There was once someone who secretly misappropriated God’s offerings, which is a serious problem. It’s no ordinary transgression; it’s a problem with their nature essence. When they interacted with nonbelievers while handling some affairs, they kept showing off to make people think they had money and power. Consequently, people asked to borrow money from them. Not only did this person not refuse them, they actually committed to lending them money, and then did so by employing deceptive tactics against God’s house. This person had a serious problem. With such a major matter, you should make a report to the Above, and explain the facts; you can’t deal with people using God’s offerings for the sake of your own credit and pride. That’s how a rational person with a God-fearing heart would handle such matters when they encounter them. But is that what antichrists do? Why are they called antichrists? Because they don’t have the least bit of a God-fearing heart; they do as they wish, pushing God, the truth, and God’s words to the back of their minds. They have no true submission to God at all, but give their own interests, their own fame, gain, and status pride of place. They employ deceptive means to mislead the church’s leaders and workers, and thereby lend money to nonbelievers. Is it their money? With just a few words, they loan it out—is that not making a gift out of God’s offerings? This is something antichrists do, and some actually have done such things. For them to be able to do such a thing, their disposition must be an audacious one, awfully arrogant and quite insidious, too. It’s also evident that they’re stupid, as stupid as stupid gets—they’re bound to be hoisted by their own petards. Tell Me, how should such people be handled? (They should be expelled.) That’s it? Expulsion? Who will make up for the losses? They must be made to pay restitution, and then expelled. Aren’t antichrists brazen, to be able to do such a thing? How are they different from the archangel? The archangel would brazenly say, “It is I who made the heavens and earth and all things—mankind is mine to control!” It tramples and corrupts mankind at will. Once an antichrist has taken power, they say, “You must all believe in me and follow me. I rule here, and I get the final say. Turn to me in all matters, and bring me the church’s money!” Some people say, “Why should we give the church’s money to you?” and the antichrist says, “I’m the leader. It’s my right to manage this. I have to manage everything, including offerings!” And then, they take charge of everything. Antichrists don’t care about what problems or difficulties the brothers and sisters have in their life entry, or what books of sermons and God’s words they are short of. What they do care about is who holds the church’s money for safekeeping, and how much of it there is, and how it’s used. If the Above makes inquiries about the state of that church’s finances, not only will they not hand over the church’s money—they won’t even let the Above know the facts. Why won’t they do that? Because they want to embezzle and take the church’s money for themselves. Antichrists have the highest interest in material things, money, and status. They’re certainly nothing like how they speak on the surface, “I believe in god. I don’t pursue the world, and I don’t covet money.” They’re absolutely not as they say. Why do they pursue and maintain status with all their might? Because they wish to possess, or control and seize, everything they have jurisdiction over—money and material things, in particular. They enjoy this money and these material things as though they were the benefits of their status. They’re genuine descendants of the archangel, with the nature essence of Satan in name and in fact. All who pursue status and value money certainly have a problem with their disposition essence. It’s not so simple as them just having an antichrist’s disposition: They are very ambitious. They want to control the money of God’s house. If they’re made responsible for an item of work, then first of all, they won’t let others intervene, nor will they accept inquiries or supervision from the Above; beyond that, when they’re the supervisors of any item of work, they’ll find ways to show themselves off, safeguard themselves, and elevate themselves. They always wish to come out on top, to become people who rule over and control others. They also wish to wield and vie for higher status, and even to control every part of God’s house—its money, especially. Antichrists have a special love for money. When they see it, their eyes light up; in their minds, they’re always thinking about money and making efforts toward it. These are all signs and signals of antichrists. If you fellowship the truth with them, or try to learn about the brothers’ and sisters’ states, asking such questions as how many of them are weak and negative, what results each of them is getting in their duty, and which of them aren’t suited to their duty, antichrists won’t be interested. But when it comes to God’s offerings—the amount of money, who’s safeguarding it, where it’s being kept, its passcodes, and so on—this is what they care about most. An antichrist has an exceptional command of these things. They know them like the back of their hand. This, too, is a sign of an antichrist. Antichrists are best at speaking nice-sounding words, but they don’t do actual work. Instead, they’re always preoccupied with thoughts of enjoying God’s offerings. Tell Me, aren’t antichrists immoral? They have no humanity at all—they’re devils, through and through. In their work, they always prohibit the intervention, inquiries, and supervision of others. This is the third behavior that the eighth manifestation of antichrists is displayed.

Some time ago, a church in one country bought a building, and needed to renovate it, and it just so happened that the church leader in that country was an antichrist who hadn’t yet shown her true colors. That antichrist used a person that no one knew well for the renovations, and no one knew what sort of relationship he shared with her. As a result, that evil person took advantage of the situation, and a lot of money that shouldn’t have been spent was wasted during the renovations. There were some usable furnishings that came with the house, which were all cleared out and replaced with new ones. The old furnishings that had been cleared out were then sold by that evil person for money. They weren’t actually broken—they could still be used—but that evil person spent an additional sum of money buying new ones, in order to make money, to exploit the situation. Did the antichrist know about these things? She did. Why, then, did she condone him acting in that way? Because they must have had an abnormal relationship. Some people saw the problem and were going to follow up and check on the construction, to see how it was going. As soon as they said they were going to look at the construction, that antichrist got worried and anxious, and said: “No! The deadline hasn’t arrived yet—no one’s allowed to look!” Her reaction was so strong, so sensitive—was there something going on within this? (Yes.) Those people, now a bit alarmed, discussed the matter: “This won’t do. She won’t let us take a look at the construction. There’s surely an issue here; we have to go take a look at the site.” But the antichrist still wouldn’t let it be seen until the work was due to be delivered. Tell Me, were those people not muddled? The fact that the antichrist wouldn’t let the construction be seen proved that there was something going on. They needed to rush to report it to the Above, or jointly dismiss her, or forcibly go look and check on the construction. That was their responsibility. If they couldn’t take on that responsibility, that meant they’re useless, incompetent cowards. Those incompetent cowards didn’t persist. It wasn’t an issue with their own houses, so they just ignored it. That’s how selfish and irresponsible they were. And when the work was delivered, I saw through a video that there was a problem. What problem did I see? There was a table in the middle of a conference room, and all around it were leather chairs like those used in fancy offices. The chairs I sit on are all regular chairs, so should those regular people be using such fancy stuff? (No.) That was the sort of furniture those two installed, and the people there felt very pleased sitting on those seats. Once I’d discovered the problem, I called that scoundrel up and began to investigate the matter. Everywhere, in each room, a check revealed so many issues, and a great deal of financial losses. Some of the house’s original furnishings had been usable, yet that evil person hauled them out and sold them, to make money off of them; what’s more, he made money when he bought those high-priced, new furnishings; and furthermore, he installed some equipment that shouldn’t be in a church. That evil person did this without consulting anyone. When he did this, did the antichrist know about it? She probably did. She went to the work site every day, and having seen it, she made no report, but condoned his squandering. The nerve! Is she a believer in God? After 20 years of belief in God, she was this loathsome, and did a thing like that—what sort of person is she? She’s not a person! Even good people among the nonbelievers don’t do that; what immorality! Every time the Above asked her things about the construction work, she played dumb to pull the wool over the Above’s eyes, covering and concealing things, and in the end so many problems arose. Would it be excessive, then, to expel her and let her get a job to earn money to compensate for the losses? (No.) Tell Me, even if that antichrist could return the money, would she find peace in this life? Could she have an easy time? I’m afraid she’ll have to spend the whole of her life in torment. If she knew that her actions would come to this, why on earth did she act that way back then? Why did she do that in the first place? It’s not as if she’d only believed in God for a year or two and didn’t know the rules in His house, or what it is to have a God-fearing heart, or what loyalty is—after all those years of believing in Him, she hadn’t changed at all, and though she was able to render a little service, she still did such evil! For being that loathsome, she ought to be eliminated and cursed!

Antichrists have something in common in the way they work: No matter what work they’re doing, they prohibit others from intervening or making inquiries. They always want to conceal things and cover things up. They must be up to something; they don’t allow people to find out about the problems in their work. If they did things in an upright and aboveboard way, in a way that was in line with the truth and the principles, with a clear conscience, what would they have to worry about? What in that would be unmentionable? Why don’t they allow others to make inquiries and intervene? What are they worried about? What are they afraid of? Clearly, they’re up to something—it’s just so obvious! Antichrists do work without any transparency. When they’ve done something bad, they think of ways to hide it and cover it up, fabricating false appearances, even engaging in blatant deception. What are the results of this? God scrutinizes all, and though other people may not know of something for a while, and may be misled for a time, the day will come when God reveals it. In God’s eyes, all is overt, all is revealed. It’s useless for you to keep something from God. He is almighty, and when He decides to reveal you, all will be laid bare in the clear light of day. Only antichrists, those dunces who don’t have spiritual understanding, and who possess the nature of the archangel, would believe, “So long as I keep a tight lid on things, and don’t let you interfere or make inquiries, and don’t let you supervise things, you won’t know anything—and I’ll be in complete control of this church!” They believe that if they rule as kings, they’ll be able to control the situation. Is that how things actually, truly are? They don’t know that God is almighty; their cleverness is self-proclaimed. God scrutinizes all. For instance, say you did evil today. God scrutinizes it, but He doesn’t reveal you—He’s giving you a chance to repent. You do evil again tomorrow, and still, you don’t give an account of it or repent; God still gives you a chance, and waits for you to repent. Yet if you remain unrepentant, God won’t want to give you that chance. He’ll be disgusted by you and loathe you, and in the depths of His heart, He won’t wish to save you, and He’ll abandon you utterly. In that case, it will be a matter of minutes before He reveals you, and however you try to cover things up or obstruct this, it will be to no avail at all. No matter how big your hand is, can you block out the sky with it? No matter how capable you are, can you cover God’s eyes? (No.) Those are man’s foolish ideas. As to how almighty God really is, people are already able to feel a bit of this in His words. Moreover, all members of this corrupt mankind who have done great evil and opposed God directly have met with various punishments, and all who see this are wholly convinced, and acknowledge it to be retribution. Even nonbelievers can see that God’s righteousness brooks no offense, so those who do believe in Him should be able to see this all the more. God’s almightiness and wisdom are immeasurable. Man has no way to see them clearly. There’s that song—how does it go? (“God’s Deeds Cannot be Measured.”) This is God’s essence, the true revelation of His identity and essence. There’s no need for your surmises or speculations. You just need to believe those words—then you won’t do such foolish things. People all think themselves clever; they cover their eyes with a leaf and say, “Can You see me?” God says, “Not only can I see you in your entirety, I even see your heart, and how many times you’ve been to the human world,” and people are left dumbfounded. Don’t think yourself clever; don’t think, “God doesn’t know about this, and He doesn’t know about that. None of the brothers and sisters saw. No one knows. I have my own little scheme. Look how clever I am!” None of the people in this world who do not understand the truth or believe that God is sovereign over all are smart. No matter what they say or do, in the end, it’s all error, all in violation of the truth, all resistant against God. There’s only one sort of person that’s smart. Which sort is that? The sort that believes that God scrutinizes all, that He can see all, and that He is sovereign over all. People like that are exceedingly smart, because in all they do they are submissive to God; everything they do is in line with the truth, approved of by God, and met with God’s blessing. Whether a person is smart or not depends on whether they can submit to God; it hinges on whether what they say and do is in line with the truth. If you have this idea: “Here’s what I think about this matter, and that’s what I’d like to do, because it would benefit me—but I don’t want to confide this in others, nor do I want them to know about it”—is that the right way to think? (No.) What should you do when you realize that that’s not the right way to think? You should give yourself a good slap in the face, to teach yourself a lesson. You think that if you don’t say it, God won’t know? The fact is that while you’re having that thought, God knows your heart. How does He know? God has seen through man’s nature essence. So, why doesn’t He expose you in this matter, then? Even without Him exposing it, you’ll be able to gradually understand it on your own, because you’ve eaten and drunk so many of His words. You have a conscience and reason, a mind, and normal thinking; you should be able to figure out what’s right and wrong on your own. God is giving you time and a chance to think things through slowly, to see whether you’re foolish or not. You’ll see results after thinking the matter over for a few days: You’ll know then that you are foolish and stupid, and that you shouldn’t try to hide that matter from God. In all matters, you should lay everything bare to God and you should be candid—this is the only condition and state that should be maintained before God. Even when you do not open up, you are open before God. From God’s perspective, He knows the facts, whether you open up about it or not. Are you not very foolish if you cannot see through to that? So how can you be a smart person? By opening yourself up to God. You know that God scrutinizes and knows everything, so don’t think yourself clever, and think that He might not know; since it is certain that God secretly observes people’s hearts, smart people should be a little more candid, a little purer, and be honest—that is the wise thing to do. Always feeling that you’re clever; always wishing to keep your own, little secrets; always trying to maintain a bit of privacy—is that the right way to think? It’s alright to be that way with other people, because some people aren’t positive characters and don’t love the truth. You can hold a bit back with people like that. Don’t bare your heart to them. Say, for instance, there’s someone you hate, and you’ve spoken ill of them behind their back. Should you tell them about it? Don’t—it’s enough just to not do such a thing again. If you spoke of it, it would impair relations between the two of you. You know in your heart that you’re no good, that you’re filthy and wicked inside, that you’re jealous of others, that for the sake of vying for fame and gain, you spoke ill of someone else behind their back to besmirch them—how vile! You acknowledge that you’re corrupt; you know that what you did was wrong, and that your nature is wicked. You then come before God and pray to Him: “Oh God, what I did in secret was a wicked, vile thing—I beg Your forgiveness, I beg You to lead me, and I beg You to reproach me. I’ll strive not to do such a thing again.” Doing that is fine. You can use some techniques in your interactions with people, but it is best to purely open yourself up to God, and if you harbor intentions and use techniques, then you will be in trouble. In your mind you always think, “What can I say to make God think highly of me, and not know what I am thinking inside? What is the right thing to say? I must keep more to myself, I must be a little more tactful, I must have a method; maybe then God will think highly of me.” Do you think God will not know if you are always thinking like that? God knows whatever you think. It is exhausting to think like that. It is so much simpler to speak honestly and truly, and it makes your life easier. God will say that you are honest and pure, that you are openhearted—and that is infinitely precious. If you have a candid heart and an honest attitude, then even if there are times when you go too far, and act foolishly, to God this is not a transgression; it is better than you being so calculating, and better than your constant pondering and processing. Are antichrists capable of these things? (No, they’re not.)

All who walk the path of antichrists are people with an antichrist’s disposition, and what people with an antichrist’s disposition walk is the path of antichrists—yet there’s a bit of a difference between people with an antichrist’s disposition and antichrists. If someone has an antichrist’s disposition and would walk the path of antichrists, that doesn’t necessarily indicate that they’re an antichrist. But if they don’t repent and can’t accept the truth, they could develop into an antichrist. There’s still a hope and a chance for people who walk the path of antichrists to repent, because they haven’t become antichrists yet. If they do evil things of many sorts and are classified as an antichrist, and are thus cleared out and expelled straight away, they won’t have a chance to repent anymore. If someone who walks the path of antichrists hasn’t yet done a lot of evil things, this at least shows that they’re not an evil person yet. If they can accept the truth, there’s a glimmer of hope for them. If they won’t accept the truth, come what may, then they’ll have a very hard time being saved, even if they haven’t done all sorts of evil. Why can’t an antichrist be saved? Because they don’t accept the truth in the least. However God’s house fellowships about being an honest person—about how one must be open and candid, come out and say what one has to say, and not engage in deceit—they just can’t accept it. They constantly feel that people lose out by being honest and that it’s foolish to speak the truth. They’re dead set on not being an honest person. This is the nature of antichrists, which is averse to the truth and hates it. How can someone be saved if they don’t accept the truth in the least? If someone who walks the path of antichrists can accept the truth, there’s a clear difference between them and an antichrist. All antichrists are people who don’t accept one bit of the truth. No matter how many wrong or evil things they’ve done, no matter how great the losses they’ve incurred to the work of the church and the interests of God’s house, they’ll never reflect on and know themselves. Even if they are pruned, they don’t accept any truth at all; that’s why the church classifies them as evil people, as antichrists. An antichrist, at the very most, will admit only that their actions violate the principles and aren’t in line with the truth, yet they’ll absolutely never admit that they do evil on purpose, or resist God on purpose. They’ll just admit to mistakes, but they won’t accept the truth; and afterward, they’ll go on doing evil as before, without practicing any truth whatsoever. From the fact that an antichrist never accepts the truth, it can be seen that the nature essence of antichrists is that of being averse to the truth and hating it. They remain people who resist God as always, no matter how many years they’ve believed in Him. Ordinary, corrupt mankind, on the other hand, may all have an antichrist’s disposition, but there’s a difference between them and antichrists. There’re a number of people who can commit God’s words of judgment and exposure to heart after they’ve heard them, and ponder them repeatedly, and reflect on themselves. They may then realize, “So this is an antichrist’s disposition, then; this is what it is to walk the path of antichrists. What a serious issue! I have those states and behaviors; I have that sort of essence—I am that sort of person!” They then consider how they may cast off that antichrist’s disposition and truly repent, and with that, they can set their will on not walking the path of antichrists. In their work and life, in their attitude toward people, events, and things and toward God’s commission, they can reflect on their own actions and behavior, on why they can’t submit to God, why they’re always living by a satanic disposition, why they can’t rebel against the flesh and Satan. And so, they’ll pray to God, and accept His judgment and chastisement, and implore God to save them from their corrupt disposition and from Satan’s influence. That they have the resolve to do this proves that they can accept the truth. They likewise reveal a corrupt disposition, and act on their own will; the difference is that an antichrist doesn’t just have ambitions and desires to establish an independent kingdom—they also won’t accept the truth, no matter what. This is an antichrist’s Achilles’ heel. If, on the other hand, a person with an antichrist’s disposition can accept the truth, and pray to God and rely on Him, and if they wish to cast off the corrupt disposition of Satan, and to walk the path of pursuing the truth, then in what ways will that prayer and that resolve be of benefit to their life entry? It will at least cause them to reflect on themselves and know themselves as they do their duty, and to use the truth to resolve problems, such that they may come to do their duty satisfactorily. That’s one way it will benefit them. Beyond that, with the training that doing their duty affords them, they’ll be able to set off on the path of pursuing the truth. Whatever difficulties they encounter, they’ll be able to seek the truth, to focus on accepting the truth and practicing it; they’ll be able gradually to cast off their satanic disposition, and come to submit to God and worship Him. They can achieve God’s salvation with practice like that. People with an antichrist’s disposition may reveal corruption on occasion, and they may still speak and act in the interest of their fame, gain, and status, despite themselves, and they may still work off of their own will—but as soon as they realize that they’re revealing their corrupt disposition, they’ll feel remorse, and pray to God. This proves that they’re someone who can accept the truth, who submits to God’s work; it proves that they’re pursuing life entry. No matter how many years a person has experienced for, nor how much corruption they reveal, they’ll ultimately be able to accept the truth, and to enter the truth reality. They’re someone who submits to God’s work. And as they do all this, it demonstrates that they’ve already laid their foundation on the true way. But some who walk the path of antichrists can’t accept the truth. For them, salvation will be as difficult to come by as it is for antichrists. Such people feel nothing when they hear God’s words that expose antichrists, but are indifferent and unmoved. When fellowship turns to the topic of antichrist’s disposition, they’ll admit that they have an antichrist’s disposition and that they’re walking the path of antichrists. They’ll speak quite well on it. But when it comes time to practice the truth, they’ll still refuse to do so; still, they’ll act on their own will, in reliance on their antichrist’s disposition. If you ask them, “Do you struggle at heart when you reveal an antichrist’s disposition? Do you feel self-reproach when you speak in order to safeguard your status? Do you reflect on and come to know yourself when you reveal an antichrist’s disposition? Are you remorseful at heart once you’ve learned of your corrupt disposition? Do you repent or change at all afterward?” they’re sure to have no answer, because they haven’t had any such experiences and encounters. They’ll be unable to say anything. Are people like this capable of true repentance? Surely, it won’t be easy. Those who truly do pursue the truth will be pained by any revelation of an antichrist’s disposition in themselves, and become anxious; they’ll get to thinking: “Why can’t I just cast off this satanic disposition? Why am I always revealing a corrupt disposition? Why is this corrupt disposition of mine so stubborn and inextricable? Why’s it so hard to enter the truth reality?” This shows that their life experience is shallow, and that their corrupt disposition hasn’t been resolved much at all. That’s why the battle in their heart rages so fiercely when something befalls them, and why they also bear the brunt of that torment. Although they have the resolve to cast off their satanic disposition, they assuredly can’t go without that battle against it in their heart—and that embattled state intensifies by the day. And as their knowledge of themselves grows deeper, and they see how deeply corrupt they are, they long even more to gain the truth, and treasure it even more, and they’ll be able to accept and practice the truth uninterruptedly over the course of knowing themselves and their corrupt disposition. They’ll gradually grow in stature, and their life disposition will begin to truly change. If they keep trying to experience in this way, their situation will get better and better, year by year, and in the end, they’ll be able to overcome the flesh and cast off their corruption, to practice the truth frequently, and to achieve submission to God. Life entry isn’t easy! It’s just like resuscitating someone who’s about to die: The responsibility one can fulfill is that of fellowshipping the truth, supporting them, providing for them, or pruning them. If they can accept it and submit, there’s hope for them; they may be lucky enough to escape, and things will stop short of death. But if they refuse to accept the truth, and know nothing at all about themselves, then they’re in danger. Some antichrists go one or two years after being eliminated without knowing themselves, and don’t acknowledge their mistakes. In such a case, there’s no sign of life left in them, and that’s proof that they have no more hope of being saved. Can you accept the truth when you’re pruned? (Yes.) There’s hope, then—that’s a good thing! If you can accept the truth, you have a hope of being saved.

If you wish to be saved, you must get past many hurdles. What hurdles are those? Ceaseless battle with your corrupt disposition, and battle with the disposition of Satan and antichrists: It wishes to control you, and you wish to shake free of it; it wishes to mislead you, and you wish to discard it. If you find you can’t shake yourself free of your corrupt disposition even after you’ve come to know it, you’ll be distressed and in pain, and you’ll pray. At times, when you see that it’s been a while, and you’ve still been unable to shake off the control of Satan’s disposition, you’ll feel it’s hopeless, but you won’t give in, and you’ll feel that you can’t go on so negative and dispirited—that you have to keep fighting. In the process of performing a duty and the process of experiencing God’s work, people have different internal responses, by degrees. In brief, those with life are those who pursue the truth, and they are constantly changing inside. There will be a constant reversal in their thinking and views, in their behavior and practices, and even in intentions, ideas, and thoughts that are deep in their mind. Furthermore, they’ll distinguish with increasing clarity what’s right and what’s wrong, and what wrong things they’ve done, and whether some way of thinking is right or wrong, and whether some view is in line with the truth, and whether the principles behind acting in some way are in line with God’s intentions, and whether they’re someone who submits to God, someone who loves the truth. These things will gradually grow clearer and clearer in their heart. On what foundation, then, is the achievement of these results built? The foundation of practicing and entering truths as they understand them. Why is it that antichrists just can’t achieve change? Are they incapable of understanding the truth? (No.) They can understand it, but they don’t practice it, and they don’t practice it when they hear it. It may be that they’re understanding and accepting it as doctrine, but can they even put those bits of doctrines and regulations that they’re able to understand into practice? No, not in the least; even if you forced them, even if they exhausted themselves trying, still, they wouldn’t be able to put them into practice. That’s why to them, entering the truth remains an eternal void. However much an antichrist may speak of being an honest person, however great their efforts, they still can’t make a single honest statement; and however they speak of being considerate of God’s intentions, they still won’t let go of their selfish, vile motivations. They act from a selfish point of view. When they see something good, something that would benefit them, they say, “Give it here—it’s mine!” They say whatever would be of benefit to their status, and they do whatever would be of benefit to themselves. This is the essence of antichrists. They may, in a momentary crest of passion, feel that they’ve understood a bit of truth. A zeal comes over them, and they shout a few catchphrases: “I need to practice and change, and satisfy god!” Yet when the time comes to practice the truth, do they do it? They do not. Whatever God says, however many truths and facts as they are He preaches, along with any number of real examples, it can’t move an antichrist, nor can it sway their ambition. This is a characteristic and a sign of an antichrist. They just won’t practice any truth at all; when they speak nicely, it’s for others to hear, and however nicely they speak, it’s just a form of high-sounding and empty talk—it’s theory to them. How do such people actually position the truth in their hearts? What have I already told you is an antichrist’s nature essence? (Hatred of the truth.) That’s right. They hate the truth. They believe that their wickedness, their selfishness and vileness, their arrogance, their viciousness, their usurpation of status and riches, and their control over others are the highest truth, the highest philosophy, and that nothing else is as high as those things. Once they get status and can control people, they can do whatever they wish, and all their ambitions and desires are then achievable. This is an antichrist’s ultimate goal.

Antichrists are averse to the truth and hate it. Is it possible for you to make someone who’s averse to the truth accept it and practice it? (No.) Doing that is equivalent to making a cow climb a tree or a wolf eat hay—would that be asking the impossible of them? You’ll sometimes see a wolf infiltrate a flock to be there with the sheep. It’s putting on a ruse, waiting for its chance to eat the sheep. Its nature will never change. Likewise, having an antichrist practice the truth is equivalent to having a wolf eat hay and abandon its sheep-eating instinct: It’s impossible. Wolves are carnivores. They eat sheep—they eat all sorts of animals. That’s their nature, and it can’t be changed. If someone says, “I don’t know whether I’m an antichrist, but whenever I hear the truth fellowshipped, my heart flares with rage, and I hate it—and whoever would prune me, I hate them even more,” is that person an antichrist? (Yes.) Someone says, “When things befall you, you have to submit and seek the truth,” and that first person says, “Submit, my foot! Stop talking!” What sort of thing is that? Is it a bad temper? (No.) What disposition is it? (Hatred of the truth.) They won’t even abide talk of it, and as soon as you fellowship the truth, their nature bursts forth, and they show their true form. They dislike hearing any mention of seeking the truth or submitting to God. How great is their dislike? When they hear such talk, they erupt. Their civility falls away; they’re not afraid to let the cat out of the bag. That’s how far their hatred goes. Can they practice the truth, then? (No.) The truth isn’t meant for the evil; it’s meant for those people possessed of a conscience and reason, who love the truth and positive things. It requires of those people that they accept it and practice it. And as for those wicked people with an antichrist’s essence, who are extremely hostile toward the truth and positive things, they won’t ever accept the truth. However many years they believe in God, however many sermons they hear, they will not accept or practice the truth. Don’t suppose that they don’t practice the truth because they don’t understand it, and that they’ll understand when they’ve heard more of it. It’s impossible, because all who are averse to the truth and hate it are of Satan’s ilk. They’ll never change, and no one else can change them. It’s just like the archangel, after betraying God: Have you ever heard God say that He would save the archangel? God never said that. So, what did God do to Satan? He cast it down into the midair and has it render service to Him on the earth, doing what it should. And when it’s finished rendering service, and God’s management plan is completed, He will destroy it, and that will be that. Does God say a single additional thing to it? (No.) Why not? Because it would, in a word, be useless. To say a single thing to it would be superfluous. God has seen through it: An antichrist’s nature essence can never change. That’s how it goes.