Item Fourteen: Promptly Discern, and Then Clear Out or Expel All Manner of Evil People and Antichrists (Part Three)

The Standards and Bases for Discerning Various Kinds of Evil People

I. Based on One’s Purpose for Believing in God

At the last gathering, we fellowshipped on the fourteenth responsibility of leaders and workers: “Promptly discern, and then clear out or expel all manner of evil people and antichrists.” Based on the content of this responsibility, we summarized the different manifestations of various people under different circumstances, and then discerned these various individuals based on their manifestations. Through discerning these individuals, we aimed to clearly identify those who are evil people that the house of God needs to discern and clear out—that is, those who are not allowed to remain in God’s house and are the targets for being cleared out. The last two times, we fellowshipped about the discernment and categorization of various kinds of evil people through three aspects. Today, we will continue to fellowship various details about the categorization of various kinds of evil people through these three aspects. First, read the fourteenth responsibility and the three specific categories listed in it. (The fourteenth responsibility of leaders and workers: “Promptly discern, and then clear out or expel all manner of evil people and antichrists.” One: one’s purpose for believing in God; two: one’s humanity; three: one’s attitude toward their duty.) After reading, do you recall some of the basic content from the previous two fellowships? (Yes.) Let’s first review the content of our last fellowship. (Last time, God fellowshipped about one’s purpose for believing in God, covering points four through eight of this topic: fourth, to engage in opportunism; fifth, to live off the church; sixth, to seek refuge; seventh, to find a backer; eighth, to pursue political aims.) These five points were discussed in the last fellowship. Through fellowshipping about the basic manifestations and the revealed corrupt essences of these five types of people, judging from their behaviors and their intentions and purposes in believing in God, as well as their constant demands on God, should these people be considered brothers and sisters and remain in the church? (No, such people should be cleansed away, because their belief in God is not to pursue the truth or to pursue salvation. They all have personal intentions and designs, hoping to finagle advantages for themselves and gain benefits in the house of God. They are not people who truly believe in God; they are all disbelievers.) If disbelievers are not cleared out from the church, what harm do they pose to the church’s work and to the brothers and sisters? (They neither eat and drink God’s word nor experience God’s work; they stay in the church without accepting the truth. Moreover, they can vent negativity and notions, thus causing disruptions and disturbances, and playing a negative role.) These manifestations are basically visible to people.

Judging from the manifestations of the five types of people discussed in the last fellowship, do these people share a common characteristic? (Yes.) What is their common characteristic? (These people are all disbelievers.) (They do not believe in the existence of God, do not believe in the truth, and are not interested in the truth.) This touches on their essence. Since they do not believe in the truth, they will not accept the truth. The essence of those who do not accept the truth at all is that of a disbeliever. What are the hallmarks of disbelievers? They believe in God to engage in opportunism, to live off the church, to avoid disasters, to find support and a steady meal ticket. Some of them even pursue political aims, wanting to establish connections with the government through certain matters to gain favor and land an official appointment. Such people are disbelievers, every last one of them. They carry these motives and intentions in their belief in God, and in their hearts they do not believe with complete certainty that there is a God. Even if they acknowledge Him, they do so doubtfully, because the views they cling to are atheistic. They only believe in things they can see in the material world. Why do we say they don’t believe there is a God? Because they uniformly do not believe or acknowledge the facts that God created the heavens and earth and all things, and that after creating mankind God has been leading and holding sovereignty over them. Thus, they cannot possibly believe in the fact that God can become flesh. If they do not believe that God can become flesh, are they capable of believing and acknowledging all the truths expressed by God? (They are not.) If they do not believe the truths expressed by God, then do they believe that God can save humankind and in His management plan for saving humankind? (They do not.) They do not believe any of this. What is the root of their disbelief? It is that they do not believe God exists. They are atheists and materialists. They believe that only things they can see in the material world are real. They believe fame, gain, and status can only be achieved through schemes and untoward means. They believe that the only way to prosper and live a happy life is to live by satanic philosophies. They believe that their fate is only in their own hands, and that they must rely on themselves to create and secure a happy life. They do not believe in God’s sovereignty or in His almightiness. They think that if they rely on God they will have nothing. Ultimately, they do not believe that God’s words can accomplish everything, and they do not believe in God’s almightiness. That is why the intentions and purposes, such as engaging in opportunism, living off the church, seeking refuge, finding a backer, making friends with the opposite sex, and pursuing political aims—securing an official position and a steady meal ticket for themselves—arise in their belief in God. It is precisely because these people do not believe that God reigns sovereign over all that they are able to audaciously and unscrupulously infiltrate the church with their own intentions and aims, wishing to put their talents to use or realize their wishes in the church. This means that they are infiltrating the church in order to satisfy their intention and desire to gain blessings; they want to obtain fame, gain, and status in the church, and by doing so they will get their steady meal ticket. One can see from their behavior, as well as their nature essence, that their purposes, motives, and intentions for believing in God are not legitimate, and that none of them accept the truth or sincerely believe in God—even if they do infiltrate the church, they are just filling up seats, playing no positive role whatsoever. Therefore, the church should not accept such people. Although these people have infiltrated the church, they are not God’s chosen people, but rather were brought in out of good intentions by others. “They are not God’s chosen people”—how should this be interpreted? It means that God did not predestine and choose them; He does not view them as objects of His work; nor has He predestined them as human beings whom He will save. Once these people have infiltrated the church, we naturally cannot treat them as brothers and sisters, because they are not the ones who genuinely accept the truth or submit to God’s work. Some may ask, “Since they aren’t brothers and sisters who truly believe in God, why doesn’t the church clear them out or expel them?” God’s intention is that His chosen people may learn discernment from these people and thereby see through Satan’s schemes and reject Satan. Once God’s chosen people have discernment, these disbelievers should be cleansed away. The goal of discernment is to expose these disbelievers who have infiltrated God’s house with their ambitions and desires and clear them out of the church, because these people are not true believers in God, and even less are they people who accept and pursue the truth. Nothing good will come from them remaining in the church—but great harm will. First of all, after infiltrating the church, these disbelievers never eat or drink God’s words and do not accept the slightest bit of the truth. They always discuss things other than God’s words and the truth, disturbing others’ hearts. They will only disrupt and disturb the work of the church, to the detriment of the life entry of God’s chosen people. Secondly, if they remain in the church, they will run riot committing misdeeds, just like nonbelievers, disrupting and disturbing the work of the church, and subjecting the church to many hidden dangers. Thirdly, even if they remain in the church, they will not willingly act as service-doers, and though they may render a bit of service, it will only be in order to gain blessings. Should the day come when they learn they cannot gain blessings, they will fly into a rage, disturbing and impairing the work of the church. Rather than countenance that, it is better to clear them out of the church as early as possible. Fourthly, these disbelievers are liable to form factions, and to support and follow antichrists, creating an evil force within the church that poses a great threat to its work. In light of these four considerations, it is necessary to discern and expose these disbelievers who infiltrate God’s house, and then to clear them out. This is the only way to maintain normal progress in the church’s work, and effectively safeguard that God’s chosen people can eat and drink God’s words and live church life normally, and therefore enter the right track of belief in God. This is because the infiltration of these disbelievers into the church is of great detriment to the life entry of God’s chosen people. There are many people who cannot discern them, but instead treat them as brothers and sisters. Some people, seeing that they have a few gifts or strengths, choose them to serve as leaders and workers. This is how false leaders and antichrists arise in the church. Looking at their essence, one can see that none of them believe that God exists, or that His words are the truth, or that He rules sovereign over all. They are nonbelievers in the sight of God. He pays them no heed, and the Holy Spirit will not work on them. So, based on their essence, they are not objects of God’s salvation, and they are certainly not predestined or chosen by Him. God could not possibly save them. No matter how one looks at it, none of these disbelievers are God’s chosen people. They should be promptly and accurately discerned, and then cleared out. They must not be allowed to lurk in the church disturbing others. These disbelievers infiltrate the church with different purposes and motives, and you might not be able to see through or discern them at the beginning. However, as time goes on, as you interact with them more frequently and have more dealings with them, you will understand them more and more, and you will see the various manifestations that indicate they are disbelievers more and more clearly. Then, isn’t it easier to discern them based on God’s words? (Yes.) If God’s chosen people can all discern disbelievers, then it’s time to reveal them and clear them out. Regardless of their character, what their social status is, or how great their seniority is in the church, if after several years of listening to sermons they still cannot accept the truth and are full of notions about God, they are already revealed as disbelievers. Considering their purposes and manifestations in believing in God, they are undoubtedly the ones who should be cleared out or expelled. This is the cleansing work that a church must do in every period.

The topic of the purpose for believing in God covered eight points, meaning there are eight types of people whose manifestations are sufficient for us to discern various kinds of evil people and then to make accurate characterizations and handle them accordingly. In short, these eight types of people cannot remain in the church. Some might ask, “Does each of these eight types of people exhibit only one kind of behavior?” That’s not necessarily the case; some people’s purpose for believing in God includes four or five points—they seek refuge, live off the church, engage in opportunism, pursue political aims, and randomly seek out the opposite sex, infiltrating the church to indiscriminately seduce others. Some people’s purpose of believing in God might cover two points—one is to seek to become an official in the church, and the other is to seek blessings through opportunism, or some might seek out the opposite sex as well as live off the church. Clearly, these people come to God’s house looking to take advantage, intending to use the house of God or the brothers and sisters to help them get things done, to exert effort for them; in order to achieve their purposes and satisfy their wishes, they use every possible means to make the brothers and sisters serve them. In short, the obvious purpose of these disbelievers and opportunists who have infiltrated the church and should be cleared out or expelled in coming to God’s house is to freeload and take advantage of the situation for their personal gain. Whether in their speech or actions, their purpose can always be vaguely discerned. These people do not accept the truth at all and have no interest in the truth; sometimes they even show moods and attitudes of revulsion or resistance. No matter what duty the church arranges for them, they only reluctantly cooperate if it benefits them. If there’s no benefit for them, they resist internally and exhibit negativity and passivity, and even revulsion or refusal. They engage in a bit of work only if there’s benefit; without it, they either evade or passively muddle through. At critical moments of work, they play hide and seek, disappearing and neglecting the church’s work. From these manifestations, it’s clear that their belief in God is merely to freeload; even using them to render service does more harm than good.

I. To Monitor the Church

Today, we will fellowship the last point in the topic of one’s purpose for believing in God. Apart from the previously mentioned eight points, there is another type of person whose purpose and intention in believing in God are not legitimate. What distinguishes them from those mentioned above who are solely motivated by benefits, doing their utmost to pursue fame, gain, and status? This type of person does not enter the church to become an official, for the sake of status or a steady meal ticket, or for the sake of making their lives more convenient, and so forth; they have a purpose that is difficult for ordinary people to detect. What is this purpose? It is to monitor and control the church. Monitoring the church is the ninth point in the topic of one’s purpose for believing in God. These people enter the church with a task to monitor it, aiming to control the course of the development of the church. The ones dispatching them, their superiors or bosses, might represent the government, a certain religious group, or some organization in society. Because they are unfamiliar with the church, filled with curiosity, and even uneasy about the church’s emergence, formation, and existence, they have the intention to deeply figure out the church, to learn about the church’s structure, its work, and various circumstances. Therefore, some people are dispatched to the church to carry out the job of monitoring. Those who undertake the job of monitoring the church, whether they come from the government, religious groups, or any social organization, have a purpose in believing in God that is entirely different from that of the true brothers and sisters. They are not here to accept God’s salvation; they have not come to accept God’s words, the truth, and God’s salvation on the basis of believing in and acknowledging God. Their belief in God is accompanied by political aims or a task given by any organization. Thus, monitoring the church is both their purpose for infiltrating the church and believing in God, and a task assigned by their superiors; it’s a job they do to earn their paycheck.

For those who infiltrate the church to monitor it, what is it that they monitor? They monitor many aspects, such as the church’s teachings, its aims, what it advocates, the work it does, and the thoughts and views of its members, evaluating whether it poses any harm to the government, religions, or society. They check for any anti-social, anti-government, or anti-state statements in terms of speech. In terms of teachings, they monitor what exactly the ideas advocated by the church are. It might not be easy for you to detect these individuals when they infiltrate the church because they might listen attentively and take serious notes during gatherings without dozing off. They might even earnestly summarize the speeches of various individuals at each gathering, eventually summarizing and categorizing the different thoughts and views of various people to see which ones align with the national government’s interests and requirements, and which ones are detrimental to the state’s governance, are at odds with the government, and so on. They might meticulously summarize and categorize these deep-seated viewpoints of church members, keeping records. Why do they do this? Because it is their job, their task; they must report to their superiors. This is the first part of their job: to grasp the church’s teachings and the ideological tendencies of all its members. Once they believe these tendencies contain elements that are detrimental to society or the state, or if they believe some radical thoughts and viewpoints emerge, they will promptly report and tell this to their superiors so that appropriate measures can be taken. What they aim to understand first is the church’s teachings—this is one of their main jobs in monitoring the church—followed by information about the church’s personnel. For example, they gather information on who the senior leaders of the church are, including their residential addresses, ages, appearances, educational levels, interests and hobbies, health conditions, what they talk about in daily life, where they go, what work they do, as well as their daily work hours and work content. They look at whether these leaders have made any statements or undertaken any actions that are against the government, against religions, or against societal trends, as well as these leaders’ reactions to the nation’s system of governance and current political developments, among other things. These are all aspects that those monitoring the church aim to grasp. Furthermore, they also continually pay attention to the church’s structure and administrative structures. For instance, they keep track of who the leaders and workers in the church are, which level of leaders have been dismissed, how they were reassigned after being dismissed, which leaders have been arrested, and who took over their work afterward. They gather information about the successor’s age, gender, how many years they have believed in God, their educational levels, and—if they are talented university graduates—whether they have any negative impact on the country or society, and if they could potentially be recruited to work in government departments, among other specific information. They even want to find out specific church leaders taking up their posts or being dismissed. That is, the status of personnel, specific administrative work, and the church’s structure are all aspects they aim to familiarize themselves with. Additionally, they aim to fully grasp information about how many items of work there are in the church, how many groups there are, and the details of each group’s supervisors, among other things. They go around inquiring, observing, and learning, conducting their work in great detail. The job to do and task to accomplish of people of this type who infiltrate the church are to promptly grasp all aspects of the church’s situation and its various developments to achieve the purpose of monitoring the church. This includes, for instance, how the church is developing overseas, how many countries the gospel has spread to, and in which countries churches have been established—they need to grasp all of these details. These are the main tasks they perform in monitoring the church: First, to grasp the church’s teachings; second, to grasp the situation of the church’s personnel; and third, to grasp the status of the church’s work and its recent key dynamics. They act entirely as accomplices and minions of Satan, the great red dragon; they are genuine servants of Satan.

People of this type who monitor the church infiltrate the church for the purpose of grasping information related to the church’s teachings, personnel, work trends, the scale of the church, and other aspects. They aim to grasp each of these aspects and then report them to their superiors, who may, at any time, develop corresponding policy plans or measures to address the church based on the situation. In short, their purpose in monitoring the church is absolutely not well-intentioned. Otherwise, why would they still monitor the church, given that it brings them neither wealth nor benefit? Isn’t it because they are uneasy about the existence of the church? They do not believe that the church established and led by God consists of people who believe in God purely, having no relations with the state, society, or political groups and organizations. But regardless of how they look into the church, they remain uneasy. Why? Because they are atheists, do not acknowledge God, and also hate the truth. Therefore, they are capable of performing foolish and absurd acts such as oppressing and arresting believers, as well as monitoring the church. Why do they adopt monitoring and resistance measures against the church? Because their greatest worry is that the church growing too large and having too many members will have a significant impact on the country, the government, and society, and even threaten and influence traditional cultures and traditional religious groups. This is the real reason behind their monitoring and resistance against the church. Therefore, they treat monitoring and resisting the church as a political task to be executed.

People of this type who monitor the church might not be easy to discern within the church because they have ulterior motives and hide themselves deeply so that others cannot detect them. Thus, they might go along with the majority in the church, doing nothing unusual, appearing particularly well-behaved, and never expressing any dissenting views about the work done by the church. However, these individuals have a characteristic: They are lukewarm toward believing in God, neither very active nor very passive about it. They can do a bit of the duties assigned to them, but they never reveal their personal details, such as where they work, their family situation, or whether they have believed in God before. If someone mentions working in a government department, they are very evasive, avoiding giving any opinions on the government, politics, policies, or religion. Their behavior is characterized by avoiding any sensitive topics; they neither criticize nor praise the government, nor discuss its policies or system of governance. When someone points out that a particular individual is a spy, they become notably nervous and may even quickly stand up to defend themselves. Besides being nervous, you might also notice from their gaze a tendency to avoid such sensitive topics; they steer clear of anyone who can see through them. Additionally, they often receive calls from unknown sources, or are contacted and interacted with by mysterious individuals not associated with the church, and as soon as they answer one of these calls, they move away from others. If someone happens to see them during these moments, they become visibly flustered, blush, and appear extremely uneasy, fearing that their identity might be discovered. Besides covertly gathering information about the church, they also inquire about the situation with the brothers and sisters from time to time, asking questions like, “How many years have you believed in God? Do your parents believe? Are your family members in the mainland? Of your family members in the mainland, which of them believe in God, and for how many years? How old are they? How many people are in your local church? How are they doing now?” From time to time, they seek sensitive and private information that people are unwilling to disclose. In general interactions among the brothers and sisters, nobody deliberately or actively asks about sensitive personal information if someone is unwilling to share. However, this individual pays special attention to such matters, even going as far as to track the movements of some leaders and workers or people in charge of important work, trying to gain access to data on these people’s computers and mobile phones or their address information, insisting on investigating these details thoroughly. If they notice a certain leader hasn’t attended a gathering, they’ll ask, “So-and-so’s not at the gathering today. What are they doing?” If someone mentions they are busy, they’ll probe further: “Busy with what? Are they watering those new believers again? Who are those new believers? When did they start believing? How come I don’t know about this?” They keep digging deeper. The brothers and sisters say, “If we’re not supposed to know, then let’s not ask. Why keep asking? This isn’t about life entry, it doesn’t involve the truth; there’s no need to know.” To which the infiltrator replies, “But these are matters of God’s house, the church’s work; why can’t we know about it? We all believe in God, knowing a little doesn’t hurt. If you don’t want to know, it means you don’t care about the church’s work or the church leaders. Who exactly did the leader go to meet? How many new believers are there? Where are they? I’d like to meet them too.” They’re always inquiring about these matters.

There is another task that those who monitor the church pay most attention to, which is to grasp the church’s financial situation. In one regard, they seek to understand the sources of the church’s finances. They want to know if the church has established factories or enterprises, owns sweatshops, employs child labor, and whether the church’s various items of work involve profitable ventures. For example, whether the church’s production of videos, movies, hymns, and printing books of God’s words turn a profit or generate excessive profit; what the sources of the church’s finances are; whether there are any affluent individuals donating to support the church; if these individuals include political elites or multimillionaires and billionaires—these are the details they want to grasp. Beyond figuring out the church’s administrative structures and financial sources, they also aim to grasp the custody of the church’s finances, with their objective being to track the direction of these funds. How the church spends its money, whether it is involved in any unlawful activities, whether it organizes social elites or collaborates with various social organizations and groups to jointly oppose dictatorial governments and uphold human rights, and so on—these are also some of the important situations they aim to grasp. Some people question: “Is the work of monitoring the church only undertaken by the nation of the great red dragon?” Is this statement accurate? In fact, the entire world and the whole of human society resist God. It’s not only the nations under dictatorial rule that resist God; even in the so-called Christian countries, the majority of those in power are atheists and nonbelievers, and even among those in power with faith or who profess Christianity, the number of them who can accept the truth is in the minority. Most people do not acknowledge, much less accept, the truth. So, aren’t these people who believe in God yet resist Him? For example, in religions like Christianity, Catholicism, and Judaism in Israel, are the upper echelons composed of people who accept the truth? Not at all. None of them come to investigate God’s work; not one can accept the truth. To be precise, they are all disbelievers; they all resist God and amount to antichrists. They disturb and sabotage God’s work and brutally suppress and persecute those who follow God, which is proven by their treatment of God’s work in the last days. Which denomination allows its believers to freely investigate the true way, listen to preachers from outside, or receive strangers? Not a single one can do this. Which race or nation is friendly to the church? (None.) It’s already commendable if they grant you a bit of religious freedom and some breathing space. Do you still expect them to support you on top of this? When God’s church appears or when the church begins to preach the gospel, these people who do not believe in the existence of God at all and who feel a particular revulsion and loathing toward the truths expressed by God then undertake a special job, which is to assign individuals to closely monitor the church. “Monitor” here means to surveil, to grasp and control; that is, to tightly surveil, grasp, and control all aspects of the church in every period. Some people say: “They haven’t publicly condemned or opposed God’s work, nor have we suffered persecution or harassment in our local life. We feel that believing in God, gathering, doing our duty, and spreading the gospel overseas is much better and safer than in the nation of the great red dragon. We haven’t experienced any interference.” Just because there has been no interference and some freedom has been granted to you, you should not deny their work of monitoring the church. The bit of religious freedom you’re given is a basic societal institution; what you’re enjoying is merely the basic rights of any citizen in the country you live in. Enjoying these basic rights does not mean that the national government, social groups, or the religious community have accepted and acknowledged God’s work and the church’s work, have become friendly, or that there is no longer any hostility and monitoring. Isn’t that the case? (Yes.) This matter isn’t abstract, is it? (No, it isn’t.)

What should our attitude be toward the hostility and monitoring by satanic regimes? Should we reject and avoid it, or simply ignore it? First, think about this: Does the church fear them monitoring any of the work it does? (No.) Do we have any secret activities? Do we make any anti-state or anti-government political statements? (No.) This can be affirmed. Believing in God never involves participating in politics. Most of you have believed in God for more than three years, some even for twenty or thirty years. Over all these years of listening to sermons, has anyone ever found the church make anti-state or anti-social statements? (No.) Not in the slightest; God’s house never discusses politics. Moreover, The Church of Almighty God is established by God, it is a foretaste of God’s kingdom on earth, not an organization formed by any person, not established by any individual. So, what is the work that God established the church to do? It is not to engage in anti-social, anti-religious, or anti-political work. What then is the church’s work? Firstly, its main work is to spread the good news of God becoming flesh to save humankind in the last days, allowing humankind to accept all the truths expressed by God so that they might turn to God and worship Him. Secondly, it involves bringing those who yearn for the truth before God to accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s words and be purified, ultimately achieving salvation. This is the work undertaken by the church as established by God, and it is the significance and value of the church’s existence. This is irrelevant to and disconnected from politics, business, industry, technology, or any other sector of society; it is completely unrelated to these things. What then is the essence of God’s work of salvation within the church? Put in the simplest and most incisive terms, it is the management of humankind. The specific content of managing humankind involves bringing people before God, into the reality of God’s words, allowing them to accept God’s judgment and chastisement to be purified and achieve salvation. This is the specific work of managing humankind. Any work that the church engages in is related to God’s management, God’s plan, and of course, involves the words expressed by God; it has no relation whatsoever to the various jobs undertaken by worldly people. Therefore, any information about the church, whether it concerns its teachings, personnel, administrative structures, the status of its work, or even the church’s financial situation, has absolutely no relation to any country, any society, any race, any religion, or any human group—not even the slightest connection. Therefore, with these points in mind, whether it’s the ruling party, religious groups, or social groups, their act of dispatching people to monitor the church amounts purely to what? (An unnecessary action.) “An unnecessary action” is a formal expression. What’s the common saying? It’s having nothing better to do, right? In My view, it’s precisely that; their days are filled with too much comfort and ease, so they dispatch these few idle individuals to monitor the church, even treating this as a political task, as a serious job—it’s utterly absurd! With that effort, opening educational or charitable institutions would be much better. This is just a case of too much fleshly comfort leading to idleness, not focusing on proper tasks! If the entire human race was like God’s church, with God personally shepherding and leading, then this world, this humankind would save a lot on unnecessary institutions, expenses, and troubles. At the very least, agencies like spy organizations and police departments, these security sectors, would serve no use and would have to be dissolved and reassigned to other work.

The individuals tasked with monitoring the church are on a mission. Their primary task upon infiltrating the church is these few aspects we’ve fellowshipped; after they grasp a few basic and important situations within the church, they report back to their superiors. Regardless of their thoughts, opinions, or the purpose behind their work, the presence of these monitors within the church should prompt the brothers and sisters to be alert and handle them with wisdom. Is this approach correct? (Yes.) Then, is there any need for excessive alarm? (No.) How should we approach the appearance of such individuals? There are two principles, it’s very simple. If they go around inquiring and searching for information, this clearly marks them as a spy or a scout. Such individuals are of extremely vile and presumptuous humanity; they cause serious disturbances to the church. Just their presence causes unrest among people, hindering them from coming before God. Gatherings and the performance of duties are also disturbed and affected, and safety is compromised. How should such a person be handled? (Clear them out of the church.) Correct; if they cause disturbances to church life or the church’s work, they should be directly cleansed away. Then, is there any need to hide from them or fear them? (No.) Some people, upon encountering spies overseas, panic and hide everywhere, just as if they had seen the police back in the mainland. When some brothers and sisters go out on errands and encounter spies who ask them questions, and they hear how intimidating the tone of the questioning is, akin to a police interrogation, they get so scared they run away without even completing the errands. I say, “How could you be such pushovers? Why run? What is there to fear? In the nation of the great red dragon, so many brothers and sisters were captured but remained unafraid; they did not become Judases, they stood firm in their testimony. Why then, after already coming overseas, can you still be so fearful? You haven’t broken any law; what is there to fear?” Some people say: “They always try to get close to me, and they’re always interrogating me.” Can’t you question them back? You could say, “What right do you have to interrogate me? Do I know you? Are you an official of the great red dragon checking IDs? Whom do you represent? Keep asking me questions and I’ll sue you!” Is there any need to fear them? (No.) Some people, upon encountering such spies, dare not speak and quickly flee in fear. Some muddled people can’t discern at all and even attempt to preach the gospel to these satanic spies and lapdogs. After a few attempts, they realize, “This isn’t someone who believes God exists. Why do they seem like an official of the great red dragon?” Feeling that something is amiss, they give up. Later, they think it over: “God is protecting me; thankfully I didn’t divulge any personal information to them. What a false alarm!” They are so scared that they dare not randomly preach the gospel to anyone they meet anymore. In fact, there have indeed been spies who were brought into the church through preaching. They are scouts implanted into the church by the great red dragon, they are deliberately arranged by Satan. They are like wolves in sheep’s clothing, infiltrating the church without eating and drinking God’s words or fellowshipping the truth, always snooping around for information about the church and prying into personal details. Once it is discovered that their behavior is suspicious or they have already caused disturbances within the church, they should be promptly cleansed away—the great red dragon’s scouts, Satan’s servants, should absolutely not be allowed to disturb the church. Clear out each one you find; don’t show them any mercy! If anyone gets along well with a spy, always willing to treat the spy kindly out of a sense of love, answering whatever questions are asked, playing the role of a lapdog for the spy, such scum must be directly expelled! Suspicious individuals should be closely watched and observed; not a single detail about the church should be disclosed to them, especially not who the leaders and workers are. If a spy is allowed to gain any information, it could present a hidden threat or disaster to the church and the brothers and sisters at any time. Therefore, when someone is found to be suspicious, as long as they never eat and drink God’s words or fellowship the truth, they are definitely a disbeliever, and it is correct to immediately clear them out. Even if such a person is not a spy, they are not a good person, and clearing them out is in no way unjust. If anyone is found to be in close association with a spy and capable of betraying the church, they should be immediately cleared out under any circumstances. Such scum and scoundrel can only bring disaster to the church and the brothers and sisters. They are even worse than watchdogs; even if they do not commit evil deeds, they must still be cleared out. Now, the great red dragon is on the verge of collapse, but they are unwilling to accept their defeat and destruction. They continue to arrest and persecute God’s chosen people and conduct spy operations to infiltrate God’s house. Their disturbing and sabotaging of the church’s work has never ceased. Now, some obviously suspicious individuals have been exposed. Their attempts to gather information have caused a stir, making it easy for others to see through them. Once they have exposed themselves, they are cleared out by the church. But have all the cunning spies been exposed? No way. It’s possible for churches everywhere to be infiltrated by the great red dragon’s agents. Some individuals, after being captured by the great red dragon, are coerced through threats, temptations, and various other means by Satan to act on their behalf and then infiltrate the church. These are the hidden spies. Such scouts are treacherous and sly, possessing some shrewdness and intellect. In the words of nonbelievers, they have some capability. When monitoring the church, they do so inconspicuously, acting quietly and covertly, never revealing their true intentions in their interactions. Most people don’t sense anything when interacting with them; they are not aware that the spy is gathering information, nor do they feel the spy’s revulsion toward believing in God. The spy may have already grasped the church’s basic situation before most people even realize they are there to monitor the church. On the outside, such individuals do not cause any disturbance to the church or to most people, so how should they be handled? Should we take any measures or solutions to address their monitoring of the church? As mentioned earlier, does the church fear their monitoring in any aspect? (No.) The existence of our church and the various items of work it engages in are open and aboveboard; these items of work are the most just causes among humankind. If any organization wants to understand any aspect of the church, the church’s experiential testimonies are publicly broadcast online—everyone can view them as they like. There are no secrets, no illegal activities, and certainly no disruptions to social order or contrary speech or actions. Thus, if they secretly investigate and monitor the church’s situation, then let them be. Why do I say this? These individuals working as agents possess a certain professional standard, and ordinary people cannot detect what exactly the tasks they perform behind the scenes are. So, as long as they do not cause disturbances, there’s no need to bother with them; just let them be. Moreover, these disbelievers, atheists, and politically engaged individuals are not accustomed to nor interested in church life. In the church, where every day people read God’s words, accept judgment and chastisement, and discuss knowing oneself, knowing God, and dispositional transformation, how could they not feel as if on pins and needles or undergoing torment? In every gathering, they are as restless as ants on a hot pan; they feel unwilling to force themselves to stay in the church. They understand in their hearts that the church is just a church, and absolutely not a politically engaged organization. By monitoring and learning about the church, and becoming aware of what exactly it does, they become educated about the fact that God reigns sovereign over all things and over the fate of humankind, broadening their horizons to not live so ignorantly. They too are created beings, yet they do not even know that man is created by God, which shows how foolish and insignificant they are! Is there any risk in letting them stay in the church? If they pose no threat or disturbance to the church or the brothers and sisters, then let them be. Once they do something that causes a disturbance, that’s their moment of exposure, and that’s the right time to handle them. Based on facts and evidence, promptly discern and characterize them—their mission comes to an end, and the church naturally expels them. Is this approach good? (Yes.) Some people ask, “Isn’t the work of the church open and aboveboard? Why restrict people’s monitoring?” This is mainly aimed at the regime of the great red dragon, Satan. Its monitoring of the church is for the purpose of suppression, arrest, and harming God’s chosen people; therefore, God’s house does not allow its monitoring in order to prevent God’s chosen people from suffering persecution and slaughter. If individuals from democratic countries or religious groups come to investigate the true way, they can look it up online or contact the church. The church receives anyone who sincerely seeks the truth. But if the other party harbors ill intentions and seeks to distort right and wrong and slander the church, how could God’s house allow their monitoring? Would it not be extremely stupid to allow their monitoring? Wouldn’t it be foolish and ignorant? (Yes.) God’s house has always welcomed those seeking the truth and warmly receives them, which is completely in accordance with God’s intentions. If people do not get this, then it is due to their foolishness and ignorance. The church’s external policy is open and aboveboard, fully aligns with the truth principles, and is imbued with intelligence and wisdom. If someone cannot comprehend these positive things, then they are an absurd person, a muddled person. Some people say, “If scouts or Satan’s servants come to learn about the church, should we be honest people and answer their questions truthfully?” Telling the truth to devils and Satans is stupid; this does not make one an honest person, but turns one into a lapdog of Satan. When Satan’s kind wish to learn about and grasp the church’s situations, God’s chosen people have no responsibility to tell them. They cannot accept the truth and have no goodwill, so we have nothing to say to them! Doing this is not being impetuous, but wise. Some people ask, “If they ask me, ‘Who leads your church? How many years have they believed?’ can I tell them?” You should ask them, “What’s your purpose in knowing about our leader? Tell me first, I’ll think it over and then decide whether to inform you or not.” Is this answer wise? (Yes.) This is called acting according to principles. Do you understand? As the gospel work spreads and the number of people in the church gradually increases, scouts and agents may appear in churches across different countries and regions from time to time. For such individuals, simply notifying God’s chosen people to handle them wisely will suffice. If it’s found that they cause disturbances or disruptions, they should then be promptly cleared out. Most people should have some understanding and discernment of the way these agents speak and act, or of their demeanor, and will definitely have some awareness or perception when interacting with them. If only a few brothers and sisters in a church notice such individuals but are not certain if they are spies or scouts, then they should be treated cautiously and with a wise approach. If most people have noticed, they can inform each other and take precautionary measures. If the suspected spies show no friendliness toward the church or the brothers and sisters, constantly seeking to entrap the brothers and sisters and disturb the church, and always looking for evidence with which to discredit the church, even going so far as to take photos or recordings of the brothers and sisters, or use enticement and temptation to extract information they wish to know, such individuals, once discovered, cannot be allowed to go unchecked—they must be promptly cleared out of the church. You might not have encountered these situations before, so I’m giving you a heads-up in advance. This is about broadening your understanding, about knowing humankind, society, politics, and the world—it’s just that dark and that evil.

Regarding the ninth purpose one has for believing in God—to monitor the church—this concludes the fellowship on the basic content. Has everything been clearly fellowshipped? (Yes.) What are the contents that those who monitor the church aim to monitor? (The church’s teachings, personnel situations, work conditions, and financial status.) Basically, these four areas are what most concern them. What do these four aspects involve? They involve what they are most worried about: the impact of the church’s presence on society, the nation, and the religious community. They are also worried that the church might use religion as a guise to engage in politics and overthrow the government, viewing this as the greatest hidden danger. Thus, they suppress, persecute, and ban the church, and arrest its members. The nation of the great red dragon bans all religious beliefs, some countries ban certain beliefs, and most countries fear the truth holding power, and fear the people accepting the truth, which threatens their rule. In short, the more a place has God working and expressing the truth, and the more a church has the work of the Holy Spirit, then the more likely they are to be monitored and viewed with hostility by various governments. Therefore, governments often send agents disguised as people investigating the true way to learn about and grasp the church’s situation, in order to monitor all the church’s dynamics. Additionally, they attempt to grasp the trends of the church’s work, to see whether the church is involved in politics, whether it is participating in some political activities under the guise of conducting church work, or whether it has any connections with overseas religious forces, among other concerns. These are what they wish to grasp and are worried about. Furthermore, the financial situation of the church is also something they want to grasp. They ponder: “This church has grown in numbers of people and developed rapidly—where does their money come from? Which organizations or wealthy individuals are donating to them?” In short, there is nothing we might not think of that they haven’t considered. Why? Because they are evil; they are evil humans. Their attempts to grasp the church’s situation stem from their immense worry about the church’s existence, fearing that the church might influence more people, which would pose a threat to their rule; this is precisely what they are concerned about regarding the church. No matter how just or legitimate the work undertaken by the church is, they still do not believe. Why? Because they are disbelievers, atheists, and materialists—what materialists can do is just this. These are the four situations they worry about. We just fellowshipped two principles concerning the appropriate way to handle such individuals after having understood the reasons and objectives behind their worries about these four situations. Give a simple summary of these principles and speak on them. (If they cause disturbances in the church, then cleanse them away; if they do not cause disturbances, there’s no need to bother with them.) If they cause disturbances, snooping around everywhere and causing panic, then cleanse them away without mercy; if they do not cause disturbances and most people do not notice or cannot discern them, then ignore them. Once they see clearly that this is indeed church work, all religious activities, and not at all involved in politics, just confirming this point will make them leave on their own. This is the approach democratic countries use to understand religious situations. It was also mentioned earlier that humankind is very complex. What is the reason for the complexity of humankind? Is it not derived from the evil of humankind? (Yes.) How did humankind’s evil originate? Why say that humankind is evil? It’s because Satan has corrupted humankind too deeply. How is it said in plain language? It’s that Satan has turned people into demons; all of humankind is under the rule of devils, with too many big and small devils, so places where people gather have become cities of demons. When there are many demons gathering together, it becomes complex; they are capable of committing all kinds of evil deeds and engaging in all sorts of nefarious activities. Because all devils are evil, and there is always strife among them, and they can never be compatible with each other, this complicates matters. When people who genuinely believe in God come together, it’s much simpler; they are all willing to read God’s words and live church life, and they all enjoy doing their duties and engaging in proper tasks. They don’t participate in crooked and nefarious activities—at most, they might reveal some corruption. Only such people can achieve salvation through faith in God. Devils can never be saved through faith in God because a leopard can’t change its spots. Even if devils believed in God for decades or centuries, they would not change, which is a fact visible to all. Now, many churches have cleansed away those who are devils, which is a good thing and completely accords with God’s intentions. In some churches, half of the people are devils, while in others, a minority are devils. Is it easy to carry out the work of the church in such churches? Certainly not. If the devils are cleansed away, leaving only corrupted humankind, church work becomes much easier to do. The most pitiable situation is when false leaders or antichrists hold power in some churches, with devils taking the leadership role; then God’s chosen people in those churches are really afflicted. Tell Me, can false leaders or antichrists holding power bring peace and joy to God’s chosen people? The thoughts and ideas of false leaders and antichrists are entirely evil and contrary to the truth. If there are ten or twenty living demons supporting them, living in such a church is like living in a place where demons congregate, in a den of demons controlled by a devil king; it’s akin to living inside a meat grinder, causing unrest to your mind and spirit. Every day, what occupies your thoughts are things like whom to fight or struggle against, whom to befriend and get close to, whom to avoid and guard against, and so on; you don’t even have an environment of peace, living in constant fear and trepidation, without a shred of tranquility. Isn’t this like being in a meat grinder? (Yes.) This evil society, this evil humankind, treats everyone and every group or organization in the same way, applying the same opinions and viewpoints to all. Similarly, they are uneasy even toward the church, an institution that is relatively positive, not sparing it. Regardless, the manner in which we treat them is principled, right?

One’s ninth purpose for believing in God—monitoring the church—has now been fully fellowshipped, and all of the content of the first category of the fourteenth responsibility of leaders and workers has also been basically fellowshipped. The summary of the purposes of these disbelievers and atheists in their belief in God basically encompasses these points. The last purpose fellowshipped differs slightly from the previous ones in content. When those who monitor the church infiltrate the church, they are not chasing after a meal ticket, status, or conveniences in life and work, but come with political purposes. Regardless of their purposes, once we see through and discern them, we should promptly take appropriate action, clearing out or expelling these individuals, absolutely not allowing them to lurk in the church for long. This is an important task for the leaders and workers. Based on their purpose of believing in God, discern and determine who are the true brothers and sisters—God’s chosen people—and who are the various kinds of evil people that the church should clear out or expel; promptly identify these evil people and then promptly adopt a corresponding approach to clear them out or expel them. This is the first category of discerning and categorizing various types of evil people: one’s purpose for believing in God. We’ve finished our fellowship on it.

II. Based on One’s Humanity

We now move on to the second category, which is their humanity. Through the manifestations of a person’s humanity, we discern and determine whether this individual truly believes in God and whether they are suitable to remain in the church. If, based on their manifestations and revelations of humanity and the essence of their humanity, they are not true brothers and sisters, are not suitable for staying in the church, their presence disturbs the brothers and sisters, and—according to their behavior—they belong to those who should be cleared out or expelled from the church, then the church should swiftly devise corresponding plans to clear out or expel these individuals. The fellowship on the fourteenth responsibility of leaders and workers is about clearing out or expelling all manner of evil people. Viewing through the lens of humanity, the humanity of these individuals is certainly bad and evil; in plain language, they are simply no good. Based on the manifestations of their humanity, they should be cleared out or expelled from the church to prevent them from continuing to cause disturbances in the church and affect the normal order of the church life of God’s chosen people and their performance of duty. So, through which manifestations do we judge a person’s humanity as good or evil and thereby decide whether the church should clear them out or expel them? The second category—humanity—upon summation, also encompasses many points, but let’s first fellowship the first point.

A. Loving to Misrepresent Facts and Falsehoods

The first point is about those who love to misrepresent facts and falsehoods. You surely have all seen this type of person often. What is the primary manifestation of loving to misrepresent facts and falsehoods? It is speaking without principles, always provoking disputes with intentions and purposes, causing adverse effects. Clearly, such people have serious issues with their speech, rooted in poor disposition and lack of humanity, leading them to love to misrepresent facts and falsehoods. Looking at it from the perspective of this term, “misrepresenting facts and falsehoods” means often claiming that what is fact is falsehood, and vice versa; it is about inverting black and white and even embellishing the facts with untrue details, throwing out groundless accusations, making baseless judgments, and speaking however one pleases. Such people never put a positive slant on things; what they say does not edify people, and is of no benefit or help to people whatsoever. In the course of interacting, engaging, and communicating with them, the act of listening to them speak often plunges people’s hearts into darkness and turbidity, even causing them to lose faith in their belief, so that they have no inclination to believe in God, and cannot quiet their minds during spiritual devotions and gatherings. They are often unsettled in mind and spirit by the claims about what is right and wrong and the gossip that such individuals spread, and start to view everyone unfavorably and see nothing but faults in others. Frequently, after hearing facts and falsehoods being misrepresented, people’s normal thinking gets disturbed, and even their correct viewpoints on matters are disturbed, making it hard for them to discern what is correct and what isn’t. Those who lack discernment are often enticed and fall into temptation, without even realizing it, due to some things that people who misrepresent facts and falsehoods say. They think, “Those people haven’t harmed anyone, they participate in gatherings normally, sometimes they even give charity and help to others, and haven’t done anything bad.” However, the consequences of their interactions with such individuals are frequently that they become mired in issues of right and wrong and mired in temptation, and they get mired in the middle of emotional entanglements between people, and improper interpersonal relationships. These people who misrepresent facts and falsehoods specialize in disturbing appropriate relationships among people and in sabotaging some of the pure understandings within people’s minds. In their view, whichever individuals share a good relationship and can be supportive and helpful to each other become targets for their secret attacks and judgments. Likewise, whoever does their duty with some loyalty and expends themselves somewhat is also a target for their attacks. Regardless of how good or positive something may be, they find ways to defame it. They make veiled criticisms about everything, comment on every matter, and hold their own viewpoints on all issues. These viewpoints aren’t genuine viewpoints at all; rather, they speak nonsense, confuse true facts and falsehoods, and invert black and white; for the sake of achieving a goal, or sowing discord between people, or slandering certain individuals, they even go so far as to deliberately and recklessly fabricate things by embellishing the facts with untruthful details and making groundless accusations, creating something out of nothing. Those unaware of the facts listen to them speak and think that their claims seem reasonable and couldn’t possibly be false, and thus become misled. This type of person who loves to misrepresent facts and falsehoods makes veiled criticisms of any positive matter. Is it because they have a sense of justice? (No.) They are defiant toward and do not esteem those who actively do their duty, those who are loyal, those who expend themselves enthusiastically, and those who have conscience and reason. So, what’s the reason for the reckless talk of these individuals? Where does the root lie? Why do they always love to misrepresent facts and falsehoods? (Because their humanity is bad.) Correct; it’s due to bad humanity. If their humanity were good, they wouldn’t misrepresent facts and falsehoods. Speaking should be based on conscience and rationality; one cannot spout twisted theories and heresies at every turn. The root of misrepresenting facts and falsehoods is bad humanity. Whatever such people say has a sour taste to it; to put it mildly, they are judging others, but in fact, their words carry some elements of malicious intent to condemn and curse, and hints of instigation, jealousy, defiance, hatred, and even smack of kicking people when they are down. In summary, these are the main characteristics of their misrepresenting facts and falsehoods. Besides these characteristics, such individuals share another common trait: They resent people who have what they lack, and laugh at people who lack what they have. Is their humanity good? (No.) Individuals of this type, who resent people who have what they lack, and laugh at people who lack what they have, feel jealous of anyone who is better than them and speak ill of them behind their back, passing judgment and condemning them; whereas, if someone is inferior to them, they sneeringly laugh at them, ready to mock, satirize, and belittle that person. They cannot correctly comprehend any matter, or approach it based on the most basic human morality. They don’t need to wish blessings on anyone, nor do they need to wish anyone well or wish that everything goes as they want it to, or wish that they walk the right path; but, at the very least, they should correctly assess others without harboring any malice—they even fail at this. What is the underlying reason for their misrepresenting facts and falsehoods? Clearly, through their speech, and through their attitude toward others, and through what they think and the way they treat others deep in their hearts, it is evident that the humanity of people of this type is malicious. Although people of this type only use their mouths to misrepresent facts and falsehoods, behind these actions lie the accomplishments and goals they wish to achieve, as well as their true views and attitudes toward people and matters, deep within their hearts. Leaving aside for now whether those who love to misrepresent facts and falsehoods comprehend the truth well, and whether they are people who love the truth, based on this trait of their humanity—a love of misrepresenting facts and falsehoods—can they have any good, uplifting, or positive influence on the brothers and sisters in the church? (No.) Absolutely not!

Let’s look at some specific examples to see what manifestations those who misrepresent facts and falsehoods have. Let’s say, for instance, that there’s a sister whose family is very wealthy, but for the sake of preaching the gospel and testifying about God, she has let go of the pleasures of the flesh and left home to do her duty. Tell Me, how would normal people view this situation? Wouldn’t they admire and envy her? At the very least, they would think that the sister is commendable and worthy of emulation for being able to sacrifice the pleasures of the flesh to do her duty. But how do those who love to misrepresent facts and falsehoods comment on her? They say, “She is passing up the life of a rich person to go out and preach the gospel all day; if she goes on like this, sooner or later her husband will kick her out! Isn’t believing in God all about receiving blessings and enjoying oneself? Look at her, having blessings but not knowing how to enjoy them, forsaking her family and career to wholeheartedly do her duty; isn’t that foolish? If my family were that rich, I would just enjoy myself at home.” Tell Me, is there a single sentence in those words that accords with humanity, that edifies others? (No.) Those with some discernment, upon hearing this, would think, “Isn’t this distorting the facts? It is an inherently positive thing for a believer to forsake everything in order to expend themselves for God, and to not pursue material pleasures, but they’re condemning it.” If someone without discernment hears this, they would be misled and disturbed; their zeal for believing in God, and their zeal to forsake things and expend themselves to do their duty would immediately be severely dented. Although the words of those who love to misrepresent facts and falsehoods are few, the negative impact they have on others is significant, enough to make someone feel negative for a while and unable to recover. Isn’t this the case? (Yes.) Just a few seemingly plausible words can poison some people upon hearing them. What does it say about the humanity of those who can speak such poisonous words? (It’s bad.) Is there any sentence among their words that could increase someone’s faith after hearing them? (No.) What are all these words? Broadly speaking, they are all the words of disbelievers; not a single sentence should be spoken by those who follow God. More specifically, not a single sentence spoken by these people reflects any humanity. What does it mean to lack humanity? It means not even possessing morals. What does it mean to lack morals? The sister has good living conditions and a wealthy family, and what is these people’s attitude? Is it merely envy followed by well-wishes and then moving on? (No.) So, what is their attitude? Jealousy, indignation, resentment, and harboring complaints in their hearts: “Does she deserve to have so much money? Why don’t I have that much money? Why does God bless her and not me?” The sister is wealthy and prosperous, so they feel jealousy and hatred, without a single word of genuine admiration or well-wishing. This indicates a complete absence of even the most basic morals. The sister is wealthy, so they harbor hatred, almost to the point of trying to rob or cheat her out of her possessions. Furthermore, this sister is living in a wealthy family, yet she is able to leave behind good living conditions and material comforts to go off and do her duty; for a believer in God, this is something worthy of congratulation, it is worthy of admiration and envy. People should be wishing her well, and trying to get close to her and emulating her. But do these people who love to misrepresent facts and falsehoods have anything like this to say? (No.) How do they speak? Every sentence is marked by harsh words and a hint of hatred. Why can they speak like this? It’s because they are discontent and dissatisfied with their own situation, harboring resentment, and thus they vent their anger on this wealthy sister. As a believer in God, one should especially appreciate, admire, learn from, and emulate those who are able to actively do their duty and pursue the truth. Instead of learning from the sister’s strengths to compensate for their own weaknesses, these people mock her as foolish and even hope that her husband will divorce her; they are waiting to see her downfall. If that sister were indeed to be divorced by her husband, wouldn’t they then feel pleased? Wouldn’t their wish have been fulfilled? This reflects their true feelings, and also their intention and purpose. They do not wish well on others; seeing anyone who is doing well or who is better than them fills them with jealousy and resentment. Regardless of how strong someone else’s faith in God is, if that individual is better than them then it just won’t do. They lack humanity entirely, and are incapable of uttering a word of blessing or edification. Why can’t they utter such words? Because their humanity is too evil! It’s not that they don’t want to speak, or that they lack the right words; rather, it’s that their hearts are filled with jealousy, resentment, and indignation, making it impossible for them to utter words of blessing. So then, can the fact that their hearts are filled with such corrupt things indicate that their humanity is malicious? (Yes.) It can. Because they reveal such corrupt dispositions, it becomes easy for others to discern, and others can see through their corrupted essence.

Here’s another example. There was a sister who, before believing in God, was always in conflict with the wife of her brother-in-law. Later on, both of them started believing in God and, through eating and drinking God’s words, came to understand some truths. They realized how one should conduct oneself and get along with others, and as their corruption was revealed they were able to open up to each other and attempt to know themselves, which made their relationship increasingly harmonious. Some people would envy them and say, “Look at them, the whole family all believes in God and the sisters-in-law are just like real sisters. Isn’t it all because of their faith in God? Families of nonbelievers can’t get along at all, always fighting and competing with one another, even among siblings from the same mother. Believers are much better; even if the sisters-in-law are not real sisters, as long as they believe in God, with common goals to pursue, walking the same path, and sharing a common language, they are compatible in spirit, which is wonderful!” This shows that those who genuinely believe in God are different from nonbelievers. People from different families come together with common goals and pursuits, compatible in God’s house and before God. The purpose of saying this is to let people know that this is the effect of God’s words and work, a grace given to people by God. This is something that nonbelievers do not have and cannot enjoy. At the very least, after hearing this, one would feel that it is good to believe in God and have a favorable impression toward faith in God. But listen to what the person who loves to misrepresent facts and falsehoods has to say about this: “Hmph! You may see those sisters-in-law outwardly seem to get along, all harmonious during gatherings—but don’t they also bicker with one another at times? You don’t know, they used to argue so badly!” Others say, “Their past disputes and arguments were because they didn’t believe in God and didn’t understand the truth. They get along fabulously now! This is because they both believe in God now, understand some truths, and can open up to one another in fellowship and know their own corruptions, and often do their duties together. Although there is still some friction between them, they generally can admit their mistakes to each other, and consult each other on everything they do. This is something that no nonbeliever can achieve, not even with their blood relatives.” Yet, the person who misrepresents facts and falsehoods says, “Which family doesn’t have quarrels? Never mind sisters-in-law, even biological sisters quarrel, right? The harmony they appear to have now is just a show for others. Once their father-in-law dies, I refuse to believe they won’t fight over the inheritance! Is believing in God not just a wish, a kind of spiritual solace? Could they really give up so much wealth because of it? No way!” Is there a single statement in these words that aligns with the facts? Is there any wish for people’s well-being, any blessing? (No.) Is there anything expressing the personal sentiment that believing in God is indeed good, having seen others enjoying God’s grace as they themselves have? (No.) In the view of those who misrepresent facts and falsehoods, these personal transformations that occur among the brothers and sisters are all fraudulent; the acquisition of truth and the changes in disposition that come from believing in God are all false; they do not believe that God can purify people, that God can change people. From their words, one can not only see their arbitrary judgment, hatred, and cursing of people, but also their disbelief and denial of the effect achieved by God’s work and words on people. The sisters-in-law have a good relationship, and show each other tolerance and patience when they are together, because of their belief in God. This person who loves to misrepresent facts and falsehoods feels uncomfortable and dissatisfied in their heart, and so they try every possible means to sow discord between the sisters, becoming happy if they can make it so the sisters-in-law argue and fight upon meeting. What kind of demeanor is this? What kind of mentality is it? Judging from their mentality, isn’t this somewhat perverse? (Yes.) In terms of their demeanor, isn’t it a hideous one? (Yes.) Yet, people of this type still participate in church life, and among those who do their duties, there is no shortage of people like them. These people are commonly referred to as having a “toxic tongue.” In fact, it’s not just that their tongue is toxic; their inner world is incredibly dark and venomous! No matter what good experiential testimonies the brothers and sisters may share, in their eyes, these are all artificial and imagined, and there is nothing special about them. Regardless of whom God does the work of judgment and chastisement in, resulting in significant gains, such that they are able to stand up and share their experience and testify to God—deep down, these individuals disdain it, thinking, “What’s so great about that? After hearing so many sermons, wouldn’t anyone have some understanding? You just write an experiential testimony article and you’re satisfied, considering yourself an overcomer? I’d like to see whether you still complain about God when things go awry in the future. If God takes away your child, I’d like to see whether you cry, and whether you can still believe in God then!” What do you think fills their hearts? Isn’t it a wish for the whole world to be in chaos, a fear of people walking the right path? In summary, no matter what happens in anyone’s family, they must make some comments on it, but regardless of what they say, these people all have one characteristic, which is that they hope no one has it good—they speak of everyone as if they are totally devoid of merit; it makes them happy to talk of others like they are trash, and they’re always delighting in others’ misfortune. If someone has a wealthy family, they become jealous, angry, and hateful, constantly complaining in their hearts, and wishing that God would strip that person of their wealth and the grace they enjoy, and give it to themselves. The complaints spoken behind people’s backs by these individuals are unbearable to hear. Are they like believers of God in any way? Of course, people of this type are also skilled at disguising themselves. No matter how venomous or dark their hearts are, in the presence of brothers and sisters during gatherings, they too will fellowship their understanding and insights, spouting grand doctrines to disguise themselves, crafting a “glorious,” good image for themselves. Behind the scenes, however, they don’t speak or act like humans. Most people, if they haven’t interacted with these individuals and don’t know their true manifestations or what lies in the depths of their hearts, having merely heard them speak correctly during gatherings, won’t have discovered how vile or vicious their humanity is, or how lowly their character is, but will even think well of them. Only after spending more time with them and understanding their actions and behaviors in life behind the scenes, do people gradually become discerning of them and feel disgusted. Therefore, discerning someone should not be based solely on the pleasant words they speak during gatherings; one must also observe their actions and words in life behind the scenes in order to see through to their essence and true face.

Besides not speaking like humans, the type of people who love to misrepresent facts and falsehoods have another characteristic: They want to comment on everyone and everything, even those they are unfamiliar with or have never interacted with, and do not spare even the smallest matters in other people’s lives. The outcome of their commenting is that no matter how positive something is, it is twisted into negatives by their speech; no matter how proper something is, it becomes distorted into something negative when it passes their vile lips. This makes them happy, allowing them to eat well and sleep soundly. Tell Me, what kind of creature is this? For instance, if some brothers and sisters have had a good income this year and are financially better off—offering a bit more, exceeding one-tenth—they become jealous and say, “Why are you offering so much this year? God determining whether a person is good or evil is not based on how much you offer. What’s the point of your eagerness? The house of God isn’t short of money.” The unpleasant words come out again, don’t they? No matter who does something proper, or something that aligns with the truth, they find it objectionable, and feel extreme disgust in their hearts. They try all possible means to get a hold over you, looking for excuses to attack, accuse, and condemn you, until they’ve beaten you down and knocked the positivity out of you, leaving you utterly confused, and unable to distinguish what is correct and what is not. Then they have a good laugh, inwardly mocking you and saying to themselves, “This is all you amount to, and yet you talk about experiential testimony!” This is a devil showing its true colors, is it not? Aren’t these the words of a servant of Satan, an antichrist? (Yes.) The more I talk about this kind of person, the angrier and more repulsed I get. Have you ever encountered such individuals? Regardless of their appearance or facial features, whenever they are about to misrepresent facts and falsehoods, their expressions become bizarre: lips curled, eyes askew, no longer looking at others squarely, and some people’s features even seem to shift out of place. This is a signal being transmitted to you, telling you they’re about to speak unlike humans. What do you do, then? Do you receive this signal or block it out? (Block it out.) You must distance yourself, telling them: “Don’t speak; I don’t want to hear it. You gossip too much. If you’re not going to speak like a human, then stay away from me. I don’t want to be subjected to your disturbance; I don’t want to be caught up in these improper interpersonal relations, I won’t pay attention to someone like you.” Observe and see who among you loves to misrepresent facts and falsehoods, who possesses such a demeanor, and then quickly distance yourselves from them. What is the characteristic of these individuals’ humanity? It is speaking venomously, or more colloquially put, having a “toxic tongue.” By exposing their venomous words, you can see the various statements they release; through their statements, you can see their inner world, and determine exactly what their humanity essence is, and whether they are evil people. People of this type who love to misrepresent facts and falsehoods, through the various signals and statements they release, allow others to clearly designate them as evil people. People of this type fully meet the standard for being cleared out or expelled; there can be no mercy toward them. They must be cleared out, and not allowed to cause disturbances within the church.

We just fellowshipped on the characteristics of the type of people who love to misrepresent facts and falsehoods, and it should be apparent from the situation with their belief in God and from the manifestations of their humanity that they are a type of person who is averse to the truth, and who does not love the truth. Their humanity is poor to such an extent that they are impervious to reason, and lack even the most basic human morals; it’s just that in their particular case, the characteristic of their poor humanity is that they especially love to misrepresent facts and falsehoods. From the words they utter, one can observe the characteristic of their humanity, and their humanity essence; clearly, people of this type are individuals with poor humanity. To what extent is their humanity poor? It is poor to the extent of being evil, thus putting them into the category of evil people. This is because the words they typically speak aren’t occasionally complaining, and expressing a bit of jealousy, or occasionally showing a bit of human weakness; their manifestations are not those of a common, ordinary corrupt disposition, but are sufficient to prove that they can be categorized as evil people. This is the first type of person: those who love to misrepresent facts and falsehoods.

B. Loving to Take Advantage

The second type of people is those who love to take advantage. Some people definitely have notions when it comes to fellowshipping about the love of taking advantage, thinking, “Which corrupt human doesn’t love to take advantage? It’s human nature; as long as it’s not committing evil, what’s so serious about taking a little advantage?” The love of taking advantage that we’re fellowshipping about here goes beyond the scope of normal people’s love of taking advantage—it reaches the extent of evil. There should be quite a few people of this type in the church, or at the very least a portion. Under the pretext that “we’re all brothers and sisters,” they take advantage everywhere, taking advantage among brothers and sisters, in God’s house, and in the church. What advantages do they take? For instance, if their family needs to buy a house but they don’t have enough money, they don’t turn to relatives or friends to borrow it, nor do they go to the bank for a loan; they borrow from the brothers and sisters, without mentioning interest, or when they will repay the loan—they just borrow it. To say they are “borrowing” it is putting it nicely; the fact is that they’re just taking it, because they never intend to repay the money or pay interest. Why do they target the brothers and sisters? They think that since they are all brothers and sisters, they should help out in times of difficulty, and if someone doesn’t help, then they’re not a brother or sister. Thus, they go to the brothers and sisters to borrow money, coming up with reasons to make the brothers and sisters feel that it’s only right and proper to lend them money. Some other people see that a brother’s or sister’s family owns a car and keeps thinking about it, constantly asking to borrow it every few days or so. They borrow it but don’t return it, and don’t refill the gas, and sometimes even put dents in the bodywork or crash it. They hanker and scheme after any nice food, useful items, or anything of value they see in others’ homes, coveting it for themselves. Whosever home they go to, their eyes gleam with thievish greed as they search and look everywhere, looking for any advantage to be gained or any things they could take—even a small potted plant won’t escape their grasp. When going out or dining with others, they never offer to pay for the transportation or meal. Whenever they see something nice they want to buy it, but when the time comes to pay up, they get others to foot the bill for them and afterward they don’t even bring up the matter of paying them back; they simply want to take advantage, even if it’s just gaining a penny or a nickel. If you want to have nice things, you can pay for them yourself; if you don’t want to pay with your own money, then don’t seek to take advantage of others either, and don’t be so greedy; you should have some integrity to earn respect from other people. But this type of individual lacks integrity, only wanting to take advantage, and feeling increasingly joyful the more advantage they take. Is the emergence of such people in the church a disgrace or a glory? (A disgrace.) It is a disgrace. Would you say that them taking advantage like this is necessary? Is it because they can’t afford meals or afford to put food on their family’s table? Not at all. In fact, they have enough money to spend and enough food to eat; it’s just that their greed is so great, to the point that it strips them of their integrity, and to the point that it inspires loathing and revulsion from others. Is such a person good? (No.) Some people always look to take advantage when doing their duties, feeling aggrieved if they lose out even slightly, and feeling the need to speak up about it. When assigned a task, they always bring up the topic of money: “The travel expenses for one trip will be such-and-such, the accommodation will cost such-and-such, the meals will cost such-and-such, and so on.” They are told, “Don’t worry about the money, the church will provide it.” But after receiving the money, they brood over it, saying: “This isn’t enough. What can I do out there with just 200 yuan? There’s a saying, ‘Be thrifty at home but take plenty of money when traveling.’ I have to bring some more backup money; if I don’t use it all, I’ll give the remainder back to the church.” When they return, they don’t mention anything about there being any money left over, nor do they report their expenses. They even dare to take advantage of the church; would they dare to embezzle God’s offerings? (Yes.) What sort of creatures are they? They lack integrity, as well as conscience and reason. Would God approve of such people? Some others even go to gathering places or host locations in order to bathe, wash their hair, and do laundry, using the church’s washing machine, water heater, shampoo, laundry detergent, and so on; they even take advantage of these amenities, using the church’s things to save on their own. They think that because they believe in God, they are part of God’s house, and thus any item belonging to God’s house is theirs to use freely, thinking that it would be a waste not to use it, or not to take it, or not to gain some advantage from it; and even if they break it, they have no intention of compensating. When it comes to their own belongings, they know to use them sparingly and take meticulous care of them, but they use the equipment and items of God’s house however they wish, without providing compensation if they break them. Are these good people? They certainly aren’t anything good. Especially in certain cases where the church needs to purchase some items, they actively volunteer, being particularly willing to handle such tasks. Why are they so eager? They believe there is profit to be gained, and advantages to be taken; after buying the items, they pocket any leftover money for themselves. They want to take advantage of whatever they can, thinking it would be a waste not to; this is the logic they adhere to. If they can’t take advantage, they curse the brothers and sisters and curse God’s house—they curse everyone; they are simply an evil demon, a stinking beggar, a card-carrying panhandler, holding their bowl out everywhere to wangle benefits and take advantage. People say, “You’re always asking for something; aren’t you just a stinking beggar?” They respond, “It’s fine, call me anything—a miser, a tight-fisted person, a stinking beggar, a panhandler, a pauper—as long as I can gain an advantage, it’s okay.” Do people of this type have any integrity? (No.) Don’t such people cause a certain level of disturbance to the brothers and sisters? Especially to those families living in difficult circumstances, with poor finances, don’t they cause a certain level of disturbance and harm? (Yes.) Could they negatively influence those who are young in stature and particularly vulnerable? (Yes.) People feel disgust at the mere sight of them; everyone who sees them gets annoyed, yet they are all too embarrassed to refuse, thus allowing themselves to be so blatantly extorted by them. Everyone knows they have bad humanity and lowly character, but, considering they are all brothers and sisters, and seeing that they are sometimes able to do some duties, and have a modicum of belief, and can occasionally exert a bit of effort by hosting at their home—for the sake of these things, most people turn a blind eye to their behavior of taking advantage wherever they go, and don’t regard it seriously. However, the disturbances they cause within the church grow increasingly significant, enough to make most people feel uneasy; isn’t this a problem? (Yes.) These individuals, even if they are not rabid dogs that bite at people everywhere and can bite them to death, are like noisome flies whose pestering gives people no respite. If they are not cleared out, they will cause endless disturbance. Their remaining in the church will constantly lead to disaster, depriving people of peace. After being disturbed, people feel quite irritated, often harboring an aversion to such individuals; yet having no solution, they just put up with it, time and again. What kind of individuals are they? There are even such despicable scoundrels among people; why do such individuals even believe in God? They simply do not deserve to live! Taking advantage of whatever they can—how shameful! Just enjoy as many material things as your abilities allow; if you lack the capability, then do not enjoy, or embezzle that which belongs to others. If you take advantage in some small, insignificant way because others charitably offer something for free now and then, or because you have a particular liking for something, or fall in love with something, everyone can forgive that. As the saying goes, “Poverty limits ambition;” it’s not a big problem. But if you’re always seeking advantages like this, to the point of becoming shameless and unabashed about it, and turning into a stinking beggar, or turning into a rabid dog or a fly in everyone’s eyes, then you should be immediately cleared out. People of this type should be handled once and for all, to put an end to all of these issues.

For those who love to take advantage, how much can you tolerate them? If you really can’t stand them, and feel like you’ve swallowed a dead fly after being taken advantage of by them—with most of you getting uncontrollably angry and constantly complaining about them when you are together—then at this point, shouldn’t they have been cleared out already? (Yes.) When it becomes intolerable, when it reaches the limit, everyone should join hands to clear them out. This is removing a scourge from God’s house, it is a matter that greatly pleases people. Such a person is just a lowlife, causing unrest among most people. This constitutes a malignant incident that disturbs and disrupts church life, forcing people to come together to fellowship and solve the problem concerning this person. This practice is justified, as the disturbance caused by the evil person has already harmed some people. To prevent the evil person from continuing to do evil, to maintain the normal order of church life, and to prevent God’s chosen people from being harmed any further, the evil person should be quickly handled and cleansed away. If they can report the church after being cleared out, it should be wisely conveyed to them: “You are not being cleared out or expelled. Go home for isolation and reflect on yourself. Once you’ve reflected properly, write a letter of repentance, and then we can welcome you back to the church. For now, you should try to earn more money and enjoy life; additionally, ponder over the matter of believing in God. This way, you won’t be neglecting either aspect.” How does that sound? (Good.) We won’t say they are being cleared out or expelled; it’s just that from today on, this person will no longer be in the church. How about handling it this way? (It’s good.) It’s great! There’s no need for arguments or settling accounts, just a simple and clear solution, letting them go back to the world to work, make money, and live their own life. In summary, the humanity of those who love to take advantage is not all that great. Although it cannot be said to be evil, their character of loving to take advantage makes them quite annoying and detestable. They exploit every possible opportunity! Even if such people do not engage in illegal or criminal activities, the long-term disruptions and disturbances their actions and behaviors bring to church life—these consequences—are more serious than any evil deed; they are sufficient to characterize them as disbelievers or evil people to be cleared out of the church. Doing this completely stops the disturbances to the church and the harassment of the brothers and sisters by disbelievers.

We previously fellowshipped about a special way of handling those who love to take advantage, a method that was devised based on the special circumstances of persecution in the mainland. In churches abroad, it is fine to just directly clear them out. However, regardless of what kind of people a handling method is directed at, it is essential to ensure that it is both principled and wise. The church has administrative decrees and rules, all aimed at protecting normal church life for the brothers and sisters and the normal order of doing duties. If anyone disturbs the brothers and sisters’ church life or their performance of duty, this is not allowed; that person will be spurned by God. Certainly, any harassment or interference with the daily lives of the brothers and sisters is not permitted. This is an issue that leaders and workers should be responsible for resolving. There might be individuals who are relatives, friends, or acquaintances of the brothers and sisters, who, under the guise of “the brothers and sisters,” seek to draw in and mislead the brothers and sisters, preventing them from doing their duties. Leaders and workers, or the brothers and sisters, have an obligation and responsibility to handle such individuals. Their behavior and actions obstruct others from doing their duties and following God, and also cause disturbances to the work of the church, so leaders and workers should come forward to resolve the situation and impose restrictions. Certainly, we have appropriate methods for dealing with and handling such individuals. There is no need to resort to hitting or scolding; we simply make clear to them the essence of their problem and the accusations and charges from the majority of God’s chosen people against them, eventually telling them: “Clearing you out is a decision made and signed off on by the majority. Whether you agree or not, the church has the authority to make this decision and handle you accordingly. You should obey.” This issue is thus resolved, and such handling is entirely principled. For those who love to take advantage, they should be treated and handled according to principles. If they want to borrow something to take advantage of you, you can lend it to them if you wish, or refuse if you do not want to; the decision is yours. Lending to them is an act of kindness; refusing is your right. If they say, “Aren’t we all brothers and sisters? How stingy, not even willing to lend something!” you can reply: “This is my property, and I have the right not to lend it. This is in line with principles. Don’t pressure me with ‘we are all brothers and sisters’; what you’re saying is not the truth. Unless God says, ‘You must lend it to them,’ only then will I lend it to you.” No one has the right to extort or borrow personal property under the pretense of the church or the idea that “We’re all believers and all brothers and sisters.” Is this the truth? (Yes.) This is the truth. Only by adhering to this truth can fairness be ensured for everyone, and everyone can enjoy their true rights. But if someone uses the excuses of “the needs of the work of God’s house,” “the needs of the church’s work,” or “the needs of the brothers and sisters” to extort or borrow personal items, does this align with the truth? (It does not.) Are you entitled to refuse requests that do not align with the truth? (Yes.) And if someone labels you as stingy or miserly for refusing, would you be afraid? (No.) If someone makes a big deal out of this matter, claiming you do not support the church’s work or that you lack love for the brothers and sisters, causing the brothers and sisters to reject and isolate you, would you be afraid? You would back down. At that moment, you’d think, “What’s the big deal about lending a car? It’s fine no matter whether the church, God’s house, or the brothers and sisters borrow it. It’s better not to offend the brothers and sisters. Offending one person isn’t scary, but if all the brothers and sisters are offended, and their hearts grow cold toward me, leaving me isolated, what should I do?” Since you believe in God, what is there to fear? Their isolation of you does not mean they possess the truth or that their actions align with the truth. The truth is always the truth. It is the truth regardless of whether a minority or a majority of people agree with it. Without the truth, even if the minority submits to the majority, it is not the truth. This is a fact that no one can deny. Whether someone possesses the truth reality does not depend on how pleasantly they speak, but on whether they can put the truth into practice and act according to principles. For example, you bought a new computer for the purpose of doing your duty, and someone wants to borrow it, claiming it’s for the church’s work. You refuse to lend it to them, and they say: “You lack love, you don’t love God, you’re not self-sacrificing. Even this bit of sacrifice is beyond you.” Are these words correct? Do they align with the truth? (No.) You should respond: “The computer is for doing my duty. I am currently doing my duty, so I cannot be without my computer. If you borrowed my computer, wouldn’t that affect my performance of duty? Would that be in line with the truth? What exactly do you need the computer for? You say it’s for church work; if that’s the case, then you need to find someone to prove it. Moreover, even if it’s for church work, you shouldn’t be borrowing from me. What should I use for doing my duty if you take my computer? That’s incredibly selfish of you! Don’t exploit the needs of the church’s work as an excuse to take advantage, I won’t fall for that. Don’t think I’m some muddled person who lacks discernment; you’re looking to take advantage, but it’s not going to happen!” It’s necessary to speak this way to such people, to avoid falling into Satan’s trap. Is this issue easy to resolve? Once you understand the truth and act according to principles, you won’t have to fear what anyone says. Pay no mind to their false labeling of you; that bit of doctrine they spout won’t convince anyone at all. The manifestations of the humanity of those who love to take advantage and the principles for handling them have thus been simply fellowshipped.

Regarding those in the church who love to take advantage, for one thing, people need to discern them more accurately and practically, and for another, people must understand the truth; they must be clear in their hearts about the stance they should take toward believing in God, the work they should do, the principles they should uphold, and the attitude they should have toward people, events, and things. Do not follow the crowd, nor fear offending people, and especially do not forfeit the principles and stance you should have in order to please certain individuals, ending up pleasing people but hurting God’s heart, making God detest you. If it is an action that aligns with principles, then even if your doing it offends people or causes you to be castigated behind your back, that is of little consequence; if it is an action that does not align with principles, however, then even if by doing it you gain approval and support from everyone, and get along with everyone—but the one thing is that you cannot account for it before God—you have suffered a loss. If you maintain relationships with the majority, making them happy and satisfied and earning their praise, but you offend God, the Creator, then you are a supreme fool. Therefore, whatever you do, you must clearly understand whether it aligns with principles, whether it pleases God, what God’s attitude toward it is, what stance people should take, what principles people should uphold, how God has instructed, and how you should do it—you should first be clear about this. Your associations with others and your material exchanges and dealings with others—are these built upon a foundation of aligning with principles? Are they built upon a foundation of pleasing God? If not, then all you do, no matter how well you maintain it, how perfectly you do it, or how much praise you receive from others, will not be remembered by God. Thus, the principles of your associations and interactions with anyone should not be concerned with whether they take advantage of you or whether you take advantage of them—they should not be built on this foundation. Rather, these principles should be concerned with whether what you do aligns with the truth principles. Only then can it truly be considered “in light of our belief in God”; only then can you say, “We are all believers, all brothers and sisters”; only then can you take this as a premise. Aside from matters related to life entry, duty, and church work, any other interactions should not be based on the premise of “the brothers and sisters.” If it doesn’t involve duty, life entry, or normal interactions between people, but someone always uses the “brothers and sisters” guise as an excuse to achieve a certain goal, they are undoubtedly seeking to use such statements, methods, and advantageous conditions as a pretext to take advantage and scheme for their personal benefits. God’s chosen people should be vigilant about this, addressing such issues with wisdom to avoid being taken in. This is because most people in the church do not understand the truth, and some are even disbelievers, acting without principles and committing reckless misdeeds. Them doing things under the guise of the “brothers and sisters” is what most easily influences and disturbs the church’s work. What is the purpose of saying all this today? It is to make it clear that whether in communication or interactions with others, the foundation should be based on the truth principles. This prevents improper dealings between people; of course, it also prevents those who love to take advantage from finding loopholes to exploit, and simultaneously prevents those who are overly concerned with their face or weak in humanity from always being taken advantage of, always being cheated, and always suffering losses. Some people—despite the obvious difficulty of their own family’s circumstances—end up “putting on a brave face” at their own expense, lending their hard-earned money because someone who loves to take advantage asks to borrow it, claiming to have chosen these people because they think highly of them. What happens after the money is lent out? The borrower disappears. Then, the lender complains about God for not protecting them. Is this having reason? Did you think that believing in God means you don’t have to think when doing something, that God will take care of everything? Doesn’t that make you a useless person? God requires people to be honest, wise, and act according to the truth principles. Can’t you understand this? If you don’t act according to these truth principles, then you deserve to always suffer losses and be taken in. In the end, when there’s no way out in your life, whom can you blame? You brought it upon yourself. Your actions were not out of love; they were stupid! You lent money to a swindler to please them, but when you need money, could you ask for it from God’s house? Should God’s house bear this responsibility for you? By expecting God’s house to cover this expense, aren’t you being indebted to God? Without a way out in life, how can you do your duty? If you pray to God, God might not satisfy you; this would be a case of reaping what you’ve sown, and deservedly so. Who told you to be so stupid! Did God tell you to trust that person? Did He tell you to lend them money? He did not; it was your personal action, not representing God’s intention. If your personal actions are in error and lead to adverse consequences, you can only bear the responsibility yourself. Why should you make God’s house be responsible, or God be accountable for you? Why complain about God for not protecting you? You are an adult; why lack the judgment expected of one? Would you lend money to just anyone who asks out in society? You’d have to think about it, wouldn’t you? Why would you lend money to someone just because they added mention of the title of “the brothers and sisters” to their request? Does this not show that you are foolish? You are not just foolish, you are stupid; stupid to the extreme! Do you think that all the brothers and sisters are genuinely believing in God, that they all understand the truth? At least a third of them do not love the truth, and are disbelievers. Can’t you discern this? Do you think all the brothers and sisters are the objects of God’s salvation, truly belonging to God? Don’t you know that “Many are called, but few are chosen”? Whom do the brothers and sisters represent? They represent corrupt humankind! If you trust them, aren’t you being stupid? Regardless of what adverse consequences your personal actions result in, don’t go looking for God’s house or for the brothers and sisters; no one can cover for you, nor does anyone have the obligation to bear the responsibility for you. You brewed the bitterness, you bear it; the accountability lies with you. Also, don’t bring these matters into church life for fellowship and discussion; no one wants to hear it, and others are not obligated to deal with your messy affairs. If someone truly wants to help you, the two of you can solve it privately. Understand?

Fellowshipping on these matters serves as a reminder to people, broadens their knowledge, and sounds a warning bell for them, making it clear that among those who believe in God, there are all kinds of people. There’s an important point you must remember, which I have mentioned several times before: Those who believe in God are chosen from corrupt humankind. What does this imply? It implies that every individual has been corrupted by Satan, everyone has corrupt dispositions and is capable of doing evil to various degrees, and, within the right context, is capable of doing things that resist God. Misrepresenting facts and falsehoods and loving to take advantage, which we’ve just fellowshipped about, are done by believers; nonbelievers are irrelevant to us, so we won’t mention them here. These manifestations of humanity that we’ve fellowshipped are precisely the manifestations of those who believe in God. So, do not regard the title of “the brothers and sisters” as something grand, noble, or sacred and inviolable. If you do, that’s stupidity on your part. God has never said, “The brothers and sisters are precious. Once they become brothers and sisters, they are holy, they become God’s confidants, completely trustworthy; you can fully trust them, and whatever they say or do is the truth.” This has never occurred; these are your notions and imaginings. If up to now you still cannot see the actual connotation behind the title “the brothers and sisters,” then you are truly stupid; you have listened to the sermons all these years in vain. You haven’t even figured out what kind of person you are, yet you so trust others, regarding them—the brothers and sisters—as so hallow and grand, yammering on about how “the brothers and sisters dislike this,” “the brothers and sisters are angry,” “the brothers and sisters are suffering,” “the brothers and sisters this and that,” speaking of the brothers and sisters with such affection. Have you seen anywhere in God’s words that says the brothers and sisters are so noble and hallow, so trustworthy? Not a single sentence, right? Then why would you view them that way? That makes you a downright fool. Therefore, regardless of how much disadvantage or loss you suffer from the brothers and sisters, it’s entirely your own fault. In the end, consider the losses and disadvantages you suffer as tuition fees. This is a lesson for you to take in. You must always remember: The brothers and sisters do not represent the truth, much less do they represent God; they are not equivalent to God’s intimates, God’s witnesses, or God’s beloved children. Who are the brothers and sisters? They are corrupt humans, just like you; they have notions about God, don’t love the truth, are averse to the truth, possess an arrogant disposition, possess vicious and wicked dispositions, are capable of setting themselves up as enemies of God in every respect, doing their duties perfunctorily, and even taking advantage of the other brothers and sisters under the guise of believing in God. What is the purpose of saying all this? It’s not to sow discord between you and the brothers and sisters but to help you see everyone’s true colors clearly, treat the title “the brothers and sisters” correctly, treat the people around you correctly, and establish proper interpersonal relationships with everyone. Do not try to establish or maintain good relationships with others through personal favors, material exchanges, flattery, ingratiation, concession-making, or other such means, with the goal of integrating yourself among the brothers and sisters. This is unnecessary, and everything you do in this regard is abominable and detestable to God. What, then, is the best way to live, the best attitude and principle for living to have, among people? It is the word of God. What do God’s words say? They say to establish proper and normal interpersonal relationships. How are these relationships established? Interact, speak, and associate with others based on God’s words. For instance, if someone is moving and asks if you have time to help, if you are willing, you can go; if you are unwilling because you are afraid it might affect your duty, you can refuse. This is your right and, of course, also the principle you should follow. You do not need to make concessions, reluctantly and conflictedly agreeing out of fear of offending them or disrupting the harmony among the brothers and sisters, and then feel unwilling in your heart afterward, impinging upon the performance of your duties as a result. You know full well that doing so goes against principles, yet you still allow others to extort you and order you around like a slave for the sake of satisfying them and maintaining good relations. You satisfying other people is not a good deed, and will not be remembered by God. What you are doing is merely to maintain interpersonal relationships; you are not acting for the sake of the church’s work or to do your duty, much less is it your responsibility or obligation. God will never remember such actions, and even if you do them, you do so in vain. So, when encountering such matters, shouldn’t you seriously and carefully consider how to choose? Some people get asked for help, but their duties actually keep them very busy, and they had just managed to find the time to attend a gathering or do some spiritual devotions. They clearly don’t want to go, and according to the principles, they shouldn’t go either. But, because they care too much about face, they can’t bring themselves to say no. In the end, what happens? They allow those lowly, advantage-seeking individuals to exploit them, squandering the time that should have been dedicated to their life entry. Isn’t that a loss? It’s a well-deserved one! Suffering such a loss doesn’t merit the sympathy or pity of others at all. Why say it’s a deserved loss? Who made you disregard God’s words? Who made you fear offending people? If you prefer not to offend people over listening to God’s words, then you justly deserve this loss! Some say, “People don’t live in a vacuum; there must be interactions between people.” What matters is how you interact. Which is in line with the truth principles, aligns with God’s intentions, and benefits your life entry more: interactions based on principles, or interactions without principles, being a people pleaser who tries to smooth everything over? You know which one to choose, don’t you? If you know how to choose yet you still get trapped in the mire, the ultimate consequence is yours alone to bear. Isn’t that obvious? (Yes.)

There are still more manifestations of the humanity of evil people, and today’s fellowship was limited, focusing only on the aspects of loving to misrepresent facts and falsehoods and loving to take advantage of others. Only after hearing about these two aspects do most people begin to have some feeling and discernment, saying, “So this is what bad humanity is like!” But such people do indeed exist in the church, so what should be done? Their presence is not a big issue, as the church has principles and regulations; it can adopt appropriate measures to handle such individuals. The purpose of today’s fellowship on these matters is to enable most people to have a clear understanding and discernment of these two types of evil people, and then to work together to clear them out.

November 20, 2021