Supplement: Hunting Rats

Recently, I heard about a new matter. Listen and think about how this relates to people’s behaviors and dispositions, what this story is about, and what kind of problem it illustrates. After some Chinese people came to America, aside from seeing that the social environment and atmosphere here was substantially different from China, there was also something else that they found very interesting. It was that in this country, not only were people free, but all sorts of living things and animals were also very free, and nobody was harming them. Human freedom is of course a product of social systems, so what brings freedom to all sorts of living things and animals? Is this related to social systems? (It is.) It is related to how social systems and government policies protect and manage the whole natural environment. Here, wild animals are everywhere and can be seen all over. For example, one can see wild geese eating grass in a meadow by the highway, and there are some parks, meadows, and forests where one can see some deer, bears, or wolves, as well as turkeys, pheasants, and all sorts of birds and other wild animals. What first impression do people have when they see a sight like this? (They feel that they have seen nature.) And what kind of feelings do they have when they see nature? Will they not say: “Look at this country of theirs. Not only are the people free, even the animals here are free. Being reincarnated as an animal in this place would be better than living as a person in China, because here even animals are free, and no one abuses them”? Do they not have such feelings? (They do.) For those who have stayed here for a long time, these things become commonplace, and not unusual at all; they think these things are very normal. But for some people, after they have grown familiar with this kind of environment, some active thoughts begin to emerge in them: “These animals are all so free, and nobody supervises or watches over them, so can I catch and eat them? It would be great if I could eat them, but I can’t do it indiscriminately just in case they are protected by law. I have to look into this.” After checking the information, they see that the law explicitly states that wild animals are uniformly protected by national law, and that people cannot hunt and kill them as they please. If people want to hunt animals, they must do so within a state-mandated hunting area; they also need a license, and may have to pay a fee for the animals they catch. In short, the law protects these wild animals and it has clear stipulations about them. Some people cannot understand the law of wild animal protection, and they ponder: “There are all these wild delicacies, and yet the government does not permit us to catch and eat them as we please. It’s such a pity! In China, nobody cares about this: ‘If no one reports it, the authorities won’t investigate it.’ As long as nobody knows about it, you can catch and eat an animal. But you can’t do this in a democratic country. Here there are legal regulations, and I can’t just do whatever I want on other people’s land. But these animals are all wild game; it’s such a pity that we can only look at them and not eat them! I need to think of a solution. How can I eat this game without anyone noticing and without breaking the law?” Some people think of a trick, and say: “If I make a cage and put some tasty food in it to attract animals, catch a few small ones like wild rabbits, and then find a secluded place to kill and eat them, I wouldn’t be breaking the law, would I? Those little animals aren’t protected by the state, and the law doesn’t have specific stipulations about them. If I do this, I can eat wild game and also ensure that I’m not breaking the law. It’s the best of both worlds.” After they have this idea, they put together a cage and start hunting. Before two days pass, a rat comes into the cage, and they hastily kill and eat it, feeling that this is true wild game! What conclusion do they come to after eating it? “Wild animals are pretty tasty. From now on I’ll think of more ways to eat other types of game. I’m not afraid to eat them as long as I’m not breaking the law.” The story ends here.

Some people ask, “Is this a true story or is it made up?” For now, do not worry about whether it is true or made up, and whether or not it really happened. Just think about what’s wrong with people who do things like this, based on this story. Is doing this kind of thing a grave mistake? Is it considered a violation of the law? Is it considered immoral? (It is.) Does it go against morality, or against humanity, or against something else? First, tell Me: Is this kind of behavior worthy of praise or of denunciation? Which side do you take? (Denunciation.) Regardless of whether it goes against morality, against the law, or against humanity, in any case, this kind of behavior is bad, and it is not the behavior of people who possess humanity. So what is it? Is this sort of disposition or behavior a serious problem? How would you judge this matter according to your own standards? In daily life and among all groups of people, is this sort of behavior common? (Yes.) It is not an immensely cunning or evil act, but it is unseemly, and it is not a manifestation that people with normal humanity ought to possess. What kind of manifestation is this, exactly? Go ahead and classify it. What sort of behavior is this? Should it be promoted? (No.) It is not worthy of promotion and it is not praised by people, so it should be denounced and despised. This sort of behavior is common, it often appears among all groups of people and in daily life, it is frequently observed, and there are people who frequently do this sort of thing. So, then, is it not worth singling out and discussing it, thereby enabling each person to have an accurate definition of this matter, and preferably to distance themselves from this sort of behavior? Wouldn’t that be good? (Yes.) Then let’s define it—what type of behavior is this? Is it arrogant? Is it intransigent? Is it deceitful? (No.) Is it wicked? (A little bit.) It is somewhat close to that. Among the words that you have learned and understand, are there any that can define this type of behavior? (Base.) Base, it does have a bit of this quality. This word contains this type of behavior and essence but does not summarize it wholly and completely. This behavior cannot be considered malicious, because if killing a rat was malicious then exterminating rats would be a negative thing. Rat extermination is a positive thing; rats harm people, so it is correct to exterminate them. But is there not a difference between exterminating them and eating them? (There is.) Then how can this behavior be summarized? Which words can you think of that are related to this kind of behavior? (Sordid.) (Lowly character.) Lowly character, base, and sordid. In daily life, what word is used to summarize lowly, inappropriate behavior? (Scummy.) The word “scummy” precisely and incisively summarizes this type of behavior. Why is it defined as “scummy”? If it is said to be base, selfish, or sordid, that’s just one kind of manifestation revealed by scummy people. “Scummy” contains many meanings—being base, depraved, sordid, selfish, immoral, not behaving oneself, not being open or aboveboard in one’s actions, and instead acting in a sneaky way, and only doing improper things. These are the various behaviors and manifestations of scummy people. For example, if a normal person wants to do something, as long as it is proper, they go about doing it in an open manner, and if it violates the law they will give up and not do it. Scummy people are not the same; they will achieve their goals by hook or by crook and have strategies to countermeasure the limitations of the law. They get around the law and seek ways to achieve their goals, regardless of whether doing so is in line with ethics, morality, or humanity, and regardless of what the consequences are. They do not care about any of these things, and only seek to achieve their goals by any means possible. This is being “scummy.” Do scummy people have any integrity or dignity? (No.) Are they noble or lowly people? (Lowly.) In what way are they lowly? (There is no moral baseline to their comportment.) That is right, this kind of person has no baseline or principles in their comportment; they do not consider consequences, and just do whatever they want. They do not care about the law, about morality, about whether their consciences can accept their actions, or whether anyone denounces, judges, or condemns them. They are indifferent to all of this, and do not mind as long as they are gaining benefits and enjoying themselves. Their way of doing things is depraved, their thinking is despicable, and both are shameful. This is what it means to be scummy. Can the word “scummy” be replaced by the manifestations of those several dispositions that we talked about before? That wouldn’t really work. The word “scummy” is quite special, so are scummy people a special sort of people? They are not. Do you have anything scummy in you? (Yes.) What are the specific manifestations of this? (Sometimes after people wash their faces, they leave water all over the counter and don’t wipe it up. And when people finish eating, they don’t clean up the grains of rice and vegetable soup from the table. When their clothes get dirty, they just toss them off to the side somewhere without folding them. I think that these are also manifestations of being scummy.) Actually, these things are all small details of day-to-day life, and being unhygienic is not truly being scummy, it has to do with one’s living out in humanity. If one does not do things that are beneficial to others when in a group, and if one is not brought up properly or well-behaved, and gets on people’s bad side and makes others detest them, and does not know to abide by the rules or the systems of whatever place they go to, and lacks this awareness, then is their humanity not missing something? (It is.) What is it missing? It is missing reason. Aren’t people like this lacking in dignity? (Yes.) They have no dignity, no integrity, and were brought up poorly. This has to do with the baseline of human conduct, and with living out normal humanity. If one cannot even meet these standards, then how could they possibly practice the truth? How could they possibly glorify God? How could they possibly act according to the truth principles? They are so far off from doing any of these things. This kind of person does not have a conscience or reason—is it easy to manage them? Is it easy for them to change? It is absolutely not easy. Then how can they change? This will depend on everyone supervising, restraining, and prompting them. In serious cases, everyone must stand up to criticize them. What is the goal of this criticism? It is to assist them, to help them behave well, and to stop them from doing things that are disgraceful and in bad taste. So, what exactly does being scummy refer to? What are its primary symptoms and manifestations? See whether My summary is accurate or not. What are scummy people equivalent to? They are equivalent to untamed, poorly raised, wild animals, and the primary manifestations of this are arrogance, brutishness, a lack of restraint, acting recklessly, not accepting the truth in the slightest, as well as doing whatever one pleases, not listening to anyone, or allowing anyone to manage them, daring to go against anyone, and having no regard for anyone else. Tell Me, are the various manifestations of being scummy severe? (They are.) At the very least, this disposition of arrogance, of lacking reason, and of acting recklessly, is very severe. Even if a person like this appears to not do things that judge or resist God, because of their arrogant disposition, it is extremely likely that they will do evil and resist Him. All of their actions are revelations of their corrupt dispositions. When a person becomes scummy to a certain point, they become a bandit and a devil, and bandits and devils will never accept the truth—they can only be destroyed.

Is there value in talking about this story? (Yes.) Though this story does not touch on man’s nature essence or disposition it pertains to man’s behavior, which is not all that different from or unrelated to man’s essence. What should this story be called? Let’s give it a name with an allegorical quality to it, and not make it too straightforward. (Hunting Rats.) “Hunting Rats” is a pretty good one. Someone caught a rat in a “perfectly legitimate” way and said: “What can I do? It ran in here and I feel sorry for it. Plus, it’s hurt. If it runs back out, it will die, and then other animals will just eat it anyway, so why don’t I eat it? Wouldn’t that be perfectly legitimate?” In order to eat that rat, they fabricated all those excuses and made up all those reasons, and then ate it with a clear conscience. This is being scummy. It is not as if people in America cannot eat meat, so it isn’t worthwhile going through all that trouble and putting in all that effort to do such a thing. This is the kind of thing that scummy people do. Do normal people do this kind of thing? Do people with humanity and integrity do this kind of thing? (No.) Why don’t they do it? This is related to integrity. Those who are incorrigible thieves by nature are always stealing and pilfering, and doing shameful things. Are they lacking something at home? Not necessarily. Since they are scummy, they must steal, relying on theft to satisfy their own preferences and their insatiably greedy disposition. Doing these things brings comfort to their hearts. If they did not do this kind of thing, they would feel upset. This is being scummy. Now, I will wrap the story up and move on to the main topic.

Before I talk about the main topic, first let’s ponder on the content of our last fellowship. The duties that God’s chosen people perform can be divided into six main categories. We have finished discussing the first category, which is people who perform the duty of spreading the gospel. The second category is those who perform the duties of leaders and workers in the church at various levels. The members of this category can essentially be divided into two main types, and last time we talked about one of these types, namely antichrists. How antichrists work, which manifestations they have and which things they do that can define them as antichrists—we classified these manifestations and dispositions of antichrists. Which specific items were there? (Item one: They try to win over people’s hearts; item two: They attack and exclude dissenters; item three: They exclude and attack those who pursue the truth; item four: They exalt and testify about themselves; item five: They mislead, draw in, threaten, and control people.) Last time, five items were summarized, and you made note of all of them. Now make note of the next ones. Item six: They behave in devious ways, they are arbitrary and dictatorial, they never fellowship with others, and they force others to obey them; item seven: They are wicked, insidious, and deceitful; item eight: They would have others submit only to them, not the truth or God; item nine: They do their duty only to distinguish themselves and feed their own interests and ambitions; they never consider the interests of God’s house, and they even sell out those interests, trading them for personal glory; item ten: They despise the truth, brazenly flout principles, and ignore the arrangements of God’s house; item eleven: They do not accept being pruned, nor do they have an attitude of repentance when they commit any wrong, but instead spread notions and publicly pass judgment on God; item twelve: They want to withdraw when they have no status and no hope of gaining blessings; item thirteen: They control church finances as well as controlling people’s hearts; item fourteen: They treat the house of God like their own personal domain; item fifteen: They do not believe in the existence of God, and they deny the essence of Christ. There are 15 items in total, and they all dissect and expose the various manifestations of antichrists. These 15 items essentially summarize the different kinds of behaviors, manifestations, and dispositions that antichrists have. Some of them seem like behaviors on the surface, but behind these behaviors is the underlying disposition essence of antichrists. In terms of their literal meaning, are these 15 items not easy to understand? They are all phrased in plain language, and in one respect, they are easy to understand, while additionally, what each of them summarizes relates to man’s manifestations, revelations, and essence. Every item is a type of disposition; it is not a passing behavior or thought. What is a disposition? How can one explain what a disposition is? A disposition is when, regardless of where a person goes, their thoughts, ideas, principles for doing things, methods of operation, and the goal they are pursuing do not change along with changes in time and geographical location. If a person’s way of doing things disappears as soon as their environment changes, this is not the revelation of a corrupt disposition, but rather a passing behavior. What does a real disposition refer to? (It can dominate a person at any time and in any place.) That is right, it can dominate a person’s words and actions regardless of the time and place, without conditional restraints or influences; that is an essence. An essence is the thing that someone relies on to survive; it will not change depending on changes in time, location, or other external factors. This is a person’s essence. Some people say: “I have more or less all of these 15 manifestations of antichrists that You have summarized, but I do not pursue status and I wasn’t born with any ambitions. Besides, I do not shoulder any responsibilities right now. I am not a leader or a worker, and I do not like being in the limelight, so isn’t the nature essence of antichrists irrelevant to me? If it is irrelevant, then isn’t it true that I don’t need to listen to these fellowships or hold myself up against them for comparison?” Is this the way that things are? (No.) Then how should one approach these manifestations of antichrists? How should one approach the truths that are fellowshipped about these manifestations? One must understand the truth and know themselves within these fellowships, then find the correct path, and come to possess principles in the performance of their duty and their service of God. Only in this way can they break away from the path of antichrists and embark on the path of being made perfect. If you can link these manifestations of antichrists to yourselves, then this will be a warning, a reminder, an exposure, and a judgment for you. If you cannot link them to yourselves, but you can sense that you also have similar states, then you should try to reflect on and know yourselves more, and seek the truth to resolve those states. This way, you can also gradually cast off your corrupt dispositions and avoid walking the path of antichrists.

A Dissection of How Antichrists Exalt and Testify About Themselves

Today’s fellowship is about the fourth item of the various manifestations of antichrists: exalting and testifying about themselves. Exalting and testifying about themselves, flaunting themselves, trying to make people think highly of them and worship them—corrupt mankind is capable of these things. This is how people instinctively react when they are governed by their satanic natures, and it is common to all of corrupt mankind. How do people usually exalt and testify about themselves? How do they achieve the aim of making people think highly of them and worship them? They testify to how much work they have done, how much they have suffered, how much they have expended themselves, and what price they have paid. They exalt themselves by talking about their capital, which gives them a higher, firmer, more secure place in people’s minds, so that more people appreciate, think highly of, admire, and even worship, look up to, and follow them. To achieve this aim, people do many things that testify to God on the surface, but essentially exalt and testify about themselves. Is acting that way reasonable? They are beyond the purview of rationality and have no shame, that is, they unabashedly testify to what they have done for God and how much they have suffered for Him. They even flaunt their gifts, talents, experience, special skills, their clever techniques for worldly dealings, the means they use to toy with people, and so on. Their method of exalting and testifying about themselves is to flaunt themselves and belittle others. They also camouflage and package themselves, hiding their weaknesses, shortcomings, and deficiencies from people so that they only ever see their brilliance. They do not even dare to tell other people when they feel negative; they lack the courage to open up and fellowship with them, and when they do something wrong, they do their utmost to conceal it and cover it up. Never do they mention the harm they have caused to the work of the church in the course of doing their duty. When they have made some minor contribution or achieved some small success, however, they are quick to show it off. They cannot wait to let the whole world know how capable they are, how high their caliber is, how exceptional they are, and how much better they are than normal people. Is this not a way of exalting and testifying about themselves? Is exalting and testifying about oneself something someone with conscience and reason does? It is not. So when people do this, what disposition is usually revealed? Arrogance. This is one of the chief dispositions revealed, followed by deceitfulness, which involves doing everything possible to make other people hold them in high esteem. Their words are completely watertight and clearly contain motivations and schemes, they are showing themselves off, yet they want to hide this fact. The outcome of what they say is that people are made to feel that they are better than others, that no one is their equal, that everyone else is inferior to them. And is this outcome not achieved via underhanded means? What disposition is behind such means? And are there any elements of wickedness? (There are.) This is a kind of wicked disposition. It can be seen that these means they employ are directed by a deceitful disposition—so why do I say it is wicked? What connection does this have to wickedness? What do you think: Can they be open about their aims in exalting and testifying about themselves? They can’t. But there is always a desire in the depths of their hearts, and what they say and do is in aid of that desire, and the aims and motivations of what they say and do are kept very secret. They will, for example, employ misdirection or some shady tactics to achieve these aims. Is such secretiveness not devious in nature? Can such deviousness not be called wicked? (Yes.) It can indeed be called wicked, and it runs deeper than deceitfulness. They use a certain way or method to achieve their goals. This disposition is deceitfulness. However, the ambition and desire deep in their hearts of always wanting to have people follow, look up to, and worship them frequently directs them to exalt and testify about themselves, and to unscrupulously and shamelessly do these things. What is this disposition? This rises to the level of wickedness. Wickedness is more than just ordinary narrow-mindedness or being deceitful and lying. If a person can rise from ordinary corruption to the level of wickedness, does this not mean that they are more deeply corrupted? (It does.) Then describe the level of wickedness—what is a suitable way to put it? Why does a person rise from ordinary corruption to wickedness? Can you see this matter clearly? What is the difference between deceitfulness and wickedness? In terms of how they manifest, wickedness and deceitfulness are closely related, but wickedness is more severe—it is deceitfulness taken to the extreme. If one is said to have a wicked disposition, then this person is not ordinarily deceitful, as ordinary deceitfulness could just mean that they are a habitual liar or are not very honest in their actions, whereas wickedness is more severe and lies on a deeper level than deceitfulness. The deceitfulness of someone with a wicked disposition is greater and more severe than that of the average person, and their means and methods of doing things, and the scheming behind their actions, are all more cunning and secretive, and most people cannot see through them. This is what wickedness is.

How is an antichrist exalting and testifying about themselves different than the average person doing the same? The average person often boasts and shows off to make people think highly of them, and will also have manifestations of these dispositions and states, so how is an antichrist exalting and testifying about themselves different than regular people doing the same? Where does the difference lie? You must be clear on this—do not lump all manifestations of occasionally exalting or boasting about oneself under the category of antichrists. Is this not a conceptual error? (It is.) Then how can this matter be clearly differentiated? Where does the difference lie? If you can state this clearly, you can thoroughly understand what the essence of an antichrist is. Take a crack at it. (An antichrist’s way of doing things is more surreptitious; they use some means that appear to be very proper to mislead people. They seem to be speaking about a proper matter, but before you know it, they begin to exalt and testify about themselves, without anyone realizing it. Their means are relatively surreptitious.) Relatively surreptitious means—this is differentiating them through their way of exalting and testifying about themselves. Is there anything else? Tell Me, what is the difference in nature between consciously exalting and testifying about oneself and doing so unconsciously? (The intentions are different.) Isn’t this where the difference lies? (Yes.) When an average person with corrupt dispositions exalts and flaunts themselves, it is just to show off. Once they have shown off, that is the end of the matter, and they do not care whether other people think highly or lowly of them. Their intent is not too clear-cut, it is just a disposition governing them, a revelation of a disposition. That is all it is. Is it easy to change this kind of disposition? If the person in question pursues the truth, they will be able to gradually change when they experience being pruned, judged and chastised. They will gradually gain more of a sense of shame and rationality, and they will display this sort of behavior less and less. They will condemn this type of behavior, and they will exercise restraint and rein themselves in. This is unconsciously exalting and testifying about oneself. Although the dispositions contained within consciously exalting and testifying about oneself and unconsciously doing so are the same, the nature of the two is different. How are they different in nature? Consciously exalting and testifying about oneself is done with intent. People who do this are not speaking casually—each time they exalt and testify about themselves, they are harboring certain intentions and hidden aims, and they do this kind of thing with satanic ambitions and desires. On the surface, it seems like the same kind of manifestation. In both cases, people are exalting and testifying about themselves, but how does God define unconsciously exalting and testifying about oneself? As a revelation of a corrupt disposition. And how does God define exalting and testifying about oneself consciously? As someone wanting to mislead people, intent on getting people to think highly of them, worship them, look up to them, and then follow them. Their action is misleading by nature. So, as soon as they have the intent to mislead people, and to take possession of people so that they will follow and worship them, they will employ some means and methods when speaking and acting that can easily mislead and misguide those who do not understand the truth and lack a deep foundation. Such people not only lack discernment, on the contrary, they think that what this person says is correct, and they may look up to and think highly of them, and over time they will worship and even follow them. A most common phenomenon in daily life is that someone seems to understand a sermon quite well after hearing it, but later on when something befalls them, they do not know how to resolve it. They go before God to seek, but this does not bear fruit, and in the end, they must go to their leader to inquire about this matter and ask them for a solution. Every time something befalls them, they want to ask their leader to resolve it. It is like how smoking opium becomes an addiction and a pattern for some people, and in due course, they will not be able to go on without smoking it. So, antichrists exalting and testifying about themselves imperceptibly becomes a sort of drug for those who are small in stature, undiscerning, foolish and ignorant. Whenever anything befalls them, they will go to ask the antichrist about it, and if the antichrist does not issue an order, they do not dare to carry anything out, even if everyone has already finished talking it over and reached a consensus on the matter. They are afraid of going against the antichrist’s will and being suppressed, so with every matter, they only dare to take action after the antichrist has spoken. Even when they have clearly understood the truth principles, they dare not make a decision or handle the matter, instead they wait for the “master” that they look up to for the final verdict and decision. If their master does not say anything, whoever is handling the matter will feel unsure about what they ought to do. Have these people not been poisoned? (They have.) This is what it means to have been poisoned. For them to be poisoned so deeply, how much work does the antichrist have to do, and how much poison does the antichrist need to slip them? If the antichrist frequently dissected themselves and got to know themselves, and often put their weaknesses, mistakes, and transgressions out in the open for people to see, then would everyone still worship them like this? Absolutely not. It appears that the antichrist puts considerable effort into exalting and testifying about themselves, which is why they have achieved such “success.” This is the result that they want. Without them, no one would know how to do their duties appropriately, and everyone would be at a total loss. It is evident that, while controlling these people, the antichrist secretly slips them many poisons and puts in a great deal of effort! If they only said a few words, would these people still be constrained by them like this? Absolutely not. When the antichrist manages to achieve their goal of making people worship them, and look up to them and heed them in every matter, then have they not done many things and spoken many words that exalt and testify about themselves? What is the outcome that they achieve by doing this? It is that people would lack a path and not be able to go on living without them—it is as if the sky would fall and the earth would stop turning without them, and believing in God would have no value or meaning, and listening to sermons would be useless. It is also that people feel they have some hope in their lives when the antichrist is around, and would lose all hope if the antichrist were to die. Have these people not been taken captive by Satan? (They have.) And don’t people like this deserve that? (They do.) Why do we say they deserve it? God is the One you believe in, so why do you worship and follow antichrists, letting them constrain and control you at every turn? Besides, regardless of what duty one is doing, God’s house has provided people with clear principles and rules. If there is a difficulty that one cannot resolve on their own, they should seek from someone who understands the truth, and seek from the Above on more serious matters. But not only do you not seek the truth, on the contrary, you worship and look up to people, believing what these antichrists say. You have therefore become Satan’s lackeys, and don’t you only have yourself to blame? Don’t you deserve this? Exalting and testifying about oneself is a shared behavior and manifestation among antichrists, and it is one of the most common manifestations. What is the main characteristic of how antichrists exalt and testify about themselves? In what way is it different than how the average person exalts and testifies about themselves? It is that antichrists have their own intent behind this action, and are absolutely not doing it unconsciously. Rather, they are harboring intents, desires, and ambitions, and the consequences of them testifying about themselves in this way are too dreadful to contemplate—they can mislead and control people.

Let Me give an example. You can think about whether this sort of manifestation and disposition are related to exalting and testifying about oneself. Once, there was a leader who did the work of the church at a certain place for two or three years. He had walked among the churches, and then he finally put down roots there. What does it mean that he put down roots? It means that most people knew him and thought highly of him, and that he was relatively well-known in that place. As soon as people saw him, they would welcome him, offer him their seats, and give him something nice to eat. There were no dissenting voices, no people who opposed him; everyone was pretty familiar with this leader, and deep down they were all quite approving of how he did things and accepting of his leadership. It’s uncertain how much work the leader did there, how much he spoke, or what he spoke about; these details are unknown, but in short, most people quite approved of his leadership. After some time passed, the leader said: “The brothers and sisters here are all obedient and submissive, and things are going well in the church in all respects. Unfortunately, there is one thing that is not entirely satisfactory, which is that the environment here is terrible. If the environment were suitable, we would find a nice, sunny day to go to a big park for a large gathering with thousands of people, and we would release the truth using a microphone and a set of big speakers, and get more people to believe in god. Wouldn’t our work then bear fruit?” After hearing this, everyone said “Amen” and approved of it. Tell Me, is there a problem with the phrase “we would release the truth”? (Yes.) What is the problem? (The leader was treating himself as God.) You all recognized that there’s a problem with it, but the muddled people who were there did not. They even responded to this sentence with an “Amen”! Is the truth released by this leader? Who is he? He is an ordinary leader; he did a few years of work and then started to think that he was superior to everyone else and forgot who he was, and even wanted to express the truth—that would be a tall task for him. What does this prove? It proves that he did not know who he was, and did not know what duty he was doing. Since he has this kind of disposition, is any part of his usual work or speech in line with the truth? His usual work and speech are certainly filled with muddled words and devilish words, and absolutely cannot achieve the result of providing for and watering the church. He does not know what the truth is, much less what it means to express the truth. After working somewhere for just two or three years, he felt he had a bit of prestige and capital, and then he forgot who he was, felt pretty good about himself, and wanted to express the truth. Is having such a misconception not disgusting? Where does this misconception come from? Did he have a mental disorder, or was it a momentary impulse? He did a bit of work, no one in the local church opposed him, and everything seemed to be going smoothly to him, so he believed that everything was the result of the work that he did, and suddenly felt that he could take credit for it. He thought, “If I can do such significant work, am I not god? And if I am god, then I am being terribly stifled right now—if the external environment were better, I could express the truth!” This thought popped into his mind all of a sudden. Isn’t there something wrong with his head? (Yes.) There is something wrong with his head. Doesn’t he lack reason? Can the actions and words of Satan and antichrists possess the reason of normal humanity? They absolutely cannot. This leader did a bit of work and got some results, then suddenly forgot that he was human. Is him being able to blurt out such unreasonable words not related to his dispositions? (It is.) How is it related? Within his dispositions, is he willing to be a follower? Does he know that he’s only an ordinary follower of God? He absolutely does not. He believes that his status and identity are exceedingly respectable and superior to all others. Are you not familiar with this sort of behavior and its nature? Why was Satan cast down into midair? (It wanted to be on equal footing with God.) It is that it wanted to be on equal footing with God. Because Satan did not know its place in the universe, did not know who it was, and did not know its own measure, when God allowed Satan to walk in the same space as Him, Satan began to think that it was God. It wanted to do the things that God did, it wanted to represent Him, replace Him, and deny His existence, and as a result, it was cast down to midair. Antichrists do the same kind of thing, the nature of their actions is the same, and they are of one source with Satan. For an antichrist, such a manifestation is not an occasional revelation or the result of a whim—it is absolutely the domination of their satanic nature and a natural revelation of their satanic disposition. What is the nature of the manifestation of the leader that I just talked about? (It is that of an antichrist.) Why are we discussing this manifestation for the item of exalting and testifying about oneself? How is the nature of this manifestation related to exalting and testifying about oneself? What was the nature of the words “release the truth” that he spoke? Why do I say that these words are related to exalting and testifying about oneself? (The leader believed that he could provide the truth to people.) That’s what he meant. When he said such things, people who heard them thought, “You have such an impressive manner, and you can speak in such a tone—isn’t this the kind of tone that God should speak in? Isn’t this the kind of impressive manner and aspiration that God should have?” Hadn’t this leader achieved the aim of exalting and testifying about himself? He had made people unconsciously develop feelings of respect, worship, and admiration toward him. Was that not the case? (Yes.) This is the hideous appearance of an antichrist; this is an antichrist covertly exalting and testifying about themselves.