When antichrists are pruned, when they are criticized and exposed by the brothers and sisters, what other words do they say? Some antichrists make a mistake or speak some devilish words to mislead people. When the brothers and sisters see this, they criticize them and prune them, exposing them as slippery and deceitful. Although they are not defiant on the outside, inside they are resistant, as if to say, “What do you know? Are you as knowledgeable as me? Have you believed in god for as many years as me? How many years have you believed in god? I won’t lower myself to your level!” When leaders and workers are pruning them, they might adopt a slippery attitude, fobbing them off outwardly, and saying some nice-sounding words, but secretly they are dissatisfied and defiant, seeking an opportunity for revenge. If it is an ordinary brother or sister pruning them, antichrists are not so well-behaved—they will become angry and exasperated, and they will counterattack and retaliate. When they counterattack and retaliate, they often say something like: “You’re too wet behind the ears to prune me! If I didn’t believe in god, I would fear nobody!” Is there anything wrong with these words? These are the kind of words usually spoken by nonbelievers and seriously scummy people. How can this be heard in the church? People who can speak like this are a unique group, and this unique group possesses a unique temperament. How is their temperament unique? Such people often consider seniority within the church. They see everyone as inferior to them, dislike everyone, and want to lecture, punish, and manipulate everyone. They think that even though they believe in God, nobody is qualified to be their partner. It’s no wonder that they come out with these arrogant words when people treat them as brothers and sisters and have heart-to-heart talks with them, exposing their corrupt dispositions, and pruning the words and actions that they’ve displayed which are not in line with the truth. They regard God’s house as society and as their own domain, and regard the brothers and sisters of the church as their juniors. They think that the brothers and sisters know little about and possess only a superficial understanding of matters of society, that they are at the bottom of society, to be looked down on, toyed with, and trampled by others. They think the brothers and sisters are all easy to bully and toy with, and they will not be that kind of person. Therefore, they think that whoever prunes them and exposes them is bullying, belittling, and excluding them. They have already guarded against it in their hearts, “Don’t think that you can punish me and bully me! You’re still wet behind the ears!” Isn’t this something that somebody with a “heroic spirit” would say? Unfortunately, these words are not the truth. However much spirit or moral integrity you have, God will not approve of you. God loathes such dispositions and people who speak these words. People who say these kinds of things before God are condemned and spurned by God. People who hold to these words as if they were the truth can never be saved by God. So, let’s take another look, what is wrong with these words? Everybody is equal before the truth, and there are no distinctions of age or of lowliness and nobleness for those doing their duties in God’s house. Everybody is equal before their duty, they just do different jobs. There are no distinctions between them based on who has seniority. Before the truth, everybody should keep a humble, submissive, and accepting heart. People should be possessed of this reason and this attitude. So, aren’t people who say, “You’re too wet behind the ears to prune me!” full of the atmosphere, ideology, and scumminess of society? They regard God’s house as society, they regard the brothers and sisters of God’s house as a vulnerable group at the bottom level of society, and they regard themselves as the boss of everything, someone who nobody can touch or provoke, and who makes sure that things do not end well for those who expose and prune them. They think God’s house is the same as society, that whoever is unyielding and overbearing will be able to stand firm, that nobody will dare to touch those who are ruthless, fierce, and evil, and they believe that people who accept being pruned are all incompetent and incapable. They think that nobody will dare to touch people who have some ability, that nobody will dare to expose those people even if they make mistakes, and that they are the ironclad tough guys! Antichrists think that no matter what group they’re in, they must be powerful, and ruthless and evil enough that they do not get bullied or casually pushed around by others. They think that this is ability and competence, and they want to use this ability to gain status, fame, and gain, and ultimately secure a good destination. What disposition is this? It is both vicious and wicked. No matter how many sermons antichrists hear, they cannot understand the truth. They cannot see that the truth reigns in God’s house. They cannot see the changes that those who accept the truth undergo, and even if they do see them, they do not acknowledge them as changes. They think that those changes are all a result of pretense and self-restraint, and they won’t restrain themselves and take things lying down for the sake of that. Because they have this kind of logic, they can say things like: “Don’t think that you can punish me and bully me!” Isn’t this the wickedness of antichrists? Such thoughts and viewpoints are wicked. That they can speak these words and act like this is a revelation of their vicious disposition. Are there such people in the church? When brothers and sisters have a heart-to-heart with them, expose them, talk about their problems, shortcomings, and revelations of corruption, they think they are being bullied and humiliated and not taken seriously. Then they say, “You’re too wet behind the ears to prune me!” No matter who they see accepting being pruned, they will always think: “Can you gain the truth by accepting being pruned? That would be impossible!” They do not acknowledge this. They think that pruning people is bullying people and finding some leverage to punish them with, and that people get bullied when they make some small mistakes because they are too guileless. They do not acknowledge that pruning people is loving and helping them. They do not acknowledge that people can only truly repent and change when they accept being pruned, and even less do they acknowledge the fact that the truth reigns in God’s house. Therefore, antichrists often say to themselves: “Whoever prunes me, I’ll never let it go. There’s no way I’ll let anyone bully me!” What kinds of people are able to say such words? Only those who do not accept the truth and hate the truth can say such words. Any person who has this kind of a vicious disposition, and can say such words, has the nature essence of antichrists, and is the ilk of Satan.

When being pruned, antichrists also say another phrase: “If I didn’t believe in god, I would give a damn about nobody!” What does this phrase mean? It is a common statement made by a certain kind of antichrist. Since they say this, let us dissect it. As they can say these words, they must have a certain meaning. On the surface these words seem to say that since these people began believing in God, they have undergone a great change. There seems to be a sense of gratitude within these words, as in: “God has changed me, god has conquered me. If god had not changed me, I would be an insufferably arrogant person.” On the surface these words seem to carry a certain mindset of gratitude, but dissected from another perspective, there is a big problem with them. Antichrists say that before they believed in God, they gave a damn about nobody. What is the disposition of these people? (Arrogant and vicious.) These are extremely arrogant and vicious people, and if they did not believe in God, they would be people of great evil. Not giving a damn about anyone means having no regard for anyone, it means that everyone is trampled under their feet, and that no matter how great or good other people are, they are nothing in their eyes. They do not yield to anybody, they disdain everyone, and they do not serve anyone. If they were asked to serve a person, then it would hurt their dignity. If there is anyone worthy of their service, it is only God in heaven. Now that they believe in God, they have restrained this manifestation and revelation of not giving a damn about anyone, and after coming to God’s house they have begrudgingly condescended to work with others in a group, handling matters and interacting with others like normal people. But when they handle matters and interact with others, some things inevitably don’t go as they’d like them to, and this causes that disposition of theirs to erupt again, giving rise to these words. Originally out in the world when they did not believe in God, they did not yield to anybody, and thought that nobody was worthy of interacting with them. So, since they began believing in God, have they yielded to any brother or sister in God’s house? (No.) Regardless of which group they were in, would a person with normal humanity and normal rationality conduct themselves like this? (No.) Even nonbelievers say, “Among any three people walking together, there is at least one who can be my teacher.” That is to say, among any three people there is definitely one person who is stronger and better than you, who can be your teacher, and help you. Nonbelievers say such words, so do these arrogant people acknowledge the correctness of these words? Can they interact on equal terms with others in a group? Can they be rational? (No.) So, when they are among the nonbelievers who do not have faith in God, what kind of people are these antichrists? (They are difficult people.) Correct, they are scoundrels, they are difficult people. There is no way for anybody to do anything about them. Nobody dares to provoke, anger, or touch them. They are scoundrels! If you anger them then there will be consequences, it is like angering a vicious demon. Normally in society nobody dares mess with such people. Their disposition and their principles in dealing with things are to be rude and unreasonable, and to stir up trouble at every turn. Nobody dares anger them, nobody dares touch them, and nobody dares bully them; they are the only ones who bully people. This achieves their goal. So, are they able to change after coming to God’s house? Have they changed? (No, they haven’t.) What shows us that they have not changed, that they cannot change? (The fact that they say, “If I didn’t believe in god, I would give a damn about nobody!”) They usually do not say these words—in what context do they say these words? When somebody points out their shortcomings, says things which hurt their dignity, or touches a nerve, they blurt out this phrase, “If I didn’t believe in god, I would give a damn about nobody! You dare to fight with me, who do you think you are?” What disposition is this? They even add a premodifier before this phrase, saying, “Before I believed in god, I gave a damn about nobody.” Don’t you still not yield or listen to anyone now that you believe in God? Aren’t you still the same intact devil and Satan? They feel like they have changed for the better after coming to believe in God. If they have changed for the better, how can they utter these words? They have no conscience or reason at all, and they dare to openly clamor and let others know: “I am a thug and I fear nobody!” What does a tyrant, a scoundrel, and a thug have to show off about? What do they have to brag about? Yet antichrists do brag in this way. They regard the fact that they were once a tyrant as their glorious past, and they flaunt it in God’s house. What kind of place is God’s house? This is a place where the truth reigns. This is a place of holiness where God saves people. How can it tolerate you speaking these devilish words? Antichrists have no sense of shame, they do not know these are devilish words, and they even flaunt them as though they were good words and the truth. They are truly shameless individuals, they are dead to shame, and they are loathsome! When this kind of person speaks devilish words to you, do you have something suitable to say as a rebuttal? (I once met a person like this; he did not yield to anybody in the church. At that time, he said words like this to criticize me. I didn’t have any discernment, and I told him I accepted it.) You replied like this. It was incorrect to answer like this; you did not bear witness. You have to point out his issues and shame him. When he speaks devilish words, you must not give in, and you must not obey those devilish words. You must expose him. To be one of God’s overcomers and bear witness for God, you must be able to shame devils and Satan, and say words which can shame Satan and that conform to the truth. Even if he does not accept it, he will have nothing to say, and he will behave himself and submit. Will scaring this kind of person work? What about condemning them? What about having a discussion with them and coaxing them? (No.) Then what will work? (If somebody said such words in the church, I would say: “Are you trying to behave atrociously? If you can listen normally to brothers and sisters fellowshipping the truth and accept the truth, then that’s fine, but if you want to behave atrociously here, then leave. God’s house does not permit you to behave atrociously here. These words of yours do not conform to the truth. Do not make an exhibition of yourself in here!”) These words are very powerful, but people of this sort are tyrants and bandits. Do they fear such words? (No, they do not.)

Let Me tell you about something. In the past, I came into contact with a man who had been a chef before he started believing in God. He once said to Me: “When I was a chef out in the world, and those big shots and officials came in to drink, I didn’t want anything to do with them. When I cooked for them, I would have one hand on my waist, one foot on tiptoes, and I’d cook for them with one hand.” He demonstrated this as he spoke, and his bearing looked as indignant as it did defiant. His implication was: “None of the nonbelievers are a match for me and I won’t yield to any of them. I’m very capable, and out in the world people like me are upstanding. I don’t tend to give a damn about officials!” He gestured as he spoke, sounding pleased with himself, and demonstrating those movements with ease. I could see that he was very adept at displaying those movements, that bearing, and that posture—that he had performed them frequently. I could tell that he was doing this performance with a bit of an intent to show off and flaunt his “glorious past,” in an effort to make others admire him. When I saw him acting this way, I smiled, and then I said to him: “So, you have a bad disposition.” I said this with a smile, and I didn’t say anything else. His face drooped right away, and he immediately stopped his movements and became silent. From then on, he didn’t speak again about his “glorious past.” What did I say to him? (You have a bad disposition.) What was the meaning of this? (It pointed out his nature essence, and he was shamed.) Correct. Did I anger him? Did I argue with him? Did I hurt his dignity? (No.) Did I treat him impetuously and say: “Get out of here! What are you doing believing in God?” or “You’re still wet behind the ears to talk to Me about your ‘brilliant past!’”? Did I use these methods? (No.) Without implying any of this, I just said one sentence, “So, you have a bad disposition,” and he was shamed and went silent. I got My point across without having to elaborate further. If a smart person heard this, they would instantly understand what it meant, and be more restrained in the future. What do you think of this approach? (It is good.) Would it be appropriate to glare at him and argue? (No, it wouldn’t.) If somebody says, “If I didn’t believe in god, I would give a damn about nobody!” you should say to them, “If you didn’t give a damn about anyone before you came to believe in God, that means you had a bad disposition. If you still don’t want to give a damn about anyone now that you believe in God, this means that you have an even worse disposition and there is something wrong with your essence.” Just say this and observe their reaction and their behavior. This is called hitting them where it hurts. Will evil people feel sad upon hearing these words? They will feel upset. They will think, “I thought that I had achieved change in my belief in god, and I even used these words to show off my qualifications and flaunt the glorious past I had before I came to believe in god. I didn’t expect that somebody with understanding would expose the shameful secret behind this matter, and reveal that I have a bad disposition.” What is the meaning of a bad disposition? To put it nicely, it means that their humanity is not good; to put it more bluntly, it means that they are no good. Which people in society are no good? (Hoodlums, thugs, tyrants, and scoundrels.) Correct, it is those people. As soon as you say they are no good and that their disposition is bad, they will understand. They will understand that you are referring to hoodlums, hooligans, tyrants, and evil ones—these terms and types of people. Will they feel good when they hear that they belong to this category? (No.) They won’t feel good at all. And will you need to say anything else? (No.) Their shameful secret will have been uncovered with that one sentence. “So that’s the kind of person you are. You’re still flaunting yourself here, boasting about negative things as if they were positive things. What are you trying to do? This is God’s house, don’t show off here. This is not a place for you to show off. If you want to show off, then leave. God’s house is a place where the truth reigns, not somewhere for you to strut about and proclaim your evil deeds. What do you mean by flaunting wicked and negative things in God’s house? Your meaning is that God’s work has achieved results in you. Did God say that? You are not thanking God; you are boasting of your evil deeds. Who are you trying to deceive with these words? You may fool a three-year-old child, but you can’t fool the brothers and sisters. You can’t get away with it!” They are exposed in this way. Once antichrists have heard this, firstly, they will sense that you have no malice toward them; secondly, your words will hit the mark; thirdly, you will not have targeted them; and fourthly, these words are facts, and you will not have exaggerated at all in saying them. Once they have heard these words, they will immediately restrain themselves. Why will they restrain themselves? Your words will embarrass them and make them feel ashamed. When they are in your presence again, they will be embarrassed to repeat such words. And even if they do say such things again, they will have to find the right occasion, and check who is listening. In any case they will not dare to say them again in your presence. Has this not subdued them? If you encounter such a person, will you dare to speak to them like this? (Yes.) There is a way to treat this kind of person. You do not need to be hotheaded or rude, just subdue them with a smile. This is called exposing and shaming Satan. This is called standing firm in one’s testimony. Your ability to expose them proves that you have seen through them, that you dislike people like them, that you hate people like them, that you look down on people like them. These people are among the ranks of negative characters, and you are the exact opposite of them. Before you, they feel inferior; you are stronger and more upstanding than them.

When antichrists are pruned, when they are occasionally exposed by brothers and sisters, what two shameless sentences do they utter? (“You’re too wet behind the ears to prune me!” “If I didn’t believe in god, I would give a damn about nobody!”) Most people couldn’t say these two sentences, could they? What characteristics do these words have? They are thuggish and scummy, with the imposing manner of Satan’s swagger and Satan’s wicked disposition. These words clearly would not come from the mouth of a normal person, especially not from somebody who pursues the truth. It goes without saying that those who speak these words have the vicious disposition of Satan. They are evil, and they are antichrists. They do not love the truth, and they revere evil forces, violence, and the vicious forces and disposition of Satan. These essences can be spotted from just these two sentences that they speak. When they speak these words, their dispositions and essences are revealed. Among ordinary, normal, corrupt mankind, anyone who often speaks these words is no good, and anyone who does not speak these words despite hearing them, who thinks that those who speak these words are shameful and vicious, who couldn’t speak in this way themselves, who could not possibly say these words no matter how much they hate, resent, and look down on somebody, and who despises people who say these words—such people still have some sense of shame and an upstanding side to their humanity. But those who often say these words, who often regard these words as the highest principles for how they handle matters and conduct themselves, are undoubtedly antichrists that are part of Satan’s gang. Some people say: “Before I believed in God I didn’t know if these words were good or bad. I used them when I was young, but I stopped saying them later when I grew a bit older and more mature.” Are these antichrists? They are not. When people are young and ignorant, when they first encounter society and the general populace, they regard these words as good words, as words of character. They are just too young and immature. When they grow up a bit and are able to distinguish good from evil, to differentiate between good and bad people, they do not say these words anymore. Such people still have a little bit of conscience and rationality. Where does this little bit of conscience and rationality come from? It comes from their ability to distinguish good from evil, to know what is truthfulness and what is falsehood, what is right and what is wrong, from them having choices and boundaries in how they act, speak, handle matters, and conduct themselves. It comes from them not being Satans, not being evil people, not being beasts, from them conducting themselves with standards and principles, and being upright people.

By exposing antichrists, their “words of wisdom,” their life mottos, and their oft-said sayings are all revealed. As these are revealed, their nature essence also emerges, enabling others to see it more and more clearly. If these things are not exposed, and people regard these occasionally or frequently heard words as ordinary words, and have no discernment of them, they won’t be able to classify them. If you cannot classify them, then what use is your understanding of the truth or your knowledge of right and wrong? Can these influence your stance? Can they influence your point of view? (No, they can’t.) Then you are unable to discern what is a normal revelation of corruption and what is a manifestation of the essence of an antichrist. When you can clearly discern these essences, accurately classify and delineate them, and clearly discern the various manifestations, revelations, dispositions, and essences of the positive and negative, the normal and abnormal, only then will you be able to more accurately discern people and things. Otherwise, you will mistakenly think that a manifestation of an antichrist is ordinary corruption or a normal revelation, and you will sometimes mistake some ordinary revelations of corruption as manifestations of the essence of antichrists. Isn’t this mixed up? Say that you are a leader and there are antichrists within your scope of responsibility. If you let them stay, and expel ordinary brothers and sisters who have revelations of corruption, is this not a mistake? (Yes.) Therefore, understanding these detailed and specific distinctions is crucial.

When antichrists face being pruned, their manifestations go much further than what we’ve just discussed. They will not just say a couple of unpleasant sentences or be a little resentful. They will do more things and say more unpleasant words. Even more so, they will do some even more evil things, things that seriously disturb the work of God’s house and disturb the normal church life. Now try fellowshipping on what else antichrists might do, besides speaking those few sentences, which allows people to clearly see and discern that they are antichrists, that their deeds and conduct are those of antichrists, and that their disposition is that of antichrists. In this way, these antichrists can be discerned and identified as antichrists by brothers and sisters before they create greater disturbances. This way, in one respect, brothers and sisters can avoid suffering greater harm to their life entry, and in another respect, the disruption and disturbance that these antichrists cause to the work of God’s house can be prevented. Isn’t it better to discover, resolve, prevent, and rectify this problem earlier rather than later? (Yes, it is.) Then go ahead and fellowship. (When antichrists are pruned, they do not accept the truth and they say some words to attack people. No matter who gives them advice, as long as it touches on their status or pride, antichrists will judge that person in the church, and even distort the truth to defend their status and pride.) Is there anything else? (I once met an evil person who threatened to kill anyone who did anything that was disadvantageous to him. At the time we didn’t understand the truth and we lacked discernment. We were afraid of him. He would act arbitrarily and recklessly when doing his duty, and when we saw some problems in his work and wanted to report them, he blocked us and didn’t allow us to make a report. We didn’t possess the truth, so at the time we didn’t dare to argue back, nor did we promptly report him, which ultimately caused great losses to the work of the church. This was caused by us lacking discernment of antichrists. He was only expelled later when he committed many more evil deeds.) In this matter you failed to stand firm in your testimony or protect the interests of God’s house, and you allowed the work of God’s house to suffer losses. You bear responsibility for this. Now it seems that this person was rightly expelled and not treated unjustly. If you encounter this kind of person again in the future, will you be able to discern them? (Through God’s fellowship, I feel a little clearer on this aspect of the truth about discerning antichrists.)

Why does God’s house want to expel antichrists? Would it be alright to keep them and let them render service? Would it be alright to give them the chance to repent? (No, it would not.) Is there any chance they could pursue the truth? (Antichrists can’t pursue the truth.) Now you have discovered that antichrists are evil people who belong to Satan and cannot repent, which is why they are expelled. Nobody is expelled lightly. God’s house exercises patience over and over again, repeatedly giving them opportunities to repent, and giving them leeway, so that good people are not wrongly accused, and so that no one is expelled or ruined lightly. It is not an easy thing for them to believe in God for so many years; God’s house is tolerant toward everyone until they are fully seen through, until they are completely revealed. But can antichrists repent? They cannot repent. The role they play in God’s house is that of the lackeys of Satan, dismantling, disrupting, and disturbing the work of God’s house. Even if they have some gifts and talent, they could not possibly work hard to do their duty well, or embark on the correct path. Even if antichrists have some useful aspects, they absolutely won’t make a positive contribution to God’s work in God’s house. They do nothing but disrupt, disturb, and undermine God’s work, and they do not do good things. You kept them to observe them and gave them the chance to repent, but they were incapable of repentance. In the end the solution that was adopted was to expel them. Before expelling them, you had already seen through to the fact that this kind of person was an antichrist who would rather die than repent, that they were antagonistic toward God and the truth. Consequently, they were expelled. Would they have been expelled if they were a good person? Would they have been expelled if they could accept the truth and repent? At most they would have been dismissed from their duty and sent to engage in spiritual devotionals and reflection, they would not have been expelled. Once God’s house decides to expel someone, it means that this person would be a scourge in God’s house if they were allowed to stay. They would not do good things, they would just cause disruptions and disturbances, and do all kinds of bad things. Whatever church they were in would be disturbed by them to the point where it was scattered like sand, work stagnated, most people felt very despondent and lost their faith in God, and some people even wanted to stop their faith and couldn’t go on doing their duties. What is the reason for this? It is caused by the antichrist’s disturbances. The antichrist must be handled, cleared out, and expelled in order for this church to have any hope, for church life to become normal, and for God’s chosen people to enter into the right track of believing in God. Some people say: “God is love, so we should also give antichrists the chance to repent.” These words sound very nice, but is that really how things are? Make a careful observation: Which antichrists and evil people who were expelled came to know themselves later on, and were able to pursue and love the truth? Which ones repented? None of them repented and they all stubbornly refused to confess their sins, and however many years later you see them again, they are still this way, still clinging to those things that happened back then and not letting go, trying to justify and explain themselves. Their disposition has not changed at all. If you admit them back and allow them to resume the church life, and let them do a duty, they will still disrupt and disturb the work of the church. Just like Paul, they will make the same old mistakes, exalting and testifying about themselves. They cannot walk the path of pursuing the truth at all, and they will walk their old path, the path of an antichrist, the path of Paul. This is the basis for expelling antichrists.