A Dissection of How Antichrists Have Others Submit Only to Them, Not the Truth or God

III. A Dissection of Antichrists Prohibiting Others From Intervening, Making Inquiries, or Supervising Them in Their Work

Continuing from the topic of our last fellowship is the eighth item among the various ways that antichrists manifest: They would have others submit only to them, not the truth or God. We’ve split this item into four subsections. Two, we discussed in our last gathering: The first was that they are unable to cooperate with anyone; the second was that they have the desire and ambition to control and conquer people. What’s the third? Prohibiting others from intervening, making inquiries, or supervising them in any work they’ve taken on. What might any work they’ve taken on include? It includes any work program that a leader or worker may be responsible for, as well as the work that a group supervisor or a group leader may be responsible for; it may also be professional work in some area, or a single person’s work. This person who’s taken on any work may be a leader or worker, or they may be an ordinary brother or sister. If they prohibit others from intervening, making inquiries, or supervising them, what state is it that they’re in? What behaviors are related to this prohibition? This is another behavior that falls amid the eighth manifestation of antichrists, another revelation of their essence. In duty of each sort, there’s some work that’s professional, and there’s some that directly involves life entry. Professional work involves all aspects of such things as technique, knowledge, learning, and staffing. These are all included in it. Some people, having taken on a job, begin to work on it by themselves. They don’t discuss it with others, and when they have difficulties, they don’t want to seek others’ input; they only want to be the sole arbiters and have the final say. Other people may offer their ideas and input, hoping to help them a bit—but do they accept it? (No.) No, they can’t. What sort of disposition is that? What disposition is governing them, that they’d prohibit others from intervening in, making inquiries about, or supervising their performance of duty? They believe, “I know about this line of work, and I know the theory. The church has tasked me with this work. So, I’ll do it on my own.” They often claim that they understand the profession and that they are an insider to justify refusing to disclose any work-related information or work progress to others. They don’t even want to let others know about blunders, mistakes, or mishaps that come up in the work. Once someone else learns of such a thing and wants to make inquiries, get involved, or find out more, they refuse to answer, but say, “Things inside the scope of my work are my turf. You have no right to make inquiries. The church didn’t task you with this—it tasked me, and I have to keep it in confidence.” Is that a reasonable justification? Is it right of them to “keep it in confidence”? (No.) Why not? Would it constitute a breach of information to fellowship with others about the state of the work, blunders and problems that have come up in it, and its plan and direction? (No.) It doesn’t, except with some particular details that would constitute a safety hazard for the church if they were to come out, and would be inappropriate to tell others. In such cases, it’s fine not to say them. But if they’re using their confidence as a justification, and won’t let others know anything that falls within the scope of their work, and resist and refuse inquiries, questioning, or solicitations, from ordinary brothers and sisters and leaders and workers alike, what’s the problem there, then? They may want to do something a certain way, for instance. Someone else says to them, “If you do it like that, it will incur a loss to the interests of God’s house, and you’ll go off course. How about we do it like this instead?” They think to themselves, “If I do it like you say, that’ll show others that my way’s no good, won’t it? And then the credit for the work will go to you, won’t it? That won’t do; I’d rather go off course than go along with your way. I have to stick to my way. I don’t care if it incurs a loss to the interests of god’s house; it’s my reputation and status that matter—it’s my prestige that matters!” Even if what they do is wrong, then they’ll just be wrong, and won’t allow anyone to intervene. Is that not an antichrist’s disposition? (It is.) What is the essence of not allowing others to intervene? It’s engaging in one’s own enterprise. The interests of God’s house aren’t what’s important to them, and its work isn’t their focus. They don’t work by that principle. Instead, they work with their focus on their personal interests and their status and prestige; the work and the interests of God’s house must serve their own status and their own interests. That’s why they don’t let others intervene in or make inquiries into their work. They believe that as soon as someone intervenes in their work, their status and interests will come under threat, that their shortcomings and deficiencies, as well as the problems and aberrations in their work, are liable to be exposed. So, they’re dead set on prohibiting others from intervening in their work, and they don’t accept the cooperation or supervision of anyone else.

Whatever work an antichrist is engaged in, they’re afraid of the Above learning more about it and making inquiries. If the Above does make inquiries about the state of the work or of staffing, they’ll just give a perfunctory account of a few trivialities, a few things that they believe it’s fine for the Above to know, for which no consequences would come of their knowing. If the Above presses inquiries about the rest of it, they’ll believe that they’re meddling in their duty and in their “internal affairs.” They won’t say any more to them, but will play dumb, deceiving and covering things up. Are they not refusing the supervision of God’s house? (They are.) And what will they do if someone uncovers a problem of theirs and is going to expose them and report it to the Above? They’ll block it, intercept it—they’ll even make threats: “If you say this and it leads to us getting pruned by the above, the blame lies with you. If anyone’s to be pruned, it’ll be you!” Are they not trying to establish an independent kingdom? (They are.) They won’t even let the Above make inquiries, and no one has the right to know about things that fall within the scope of their work or to question them about those things, much less to make recommendations. If they’ve gotten their hands on a work program, then they alone can have the final say about matters that fall within the scope of that work; only they can arbitrate; only they can act and speak as they please, and however they act, they have a justification for it. What course of action do they employ once someone makes inquiries? Perfunctoriness and cover-ups. And what else? (Deception.) That’s right: deception—they’ll even present you with a false front. In some church, for instance, a leader or gospel deacon may clearly have gained just three people in the church they are responsible for in the space of a month, substantially fewer than at other churches. They feel there’s no way to give an account of that to the Above—so, what do they do? When they give a report on their work, they add a zero after that three and say they’ve gained thirty people. Someone else learns of this and questions them: “Isn’t that deception?” “Deception?” they say. “Why, it’ll be fine once we gain thirty people next month to make up for it, won’t it?” For this, they have a justification. Should someone else take the matter seriously and wish to report the facts to the Above, they believe that person is making trouble for them, that they have it out for them. So, they’ll suppress them and take care of them—they’ll make trouble for them. In this, are they not punishing people? Are they not doing evil? They never seek the truth principles in their work, so what’s their goal in doing work? It’s about securing their status and livelihood. Whatever bad things they do, they don’t tell people the intent and motive for what they do. They must keep those strictly confidential; those things are classified information to them. What’s the most sensitive topic for people like this? It’s when you ask them, “What have you been doing recently? Has your performance of your duty yielded any results? Have there been any disruptions or disturbances in the area covered by your work? How did you handle them? Are you where you ought to be with your work? Have you been doing your duty loyally? Have the work decisions you’ve made incurred losses to the interests of God’s house? Have leaders who aren’t qualified been replaced? Have people of good caliber who are relatively truth-pursuing been promoted and nurtured? Have you suppressed people who’ve been insubordinate to you? What knowledge do you have of your corrupt disposition? What sort of person are you?” These are the topics that are most sensitive to them. Being asked these questions is what they’re most afraid of, so, instead of waiting for you to ask them, they’ll rush to find another topic with which to cover them up. They’d like to misguide you by all means, keeping you from knowing what this situation actually is, as it stands. They’re always keeping you in the dark, always keeping you from knowing how far they’ve actually gotten with their work. There’s not a bit of transparency there. Do such people have true faith in God? Do they have fear of God? No. They never proactively report on the work, nor do they proactively report on mishaps in their work; they never ask, seek, or open up about the challenges and confusion they’ve encountered in their work, but go so far as to cover those things up, hoodwinking and deceiving others. There’s no transparency at all in their work, and it’s only when the Above presses them to give a factual report and account that they’ll reluctantly say a bit. They’d rather die than speak about any issues that involve their reputation and status—they’d die before offering a single word on that. Instead, they pretend not to have understood. Is that not an antichrist’s disposition? What sort of person is this? Is this sort of problem resolved easily? If the Above should give them guidance in their work, what’s their attitude toward that? Perfunctoriness. They appear to assent, and they’ll even take out a notebook or computer and vigorously take notes—but once they have, will they then have understood the guidance and get to work? (No.) They’re posturing for you to see, putting on a show to mislead you. What are they really thinking? “Since this work has been given to me to do, what I say goes. No one can meddle with what I want to do. ‘Local officials have more control than state officials,’ so I have this right. If that’s not so, don’t have me handle it. Fire me.” This is what they think, and this is how they act. What disposition is that? Is that not an antichrist’s disposition? (It is.) This means trouble. You’re not allowed to intervene or make inquiries, nor to probe and ask questions. They’re quite sensitive to that. They think, “Is this the above trying to check on my problems and check on my work? Who spilled the beans?” In a panic, they make a concerted effort to figure out just who it was who compromised them. In the end, their doubts narrow down to two people, and they send them packing. What problem is this? It’s the disposition of an antichrist.

What is the main hallmark of an antichrist’s disposition? Holding onto status and controlling others. They gain status in order to control others. So long as they have status, they’ll legitimately get people under their control. Why do I say they’ll do so legitimately? Because their job was assigned to them by God’s house; they were chosen by the brothers and sisters to do it. Won’t they thus feel that they’re legitimate in doing it? (Yes.) So, this comes to serve them as something to capitalize on, with this in mind: “You chose me, didn’t you? If you chose me, you have to trust me. There’s that saying of nonbelievers: ‘Neither doubt those you employ nor employ those you doubt.’” Here, they even employ a satanic maxim. Is this saying the truth? (No.) It’s satanic heresy and fallacy. If you make inquiries about their work, they’ll come out with such a theory: “‘Neither doubt those you employ nor employ those you doubt.’ If you use me, you can’t suspect me. If you don’t know what kind of person I am, if you can’t see through me, then don’t use me. But you are using me, and given that that’s so, I have to stand firm in this position. What I say must go.” What they say must go in all work affairs; it won’t work not to let them, or to find a partner for them, or to have others supervising and guiding them. If someone comes to check up on their work, they just say no—they feel that they’ve done nothing wrong and don’t need to be checked on. By rights, they exploit their status and authority to take control of others, of the worksite, and of the work of the church. Are they not establishing an independent kingdom? Is this not an antichrist? God’s house may have them do this work and perform this duty, but it wouldn’t have them wield power as a dictator. Hasn’t such a person misunderstood God’s intention and the arrangements of His house? Why are they always grasping for status and power instead of doing their duty well? (They’re governed by an antichrist’s disposition.) That’s right—such is the disposition of an antichrist. Why do they misunderstand it when the church arranges work for them? Because they intrinsically like to control people. That’s their nature essence—it’s what they are. Arrange work for them, and they’ll feel they now have power and status, and thus have control over their turf. If you go to their turf, you have to do what they say. For instance, God’s house once arranged for a leader to go check on an antichrist’s work. That leader and the antichrist were both church leaders; they were of the same rank. The antichrist said, “You’re a church leader, and I’m a church leader. We’re the same rank. You don’t meddle with me, and I won’t meddle with you. Don’t fellowship with me—you’re in no position to! And you’d like to ask about how things are going at our church—did the above instruct you to? Show me the evidence.” The leader said, “The Above just had me convey a message. Go ask if you don’t believe me.” The antichrist said, “Then what gives you the right to fellowship with me and make accusations against me? What gives you the right to make inquiries about things that fall under my work? You have no standing to do so!” Do these words accord with the truth? (No.) What manner of action is it? One that only an antichrist would do. There’s a saying among the nonbelievers: “Might makes right.” They compete to see whose rank is higher, whose force is greater, who’s more competent. They compete to see who’s in charge of more people. And in God’s house, antichrists compete with others to see these same things. Have they not come to the wrong place? Will a person who possesses corrupt dispositions, but isn’t an antichrist, ordinarily think in this way when they encounter a church leader of the same rank as them? They will reveal something, but they’ll be able to fellowship with that church leader normally. They absolutely won’t say, “Are you in a position to make inquiries about my work?” They won’t say that, because they’re of normal reason, and they have a God-fearing heart. How will someone with normal reason behave? They’ll think, “To have us lead the church—that’s God raising us up; it’s His commission, and it’s our duty. If God hadn’t commissioned us to do this, we’d be nothing. It’s not some sort of official posting. I can fellowship with you about the church’s work, and how things are going with the brothers and sisters, and my work experience.” Will an antichrist fellowship with others about these things? No—they absolutely won’t reveal them. This is why one feature of antichrists is a desire for status and power that surpasses that of ordinary people, and it’s why beyond that, they’re more cunning and insidious than ordinary people. Where do their cunning and insidiousness manifest? (They don’t say anything to you. They don’t tell you anything directly.) It’s that they feel that every matter is a secret, something they shouldn’t speak to others about. In every matter, they’re guarded against others; they keep everything wrapped up, covered, and concealed. Can they then have normal interaction and communication in their dealings with others? Can they say anything from the heart? No. They just offer a few superficial platitudes and pleasant words, to keep you from gauging the underlying situation. After you’ve been in contact with them for a while, you’ll feel, “By appearances, this person doesn’t seem to be evil, but why do I always feel like their heart is so far from other people? Why is it always so awkward to be in contact with them? I’m always getting the feeling that they’re unfathomable.” Do you have that feeling? (Yes.) That’s an antichrist’s disposition: They’re guarded against everyone. And why are they guarded? Because as they see it, anyone is liable to pose a threat to their status. If they’re not careful, if they let down their guard, they may allow others to know what’s really going on with them, their real self—and their status will then be untenable. So, when they come up against someone asking after the state of their work and their duty, or asking after their personal state, they’ll cover up what they can and wrap up what they can. What they can’t wrap up, they’ll find a way to smooth over, or they’ll hide themselves from you. Some antichrists have a bizarre disposition: Though they live among others, you won’t see them having normal interactions with anyone, and they have no normal communications with others. Every day, they keep to themselves, appearing at mealtime and vanishing again afterward. They’re always doing a disappearing act. Why don’t they interact with others? They’ll say anything to their family, so why don’t they have anything to say to the brothers and sisters? The nonbelievers have a saying: “He who talks a lot errs a lot.” Such people are committed to this tenet; they won’t let themselves speak carelessly, as something they say may well give away their game, exposing a weakness of theirs. There’s no telling which word might make others look down on them and let others know what’s really going on with them, so they do all they can to evade others. Is this evasiveness of theirs unintentional, or is there something inside it that governs it? There’s something there, governing it. Is that thing just and honorable, or is it shady? (It’s shady.) Of course it’s shady. This isn’t the only way that antichrists behave—most of the time, they don’t communicate or interact normally with others; sometimes, though, they’re very articulate and able to speak—but what things do they talk about? What’s their content? They preach the words and doctrines, showing themselves off. They say they can do actual work and solve actual problems, when in fact, they don’t have any real skills. Ask them what deficiencies they have, whether they have an arrogant disposition, and they’ll say, “Who among corrupt mankind isn’t arrogant?” Look there—even their arrogance has its basis. It includes everyone inside it, as if their arrogance were quite proper. They’ll never seek the truth, and they seem not to perceive that there are any problems or difficulties in the work. And you won’t suss out the real situation by asking them. When they’ve got nothing to do, they’ll just sit there silent, and whenever they’re speaking, they will be talking about their qualifications. They never open up; they never say what rebelliousness or extravagant desires are inside them, or how they try to strike deals with God, or to whom they’ve told a lie, or what their ambitions are in doing work. They never raise these issues, and when others do, they’re uninterested. Even with questions that touch on things within the scope of their work, they’ll just speak a bit in a cursory way. In brief, anyone who comes into contact with them, for any length of time, will have great difficulty if they wish to learn more about anything within the scope of their duty, be it related to personnel, professional practice, or the work’s progress. Whatever the angle of your approach—whether you try to slip your question in obliquely, or ask it directly, or pose it to someone close to them—you won’t get results easily. It’s so laborious. Isn’t that insidious? (Yes.) Why is it so laborious to get any information about things as they are from them? Why do they keep things wrapped up so tightly? What’s their goal? They want to stay secure in their status and livelihood. They believe, “It was no easy thing to get this status, to get to where I am today—wouldn’t it mean trouble for me if I were to make a fool of myself by making a mistake in a moment’s carelessness? And besides, if god’s house knew the bad things I’ve done, who’s to say whether they’d handle me?” However much you talk about being open, and being an honest person, and doing a duty loyally, will it get through to them? No, it won’t. For them, there’s only one credo: Loose lips sink ships. If you tell others everything, you’re incompetent—a good-for-nothing! That’s their credo. Such is the disposition of antichrists.

Whatever work an antichrist is doing, they prohibit others from intervening or making inquiries, and more still they prohibit God’s house from supervising them. What’s their goal in doing this? They mainly wish to control God’s chosen people, to secure their status and their power, which means that they’re securing their livelihood. That’s their main goal. If you are a leader or worker, are you afraid of the house of God making inquiries about and supervising your work? Are you afraid that the house of God will discover lapses and mistakes in your work and prune you? Are you afraid that after the Above gets to know your real caliber and stature, they will see you in a different light and not consider you for promotion? If you have these fears, this proves that your motivations are not for the sake of church work, you are working for the sake of reputation and status, which proves that you have the disposition of an antichrist. If you have the disposition of an antichrist, you are liable to walk the path of antichrists, and commit all the evil wrought by antichrists. If, in your heart, you have no fear of God’s house supervising your work, and you are able to provide real answers to the questions and inquiries of the Above, without hiding anything, and say as much as you know, then regardless of whether what you say is right or wrong, irrespective of the corruption you revealed—even if you revealed the disposition of an antichrist—you will absolutely not be defined as an antichrist. What’s key is whether you are able to know your own disposition of an antichrist, and whether you are able to seek the truth in order to solve this problem. If you are someone who accepts the truth, your antichrist’s disposition can be fixed. If you know full well that you have the disposition of an antichrist and yet do not seek the truth to resolve it, if you even try to conceal or lie about problems that occur and shirk responsibility, and if you do not accept the truth when subjected to pruning, then this is a serious problem, and you are no different from an antichrist. Knowing that you have the disposition of an antichrist, why do you not dare face it? Why can you not approach it frankly and say, “If the Above inquires about my work, I’ll say all I know, and even if the bad things I’ve done come to light, and the Above no longer makes use of me once they know, and I lose my status, I’ll still say clearly what I have to say”? Your fear of supervision of and inquiries after your work by God’s house proves that you treasure your status more than the truth. Is this not the disposition of an antichrist? To cherish status above all is the disposition of an antichrist. Why do you treasure status so much? What benefits can you get from status? If status brought you disaster, difficulties, embarrassment, and pain, would you still treasure it? (No.) There are so many benefits that come from having status, things like envy, respect, esteem, and flattery from other people, as well as their admiration and reverence. There is also the sense of superiority and privilege that your status brings you, which gives you pride and a sense of self-worth. In addition, you can also enjoy things that others do not, such as the benefits of status and special treatment. These are the things you dare not even think of, and are what you have longed for in your dreams. Do you treasure these things? If status is merely hollow, with no real significance, and defending it serves no real purpose, is it not foolish to treasure it? If you can let go of things such as interests and enjoyments of the flesh, then fame, gain, and status will no longer tie you down. So, what has to be resolved before resolving issues related to treasuring and pursuing status? First, see through to the nature of the problem of doing evil and engaging in trickery, concealment, and covering up, as well as declining the supervision, inquiries, and investigation of God’s house, in order to enjoy the benefits of status. Isn’t this blatant resistance and opposition against God? If you can see through to the nature and consequences of coveting the benefits of status, the problem of pursuing status will be resolved. If you can’t see through to the essence of coveting the benefits of status, this problem will never be resolved.

Do you partner up to do work and perform your duties? Do you accept supervision? Have you done anything to keep others from intervening or making inquiries? If someone makes inquiries, do you then resist them and say, “Who do you think you are, interfering in my business? I’m a rank higher than you in status, and my say goes in my work. The Above hasn’t made inquiries, so what gives you the right?” Anything like that? What’s the main disposition of antichrists? Occupying status and grasping for power; not doing anything that benefits the work of God’s house, anything that comes out of consideration for its interests, but being perfunctory and deceptive, and going through the motions. They seem from the outside to be quite energetically busy at their tasks, but look at the things they do, which first, make no progress; second, are inefficient; and third, don’t have much of an effect—they’re made into a total mess. There’s only one thing they don’t let go of, and that’s making use of the opportunity their job presents to grab hold of power and not let go. They’re fine so long as they have power. Whatever job they’re doing, whether it has to do with a profession, with external affairs, with technical skill, or with other aspects, there’s no transparency to it, across the board. Is this lack of transparency unintentional? No—what’s unintentional isn’t dispositional, but has to do with a lack of caliber and not knowing how to do the work. Why, then, do I say that this disposition is the disposition of an antichrist? They’re acting intentionally. They have an intent inside them: They consciously keep you from knowing these things, and consciously hide from you and avoid seeing you. They minimize their speech and communication with you; they minimize their exchanges with you. They minimize their exposure of these things, so that you won’t always be blaming them and making inquiries of them, so that you won’t know too much about what’s really going on, so that you won’t perceive their true face. Is that not intentional? Isn’t there an intent in it? What is their intent and goal? They wish to trick you, to bluff their way through; they give you a false impression and keep you from knowing how things really are. In that way, they’ll have secured their status, which will please them. Is that not the nature of it? (It is.) It’s the disposition of antichrists, consciously to deceive, hoodwink, and cover things up. It’s all conscious. Tell Me, what work program is there that keeps people so busy that they have no time to meet with others? None, right? No work program makes one so busy that they have no time to eat or sleep, nor any time to meet with others. Things haven’t gotten that busy yet. Time for those things can be eked out. So, why don’t these people have the time? They don’t want to meet with you; they don’t want you to make inquiries about their work. Is that not the disposition of an antichrist? (It is.) What sort of people are they? Are they not disbelievers? They are—each and every antichrist is a disbeliever. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t expropriate the work of God’s house, or control those who follow God under their own power. They wouldn’t do things like that. The first behavior of disbelievers is that they have no God-fearing heart at all. They plot for their own interests, on the pretext of believing in God; they’re bold and reckless, unafraid at all. Their belief in God is no true faith, but a slogan. They have no fear at all for God in their heart.