12. How to approach and handle antichrists
Words of Almighty God of the Last Days
How should God’s chosen people treat antichrists? They must discern them, expose them, report them, and spurn them. Only then can following God to the very end and entering onto the right track of faith in God be assured. Antichrists are not your leaders, no matter how they misled others into choosing them as leader. Don’t acknowledge them, and don’t accept their leadership—you must discern them and spurn them, because they can’t help you understand the truth, nor can they support you or provide for you. These are the facts. If they cannot lead you into the truth reality, they are not fit to be leaders or workers. If they cannot lead you to understanding the truth and experiencing the work of God, they are those who oppose God, and you should discern them, expose them, and spurn them. Everything they do is in order to mislead you into following them, and to make you join their group to undermine and disturb the work of the church, to rope you into taking the path of antichrists, as they do. They want to drag you to hell! If you cannot tell them for what they are, and believe that since they are your leaders, you should obey them, and make concessions to them, then you are someone who betrays both the truth and God—and such people cannot be saved. If you wish to be saved, not only must you surpass the hurdle of the great red dragon, and not only must you be able to discern the great red dragon, to see through to its hideous countenance and rebel against it utterly—there is also the hurdle of the antichrists for you to surpass. In the church, an antichrist is not only the enemy of God, but also the enemy of God’s chosen people. If you cannot discern an antichrist, you are liable to be misled and won over, walk the path of an antichrist, and be cursed and punished by God. If that happens, your faith in God has completely failed. What must people possess to be granted salvation? First, they must understand many truths, and be able to discern the essence, disposition, and path of an antichrist. This is the only way to ensure not worshiping or following people while believing in God, and the only way to follow God to the very end. Only people who are able to discern an antichrist can truly believe in, follow, and bear witness for God. Some will then say, “What do I do if I don’t currently have the truth for that?” You must equip yourself with the truth with all haste; you must learn to see into people and things. Discerning an antichrist is no simple matter, and requires the ability to clearly see their essence, and see through the plots, tricks, intentions and goals behind everything they do. That way you will not be misled or controlled by them, and you can stand firm, safely and securely pursue the truth, and be steadfast on the path of pursuing the truth and attaining salvation. If you cannot surpass the hurdle of the antichrists, then it can be said that you are in great danger, and you are liable to be misled and captured by an antichrist and come to live under Satan’s influence. It is possible that there are some among you who hinder and trip people who pursue the truth, and they are those people’s enemies. Do you accept this? There are some who do not dare to face this fact, nor do they dare to accept it as fact. But the antichrists’ misleading people really does happen in the churches, and happens often; it is just that people cannot discern it. If you cannot pass this test—the test of antichrists, then you are either misled and controlled by antichrists or made to suffer, tortured, pushed out, suppressed, and abused by them. Ultimately, your measly little life will not withstand for long, and will wither; you will no longer have faith in God, and you will say, “God isn’t even righteous! Where is god? There is no justice or light in this world, and there’s no such thing as god’s salvation of humanity. We might as well pass our days going to work and making money!” You deny God, you stray from God, and no longer believe that He exists; any hope that you will obtain salvation is entirely gone. So, if you want to get to where you can be granted salvation, the first test you must pass is one of being able to perceive and see through Satan, and you must also have the courage to stand up and expose and forsake Satan. Where, then, is Satan? Satan is at your side and all around you; it might even be living inside your heart. If you are living within Satan’s disposition, it can be said that you belong to Satan. You cannot see or touch the Satan and evil spirits of the spiritual realm, but the Satans and living devils that exist in real life are everywhere. Any person who is averse to the truth is evil, and any leader or worker who does not accept the truth is an antichrist or false leader. Are such people not Satans and living devils? These people might be the very ones you worship and look up to; they could be the people who lead you or the people you have long admired, trusted, relied upon, and hoped for in your heart. In fact, however, they are roadblocks standing in your way and hindering you from pursuing the truth and obtaining salvation; they are false leaders and antichrists. They can take control of your life and the path you walk, and they can ruin your chance to be granted salvation. If you fail to discern them and see through them, then at any moment, you could be misled and captured. Thus, you are in great danger. If you cannot extricate yourself from this danger, you are Satan’s sacrificial victim.
—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Three: They Exclude and Attack Those Who Pursue the Truth
What attitude should you have toward antichrists? You should expose them, and do battle with them. If there’s only one or two of you and you’re too weak to face the antichrists alone, you should join forces with several people who understand the truth to report and expose these antichrists, and should keep going until they are cleared out. I have heard that in the past two years, God’s chosen people in some pastoral areas in mainland China united to remove false leaders and antichrists from office; some false leaders and antichrists were even the head of decision-making groups, and yet they were removed by God’s chosen people just the same. God’s chosen people didn’t have to wait for approval from the Above; based on the truth principles, they were able to identify these false leaders and antichrists—who did not do real work, and were always tormenting the brothers and sisters, who were acting wildly and disturbing the work of God’s house—and promptly dealt with them. Some were pushed out of decision-making groups, some were cleared out of the church—which is great! This shows that God’s chosen people have already set foot on the right track of belief in God. Some of God’s chosen people have already understood the truth and are now possessed of a little stature, they are no longer controlled and fooled by Satan, they dare to stand up and do battle with the evil forces of Satan. This also shows that the forces of false leaders and antichrists in the church no longer have the upper hand. So they no longer dare to be so flagrant in their words and actions. As soon as they give their game away, someone will be there to oversee them, discern them, and reject them. That is to say that in the hearts of those who genuinely understand the truth, man’s status, reputation, and power don’t have dominant status. Such people don’t put stock in those things. When someone can proactively seek the truth and fellowship on it, and when they begin to reassess and reflect on the path people who believe in God should walk and how they should treat leaders and workers, and they begin to ponder who it is that people should follow, which behaviors are those of following man and which are those of following God, and then, having groped around for these truths and experienced them over several years, when they have come, without knowing it, to understand some truths and to be discerning—they will then have gained a bit of stature. To be able to seek the truth in all things is to have entered the correct track of belief in God.
—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Three: They Exclude and Attack Those Who Pursue the Truth
Antichrists have extremely vicious dispositions. If you try to prune them or expose them, they will hate you and sink their teeth into you as if they were venomous snakes. You won’t be able to swing or shake them off no matter how hard you try. When you encounter such antichrists, do you feel afraid? Some people do get scared and say, “I don’t dare prune them. They are so fierce, like venomous snakes, and if they wrap their coils around me, I’m finished.” What kind of people are these? They are too small of stature, they aren’t good for anything, they aren’t Christ’s good soldiers, and they cannot bear witness to God. So, what should you do when you encounter such antichrists? If they threaten you or try to take your life, would you be afraid? In such situations, you must quickly unite with your brothers and sisters and stand up, investigate, gather evidence, and expose the antichrist until they are cleared out of the church. This is thoroughly resolving the problem. When you discover an antichrist and clearly identify that they have the features of an evil person and are able to punish and retaliate against others, don’t wait for them to commit evil and gather evidence before you handle it. This is passive and will have already resulted in a few losses. It’s best, when antichrists show that they have the features of an evil person and reveal their sinister and malicious disposition, and they are about to act, to handle, address, clear out, and expel them. This is the most sensible approach. Some people fear retaliation from antichrists and they don’t dare to expose them. Isn’t this foolish? You are unable to safeguard the interests of God’s house, which inherently shows that you are disloyal to God. You’re afraid that an antichrist might find leverage to retaliate against you—what’s the problem? Could it be that you don’t trust in God’s righteousness? Don’t you know that the truth reigns in God’s house? Even if an antichrist manages to get hold of some issues of corruption in you and makes a fuss over it, you should not be afraid. In God’s house, problems are handled based on the truth principles. Making transgressions doesn’t mean that someone is an evil person. God’s house never handles someone because of a momentary revelation of corruption or occasional transgression. God’s house deals with those antichrists and evil people who consistently create disturbances and do evil, and who don’t accept even a smidgen of the truth. God’s house will never wrong a good person. It treats everyone fairly. Even if false leaders or antichrists wrongly accuse a good person, God’s house will vindicate them. The church will never clear out or handle a good person who can expose antichrists and has a sense of justice. People always fear that antichrists will find leverage to retaliate against them. But aren’t you afraid of offending God and incurring His spurning? If you’re afraid of an antichrist finding leverage to retaliate against you, why not seize the proof of that antichrist’s evil deeds to report and expose them? In doing so, you will earn the approval and support of God’s chosen people, and most importantly, God will remember your good deeds and acts of justice. So, why not do this? God’s chosen people should always bear God’s commission in mind. Cleansing evil people and antichrists away is the most crucial fight in the battle against Satan. If this fight is won, it will become an overcomer’s testimony. Battling against Satans and devils is an experiential testimony that God’s chosen people should have. It’s a truth reality that overcomers must possess. God has bestowed so much truth upon people, has led you for such a long time, and has provided so much for you, for the purpose of you bearing witness and safeguarding the work of the church. It turns out, when evil people and antichrists do evil deeds and disturb the work of the church, you become timid and withdraw, fleeing with your arms over your head—you are a good-for-nothing. You cannot overcome Satans, you have not borne witness, and God detests you. In this critical moment, you must stand up and wage war against Satans, expose the evil deeds of antichrists, condemn and curse them, giving them no place to hide and cleansing them away from the church. Only this can be counted as gaining victory over Satans and ending their fate. You are one of God’s chosen people, a follower of God. You cannot be afraid of challenges; you must act according to the truth principles. This is what it means to be an overcomer. If you are afraid of challenges and make compromises because you fear retaliation from evil people or antichrists, then you are not a follower of God, and you are not one of God’s chosen people. You are a good-for-nothing, inferior even to service-doers. Some cowards might say, “Antichrists are so formidable; they’re capable of anything. What if they retaliate against me?” This is muddled talk. If you fear retaliation from antichrists, where is your faith in God? Hasn’t God protected you throughout so many years of your life? Aren’t antichrists also in God’s hands? If God does not permit it, what can they do to you? Moreover, no matter how evil antichrists may be, what are they really capable of? Isn’t it all too easy for God’s chosen people to unite and expose and handle them? So why be afraid of antichrists? Such people are good-for-nothings and are not worthy of following God. Go back home, raise your children, and live your life. In the face of antichrists disturbing the work of the church and harming God’s chosen people, how should God’s chosen people respond to their evil deeds? How should those who follow God stand firm in their witness? How should they fight against the forces of Satan and antichrists? Whether you submit and are loyal to God or sit on the sidelines and betray God will be fully revealed when antichrists disturb, do evil, and oppose God. If you are not someone who submits to God and is loyal to Him, then you are someone who betrays Him. There is no other option. Some muddled individuals and those lacking discernment choose to take a middle-of-the-road stance and become fence-sitters. In God’s eyes, these people lack loyalty to God and are betrayers of Him. Some muddled individuals, because of their cowardice, are afraid of antichrists’ punishment, and in their hearts they incessantly ask, “What am I going to do?” This is not the question you should be asking. What should you do? (Fulfill our own duties, fully expose the evil deeds of antichrists, enable our brothers and sisters to learn how to practice discernment, and reject the antichrists. We shouldn’t concern ourselves with our own safety. The most important thing for us to consider is how to fulfill our duty when evil people disturb the work of the church.) What if it affects your family? (We should unhesitatingly fulfill our duty. We shouldn’t discard our duty or fail to stand firm in our testimony because of affectionate concerns for our family’s safety.) Right. First of all, you must stand firm in your witness and fight against the antichrists and evil people to the end, making it so that they have no place to stand in God’s house. If they are willing to labor, let them do so according to rules, and do whatever they are able to do. If they are unwilling to labor, then everybody must unite together and expel them so that they cannot disrupt, disturb, or ruin the work of the church in the house of God. This is the first thing you should do and the witness you should stand firm in. Furthermore, you need to understand that your family and your life are all in God’s hands, and Satan doesn’t dare to act rashly. God has said: “Without God’s permission, it is difficult for Satan to touch even a drop of water or grain of sand upon the land; without God’s permission, Satan is not even free to move the ants about upon the land, let alone mankind, who was created by God.” To what extent are you able to believe in these words? Fighting against antichrists and evil people reveals the size of your faith. If you have a genuine belief in God, then you have true faith. If you only have a little belief in God, and that belief is vague and hollow, then you don’t have true faith. If you don’t believe that God can be sovereign over all this and that Satan is under God’s dominion, and you still fear antichrists and evil people, can tolerate them committing evil in the church, their disturbing and ruining the work of the church, and can make compromises with Satan or beg for its mercy in order to protect yourself, not daring to stand up and fight them, and you have become a deserter, a people pleaser, and a bystander, then you lack a genuine belief in God. Your belief in God becomes a question mark, which makes your belief terribly pitiful! When you see antichrists and evil people causing disturbances and disruptions in God’s house but remain indifferent; when you betray the interests of God’s house and of His chosen people in order to protect your own life, your family, and all your own interests, then you become a traitor, a Judas. This is plain and clear. We often fellowship about and dissect antichrists and evil people, discussing how to discern and recognize them, all for the purpose of fellowshipping clearly about the truth, and of giving people discernment against evil people and antichrists, so that they can expose them. In this way, God’s chosen people will no longer be misled or disturbed by antichrists, and they can break free from Satan’s influence and bondage. However, some people still have philosophies for worldly dealings in their hearts. They don’t try to discern evil people and antichrists; instead, they play the role of people pleasers. They don’t fight against antichrists, don’t set clear boundaries with them, and choose a watered-down, middle-of-the-road approach to safeguard their own interests. They let these devils—these evil people and antichrists—remain in God’s house, inviting peril by nurturing devils. They allow these devils to rampantly disturb the work of the church and the brothers and sisters from doing their duties. What role do such people play? They become a shield for antichrists and accomplices to them. Although you may not do the same things as antichrists or commit the same evil deeds, you have a share in their evil deeds—you are condemned. You tolerate and shelter antichrists, allowing them to wreak havoc around you without taking any action or doing anything. Don’t you have a share in the evil of antichrists? This is why some false leaders and people pleasers become accomplices to antichrists. Anyone who witnesses antichrists disturbing the work of the church but does not expose them or set clear boundaries with them becomes a lackey and accomplice to them. They lack submission and loyalty to God. In the critical moments of battle between God and Satan, they stand on Satan’s side, protecting the antichrists and betraying God. Such people are detestable to God.
—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Nine (Part Eight)
When you discover someone is an antichrist, let Me tell you, if their influence is significant, and many leaders and workers listen to them and won’t listen to you, and if you expose them and you very well might be isolated or cleared out, then you must carefully consider your strategy. Don’t take them on single-handedly; the odds are not in your favor. Start by contacting a few people who understand the truth and have discernment, and seek fellowship with them. If you reach a consensus, approach two more leaders or workers who can accept the truth and come to an agreement. With several people acting together, expose and handle the antichrist jointly. This way, you stand a chance of success. If the antichrist’s influence is too great, you can also write a report letter to the Above. This is the best approach. If a few leaders and workers really try to suppress you, you can tell them, “If you don’t accept our exposure and report, we will escalate this matter to the Above and let them handle you!” This increases your chances of success, as they won’t dare to move against you. When dealing with antichrists, you must adopt this reliable approach—never go it alone. If you don’t have the support of a few leaders and workers, your efforts are destined to fail, unless you can write a report letter and hand it over to the Above. Antichrists are extremely insidious and cunning. If you don’t have sufficient evidence, refrain from moving against them. Reasoning or debating with them is useless, showing love to try and change them is useless, and fellowshipping with them about the truth won’t work; you won’t be able to change them. In a situation where you cannot change them, your best course of action is not to have a heart-to-heart talk with them, reason with them, and wait for them to repent. Instead, expose and report them without letting them know, let the Above handle them, and encourage more people to expose them, report them, and reject them, ultimately leading to them being rooted out from the church. Isn’t this a good approach? If they aim to worm your inner thoughts out of you, to probe you, and see if you have any discernment toward them, what should you do if you have already identified them as an antichrist? (I should not speak truthfully with them, but follow along with their words for the time being, not letting them discover my discernment, and then I should privately expose and report them.) How is this approach? (Good.) You must see through the schemes of devils and Satans and avoid setting off their traps or falling into their pits. When dealing with Satans and devils, you must use wisdom, and refrain from speaking truthfully to them. This is because the ones you can speak truthfully to are God and the genuine brothers and sisters. You should never speak truthfully to Satans, to devils, or to antichrists. Only God is worthy of understanding what’s in your heart and of holding sovereignty over and scrutinizing your heart. No one, especially devils and Satans, is qualified to control or scrutinize your heart. Therefore, if devils and Satans try to worm the truth out of you, you have the right to say “no,” refuse to answer it, and withhold information—this is your right. If you say, “You devil, you want to worm my words out of me, but I won’t speak truthfully to you, I won’t tell you. I will report you—what can you do to me? If you dare to torment me, I will report you; if you torment me, God will curse and punish you!” does this work? (No, it doesn’t.) The Bible says: “Be you therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). In such situations, you must be as wise as serpents; you should be wise. Our hearts are only fit for God to scrutinize and possess, and they should only be given to Him. Only God is worthy of our hearts, Satans and devils are not deserving! Therefore, do antichrists have the right to know what’s in our hearts or what we’re thinking? They do not have that right. What is their purpose in trying to worm the truth out of you and probe you? They aim to take control of you; you must recognize this clearly. So, don’t speak truthfully to them. You must find ways to unite more brothers and sisters together to expose and reject them, pull them down from their position, and never let them succeed. Root them out from the church, denying them any and all chances to disturb and wield power in God’s house again.
—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Fourteen: They Treat the House of God Like Their Own Personal Domain
Some people say, “Antichrists are just people with corrupt dispositions. People have human emotions. If you appeal to them emotionally, explain things logically, and clarify the pros and cons, then when they understand the reasoning, they might not act in such a way. They might admit their mistakes, repent, and stop walking the path of antichrists. They might not establish their own domain within the house of God, draw in their own diehard followers to monopolize power in the house of God, and engage in these actions that are not in line with humanity and morals.” Can antichrists be influenced this way? (No.) Has anyone ever changed an antichrist? Some say, “Maybe they weren’t properly educated by their mother from a young age, they were spoiled. Now, if their mother talks to them or if the person with the highest prestige in their family, or the one who has been a believer for the longest time, reasons with them, they might stop doing the things that antichrists do.” Does this hold true? (No.) Why not? (Reasoning with them doesn’t work; the more you talk, the more they resent it. If you then expose and prune them, they will hate you.) Right. Haven’t they heard God’s words and the truth quite a bit? Some antichrists have believed for ten or twenty years without any change. They have read God’s words quite a lot, but why hasn’t there been any change? It’s because their hearts are filled with evil—even God doesn’t save them, can humans change them with what little knowledge and doctrine they have? In human society, countries have education, and there are laws in society, all of which encourages people to learn to be good and avoid committing crimes. But why can’t it change people? Have the national education and systems had any positive impact on society? Do those things promoted by the nation have any educational significance or value for humanity? Have they been effective? (No.) Even the legal departments of each country, such as juvenile correctional facilities and prisons, which are the highest and strictest places for disciplining people, have these changed the essence of people? Take certain rapists, thieves, and thugs—they go in and out of prison so many times that they become habitual offenders—do they eventually change? No, no one can change them. The essence of a person cannot be changed. Similarly, the essence of antichrists cannot be changed either. The practice of monopolizing power represents the essence of antichrists, and this essence cannot be changed. What is God’s attitude toward this unchangeable type of person? Is it one of doing His utmost to change and save them, and then achieve a transformation in their nature? Does God do this work? (No.) Now that you understand that God doesn’t do this kind of work, how should you deal with antichrists? (Reject them.) First, discern and dissect; once you see through them, reject them. Don’t reject someone just based on your notions and imaginings, thinking that they are arrogant and self-righteous and like an antichrist. This won’t do; you can’t be blind. Through contact, investigation and discernment, gradually establish and confirm that someone is an antichrist. First, fellowship and dissect them to everyone, discern them, and then unite with those in the church who pursue the truth and have a sense of justice to reject them. First discern and dissect them, and then reject them—this is the best approach to deal with antichrists.
—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Fourteen: They Treat the House of God Like Their Own Personal Domain
Why does God’s house want to expel antichrists? Would it be alright to keep them and let them render service? Would it be alright to give them the chance to repent? (No, it would not.) Is there any chance they could pursue the truth? (Antichrists can’t pursue the truth.) Now you have discovered that antichrists are evil people who belong to Satan and cannot repent, which is why they are expelled. Nobody is expelled lightly. God’s house exercises patience over and over again, repeatedly giving them opportunities to repent, and giving them leeway, so that good people are not wrongly accused, and so that no one is expelled or ruined lightly. It is not an easy thing for them to believe in God for so many years; God’s house is tolerant toward everyone until they are fully seen through, until they are completely revealed. But can antichrists repent? They cannot repent. The role they play in God’s house is that of the lackeys of Satan, dismantling, disrupting, and disturbing the work of God’s house. Even if they have some gifts and talent, they could not possibly work hard to do their duty well, or embark on the correct path. Even if antichrists have some useful aspects, they absolutely won’t make a positive contribution to God’s work in God’s house. They do nothing but disrupt, disturb, and undermine God’s work, and they do not do good things. You kept them to observe them and gave them the chance to repent, but they were incapable of repentance. In the end the solution that was adopted was to expel them. Before expelling them, you had already seen through to the fact that this kind of person was an antichrist who would rather die than repent, that they were antagonistic toward God and the truth. Consequently, they were expelled. Would they have been expelled if they were a good person? Would they have been expelled if they could accept the truth and repent? At most they would have been dismissed from their duty and sent to engage in spiritual devotionals and reflection, they would not have been expelled. Once God’s house decides to expel someone, it means that this person would be a scourge in God’s house if they were allowed to stay. They would not do good things, they would just cause disruptions and disturbances, and do all kinds of bad things. Whatever church they were in would be disturbed by them to the point where it was scattered like sand, work stagnated, most people felt very despondent and lost their faith in God, and some people even wanted to stop their faith and couldn’t go on doing their duties. What is the reason for this? It is caused by the antichrist’s disturbances. The antichrist must be handled, cleared out, and expelled in order for this church to have any hope, for church life to become normal, and for God’s chosen people to enter into the right track of believing in God. Some people say: “God is love, so we should also give antichrists the chance to repent.” These words sound very nice, but is that really how things are? Make a careful observation: Which antichrists and evil people who were expelled came to know themselves later on, and were able to pursue and love the truth? Which ones repented? None of them repented and they all stubbornly refused to confess their sins, and however many years later you see them again, they are still this way, still clinging to those things that happened back then and not letting go, trying to justify and explain themselves. Their disposition has not changed at all. If you admit them back and allow them to resume the church life, and let them do a duty, they will still disrupt and disturb the work of the church. Just like Paul, they will make the same old mistakes, exalting and testifying about themselves. They cannot walk the path of pursuing the truth at all, and they will walk their old path, the path of an antichrist, the path of Paul. This is the basis for expelling antichrists.
—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Nine (Part Eight)
Related Experiential Testimonies
How I Reported an Antichrist
I Dare to Fight Against the Evil Forces of Antichrists
Related Hymns
Fight the Good Fight for the Truth