is something you should have. The above is one lesson. Another lesson is that whoever engages in squandering, embezzling, lending, fraudulently using, and stealing offerings must be regarded as the ilk of Judas. People who have carried out these sorts of acts and practices have already offended God’s disposition, and God will not save them. You must not entertain any wishful thinking on this matter. I have put it like this and God will bring these things to pass. This has been determined, and there is no room for negotiation. Some people will say: “There was a context to my embezzling: I was young and ignorant when I carelessly spent that money, but I didn’t cheat god’s house out of too much money, I just stole 20 to 30, or 30 or 50 RMB.” But it’s not about the amount; the problem is that when you do this, the object of your actions is God. You have touched God’s things, and doing that is unacceptable. God’s things are not common property, they do not belong to everyone, they do not belong to the church, they do not belong to God’s house: They belong to God, and you must not get these concepts mixed up. God doesn’t think that, nor has He told you that, “My things and offerings belong to the church, and they are to be allocated by the church,” let alone, “All the offerings to Me belong to the church, to the house of God, and are in the charge of the brothers and sisters, and whoever wants to use them just needs to report it.” God did not say such a thing, He never said this. So, what did God say? Something that’s offered to God belongs to God, and once this thing has been presented on the altar, it belongs to God once and for all, and no human has the right or the power to make unauthorized use of it. Hatching plans about the offerings, and undertaking to embezzle, fraudulently use, steal, lend, and squander them—all these actions are condemned as offenses against God’s disposition, as the actions of antichrists, and are tantamount to the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, for which God will never forgive you. Such is the dignity of God, and people must not underestimate it. When you rob or steal from other people, you may get sentenced to one to two years, or three to five years by the law, and once you have been imprisoned for three to five years, you will no longer be guilty of any crime. But when you take and use God’s things, God’s offerings, this is a sin that in God’s eyes is permanent, a sin that cannot be forgiven. I have spoken these words to you, and whoever goes against them will have to bear the consequences. When the time comes, you’d better not complain that I didn’t tell you. I have made My words clear to you here today, hammering them into place like nails into a board, and this is what will come to pass. It’s up to you whether you believe this or not. There are those who say they are not afraid. Well, if you’re not afraid, wait and see how things turn out. Don’t wait until you are punished, as by that point it will be too late to cry, gnash your teeth, and beat your chest.
October 24, 2020
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