By Sylvie, The Philippines

Liz was responsible for general affairs work in the church. Roger had just started to train, and was not familiar with general affairs work, so Liz patiently taught him about it. After some time, Roger knew how to do the basic tasks, and Liz arranged some work for him. Several days passed. When Liz checked up on Roger’s work, she discovered that some of the people who were safeguarding the books had been chosen inappropriately and that some newcomers had not been issued with books of the word of God in a timely manner. Roger didn’t have a grasp of either situation. When she found out, Liz’s tone became serious, and she asked Roger why he hadn’t done these tasks. Roger said, “I’m really sorry. Lately, I’ve been busy at work and didn’t check up on these. I did follow up on some things….” Roger gave all kinds of reasons. Liz felt the anger rising up inside her, and wanted to point out Roger’s problems so that he would reflect on his attitude toward doing his duty, but as the words reached the tip of her tongue, she swallowed them down. She thought, “If I prune Roger, might he think that I am too harsh? If I give him a bad impression when I’ve just started working with him, will he think that I am hard to get along with?” Therefore, Liz changed the way she was going to speak and cleared her throat, forcing a smile onto her face, which had originally been very serious. In a gentle tone, she said to Roger, “Brother, the general affairs work is very important. If it is delayed, it will affect the work of the church. I hope you can understand. You are busy at work, and I can understand your difficulties. I hope you can do your best to do the tasks assigned to you. If you are busy, you can tell me and I can do it.” Roger said guiltily, “Sister, I’m sorry. This is my problem. I will change.” After hearing Roger’s words, Liz felt a little relieved. She thought to herself, “It seems that a gentle tone can also solve problems. This way of speaking not only helps my brother save face, but also makes him feel that I am easy to get along with. Isn’t that good?” A few days later, Liz learned that Roger’s attitude toward his duties was still quite neglectful, and he was not really following up on the work. She wanted to prune Roger, but then she thought, “I pointed out his problems just a few days ago. If I go and fellowship with him again, will he think that I’m being annoying? In any case, we need a period to defuse the tension. If it really doesn’t work, then I’ll do these tasks.” Liz didn’t seek Roger out, but proactively took on the work herself.

Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed. One day, Liz asked Sister Luna, “Roger has been working very sluggishly recently. Do you know if he’s encountered any problems?” Luna, looking dejected, said, “I have fellowshipped with Roger about his attitude toward his duty, but he always says he is busy at work and doesn’t have time.” When she heard this news, Liz felt something indescribable in her heart. She silently prayed to God to seek what lessons she should learn from this matter. Later, she read the words of God: “Nonbelievers all live by Satan’s philosophies. They are all people pleasers and do not offend anyone. You have come to the house of God, read the word of God, and listened to the sermons of God’s house, so why are you unable to practice the truth, speak from the heart, and be an honest person? Why are you always a people pleaser? People pleasers only protect their own interests, and not the interests of the church. When they see someone do evil and harm the church’s interests, they ignore it. They like to be people pleasers, and do not offend anyone. This is irresponsible, and that kind of person is too cunning and untrustworthy” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three). When she compared herself to the state exposed by God’s words, Liz understood that she was just the same. She was relying on Satan’s philosophy for worldly dealings at every turn, protecting her interpersonal relationships, so that she appeared to be a good person in the eyes of others. She had seen Roger delay the work and wanted to point out his problems, but was afraid that Roger would form a negative opinion of her, and she would end up with a poor evaluation in his heart, so she didn’t point them out or help him. As a supervisor, she should by rights protect the work of the church, but she ended up protecting her good image in his heart and didn’t fulfill the responsibilities she should have fulfilled. She lacked the slightest sense of justice. Over and over again, Liz pondered what God had said in her mind, “That kind of person is too cunning and untrustworthy.” She felt sadness pierce her heart. All along, everything she had done and all her actions were loathed in God’s eyes. Therefore, Liz started to reflect on herself. Why could she not help but try to protect her good image in other people’s hearts? What thoughts were controlling this?

During her reflections, Liz read a passage of God’s words: “Family conditions people not just with one or two sayings, but with a whole host of well-known quotations and aphorisms. For example, do your family elders and parents often mention the saying ‘A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies’? (Yes.) They are telling you: ‘People must live for the sake of their reputation. People seek nothing else in their lifetime, other than to forge a good reputation among others and make a good impression. Wherever you go, be more generous in giving out greetings, pleasantries, and compliments, and say more kind words. Don’t offend people, but instead do more good deeds and kind acts.’ This particular conditioning effect exerted by family has a certain impact on people’s behavior or principles of conduct, with the inevitable consequence that they attach great importance to fame and gain. That is, they attach great importance to their own reputation, prestige, the impression they create in people’s minds, and others’ estimation of everything they do and every opinion they express. By placing great importance on fame and gain, you unwittingly place little importance on whether the duty you perform accords with the truth and principles, whether you are satisfying God, and whether you are fulfilling your duty adequately. You see these things as being of lesser importance and lower priority, whereas the saying ‘A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies,’ which your family has conditioned into you, becomes extremely important to you. … The saying, ‘A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies,’ has taken deep root in your heart and become your motto. You have been influenced and conditioned by this saying since you were young, and even after growing up you often keep repeating this saying to influence the next generation of your family and the people around you. Of course, what is even more serious is that you have adopted it as your method and principle for conducting yourself and dealing with things, and even as the goal and direction that you pursue in life. Your goal and direction are wrong, and so the final outcome is certain to be negative. Because the essence of everything you do is solely for the sake of your reputation, and solely in order to put into practice the saying ‘A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies.’ You are not pursuing the truth, and yet you yourself don’t know that. You think there is nothing wrong with this saying, because shouldn’t people live for the sake of their reputation? As the common saying goes, ‘A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies.’ This saying seems very positive and legitimate, so you unconsciously accept its conditioning effect and regard it as a positive thing. Once you regard this saying as a positive thing, you are unknowingly pursuing it and putting it into practice. At the same time, you unknowingly and confusedly misconstrue it as the truth and as a criterion of the truth. When you regard it as a criterion of the truth, you no longer listen to what God says, nor can you understand it. You blindly put into practice this motto, ‘A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies,’ and act in accordance with it, and what you ultimately get out of that is a good reputation. You have gained what you wanted to gain, but in doing so you have violated and abandoned the truth, and lost the chance to be saved. Given that this is the final outcome, you should let go of and abandon the idea that ‘A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies,’ which your family conditioned into you. It is not something that you should hold onto, nor is it a saying or idea that you should spend a lifetime of effort and energy putting into practice. This idea and view that you are being inculcated and conditioned with is wrong, so you should let go of it. The reason why you should let go of it is not only because it is not the truth, but also because it will lead you astray and ultimately lead to your destruction, so the consequences are very serious. For you, it is not just a simple saying, but a cancer—a means and method that corrupts people. Because in God’s words, among all of His requirements for people, God has never asked people to pursue a good reputation, or to seek prestige, or to make a good impression on people, or to win people’s approval, or to get a thumbs-up from people, nor has He ever made people live for the sake of fame or in order to leave behind a good reputation. God only wants people to perform their duty well, and to submit to Him and the truth. Therefore, as far as you are concerned, this saying is a type of conditioning from your family that you should let go of” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (12)). After reading the exposure of the words of God, Liz understood that Satan uses the education and conditioning effects of the family to infuse a variety of satanic laws into people’s young hearts, like “A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies,” and “People need their pride just as a tree needs its bark.” These satanic poisons have worked their way into people’s blood and bones, becoming people’s very nature. People cannot help but live by these things, and regard reputation and status as their lifeblood. Liz reflected that from a young age, she had always cared about her image in the minds of others. In order to win praise from her parents and the people around her, she was more obedient than any of the other children, and would often help her parents do housework. She would even do chores for her neighbors. When she played with her friends, she never quarreled, and her parents and the people in the village all praised her for being a sensible child. After work, if any colleagues asked Liz to help them, she would always say yes. Sometimes, when there was friction with her colleagues, however unhappy she felt, she would not fly off the handle, and constantly protected the harmonious relationships she had with her colleagues. After joining the church, Liz still placed a lot of focus on her image in the minds of her brothers and sisters. When she saw that some people were not doing their duty in accordance with principles, or being perfunctory, even though she clearly wanted to point this out and prune them, she considered the opinion that they might have of her and chose to exhort them with pleasant-sounding words to protect her relationships with them. Take her relationship with Roger for example. When she saw that he was living in entanglements of the flesh, and was treating his duty with a neglectful attitude and delaying the work, she should have pointed out his problems and fellowshipped with him about the nature and consequences of treating his duty in this way. However, she was afraid that he would form a bad opinion of her and say that she was unsympathetic, and so she tried to exhort him gently with pleasant-sounding words. She even took on work that Roger should have done and did it herself. Because Roger did not genuinely reflect on or understand himself, his attitude toward his duty didn’t change. This not only hindered his life entry but also delayed the work of the church. When she understood this, Liz felt that she was extremely despicable and wicked. As a supervisor, she should have protected the work of the church, and shouldered a burden for the life entry of her brothers and sisters. Instead, all she did was protect her own face and status. If she did not turn this around, then ultimately she would be loathed and eliminated by God.

One day during devotionals, she read a passage of God’s words, which really moved her. Almighty God says: “There must be a standard for having good humanity. It does not involve taking the path of moderation, not sticking to principles, endeavoring not to offend anyone, currying favor everywhere you go, being smooth and slick with everyone you meet, and making everyone speak well of you. This is not the standard. So, what is the standard? It is being able to submit to God and the truth. It is approaching one’s duty and all manner of people, events, and things with principles and a sense of responsibility. This is plain for all to see; everyone is clear about this in their heart. Moreover, God scrutinizes people’s hearts and knows their situation, each and every one; no matter who they are, no one can fool God. Some people always boast that they possess good humanity, that they never speak ill of others, never harm anyone else’s interests, and they claim never to have coveted other people’s property. When there is a dispute over interests, they even prefer to suffer loss than take advantage of others, and everyone else thinks they are good people. However, when performing their duties in God’s house, they are wily and slippery, always scheming for themselves. Never do they think of the interests of God’s house, never do they treat as urgent the things God treats as urgent or think as God thinks, and never can they set aside their own interests so as to perform their duties. They never forsake their own interests. Even when they see evil people committing evil, they do not expose them; they have no principles whatsoever. What kind of humanity is this? It is not good humanity. Pay no attention to what such people say; you must see what they live out, what they reveal, and what their attitude is when they perform their duties, as well as what their internal state is and what they love. If their love of their own fame and gain exceeds their loyalty to God, if their love of their own fame and gain exceeds the interests of God’s house, or if their love of their own fame and gain exceeds the consideration they show for God, then are such people possessed of humanity? They are not people with humanity. Their behavior can be seen by others and by God. It is very difficult for such people to gain the truth” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. In Giving One’s Heart to God, One Can Obtain the Truth). After reading the words of God, Liz understood that genuinely good humanity is not just good behavior on the surface, or being recognized and praised as a good person by others. Instead, it is being of one mind with God; being submissive to God; being loyal to your duty; being able to protect the work of the church; promptly exposing and stopping evil people when you see them doing evil; and when you see brothers and sisters doing things in violation of principles, or acting on corrupt dispositions and damaging the interests of the church, being able to lovingly fellowship and help them or prune them if the nature of their acts is grave so that they act with principles. This is having genuinely good humanity. In the past, Liz had always believed that having good humanity meant not getting angry, not arguing or quarreling, and being kind and gentle to others. Through the exposure of God’s words, she finally understood that actually there were corrupt dispositions hiding behind this kind of “good humanity”—it was hypocritical and deceitful. Liz felt that she really had been too foolish. Liz reflected on how she had clearly seen Roger delay the work, but not only had she not pointed out his problems and fellowshipped and helped him, she had even said some words of exhortation that she didn’t really mean in her heart. She had done all of this to protect her good image in the minds of others. She saw that she simply wasn’t a person with good humanity at all. Liz gained some understanding of her problems from God’s words, and gained determination to practice the truth. This time, she had to quickly find Roger and point out his problems. If after she fellowshipped with him he didn’t accept it and didn’t repent, then according to principles his duty should be reassigned.

Liz suddenly thought about how Roger was living all day in the entanglements of family, and how he must be very tired himself. If she only pruned him and pointed out his problems, would that make him negative? However, without pointing them out, she would not be able to solve the issue. When she thought this, Liz didn’t know how to practice, and so she prayed to God. Afterward, she searched for a path of practice in God’s words. She read the words of God: “You must treat true brothers and sisters according to the truth principles. No matter how they believe in God or what path they are on, you should help them in the spirit of love. What is the minimum effect one should achieve? First, it is not causing them to stumble, and not letting them become negative; second, it is helping them, and making them turn back from the wrong path; and third, it is making them understand the truth and choose the right path. These three sorts of effect can only be achieved by helping them in the spirit of love. If you do not have true love, you cannot achieve these three sorts of effect, and you could only achieve one or two at best. These three sorts of effect are also the three principles for helping others. You know these three principles and have a handle on them, but how are they actually enacted? Do you truly understand the other’s difficulty? Is this not another problem? You must also think, ‘What is the origin of their difficulty? Am I capable of helping them? If my stature is too small and I cannot solve their problem, and I speak carelessly, I may point them onto the wrong path. Beyond that, how is this person’s comprehension ability, and what is their caliber? Are they opinionated? Do they have spiritual understanding? Can they accept the truth? Do they pursue the truth? If they see that I am more capable than them, and I fellowship with them, will jealousy or negativity arise in them?’ These questions must all be considered. After you have considered and gained clarity on these questions, go fellowship with that person, read several passages of God’s words that apply to their problem, and enable them to understand the truth in God’s words and find the path to practice. Then, the problem will be solved, and they will get out of their difficulty. … It’s not easy to truly solve a problem. You must understand the truth, see through the essence of the problem, and then fellowship clearly with others in accordance with the truth principles, and be able to fellowship on the path of practice in a way that others understand. In this way, people will not only understand the truth, but also have a path for putting it into practice, only then can the problem be considered solved” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Pursuing the Truth Can One Resolve Their Notions and Misunderstandings of God). God’s words explain the principles on how to help people extremely clearly. Liz understood that you have to act in accordance with people’s stature and find out about their real difficulties in order to not trip people up, help them, and make them understand God’s intentions, understand their own corrupt dispositions, and find a path of practice and entry from God’s words. In addition, during fellowship you have to treat people sincerely, and cannot be perfunctory with people or have any other intentions. If you only say pleasant-sounding words that contradict what is in your heart, then even if you speak gently it is still hypocritical; it is insincere affections and false intentions. On the other hand, if your words are genuine and you are aimed at helping people, then even if you speak harshly or even reproach them, that is still appropriate. If you fellowship on the truth clearly, and the other person understands the truth but does not practice it, or even pays no heed at all to the work of the house of God, then you can prune them or dismiss them in cases of a grave nature. Liz thought about how Roger was a newcomer, and had genuine belief in God. It was only because of some real difficulties in his life that he had to go to work, and he didn’t know how to practice when there was a conflict between work and duty. She had to find relevant passages of God’s words targeted at his state and difficulties to fellowship and help him, point out the dangerous consequences of living in this state, and fellowship about God’s intention to save mankind, about spiritual battles, and about a path of practice to rebel against the flesh. If after she fellowshipped clearly about this, Roger still did not turn things around, she could prune him or issue a warning, and if he still didn’t turn things around, then he would be dismissed. After gaining a path of practice, Liz’s heart felt suddenly relaxed.

The next day, Liz met with Roger. She said, “Brother Roger, I didn’t practice the truth previously. When I heard you constantly say that you were busy and had no time to do your duty, I stood on the side of your flesh and showed consideration for your weakness. On the surface, I was never strict with you and I didn’t point out your problems. Actually, I was harming you by doing this. Now, I want to discuss a serious issue with you. It is an issue related to our attitude toward our duty. …” After Liz finished fellowshipping, Roger said in regret, “It’s true. I have constantly been living in the flesh, and my relationship with God has been very distant. When my state was bad I even felt like doing my duty was an entanglement. Now, thanks to this fellowship I have finally understood how frightening my state has been. Thank God. Your words pierced me to the heart, but have been very helpful to me. From now on I will do my duty properly.” Afterward, although Roger was still very busy at work, he could reasonably arrange his time so he could do his duty, and achieved some results. When she saw this scene, Liz was very moved. She experienced that only by acting in accordance with God’s words will she have a path to walk and be able to benefit others. After this experience, Liz was very touched, and saw that living by satanic laws would only make her more and more hypocritical; she would become slippery and deceitful, and would only end up harming herself and others. Only by practicing in accordance with God’s words can she live with the likeness of a human.