When antichrists take on any part of the work, they are perfunctory and they turn a blind eye to evil people and those who disturb the work of God’s house, or they may even cover for them, indulge, and protect them. After being dismissed, will an antichrist change when they do a different duty? (No.) Why is that? (Because of a problem with their nature essence.) After committing such a grave error, they still do not repent, and they still harbor notions and grievances in their heart, so is it possible for them to be a bit sincere in any duty they do? They recklessly commit misdeeds in their duty even before they have any notions or grievances, so when they are harboring these things, is it possible for them to be sincere in their duty? (No.) And without sincerity, will they be perfunctory? Will they recklessly commit misdeeds? (They will.) Some of you may not be convinced, so take a good look for yourselves, and the day will come when you are convinced. An antichrist can never change, and no matter where they’re placed, they’ll always be no good. After someone who pursues the truth has been pruned for revealing a corrupt disposition, they undergo some changes. Their state gets better and better, their attitude becomes more and more proactive, their perspective becomes more and more positive, the goals and direction of their pursuit become more and more correct, they increasingly develop a God-fearing heart, and their humanity appears more and more deserving of respect. By contrast, the more an antichrist is pruned, the more their inner resentment grows, the more guarded they become, the more wronged they feel in their heart, and the bigger their notions, hatred, and complaints about God grow. When they have not been pruned their flesh is able to pay a tiny little bit of a price, but when they are pruned a lot, they don’t even have the slightest bit of sincerity. They truly are a lost cause! Observe this for yourselves—anyone like this always preaches sermons to support others, but they themselves don’t practice at all or have any entry—this is one characteristic. Another characteristic is that, no matter what work they are doing, once they have status, they can take some initiative and show some enthusiasm, but they are always perfunctory and recklessly commit misdeeds in their work. When they lose status, the gloves come off, they write their situation off as hopeless, and even act in an audacious and reckless way, and act like a lawless savage, completely lacking a God-fearing heart. Among all mankind, this type of person is a classic antichrist. They are able to dissect other people’s states very clearly and logically, in a way that is easy to understand and leaves you feeling that they also have this kind of understanding of themselves. But when they make some kind of mistake, when they have revealed a corrupt disposition, and you try to expose and dissect them, look at what sort of attitude they have. They will be entirely unwilling to accept it, and they will think of every way they can to refute it and defend themselves, not admitting to it. No one will be able to touch them, and anyone who strikes a nerve in them, or exposes a problem of theirs, will find themselves in trouble and be treated as their enemy.

When an antichrist has status, they are able to endure a bit of hardship and pay a bit of a price to protect it. They are also able to put on a kind face of having compassion for everyone under the sun, of wanting to save everyone—a hypocritical face. However, the moment they lose their status, all of their benevolence vanishes, and yet they still want to cling to and enjoy the support, esteem, and special attention they enjoyed in the past. They are simply shameless to the extreme! Whatever group an antichrist is in, they don’t provide the slightest assistance or edification to anyone, and yet they still want to enjoy everyone else’s support and esteem. No matter who else acknowledges that they have a corrupt disposition, an antichrist will not speak up and say that they also have one, or talk about what sort of corrupt disposition they have revealed in the past. They never dissect themselves, and when they have been backed into a corner, they will only say something like, “Yes, I am a demon, I am a Satan,” and that’s it. They just say a few of these sorts of high-sounding, empty words. If you ask them, “What specific manifestations and revelations of being a demon and Satan do you possess? What kinds of motives and intents do you have when you act?” then they won’t say anything at all. Are they not Satan? Since it came to power, the great red dragon has perpetrated countless evils, and throughout its rule it has been constantly admitting and correcting its wrongdoings, all the while constantly intensifying its abuse of its people. When you see it acknowledging its wrongdoings, you may think that it will repent and turn over a new leaf, that it has an attitude of confession, and that it probably will not commit such errors again. But judging from the things that happen next and how things develop, the great red dragon admitting its wrongdoings is merely for the sake of protecting its image and status, paving the way for it to continue to hold power and do more terrible things that abuse its people. Antichrists are the same—they possess the same nature essence as devils, Satan, and the great red dragon. They are good at disguising themselves and they are habitual liars; they know no shame, are averse to the truth and positive things, and do not remotely accept the truth. In addition, they say nothing but nice-sounding things, and just do all kinds of bad things. Around the brothers and sisters, antichrists often say the right things, and do things that look correct on the surface, but when they are asked to strictly practice in accordance with God’s words and the truth principles, to implement the work arrangements of God’s house, then they will do nothing of the sort, and instead will disappear without a trace. If you leave them without supervision, oversight, or urging, then they will recklessly commit misdeeds, and establish their own independent kingdom. To attain their goal of holding power, they will endure any hardship and pay any price. We can see from this that antichrists have another kind of nature essence, which is that they are selfish and despicable. Aside from paying a bit of a price when doing something for themselves, if they are asked to do or say something for the brothers and sisters, for the house of God, without receiving anything in return, will they be so kind-hearted? Will they take on that burden? (No.) So when it comes to things the Above has asked them to implement, when it comes time to check up on that work, they will not have implemented any of them. Why is that? Because doing so would require them to tire themselves and suffer; they would have to pay a price, and they likely wouldn’t stand to benefit much from it. So, they simply won’t do it. If the majority of people would profit from it, if most people would gain benefits from it, would an antichrist be willing to pay a price for it? They wouldn’t. If it were something that most people would esteem and commemorate them for, and worship and praise them for, and if they would be remembered for this good thing they did for generations, how would they act? They would immediately spring into action, and do so more happily than anyone else. This is shameless, isn’t it? Satan, the devil, is truly shameless. It has committed countless evils, yet still wants everyone to be deeply grateful to it, to have people following it closely and adulating it. It abuses people so much, yet still wants to be praised by them. Antichrists are the same. It doesn’t matter how many sermons an antichrist has heard, or how many doctrines they understand, if you ask them to do some work or a duty without being perfunctory, they can’t manage it. If you ask them to refrain from establishing their own independent kingdom or recklessly committing misdeeds, they can’t do it. If you ask them to refrain from enjoying the benefits of status, coveting comfort, reveling in status and special privileges, they can’t do it. If you ask them not to torment others, or not to lie, they can’t manage it. If you ask them not to squander offerings, and to protect the interests of God’s house, they can’t do it. If you ask them not to bear witness to themselves, they will never be able to do that; if you ask them to pay a bit of a price for God’s chosen people without getting anything in return, or to do a bit of work in obscurity, they will not be able to do it. What are they able to do? They are able to recklessly commit misdeeds, establish their own independent kingdom, bear witness to themselves, squander offerings, live off of the church, torment others, shout slogans, spout doctrines, spread heresies and fallacies to mislead people, and so on—it’s effortless for them to do these things. Is there anyone like that around you? The moment they wield power, once they have a tiny bit of power, they want to get a hold of the purse strings of God’s house; no matter what they’re buying, they want to get things that are high quality, expensive, and brand-name, and they do not discuss this with anyone else or listen to what anyone else has to say. Once they are given a bit of power they revel in it. When they are given a bit of power, they want to form cliques and do things their own way, and refuse to listen to the Above, or anyone else. When they are given a bit of power, they feel like they have become god, and want to bear witness to themselves so that others support them, and they want to form a faction, to form their own gang. When they are given a bit of power, they want the brothers and sisters to be tightly controlled within their grasp. If the work of God’s house requires that somebody be transferred away from them, it will be quite difficult. They must approve it, and someone will need to discuss it with them, and they won’t accept an attitude that they don’t like from that person. They want the whole world to know that they have power and influence, and everyone must be respectful and deferential to them. This is a commonly recognized fact. An antichrist will never acknowledge that they have a corrupt disposition. Observe this for yourselves—see whether those who don’t admit that they have a corrupt disposition can repent after doing something wrong and revealing a corrupt disposition, and what direction they develop in and what kind of path they take in the end, how they behave while doing their duty and while interacting with others, how they act regarding status, and what their ways and methods for doing things are. Will you be able to discern this? If you can come to conclusions on these things, then you have some discernment.

C. Refusing to Acknowledge That God’s Words Are the Truth and the Criterion Against Which Everything is Measured

There is a third reason for antichrists refusing to accept being pruned and lacking an attitude of repentance when they commit any wrong, which is that they refuse to acknowledge that God’s words are the truth and the criterion against which everything is measured. I gave quite detailed fellowship on the previous two reasons; this one is slightly different from the first two in terms of its literal meaning, but in essence, they are related to this one of antichrists refusing to acknowledge that God’s words are the truth, so we can keep our fellowship short and brief. When an antichrist is pruned, and you fellowship with them on the truth, talk about the truth principles and the principles for doing things, will they be able to accept this after hearing it? (No.) Regardless of when an antichrist hears the truth, they will always have the same attitude toward it—condemnation and resistance. What are the truth principles? They are the standard for measuring how to do something. As long as it is done entirely in line with the truth of God’s words, then what a person does will be principled. This is doing things according to the principles. If your fellowship accords with the truth principles, an antichrist will absolutely not accept it; the more positive, practical, fair, correct, and based on fact your fellowship is, the more unacceptable it will be to an antichrist. They will respond with skewed arguments, refusing to accept the truth or the facts. If you talk to them about how to act so as to fulfill their responsibilities in the matter, they will tell you about how they have suffered and paid a price; if you talk to them about how to act in accordance with the truth principles, then they will tell you about how many roads they have traveled, how much they’ve suffered, and how much talking they’ve done. If you talk to them about how to be an honest person, how to act and do a duty with an honest and sincere heart, they will not be interested and they will ignore you. When they act, they will just focus on tactics, schemes, and tricks. All in all, an antichrist has their own set of unique principles for their actions, and no matter how wrong, low, ridiculous and absurd they are in the eyes of others or the eyes of God, they will never get tired of holding to these methods and principles. They will not accept God’s words as the truth principles, nor will they give up their own principles, so no matter whether you prune them, expose them, or dismiss them, their criteria, perspectives, and outlooks for measuring things will never change. Some of these criteria are of human science, some are of knowledge, some are of traditional culture, and some are of the evil trends of this world, but no matter how wrong these things may be, an antichrist cannot let go of them. They will accept whatever evil trends and whatever sayings and perspectives are popular in society, but God’s words or the truth are never their criterion for measuring all things and events, for measuring everything. While they are following God and freeloading off of God’s house, they are denying and condemning the truth. While denying and condemning the truth, they are revering and looking up to all kinds of heresies and fallacies from the world. The only things they cannot accept are God’s words, the truth. Judging from this essence of antichrists, although they attend gatherings, read God’s words, and do a duty in the course of their faith, one thing is certain—their disposition will never change, nor will their perspectives, which are of the world and evil trends. If you ask an antichrist to talk about life entry or dispositional change, you will wonder why their words sound so bizarre, sickening, and awkward. They will sound like the words of an outsider, and they are simply a muddled person who lacks spiritual understanding but is pretending to be spiritual and to possess life. It’s truly disgusting to the extreme! Can someone who has never acknowledged God’s words as the truth or accepted God’s words as their life possess life? That’s a joke, isn’t it? Take a look around you, and check if there’s anyone who keeps saying: “Such and such famous person said this; such and such book said this; such and such TV drama said this; such and such masterpiece said this” or “Our traditional culture is this; where I come from, we say this; in our family, we have this rule,” and so on and so forth. See who always has a whole stack of these things to say, who is unmoved by God’s words after hearing them, and only utters muddled words, absurd words, and words that lack spiritual understanding when they do manage to fellowship on their understanding of God’s words, and who, though they have no comprehension or understanding of God’s words, tries to forcibly piece some together, and pretends to be spiritual. This is utterly nauseating! These people have believed in God for many years, and heard sermons and attended gatherings for many years, yet they unbelievably still don’t know that they have a corrupt disposition, and haven’t discovered that they have incorrect perspectives, or that their fallacious perspectives are entirely contrary and contradictory to God’s words. What’s the reason for this? It is the third reason behind antichrists’ refusal to accept being pruned and lacking an attitude of repentance when they commit any wrong: They refuse to acknowledge that God’s words are the truth and the criterion against which everything is measured. This is the root of the issue.

Why is it that antichrists refuse to accept being pruned? Why is it that when they are faced with something, they do not repent, and instead spread various notions, and even pass judgment on God? The reasons are very clear: First, antichrists never acknowledge that they can do wrong; second, they never acknowledge that they have a corrupt disposition; third, they refuse to acknowledge that God’s words are the truth and the criterion against which everything is measured. For all those who don’t accept being pruned, all those who clearly reveal a corrupt disposition when they make mistakes, all those who often bring harm upon God’s chosen people, who delay the life entry of untold numbers of God’s chosen people, and cause losses to the work of God’s house, if these people have no remorse or attitude of repentance when they are pruned, then one thing is certain, which is that they possess all three of these manifestations of antichrists. Right? (Right.) Altogether, there are three reasons why antichrists refuse to accept being pruned. Read through them again. (First, antichrists never acknowledge that they can do wrong; second, they never acknowledge that they have a corrupt disposition; third, they refuse to acknowledge that God’s words are the truth and the criterion against which everything is measured.) There are three in total. We fellowshipped in quite a lot of detail on the first two reasons. The last one is slightly different from the first two in terms of the literal meaning, but in terms of essence, the first two are related to the one of antichrists refusing to acknowledge that God’s words are the truth, so we will not fellowship on that reason in any more detail. Okay, let’s end our fellowship here for today. Goodbye! (Goodbye God!)

September 19, 2020