Today, we’ll continue fellowshipping on the fifteenth item of the various manifestations of antichrists: They do not believe in the existence of God, and they deny the essence of Christ. During our last fellowship, we divided this topic into two parts. The first part is the various manifestations of antichrists’ disbelief in God’s existence, which we further divided into two items: firstly, antichrists denying God’s identity and essence; secondly, antichrists denying God’s sovereignty over all things. Last time, we primarily fellowshipped on how antichrists do not acknowledge God’s essence or His disposition, and how antichrists do not acknowledge that all God does is the truth and represents His identity, and how antichrists certainly do not accept the meaning and truth behind everything God does. Antichrists worship Satan, regard Satan as God, and use all of Satan’s statements and viewpoints as the basis and standard by which they measure God’s identity, essence, and everything He does. So, in their hearts, they repeatedly exalt and worship what Satan does, they extol and praise Satan’s actions, and they use Satan to take the place of God’s identity and essence. Worse still, upon the basis of their acknowledgment of everything Satan does, they question and form notions and judgments about God’s words and work at every turn, and ultimately condemn His words and work. Therefore, in the process of following God, antichrists do not accept God’s words as their life, their truth, or their life direction and goal. Instead, at every turn they oppose God, and measure God’s identity and essence with such things as their notions and imaginings, Satan’s logic and thoughts, and Satan’s disposition and methods. In the process of following God, they continuously doubt, suspect, and watch God, they constantly judge Him, and despise, condemn, and deny Him in their hearts. All of these things that antichrists do and their various manifestations indeed prove that they are not followers of God, true believers, or lovers of the truth and positive things, and that they are instead enemies of the truth and God. When these people come to God’s house, to the church, they are not here to receive God’s salvation or to come before God and accept His words as life. So, what are they here to do? When these people come to God’s house, firstly, they are, at least, trying to satisfy their curiosity; secondly, they wish to follow this trend; and thirdly, they want blessings. These are their intentions and purposes, and that’s it. Judging based on the nature essence of antichrists, they never intend to accept God’s words as their life, they never plan to take God’s words as principles of practice or as their life direction and goal, and they never plan to change or abandon their own views, or to transform or abandon their own notions, and come before God to thoroughly repent, and prostrate themselves before Him and accept Him as their Savior. They have no such intentions. They just keep on boasting in front of God about how great they are, how capable, how powerful, gifted, and talented they are, how they can become a pillar and backbone of God’s house, and so on, aiming to thereby achieve their goal of being highly regarded, recognized by God, and promoted in His house, in order to satisfy their ambitions and desires. Not only that, but they also want to satisfy their ambition, desire, and plan of “receiving a hundredfold in this life and eternal life in the world to come.” Have they ever abandoned these ambitions, desires, and plans? Can they subjectively understand, abandon, and resolve these issues? They never plan to do this. No matter what God’s words say or expose, even if they can link His words to themselves, even if they know that their plans, thoughts, and intentions are opposed to God’s words and not in accordance with them, that they go against the truth principles and are manifestations of the disposition of antichrists, they still hold firmly onto their own views, ambitions, and desires, and do not have any plans to change themselves, reverse their views, abandon their ambitions and desires, and come before God to accept His exposure, judgment, chastisement, and pruning. These people are not only intransigent in their hearts, but also arrogant and conceited—they’re arrogant to the point of being completely unreasonable. At the same time, they are deeply averse to and hate every word spoken by God in the depths of their hearts; they hate God’s exposure of the nature essence of corrupt mankind, and His exposure of various corrupt dispositions. They hate God and the truth for no good reason, even hating those who pursue the truth and those whom God loves. This fully shows that the disposition of antichrists is indeed wicked. Their unprovoked hatred, hostility, opposition, judgment, and denial toward God and the truth also show us that antichrists do indeed have a vicious disposition.

The various dispositions of antichrists are quintessential examples of those possessed by corrupt mankind, and the severity of antichrists’ various dispositions surpasses that of any ordinary corrupted individual’s. No matter how deeply or concretely God exposes the corrupt dispositions of mankind, antichrists deny and reject this, not accepting it as the truth or as the work of God. They just acknowledge and believe that being sufficiently evil, ruthless, wicked, sinister, and vicious is the only way to ultimately stand firm, and to stand out and keep one’s footing until the very end in this society and amid the evil trends. This is the logic of antichrists. Therefore, antichrists harbor hostility and hatred toward the righteous and holy essence of God, toward God’s faithfulness and almightiness, and toward other positive things like these. No matter how people testify about God’s identity, essence, and all His work, and no matter how concretely and genuinely they do so, antichrists do not accept it, they do not acknowledge that it is the work of God, that there is truth to seek within it, or that it is the best educational material and testimony for mankind’s knowledge of God. By contrast, with whatever little thing Satan does, be it consciously or unconsciously, antichrists prostrate themselves in admiration of it. When it comes to the things that Satan does, antichrists uniformly accept, believe, worship, and follow these things, regardless of whether they’re regarded as noble or lowly among mankind. However, there is one thing that unsettles antichrists: Buddha said that he can make people transcend to the Pure Land, and antichrists think: “This Pure Land seems to be inferior to the kingdom of heaven and heaven spoken of by god—it’s not quite ideal. Although Satan is mighty, and it can bring infinite benefits to people, and satisfy all their ambitions and desires, one thing it cannot do is make a promise to man, enabling people to enter the kingdom of heaven and obtain eternal life. Satan dares not make such a claim nor can it accomplish this.” Deep in their hearts, antichrists feel that this is unthinkable, and at the same time, they feel that it is the most regrettable thing. And so, while reluctantly following God, they still plot about how to obtain greater blessings, and about who can satisfy their desires and ambitions. They calculate and calculate, and ultimately, they have no choice but to make the compromise of remaining in God’s house. Based on these manifestations of antichrists, what is their attitude and viewpoint toward God? Do they have a shred of genuine belief? Do they have true faith in God? Do they acknowledge God’s actions even slightly? Can they say “Amen” from the depths of their hearts to the fact that God’s words are the truth, the life, and the way? God has done such great work among mankind—can antichrists praise God’s great power and righteous disposition from deep within their hearts? (No.) It is precisely because antichrists deny God’s identity, essence, and all His work that they constantly exalt and testify about themselves during the process of following Him, and try to win people’s favor and hearts, and even try to control and cage people’s hearts, and compete with God for His chosen ones. All of such manifestations prove that antichrists never acknowledge God’s identity and essence, or admit that mankind and all things are under the sovereignty of the Creator. This is what we dissected last time about the views, manifestations, and revelations that antichrists have regarding God’s existence. Since antichrists have these views and manifestations concerning God’s existence, what then is their attitude toward Christ, God’s incarnate flesh? Can they truly believe, acknowledge, follow, and submit to Him? (No.) Judging by the antichrists’ treatment of God’s existence, they harbor this kind of attitude toward God’s Spirit, so it’s needless to say that their attitude toward God’s incarnate flesh must be even more detestable than their attitude toward His Spirit, with more pronounced and severe manifestations.

II. Antichrists Deny the Essence of Christ

Today, we will fellowship on how antichrists treat Christ, God’s incarnate flesh, based on their disbelief in God’s existence. It’s a widely acknowledged fact that antichrists do not believe in the existence of God. After all this fellowship, exposing, and dissection, have you gained some concrete understanding of the dispositions and manifestations of antichrists? Regardless of whether they accept the work done by God incarnate, or the fact of God becoming flesh, in reality, they deny the existence of God. So, what kind of people are they exactly? Precisely speaking, they are opportunistic disbelievers, they are Pharisees. Some of them clearly appear evil, while others appear humble, with refined, dignified, and noble behavior—they are standard Pharisees. When it comes to these two types of people—those who appear evil and those who appear pious and not evil—if they fundamentally do not believe in the existence of God, can we say they are disbelievers? (Yes.) Today we are fellowshipping on what views and attitudes disbelievers have toward Christ, what manifestations they display toward the various aspects of Christ, and how we can understand the essence of antichrists through these manifestations.

A. How Antichrists Treat Christ’s Origin

When it comes to Christ, who is an ordinary person with a special identity, what things do people usually care most about? First and foremost, don’t many people care about His origin? That is a focal point of people’s attention. So, let’s first fellowship on how antichrists treat Christ’s origin. Before fellowshipping on this, let’s talk about how God planned the various aspects of the origin of His flesh when He became incarnate. As is well known, during the Age of Grace, Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin. He was born into an exceedingly ordinary, normal family, which in today’s terms would be called a household of ordinary citizens. He was not born into a wealthy, official, or eminent big family—He was even born in a stable, which was very unthinkable and beyond everyone’s imaginings. Looking at every aspect of the origin of God’s first incarnate flesh, the family into which God incarnate was born was very ordinary. Mary, His mother, was also ordinary, and not an outstanding person, and she certainly didn’t possess any special powers, or extraordinary, unique talents. However, it’s worth noting that she was not a disbeliever or a nonbeliever, but a follower of God. This is very important. Joseph, Mary’s husband, was a carpenter. A carpenter is a kind of craftsman, and he had an average income, but he was not wealthy and did not have much money to spare. However, he was far from being impoverished, and he could meet all his family’s basic needs. The Lord Jesus was born into this kind of family; judging by today’s standards of income and living conditions, His family could barely be considered middle class. Would such a family be regarded as noble or lowly among mankind? (Lowly.) Therefore, the family into which the Lord Jesus was born was far from being famous, wealthy, or illustrious, and even further from what is nowadays considered high-class. When children from wealthy or high-status families go out, people usually circle around them, and crowd around them, but the Lord Jesus’ family was the opposite. He was born into a family without luxurious living conditions or notable status. It was a very ordinary family that went unnoticed and ignored by people, without anyone singing their praises or crowding around them. Under such a background and social environment at that time, was Christ in the position to receive higher education or to be influenced and infected with the various lifestyles, thoughts, views, and so on of the upper society? Clearly, He was not. He received a common education, read the Scriptures at home, listened to stories from His parents, and attended church services with them. In all respects, the Lord Jesus’ origin and the context in which He grew up were not prestigious, or noble as people might imagine. The environment in which He grew up was the same as that of an ordinary person. His day-to-day life was simple and ordinary, His living conditions were similar to the average person, they were nothing special, and He lacked the special, superior living conditions of the upper echelons of society. This was the context in which God’s first incarnate flesh was born, and the environment in which He grew up.

Although the gender of God incarnate this time is entirely different from the last, His family background is similarly ordinary and without notable status. Some ask, “How ordinary?” In the current era, ordinary means a common living environment. Christ was born into a worker’s family, that is, a family that relies on wages for sustenance, that can take care of their own basic needs, but is not as affluent as the wealthy. Christ engaged with ordinary people, and was exposed to the lives of ordinary people; He lived in this kind of environment, there was nothing special about it. Generally, are children from workers’ families in the position to learn artistic skills? Do they have the opportunity to get exposed to various views prevalent in high society? (No.) Not only are they not in the position to learn various skills, even more so, they do not have opportunities to interact with people, events, and things in high society. From this perspective, the family into which God incarnate was born this time is very ordinary. His parents are people who pass their days in a respectable manner, whose livelihoods depend on their work and jobs, and they possess average living conditions. Such conditions are most common in modern society. From the perspective of nonbelievers, there were no superior conditions to Christ’s birth environment, and nothing in His family background or quality of life was worth boasting about. Some celebrities are born into scholarly families; their ancestors were all educators and senior intellectuals. They grew up in this environment, with the accompanying style and bearing of a scholarly family. Did God choose a similar family background for His incarnate flesh? No. This time God incarnate also lacks a distinguished family background and prominent social status, and even less did He have a superior living environment—His is an utterly ordinary family. Let’s not discuss yet why God incarnate chose such a family, living environment, and background in which to grow up; we won’t talk about the significance of this for now. Tell Me, are some people not concerned about whether Christ attended university? I’ll tell you the truth: I dropped out of school before taking the college entrance exam and left home at 17. So, did I attend university? (No.) Is this bad news or good news for you? (I think that knowing this makes no difference, it is irrelevant to following God.) That’s the right perspective. I’ve never mentioned this before, not because I wanted to hide or cover it up, but because it’s unnecessary to say, as these things are completely irrelevant to knowing and following God. Although the backdrop of God incarnate’s birth, His family environment, and the environment in which He grew up have no impact on knowing God or God incarnate, and aren’t really related to these things, why am I addressing these issues here? This touches on one of the antichrists’ views on Christ that we are dissecting today. God did not choose a prominent status, noble identity, or a distinguished family and social background for His incarnate flesh, even less did He choose a superior, carefree, affluent, luxurious environment in which for Him to grow up. God also did not choose a family background where He could receive higher education or be exposed to high society. Considering these aspects of the choice God made when He became incarnate, would these things affect the work Christ came to do? (No.) Looking at the process, nature, and results of His later work, these aspects in no way affect God’s work plan, steps, or results, but on the contrary, there is a certain advantage to these aspects of His choice, that is, Him choosing to be born in such an environment is more beneficial for the salvation of God’s chosen people, as 99% of them come from similar backgrounds. This is one aspect of the significance of the origin of God incarnate that people should understand.

Just now, I spoke in simple, broad terms about the background and environment of Christ’s birth, to give you a general understanding of it. Next, let’s dissect how antichrists treat the origin of God incarnate. First, antichrists secretly despise and feel defiant toward the environment and background of Christ’s birth. Why do they despise and feel defiant toward it? Because they harbor thoughts and notions within them. What is their perspective on this? “God is the creator, he is supreme above all, he is above the heavens, and above mankind and all other created beings. If he is god, then he should rise to the highest place among mankind.” What do they mean by him rising to the highest place? They mean that he should stand head and shoulders above everyone, that he ought to be born into a distinguished, noble big family, and want for nothing; that he should be born with a silver spoon in his mouth, possess absolute power, as well as authority and influence, and be especially wealthy and a billionaire. At the same time, he should be highly educated, learning everything that humans should know in this world. For example, like a crown prince, he should receive one-on-one tutoring, attend elite schools, and enjoy an upper-class life. He shouldn’t be a child of an ordinary family. Since christ is the incarnate flesh, his education should surpass that of all others, and his study materials should be different from those of ordinary people. They think that since christ comes to reign as king, he should learn the art of rulership, as well as how to govern and control mankind, and study the Thirty-Six Stratagems, and learn multiple languages and some artistic skills, so that these things can be put to use in his future work, and so that he can govern all types of people in the future. To them, only such a christ would be noble, great, and capable of saving people because he would have sufficient knowledge and talents, and a sufficient ability to read people’s minds so that he could control them. Antichrists harbor such notions about the origin of God’s incarnate flesh and they hold onto these notions while accepting God incarnate. First, they don’t set aside their notions and come to understand or comprehend what God does anew from the depths of their hearts. They don’t deny their own notions and views, come to understand the fallacies they harbor, or come to know Christ and the incarnate flesh of God, and accept everything that Christ says and does with an attitude and principle of submitting to the truth. Instead, they measure everything Christ says with their own notions and views. “This statement by christ is illogical; that one is poorly worded; there’s a grammatical error in this; you can tell that christ isn’t highly educated. Isn’t he speaking like a common person? How can christ speak like that? It’s not his fault. He, in fact, also wants to be distinguished, to be esteemed by others, but that’s just not possible—he doesn’t come from a good family. His parents were just ordinary people, and the way they were has influenced him to be the same kind of person. How could god do this? Why don’t christ’s words and manner seem very elegant and noble? Why doesn’t he have the speech and manner of scholars and refined intellectuals in society, of princesses and princes from the upper classes of society? Why do christ’s words and deeds seem so inconsistent with his identity?” Antichrists harbor this kind of perspective and this kind of observing outlook in how they view Christ, and all of His words and work, how He treats people, and His speech and manner, and inevitably notions arise in their hearts. They not only do not submit to Christ, they also fail to treat His words correctly. They say, “Can such an ordinary person, such a commoner, be my savior? Can he bless me? Can I gain any benefits from him? Can my wishes and aspirations be fulfilled? This person is too ordinary, to the point of being looked down upon.” The more antichrists perceive Christ as being ordinary and average, and think that Christ is very normal, the more they feel themselves to be lofty and noble. At the same time, some antichrists even make comparisons, “You’re young and don’t know how to dress or talk to people. You don’t know how to worm things out of people. Why are you so straightforward? How does anything you say resemble god? How does anything you say represent that you’re god? How do your actions, speech, behavior, manner, and dress resemble god? I don’t think you resemble god in any of these respects. Christ should have a higher education, know the Bible inside out, and speak eloquently, but you always repeat yourself and sometimes you use words that aren’t suitable.” After many years of following Christ, antichrists not only haven’t accepted God’s words and the truth in their hearts, they also haven’t accepted the fact that Christ is the incarnate flesh of God. This is equivalent to them not accepting Christ as their Savior. Instead, they despise the incarnate flesh of God, this ordinary person, even more in their hearts. Because they see nothing special in Christ, because His origin was very common and ordinary, and as He seems unable to bring any benefits to them in society or among mankind, or to enable them to enjoy any advantages, they begin to wantonly and openly pass judgment on Him, “Aren’t you just a child from So-and-so family? What’s wrong with me judging you then? What can you do to me? If you had an eminent family or parents who were officials, I might be afraid of you. Why should I be afraid of you as you are? So, even if you are christ, the incarnate flesh testified by god, I’m not afraid of you! I’ll still pass judgment on you behind your back, and freely comment on you. Whenever I have the chance, I’ll study your family and birthplace.” These are antichrists’ favorite things to make a fuss about. They never seek the truth, and anything that doesn’t fit with their notions and imaginings is repeatedly judged and resisted by them. These people know full well that what Christ expresses is the truth, so why don’t they pursue the truth? They’re truly unreasonable!