B. Flaunting Their Strengths So That People Will Worship Them

Aside from using small favors, which we just talked about, what other techniques do antichrists commonly or habitually use to win over people’s hearts? For example, say that everyone has a bad impression of a leader. People think that this leader lacks talent, that they can only speak words and doctrines, and that they have no real understanding of truth. If that leader finds out that people harbor this sort of impression of them, will they do their utmost to hide these faults and flaws? (Yes.) What will they do? What manner of things will they say? Pretending to open up is one aspect of this. What else? (Explaining things away.) Explaining things away also serves as a means of concealment. In addition, the leader may use their strengths and things that others view as great to hide their weaknesses. Is this a common technique? (Yes.) For example, one person says, “I’ve only believed in god for a short time, so why was I chosen as a leader? It’s because I ran a company in the secular world, and our staff have grown from 10 people to 200, which shows I have leadership ability. Though god’s house doesn’t attach importance to such matters, this ability is useful in some situations, right?” After hearing this, others disagree, so this person continues with their performance, saying, “For example, if you talk to your employees, but they don’t listen, what should you do? They will listen to you when you achieve good results. I’ve already laid out my proof: My company has gone public!” At first, some might say that this is a gift, that this is how nonbelievers do things, but there are indeed methods and results to how this person acts, so some people go from doubting them to trusting them, to unknowingly beginning to worship them, little by little, as they act. In addition, this person misleads others, and conceals their own deficiencies; people’s hearts are bought off by them without their knowing it, they are misled by them, and they bow down before them. Is this not a technique? (It is.) What is it? It is doing one’s utmost to flaunt one’s expertise and gifts and boast of one’s abilities and skills. What is the aim of these actions? It is also to win over the hearts of others. In order to win over others’ hearts, aside from giving out some nice things, they also have to make others esteem them. If they were just an ordinary person, or an uneducated person without much schooling, who would esteem them? Therefore, this person intentionally shows off their diplomas, letting people know that they have advanced degrees and advanced academic credentials, and as a result they mislead some people. They do their utmost to flaunt their gifts, expertise, and abilities to make other people have a high opinion and good impression of them, and so that people even frequently think to or have the impulse to solicit their advice while doing things. Isn’t everything they do to attain this goal also a strategy for winning over people’s hearts? These are two manifestations of antichrists winning over people’s hearts. The first is using small favors. The second is flaunting their own abilities and gifts, in other words, the things that make them superior, and using this method to beat out the rest of the pack, so that they stand out from the crowd, and so that everyone esteems them, admires them, willingly comes before them to follow their orders and accept their leadership, and even willingly accepts and obeys all of their arrangements. Is this not a form of psychological attack? (It is.) Winning over others’ hearts is a sort of psychological attack. What is meant by a “psychological attack”? It is a means by which Satan occupies and controls people’s hearts. God scrutinizes the depths of man’s heart. He conquers and gains people’s hearts. So why is the phrase “gain people’s hearts” not used when referring to Satan and antichrists? This is because Satan and antichrists use abnormal and wicked techniques to seize, mislead, draw in, and control people’s hearts, so that people can’t help but develop a high opinion of them and deeply respect and admire them.

We just fellowshipped about two tactics for winning over people’s hearts. What other quintessential tactics are there? If you haven’t experienced the tactics and methods antichrists use to mislead and constrain people, you might look at yourselves to see how you compare. Look at whether you have these manifestations in you. Everyone who lives amid corrupt dispositions possesses these things. Giving out small favors, misleading people, drawing people in—aren’t these things you often do? And doing your utmost to flaunt your gifts and strengths—isn’t that also something you often do? (It is.) In particular, when you do something that goes against the truth, when your weaknesses and faults are exposed, and even when you are pruned and really lose face and every shred of your prestige gets swept away, don’t you do things like using these methods and techniques to remedy the situation and to restore your position and prestige in people’s hearts? (We also do these sorts of things.) When you do these things, do you have any awareness, and feel that this is the wrong path and that you can’t do this? Do you feel self-reproach? Are you often insensate to it, or is it that you have self-reproach, but must do these things anyway, despite yourselves, because your reputation and image are so important to you? Which is it? (We do them despite ourselves.) You do them despite yourselves—well then, do you feel self-reproach? Or do you not feel it at all, but make light of those things once you’ve done them, and go on eating and sleeping as you did before? (We feel self-reproach.) If you feel a bit reproachful of yourselves, then that’s not so bad. It proves that your numbness has only gone so deep—you still possess awareness. People with awareness have hope of being saved; those who are without it have no humanity, so they’re in danger.

C. Using Facades to Mislead People and Win Their Good Opinion

What other techniques do antichrists habitually use to win over people’s hearts? There’s another situation, which is that no matter what antichrists are doing, they don’t do it in front of God, but in front of people. What’s their goal in that? (To draw people in.) It’s to draw in people’s hearts. On the surface, they’re more willing to suffer and pay a price than others; they seem more spiritual than others, more loyal to God, and more serious about their duty. But when there’s no one there to watch them, that’s not how they act. It’s not their true intention to act that way; rather, they have an ulterior motive. They behave that way in front of others so those people will see how good they’re acting, and that they’re doing their duties with such loyalty, when in fact loyalty is absolutely not their inner motivation. Their aim is to get people to see them as loyal and responsible. They utterly convince others by paying a price in this way. Consequently, other people are willing to accept their leadership, and to forgive them no matter what mistakes they make. What sort of behavior is this? This is using facades to mislead people. What does “facades” mean here? It means good behaviors, and actions that appear to be in line with the truth. Using facades that appear to be in line with the truth to mislead people and win their good opinion—this sums up the characteristics of this behavior, does it not? Their goal is to ultimately win people’s good opinion. Once people have a good opinion of antichrists, they feel some respect for them—antichrists will have occupied a certain position in their hearts using this method. For example, there is a sort of person who is willing to pay a price in their performance of their duty, mostly relies on experience in their actions, and basically does not violate any of the major principles, but when you fellowship with them about seeking the truth principles, what do they say? “There’s no need to fellowship about this with me. I have these things all in mind!” When they really do encounter a problem, not only do they not seek, they also refuse to listen to anyone else’s advice, let alone their opinions; they just do whatever they think is good. When they pay a price, when their actions make them appear swift and decisive and possessed of certain authority, how do other people view them in their hearts? Do they have a good opinion of them, or not? From the perspective of other people, they have not violated the truth in any obvious ways, and they’re very skilled in how they do things. Their level of “loyalty” and their experience in doing their duties are sufficient to convince others. People think, “Look at them: They’ve believed in God for many years, and they’ve got experience doing this duty. They’re seasoned. We couldn’t do that.” When people hold such a positive view of them, do they carry a lot or a little weight in those people’s hearts? (A lot.) A lot; they carry weight in their hearts. Some people never seek the truth, in part because they lack spiritual understanding, and in part because they have no interest in the truth, and do not love the truth at all, and have absolutely no understanding of what the truth principles are. They rely purely on their passing enthusiasm, their own good intentions, and their years of experience to do their duties. However, they do not wish to let other people know these things, so they do their utmost to put forth great effort and pay a price. If anyone discovers that they lack spiritual understanding, or that they don’t understand the truth, and do things without principles, they quickly produce some achievements for people to see. They say, “Look and see whether or not I really do have spiritual understanding. Take a look; see whether or not I really do act with principles, whether I really do understand the truth.” As they act like this, a fair number of people get misled by them. They say, “Those people are experienced at doing their duties, and understand the principles; we’re the ones who don’t understand.” “We’re the ones who don’t understand”—what does this statement reveal? It reveals that deep down, they approve of those people’s external good behavior. What is this approval equivalent to? It is equivalent to thinking that they are people who practice the truth, who love God, and who receive God’s perfection of them. Isn’t others evaluating them in such a way tantamount to them occupying a certain position in people’s hearts? More specifically, it can be said that they have a kind of prestige. So what does this prestige bring them? It makes others look up to them, esteem them, and even depend on them. How do others depend on them? As soon as they have a problem, they immediately seek them out. Suppose that someone says, “This is a major issue, and we don’t understand it; we should ask the Above, shouldn’t we?” Some will then say, “There’s no need. We can just ask our leader. Our leader understands it all.” Everyone has it in their head that leaders and workers are busy with their work most of the time and haven’t done evil, and consequently think they’re definitely people who understand the truth and act with principles. What do you make of this sentiment? If someone hasn’t outwardly done evil, does that mean they understand the truth? Not necessarily. There’s a limit to any person’s understanding of the truth. If you, believing that leaders understand everything, don’t pray to God, seek from Him, or seek within His words, regardless of what problem you have, but go straight to a leader to ask about it, won’t this delay things? If you’re always doing what leaders say, always looking up to them, then some things might go wrong, and you may well bring losses upon the work of the church. This is why worshiping and looking up to people is the easiest way to go astray and make mistakes, to bring about a loss to your own life, and to God’s house and the work of the church.

There are three main manifestations of antichrists winning over people’s hearts: The first is using small favors to draw people in; the second is flaunting their strengths, gifts, and talents; the third is using facades to mislead people and win their good opinion. These manifestations can be found in everyone. Some people often reveal some pieces of gossip that other people don’t know about, talk about all kinds of topics, or share some unique, expert opinions. What is this called? There’s a two-part saying that goes: “An old lady puts on lipstick—to give you something to look at.” These people always want to exhibit their skills and win people’s esteem. Sometimes, however, they don’t do a good job of this, and people see flaws in them, so they consequently do everything they can to remedy the situation and argue their way out of it. No matter what things they have done that go against their conscience and the truth, or that are unrelated to doing their duties, they never know to admit fault or reflect upon themselves and repent, nor do they ever realize how serious this issue is. On the contrary, they think hard and rack their brains for ways to argue on their own behalf and smooth things over. They burn with impatience to achieve their goals, to the point that they even cannot eat or sleep, afraid that their good standing in the eyes of others might suffer a sudden and devastating decline. Some people, for instance, think that their writing is good, that they’re skilled writers; some think that they’re good leaders, that they’re the pillars supporting the church; others think that they’re good people. As soon as these people lose their good self-image for some reason or another, they invest a lot of thought and pay a price for its sake, racking their brains trying to remedy the situation. Yet they never feel shame, or self-reproach, or indebted to God for the wrong paths they’ve taken, or for the various things they’ve done that went against the truth. They never have that sort of feeling. They use all manner of tactics to mislead people and win over their hearts. Is this doing the duty of a created being? Absolutely not. Is that the work church leaders should be doing? Absolutely not. They’re living by satanic dispositions, doing evil and disturbing the work of the church, and disrupting and disturbing the work of God’s house. Judging based on their actions and behaviors, the paths they take, and their various behaviors that mislead people and control them, they’re not doing the duty of a leader, but dismantling and disrupting God’s work of saving man, stopping people from coming before God, and attempting to keep people in their own hands, under their control. Are these not the actions and behaviors of an antichrist? There’s no doubt about it. This is proof enough that antichrists play the role of Satan to a tee. Judging by the nature of these things which they do, they’re not just failing to do well the duty they should do—on the contrary they’re playing the role of Satan. All that they do is absolutely vying with God for His chosen people. Sheep that are God’s should follow God and be gained by Him, yet these people stop others from following God; they take God’s sheep into their own hands and control them, and make people worship and follow them. That’s the nature of their actions. Can such people be called “leaders”? (No.) What should we call them, then? (Evil servants.) “Evil servants”—that’s a fitting name. “Antichrists,” “evil servants”—both of these titles will do, won’t they? These people fly the banner of doing the duty of a leader, but they don’t do what a leader ought to. What they do is not at all the performance of a leader’s duty, it’s playing the role of an antichrist, standing in for Satan to disturb and destroy the work of God’s house, and misleading God’s chosen people into shunning the true way and shunning God. All their actions and behaviors reveal the disposition and nature of Satan, and achieve the result of making people shun God, reject the truth and God, and worship and follow them. One day, when they have completely misled people and brought them under their control, people will begin to worship, follow, and obey them. They’ll then have achieved their goal in ensnaring people’s hearts. They’re church leaders, but they don’t do the work God has entrusted to them; they don’t do the work of leaders and workers. Instead, they act upon God’s chosen people, misleading them, ensnaring them, and controlling them, taking sheep that clearly belong to God into their own hands, under their control. Are they not thieves and bandits? In vying as they do with God for His chosen people, are they not serving as Satan’s lackeys? Are such antichrists not God’s enemies? Are they not the enemies of His chosen people? (They are.) They one hundred percent are. They’re enemies of God and His chosen people; this is beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Back when I was speaking and working in all the churches in mainland China, I had someone with Me who was responsible for audio recordings and transcribing sermons. This person was somewhat gifted, he had a sharp mind and fast responses. But there was this one thing about him: He was excellent at saying pleasant-sounding things that people wanted to hear. If you said something tasted nice, he’d say, “You’re right. I’ve tried it. It’s great.” If you said it was hot out, he’d say, “It sure is. I’m all sweaty.” If you said it was cold out, he’d say, “It’s cold, alright. I’ve got fleece-lined shoes on.” He was hard-pressed to say something true or honest. He seemed like someone who really pursued, but when something came up that required a price to be paid, he hid. He was sneaky and deceitful. That’s the sort of person he was. Some may ask, “Well, why’d You choose a person like that?” I didn’t choose him—it was decided by the circumstances at the time. It was even hard to find someone like him back then, and at least he had quick responses—he’d hit “record” whenever I started to speak. He followed Me all over the place, recording and transcribing sermons; he did some real work. But the way he behaved in My presence and the things he did in the church were like the actions of two entirely different people. In My presence, he acted obedient, well-behaved, and diligent, conscientious, and responsible—but was he like that when he did his duty in the church? Given that that’s how he was when he was in contact with the Above, was he also like that when he was among God’s chosen people? Would you dare offer a sure answer on this? No, you wouldn’t. So how, then, could you know what his real situation was? To do that, you’d have to be in contact with him. After you interact with him for a while, everything in his nature essence would then emerge. He especially loved status, and was particularly vain; whenever he was with anyone, he really loved to talk about his capital, and to flaunt the things he could do, the things he had done, how much he had suffered, and how great he was. He did these things and talked like this very frequently, and was a completely different person compared to when I was around. In addition, anyone who was around him felt constrained and bullied, and didn’t dare say anything about it. What was the biggest problem here? He took this bit of work he was doing, this bit of a duty he was doing, and treated it as capital to flaunt wherever he went. To what degree did he flaunt it? Everyone looked up to, worshiped, and envied him. Finally, they said, “This guy has suffered so much for God’s sake. Just look at the faith he has, and the love he has for God! We can’t even compare to a single hair on his head. We are so inferior to him!” He was always being mentioned by people, and those who could not meet Me thought that meeting him was as good as meeting Me. The influence he had on people’s knowledge, thoughts, and minds eventually reached this level. To get to this point, he must have said and done quite a few things, right? He certainly didn’t just use a few words to mention what duties he had done, he certainly spoke and talked about these things at length; moreover, he had his own motives and objectives, he said some things that could seduce and mislead people, making people worship him, and in the end he achieved his goal. What do you think about this sort of person? Him getting to do his duty by My side was a good thing for him, whether in terms of him learning how to conduct himself or gaining the truth. It was an opportunity for him to be made perfect early. Sadly, he did not cherish this opportunity. He did not see how precious and vital this opportunity was, nor that it was a path, foundation, and source for gaining the truth and attaining knowledge of God. Instead, he used this opportunity to achieve his own goal of standing out from the masses and winning over people’s hearts. That spelled trouble; he was walking the wrong path. Tell Me, as he was so wantonly spreading word of how much he’d suffered, of how God guided him, and how God treated him, and how God trusted him, was he able to recognize that there was a personal intent within this? (Yes.) He should have been able to. It was not something that was impossible to recognize. He could recognize it—so why was he unable to curb his evil deeds? Because he didn’t love the truth; he only liked influence and status. When a person who really loves the truth reveals corruption, when they’re testifying to how they’ve suffered, they feel reproachful and accusatory toward themselves. They feel that it was vile of them to do that, resistant against God, and that they must not do it again. When they want to do it again in the future, they’re able to restrain themselves and put a stop to their doing such things. That’s quite normal. But at such times, even if their conscience rebukes them, antichrists can’t control their ambition and desire, and even if they’re pruned, they won’t accept the truth. Why does their nature swell up and expand irretrievably? (Because they don’t love the truth.) In their nature, they don’t love the truth. What do they love, then? (They love status.) What will status bring them? It will make people worship them, esteem them, and envy them. Ultimately, their goal is to enjoy the same status and treatment as God, as well as the honor, happiness, and joy that this status brings to them. After listening to everything I’ve just said, don’t you feel disgusted? (Yes.) There was something else that person did that was more disgusting. Later on, he got sick and returned to his hometown, and that made him feel even more that he deserved to enjoy the benefits of status. How do you think he would act while under the control of this thought? Wouldn’t he demand that people give him even more, better treatment? (Yes.) Why did he demand this? Did he not feel it to be excessive or unreasonable? He felt he deserved it. He thought, “I have suffered a great deal for god’s sake, and for the sake of my brothers and sisters. I have the right to this; I grew ill because I suffered so much, so my brothers and sisters must serve me.” While he was sick, he did not lift a finger; he just lay in bed all day, making others tend to him and feed him. After he had lain there for a long time, he began to grow bored, so he made people bring food and drink and go out with him to relieve his boredom. This is quite disgusting, is it not? If he had genuinely been that sick, it would not have been such a big deal; if he hadn’t been that sick, then surely his behavior was too lacking in reason, right?

Some people seem quite enthusiastic in their belief in God. They love to attend to and concern themselves with the affairs of the church, and they’re always running ahead. And yet, unexpectedly, they disappoint everyone once they become leaders. They don’t focus on resolving the practical problems of God’s chosen people, instead doing their utmost to act for the sake of their own reputation and status. They love showing off to make others esteem them, and they’re always talking about how they expend themselves and suffer for God, yet they don’t put their efforts into pursuing the truth and their life entry. This isn’t what anyone expects of them. Though they busy themselves with their work, show off on every occasion, preach some words and doctrines, gain the esteem and worship of some people, mislead people’s hearts, and consolidate their status, what comes of this in the end? Regardless of whether these people use small favors to bribe others, or flaunt their gifts and abilities, or use various methods to mislead people and thereby win their good opinion, no matter what method they use to win over people’s hearts and occupy a position therein, what have they lost? They have lost the opportunity to gain the truth while doing the duties of a leader. At the same time, because of their various manifestations, they have also accumulated evil deeds that will bring about their ultimate outcome. Regardless of whether they are using small favors to bribe and ensnare people, or flaunting themselves, or using facades to mislead people, and no matter how many benefits and how much satisfaction they outwardly seem to obtain from doing this, looking at it now, is this path a correct one? Is it the path of pursuing the truth? Is it a path that can bring about one’s salvation? Clearly, it is not. Regardless of how smart these methods and tricks are, they cannot deceive God, and they are all ultimately condemned and loathed by God, because hidden behind such behaviors is man’s ambition and an attitude and essence of antagonism toward God. In God’s heart, He would absolutely never recognize these people as those who are doing their duties, and would instead define them as evildoers. What verdict does God pass when dealing with evildoers? “Depart from Me, you that work iniquity!” When God says, “Depart from Me,” where does He want such people to go? He is handing them over to Satan, to the places inhabited by throngs of Satans. What is the ultimate consequence for them? They are tormented to death by evil spirits, which is to say they are devoured by Satan. God does not want these people, which means He will not save them, they are not God’s sheep, let alone His followers, so they are not among the ones He will save. This is how these people are defined by God. So, just what is the nature of trying to win over the hearts of others? It is walking the path of an antichrist; it is an antichrist’s behavior and essence. Even more serious is an essence of vying against God for His chosen people; such people are enemies of God. This is how antichrists are defined and categorized, and it is completely accurate.

January 22, 2019