Are there any other manifestations of exalting and testifying about oneself? You should all reflect on yourselves with regard to this matter. Would you do such a thing as testifying about yourselves? Can you be restrained by your conscience and reason and prevent yourself from doing such a disgraceful thing? If you can restrain yourself, then this proves that you have rationality, that you are different from antichrists. If you do not possess this rationality, and you have these kinds of ambitions and desires, and are also capable of doing such a thing as testifying about yourself, then you are the same as an antichrist. So, what is the case for you? Do you act with restraint? If you have a God-fearing heart, a sense of shame, and rationality, then, though you wish to do these things, you will think that they’ll offend God and be loathed by Him, and you will then be able to restrain yourself and will not dare to testify about yourself. If you restrain yourself once and then twice, after a while these ideas, these intentions and thoughts, will slowly begin to diminish, little by little. You will have discernment of these ideas and feel that they are contemptible and disgusting, your impulses and desires to do such things will diminish, and you will gradually be able to rein yourself in and control yourself, to such an extent that these ideas will arise less and less frequently. If you are aware of them but unable to restrain yourself, and you harbor particularly strong intents, just wanting to make people worship you, and you feel dissatisfied if no one worships or follows you, and become filled with hatred, and want to do something, and are able to unscrupulously testify about yourself and show yourself off—then you are an antichrist. What is the case with you? (When I am aware of them, I am able to restrain myself.) What do you rely on to restrain yourself? (I rely on having some knowledge of God and on having a God-fearing heart.) If one has a God-fearing heart, they can exercise restraint. Restraint is not achieved by holding oneself back or obstructing oneself, but is rather a result achieved through understanding the truth and fearing God. One restrains themselves by way of rationality and cognition, and at the same time, one exercises restraint because one has a bit of a God-fearing heart and is frightened of offending Him. If your rationality cannot restrain you, and you also do not have a God-fearing heart, and if you do not feel shame when testifying about yourself and wish to persist in doing so, not giving up until you achieve your aim, then the nature of this is different—you are an antichrist.

The techniques and manifestations that antichrists possess for exalting and testifying about themselves are manifold. Some involve antichrists directly exalting and testifying about themselves, and talking about all of their merits, while others involve them finding ways to use indirect turns of phrase or methods to sneakily make people think highly of them and achieve their aim of getting people to look up to, worship, and follow them, and even to occupy a place in people’s hearts—this is the nature of such behavior. Antichrists’ disposition of exalting and testifying about themselves differs from that of ordinary people in terms of its nature, the outcomes it results in, as well as the ways it is manifested, and its underlying intentions and aims. Furthermore, do people who exalt and testify about themselves simply talk about all of their merits? Sometimes, they also talk about their bad sides, but are they truly dissecting and trying to know themselves when they do this? (No.) Then how does one discover that their self-knowledge isn’t real, and that it is instead adulterated and has intent behind it? How can one thoroughly understand this matter? The focal point here is that at the same time as they are trying to know themselves and expose their weaknesses, flaws, shortcomings, and corrupt dispositions, they are also looking for excuses and reasons to absolve themselves of guilt. They covertly tell people, “Everyone is capable of making mistakes, not just me. You are all capable of making mistakes too. The mistake I made is excusable; it is a small mistake. If you made this same mistake, it would be a much more severe case than mine, because you wouldn’t reflect on and dissect yourselves. Even though I make mistakes, I am better than you guys and have more rationality and integrity.” When everyone hears this, they think, “You’re exactly right. You understand the truth so much, and really possess stature. When you make mistakes, you are able to reflect on and dissect yourself; you are much better than we are. If we make mistakes, we don’t reflect on and try to know ourselves, and out of fear of embarrassment we do not dare to dissect ourselves. You have greater stature and courage than we do.” These people made mistakes yet they still won the esteem of others and sang their own praises—what disposition is this? Some antichrists are particularly adept at pretending, cheating people, and putting up a facade. When they encounter people who understand the truth, they start talking about their self-knowledge, and also say that they are a devil and Satan, that their humanity is bad, and that they deserve to be cursed. Suppose that you ask them, “Since you say that you are a devil and Satan, what evil deeds did you commit?” They will say: “I didn’t do anything, but I am a devil. And I’m not only a devil; I’m also Satan!” You then ask them, “Since you say that you are a devil and Satan, which evil acts of a devil and Satan did you commit, and how did you resist God? Can you tell the truth about the evil things that you did?” They will say: “I didn’t do anything evil!” You then press further and ask, “If you have not done anything evil, then why do you say that you are a devil and Satan? What are you trying to achieve by saying this?” When you get serious with them like this, they will have nothing to say. Actually, they have done many bad things, but they absolutely will not share the facts about this with you. They will just talk some big talk and spout some doctrines to speak of their self-knowledge in a hollow way. When it comes to how they specifically drew people in, cheated people, made use of people based on their feelings, failed to take the interests of God’s house seriously, went against the work arrangements, cheated the Above, concealed things from the brothers and sisters, and how much they damaged the interests of God’s house, they won’t say a single word about these facts. Is this true knowledge of oneself? (No.) In saying that they are a devil and Satan, are they not feigning self-knowledge in order to exalt and testify about themselves? Is this not a method they use? (It is.) The average person cannot see through this method. When some leaders are dismissed, they get re-elected soon after, and when you ask the reason for this, some people say: “That leader is of good caliber. They know that they are a devil and Satan. Who else has such a level of knowledge? Only people who really pursue the truth possess that knowledge. None of us are able to gain that knowledge about ourselves; the average person doesn’t have that stature. For this reason, everyone chose them again.” What is going on here? These people have been misled. This leader knew that they are a devil and Satan but they were still chosen by everyone, so what effect and consequence does them saying that they are a devil and Satan have on people? (It makes people think highly of them.) That’s right, it makes people think more highly of them. Nonbelievers call this method “retreating to advance.” This means that in order to get people to think more highly of them, they first say bad things about themselves so that others believe they can open themselves up and know themselves, that they have depth and insight, and a profound understanding, and because of this everyone worships them more. And what is the result of everyone worshiping them more? When it is again time to choose leaders, they are still considered the perfect person for the role. Is this method not quite clever? If they did not talk about their self-knowledge like this and did not say that they are a devil and Satan, and were just negative instead, when others saw this, they would say, “As soon as you were dismissed and lost your status, you became negative. You used to teach us not to be negative, and now your negativity is even more severe than ours. We won’t choose you.” No one would think highly of this leader. Although everyone would still lack discernment of them, at least they would not choose them to be a leader again, and this person would not achieve their aim of getting others to think highly of them. But this leader takes the initiative, saying: “I am a devil and Satan; god may curse me and send me to the eighteenth level of hell and not permit me to be reincarnated for all eternity!” Some people feel sorry for them upon hearing this and say: “Our leader has suffered so much. Oh, how they have been wronged! If God does not allow them to be a leader, then we will elect them.” Everyone supports this leader to such an extent, so have they not been misled? The original intent of their words has been confirmed, proving that they are indeed misleading people in this way. Satan sometimes misleads people by exalting and testifying about itself, and sometimes it can admit to its mistakes in a roundabout way when it has no other choice, but it is all a facade, and its aim is to gain people’s sympathy and understanding. It will even say, “No one is perfect. Everyone has corrupt dispositions and everybody is capable of making mistakes. As long as one can correct their mistakes, they are a good person.” When people hear this, they feel that it is right, and continue to worship and follow Satan. Satan’s method is to proactively acknowledge its mistakes, and covertly exalt itself and raise its position in people’s hearts, so that people accept everything about it—even its errors—and then forgive these errors, gradually forget about them, and eventually accept Satan completely, becoming loyal to it unto death, never leaving or abandoning it, and following it until the end. Is this not Satan’s method of doing things? This is how Satan acts, and antichrists also use this kind of method when they act in order to fulfill their ambitions and aims of having people worship and follow them. The consequences that this leads to are the same, and not at all different to the consequences of Satan misleading and corrupting people.

When some people speak of their self-knowledge, they paint themselves as a total mess and a good-for-nothing, even saying that they are a devil and Satan, that they deserve to be cursed, and that they would not complain if God eliminated them. However, these people do not have a true understanding of their nature essence or their corrupt dispositions, and they are unable to share anything about their true state of affairs. Instead they try to use a facade to mislead others, and use the method and technique of proactively acknowledging their mistakes and “retreating to advance” to blind and cheat people, and then get people to have a good opinion of them. This is the practice of antichrists. Next time you encounter someone like this, how should you treat them? (Pry into the details.) That’s right, you must learn to investigate the issue and pry into the details. And how deeply should you investigate? Do it until they beg for mercy and say, “I will never mislead you again. Even if you choose me to be your leader, I won’t take on that role.” Say to them, “Never again will we be misled by you or choose you to be our leader, so stop dreaming!” How does that sound? All those who speak in a very exaggerated way about their self-knowledge, and even curse themselves, with none of it sounding true at all, are falsely spiritual and hypocritical people, and all of their words are misleading. There is a characteristic and a few details to such people’s speech that you must be able to discern. For example, tell Me, if one is asked to write an oath for the safekeeping of offerings, what should the first sentence of the oath say? What would someone with rationality and humanity write? What tone and phrasing would they use to stand in their proper position and make their attitude known? When ordinary people speak, everybody can sense that they are speaking normally, but the ambitious ilk of evil people or antichrists have a particular tone when they speak that is different than that of the average person. For example, they say: “If I, So-and-so, embezzle a single cent of god’s offerings, let me die a miserable death—let me be run over by a car!” What kind of tone is this? They begin with the word “I,” adopting the highest-sounding tone—the motivation behind their tone and manner of speaking can be observed in the literal words that they use. The first word is “I”—they adopt the highest-sounding tone, and such a high pitch—is this not a high-sounding oath? What is this kind of oath called? It is called high-sounding and hypocritical. Writing an oath with such aggressiveness—what kind of disposition is this? This is an oath, so to whom are you taking this oath? You are taking this oath to God, so how should a normal person speak in this case? They should speak in a humble manner, stand in their proper position, pray to God, and speak from the heart. They should not use high-sounding words or be aggressive. Such people are so aggressive even when making an oath—their satanic disposition is so severe! It is hard to say whether their oath is true or false. What they mean is: “You don’t trust me? You’re afraid that I’m taking advantage of god’s house, that I’m stealing offerings? You use me but you do not trust me, and you ask me to take an oath—I will take an oath then, you just watch and see whether I dare to take this oath! I don’t believe I could do something like that.” What kind of attitude is this? This is aggressiveness and unscrupulousness. They even have the audacity to clamor against God, and use an oath to vindicate themselves and mislead people. Is this fearing God? There is no piety to this at all. This kind of person is Satan and an antichrist; this is how antichrists speak. Taking an oath with undertones of clamoring—what kind of disposition is this? Can this kind of person still be saved? Have you met this kind of person before? You don’t know how to discern these manifestations, revelations, or dispositions that they display, do you? Some people even believe that this kind of person is clear-headed, possessed of spiritual understanding, honest, and loyal to God. Is this not foolish? Is this not a lack of discernment? This terrible behavior and disposition can be seen in the literal words and the phrasing of their oath, but people still think this antichrist is quite good. Do these people understand the truth? It seems that all you understand are doctrines, that you can only talk about doctrines and speak empty words, and that you are undiscerning when it comes to specific matters and issues. In the future, if you encounter these sorts of matters, will you be discerning? (Yes, we will.) The people who write such oaths are all beasts and they all lack humanity. Have you seen this kind of oath before? Have you written an oath like this before? (Yes.) Did it have the same tone and the same opening as this one? (It was not as direct.) Then was its nature the same? (Yes.) Its nature was the same. Taking an oath is not like entering a battlefield, which requires a spirit of heroic self-sacrifice. It does not require that kind of spirit. When you take an oath to God, you must think about it thoroughly, and understand why you need to write this oath, and to whom you are taking this oath and making this pledge. What God wants is a person’s attitude, not a kind of spirit. That spirit of yours is aggressive and it is clamorous; it is a manifestation of Satan’s arrogant disposition. It is not piety and is not a manifestation that created beings ought to have, much less is it a position that created beings should assume. Haven’t people who display this manifestation been influenced by national heroism? Is it related to this? People have been poisoned too deeply—as soon as they write an oath or pledge, they think of all the famous figures through the ages who were loyal to their countries and people. Those famous figures were part of Satan’s gang, and they acted in an unscrupulous way in order to distinguish themselves and bear witness for themselves, and in order to occupy a place in people’s hearts and leave a good reputation for themselves so that they could go down in history and earn a good name that would last for eternity. Later generations appraised this as them having blind devotion to their countries; do you think they were truly blind? What actually is this blindness? It is the most treacherous, wicked practice, and there is personal intent within it. It is not blindness, and it is certainly not devotion—it is wickedness.

We have already carried out a great deal of fellowship on the topic of antichrists testifying about themselves. Are there any other issues relevant to this topic that you still do not thoroughly understand? Some people testify about themselves using language, and speak some words that show themselves off, while other people use behaviors. What are the manifestations of a person using behaviors to testify about themselves? On the surface, they engage in some behaviors that are rather in line with people’s notions, that attract people’s attention, and that are seen by people as quite noble and rather in conformity with moral standards. These behaviors make people think that they are honorable, that they have integrity, that they really love God, are very pious, and really possess a God-fearing heart, and that they are a person who pursues the truth. They often display some external good behaviors in order to mislead people—does this not also reek of exalting and testifying about oneself? Usually people exalt and testify about themselves by means of words, using clear speech to express how they are different from the masses and how they have wiser opinions than others, in order to make people think highly of them and look up to them. However, there are some methods that do not involve explicit speech, where people instead use external practices to testify that they are better than others. These sorts of practices are well thought-out, they carry with them a motive and a certain intent, and they are quite purposeful. They have been wrapped and processed so that what people see are some behaviors and practices that are in line with man’s notions, that are noble, pious, and conform to saintly decency, and that are even God-loving, God-fearing, and in line with the truth. This achieves the same goal of exalting and testifying about themselves and getting people to think highly of them and worship them. Have you ever encountered or seen such a thing? Do you possess these manifestations? Are these things and this topic which I am discussing separate from real life? Actually, they are not. I will give a very simple example. When some people do their duties, they seem extremely busy on the surface; they purposefully continue to work at times when others are eating or sleeping, and when others start doing their duties, they go eat or sleep. What is their aim in doing this? They want to attract attention and show everyone that they are so busy doing their duties that they have no time to eat or sleep. They think: “You really do not bear a burden. How are you so proactive about eating and sleeping? You good-for-nothings! Look at me, I’m working while all of you are eating, and I am still at work at night when you’re asleep. Would you be able to suffer like this? I can endure this suffering; I’m setting an example with my behavior.” What do you think of this sort of behavior and manifestation? Are these people not doing this deliberately? Some people do these things deliberately, and what kind of behavior is this? These people want to be nonconformists; they want to be different than the masses and show people that they are busily doing their duties all night, that they are especially able to endure suffering. This way everyone will feel particularly sorry for them and show particular sympathy for them, thinking that they have a heavy burden on their shoulders, to the extent that they are up to their necks in work and too preoccupied to eat or sleep. And if they cannot be saved, then everyone will implore God for them, plead to God on their behalf, and pray for them. In doing this, these people are using good behaviors and practices that are in line with man’s notions, such as enduring hardship and paying a price, to hoodwink other people and fraudulently obtain their sympathy and praise. And what is the ultimate result of this? Everyone who has come into contact with them and seen them paying a price will all say in one voice: “Our leader is the most competent, the most able to endure suffering and pay a price!” Have they not then achieved their aim of misleading people? Then one day, God’s house says, “Your leader does not do actual work. They busy themselves and work to no purpose; they act recklessly and they are arbitrary and dictatorial. They have made a mess of the church’s work, they have not done any of the work that they ought to, they have not performed the gospel work or the film production work, and the church life is also in disarray. The brothers and sisters do not understand the truth, they do not have life entry, and they cannot write testimony articles. The most pitiful thing is that they cannot even discern false leaders and antichrists. This kind of leader is too incompetent; they are a false leader who should be dismissed!” Under these circumstances, will it be easy to dismiss them? It might be tough. Since the brothers and sisters all approve of them and support them, if anyone tries to dismiss this leader, the brothers and sisters will lodge a protest and put forward a request to the Above to retain them. Why will there be such an outcome? Because this false leader and antichrist uses external good behaviors such as enduring hardship and paying the price, as well as nice-sounding words, to move, buy over, and mislead people. Once they have used these false appearances to mislead people, everyone will speak for them and be unable to leave them. They clearly know that this leader has not done much actual work, and that they have not guided God’s chosen ones to understand the truth and gain life entry, but these people still support them, approve of them, and follow them, not even caring if it means they won’t gain the truth and life. On top of that, due to being misled by this leader, these people all worship them, do not accept any leaders other than them, and do not even want God anymore. Are they not treating this leader as God? If God’s house says that this person does not do actual work and that they are a false leader and antichrist, the people in their church will protest and rise up in rebellion. Tell Me, to what extent has this antichrist misled those people? If it is the work of the Holy Spirit, then people’s conditions will only get better, and they will understand the truth more, become more submissive toward God, have more of a place for God in their hearts, and grow better at discerning false leaders and antichrists. From this point of view, the situation we have just discussed is absolutely not the work of the Holy Spirit—only antichrists and evil spirits can mislead people to such an extent after working for a period of time. Many people have been misled and controlled by these antichrists, and in their hearts, they only have a place for the antichrists and no place for God. This is the final result achieved by antichrists exalting and testifying about themselves through external good behaviors. They use the external good behaviors of enduring hardship and paying the price to exalt and testify about themselves, which is one of the means that antichrists use to mislead and control people. You see this matter clearly now, don’t you? Is an antichrist using the external good behaviors of enduring hardship and paying the price to mislead people not very sly and insidious? And don’t you do these things too sometimes? Some people drink coffee to boost their energy in the evening in preparation to stay up late doing their duties. The brothers and sisters worry about their health and cook chicken soup for them. When they finish the soup, these people say, “Thanks be to god! I have enjoyed the grace of god. I don’t deserve this. Now that I’ve finished this chicken soup, I have to be more efficient in doing my duties!” In reality, they continue to do their duties in the same way that they usually do, without raising their efficiency at all. Are they not pretending? They are pretending, and this type of behavior is also covertly exalting and testifying about themselves; the outcome it achieves is to make people approve of them, think highly of them, and become their diehard followers. If people have this sort of mentality, have they not forgotten God? They no longer have God in their hearts, so who is the one they think of day and night? It is their “good leader,” their “beloved one.” Some antichrists are very loving toward most people on the surface, and they employ techniques when they speak, so that people will see that they are loving, and be willing to get closer to them. They beam at anyone who gets close to them and engages with them, and they speak to such people with a very gentle tone. Even if they see that some brothers and sisters have been unprincipled in their actions, and thereby harmed the interests of the church, they do not prune them in the slightest, they merely exhort them and comfort them, and coax them as they do their duties—they coax and coax people until they have brought everyone before them. People are gradually moved by these antichrists; everyone very much approves of their loving hearts and calls them people who love God. Eventually, everyone worships them and seeks their fellowship on every matter, telling these antichrists all of their innermost thoughts and feelings, to the point that they don’t even pray to God or seek the truth in God’s words anymore. Have these people not been misled by these antichrists? This is another means that antichrists use to mislead people. When you engage in these behaviors and practices, or harbor these intentions, are you aware that there is a problem within this? And when you become aware of this, can you change the course of your actions? If you can reflect on yourself and feel true remorse when you become aware and examine that your behavior, practices, or intentions are problematic, this proves that you have reversed your course. If you are aware of your problems but just let them slide and act according to your own intents, falling deeper and deeper until you have reached a point where you are no longer able to extricate yourself, then you have not reversed your course and you are intentionally setting yourself against God, exalting and testifying about yourself, and straying from the true way. What disposition is this? It is an antichrist’s disposition. Is it serious? (Yes.) How serious is it? The outcome of a person adopting more insidious and deceitful means, using enduring hardship and paying the price to mislead people, trying to make them worship and follow them, is the same as a person openly exalting and testifying about themselves—it is of the same nature. Regardless of which means you use to exalt and testify about yourself, whether it is clear speech or some rather obvious good behaviors, it is all the same in nature. It has an antichrist quality of it, and a quality of fighting with God over His chosen ones. No matter which form your manifestations take or which means you use, as long as your intent does not change and the consequences are the same, then it is all the same in nature. It is thus clear that antichrists are very cunning and do not love or pursue the truth. They are, however, capable of using enduring hardship and paying the price as a means to mislead people—this is the wickedness of antichrists.

Some people talk about some absurd theories and abstract arguments to make people think that they are intellectual and knowledgeable, and that their actions are very profound, and thereby achieve their aim of getting people to worship them. That is, they always want to participate and offer their opinion in all matters, and even when everyone has already made a final decision, if they are not satisfied with it, they will spout some high-sounding ideas to show off. Is this not a means of exalting oneself and testifying about oneself? With some matters, everyone has actually already talked things over, conferred with each other, found the principles, and decided on a plan of action, but they do not accept the decision and obstruct things in an unreasonable manner, saying, “That won’t do. You have not considered this comprehensively. Aside from the few aspects we talked about, I have also thought of another one.” In fact, the aspect they thought of is just some absurd theory; they are just splitting hairs. They are fully aware that they are splitting hairs and making things difficult for other people, but they still do it. What is their aim in this? It is to show people that they are different, that they are smarter than others. What they mean is, “So this is the level you are all at? I must show you that I’m at a higher level.” They usually ignore whatever anyone else says, but as soon as something important comes up, they start to upset things. What is this sort of person called? Colloquially, they are called a nitpicker and a bad egg. What are the common approaches of a nitpicker? They enjoy spouting high-sounding ideas and engaging in some vile and crooked practices. If you ask them to present a correct plan of action, they won’t be able to produce one, and if you ask them to handle something serious, they won’t be able to. They only do vile things, and they always want to give people a “surprise” and show off their abilities. How does that phrase go again? “An old lady puts on lipstick—to give you something to look at.” This means that they always want to show off their abilities, and regardless of whether they can show them off well or not, they want to let people know, “I’m more outstanding than you guys. You’re all no good, you’re mere mortals, ordinary people. I’m extraordinary and transcendent. I’ll share my ideas to surprise you and then you can see whether I am superior or not.” Is this not upsetting things? They are upsetting things on purpose. What kind of behavior is this? They are causing disruptions and disturbances. What they mean is this: I haven’t shown how smart I am in this matter yet, so no matter whose interests are harmed and no matter whose efforts are wasted, I’m going to sabotage this until everyone believes that I am superior, capable, and able. Only then will I let this matter proceed unimpeded. Do bad people like this exist? Have you done these sorts of things before? (Yes. Sometimes others had finished discussing a matter and found a suitable plan, but since they did not inform me during the decision-making process, I intentionally found some faults with it.) When you did this, did you know in your heart whether it is right or wrong? Did you know that the nature of this problem is serious, that it is causing a disruption and disturbance? (I was not aware of this at the time, but through being pruned severely by my brothers and sisters, and by eating and drinking God’s words of judgment and chastisement, I saw that this problem is serious in nature, that it is disrupting and disturbing the work of the church, and is a kind of satanic behavior.) Since you recognized how serious this is, when similar things befell you after that, were you able to change a little and have some entry in terms of your approach? (Yes. When I revealed such thoughts and ideas, I was aware that it was a satanic disposition, that I could not do things that way, and I was able to consciously pray to God and rebel against those incorrect thoughts and ideas.) You were able to change somewhat. When you have such problems of corruption, you must seek the truth to resolve them, restrain yourself, and pray to God. When you think that others look upon you with disdain, that they don’t think highly of you or take you seriously, and consequently you wish to cause a disruption, when you have this thought, you must be aware that it does not come from normal humanity but rather from a satanic disposition, and that, if you go on like this, there will be trouble, and you will be likely to offend God’s disposition. You must first know to restrain yourself, and then come before God to pray to Him and reverse your course. When people live inside their own thoughts, inside their corrupt dispositions, nothing that they do is in line with the truth or able to satisfy God; everything they do is antagonistic toward Him. You can recognize this fact now, can’t you? Always wanting to fight for fame and gain, and not hesitating to disrupt and disturb the work of the church in order to gain reputation and status, are the most obvious manifestations of antichrists. Actually, all people possess these manifestations, but if you can recognize and acknowledge this, and then reverse your course, assuming an attitude of true repentance before God, and changing your approach, behaviors, and dispositions, then you are someone who is pursuing the truth. If you do not acknowledge these real problems, you certainly don’t have an attitude of repentance, and you’re not a person who pursues the truth. If you persist in walking the path of an antichrist, and follow this path to the very end, and you still think that this is not a problem and are unwilling to repent, persisting in acting this way and competing for fame and gain with the workers and leaders, insisting on standing out more than others, sticking out from the crowd, and being better than others no matter which group you are in, then you are in trouble! If you keep pursuing reputation and status and stubbornly refuse to repent, then you are an antichrist and doomed to be punished in the end. God’s words, the truth, and conscience and reason do not have an effect on you, and you are certain to meet the end of antichrists. You cannot be saved, and you are irredeemable! Whether or not people can attain salvation and embark on the path of fearing God and shunning evil depends on whether they display manifestations of true repentance after coming to know themselves, and the attitude with which they approach the truth, as well as the path that they choose. If you do not abandon the path of an antichrist, and instead choose to satisfy your own ambitions and desires, brazenly going against the truth, and setting yourself against God, then you are irredeemable. If someone does not know to be afraid regardless of the magnitude of their mistakes or how many evil deeds they do, and they do not feel guilty, and keep giving excuses for themselves, without feeling a shred of remorse, then they are a bona fide antichrist and a devil. If someone just possesses the various manifestations of antichrists, but they can admit their mistakes, turn back, and have a heart of remorse, then this is different in nature than antichrists and another matter entirely. So, the key to whether or not someone can attain salvation lies in whether they can reflect on themselves, whether they have a heart of repentance, and whether they can embark on the path of pursuing the truth.