Consider and discern which of the previously mentioned manifestations of antichrists the following situation falls under. There was a leader who worked every day from dawn to dusk, appearing quite responsible. Yet, he was seldom seen, giving the impression he was very busy with work and presumably not idle, seemingly paying the price to do his duty. Later, when there was work to be done in their living quarters and yard, we arranged for someone to guide them in the work. When we weren’t around, he should have stepped up to help guide and be responsible for the work; he should have taken the initiative. Isn’t this reasonable and appropriate? Should I always be there to oversee these domestic chores and tasks? (No.) Most of the time, these kinds of laborious tasks don’t really touch upon the truth. People only have to work diligently, not engage in destructive actions, be compliant, and do what is asked—it’s simple and easy to accomplish. Later, when the tasks in that area were essentially completed, but ongoing management was still needed, I handed the responsibility over to this leader. I told him to maintain the cleanliness of the area, ensuring that everything that needed maintenance was well cared for. There were mainly two things: First, keep all the fixed spaces and rooms inside and out clean and tidy. Second, take good care of the plants; for example, water the newly planted ones so they don’t die, prune them as necessary according to the season and their growth, and fertilize them when needed. Just these two tasks—do you think that’s a lot? Could it be tiring? (No.) These two tasks aren’t much; one could finish them just by taking a post-meal stroll. Besides, don’t you also have to take care of your own living environment? This is just how it is living as a human; these kinds of tasks are essential to normal human life. You need to manage your own living environment. If you don’t, you’re no different from animals. Could you still be called human then? Animals don’t manage their surroundings; they don’t have designated places for their bodily needs, nor do they have fixed places for eating and sleeping. Humans are superior to animals in this regard; humans manage their environment, care about cleanliness, and have standards for their surroundings. So, My asking this of him wasn’t excessive, right? (Right.) After assigning these tasks, I left for another place, and the leader was supposed to carry out the specific work. One day, I went to check on how the environment was being managed, and along the way, I felt heartache, irritation, and anger! What do you think happened? What could cause these kinds of emotions? (He didn’t carry out God’s commands and arrangements.) Exactly, that’s the only way to put it—he didn’t implement them. During the period I was away, the weather wasn’t particularly dry, but many of the newly planted saplings had yellowing leaves, some even falling off. What was infuriating was that the leaves of two famous flowering trees had turned from lush green to purplish-red, almost yellowing. Does hearing this make you angry? Even more infuriating, the clean cement platform at the entrance was littered with baskets, plastic bags, trash, wood chips from completed work, nails, tools—everything was scattered about, creating a dirty and disorderly mess! Who wouldn’t be angry seeing such a scene? There’s only one kind of person that wouldn’t—those who amount to animals, with no standards or sensitivity to their surroundings, indifferent to smell, cleanliness, or comfort, and utterly unaware of what’s good or bad. Anyone with normal humanity, who has standards for their environment and the ability to think, would be angered upon seeing such a condition. A large group of people lived there, yet they couldn’t handle even this minor task. What kind of people are they? After I gave instructions, this is how they treated the place, this is what they did to it. Managing the environment here and taking care of these few things isn’t exhausting, is it? It doesn’t hinder any of your activities, does it? It doesn’t affect your gatherings, prayers, or reading of God’s word, does it? So why can’t it be done? When I’m around, overseeing and watching, these people do some work, but as soon as I leave, they stop; no one takes responsibility. What’s going on here? Do they consider this place their home? (No.) They still say the kingdom of Christ is their warm home, but is that what they really think? Is that how they really act? No. They don’t even manage the environment they live in. Even after I instructed them, nobody takes responsibility, and nobody cares. When told to work, they do a bit, but after finishing, they carelessly throw the tools aside, thinking, “Whoever cares should deal with it, it’s not my business. As long as I have food and shelter, I’m fine.” What kind of humanity is this? What kind of morality? Does such a person even possess a shred of normal humanity? To have believed in God for so many years without any change is truly inconceivable! I put so much effort into doing these things for you, arranging everything so well. I don’t live here, I don’t enjoy any of it—it’s all for you. You don’t need to be grateful; just manage your own living environment and that’s fine—why is it so hard to do? Later, I realized there was a reason for this behavior. People come to God’s house, whether they have left their families and careers behind or given up their studies and future prospects, to do their duty, not to be long-term workers for Me. Why? They don’t receive a penny, so why should they listen to Me? Why should they manage the environment for Me? Why should they expend this effort for Me? This is how they think. They feel that doing their own work well and fulfilling their duties is enough, that attending to matters within their scope of work completes their responsibilities. Anything else I ask for, as long as it pertains to their duties and professions, they might consider, but the rest I should find someone else to do. The implied message is, “We are people of the kingdom; how can we do such dirty and tiring work? We are superior humans; always having us do lowly and demeaning work harms our image! We are people of a certain identity, why do you keep making things difficult for us?” After understanding this, I gained some insight into why most people are averse to, resistant to, and unwilling to work, why they compare themselves to others and resort to trickery to shirk their duties when they do work—it’s because most don’t pursue the truth. Not pursuing the truth is a common saying, but in reality, many people are naturally disposed to love ease and despise work. Coupled with their being controlled by a mindset of just getting by, they believe that pursuing the truth means sitting together, talking, and discussing, just like in the nation of the great red dragon where people constantly have meetings, read newspapers, and sip tea—that, they think, is believing in God and doing their duty. As soon as the topic of working and laboring like farmers comes up, many think living like this has nothing to do with us Christians. A Christian’s life is one removed from “lowly pleasures.” Implicitly, they believe they are above the mundane tasks of the world—cleaning, pest control, farming, pruning, planting flowers, and so on are all unrelated to them; they have long transcended such lowly ways of life. Isn’t this the state of most people? (Yes.) Is this kind of state easy to rectify? Some people, when asked to learn to operate machinery, don’t take it seriously and even deliberately misuse it, damaging the machine in just a few days. Newly bought machines are broken, and the cost of repair is not cheap. They think: “Didn’t you ask me to learn? Now that I’ve broken the machine and there’s no machine left, I have an excuse to rest, right? I don’t have to work anymore, do I? You kept asking me to learn, and this is the result. Is this what you wanted to see?” The cost of repairing some machines is almost as much as buying new ones. Some people don’t feel bad or guilty at all after making such mistakes. When you compare this with the previously mentioned notion of “not spending a cent of god’s house’s money, because it’s an offering to god,” which statement is spoken genuinely, and which behavior is the reality? They wreck the machinery, and the cost of a couple repairs is enough to buy a new machine. This wasteful behavior is the reality, while the statement about not squandering the offerings is false, deceitful, and misleading. Referring to the example discussed earlier, if we were to categorize it under the disposition or essence of an antichrist, which aspect of today’s discussion would it relate to? Which aspect would it be listed under? They say, “I’m here to do my duty, not to be your long-term laborer.” Is this statement correct? You are here to do your duty, but who has defined what that duty does and does not entail? Aren’t these tasks part of what you should be doing? Just like in everyday life, going out to earn money to support your family is your responsibility. If you want vegetables and decide to grow them yourself, that’s your choice, but does that mean other household tasks aren’t your responsibility? The statement that you’re here to do your duty is correct, but saying you’re not here to be a long-term laborer is problematic. What does “long-term laborer” mean? Who’s treating you as one? No one is considering you a long-term laborer, and doing these tasks or expending a bit of effort doesn’t make you one. I don’t see you as a long-term laborer, nor does God’s house use you as one. You carry out the work that is your responsibility; these are all within the scope of your duty. On a smaller scale, this is about maintaining your daily life, ensuring your physical well-being and normal physiological functions, ensuring you live well. On a larger scale, every task is related to the expansion of God’s work. So why are you willing to do some of these tasks but not the others? Why do you pick and choose? Why do you consider expending a bit of effort, doing some cleaning, and managing the environment as the work of a long-term laborer, as menial labor? Here lies a reason: When it comes to Christ’s commands and all of His requirements, people consider the tasks they are willing to do as part of their duty, while those they are unwilling or resistant to doing are deemed as the tasks of a long-term laborer. Isn’t this a skewing of the facts? This represents a biased understanding. What causes this biased understanding? It’s people’s preferences. And what do these preferences lean toward? They depend on whether the flesh suffers. If the flesh can’t enjoy comfort, if it endures hardship or fatigue, people become resistant. The tasks they are willing to do, those that are glamorous and respectable, are reluctantly accepted and considered as doing their duty. Can this attitude be categorized as opposing Christ? People firmly oppose and refuse to do tasks they are unwilling to do; no matter how well you argue, they simply refuse and oppose. Are these states and problems of people easy to resolve? It all depends on how much a person loves the truth. If someone doesn’t love the truth at all and is averse to it, then they will never change. However, if you have the will to suffer, can rebel against the flesh, and possess genuine submission and an attitude of submission, then these issues can be easily turned around, right? (Right.) In one’s life, there’s no such thing as not doing any work. Some people say, “Emperors in the past didn’t do any work.” Is that really true? Most emperors didn’t spend all their days enjoying the palace life. Some started studying poetry and literature at a young age, working from dawn till dusk. After taking the throne, they would make incognito visits to understand the people’s woes, and during times of national crisis, some even went to the battlefield. Although there weren’t many emperors like this, there were indeed some. Even if there were emperors who did little to nothing, as some people say, they were very few. A person who doesn’t engage in any proper activity but still dreams of enjoying only the best is merely fantasizing.

Many people always think of exerting themselves in manual labor as something undignified. Is this view correct? There are also those who see such exertion as laboring, who believe that only leaders and workers doing church work counts as performing a duty—is this kind of understanding correct? (No.) You must understand this matter in the following way: People are needed to perform all that God requires people to do, and all of the various kinds of work in the house of God—these things all count as people’s duties. No matter what work people do, this is the duty they should perform. Duties cover a very broad scope, and involve many areas, but no matter what duty you perform, to put it simply, it is your obligation and something you should be doing. As long as you strive to perform it well with your heart, God will approve of you, and acknowledge you as someone who truly believes in God. No matter who you are, if you are always trying to avoid or hide from your duty, then there is a problem. To put it mildly, you are too lazy, too slippery, you are idle, and you love leisure and loathe labor. To put it more seriously, you are unwilling to perform your duty, and you have no loyalty or submission. If you can’t even exert yourself physically to shoulder this little bit of work, what can you do? What are you capable of doing properly? If a person truly has loyalty and a sense of responsibility toward their duty, then as long as it is required by God, and as long as it is needed by the house of God, they will do anything they are asked, without making their own choices. Is it not one of the principles of performing a duty to undertake and do well that which one is able and ought to do? (Yes.) Some who do manual labor outside disagree, and say, “You spend all day doing your duty in your room, sheltered from the wind and sun. There is no hardship to that at all, your duty is much cushier than ours. Put yourselves in our shoes, let’s see whether you can stand working outside for several hours, and being out in the wind and rain.” In fact, every duty involves some hardship. Physical labor involves physical hardship, and mental labor involves mental hardship; each has its difficulties. Everything is easier said than done. When people really undertake a task, what’s crucial, in one regard, is their character, and in another regard, is whether they love the truth or not. Let us first speak about character. If a person is of good character, they see the positive side of everything, and are able to accept and comprehend things from a positive perspective and on the basis of the truth; that is, their heart, character, and spirit are upright—this is from the perspective of character. Next, let us talk about another aspect—whether or not one loves the truth. Loving the truth refers to being able to accept the truth, which is to say, regardless of whether or not you comprehend God’s words, and whether or not you understand God’s intention, regardless of whether your view, opinion, and perspective on the job, on the duty you are supposed to perform, are in line with the truth, you are still able to accept it from God; if you are submissive and sincere, then this is enough, this qualifies you to perform your duty, and it is the minimum requirement. If you are submissive and sincere, then when you carry out a task, you will not be perfunctory, and you will not slack off, instead you will put all of your heart and strength into it. If a person’s inner state is wrong, and negativity arises in them, they lose their drive and want to be perfunctory; they know full well in their heart that their state is not right, and yet they still do not try to fix this by seeking the truth. People like this have no love for the truth, and are only slightly willing to perform their duty; they are disinclined to make any effort or suffer hardship, and they are always trying to slack off. In fact, God has already scrutinized all of this—so why does He pay no heed to these people? God is just waiting for His chosen people to wake up, discern and expose those people, and eliminate them. However, such people still think to themselves, “Look how clever I am. We eat the same food, but after working you are completely exhausted, and I’m not tired at all. I’m the smart one. I don’t work that hard; anyone who works hard is an idiot.” Is it right for them to view honest people in this way? No. In fact, people who work hard when they perform their duty are practicing the truth and satisfying God, so they are the smartest people of all. What makes them smart? They say, “I don’t do anything that God doesn’t ask me to do, and I do everything that He does ask me to. I do whatever He asks, I put my heart and all my energy into it, and I don’t go through the motions at all. I’m not doing this for any person, I’m doing it for God. God loves me so much; I should do this to satisfy God.” This is the right state of mind. As a result, when the church cleanses people away, those who are slippery in performing their duty are all eliminated, while those honest people who accept God’s scrutiny remain. The states of those honest people keep improving, and they are protected by God in all that befalls them. And what earns them this protection? It’s because, in their hearts, they are honest. They don’t fear hardship or exhaustion when they perform their duty, and they are not picky about anything that’s handed over to them; they do not ask why, they just do as they are told, they obey, without conducting any investigations or analysis, or taking anything else into consideration. They have no calculations, and are capable of obedience in all things. Their inner state is always very normal. When faced with danger, God protects them, when illness or pestilence befalls them, God also protects them, and in the future they will only enjoy blessings. Some people just can’t see through this matter. When they see honest people willingly enduring hardship and exhaustion in performing their duty, they think these honest people are foolish. Tell Me, is this foolishness? This is sincerity, this is true faith. Without true faith, there are many things that one can never really understand or explain. Only those who understand the truth, those who always live before God and have normal associations with Him, and those who truly submit to and genuinely fear God, know clearest in their hearts what’s really going on. Why do they know while others don’t? It comes from them gaining experience through practicing the truth and being honest people. This experience cannot be given by any person, nor can it be stolen or taken away by anyone. Isn’t this a blessing? Such blessedness cannot be obtained by common people. And why is this so? It’s because people are too deceitful and wicked; they fall short of honesty, they are unable to be honest people, and they lack genuine hearts, so what they receive is limited. As for antichrists, there’s even less need to mention them. Based on their attitudes toward various matters, as well as their nature essence, and especially based on their attitude toward Christ, people like antichrists will never receive this blessing. Why is this? It’s because their hearts are too wicked and cunning! They treat people differently depending on the person, they change their colors like a chameleon, and their thoughts are always in motion, not releasing the hawk until they’ve seen the hare, not being sincere toward God, having no submission toward Him, and only making transactions with Him. What is the consequence of such attitudes and essence? It is that, in any matter, they are unable to see through or understand the essence of various people and situations, as well as the truths involved in these situations. God’s words are laid out before them, and they are educated, know how to read and analyze, have intellect, and know how to scrutinize, so why can’t they understand? No matter how old they live to be, even if it’s up to 80 years, they still won’t understand. Why won’t they understand? The most important reason is that their eyes have been blindfolded. Some people say, “But we haven’t seen their eyes get covered.” It’s their hearts that have been covered. What does being covered mean? It means that their hearts are unenlightened; they are perpetually shrouded. Previously, it was said that “people’s heart is waxed gross.” So, who has waxed gross the hearts of the antichrists? In reality, it’s God who has not enlightened them. He does not intend to make them perfect or save them. He merely intervenes at appropriate times, at critical, important moments, to hold them back a bit and prevent the interests of God’s house from being harmed. But most of the time, when it comes to matters of God’s words, the truth, submitting to Him, knowing themselves, and knowing Him, He never enlightens them. Some might say, “That’s not right. How can You say He doesn’t enlighten them? Some who have been classified as antichrists are very clever. After hearing a sermon, if you spoke for three hours, they can speak for six. Isn’t that enlightenment?” No matter how many hours they can speak, even if it’s 30, it’s just a bunch of words and doctrines. Could the Pharisees and scribes speak better than these people? Each one of them was an expert in preaching, and each of them spoke eloquently, but what good did it do? When God arrived, they still resisted and condemned Him. What did this bring them? It brought them destruction, perdition, and great disaster. From the outside, everyone in God’s house appears to be performing their duty, with each person having three meals a day, performing their duties during the day, and resting at night. However, after several years, the differences among various kinds of people become significant, and the outcomes of different types of people are revealed and distinguished. Some people verbally proclaim that they believe in God but do not follow the right path, rushing instead toward hell. Others love the truth and continually strive for it, and so they gradually enter the truth reality. Some always want to live a comfortable life and become increasingly cunning in performing their duties, and are ultimately eliminated. Some can accept the truth, become increasingly honest in their hearts, and experience a change in their life disposition, becoming loved by both God and people. Some always focus on preaching words and doctrines, and after all their preaching, they are spurned by God and are thus ruined. Some lack spiritual understanding, and the more they listen to sermons, the more confused, less interested in the truth, and less submissive they become, wanting to act willfully and capriciously, always seeking to satisfy their own desires and aiming for fame, gain, and status—this is dangerous. Some people follow God for several years, and after eating and drinking God’s words and experiencing many things, they come to understand many truths, have more and more faith in God, and earn His approval. All of these people believe in God, live church life, and perform their duties, so why, after eight or ten years, are their results different, each according to their kind? What does this illustrate? Are there not differences in people’s nature essence? (Yes.)

Here’s another matter for you to listen to and consider as to which category it belongs among the manifestations of antichrists we’ve discussed. In some churches, there are clearly evil people acting tyrannically and unreasonably. They can’t do any concrete work, yet they always want to hold power. In whatever work they undertake, they create disturbances and destruction and do not adhere to the principles, and in whichever things they do, they never want to pay the price yet always want others to listen to them. In short, as long as such a person is in a church, many others will be disturbed by them, and the work of God’s house and the order of the church will be affected and damaged. Although such people haven’t committed any overt acts of great evil or harmed the brothers and sisters, when you look at their humanity, their essence, their viewpoints on various matters, as well as their attitudes toward the brothers and sisters, the work of God’s house, and their own duties, they are purely among the ranks of the evil ones. How should I handle such a person if I encounter them before the brothers and sisters have noticed? Should I wait until they make a grave mistake or cause a great disaster to clear them out, sending them away when they “make a big splash”? Is that necessary? (No.) Then what should I do? At the very least, I should dismiss them from their duty. Next, I should isolate them or clear them out, preventing them from doing their duty to avoid affecting others. In the vital work of God’s house, the presence of such evil people is not allowed—is this principle correct? If they haven’t been revealed, then so be it, but once they are revealed, seen clearly, and classified as evil people, is it right to cleanse them away? (Yes.) Some people might say, “That won’t work. You’ve seen through them, but others haven’t. Cleansing them away will affect others. If you just cleanse them away because you’ve seen through them, won’t it mean that you’re making the decision alone? Is that really letting the truth hold power? We should gather and fellowship with the brothers and sisters, dissect with them, do ideological work on them, compile materials and get everyone’s approval before proceeding. You need to follow the procedures, and if you don’t, aren’t you violating the church’s work arrangements? Wouldn’t this be wrong? You yourself should first abide by the church’s work arrangements; you can’t sabotage them. Moreover, isn’t everything, regardless of what it is, done out of consideration for the brothers and sisters? Since that’s the case, then you need to make all the brothers and sisters fully aware of this and clear about this aspect of the truth. You can’t leave them confused; you need to enable all the brothers and sisters to discern.” If these procedures aren’t followed and I say to clear someone out, how would you proceed? You’d be at a loss, right? That you’d find yourselves jammed up proves that such viewpoints exist among you. What I’m talking about has happened. In a vital work setting, there was a devil with bad humanity, who, while doing his duty, deceitfully slacked off, trying to avoid hardship and exhaustion. He disrupted and disturbed the church’s work at every turn, and when pruned, he became unruly, completely rejecting the truth. He always wanted to hold office and call the shots, while also commanding others, and he never considered the church’s interests or adhered to the principles, acting solely based on his preferences. During his time in charge of the work, he ignored several things I instructed him to do, treating My words as if they were wind in his ears. Besides not doing his tasks, he caused disturbances. The church is an important place of work for doing one’s duties—if he thought he’d come not to do his duty but to live in princely comfort or enjoy an early retirement, then he was mistaken. God’s house is neither a welfare institution nor a shelter. Such scum as this man are not any good wherever they go; they are never loyal in any of their duties, always being perfunctory and just drifting along aimlessly. So, I said to immediately clear him out. Would this have been easy to put into practice? (Yes.) However, for a certain type of person, even such a simple matter is difficult to implement. It was three months after I spoke up that this evil person was finally forcibly sent away. What was the reason for this? After I issued the command to clear this man out, the leader of that church began to “implement” the task. How did they implement it? They called a gathering for everyone to vote on the decision. After much discussion, the majority finally agreed to clear him out, but there was one vote against it, so the matter was put on hold. This leader said that they needed to work on the person who disagreed, to discuss with them and seek their consent. In the meantime, I asked twice if the man had been sent away, and the leader replied that he hadn’t, that they were still gathering and summarizing materials. Behind My back, they also said, “So long as one person disagrees, we cannot clear him out.” Their meaning in saying this was that they didn’t want to clear this man out, so they found this absurd reason. In reality, they were tricking others; they were afraid of offending this man and didn’t dare to clear him out. Finally, an ultimatum came from the Above: “This man must be sent away. If he doesn’t go, then you must go. One of you has to leave; you choose!” When they heard this, they thought, “I can’t leave; I haven’t enjoyed my position long enough!” Only then did they send this devil away. Tell Me, why did this leader protect the devil? Isn’t this the approach of an antichrist? This is precisely the behavior of an antichrist.