II. The Interests of Antichrists

C. Scheming for Their Own Benefits

Today, we will continue our fellowship on item nine of the various manifestations of antichrists and the part of this item that relates to the interests of antichrists. Last time, I fellowshipped on the third item of the interests of antichrists: benefits. In that item, I listed specific manifestations of several aspects, and mainly addressed antichrists’ behavior, their thoughts and views, and the various things they do under the control of these thoughts and views. I fellowshipped on two aspects last time: The first was embezzling the assets of God’s house, and the second was exploiting brothers and sisters to labor in their service. These are two specific manifestations of antichrists scheming for their own benefits. Now that I have fellowshipped on these, do you have an understanding of the nature essence of antichrists? There is actually no major difference between corrupted humans in terms of the various manifestations of antichrists, whether it is in regard to their disposition or nature essence. They are more similar than they are different; they only differ in whether they have good or evil humanity, and there is only a marked difference when it comes to their attitude toward the truth. Although people’s corrupt dispositions are all the same, antichrists are capable of hating the truth, resisting God, judging God, and blaspheming against God, and are also capable of doing evil and disturbing the church’s work. These are the areas in which antichrists and ordinary corrupted humans are markedly different. Every person has the disposition of an antichrist, but if they have not done evil and disturbed the church’s work and have not directly confronted God, then they cannot be defined as an antichrist. Although corrupted humans have the same, or similar, thoughts, views, and corrupt dispositions, if someone’s humanity essence is not that of an evil person, then that is a marked difference between them and antichrists. The majority of people cannot see this difference, and group people with the disposition of an antichrist and people who walk the path of an antichrist together and determine them to be antichrists—it is easy to harm good people by doing this! If you do not understand the essence of antichrists clearly, it is a huge impediment to you understanding yourself, too. If you see that your corrupt disposition is the same as that of an antichrist, you will think you are an antichrist, and if you see that the path you are on is the same as that of an antichrist, then you will also think you are an antichrist. You will still define yourself as an antichrist if you see that the way you do things and your thoughts and views are the same as those of an antichrist. If you see yourself as an antichrist in these three ways, then you will determine yourself to be an antichrist. What consequences will this bring? You will certainly become negative to a certain extent and will give up on yourself. Understanding yourself in such a way is somewhat distorted. So then, is it unnecessary to understand your antichrist disposition? No, of course it’s necessary. The purpose of fellowshipping and dissecting the disposition of antichrists is to make you able to draw comparisons with yourself and get to the point of truly understanding yourself. If you just understand that you have an average corrupt disposition but do not recognize that you have the disposition of an antichrist, then your understanding of yourself is very shallow and one-sided; it is not what it should be. You may not yet be aware of this right now. The majority of people think, “I am not walking the path of an antichrist, nor am I an antichrist, nor do I have the essence of an antichrist, so there is no need for me to get to the point where I understand that I have the disposition of an antichrist, am capable of walking the path of an antichrist, and might become an antichrist. If this was my understanding of myself, wouldn’t I be demeaning myself?” Thus, you are not very interested in these topics about exposing antichrists. Regardless of whether or not you are interested, if you are someone who pursues the truth, there will eventually come a day when you gradually grow to understand these aspects of the truth and these sayings. I have heard some people who fellowship their experience and understanding but say nothing whatsoever about how they have the disposition of an antichrist, or how they walk the path of an antichrist. It is obvious that their thoughts, views, and disposition are exactly the same as those of an antichrist—they are identical—but they do not understand this. This is sufficient proof that the extent of many people’s understanding of themselves is very shallow, in that they are only able to understand that they have a corrupt disposition, that they resist God and rebel against God, that their humanity is not very good, and that they do not love the truth very much. Actually, what they manifest and reveal is the disposition of an antichrist, and the path they walk is that of an antichrist, but they do not understand this. Why don’t they understand it? It is because they do not understand the various manifestations related to an antichrist’s disposition, and there are even many people who are afraid to say that they have the disposition of an antichrist or are on the path of an antichrist. Even if they understand it, they do not dare say it; if they say it out loud, it is as though they are being cursed or condemned. In reality, isn’t your situation the same whether you say it or not? Can it change the fact that you have the disposition of an antichrist? No, it can’t. The fact that you do not understand this proves that your comprehension of the truth is too shallow, and that you do not have a true understanding of yourself.

3. Using Their Position to Acquire Food, Drink, and Other Desirable Things by Fraud

Next, we will fellowship about the third manifestation of antichrists scheming for their own benefits—using their position to acquire food, drink, and other desirable things by fraud. Of course, “using their position” may also be called fraudulently acquiring food, drink, and other desirable things under the banner of believing in God. Have you ever tried to ponder this item before and thought about it? (No, we have not.) Have you ever seen this kind of person? Do you have any opinions regarding this kind of person? Do you have any feelings of loathing or revulsion? Do you feel contempt for this kind of person? (Yes.) What kind of person are they? What is their humanity like? Why do they do these things? What is their point of view in believing in God? Is this kind of person someone that God saves? What, in the final analysis, is the aim of their belief in God? They have forsaken their families and careers, and displayed expressions of suffering hardship and paying a price, but what, in the final analysis, is their aim in using their position to acquire food and drink by fraud? Do they know that, when they do this, God detests it and is displeased? Have you ever thought about these questions before? Truth be told, most of you haven’t. And why haven’t you? Some say: “There are too many people like this in society, so it isn’t a big deal to have a few of them in God’s house. What’s more, we aren’t necessarily all that pure ourselves.” You consider yourself to be someone who pursues the truth, and yet you never take your own deeds, thoughts and ideas, as well as the deeds and behaviors of others, and draw a connection between them and the truth, using the perspective of the truth to regard and define them. So, are you still someone who pursues the truth? Do the truths you have come to understand in your belief in God still hold value and meaning for you? No, they don’t. All those who pretend to be spiritual when they have no spiritual understanding have fake spirituality, and they care about nothing except spending all day rigidly adhering to regulations or speaking words and doctrines, which is akin to what ancient scholars did, “devoting themselves entirely to studying books of sages and paying no attention to outside matters.” People who pretend to be spiritual think that whatever other people do has no bearing on them, that however other people think is other people’s business, and they refuse to learn how to discern people, see through things, and understand God’s intentions based on God’s words. Most people are like this; when they have finished listening to a sermon or reading God’s words, they note it down on paper, store it in their hearts, and treat it as doctrines or regulations to which they pay token observance and then are done with it. As for how the things that happen around them or the various behaviors and manifestations they see in people around them are related to these truths, they never think about or try to ponder this in their hearts, nor do they pray or seek. Most people’s spiritual lives are in this kind of state. Therefore, many people are slow and superficial in entering the truth; their spiritual life is extremely monotonous, they merely follow regulations, and there are no principles to the way they do things. It can be said that, in the case of many people, their spiritual life is divorced from real life and is empty, and so, even when it comes to the blatant behaviors and manifestations of evil people and antichrists, they have absolutely no concepts, much less any definitions, nor do they have any ideas or show any discernment. Regarding the behaviors, manifestations, and sayings of antichrists in scheming for their own individual benefits, you may have seen a fair amount, but in your hearts you have never tried to ponder exactly what kind of people they are, whether they can gain the truth in their belief in God, whether they are people who pursue the truth, and other questions of the sort. Rather, you idly hang around all day long, going through the motions in everything you do, and do not seek to be able to gain the truth or to understand and enter into the truth reality. Antichrists use their position to scheme for their own benefits and use believing in God as a pretense to obtain all sorts of desirable things through fraud in God’s house. These desirable things naturally include food and drink, as well as certain material enjoyments and the like. The essence of such people is the same as the materialistic essence of antichrists that we previously spoke of—it is the character of the same kind of person. They only seek to enjoy all kinds of material treatment; they do not pursue the truth, and still less do they prepare good deeds. They only put on a pretense of pursuing the truth and appear to do it on the surface. What they pursue in their heart of hearts is basically the fleshly pleasures of eating, drinking, and being treated well that are constantly on their minds. There are quite a few of these sorts of people around; every church is likely to have one or two, and perhaps even more. Today, I will not speak about these people’s manifestations, behavior and essence in a theoretical sense. I will first speak about a few specific representative cases and let you all listen, gain insights from it, and see how people like this are related to this item we are fellowshipping and whether they use their position and fly the banner of believing in God to fraudulently acquire food, drink, money, and material things. Try to discern this type of person, and then think about whether the people you come into contact with have these manifestations we’re talking about. If anyone comes to mind, you can also give a few examples. Tell Me, is it better to give examples or to just fellowship generally like this? (It’s better to give examples.) What is the upside of giving examples? First of all, most people are willing to listen to these stories and real-life cases. They have characters and a plot, and most people find them interesting. It’s just like if you talk about your personal experience: If you write an article about it, people will usually read it once or twice and that’s it, but if you make a movie or a stage play about it, more people will watch it, and they won’t just watch it once. This way, people will look at this aspect of the truth or at the relevant people, events and things more thoroughly and with greater clarity, and it will make a deeper impression on them. Additionally, giving some specific examples helps people more accurately draw comparisons and connections between each aspect of the truth and themselves.

Case One: Pretending to Work in Order to Scrounge for Food and Drink

First, let’s give some examples common to God’s chosen people. Some leaders and workers come to a new place of work, where they encounter different brothers and sisters and discover some good things, and think, “These are good things. Why don’t I have them?” Don’t they have untoward thoughts inside? Their greed has reared its head. As soon as greed rears its head, these base and shameless lowlifes stop in their tracks and find every excuse to work in that place and not leave. What is their purpose in not leaving? (So one day they can take advantage.) That’s right, they want to take advantage. If they do not get this advantage they will not sleep well at night. They worry that if they go somewhere else, someone else will get this advantage and they won’t get this chance again, so they find an excuse to preach and work in that place. Actually, their hearts are always thinking about these desirable things, and their eyes are always focused on these desirable things. Finally, they establish themselves in that place, and most of the brothers and sisters are fond of them, know they are preachers, and worship and look up to them. Now is the time for these leaders and workers to mention there is something they want, so they think of all sorts of different ways to broach the subject, but the more they say, the more anxious they become. They ponder to themselves, “How should I go about asking for this thing? I can’t let the brothers and sisters know that I like this thing and want it. I must make them give it to me of their own accord; I mustn’t make them think I’m asking for it, but rather that it’s something they are giving to me willingly, and of course that it’s something I deserve to have.” After this, they ask the brothers and sisters, “How has your life entry been lately?” The brothers and sisters say, “Since you came, our church life has improved and everyone is invigorated.” “The fact you are invigorated means the condition of your spirit is better. Your business is doing well, too. God willing, in the future your business will do even better.” As the leaders and workers speak, they steer the conversation toward the thing they want. When it becomes apparent to the brothers and sisters that the leaders and workers want that thing, they say the leaders and workers should take some with them when they go. The leaders and workers say, “No, I can’t take any. This isn’t in line with the principles. God wouldn’t be happy.” “It’s no problem. You deserve to have some.” “Even if I deserve it, I can’t.” After saying this, they worry the brothers and sisters will not actually give it to them, so they say some things in a roundabout way, to make the brothers and sisters thank them for their goodness, while at the same time proactively bringing up the thing they want, so that the brothers and sisters would remember to give them some. Afterward, it becomes apparent to the brothers and sisters what the leaders and workers mean, and they say, “Let’s not talk about that matter now. We can talk about it when you leave.” When the leaders and workers hear the brothers and sisters say this, their hearts are overjoyed and they think, “Excellent. I will finally get what I want!” And then they think, “If I leave right away tomorrow, it will be too obvious to people that I want that thing. I will leave in two or three days instead.” When the third day finally comes, the brothers and sisters give them a very heavy package as they leave. The leaders and workers see the package is the thing they wanted, but they pretend they didn’t see it, and do not refuse it. They just take the package without a word. What kind of people are these? They are people who use their work as an avenue—and their labor as currency—in a scheme to obtain desirable things, and who extort things from brothers and sisters. Isn’t this a form of fraud? What is the purpose of their work? To get desirable things by swindling others. As soon as they discover a place with something desirable and that has something they want, they stop in their tracks and do not want to leave. They take every good thing for their own home. After having been a leader or a worker for several years, many things in their homes have been swindled from brothers and sisters. Some of them swindled secret family recipes or heirlooms from brothers and sisters, and some of them swindled local specialty products. These people’s belief in God appears like they are going around from place to place and doing work without asking for anything in return, but in fact, they have swindled far too many desirable things from brothers and sisters.

After a leader arrives at a certain church, he sees that the jujubes in that area are renowned throughout the country, and thinks to himself, “I love eating jujubes. If I was born here I could eat jujubes every day, but unfortunately I can’t stay very many days and the jujubes aren’t ripe yet. When will I be able to eat them? I know—I can find a reason to stay until the jujubes are ripe, then I’ll be able to eat them, won’t I?” Afterward, he makes an excuse saying most of the brothers and sisters here are in a bad state and are not accomplishing anything in their work, so he must be stationed here long term and try hard to get each item of work going before he leaves. However, is that what he is actually thinking in his heart? (No.) In his heart, he is calculating: “Whenever the jujubes are ripe and I can take some with me, that is when I will leave.” His heart is filled with this thought, and it stops him in his tracks and he stations himself there. During his time there, he preaches some words and doctrines and does some surface-level things, but doesn’t accomplish much in the way of work. Finally the jujubes are ripe, and his heart is brimming with happiness: “I can finally eat jujubes. The day I have been dreaming of is finally here!” As soon as the jujubes are ripe, he begins to eat them, while at the same time ruminating in his heart, “It’s not alright for me to just eat jujubes here every day. I can’t stay just to eat jujubes. What if the brothers and sisters notice? I have to think of a way to make them give me some to take with me. If they don’t give them to me, I must try hard and say something more to move this matter along.” As soon as the brothers and sisters who live there see that he likes to eat jujubes, they say they will give him some to take with him when he leaves. When he hears this, he is happy, but his mouth says, “I couldn’t. It is not in line with the principles. Believers cannot covet this. Wouldn’t I be taking advantage of you? I cannot take it without paying you. When I leave I will pay you for it.” These words that he says are just words. When he has pretty much eaten his fill and it is time to go, in his heart he is still always thinking, “Will they not give me any, or just give me some bad ones? I want to eat big ones, good ones.” Two days before he is going to leave, he is always saying, “All the jujubes have pretty much been picked, haven’t they? When will they be ripe next year?” By which he means to remind the brothers and sisters not to forget to give him some to take with him. The brothers and sisters all understand as soon as they hear it: “It looks like we absolutely must give him some to take with him before he goes, and we must pick good ones to give to him; otherwise, he might make things difficult for us.” When it is finally time for him to go, the brothers and sisters give him three large boxes to take with him. He cannot carry them by himself and get other people under him to help. Just before he leaves, he eats as many as he can—even if it makes him sick he feels it is worth it. He is afraid he won’t be able to eat them again after he leaves. When he leaves, it is still reluctantly, and he thinks, “This time I had just enough. I will come again this time next year. I do not need to come too early, but I cannot come too late. I should come just as the jujubes are ripe. That way I can eat some fresh ones, and when they are dried I can eat some dried ones. I can also take some more with me when I leave.” Doesn’t he calculate this in a lot of detail? All his heart thinks about are these things. He is always thinking about taking advantage and concocting schemes to get desirable things, as well as swindling things from brothers and sisters which are in his own interests. He will not pass over any desirable thing he sees. Even if it is something that doesn’t stand out, so long as it catches his eye and sticks in his mind, it is guaranteed to ultimately fall into his hands. Is this not the behavior of an antichrist? Isn’t the humanity and character of people of this kind especially base? No matter how well people of this kind can suffer hardship and pay a price on the surface, and how well they can forsake their family and forgo their career, can it be said that they are people who pursue the truth? Absolutely not. These people are the kind who fraudulently acquire food and drink by flying the banner of believing in God.

Some people go to all sorts of places to spread the gospel and do work, and when they come home they bring back different local specialty products from each place, or even things they extorted from brothers and sisters. Whether it is designer clothing or electronics, so long as it catches their eye they do not pass it over, and they ask to have it. If you do not give it to them, they will think up all sorts of excuses to prune you, will make you understand why they are pruning you, and will not relent until you finally give it to them. These people swindle all sorts of desirable things for themselves by flying the banner of doing their duty, and they are relentless when trying to acquire these desirable things. Sometimes brothers and sisters give them a little something, but these people think it is not worth much money and say, “No, thank you. God has richly blessed me. I do not want for anything.” They use these sorts of words to decline, and trick the brothers and sisters into being fond of them and thinking highly of them. However, should the thing the brothers and sisters give them be something these people have dreamed of, and something they need and constantly think about, when they see these things they want to embezzle them, and they will absolutely not hold back. Some women embezzle cosmetics, good clothes and good shoes out of the hands of brothers and sisters, and some men swindle appliances, motorcycles or electronics out of the hands of brothers and sisters. They move to possess every desirable thing. No matter what good things brothers and sisters have, so long as it catches these people’s eyes, they will think of all sorts of ways to fraudulently obtain it. In addition, these people even come up with all sorts of pretexts and find all sorts of excuses to get together for dinner, and gorge themselves on food and drink. To what extent? Wherever they go, they look to see whose family has money and whose family eats well, then they stay with that family and do not leave. Then, they come up with all sorts of pretexts to hold gatherings for co-workers and hold dinners. And what are their opening words at each dinner? “Our gathering today is a gathering of the kingdom. This table of food gives us a precursory taste of the kingdom banquet.” The people who lick their boots hasten to say, “Amen. Thanks be to god!” There are some so-called leaders and workers who gorge themselves on food and drink wherever they go. Every meal must have nourishing ingredients, and there must be fish and meat, and the dishes must even change every week; they cannot repeat. After dinner they must drink fine tea, and make excuses saying, “I cannot go without tea. I have a heavy workload every day and must burn the midnight oil at night. If I don’t drink a bit of tea to wake me up, I won’t be able to work at night.” This is what their mouth says, but what are they thinking in their hearts? “It wasn’t easy to get to the position I have today. Shouldn’t I throw my weight around a bit? Also, I have dreamed of enjoying some of the better things in life, so shouldn’t I think up all sorts of ways to enjoy these things now? If I don’t use my power now that I have it, I won’t have the opportunity to do so again when it’s gone. I should eat and drink as much as I can. Who knows if there will come a day when I no longer have this position and cannot enjoy these things. I will no longer have this opportunity. Then won’t my entire life be a waste?” People of this kind fraudulently acquire food and drink by flying the banner of doing work. They do a bit of work and preach a few words and doctrines, then want to swindle desirable things and eat good things.

There used to be a person who worked at a certain place, and the brothers and sisters who lived in that locale had to butcher a chicken for this person every day. He developed a habit, which was to eat one chicken a day, every day. After hearing this, how do you feel? (Disgusted.) The brothers and sisters raised chickens for their eggs, and would only butcher a chicken to eat when it was old. Ever since that person arrived, even egg-laying chickens had to be butchered, and as a result, there were fewer and fewer chickens, and the brothers and sisters had reached the end of their rope. Later, he was dismissed and went home, but still could not change this problematic flaw. He made his wife butcher a chicken for him to eat every day; otherwise he would argue with her. What kind of person is this? Eating chicken had become part of who he was. He ate it every day, at every meal. Even after being dismissed he still had to eat it—he had become dependent on it. Doesn’t this person have a problem? What do you say, are people of this kind good? (No.) In short, anyone who flies the banner of believing in God and uses opportunities which arise through the course of doing their duties to extort brothers and sisters out of their belongings at every turn, and to fraudulently acquire food and drink at every turn, are not good people. Their essence is that of an antichrist. No matter where they go to work or what sort of work they do, they first select host families who are relatively well-off and live relatively comfortably to receive them. What is their purpose in looking for these places? To eat well and stay in a nice home—to satisfy the flesh. There are some places they cannot stay because of the adverse environment, but will they let go of their greed and these thoughts of theirs? No, they won’t. They will look for other places like this to receive them. As a result, after these people have done several years’ work in foreign locales, they will look completely different, and when they return home, the brothers and sisters there will not recognize them—their faces will be fuller, their stomachs rounder; they will be dressed better; they will be pickier, and will put on airs. How will the growth of their life be coming along? Their life will not have grown at all; they will just be eating and dressing well, will have grown fat, and will have eaten to the point of being heavy-jowled and potbellied. In a terrible environment such as mainland China, no matter what duty a person does it is a nerve-racking affair. Although they may sometimes eat well and have well-off families receive them, they will be unable to gain weight. So, what kind of people are those who can eat until they are heavy-jowled and potbellied? (People who crave the benefits of status.) It is those who are always thinking about what they will eat and drink and what they will enjoy at their three meals a day. If people of this kind do not have a good meal, they are not in the mood to work or do their duties. If their stomach is not content, their mind is not balanced: “I have eaten so poorly today. There was no meat at all, and after eating you did not offer me tea. So, I will ignore you. When you fellowship on the church’s work, I will not speak. I will exact revenge on you. Who said it was okay for you to not give me good meals? I have to eat food like this, yet you still want me to fellowship with you. There’s no way!” This is what they think inside, but they can’t say it out loud. They just say, “I stayed up too late working last night, so I have to take a nap this afternoon.” Aren’t they a big conman? They sleep until four or five in the afternoon, and there are many people there waiting for them, but they do not want to get up. Suddenly, they smell apples and jump out of bed, worrying they will not get a bite. This is how they work, and this is how they do their duties. No matter where these people go, and no matter how they eat and drink the words of God or listen to sermons, they will not change their intents and objectives, nor will they let go of their ambitions and desires. All material things are the goal of their pursuit in this life; eating well, dressing well and enjoying good treatment are the goals of their belief in God in this life. They think that if by believing in God in this life, they are able to continually eat good things, wear nice clothes, and live in nice houses, as well as have brothers and sisters support them—if they are able to fraudulently acquire these things—they will be satisfied in this life. In this world, working hard at a regular job will not earn a person much money, and it is not easy to earn money by doing business—they will not be able to enjoy things like this. So, after mulling it over in their minds, they still think it is best to believe in God, as they do not need to put in a lot of effort. All they need to do is say a few words, run around a bit, and shoulder a bit of risk, and then they can eat and dress well, even make many people wait on them, and enjoy being treated like a VIP. They think living like this is wonderful, and that they have been richly blessed for believing in God. So, they often say insincere things in front of brothers and sisters, like, “God has gifted us too much, too richly, and more than man has ever asked or wished for.” These words are correct, but are completely incongruent with their personal pursuits and character, and their thoughts, intents and objectives. Everything they say tricks people. Their outward appearance of expending themselves and traveling around doing God’s work also is all to trick people. Only the calculations, intents, and greed in their hearts are true. This is the character of these people. No matter what they do or where they go, these material pleasures take the top spot in their hearts, and they will never let them go and will never forget about them. No matter how you fellowship on the truth, and no matter how you fellowship on God’s intentions, they will perform their duties while stubbornly clinging to this greed and these desires, and harboring these intents and objectives, and no matter whether they have status or do not have status, their intents will not change.