The third technique antichrists use to control people: They exclude and attack those who pursue the truth. Some people love positive things, justice and light, and fellowshipping about the truth. They often seek out brothers and sisters who pursue and seek the truth to fellowship with. An antichrist’s temper flares to see this. To them, everyone who pursues the truth is a needle in their eye, a thorn in their side; they’d have all who pursue the truth on the receiving end of their attacks, exclusion, and assaults. Of course, an antichrist won’t only attack these people with brutal, savage tactics that are obvious enough for people to see through. They’ll adopt the manner of fellowshipping the truth, and with a few words and doctrines, they’ll pass judgment on people and strike at them. This makes people think that what they’re doing is proper and reasonable, that they’re being helpful—that there’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing. What are these “proper and reasonable” methods of theirs? (They quote God’s words to pass judgment on people and strike at them.) Correct—they quote God’s words to expose people and pass judgment on them. That’s their most common method. On the surface, this way of speaking seems fair, reasonable, and quite proper, but inside, their intent isn’t to help others to their benefit, but to expose them, pass judgment on them, condemn them, and degrade them. That is absolutely what they’re out to accomplish. So, the problem’s in where they start out from. Keen-eyed people can see that they do this because those people pursue and love the truth, and they constitute a threat to the antichrist. And what threat is that? In what way does their love of the truth hinder the antichrist? (They can see through and discern them.) That’s right. The biggest threat that these lovers of the truth pose to an antichrist is that they can discern any bad thing the antichrist does, whatever it may be; they can see through to their essence and are liable anywhere, at any time, to expose them, to report them, and to bring them to light, and then to condemn and reject them, and cleanse them away from the church. If that happened, they would lose their status and power forever, and their prospect of being blessed would be ruined utterly. That’s why to an antichrist, these people who pursue the truth are the greatest threat apart from the dissenters.

In addition to such outwardly proper-seeming methods as using fellowship on God’s words to strike at people who pursue the truth and to pass judgment on them, antichrists will even take drastic measures against them. What drastic measures are those? As an example, they’ll seize on a momentary transgression of a leader or worker; regardless of its context, of whether that person gained knowledge from it and could repent, and of whether they’re someone who pursues the truth, they’ll magnify its significance to pass judgment on that person and condemn them, and to clear them out. Antichrists figure that to get rid of grass, you have to purge the root, and so they clear such people out of the church, so that they won’t pose a threat to the antichrists’ status. All evil people and antichrists are good at seizing on things that could be used against leaders and workers, and once they have, they condemn them as false leaders and antichrists. No minor charge! Leaders and workers are selected by God’s chosen people; why would you always be seizing hold of things to use against them? What’s your goal in gaining that leverage? Is it that you want to replace them as leader? Once an evil person has charged a leader or worker with the offense of being a false leader and antichrist, if they can then list living examples and make God’s chosen people think it fits the facts, that spells trouble. That leader or worker could quite easily be cleared out of the church. Being a false leader or antichrist is so great an offense that once the offense has been proved, the accused is condemned, and their career as a believer in God is over. That will simply ruin them, won’t it? How evil that is! What’s more, if the antichrist then takes the opportunity to get themselves selected as leader and takes control of the church, will God’s chosen people not then be under the antichrist’s control? Will that church not then become the antichrist’s kingdom? (It will.) This is a grave danger! Do evil people and antichrists have any other techniques for attacking and excluding those who pursue the truth? Don’t some send brothers and sisters who pursue the truth off to work in the most dangerous places, in order to grab power and consolidate their own status? They say, “There’s a newly established church with a lot of brothers and sisters who are new to the faith. They have no foundation and they’re short on wisdom. They need someone who understands the truth to water them and provide for them. You understand the truth of visions; those newcomers need someone like you to go water them. No one else is up to it.” And with that, the antichrist sends away a serious hidden threat. Are they in fact truly doing this to have the person lead that church and provide for it? (No.) No; they’re doing it because that place is a hostile, dangerous environment. They put that person somewhere dangerous to do church work, in eager anticipation that they’ll be snatched away by the great red dragon. If that person gets caught, there’ll be no one left to threaten the antichrist’s status, and they can take control of the church. Isn’t this a tactic of theirs? They send that person away on the pretext that they’re well suited to watering newcomers, and thus, no one can see their own nefarious intentions. Isn’t that clever of them? And the brothers and sisters think that the antichrist is smart and wise for making such arrangements, that they’re a person in accordance with God’s intentions, but it turns out that the antichrist was deceiving and blinkering them. This technique of the antichrist seems quite aboveboard; no one can clearly see what’s really going on, and everyone winds up being misled. Those people who are misled think that what the antichrist is doing is fair and reasonable, that they’re doing it out of concern for the work—but no one can see through to their intent. Antichrists are wicked, aren’t they? Wherever there’s danger, that’s where they make you go, saying to themselves, “Don’t you pursue the truth? And don’t you go up against me? Aren’t you always discerning me and grabbing onto things to use against me? Fine, then: I’ll use this opportunity to whisk you right out of here. It’d be for the best if you got caught—you’ll never get back on your feet again!” It’s certain that most of the people whom antichrists entrap and persecute in the church are those with more of a pursuit. How do antichrists regard these people as they’re being persecuted and excluded? They say to themselves, “These people are always listening to sermons; they understand some truths. I can’t just not let them listen: Sermons go out for everyone to hear, so there’s no way to justify not letting them listen. But say that I do allow them to listen, since a lot of what’s said in those sermons exposes false leaders and antichrists, will it work out well for me if they hear enough, and gain understanding and discernment? I’d end up having to step down from my position as leader sooner or later, wouldn’t I? That won’t do. I’ve got to make the first move.” Once an antichrist has such an intent, they get down to action. Not a handful of people would be able to identify an antichrist if they didn’t understand the truth. Why is it that antichrists can get away with it, while people who pursue the truth are made victims? There’s one reason that’s certainly present: Those people may have some love for the truth and for positive things at heart, and they may have some aspiration to pursue the truth, but they’re just too cowardly. They don’t understand the truth, lack discernment, and are so foolish; they can’t see through to an antichrist’s essence, and they can never bring themselves to expose the antichrist, which lets the antichrist make the first move and do them harm with it. If that’s the result they get or that’s what they come to, how will that have happened? Won’t they have been savaged by the antichrist? (They will.) What lesson should people who pursue the truth take from this? What is the attitude that people should have in terms of how to treat a leader or worker? If what a leader or worker does is right and in line with the truth, then you can obey them; if what they do is wrong and not in line with the truth, then you should not obey them and you can expose them, oppose them and raise a different opinion. If they are unable to do actual work or do evil deeds that cause a disturbance to church work, and are revealed to be a false leader, a false worker, or an antichrist, then you can discern, expose and report them. However, some of God’s chosen people do not understand the truth and are particularly cowardly; they fear being suppressed and tormented by false leaders and antichrists, so they don’t dare uphold principles. They say, “If the leader kicks me out, I’m finished; if he has everyone expose or forsake me, then I will no longer be able to believe in God. If I’m expelled from the church, then God will not want me and will not save me. And won’t my faith have been for nothing?” Is such thinking not ridiculous? Do such people have true faith in God? Would a false leader or antichrist be representing God when they expel you? When a false leader or antichrist torments and expels you, this is the work of Satan, and has nothing to do with God; when people are cleared out or expelled from the church, this is only in line with God’s intentions when there is a joint decision between the church and all of God’s chosen people, and when the clearing out or expulsion is wholly in line with the work arrangements of God’s house and the truth principles of God’s words. How could being expelled by a false leader or antichrist mean you cannot be saved? This is the persecution of Satan and the antichrist, and does not mean that you will not be saved by God. Whether or not you can be saved depends on God. No human being is qualified to decide whether you can be saved by God. You must be clear about this. And to treat your expulsion by a false leader or antichrist as being expelled by God—is this not misinterpreting God? It is. And this is not only misinterpreting God, but also rebelling against God. It is also kind of blasphemous against God. And is misinterpreting God in this way not ignorant and foolish? When a false leader or antichrist expels you, why do you not seek the truth? Why don’t you seek out somebody who understands the truth in order to gain some discernment? And why do you not report this to the higher-ups? This proves that you do not believe that the truth reigns supreme in the house of God, it shows that you do not have true faith in God, that you are not someone who truly believes in God. If you trust in the almightiness of God, why do you fear the retaliation of a false leader or antichrist? Can they determine your fate? If you are capable of discernment, and detect that their actions are at odds with the truth, why not fellowship with God’s chosen people who understand the truth? You have a mouth, so why do you dare not speak up? Why are you so afraid of a false leader or antichrist? This proves that you are a coward, a good-for-nothing, a lackey of Satan. If, when threatened by a false leader or antichrist, you dare not report them to the higher-ups, this shows that you have already been bound by Satan and that you are of one heart with them; is this not following Satan? How could someone like this be one of God’s chosen people? They are scum, pure and simple. All who are of one heart with false leaders and antichrists could never be anything good; they are evildoers. Such people are born to be the devil’s minions—they’re Satan’s lackeys, and they’re beyond redemption. All who dare not expose antichrists when they see them committing evil, who are afraid of offending the antichrists, who even shield and obey them—are they not foolish, ignorant people? If you are fully aware of the truth principles and yet still violate them, and even form alliances and cliques with evil people and antichrists, are you not acting as an accomplice and minion of Satan? So do you not deserve it when you are ultimately handled as an evil person and an accomplice of antichrists? If you believe in God, but instead of following God, you follow the antichrists, acting as one of their minions or accomplices, then are you not digging your own grave, signing your own death warrant? If you believe in God, but instead of submitting to God, you give in to and take shelter in God’s enemies—the antichrists—and the result is that you are manipulated and abused by these antichrists, then you have brought this upon yourself. Do you not deserve it? If you treat the antichrist as your master, as your leader, as a shoulder to lean on, then you are taking refuge in Satan, you are following Satan, which means you have gone astray, and taken the wrong path, and set foot upon the road of no return. What attitude should you have toward antichrists? You should expose them, and do battle with them. If there’s only one or two of you and you’re too weak to face the antichrists alone, you should join forces with several people who understand the truth to report and expose these antichrists, and should keep going until they are cleared out. I have heard that in the past two years, God’s chosen people in some pastoral areas in mainland China united to remove false leaders and antichrists from office; some false leaders and antichrists were even the head of decision-making groups, and yet they were removed by God’s chosen people just the same. God’s chosen people didn’t have to wait for approval from the Above; based on the truth principles, they were able to identify these false leaders and antichrists—who did not do real work, and were always tormenting the brothers and sisters, who were acting wildly and disturbing the work of God’s house—and promptly dealt with them. Some were pushed out of decision-making groups, some were cleared out of the church—which is great! This shows that God’s chosen people have already set foot on the right track of belief in God. Some of God’s chosen people have already understood the truth and are now possessed of a little stature, they are no longer controlled and fooled by Satan, they dare to stand up and do battle with the evil forces of Satan. This also shows that the forces of false leaders and antichrists in the church no longer have the upper hand. So they no longer dare to be so flagrant in their words and actions. As soon as they give their game away, someone will be there to oversee them, discern them, and reject them. That is to say that in the hearts of those who genuinely understand the truth, man’s status, reputation, and power don’t have dominant status. Such people don’t put stock in those things. When someone can proactively seek the truth and fellowship on it, and when they begin to reassess and reflect on the path people who believe in God should walk and how they should treat leaders and workers, and they begin to ponder who it is that people should follow, which behaviors are those of following man and which are those of following God, and then, having groped around for these truths and experienced them over several years, when they have come, without knowing it, to understand some truths and to be discerning—they will then have gained a bit of stature. To be able to seek the truth in all things is to have entered the correct track of belief in God.

It’s a good thing, a good occurrence, for God’s chosen people to be able to discern and reject false leaders and antichrists. Some leaders can’t do real work; all they do is cause disruption and disturbances, such that there’s no tranquility to the life of the church. All the brothers and sisters find them disagreeable, and in the end, they reject them. Is this right of them to do? (It is.) There are others who are chosen as leaders, and at first, the brothers and sisters say, “That’s who we chose, so we need to cooperate with them in their work.” After a while, they turn out to have been the wrong choice: They’re enthusiastic in their belief in God, but they don’t have spiritual understanding. They’re prone to distortions, and are arrogant and self-righteous; they don’t discuss matters with others, and they do nothing according to the principles, but just act recklessly. This leads to security breaches; the church’s brothers and sisters are constantly getting arrested, and the work of the church suffers heavy losses. Not only does the leader not reflect on themselves, but justify themselves, argue in their defense, and deflect responsibility. In the end, the group recalls them from their post. Do you think they handled that situation in the right way? (Yes.) Yes, indeed! And immediately after taking care of that person, they elect someone else, and it’s evident to everyone after a while that this person is much better than that false leader, proving that the group has discernment and has grown. This is the process by which God’s chosen people grow in life. It’s quite normal. Did you think that when people listen to so many years of sermons, they all grow discerning, and make the right choice for every leader and worker—that whomever they choose, that’s who will hold the post? Is that how it goes? (No.) When people don’t understand the truth principles, their focus in choosing a leader is always on picking someone with a nimble mind, someone who’s a good talker, someone gifted. It’s not until that person is shown to be a false leader or antichrist after a time in their post that people begin to develop discernment; after that, they won’t choose such a person again. Who exactly is to be chosen, then, when choosing leaders and workers? There are no set rules. It depends most on whether someone’s a right person and whether they pursue the truth. That said, if someone’s an evil person or antichrist, you must not choose them, whatever sort of person they are. If you do, you’ll be digging a pit for yourself. Isn’t that so? (It is.)

Getting back to the topic we were just on, that of antichrists’ attacking and excluding those who pursue the truth: We’ve basically said what there is to say on that, haven’t we? How do antichrists exclude and attack those who pursue the truth? They often use methods that others see as reasonable and proper, even using debates about the truth to gain leverage, in order to attack, condemn, and mislead other people. For example, an antichrist thinks that if their partners are people who pursue the truth, they can threaten their status, and thus the antichrist will deliver lofty sermons and discuss spiritual theories to mislead people and make people think highly of them. That way they can belittle and suppress their partners and co-workers, and make people feel that although the partners of their leader are people who pursue the truth, they are not their leader’s equal in terms of caliber and ability. Some people even say, “Our leader’s sermons are lofty, and no one can compare.” For an antichrist, hearing that kind of comment is extremely satisfying. They think to themselves, “You’re my partner, don’t you have some truth realities? Why can’t you speak with the eloquence and elevation that I do? You are thoroughly humiliated now. You lack the ability, yet you dare contend with me!” That is what the antichrist is thinking. What is the antichrist’s goal? They’re trying every means possible to suppress, belittle, and put themselves above other people. This is how an antichrist treats everyone who pursues the truth or works with them. Whatever an antichrist does, it’s centered on their own power and status, and meant to win them the esteem and adoration of others. They don’t let anyone surpass them; anyone better than them is bound for their belittlement, exclusion, and suppression. Antichrists have motives and goals behind all of the means they use against those who pursue the truth. Rather than seeking to safeguard the work of God’s house, their purpose is to safeguard their own power and status, as well as their position and image in the hearts of God’s chosen people. Their methods and behaviors are disruptions and disturbances to the work of God’s house, and they also have a destructive effect on church life. Is this not the most common manifestation of an antichrist’s evil deeds? In addition to these evil deeds, antichrists do something even more despicable, which is that they always try to figure out how to gain leverage over those who pursue the truth. For example, if some people have fornicated or committed some other transgression, antichrists seize on these as leverage to attack them, look for opportunities to insult, expose, and slander them, label them to discourage their enthusiasm for performing their duties so that they feel negative. Antichrists also cause God’s chosen people to discriminate against them, shun them, and reject them, so that those who pursue the truth are isolated. In the end, when all those who pursue the truth feel negative and weak, no longer actively perform their duties, and are unwilling to attend gatherings, the goal of antichrists is achieved. Since those who pursue the truth no longer pose a threat to their status and power, and no one dares to report or expose them anymore, antichrists can feel at ease. Those whom an antichrist hates most in the church are people who pursue the truth, especially those with a sense of justice who would dare expose and report a false leader and antichrist. An antichrist views such people as needles in their eyes, as thorns in their side. If they happen to see someone who pursues the truth and willingly performs their duty, spitefulness and enmity arise in their heart, without the least measure of love. An antichrist won’t just not help or support people who pursue the truth, regardless of their difficulties or of how weak and negative they may be—they won’t just brush it aside. Instead, they’ll secretly be happy about it. And if someone had made accusations against them or exposed them, they’ll take the opportunity to kick them when they’re down, charging them with all manner of offenses to teach them a lesson, to condemn them, to leave them with no way forward, and ultimately, to make them so negative that they can’t perform their duty. The antichrist gets proud of themselves then and begins to exult in that person’s misfortune. This sort of thing is what antichrists are best at; excluding, attacking, and condemning those who pursue the truth is their greatest expertise. What do antichrists think that makes them capable of such evil? “If those who pursue the truth often listen to sermons, they may see through my actions one day, and then they will definitely expose me and replace me. While they perform their duties, my status, prestige, and reputation are under threat. It’s better to strike first, find opportunities to seize on leverage to disturb and condemn them, and make them negative, so that they lose any desire to perform their duties. I will also provoke conflicts between the leaders and workers and those who pursue the truth, so that the leaders and workers loathe them, distance themselves from them, and no longer value or promote them. That way, they will no longer have any desire to pursue the truth or perform their duties. It’s best if those who pursue the truth remain negative.” This is the goal that antichrists wish to achieve. When an antichrist or evil person entraps you, condemns you, and humiliates you with their trickery, can you discern what’s happening? Can you see through Satan’s tricks? You must learn to be discerning: “What they said sounded quite right, but why did I come away from it feeling negative? Why don’t I want to perform my duty anymore? Why do I have misgivings about God? Was there a problem with what they said? Why did it have a negative effect? Why did I come away from it with misunderstandings and notions about God, and not wishing to submit anymore? Why don’t I have my prior enthusiasm and resolution to expend myself for God anymore? And I have some misgivings about God’s work, all of a sudden—I feel like my visions aren’t clear. I don’t know what performing my duty like this is for, and I feel like I have nothing to show for the several years I’ve believed in God and the hardships I’ve been through. There’s some darkness in my heart now.” That’s a bit abnormal. Why should hearing words that seem right on the surface lead to such consequences? Don’t you feel there’s something wrong with the words? What sort of words are they, then, that cause such reactions in you when you hear them? What sort of words leave you distrustful of God when you hear them? First of all, one thing’s for sure: All the words of antichrists are misleading; like the serpent, they all seduce people to sin, and to distance themselves from God and reject Him. Not one word of theirs provides for people or helps them. Where do their words come from? From Satan the devil. Are you discerning when it comes to the words antichrists use to attack and condemn those who pursue the truth? The only thing antichrists fear is people pursuing the truth. They’re fearful of people submitting to God, of people rising up to follow God and to take up the duty of created beings; they’re afraid of people coming before God and seeking the truth. This is what they fear the most. This is because once God’s chosen people set foot on the path of pursuing the truth, their growth in life quickens, and as it does, they grow greater and greater in stature—and when the truth reigns in people’s hearts and becomes their life, that will be the antichrists’ last day: They’ll be faced then with being condemned, revealed and eliminated, and utterly abandoned. That’s why what antichrists hate most is those who pursue the truth. In the eyes of an antichrist, those who pursue the truth are hated enemies, targets for their attacks and coercion, as well as for their hatred and abandonment, for their harm and abuse, and, even more so, they are targets to be misled. Antichrists have no way to mislead, control, or ensnare the hearts of those who pursue the truth, and they can’t openly exclude and attack them at random, so all that’s left to them is to say correct and pleasing things, using soft tactics to drag people down to their level. And if those people don’t accompany them and can’t be of use to them, they’ll use all sorts of vile tactics to exclude them, to make them negative and weak, and even to make them no longer willing to perform their duty—and in the end, to leave God. This is one of the primary evil deeds of antichrists, and it’s another distinguishing feature of their nature essence. What feature of their nature is that? Their insidiousness, their cunning, their maliciousness. In order to attain their ambition and goal of reigning in the church, antichrists constantly resort to misleading, excluding, and attacking those who pursue the truth. They do this to attain their unspeakable goal, leaving everyone who pursues the truth negative and weak, tepid in their faith, with misunderstandings of God aroused in them. For once misunderstandings of God and complaints of Him arise in these people, they won’t pursue the truth anymore, nor will they willingly perform their duty—and so, they’ll distance themselves from God. And what does that mean for an antichrist? First off, it means that no one will threaten their position; second, once these positive figures are passive and weak and distance themselves from God, the antichrist can have free rein in the church to mislead and constrain people, and to control God’s chosen people, so that they follow them, support them, and bow in subservience to them. Thus, the antichrist’s goal is achieved. In doing this, are antichrists performing their duty? (No.) What, then, is the character of everything they do? (They’re doing evil.) “Doing evil” is a somewhat broad way of putting it; specifically, they’re disturbing and hindering people, keeping them from walking the path of pursuing the truth and being saved by God. When an antichrist sees someone pursuing the truth, they see red; they hate them. How far does that hatred go? When they see someone pursuing the truth and following Christ, not following or worshiping them and not on the same path as them, they’ll attack, exclude, and suppress that person, with an itch to make that person disappear. That’s how far their hatred goes. In summary, based on these manifestations of antichrists, we may determine that they are not performing the duty of leadership, because they are not leading people in eating and drinking God’s words or fellowshipping about the truth, and they are not watering or sustaining people, allowing them to obtain the truth. Instead, they disrupt and disturb church life, dismantle and destroy the work of the church, and impede people on the path of pursuing the truth and obtaining salvation. They want to lead God’s chosen people astray and cause them to lose the chance to be granted salvation. This is the ultimate goal that antichrists want to achieve by disrupting and disturbing the work of the church.