By Li Xun, China

Yang Chen and I supervised the text-based work at the Yingguang Church. In the middle of September 2024, the leaders sent a letter saying that Sister Zhao Xue from the Chenxin Church had just been elected as the supervisor for its text-based work, but that she was still unfamiliar with various aspects of the work and the principles of reviewing sermons. So they asked if we could spare some time to help guide her, saying that if she could be cultivated quickly, it would be beneficial to the church’s work. I thought to myself, “We’re already busy enough with our main work, so wouldn’t helping guide Zhao Xue on top of this take up even more of our time? If the effectiveness of our work drops, won’t the leaders say we haven’t fulfilled our duties? Besides, guiding her isn’t my main work, and even if her work becomes effective, the upper leaders won’t praise us.” I felt like this would be a thankless job and so I didn’t want to accept it. But if I refused, wouldn’t the leaders say I lacked compassion? After thinking things through, I agreed.

At first, Zhao Xue would write seeking advice, and we would respond as quickly as possible. On September 25, Zhao Xue sent us a sermon to review. After Yang Chen and I reviewed it, we found many issues with the sermon, and we had to discuss it for a long time before we made any headway. After I responded to the issues, there were still some areas I wasn’t sure about, and I was worried that there might be deviations in my guidance, so I sent the sermon to other brothers and sisters to look at, and they also gave some suggestions. At that time, I felt that guiding Zhao Xue was very time-consuming. Not only was it delaying us, but sometimes it even took up other group members’ time. The sermon screening work itself was already a big task, and if this continued, wouldn’t this affect our own work? After that, Zhao Xue continued to send sermons to us, seeking answers to various issues. Some of the issues were difficult for us to penetrate, so we had to spend time considering and discussing them, and because of this, I had less time to follow up on the sermon work at our church, and some things ended up getting delayed. On October 20, the leaders sent a letter asking us, “Why haven’t you given us feedback on several text-based workers that we asked for a few days ago?” I then realized I’d forgotten to reply. I thought, “The leaders must think I’m procrastinating and not doing my duties with a sense of burden. If the results of our work decline, the leaders will be sure to say I haven’t done my duty well.” A few days later, I received another letter from Zhao Xue seeking help. I felt kind of unhappy with this, and felt that guiding her would affect my main work, that it wasn’t worth it, and that it was a nuisance. I realized my mindset wasn’t right, so I prayed to God, asking Him to guide me to adjust my mindset. I read God’s words: “Only those who love the truth and possess the truth reality can, when the work of God’s house requires it and when God’s chosen people are in need, step forward, standing up bravely and duty-bound to testify to God and fellowship on the truth, guiding His chosen people onto the right path, which enables them to attain submission to God’s work. Only this is an attitude of responsibility and a manifestation of showing consideration for God’s intentions. If you do not have this attitude, and just go through the motions, and you think, ‘I’ll do the things within the scope of my duty, but I don’t care about anything else. If you ask me something, I’ll answer you—if I’m in a good mood. Otherwise, I won’t. This is my attitude,’ then this is a corrupt disposition, isn’t it? Only protecting one’s own status, reputation, and pride, and only protecting the things that relate to one’s own interests—is this protecting a just cause? Is it protecting the interests of God’s house? Behind these petty, selfish motives is the disposition of being averse to the truth” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three). From God’s words, I saw that people who sincerely believe in God and love the truth have a sense of burden and responsibility toward their duties. Whether it’s the needs of the church’s work or brothers and sisters needing help, they are able to fulfill their responsibilities. If someone only tends to their own work, and when others have difficulties and need help, they are unwilling to lend a hand, then this is a disposition of being selfish, vile, and averse to the truth. I thought about how Zhao Xue had just been elected as a supervisor. She wasn’t familiar with the work and hadn’t grasped the principles well. Since she was asking us questions, she had to have encountered difficulties in the work, and I should have tried my best to guide and help her. But I only wanted to take care of my own work. I didn’t want to spend time and pay a price in guiding Zhao Xue, as I felt it would impact my work results. Wasn’t I being selfish and vile? Realizing this, my mentality toward cultivating people shifted a bit, and when Zhao Xue wrote again with some questions, I took the initiative to reply, giving it my all. But I didn’t have much knowledge of my own selfish, vile corrupt nature, and I still couldn’t help but reveal my corruption when facing matters.

At the end of October, Zhao Xue sent us another sermon, asking us to check if there were any issues with it. I knew they were in a hurry for this sermon, but then I saw that the sermon was very long. It would take a lot of time to read it all and send a reply. I thought to myself, “This sermon isn’t within the area of our responsibility, and even if we edit it, we won’t get any credit for it. This would really be a thankless task!” So I didn’t reply immediately. The next afternoon, I didn’t have much work to do, so Yang Chen reminded me to check it, and only then did I take it out to review. I found that it had a lot of issues. After discussing it with Yang Chen, I wrote to Zhao Xue and communicated with her about it, which took a lot of time. Afterward, I thought that giving a response to the sermon would take too much of my time, and that if I spent this time and energy following up on the work in my own area of responsibility, not only would the results of the work improve, but we could also be highly regarded by the leaders. But now I had to spend my time and energy on guiding others’ work, and even if that work yielded results, they wouldn’t be counted as ours, so I thought it would be great if I didn’t have to guide Zhao Xue anymore. But Zhao Xue still couldn’t do the work independently, so there was no easy way to just push it away. I knew I still had to keep guiding Zhao Xue, but I always felt listless about it and didn’t want to pay this price.

Later, I read God’s words exposing the character of antichrists, and I gained some more understanding of my issues. God says: “Antichrists have no conscience, reason, or humanity. Not only are they heedless of shame, but they have another hallmark: They are uncommonly selfish and vile. The literal meaning of ‘selfish and vile’ is not hard to grasp. It means that a person seeks nothing but profit. If something concerns their own interests, they will put their heart into it, they will suffer and pay a price for it, and invest thought and energy into it. If something does not relate to their own interests, they will turn a blind eye to it and take no notice of it; they’ll let others do as they please—even if anyone is causing disruptions or disturbances, they’ll ignore it, and think that it has nothing to do with them. A nice way to put this is that they mind their own business, but it is more accurate to say that this kind of person is vile, base, and sordid—we characterize them as ‘selfish and vile.’ … Regardless of what work they are responsible for, antichrists never give any thought to the interests of the house of God. They only consider whether their own interests are affected and only think about the little bit of work in front of them that benefits them. For them, the primary work of the church is just something they do in their spare time. They don’t take it seriously at all. They only move when they’re prodded into action, only do what they like to do, and only do work that is for the sake of maintaining their own power and status. In their eyes, any work arranged by God’s house, the work of spreading the gospel, and the life entry of God’s chosen people are not important. No matter what difficulties other people have in their work, what issues they have identified and reported to them, how sincere their words are, the antichrists pay no heed, they do not get involved, it’s as if this has nothing to do with them. No matter how major the problems emerging in the church’s work are, they are utterly indifferent. Even when a problem is laid out right in front of them, they only address it perfunctorily. Only when the Above prunes them directly and orders them to sort out a problem will they reluctantly do a bit of real work and put on a show for the Above. Afterward, they will continue to busy themselves with their own affairs. When it comes to the work of the church, to important matters that relate to the big picture, they do not concern themselves with any of these things and ignore them, and even don’t handle problems when they discover them. No matter what issues others bring up, they respond perfunctorily and hem and haw, only addressing the issues with great reluctance. Isn’t this a manifestation of selfishness and vileness? Furthermore, no matter what duty antichrists do, they always consider whether they can step into the limelight; as long as a duty can boost their reputation, they will rack their brains and try to come up with every way possible to learn how to do it and to carry it out. As long as they can rise above others, they’re satisfied. No matter what they are doing or thinking about, they only spare thought for their own fame, gain, and status at every turn. No matter what duty they do, they only compete to see who is superior, who wins, and who has greater prestige. They only care about how many people idolize and look up to them, how many people listen to them and follow them. They never fellowship on the truth or solve real problems. They never consider how to do their duty in such a way that they come to handle things according to the principles, nor do they reflect on whether they have devotion, whether they have fulfilled their responsibilities, whether there are any deviations, oversights, or problems in their work, much less do they consider what God’s requirements are, and what God’s intentions are. They do not pay the slightest attention to all these things. They only bury themselves in their work for the sake of fame, gain, and status, and to satisfy their own ambitions and desires. Isn’t this a manifestation of selfishness and vileness? This completely exposes the fact that their hearts are filled with ambitions, desires, and unreasonable demands, and that their every action is governed by their ambitions and desires. No matter what they do, the motivation and source of their actions come from their own ambitions, desires, and unreasonable demands. This is an archetypal manifestation of selfishness and vileness” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Excursus Four: Summarizing the Character of Antichrists and Their Disposition Essence (Part One)). From God’s words, I saw that antichrists are particularly selfish and vile, and only do things that benefit their own reputation and status. They treat things that don’t benefit their own reputation and status as mere side tasks, not willing to suffer or pay a price for them, and even disregard and ignore them. They must safeguard their own reputation and status, even if it means the church’s work suffers losses. The path they walk is one of resisting God. This is exactly how I behaved when guiding Zhao Xue. I felt it wasn’t within the scope of my responsibility, and I knew that guiding her well would take a lot of time and energy, that even if her work yielded results, they wouldn’t be credited to me, and that I also wouldn’t get any praise from others, so I was unwilling to pay this price. I thought, rather than guiding her, it would be better to spend more time following up on work within my scope of responsibility. This way, not only would the work results improve, but I would also be highly regarded by the leaders. So I was listless when it came to guiding Zhao Xue. Even when I did reply to her questions, I procrastinated. I knew full well that Zhao Xue had just started being a supervisor, and that she wasn’t very familiar with the work, nor had she grasped the principles well, but I didn’t want to pay the price to help and support her. I was truly selfish and vile! I was living by the satanic poisons of “Never lift a finger without a reward” and “Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost.” When doing anything, I’d consider whether it would benefit me personally, and I’d only be willing to invest time and pay a price to do it if there was something for me to gain. I saw that I wasn’t truly fulfilling my duty to satisfy God, but rather acting for the sake of my own reputation and status. In God’s eyes, I wasn’t truly doing my duty, but instead engaging in my own enterprise, and I was walking the path of an antichrist. In the end, not only would I not receive God’s approval, but I would be loathed and eliminated by Him. Realizing this, I wanted to quickly repent to God and no longer live according to my selfish, vile corrupt disposition.

One day, during my devotionals, I read a passage of God’s words, and it clarified how to do one’s duties well. Almighty God says: “Tell Me, how should people do just deeds, and what state and condition must they do this in, in order for it to be considered preparing good deeds? At the very least, they must have a positive and proactive attitude, and, while doing their duty, they must be loyal, be able to act according to the truth principles, and safeguard the interests of God’s house. Being positive and proactive is the key; if you are always passive, this is problematic. It’s as if you are not a member of God’s house and you are not doing your duty, as if instead you have no other choice but to do it to earn a salary because the employer requires you to do it—you are not doing it voluntarily, but very passively. If it weren’t for your interests being involved, you wouldn’t do it at all. Or if no one asked you to do it, you absolutely wouldn’t do it. Doing things with this approach, then, is not doing good deeds. So, people like this are very foolish; they are passive in everything they do. They don’t do what they can think of doing, nor do they do what they can accomplish with time and energy. They just wait and observe. This is troublesome and very pitiful. Why do I say that it is very pitiful? Firstly, it’s not that your caliber is inadequate; secondly, it’s not that your experience is insufficient; thirdly, it’s not that you don’t have the right conditions to do it. You possess the caliber to do this work, and if you spend the time and energy, you will be able to do it, but you do not, you fail to prepare good deeds. This is very regrettable. Why do I say that it’s regrettable? It’s because if you look back on this after many years, you will feel regret, and if you want to go back to that year, that month, and that day, to do that work, things will have changed and that time will have already passed. You will not get a second chance like that one; when that opportunity passes, it passes, when it is lost, it is lost. If you lose out on fleshly pleasures like eating nice food or wearing nice clothes, this doesn’t matter much, because these things are hollow, and they do not have any impact on your life entry or your preparation of good deeds, or on your destination. However, if something relates to God’s attitude toward and evaluation of you, or even to the path you walk and your destination, then losing the opportunity to do it is very regrettable. This is because it will leave behind a stain and give rise to regrets on your future path of existence, and in your whole life you will never have another chance to make up for it. … On the contrary, if you do your duty well, understand the truth and resolve problems, you will feel at peace and grounded in your heart, and you won’t have disappointed God. Before God, you will have faith and be able to conduct yourself with your head held high. If you haven’t fulfilled your duty and are always perfunctory, then even if you haven’t caused any losses, this transgression will leave a lifelong regret in your heart. This transgression will be like a bottomless black hole; whenever you think of it, you will feel pain and unease, an agony that pierces the heart. Not only will you have no peace or joy, but on the contrary, the pain of remorse and torment will accompany you for your entire life and can never be erased. Is this not an eternal regret? And what about from God’s perspective? God uses the truth principles to characterize this matter, so the nature of it is far more serious than what you feel” (The Word, Vol. 7. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (11)). From God’s words, I realized that only by following God’s requirements of positively and proactively doing one’s duty, being considerate of God’s intentions, and upholding the church’s work can one truly do their duty and prepare good deeds. If I didn’t proactively do what I could think of, or even if I did it, but negatively, passively, and with reservations, then this would show a lack of loyalty in my duty, and it would incur God’s hatred and loathing. I had trained as a supervisor for a longer time, and gained some grasp of the principles, so I could see some issues in the sermons that Zhao Xue sent me. Although some problems were more complex and required more time, they could be clarified after discussion. But I realized that dealing with these issues took up a lot of my time, and that this delayed the follow-up work in my own area of responsibility. This caused the progress of our church’s work to slow down. I was then concerned that if this continued, the effectiveness of our work would decline and that this would affect my reputation and status. Therefore, I was unwilling to continue guiding Zhao Xue. I saw that in my duty, I was only considering my own pride and status, that I had no burden for the work of cultivating others, always making calculations for my own interests, and that I wasn’t considering the overall work of the church, nor being considerate of God’s intentions. Wasn’t what I was doing the same as what nonbelievers do? I had truly let God down!

Later, I understood from God’s words that there are painstaking intentions in God laying burdens upon people. God says: “The more considerate you are of God’s intentions, the greater the burden you will bear, and the greater the burden you bear, the richer your experience will be. When you are considerate of God’s intentions, God will lay a burden upon you, and then enlighten you about the tasks which He has entrusted to you. When God gives you this burden, you will pay special attention to the related truths while eating and drinking God’s words. If you have a burden for the life states of the brothers and sisters, then this is a burden that has been entrusted to you by God, and you will always carry this burden with you in your daily prayers. What God does has been laid upon you, and you are willing to do that which God wants to do; this is what it means to take on God’s burden as your own. At this point, in your eating and drinking God’s words, you will address these types of issues, and you will wonder, ‘How am I going to solve these problems? How can I help my brothers and sisters be liberated and have enjoyment in their spirits?’ You will also focus on solving these problems while fellowshipping, and when eating and drinking God’s words, you will focus on eating and drinking words that relate to these issues. By eating and drinking God’s words with a sense of burden, you come to understand His requirements, and then the way forward for you will become clearer. This is the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit that comes about when you have a burden, and this is also God’s guidance for you. Why do I say this? If you have no burden, then you will not be attentive while eating and drinking God’s words; when you eat and drink God’s words with a burden in your heart, you will be able to grasp their essence, find your way, and be considerate of God’s intentions. Therefore, you should pray for God to lay more burdens upon you and entrust you with even greater commissions, so that you may have a clearer path for your practice in the future; so that your eating and drinking God’s words yields greater results; so that you become able to grasp the essence of His words; and so that you become more capable of being moved by the Holy Spirit” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Be Considerate of God’s Intentions in Order to Attain Perfection). After reading God’s words, I realized that burdens are blessings from God. Through the burdens God gives us, we are urged to come before God to seek truth principles, gaining God’s enlightenment and guidance and understanding more truths. This way, we can grow in life more quickly. The leaders arranged for us to guide Zhao Xue in maintaining the overall work of the church; this also allowed us to train more. Real difficulties and problems pushed me to seek the truth principles, enabling me to gain more. In truth, there were some questions that Zhao Xue asked that I couldn’t explain clearly, and this showed that I didn’t fully understand the truth in these areas either. In seeking and praying to God with this sense of burden, and after reading some truth principles, I was able to understand the issues more clearly. In the matter of helping guide Zhao Xue, though I put in some time and energy, during this process, I prayed to God more, and sought truth principles more often, and unknowingly, I made some gains and also made up for my own shortcomings. I truly experienced that burdens are indeed blessings from God, and I realized that I should no longer treat cultivating others as a nuisance. Zhao Xue had a large area of responsibility, and if she could work independently, this would benefit the church’s work, so I had to set aside my personal interests and cooperate with Zhao Xue to do the sermon work well.

Later on, I consciously set aside my personal interests, calmed my heart to reflect on the issues in the sermons, and discussed the issues present within them with Zhao Xue. Gradually, by pondering over and responding to the issues in the sermons, I became clearer on the principles for evaluating sermons, and others’ sermons gave me some new insights. This was truly God’s grace! Afterward, I wondered whether I should summarize the issues in the recent sermons for Zhao Xue. This way, she could avoid them next time. This would be even more beneficial for improving the quality of the sermons. But then I thought, “I’ve already spent a lot of time discussing the sermon with her, and if I also summarize the issues and communicate the details, it’ll take even more time. Won’t this delay my own work? This should be good enough!” I realized I was being selfish and vile, and trying to take the easy way out. I silently prayed to God, rebelling against myself, and I pointed out the problems and deviations we discovered to Zhao Xue. By practicing this way, I felt quite at peace in my heart. Later, while guiding Zhao Xue, I also took time to follow up on the sermon work within my responsibilities. In November, the number of sermons our church submitted was even more than in October, and helping Zhao Xue didn’t cause the work effectiveness to decline. Thank God for His grace!