Item Eight: Promptly Report and Seek How to Resolve Confusions and Difficulties Encountered in the Work (Part Two)

Last time, we fellowshipped on item eight of the responsibilities of leaders and workers: “Promptly report and seek how to resolve confusions and difficulties encountered in the work.” Although item eight is just one line long, and it basically just requires one thing of leaders and workers in terms of their responsibilities, which is very simple, we spent a gathering fellowshipping on this topic. What aspects of this topic did we fellowship on specifically last time? What are the main responsibilities of leaders and workers that it touches on? (That they should gather together and fellowship when they encounter confusions and difficulties, and promptly seek how to resolve them and report them to the Above if they are unable to gain clarity on them through fellowship.) The main responsibilities of leaders and workers that this item touches on are participating in work, and immersing oneself in various items of real work, so that one may discover various problems that are encountered in the work, and solve them in a timely manner. If various methods have been tried, and the problems still cannot be entirely solved, and they still exist and become confusions and difficulties, then leaders and workers should not let those confusions and difficulties accumulate or put them aside and ignore them, but instead must promptly think of a way to solve them. The best way to solve them is, of course, to seek and fellowship with brothers and sisters as well as with leaders and workers at different levels to reach the resolution of these problems. If the problems cannot be solved, then leaders and workers should not try to make major issues seem like small ones, and then make those small issues seem unproblematic, or simply set them aside and ignore them, but instead must promptly report them to the Above and seek solutions from the Above so that they can be resolved. In this way, the work will progress smoothly, without difficulties and without obstacles.

Leaders and Workers Should Promptly Report and Resolve Confusions and Difficulties Encountered in the Work

I. The Definition of “Prompt”

Item eight of the responsibilities of leaders and workers mentions the prompt reporting of confusions and difficulties encountered in the work—this is very important. If a problem is discovered today, but the resolution of that problem is delayed for eight or ten days, or even for six months or a year, then can that be called “prompt”? (No, it can’t.) So, what does “prompt” mean? (It means handling the problem immediately, straight away, and instantly.) Is that not a little stringent? If we use vocabulary relating to time to explain it, solving the problem immediately, straight away, and right now is what “prompt” means, but looking at the literal meaning of these words, this is not easy for people to achieve, and it’s not realistic. So, how should we define the word “prompt” in order to do so accurately? If the problem is not a big one but it still poses an obstacle to the work, and if it can be solved within a few hours, then it should be solved within a few hours—can this be considered prompt? (Yes.) Suppose that the problem is a little complicated and difficult, and it can be solved within two or three days, but people make an effort to seek the truth, look up information more, and strive to resolve it in a single day—wouldn’t that be more beneficial to the work? Say that there’s a problem that can’t be seen through right now, and it requires investigation and research, which takes some time. This particular problem will take three days at most to be solved. If it takes longer than three days, then suspicion will arise that its resolution is being intentionally delayed, and it means time is being wasted. So, the problem should be reported, sought on, and resolved within three days. This is what “prompt” means. If resolving the problem requires level after level of communication and investigation, as well as collecting information level by level, and so forth—if the various processes are very complex—it still should not drag on for a month. Say that the problem can be resolved within a week if leaders and workers make haste, work faster, and select and use a few suitable people, then in this situation, “prompt” means limiting the resolution of the problem to one week. Taking more than a week to resolve the problem is inappropriate—that is not prompt. This is the time limit for handling such relatively complex matters. What is this timescale based on? It’s determined based on the size of the matter and its level of difficulty. Most things, however, such as problems related to professional skills or issues of the principles being unclear to people, can be resolved with a few sentences—what length of time should the resolution of these problems be limited to so that it can be considered “prompt”? If we define “prompt” based on the size of a matter and its level of difficulty, then most matters can be resolved in less than half a day, with a minority of them requiring perhaps a week to resolve at most; if a new problem arises, then that’s another matter. Therefore, if we define “prompt” as immediate, straight away, and right now, then this seems like a stringent demand to make of people judging by the literal meaning of these words, but looking at the time limit, the majority of matters can be resolved in half a day or a day at most if people promptly report and seek how to resolve them. Can this be considered difficult in terms of time? (No.) And since it is not difficult in terms of time, it should be an easy requirement to meet for leaders and workers to promptly report and seek how to resolve confusions and difficulties encountered in the work, and these confusions and difficulties should not be continually present and unresolved, and much less should they be left to accumulate in the work over the long term. You should now all know the time concept of “prompt”—this is the issue of how leaders and workers are to gauge timescales when handling confusions and difficulties encountered in the work. In short, the most accurate definition of “prompt” is to act as quickly as possible—that is, if a problem can be reported, sought on, and resolved within half a day, it should be, and if it can be resolved within a day, it should be—and to strive to not cause any delays and to not allow the work to be impacted. This is the responsibility of leaders and workers. When problems are encountered and discovered in the work, leaders and workers should promptly fellowship on and resolve them. If they can’t resolve them, then they should report them and seek how to resolve them from the Above as quickly as possible, instead of putting them to one side, ignoring them, and not taking them seriously. When problems arise, leaders and workers should promptly resolve them, rather than dragging their heels, waiting, or relying on others—leaders and workers shouldn’t display these manifestations.

II. The Consequences of Not Promptly Resolving Problems

The main principle for resolving problems is that it must be done promptly. Why must it be done promptly? If many problems arise and then can’t be promptly resolved, in one respect people will be stuck in a confused state and won’t know how to act, and in another respect, if people keep moving forward based on an incorrect method, and later have to redo and correct the work they’ve done, what will the consequences be then? A large amount of manpower, financial resources, and material resources will be wasted and consumed—this is a loss. If problems arise in the work, and leaders and workers are blind and unable to discover and resolve these problems promptly, many people will keep on working based on an incorrect method. When people do discover these problems and want to resolve and correct them, these issues will have already caused losses to the church work. Won’t all that manpower and those financial resources and material resources have been wasted then? Is there a relationship between such losses being caused and leaders and workers not promptly resolving problems? (Yes.) If leaders and workers can follow up on, supervise, inspect, and provide instructions for work, then they will absolutely be able to discover and resolve problems promptly. If leaders and workers are perfunctory, and they don’t follow up on, supervise, inspect, and provide instructions for work, if they are very passive in this respect, and they wait for there to be so many problems that the issues get totally out of hand before they think of resolving them, before they think of reporting them to the Above and seeking solutions from the Above, then have such leaders and workers fulfilled their responsibilities? (No.) This is a serious dereliction of duty; not only have such leaders and workers not resolved the problems, but they have instead caused losses to the manpower and material resources of God’s house, as well as creating a tremendous obstacle to the church work. Because of the leaders’ and workers’ dereliction of duty, their negligence, numbness, and dull-wittedness, and because they aren’t able to promptly discover and resolve many problems that arise in work, and can’t even promptly report them to the Above and seek solutions from the Above, many tasks have to be redone and, after they’ve been redone, more problems arise due to an inability to find the principles. As things go on like this, the work completion date becomes greatly delayed, and a job that should have taken a month takes three months to complete, and a job that should have taken three months takes eight or nine months to complete—this is directly related to leaders and workers not doing real work. Because leaders and workers don’t take responsibility for their work—that is, they aren’t able to promptly find and correct problems when they arise—various items of work keep failing to achieve results and remain in a state of paralysis. And who is directly responsible for this problem? (The leaders and workers.) Therefore, it’s very important for leaders and workers to do real work, and it is also very important for them to discover problems while they do real work. Sometimes leaders and workers will discover problems but not know how to resolve them, and yet they’re able to promptly report them to the Above and seek solutions from the Above to resolve them, which is even more important. Many leaders and workers think, “We have our own ways of working. The Above just needs to tell us the principles and we’ll do the remaining real work ourselves. If we encounter any difficulties, it’s enough for us just to fellowship and pray together below.” As for the strength of the problem-solving, or whether their solutions are thorough or effective, they uniformly don’t care at all or ask about these things. This is the sort of irresponsible attitude they harbor when they work, and eventually this means that all the items of work in the church cannot progress smoothly, and contain serious problems that do not get resolved. This is the consequence brought about by leaders’ and workers’ caliber being too poor, or else by them not taking responsibility and not doing real work.

Dissecting a Few Kinds of False Leaders Based on the Eighth Responsibility

I. False Leaders Who Are Pseudo-spiritual

Last time, we fellowshipped on what confusions and difficulties are, and defined certain problems that must be promptly reported and for which solutions must be promptly sought. Basically, there are two main types of problems. One type is problems in the work that people are unsure about or can’t see through. When it comes to these problems, people find it very difficult to grasp the principles. Although they may understand the principles in doctrinal terms, they don’t know how to practice or apply them. These problems relate to confusions. The other type is real difficulties and problems which people don’t know how to resolve. This type is somewhat more serious compared to confusions, and they are problems which leaders and workers should also report and seek solutions for. Last time, we mainly fellowshipped that it is the responsibility of leaders and workers to report and seek how to resolve problems encountered in the work, and we fellowshipped from a positive perspective on certain things leaders and workers should do and pay attention to. Today, we’ll dissect what manifestations false leaders possess with regard to item eight, and whether or not they do the work leaders should do and fulfill the responsibilities leaders should fulfill. When it comes to resolving problems encountered in the work, false leaders are certainly not competent in this regard; they fail to do this aspect of the work and they fail to fulfill this responsibility. There is a type of false leader who harbors a notion when working, thinking, “I don’t engage in those formalities when I work, nor do I pay attention to anything like knowledge, learning, skills, or dogma. I just make sure that I fellowship the truth of God’s words clearly at gatherings, and that’s enough. Every week I hold two gatherings for small groups, every two weeks I hold one gathering for leaders and workers, and every month I hold a big gathering for all the brothers and sisters. It’s enough that I organize all these kinds of gatherings well.” This is their basis and method for doing work. This type of leader and worker just continually trains in preaching sermons, and they put a lot of effort into equipping themselves with words and doctrines—they prepare outlines, content, examples, and truths to fellowship on for each gathering, and they also prepare some plans for resolving certain people’s states and problems. They think that as a leader or a worker, they just have to preach well, and then they have fulfilled their responsibilities. They think that they don’t need to concern themselves with other things, such as whether the way the gospel is being preached is appropriate or not, or how church personnel are assigned, or whether the personnel who perform various kinds of professional work are competent and up to standard—they believe that it’s enough to just let the supervisors handle these things. Therefore, no matter where this type of person goes, they focus on gatherings and preaching sermons, and no matter what kind of gathering is being held, they always preach a sermon. Outwardly, they lead people in reading God’s words and in learning to sing hymns, and occasionally they talk about the work. This type of person knows about the problems that are often fellowshipped about, such as which of God’s words should be used to compare against the problems encountered by various kinds of people, as well as why people feel weak and what states have arisen in them, and which truths of God’s words should be fellowshipped on to solve these things. In sum, their sermons and fellowships touch on many aspects of the truth and practice; some relate to pruning, some relate to trials and refinement, some relate to pray-reading God’s words, some relate to how to experience judgment and chastisement, and so on—they can fellowship a bit on various aspects of the truth. When they meet with new believers, they preach sermons for new believers, and when they meet with people who’ve believed in God for many years, they can preach some sermons on life entry. But when it comes to work involving any professional skill, they never inquire about the work or study things related to it, much less do they follow up on, participate in, or delve into any item of work to resolve problems. In their eyes, by preaching sermons, reading God’s words, and learning hymns, they are doing work, and these are the responsibilities of leaders and workers; besides this, all other work is inconsequential, it is other people’s business, and it has nothing to do with them, and so long as they can preach sermons well, they can rest easy. What does “rest easy” mean? It means that finishing a gathering is the same as them finishing their work, and when it’s time to rest, they rest. No matter what problems arise in the church work, they ignore them, and when people look for them to resolve a problem, they’re very difficult to find. No matter how busy the work gets, they must have their afternoon nap, and they indulge in comfort while other people can endure suffering and pay a price. They think, “I’ve finished preaching, the gathering is over, and I’ve said everything I was supposed to say to you. What else do you want me to say? My work is done. The rest is your job. I’ve told you God’s words, so just act according to the principles. As for any problems that arise, that’s your business, and it has nothing to do with me. You should go before God yourselves and pray, gather, and fellowship to resolve problems. Don’t come looking for me.” When a gathering is over, they never get anyone to ask questions, they never want to resolve problems, much less are they ever able to discover a problem. After the gathering, they consider their work done, and they sleep, eat, and engage in recreation at regular times. Aren’t they false leaders who do no real work at all? (They are.)

There are some cases where a leader or a worker has been in their post for six months, and apart from those closer to them, who can see them often, most brothers and sisters aren’t able to see them. They just often hear them giving sermons online, yet when there’s a problem, the leader or worker doesn’t resolve it. Some brothers and sisters encounter difficulties in their duties which they don’t know how to resolve, and they get so anxious that they can’t sit still, and when they go looking for their leader, they can’t find them. Can this kind of leader do a good job? The brothers and sisters have no idea what’s keeping their leader so busy every day, there’s a big backlog of problems and difficulties, and they don’t know when their leader will come to resolve them. Everyone eagerly looks forward to the leader coming to help, and yet no matter how long they wait, the leader never shows. Such leaders and workers are very elusive, and they’re good at keeping themselves hidden! They deliver sermons very well and, after giving a sermon, they get all nicely dressed up and do no work, secreting themselves away somewhere where they can indulge in comfort. And despite all this, they still think that they are working very well and properly. They think that they aren’t slacking off, that they’ve given their sermons, held their gatherings, said everything they’re supposed to say, and explained everything they’re supposed to explain. They never want to engage deeply with the brothers and sisters to follow up on and participate in work, help them by carrying out vetting, and help them handle and resolve problems promptly. If they come across a problem they can’t resolve, they don’t know to report it to the Above and seek a solution from the Above, either. They also do not ponder in their minds, “Can the brothers and sisters keep to the principles after hearing them in fellowship? And when they encounter difficulties and confusions in the work again, will they be able to hold to the truth and handle matters according to the principles? Furthermore, who is playing a positive role in the work? And which people are playing a negative role? And are there any people who cause disruptions and disturbances, or any people who ruin things, or any absurd people who are always coming up with bad ideas? How has the work been progressing lately?” They uniformly do not concern themselves with or inquire about such issues. People like this appear on the surface to be doing work—they give sermons, hold gatherings, prepare draft sermons and outlines, and even write work reports. Some leaders also frequently write sermons on their life experiences; they stay inside their rooms and write for three or five days straight and even need someone to specially pour them water and bring them food, and no one else is able to see them. If you say that they’re not doing real work, they feel wronged: “How am I not doing real work? I live with the brothers and sisters and I’m always holding gatherings and giving sermons. I preach sermons until my mouth goes bone dry, and sometimes I even stay up late.” They appear from the outside to be really busy and to not be idle—they give a lot of sermons, and expend a great deal of effort on speaking and writing, they regularly convey messages and letters, and convey the principles required by the Above, and they also earnestly and patiently fellowship and highlight content during gatherings—they do speak a great deal indeed, but they never participate in specific work, they never follow up on work, and they never face any problems together with the brothers and sisters. If you ask them about how such-and-such item of work is progressing or what the results of the work are like, they don’t know and have to go ask someone first. If you ask them whether the problems from last time have been resolved, they say they’ve held a gathering and fellowshipped on the principles. Suppose that you then ask them, “Did the brothers and sisters truly understand after you’d fellowshipped on the truth principles? Is it still possible for them to go astray? Who among them has a comparatively better understanding of the principles, who is more proficient with professional skills, and who has a better caliber and is worth cultivating?” They don’t know the answers to any of these questions; they know nothing about any of it. Whenever you ask them about the status of the work, they say, “I’ve fellowshipped on the principles, I just finished holding a gathering, and I just pruned them. They’ve expressed their commitment, and they are resolved to do this work well.” But when it comes to how the subsequent work is progressing, they have no idea. Can they be considered up-to-standard leaders and workers? (No.) The way this type of leader and worker works is to just read God’s words and preach some words and doctrines to people, yet they pay no attention to resolving real problems and even more so are afraid of reporting them to the Above and seeking solutions from the Above—they are very afraid that the Above will find out what their actual situation is. What is the nature of such actions? What kind of person are they in terms of their essence? To be precise, such people are standard Pharisees. The manifestations of Pharisees are as follows: They engage in dignified external actions, they speak and behave in an elegant manner, they base all their words and actions on the Bible, and when they meet and talk to people, they recite words from the Bible, and they can repeat so many lines of the Bible from memory. False leaders are just the same as Pharisees—from the outside, you can’t find any fault with them, and they look particularly spiritual. You can’t detect any issues in them from their external speech, actions, and behavior, yet they are unable to resolve many of the problems that exist in the church work. So what then does this “spiritual” mean? In strict terms, it is pseudo-spirituality. Pseudo-spiritual people like this keep themselves so busy every day, flitting between groups large and small, preaching God’s words everywhere they go. On the outside they appear as though they love God’s words more than anyone else, that they make more effort with God’s words than anyone else, that they are more knowledgeable about God’s words than anyone else, and they can say the page number of any essential passage of God’s words off the top of their heads. If someone encounters a problem, they give them the page number of a related passage of God’s words and tell them to go read it. From the outside, they appear to take God’s words as their criterion in everything, to bear witness to God’s words when things befall them, and there seem to not be any problems with them. But when you look closely at the work they do, are they able to discover and resolve problems while they’re preaching these words and doctrines? If, through fellowshipping on the truth, they find a problem that hadn’t been discovered before in an item of work, and resolve problems that others couldn’t, then this shows that they understand God’s words and fellowship clearly on the truth. Pseudo-spiritual people are the exact opposite of this. They commit God’s words to memory and preach them everywhere, and their minds and hearts are filled with God’s words. However, no matter whether a big problem or a small problem arises in the work, they can’t see it or discover it. At the end of gatherings, what they fear most is someone raising a real issue and asking them to resolve it, and that’s why they leave immediately when gatherings are over, thinking, “If someone asks me a question and I can’t answer it, then that will be so awkward and embarrassing!” This is their real stature and true state.

Think about which leaders and workers around you are good at fellowshipping on the truth to resolve problems, and are able to integrate with the brothers and sisters and get the work going together with them when doing their duties—these leaders and workers are able to fulfill their responsibilities. Think about which leaders and workers around you are good at discovering and resolving problems, and focus most on doing real work and get the most results in their work—these leaders and workers are loyal people who are very responsible and conscientious. Conversely, if a leader is excellent at preaching words and doctrines, and preaches in a logical and organized manner, with a central point and content, and in a structured way, and people are enthusiastic about their sermons, yet they’re always avoiding the brothers and sisters, always afraid that the brothers and sisters will ask questions, and afraid to resolve and handle problems together with the brothers and sisters, then that leader is pseudo-spiritual, and they are a false leader. What kinds of people are the leaders and supervisors around you? Ordinarily, besides attending gatherings and giving sermons, do they follow up on and participate in work, are they able to frequently discover and resolve problems in the work, or do they just disappear after making an appearance at gatherings? Pseudo-spiritual false leaders are always afraid of having nothing to preach, and of having nothing to say when they meet the brothers and sisters, and so they practice memorizing God’s words and how to give sermons in their rooms. They believe that preaching sermons is something that can be learned and something that can be achieved through memorization, like acquiring knowledge or attending university, and that they must embody a spirit of studying tirelessly and painstakingly. Isn’t this comprehension that these false leaders harbor distorted? (Yes, it is.) People like this preach doctrines from their high station, and concern themselves with some irrelevant matters, and then they think they’re doing their job as a leader. They never go to the work site to direct the work or resolve problems, but instead often sit in their rooms, “cloistering themselves away to focus on their self-cultivation,” equipping themselves with God’s words—is this necessary? In what circumstances can leaders and workers put the church work and the brothers and sisters temporarily to one side and go equip themselves with the truth? When the work isn’t busy, and all problems that should be resolved have been resolved, and all the matters requiring attention and principles that should be explained have been explained, and the brothers and sisters don’t have any questions or difficulties, and no one is causing disturbances and disruptions, and the work can progress smoothly, and there are no more obstacles, then leaders and workers can read God’s words and equip themselves with the truth—only this is doing real work. False leaders don’t work like this; they always focus on putting themselves in the spotlight, and they just do some highly visible work that others can see to show off. If they can find some new light when reading God’s words or listening to a sermon, they feel that they’ve gained something, that they have the truth reality, and then they hurriedly look for an opportunity to preach a sermon to others. They preach doctrines in a systematic, logical, and well-organized manner, with a central point and content, and in a way that is more powerful and profound than a speech from a celebrity or an academic lecture, and they feel quite satisfied with this. And yet they ponder to themselves, “What will I preach next time after I finish this sermon? I don’t have anything else.” And so they hurry off and “cloister themselves away to focus on their self-cultivation” again, looking for profound doctrines. They are never seen at the site of church work, and when people have difficulties and are waiting for them to be resolved, these false leaders are nowhere to be found. Don’t false leaders feel diffident and uneasy? They can’t resolve real problems and yet they still want to preach lofty sermons to show off. These people are dead to shame.

All false leaders can preach words and doctrines, they are all pseudo-spiritual, they can’t do any real work, and they don’t understand the truth despite having believed in God for many years—it can be said that they have no spiritual understanding. They think that being a church leader means that they just need to preach some words and doctrines, shout some slogans, and explain God’s words a little, and then people will understand the truth. They don’t know what it means to do work, they don’t know what exactly the responsibilities of leaders and workers are, and they don’t know why exactly God’s house selects someone to be a leader or worker, or what problems exactly this is intended to resolve. So, no matter how God’s house fellowships that leaders and workers must follow up on work, inspect work, and supervise work, that they must promptly discover and resolve problems in the work, and so on, they don’t take any of this in and they don’t understand it. They aren’t able to reach or achieve the requirements God’s house has for leaders and workers, and they can’t understand problems related to professional skills involved in the performance of duties, as well as the issue of principle for selecting supervisors, and so forth, and even if they know about these problems, they still aren’t able to handle them. Therefore, under the leadership of such false leaders, all kinds of problems that arise in the church’s work cannot be resolved. Not just the problems related to professional skills that God’s chosen people encounter when doing their duties, but also difficulties in the life entry of God’s chosen people, go unresolved for a prolonged period of time, and when some leaders and workers or supervisors of various items of work aren’t able to do real work, they aren’t promptly dismissed or reassigned, and so on. None of these problems are resolved in a prompt manner, and consequently the efficiency of various items of work in the church continually diminishes, and work effectiveness gets poorer and poorer. In terms of personnel, those who are somewhat gifted and good at speaking become leaders and workers, whereas those who love the truth, who can bury themselves in hard work, and work tirelessly without complaint, don’t get promoted and cultivated, and are treated like laborers, and various technical personnel who have certain strengths don’t get put to reasonable use. Also, some people who do their duty sincerely don’t receive life provision, and so they sink into negativity and weakness. What’s more, no matter how much evil antichrists and evil people do, it’s like false leaders haven’t seen it. If someone exposes an evil person or an antichrist, false leaders will even tell them they should treat that person with love and give them a chance to repent. In doing so, they allow evil people and antichrists to do evil and cause disturbances in the church, and this leads to long delays in these evil people, disbelievers, and antichrists being cleared out or expelled, and they get to continue doing evil in the church and disturbing the church’s work. False leaders are not capable of handling and resolving any of these problems; they are not capable of treating people fairly or of arranging work in a reasonable way, but instead they act recklessly and only do some useless work, resulting in them making a mess and chaos of the church’s work. No matter how God’s house fellowships on the truth or how it stresses the principles that should be adhered to when carrying out the work of the church—restricting those who ought to be restricted and clearing out those who ought to be cleared out of the different kinds of evildoers and disbelievers, and promoting and cultivating people with good caliber and comprehension ability, and people who can pursue the truth, who ought to be promoted and cultivated—though these things are fellowshipped countless times, false leaders don’t understand or comprehend them and just continually hold fast to their pseudo-spiritual views and “loving” approaches. False leaders believe that, under their earnest and patient instruction, all types of people perform their own roles in an orderly manner, without chaos, and everyone has quite a lot of faith, is willing to do their duties, is unafraid of going to prison and of facing danger, and every person has the determination to endure suffering and is unwilling to be a Judas. They believe that having a good atmosphere in the church life means that they have done a good job. Regardless of whether instances of evil people causing disturbances or disbelievers spreading heresies and fallacies occur in the church, they don’t consider these things to be problems, and they feel no need to resolve them. When it comes to a person they’ve entrusted work to acting recklessly based on their own will and disturbing the gospel work, false leaders are even more blind. They say, “I’ve explained the work principles I’m supposed to explain, and I’ve told them what to do again and again. If any problems come up, it has nothing to do with me.” However, they don’t know if that person is a right person, they don’t concern themselves with that, and they do not know whether what they said when they were explaining and telling that person what to do can achieve positive results, or what consequences it will bring about. Whenever false leaders hold a gathering, they speak an endless stream of words and doctrines, but it turns out that they aren’t able to resolve any problems. And yet they still believe they’re doing great work, they still feel pleased with themselves and think that they’re amazing. In fact, the words and doctrines they speak can only fob off those muddled people, stupid people, and foolish people, who are ignorant and of poor caliber. After these people hear these words, they are confused and believe that what the false leaders said is so right, that nothing they said is wrong. False leaders can only satisfy these confused people and are fundamentally incapable of resolving real problems. Of course, false leaders are even less capable of dealing with problems related to professional skills and knowledge—they are totally powerless when it comes to these things. Take the text-based work of God’s house, for example. This is the work that causes false leaders the most headaches. They can’t identify exactly which people have spiritual understanding, good caliber, and are suited to doing text-based work, and they regard anyone with glasses and a high level of education as having good caliber and spiritual understanding, and so they arrange for those people to do it, telling them, “You are all talented at doing text-based work. I don’t understand this work, so it all rests on your shoulders. God’s house requires nothing else of you, only that you put your strengths to use, hold nothing back, and contribute everything you’ve learned. You must know to be grateful and thank God for raising you up.” After the false leaders say a bunch of ineffective and superficial words, they feel that the work has been arranged, and that they’ve then done everything they need to do. They don’t know whether the people they’ve arranged to do this work are suitable or not, nor do they know what these people’s shortcomings are in terms of professional knowledge, or how they should make up for them. They don’t know how to view and discern people, they don’t understand professional problems, nor do they understand knowledge related to writing—they are utterly ignorant of these things. They say they don’t understand or comprehend these things, but in their hearts, they think, “Aren’t you just a bit more educated and knowledgeable than I am? Even though I can’t guide you in this work, I’m more spiritual than you are, I’m better at giving sermons than you are, and I understand God’s words better than you do. I’m the one leading you, I’m your superior. I must be in charge of you, and you have to do what I say.” False leaders regard themselves as superior, yet they can’t come up with any worthwhile suggestions regarding any kind of work related to professional skills, and they aren’t able to give any guidance either. At the very most, they can arrange personnel well; they can’t do any of the subsequent work. They don’t try to gain professional knowledge, and they don’t follow up on the work. All false leaders are pseudo-spiritual; all they can do is preach some words and doctrines and then they think they understand the truth and constantly show off before God’s chosen people. At every gathering, they preach for several hours, and yet it turns out that they can’t resolve any problems at all. They are entirely ignorant when it comes to problems related to professional knowledge in people’s duties; they’re clearly laymen, yet they pretend to be spiritual, directing the work of the professionals—how can they do the work well like this? False leaders not trying to learn professional knowledge and not being able to do any real work already disgusts people, and on top of this, they pretend to be spiritual people and flaunt their spiritual words, which is so lacking in reason! This is no different from the Pharisees. Where the Pharisees were the most lacking in reason was that God detested them, and yet they were totally unaware of it and still considered themselves to be pretty good and very spiritual. False leaders are this lacking in self-awareness; they clearly can’t do any real work and yet they pretend to be spiritual, they become hypocritical Pharisees. They are exactly those whom God spurns and eliminates.

What is the main characteristic of false leaders who pass themselves off as spiritual people? It is that they are good at giving sermons. These “sermons” are not true sermons. They are not sermons that fellowship about the truth, nor are they sermons that possess the truth reality. Rather, they are sermons of words and doctrines; they are pseudo-spiritual sermons, sermons of the Pharisees. False leaders are very good at working hard on the words and phrases of God’s words, they pay special attention to preaching words and doctrines, and yet they never seek the truth in God’s words and never contemplate how they should enter the truth reality. They are content with merely being able to preach words and doctrines; once they have preached the doctrine clearly and logically, they think that’s good enough and that they have the truth reality, that they may stand before others and throw their weight around, and lecture people from their high station. On the surface, what they say and do seems related to the truth, they don’t appear to cause disruptions or disturbances, nor do they seem to advocate erroneous sayings or incite erroneous practices. And yet, there is one issue, which is that they cannot shoulder any real work, or fulfill the least bit of their responsibility, which leads finally to them being unable to discover any problems in the work. The way they work is like a blind person groping their way along: They always go by their feelings and imaginings to blindly apply regulations to matters, totally unable to see clearly the essence of problems, and yet they still spout nonsense about them—they cannot resolve real problems at all. If a false leader truly did understand the truth, they would naturally be able to discover problems and seek the truth to resolve them. But false leaders clearly do not understand the truth, yet they pretend to be spiritual, thinking themselves capable of doing the church’s work, unscrupulously daring to enjoy the benefits of their status. Is this not repulsive? They think that they have a real skill—that they can preach. Yet they just cannot do real work. The words and doctrines that false leaders know and preach cannot help them do their work well, nor can it help them discover problems in the work, and much less can it help them resolve all the problems they are faced with. After working for some time, they are unable to speak about any experiential testimony. Is such a leader or worker up to standard? It is quite evident that they are not. And how should false leaders who are not up to standard be handled? Not only are they to be dismissed and eliminated, but if they do not repent, then they cannot be chosen again to serve as a leader or worker when an election is held. If someone elects a false leader or false worker who has been eliminated, they are knowingly disturbing and damaging the work of the church and it shows that the voter is a worshiper and follower of that false leader, and not someone who truly believes in God. Have you ever elected a pseudo-spiritual false leader? (We have.) I suppose you have elected quite a few of them. You think that whoever has believed in God for a great number of years, has read much of God’s word and heard many sermons, who has plentiful experience of preaching and working, who can preach for hours at a time, is certainly capable of doing work. Then, after you have elected them as a leader, you discover a serious problem: The brothers and sisters can’t ever see them and they can never find them when there’s an issue. No one knows where they are hiding, and they hide somewhere and won’t let anyone disturb them. That is a problem. They are always playing hide-and-seek at critical moments in the work and brothers and sisters can’t ever find them when they’re needed to resolve a problem—are they not neglecting their proper duties? Why do some people not dare face the brothers and sisters once they become a leader? Why are they nowhere to be found? What exactly is keeping them occupied? Why do they not resolve real problems? Whatever they are busying themselves with, of this, you can be sure: If they go for a while without doing real work, they are a false leader, and they should be quickly dismissed, and someone else should be elected. Would you elect this sort of false leader in the future? (No.) Why not? What do you think the consequence of choosing a blind person as your guide is? That person is blind themselves, so can they guide others to the correct path? It is just as God’s words say in the Bible, “If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14). A blind person walks without a direction or goal; how can they lead others? If someone picks a blind person as their guide, then they are even blinder. There is a saying among the nonbelievers: “asking a blind person the way.” Electing a false leader to serve as a church leader is asking a blind person the way. It is an absurdity, is it not? All who cast their vote for a false leader are blind people choosing the blind, and not one of them understands the truth.

When some people choose a pseudo-spiritual person to be a leader, they feel so happy, thinking, “We have a great leader now. Our leader is really good at giving sermons. They preach in a very logical and structured manner, and their sermons make a lot of sense.” Some people who lack discernment are moved to tears, they feel great attachment to this leader, and they don’t even want to go do their duties. They understand things quite clearly when they listen to fellowship, but when they discover issues while doing their duty, they don’t know how to resolve them and they feel puzzled, thinking, “I seem to understand everything when I listen to the leader fellowship, so how come I can’t resolve the difficulties I encounter in my work?” What is the problem here? Everything that this kind of false leader preaches is words and doctrines, empty phrases, slogans, and nonsense. What they preach does not resolve these people’s real issues; they’ve got these people fooled. They feed them with illusions, saying a few slogans to make them mistakenly believe that the problems have been resolved, when in fact they’re not fellowshipping on the truth principles regarding their problems. How can problems be resolved by fellowshipping in this way? The doctrines they preach have nothing to do with real issues; they’re just avoiding the essence of all issues and speaking about theories in an empty way. They preach only words and doctrines and spiritual theories. They have no idea what the truth reality is, and when problems arise, they become baffled. The sermons they give cannot resolve real problems, they are just a kind of theory, a kind of knowledge and doctrine. This kind of false leader preaches God’s words and the truth as though they were kinds of words and doctrines and slogans. They avoid all real problems and only preach words that are hollow and impractical. And what will happen in the end? No matter how long they preach for, at most their sermons will have the effect of encouraging and exhorting people, making people a little more enthusiastic and giving them a burst of energy, but they cannot resolve any other issue. The truth is not disconnected from reality, but rather it is linked to reality and to all kinds of issues that actually exist. So, will you now be able to discern pseudo-spiritual false leaders when you next encounter them? If not, then when you want to vote for someone to be a leader, first get them to resolve a few issues. If they resolve them in accordance with principles, and if they achieve pretty good results and resolve the issues using the truth reality, then you can vote for them; if they avoid and don’t talk about the essence of the problems and the real situation, and all they can do is preach doctrine in an empty way, shout slogans, and stick to regulations, then you can’t vote for that person. Why can’t you vote for that person? (Because they aren’t able to resolve real problems.) And what kind of person is not able to resolve real problems? A person who can only preach words and doctrines—they are a hypocritical, pseudo-spiritual Pharisee. They don’t possess the caliber necessary to understand the truth, they have no ability to resolve issues, they can’t resolve problems, and so if you choose them to be a leader then they are bound to be a false leader. They aren’t capable of doing a leader’s work or of fulfilling a leader’s responsibilities. So, wouldn’t you be harming them if you voted for them? Some people say, “How is that harming them? We mean well by voting for them. They have some caliber, and if we elect them, won’t we then have someone who can take responsibility for the work?” Of course it’s a good thing to have someone take responsibility, but this kind of person isn’t able to take responsibility. All they can do is speak about theories in an empty manner, they don’t take the real situation into account, and they are of no help when it comes to solving problems, so by voting for them, aren’t you giving them the opportunity to do evil? Aren’t you forcing them to walk the path of a false leader? Therefore, you must not choose such people to be leaders.

Are you able to discern who among the people around you—whom you often come into contact with and are quite familiar with—is only able to speak about doctrines in an empty way and isn’t able to resolve real problems? Who always preaches lofty theories and proposes novel and unique plans that nobody has ever heard before, but becomes confused and speechless when asked how to practice and implement the specific plans of operation and concrete details? What they say is very empty and completely unrealistic, not related to or consistent with the real situation, the actual environment, what people can actually achieve, people’s statures, and the level of their professional skills. Even more so, what they say is not in line with the requirements of God’s house; they simply talk nonsense, they’re indulging in fantasy, and they just impulsively speak whatever comes to mind. They think they don’t need to take responsibility for anything they say, not even when they boast and brag. With this attitude, they express their views and put forward their ideas—aren’t they pseudo-spiritual people? (Yes.) Some people believe that no one takes boasting, bragging, or high-sounding ideas seriously anyway, and they get to show how capable they are. They think that if they get something wrong, then they don’t need to take responsibility for it, and if they get something right then everyone will hold them in high esteem, and so they say whatever they want and make everything out to be very easy. They have lots of ideas, but not one of them comes with a specific plan of practice and can be properly implemented. They don’t take any view they put forward seriously, whether it’s pure or distorted. They say one thing today and another thing tomorrow, and although the views, theories, and bases they talk about are all very lofty, they are all empty and impractical. Occasionally they talk about a plan that isn’t hollow or distorted, but when they’re asked how the plan is to be specifically carried out, they can’t say. When shouting slogans, speaking high-sounding words, and expressing views, they are very enthusiastic and proactive. But when it comes to doing specific work and implementing specific plans, they disappear without a trace, they hide themselves away, and they have no views anymore. Can people like this be leaders? (No.) So, what will the consequences be of people like this becoming leaders? Won’t they harm both themselves and others? They will cause delays to the church’s work and, moreover, they will cause great harm to themselves. The doctrines they preach are just some limited things, and when they’re done preaching them, they’ve got nothing else to say, and so they will always have to hide and “cloister themselves away to focus on their self-cultivation.” Won’t this make things difficult for them? As soon as they become a leader, they will feel as though three great mountains are pressing down on their heads, they will feel exhausted every day and they will feel very pressured—what’s the point of them suffering like this? They don’t have the caliber to be a leader, and when they encounter problems, they just randomly apply regulations according to their imaginings and cannot resolve real issues—people like this cannot be leaders. They aren’t capable of doing real work, so they will be false leaders, and they will still think they’re pretty great even when they cause delays to the life entry of the brothers and sisters. If you could discover and grasp the caliber and character of these pseudo-spiritual people, would you still vote for them to be leaders? If you yourself are this kind of person and someone wants to vote for you, what would you do? (I’d have some self-awareness, and state that I’m not suitable to be a leader.) And if, after you’ve made this statement, everyone still thinks you’re good and insists on voting for you, what should you do? Say to them, “I can’t do the work of a leader, I can’t shoulder that work. I appear on the surface to have some caliber, and sometimes I have some good ideas and provide a little bit of light, but most of the time I just preach words and doctrines. I really can’t be a leader or worker. I’m no better than you are. Whatever you do, please don’t vote for me. Even if I get the most votes, I still can’t be a leader. I cannot harm anyone! I’ve served as a leader before, and every time I failed and got dismissed. Every time I got dismissed, it was because my caliber was poor, I lacked work capability and couldn’t do real work. All I could do was preach words and doctrines, and besides that, I wasn’t able to perform well or fulfill even one of the responsibilities leaders are supposed to fulfill. I was a false leader.” This is having self-awareness, not just saying a few words about not being suitable to be a leader and leaving it at that. Some people think, “I’ve performed my duty in this group for so many years and I should be considered a senior staff member in any case. Even if I’ve never made a contribution, I’ve worked hard, so how come no one has discovered my strengths? I’m leader material, too. I often come up with thoughts, ideas, and suggestions that are quite valuable and that have a practical use. Whether leaders adopt them or not, in any case, I’m someone with attitudes, ideas, and views. Why doesn’t anyone vote for me?” If this is how you think, then you can evaluate yourself like this: Are those thoughts, ideas, and suggestions you have just statements, or do they really have a practical use? Are you able to discover and resolve all manner of difficulties encountered in the work? Are your thoughts and ideas usable? Are you able to shoulder the work? If your thoughts and views remain at the level of words and doctrines, if they simply have no practical use and, more importantly, they simply do not accord with the work principles of God’s house, then what exactly is your caliber like? When you get chosen to be a leader, can you then fulfill the responsibilities of leaders and workers? Do you want to be a leader out of ambition, or out of a sense of burden? If you truly possess work capability and the ability to resolve issues, and when you see certain leaders and workers carrying out work very poorly and not being able to resolve any problems, this makes you feel anxious, and you make suggestions to them but they don’t listen, and they aren’t able to resolve issues and yet they don’t report them to the Above, and you feel worried and anxious for the work of God’s house, and you feel unbearably upset when you see false leaders causing delays to the church’s work, this shows that you have a sense of burden. However, if you want to get everyone’s approval, to find a bigger audience, and to get more people to listen to you preach and pontificate, just because you have some ideas, and if you want to stand out from the crowd, then this is not a sense of burden—this is an ambition. Ambitious people can only preach words and doctrines, and any ideas they have are also just empty words and doctrines. When people like this become leaders, they are bound to be false leaders, and if they are evil people, then they are antichrists. If your ideas remain at the level of empty words, then once you become a leader, you are bound to be just the same as every pseudo-spiritual false leader. You will always go “cloister yourself away to focus on your self-cultivation,” otherwise, you’ll feel a sense of crisis and will have nothing to preach. If you’re just the same as them, and while you’re preaching from up on high, you’re unable to discover any problems present in the work, and naturally also unable to resolve any problems, then you’re bound to be a false leader. And what happens to false leaders in the end? They get dismissed from their posts because they’re not able to do real work—they’re bound to walk this path.

There are many people who always feel indignant and ready to make a move in their hearts, and whenever it comes time to choose a leader or a supervisor, they always want to be the one who is chosen. Some people think they have believed in God for the most years, they have endured the most hardship, they have performed their duty for the longest time and with the most loyalty, and are the most eligible to be a leader, and so they want other people to choose them. What will they be able to do if other people choose them? Will they be able to avoid gaining the title of false leader? Will they be able to fulfill the responsibilities of leaders and workers? These are all real problems, but no one considers things like this. Among these people, some are of sufficient caliber. They can seek the truth when there are problems in their duty, and when they understand the truth and are able to handle matters according to the principles, they can be up to standard. Provided that these people understand the truth, love the truth, and can pursue the truth, and in addition have relatively good humanity, then they won’t have any problems becoming up-to-standard leaders and workers—it won’t be very difficult for them. Some people always complain that the work they are doing is difficult, they are not willing to make an effort or pay the price when it comes to the truth, and they grumble when they get pruned. Can such people be up-to-standard leaders and workers? Their intent and attitude are just wrong, they are not people who pursue the truth, and no matter what God requires of them, they maintain a negative attitude. People like this don’t deserve to be leaders and workers. They have no sense of burden in their hearts, and no matter how clearly or lucidly the work arrangements of God’s house are put, they’re still not willing to work hard to do the work well. Actually, it’s not hard to do the work well. Why isn’t it hard? Firstly, God’s house has specific work arrangements for all the work of the church and the Above has made specific stipulations for it, so you’re not required to be innovative in any item of work, or to complete it independently. The Above has given you a scope and a direction, and has given you principles, and has given you minimum standards; in doing your work, you are not beating the air, or lacking any direction. Secondly, with any item of work, no matter who the supervisor is, and no matter whether the focus of the work is overseas or domestic, the most primary thing is that the brother Above is specifically following up on, guiding, supervising, inspecting, and carrying out vetting on the work, and is frequently making inquiries. How specific are these actions? The brother Above personally gets involved in and follows up on every script, every movie, every program, every hymn, and so on. I also get involved in some work, giving you a general direction and framework. Thirdly, for any aspect of the work that involves the truth principles, the Above also frequently fellowships to you on the truth principles and guides your work; the Above also prunes you, carries out vetting for you, and at any time the Above will correct your distortions. Fourthly, in terms of major personnel and administrative work, the Above personally helps you by carrying out vetting and making decisions. The fact is that no matter what work you do, you don’t complete it independently; it is all arranged, led, directed, and vetted by the Above. So, what is it that you do? You just enjoy things that are ready-made—you’re so blessed! You don’t need to worry about anything; you just need to get to work with your hands and feet. This is the work that falls to you. Have you ever paid an additional price? (No.) The Above has done all this major, important work; therefore, the work you do is all very easy and there are no big difficulties at all. Under such circumstances, if people still don’t do their work well, then that is inexcusable, and it proves that they are simply not putting their heart and effort into their work or fulfilling their responsibilities. Some people say, “Who doesn’t have any flaws when doing work? Aren’t people allowed to have any issues?” You’re not required to achieve a perfect score in your work; you’re just required to get a passing mark, and then you will be considered to have fulfilled the responsibilities of leaders and workers. Is this very demanding? (No.) It’s easy to get a passing mark on the basis of the direction and vetting of the Above; it just depends on whether people sincerely pursue the truth. If they don’t make any effort when it comes to the truth, and always want to be perfunctory, and if they are satisfied with just going through the motions when working, not doing anything bad, not causing any disturbances or disruptions, and not having anything bothering their conscience, then they can’t achieve a passing grade. Most leaders and workers have this kind of attitude when working; they do a bit of work but they don’t want to exhaust themselves, they are content with being just mediocre, and as for what the results of their work are like, they think that is God’s business and that it has nothing to do with them. Is this attitude acceptable? If they have such an attitude, then the work they can do is very limited and they’re not putting their all into it, which indicates that they’re either not capable of doing real work or that they don’t do real work, and so they should be characterized as false leaders—this is entirely appropriate and it is not unjust. Some people always say, “Your requirements of us are too high. If we don’t do this work then we’re false leaders, and if we don’t meet that requirement then we’re false leaders as well. What do You take us for? We’re not robots, we’re not perfect. We’re just ordinary people, we are just mortals. You tell us to be ordinary people, regular people, so why do You have such high requirements of us as leaders?” Actually, My requirements of you are not high. I just ask you to fulfill the responsibilities a human being should fulfill. This is something you should and must do, and it is something you can achieve as leaders and workers. If, however, you don’t work hard to strive toward the truth, and are always afraid of suffering hardship and always covet comfort, then regardless of your reasons or excuses, you are bound to be a false leader. It’s like the things that people with normal humanity should achieve and that adults should take care of themselves, such as what time an adult should get up in the morning, how many meals they should eat and how many hours they should work in a day, and when they should wash their dirty laundry—you must handle these things yourself, and there is no need for you to ask anyone else about them. If you ask other people about everything and don’t understand anything, doesn’t this mean that you are of inadequate intelligence, and that you’re a simpleton? Doesn’t it mean that you’re not able to take care of yourself? Can people like this be leaders? Aren’t they false leaders? Such people should be dismissed. People like this still want to cling to their position and not step down, and they still want to be leaders! After some false leaders get dismissed, they feel like they’ve been wronged and don’t stop crying about it. They cry until their eyes get all swollen. Why do they cry? They don’t know what sort of thing they are. When I say that My requirements of people are not high, what I mean is that what you’re being asked to do is that which you can achieve; the way has already been paved for you and the scope has been set, and the decisions have been made, and you just need to take action. It’s like eating: Grains, vegetables, all kinds of condiments, pots, and stoves have been prepared for you, and all you need to do is learn how to cook; this is what an adult is supposed to do and achieve. If you can’t achieve this, then you’re a simpleton, and you cannot be counted within the intelligence range of normal adults. Some leaders aren’t capable of doing this real work, and so they must be dismissed. So then, how can we define and determine whether someone is capable of doing this kind of work? If they possess the intelligence and caliber of an adult, and they possess the conscientiousness and sense of responsibility that an adult is supposed to possess, then they should be able to do this kind of work. If they can’t, or they don’t do it, then they are a false leader. That is how this is determined, and determining it in this way is accurate. This is not a condemnation or judgment of a person, so is it harsh? The facts are all laid out, and this is not harsh at all.

II. False Leaders Who Are of Poor Caliber

We just fellowshipped on the manifestations a type of false leader has regarding promptly reporting and seeking how to resolve confusions and difficulties encountered in the work, along with the reasons why people like this aren’t able to fulfill the responsibilities of leaders and workers. Such people are pseudo-spiritual; because they can’t discover the confusions and difficulties in the work, they’re not able to fulfill this responsibility. This is one type of person. There is another type of person: They are the same as those pseudo-spiritual people—they also aren’t able to discover the problems that exist in the work, and that’s why they’re not able to promptly report them to the Above and seek solutions from the Above, either. Such people are busy with work as well, they busy themselves all day without being idle. They’re busy giving sermons, busy calling in on brothers and sisters in various places, busy making arrangements for the work, and even busy buying all sorts of items for the church work. If someone gets sick, they help them find a doctor; if someone has difficulties at home, they help them by arranging financial relief; if someone is in a bad state, they take the initiative to support them and actively help resolve their problems. In short, they’re always busy with some general affairs work. They’re indifferent to the real work of the church, the gospel work, and problems in church life. Every day, they tire themselves out rushing around, and they keep themselves busy handling and resolving the affairs of the church and the private matters of brothers and sisters. They think that, as leaders, they should perform these tasks, but they never realize what the essential work of a leader is, and no matter how hard they work, they still can’t find the real and critical problems that exist in the church. And so, when disturbances and obstacles arise in church life, and when God’s chosen people encounter difficulties in life entry, these leaders aren’t able to promptly resolve these things. Although they’re busy working and go every day without being idle, what can they even achieve by being this busy? There are many problems present in the church work, but they aren’t able to discover them. From the outside, they appear to be diligent, conscientious, and not idle, yet one problem after another arises in the work, and they’re busy patching up holes, busy resolving all manner of “complex and difficult problems” and dealing with all kinds of evil people and people who cause disturbances and disruptions that appear in the church. They busy themselves with work like this, yet they aren’t able to discern even the most basic problems. They aren’t able to discern clearly what good humanity is and what bad humanity is, what good caliber is and what poor caliber is, what possessing real talent and knowledge is and what having gifts is. They also cannot see through to which kinds of people God’s house cultivates and which kinds it eliminates, which people pursue the truth and which don’t, which people willingly do their duty and which don’t do their duty, which people can be perfected into God’s people, and which people are laborers, and so on. They treat those who can talk big and spout empty theories, but cannot do real work, as key targets for cultivation, and they arrange for them to perform and entrust them with important work, whereas they delay the promotion and cultivation of those who have pure comprehension, caliber, and the ability to understand the truth, just because those people haven’t believed in God for very long or have revealed an arrogant disposition. Problems like this often arise in the church and this has an impact on the progress of the church work. These are the true problems, and yet this type of leader can’t see or discover them and is even totally unaware of them. When evil people cause disturbances and disruptions, they give them a chance to undergo observation and reflect on themselves, whereas when others, who are not evil people, occasionally make some small errors because they’re young and ignorant and act without principles—errors that are not issues of principle—this type of leader treats these errors as unforgivable sins and sends these people home. This type of false leader is busy with work every day and, from the outside, they appear to be putting in a lot of effort and spending a lot of their time, yet no matter how they work, no one receives true life provision from it. No matter what problems and difficulties God’s chosen people have, this type of false leader can’t resolve them by fellowshipping on the truth, and all they can do is exhort them with a loving heart, and preach words and doctrines to encourage God’s chosen people. Therefore, under the leadership of such people, God’s chosen people receive no life provision, they just believe in God and do their duties based on enthusiasm, and achieve no life entry—how long can they go on like this for? As a result, some people are often negative and weak and always longing for the day of God to arrive, and the visions become more and more unclear to them, and when they encounter issues, they come to have notions and misunderstandings about God, and some even come to doubt God and guard against Him. False leaders, when faced with these problems, are totally unable to resolve them, and all they do is evade them. They never read God’s words or pray to God with God’s chosen people to seek the truth and resolve issues—they never perform this work. Every day, they just busy themselves with some general affairs work and certain external matters, matters that have nothing to do with life entry or the truth. They think that as long as they’re busy doing things, then this means they’re doing their duty and fulfilling their responsibilities, and that they can’t possibly be false leaders. In fact, them busying themselves with these general affairs does not help the brothers and sisters progress in life at all, much less enable God’s chosen people to enter the truth reality. Tell Me, is there not a problem with the caliber of this type of false leader? They can’t see through to anything, and they think that so long as they are busy working, then all problems will just disappear, and get resolved indirectly. Aren’t these people so very muddled? Isn’t their caliber so very poor? They can’t see through to anything, they can’t do any real work, and this makes them bona fide false leaders and false workers. This is a matter that is easiest to discern.

False leaders and false workers are present now in churches everywhere. They just rely on their enthusiasm to work and have no understanding of the truth at all. They don’t know what the work of a leader or worker is, nor are they capable of fellowshipping on the truth to resolve issues—they just spend all day blindly busying themselves with some general affairs work. For instance, say the church needs to purchase an item. This is not a big task; someone who is knowledgeable in the relevant area just needs to be arranged to go buy it. A false leader, however, was afraid of spending too much money, and so they arranged for someone to visit several places to purchase the cheapest one. The result of this was that they bought a cheap product which broke after just a few days of being used, and they needed to go buy another one. Not only did they not save money but, conversely, they ended up spending more. Is this a principled way to handle the task? There’s no need to buy a famous brand when making a purchase, but the appropriate thing to do is to at least buy something that is of suitable quality and usable. False leaders worry a lot about general affairs work, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, they don’t take the critical work of God’s house seriously, and this is a big mistake; it is them not performing essential work. Items of work such as gospel work, film production work, text-based work, experiential testimony video work, and the work of adjusting the duties of leaders and workers, are all crucial, and yet false leaders don’t think they are important, and they put these items of work to one side and ignore them. They are of insufficient caliber and don’t know how to do the work, but they don’t try to learn either, instead thinking, “It’s fine as long as there is someone in charge of this work. Surely I’m not needed as well? I handle the important jobs. These are just minor things that I don’t need to bother with. Once I’ve told them the principles, then that’s my job done.” False leaders appear on the outside to be very busy, but when you look at the things they’re busy working on, not one of them is a critical piece of church work, not one of them is a piece of work that provides for people’s lives, and not one of them is a piece of work that involves using the truth to resolve issues. The things they busy themselves with have no value whatsoever, and these false leaders are simply blindly keeping busy. They don’t know what work leaders and workers should do in order to accord with God’s intentions; they just rely on their enthusiasm to busy themselves with certain tasks they enjoy doing. They make detailed inquiries about trivial matters unrelated to the church work, such as what clothes brothers and sisters wear, what hairstyles they have, how they interact with others, and how they talk and behave. They think this is them being amiable and approachable, and that resolving the issues in people’s real lives is something a leader ought to do, something normal humanity should possess. And yet they don’t take seriously the critical work of gospel work, film production work, hymn work, text-based work, administrative work, the work of watering new believers, the work of establishing churches, the work of promoting and cultivating people, and so on. They don’t participate in any of this work, and they don’t follow up on it; it’s as though this work has nothing to do with them. These false leaders don’t resolve the many problems that are accumulating in the church, they don’t dismiss the false leaders they should dismiss, they don’t restrict or handle evil people who do evil and run amok doing bad things, and they don’t fellowship on the truth to resolve the issue of some people being perfunctory, unrestrained and undisciplined, and dragging their heels in the performance of their duties. What problem is this? They don’t seek the truth to resolve these actual problems—are they people who do real work? The insignificant and irrelevant tasks they perform feel crucial and important to them in their hearts. They busy themselves with those worthless things all day, believing that they are fulfilling their responsibilities and being loyal, but they don’t do a single essential item of work that God has entrusted to them—aren’t people such as these false leaders? They’re the equivalent of directors of sub-district offices in society, they are simply neighborhood busybodies—are they still the leaders and workers of God’s house then? They are bona fide false leaders and false workers. For what reason are these people characterized as false leaders and false workers? (Because their caliber is too poor, they can’t do real work, and all they can do is handle some trivial matters.) This is the specific reason. The caliber of these people is too poor; no matter how many sermons they listen to, how many work arrangements they read, how many years they do their duty for in God’s house, or how many years they are leaders for, they never know what they’re doing, whether what they’re doing is right or wrong, or whether they’re fulfilling the responsibilities they should fulfill. Their definition of the label and title of leaders and workers is that it’s fine so long as they’re busy. Like a donkey turning a millstone, they keep pulling until they can’t move anymore, and they consider this to be fulfilling their responsibilities. No matter which direction they pull in, and no matter whether the energy they put into pulling is correct or not, to them they are fulfilling their responsibilities. There are many issues that they aren’t able to see through, and they don’t try to resolve them or report them to the Above and seek solutions from the Above. Regardless of how many years they work for or how many years they’re in contact with people for, they don’t even know if a person’s manifestations are those of a new believer who has a shallow foundation in their faith and doesn’t understand the truth or if they are those of a disbeliever, and they also don’t know how they should discern or characterize them. When there are two people who are both in a negative state, they don’t know which of them is worth cultivating and which of them isn’t; when two people are somewhat perfunctory in doing their duties, they can’t tell which of them is a pursuer of the truth and which of them is a laborer, which of them is capable of entering the truth reality and which of them has no truth reality. They don’t know which people will potentially follow the path of antichrists once they become leaders, even if they’ve associated with these people for years. No matter how many pointless exercises they engage in or how many useless jobs they perform or how many problems there are around them, they are unaware of it, and they do not realize these are issues. Because such people are of poor caliber, muddled in thought, and incapable of performing work, it is very difficult for them to fulfill the responsibilities of a leader or worker. Apart from being able to do some simple general affairs work, these leaders and workers aren’t capable of doing anything related to the essential work of the church, and they aren’t able to see or resolve any real problems in the work. Can this kind of leader with this sort of caliber be worth cultivating? They don’t even know what confusions or difficulties are, and they fall even shorter of handling them according to the principles. Even if the problems encountered in the church work are ones that are very common, they still can’t summarize and classify them, nor do they know how to fellowship on the truth to resolve them—this type of false leader is uniformly unable to handle or resolve these problems that often arise in the church. Their biggest issue is not that they’re unwilling to pay a price, or that they fear being busy and feeling tired, but rather it is that they have poor caliber, an unclear mind, and they aren’t able to do the important work and real work of the church. Instead they just do some general affairs work or enjoy concerning themselves with some irrelevant things, and then they want to play the role of leaders and workers—aren’t they muddled people with ambitions and desires that are too great? Leaders with poor caliber are uniformly incapable of doing the core work of the church, which is work that involves the truth principles, or complicated professional work, such as the work of spreading the gospel, the work of watering new believers in the church, film production work, text-based work, and personnel work that involves leaders and workers at various levels. Why are they incapable of doing this work? It’s because their caliber is too poor and they can’t grasp the principles; they uniformly fall short of all this work and are incapable of learning how to do it. For instance, say that a leader like this is given five people and asked to allocate work to these five people based on their level of education, their caliber and strengths, and their character. Is this an easy task to perform? Does this have anything to do with the caliber of leaders and workers? (Yes.) Leaders and workers of average caliber will allocate work relatively accurately after spending some time observing, associating with, and getting to know the five people. Leaders and workers of poor caliber will think that five people is too many; when there are too many people, they become confused and don’t know how to allocate work to them, and even if they do allocate them work, they won’t know in their hearts whether they’re doing it in an appropriate manner or not. This is in terms of the personnel aspect. When it comes to handling matters, for example, if they need to handle and resolve two or three matters simultaneously, they won’t know how to judge and discern the relationship between these matters, nor will they be able to weigh up which problem they ought to solve first, and which problem can be solved after without any delays being caused. That is to say, they don’t know how to weigh up pros and cons, they don’t know how to prioritize tasks in order of importance and urgency, and they don’t know how to solve problems. However, because they are leaders and workers, even though they don’t understand something they must pretend that they do, even though they don’t comprehend something they must pretend that they do, and there is nothing they can do except hang in there and preach some doctrines to muddle through, and say a few pleasant-sounding words and hastily wrap things up. They are perfectly clear on whether what they say is accurate or not, on whether it accords with the principles or not, on whether it can resolve issues or not, but they just want to muddle through. They know very well that they won’t be able to resolve issues with what they’re doing, but they still don’t report the problems to the Above, and so they end up causing delays to the work and being dismissed. Tell Me, aren’t these people fools? When some leaders and workers report problems, they recount all the old, unimportant events that have passed right up to the present day, and after they’ve said a bunch of stuff, you still have to help them analyze and judge what problems are present. They don’t even understand how to raise an issue, and they can talk for hours without explaining clearly what the focus and essence of an issue are. Everything they say just relates to surface-level things and is just a lot of nonsense! Isn’t this a case of their caliber being too poor and them being a few cards short of a full deck? Are people with caliber willing to listen to these things? The person they’re speaking to just wants to know what the current situation and manifestations of the person they’re reporting are, and what state they’re confused about and unable to resolve. And yet, these people always talk about what work that person did in the past, and they don’t talk about that person’s present situation, or say what confusions and problems they themselves have. They say a bunch of stuff, and no one can tell exactly what it is they’re talking about. Even if they want to ask a question, they don’t know where to start, they don’t know how to express it in a way that can be effective and allow people to understand them—they don’t even have the ability to organize their language. Isn’t this a manifestation of having extremely poor caliber? Some false leaders have poor caliber, and when they report an issue, they say a load of nonsensical and unintelligible things, and then they think, “I’ve given you a sufficiently large amount of information, right? I’ve even told you everything past and present about this issue, so can’t you tell now what the question is that I want to ask?” No matter what you ask them or how you guide them, they don’t know what to say and can never say the key point of the issue. It’s not that they lack the words to express themselves or that they have a low level of education, but rather it is that their caliber is poor and they’re brainless, so they don’t know how to express these things, their minds are muddled, and they can’t explain themselves clearly so that others can understand them. They have some sense of burden, and as time goes on, they come to have some awareness of certain issues, but they don’t know how to express them, they’re not able to comprehend what the essence of the issues is, much less can they summarize the issues. Can people whose caliber is this poor do work? Can they fulfill the responsibilities of leaders and workers? No, they can’t. Even if you give them time and opportunities and allow them to report and describe the problems, they can’t do it, so can you still have a conversation with such people? Can they still be used? (No.) Why can’t they be used? They can’t even speak clearly, and they don’t even have the bare minimum instinct of a human being to use language to express their thoughts, ideas, and attitudes, so what work can they do? Although they may have some strength, genuine enthusiasm, a bit of a sense of responsibility, and quite an upright heart, their caliber is too poor, they can’t learn anything no matter how you teach them, and even if you teach them how to talk they won’t be able to get the hang of it, and so you will get agitated and angry. When they speak, they make a mess of it, leaving you confused; they can’t say anything clearly, and what they say is simply a load of nonsense. The most pitiful thing about them is that they don’t understand human language and yet they still keep acting blindly, they still think they’re capable, and they are defiant when you prune them. How can they do a leader’s work well? When a leader’s or worker’s caliber is so poor that they have no ability to express themselves in language, can they still be competent in the work? (No.) And what does not being competent in their work signify? It signifies that they’re incapable of promptly discovering the difficulties and problems encountered in the work and, of course, it signifies that no matter what issues arise in the work, they can never resolve them promptly, nor can they promptly report them to the Above and seek solutions from the Above—this is too difficult for them, and they are incapable of doing it. When it comes to people such as these who possess poor caliber, this work is extremely difficult for them; it’s like trying to get a duck to sit on a perch or a donkey to dance—it is very strenuous.

Some say, “I feel bad for those people. They bustle around so much handling all sorts of tasks, and they end up being characterized as false leaders because of their poor caliber. So, does that mean that the suffering they’ve endured has all been in vain? Isn’t that treating people unjustly?” Dismissing false leaders means taking responsibility for God’s chosen people and for the work of the church, so how can it be treating people unjustly? If these people insist on letting false leaders continue in their role as leaders, isn’t this harming God’s chosen people? Do they mean to say that harming God’s chosen people isn’t treating people unjustly? By dismissing a false leader, God’s house is not condemning that false leader, nor is it sending that false leader down to hell, but instead it is giving that person a chance to attain salvation. Can they attain salvation if they continue to be a false leader? What will their final outcome be? Why don’t these people consider the issue in this way? Moreover, what is the purpose of believing in God? Surely being a leader isn’t the only way forward? Are there no other duties to do if one is not a leader? Is there no path for survival for those who aren’t leaders and possess poor caliber? (No, that’s not true.) So, what then is the path of practice? What we are now dissecting are the manifestations of and the problems that exist in this type of false leader who is of poor caliber; we are not condemning or cursing them, we are just dissecting them. The purpose of dissecting them is to get this type of person to accurately know and orient themselves, to know their own measure, and to accurately understand what leaders and workers are, what work leaders and workers should do, and then compare these things with themselves to see whether they are suited to being a leader or worker. If their caliber really is very poor, so poor that they don’t have the ability to express themselves in language, or the ability to express their thoughts and views, or the ability to discover problems, then they are not suited to being a leader or worker, they are not competent to do the duty of a leader or worker, and they are incapable of doing the work of a leader or worker. And since they are of poor caliber, they must have this kind of self-awareness. Some people say, “My caliber is poor—well, so what? I have good humanity, so I should be a leader.” Is this the principle? Others say, “Besides having good humanity, I’m also willing to endure suffering and pay a price, I can preach sermons, I have a foundation in my faith, and I’ve been imprisoned for my belief in God. Don’t these things count as capital for me to be a leader or worker?” Is it the truth that one must have capital to be a leader or worker? (No.) What we’re discussing now are the responsibilities of leaders and workers and, within this topic, we’re talking about the issue of caliber. If their caliber is poor and they aren’t able to fulfill these responsibilities, then the self-awareness they should have is: “I don’t have this caliber and I can’t be a leader or worker. Whatever capital I have, it’s of no use.” They say that they have good humanity, that they’re reliable, that they have the resolve to endure suffering, and that they’re willing to pay a price—has God’s house treated them unfairly then? God’s house uses people in such a way as to put everyone to their best use, tailoring roles to suit each person, and does so in a way that is just right. If these people have good humanity but their caliber is poor, then they should do their duty well with all their heart and strength; it’s not the case that a person must be a leader or worker in order to be approved of by God. Even though they’re willing to trouble themselves, they’re not able to trouble themselves in the way that a leader must, and they don’t possess the caliber they should have to be a leader, and they fall short of it, what can they then do? They shouldn’t force themselves or make things hard for themselves; if they can carry 25 kilos, then they should carry 25 kilos. They shouldn’t try to show off by pushing themselves beyond their limits, saying, “25 kilos isn’t enough. I want to carry even more. I want to carry 50 kilos. I’m willing to do it even if I die from exhaustion!” They’re not capable of being a leader or worker, but if they still keep pushing themselves beyond their limits to show off, though they won’t get worn out, they will cause delays to the church work, they will affect the progress and efficiency of the work, and they will delay the life progress of many people—this is not a responsibility that they can afford to bear. Because they are of insufficient caliber, if they have self-awareness, they should proactively offer to resign and nominate someone of good caliber, who loves the truth, and who is more responsible than them to be a leader or worker. This would be the sensible thing to do, and only in so doing would they be someone who really has humanity and reason, and someone who really understands and practices the truth. If they resign from their post because they’re incapable of doing the work of a leader, and they then choose a duty that suits them and offer up their loyalty so that they can be approved of by God, then they are an exceptionally smart person. These people always think, “Although I am of poor caliber, I have good humanity, I’m willing to trouble myself, endure suffering, and pay a price, I have resolve, I’m more resilient than all of you in everything I do, and I’m broadminded and not afraid of being pruned or tried. Even though my caliber is a little poor, I can still be a leader.” Having poor caliber is not a problem. This is not meant as a condemnation of these people, it is just meant to classify them and to get them to understand clearly exactly what they can do and what kind of duty they are suited to. The current issue, however, is that their caliber is poor and they aren’t capable of being a leader or worker. Even though they’ve been elected to be a leader or worker, they aren’t able to do this work well, and all they are able to do is mess the work up. If these people have good humanity, if they have conscience and reason, and they’re willing to trouble themselves and pay a price, then there will be a job that they are suited to do and a duty they should do, and God’s house will make reasonable arrangements for them. Not permitting them to be a leader is based on the regulations and principles of God’s house. However, God’s house absolutely will not deny them their right to do a duty or their right to believe in and follow God because they are of poor caliber. Isn’t this appropriate? (Yes, it is.) Is it necessary for us to fellowship on this matter in more detail? Some people with poor caliber hear this and ponder, “Don’t fellowship on this anymore. I feel too ashamed to face anybody. I know I am of poor caliber, and I won’t be a church leader or worker anymore. I’ll just be a team leader or supervisor, or else I’ll do odd jobs, cooking, or cleaning. Anything is fine. I’ll bear the hardship of my post without complaint, submit to the arrangements of God’s house, and submit to God’s orchestrations. My being of poor caliber is by the grace of God, and God’s good intentions are in it. Everything God does is right.” If they can see things this way, then that’s good, and it means they have some self-awareness. I won’t fellowship on this issue at length. In sum, in terms of these people with poor caliber, we’re just dissecting the problem and exposing the truth of the facts so that more people have the correct attitude and perspective regarding these people, and so that these people have the correct attitude and perspective regarding the issue of their own poor caliber, and can then accurately orient themselves, find a position and duty which suits them, allowing their perseverance in paying a price and their resolve to endure suffering to be reasonably put to use and brought into play. This does not impact them understanding the truth and practicing the truth, nor does it impact their image in God’s house.

III. False Leaders Who Are Lazy and Indulge in Comfort

We just fellowshipped on two types of false leaders. There is another type of false leader, which we have often talked about while fellowshipping on the topic of “the responsibilities of leaders and workers.” This type has some caliber, they’re not unintelligent, in their work, they have ways and methods, and plans for solving problems, and when they are given a piece of work, they can implement it close to the expected standards. They are able to discover any problems that arise in the work and can also resolve some of them; when they hear the problems some people report, or they observe the behavior, manifestations, speech and actions of some people, they have a reaction in their heart, and they have their own opinion and an attitude. Of course, if these people pursue the truth and have a sense of burden, then all these problems can be resolved. However, problems unexpectedly go unresolved in work that’s under the responsibility of the type of person we’re fellowshipping on today. Why is that? It’s because these people don’t do real work. They love ease and hate hard work, they are just making perfunctory efforts on the surface, they like being idle and enjoying the benefits of status, they like ordering people around, and they just move their mouths a bit and give some suggestions and then consider their work done. They don’t take any of the real work of the church or the critical work God entrusts to them to heart—they don’t have this sense of burden, and even if God’s house repeatedly emphasizes these things, they still don’t take them to heart. For example, they don’t want to intervene in or inquire about the film production work or text-based work of God’s house, nor do they wish to look into how these types of work are progressing and what results they’re achieving. They just make some indirect inquiries, and once they know that people are busy with this work and doing this work, they don’t concern themselves with it any further. Even when they know perfectly well that there are problems in the work, they still don’t want to fellowship on and resolve them, nor do they make inquiries about or look into how people are doing their duties. Why don’t they make inquiries or look into these things? They think that if they look into them, then there will be lots of problems waiting for them to resolve, and that will be too worrisome. Life will be far too exhausting if they always have to be solving problems! If they worry too much, food will no longer taste good to them, and they won’t be able to sleep well, their flesh will feel tired, and then life will become miserable. That’s why, when they see a problem, they evade it and ignore it if they can. What is the problem with this type of person? (They’re too lazy.) Tell Me, who has a serious problem: lazy people, or people with poor caliber? (Lazy people.) Why do lazy people have a serious problem? (People of poor caliber cannot be leaders or workers, but they can be somewhat effective when they do a duty that is within their abilities. However, people who are lazy can’t do anything; even if they do have caliber, it has no effect.) Lazy people can’t do anything. To summarize it in two words, they are useless people; they have a second-class disability. No matter how good the caliber of lazy people is, it is nothing more than window dressing; even though they have good caliber, it is of no use. They are too lazy—they know what they are supposed to do, but they don’t do it, and even if they know something is a problem, they do not seek the truth to resolve it, and though they know what hardships they should suffer in order for the work to be effective, they are unwilling to endure these worthwhile hardships—so they cannot gain any truths, and they cannot do any real work. They do not wish to endure the hardships people are supposed to; they only know to indulge in comfort, enjoy times of joy and leisure, and enjoy a free and relaxed life. Are they not useless? People who cannot endure hardship don’t deserve to live. Those who always wish to live the life of a parasite are people without conscience or reason; they are beasts, and such people are unfit even to perform labor. Because they cannot endure hardship, even when they do perform labor, they are not able to do it well, and if they wish to gain the truth, there is even less hope of that. Someone who cannot suffer and does not love the truth is a useless person; they are unqualified even to perform labor. They are a beast, without a shred of humanity. Such people must be eliminated; only this accords with God’s intentions.

Some people are responsible for farm work, and they are particularly diligent; they have a plan in mind, and they know what work to do in each season. When it comes time to till the fields, they go to each plot of land and take a look. They compare what they have planned to plant in each plot of land with the actual state of the plot itself, and see whether their plan is suitable and whether it is in line with the actual situation. Furthermore, they look at how wet or dry the soil is this year, what fertilizer is needed, and what is suitable for planting. Once they’ve taken a look and they have a grasp on these things, they immediately ask about whether seedlings have been raised and how many have been raised, then they go to the greenhouse to take a look there and see whether the person raising the seedlings is dependable or whether they will ruin the seedlings. If one person isn’t enough to do this work, they assign another person to work with them, and the two supervise each other. Will lazy people do this? No, they won’t. If no one supervises them and urges them on, they absolutely will not visit the site themselves; if God’s house doesn’t ask about the progress of a piece of work, then they absolutely will not take the initiative to inspect the real situation of that work. With people who have poor caliber, no matter what it is they are doing, they always do it themselves, but they’re incapable of distinguishing what is urgent and important from what is not, and they just act blindly. Whereas these lazy people are sufficiently clever, and no matter what they are doing, they just like to move their mouths and command others to do the work; they never do anything themselves, nor can they do real work. They think, “I just need to make a call or send a message to ask some questions, and that’s my job done, the issue is resolved. This saves me so much trouble! Look at what my caliber as a leader is like. I can finish the job with just a few words—isn’t this also me fulfilling my responsibilities? I’m not being derelict in my duties. If the Above asks me about these things, I can answer them very fluently and provide a clear explanation. What’s the point in going to the work site and taking a look? I’d have to endure hardships and suffering, and my skin would go dark from being in the sun. There’s no need to go through that formality. If I can save myself some trouble then that’s what I’ll do. There’s no need to make things so difficult for myself.” Aren’t they sufficiently “smart”? When this type of person works, they are particularly skilled at cutting corners to achieve their goals and finding shortcuts, and they have their ways and methods. They don’t do anything themselves, nor do they participate in anything. They just make calls to ask questions, going through the motions, and the minute they hang up the phone, they go to bed or get a massage and begin indulging in their flesh. This type of person really knows how to “do work,” they really know how to find opportunities to be idle, and they really know how to go through the motions and dupe people! What’s the use of them having that bit of caliber? They’re the same as those officials in the nation of the Communist Party, who just drink tea and read the newspaper after they get to work, and start thinking about what they will eat and where they will go to amuse themselves before work is even over for the day—life really is good for them. This is the principle this type of false leader adheres to as well in their work; they suffer no hardship, they endure no exhaustion, and yet they still act as an official and enjoy the benefits of status, and most brothers and sisters are not able to see that this is a problem. This is how this kind of false leader works, they do no real work, and they don’t go on-site to follow up on and inspect the work, so can they discover problems with the work? (No.) Pseudo-spiritual false leaders and false leaders who are of poor caliber are blind despite their eyes being wide open, and they can’t see problems, so what about this sort of useless person? They say, “I don’t participate in real work, and I don’t go on-site to integrate myself with the people working there, so if problems arise then you can’t say that I’m blind despite my eyes being wide open. I haven’t been on-site and I haven’t seen the problems, so what’s it got to do with me if problems arise? You should go find the people who are involved.” Aren’t these guys really cunning? They think that all they have to do is give orders and arrange people properly, that’s it, and then their responsibilities have been fulfilled and they can then enjoy their leisure and entertainment time in a brazen manner. No matter what problems there are below, they make no inquiries, and they only hurry to handle a problem if someone reports it to the Above. All they focus on every day is enjoying the benefits of status, strolling leisurely around everywhere, putting on a show of inspecting the work, but they actually never go somewhere that really has a problem, and they never inspect critical work—isn’t this just like communist party officials only ever making surface-level efforts and just performing work that makes them look good? They make nice promises to do the work they’re given, but they don’t follow up on it or supervise it, and even if they do go on-site, they just go through the formalities. They absolutely won’t do the work themselves or resolve issues themselves. They think, “There’s no need for me to suffer and pay a price to do these things. It’s enough that there’s someone there doing them. I’m not earning any money anyway, so it’s fine for me to just scrape by.” Can they do their work well when they have this mindset? They have a little scheme in their minds, thinking, “I’ll work only as much as the food I get to eat, and I’ll get through each day in a perfunctory manner.” Yet they never do specific work, and they are never seen on-site. So, where are they? They’re enjoying themselves in a beautiful and secure place where they can eat, drink, and sleep well, they’re living like a prince—taking regular showers, having regular massages, and regularly changing their clothes—and they’re not enduring any suffering at all. They never reflect on what real work they can do, what real problems they can resolve, what contributions they have made to the work of God’s house, and how they are qualified to enjoy all these nice things—they never consider any of this. What sorts of things are these people? These wretches have no self-awareness, they are shameless things, and they don’t deserve to be church leaders and workers.

All false leaders never do real work. They act like their leadership role is some official position, enjoying the benefits of status, and they treat the duty they ought to perform and the work they ought to do as a leader like an encumbrance, like a nuisance. In their hearts, they brim with resistance toward the work of the church: When they are asked to supervise the work and learn what issues exist within it that need to be followed up on and resolved, they are full of reluctance. This is the work that leaders and workers are supposed to do, this is their job, but they don’t do it and they are unwilling to do it, so why do they still want to be leaders and workers? Do they do their duty in order to be considerate of God’s intentions, or in order to be an official and enjoy the benefits of status? If they only became a leader so that they could hold some official position, isn’t that a bit shameless? These people have the lowest character, they have no dignity, and they are without shame. If they wish to enjoy fleshly comfort, they should hurry back to the world, and contend, take by force, and seize as they are able, and no one will interfere with that. God’s house is a place for God’s chosen people to do their duties and worship Him; it is a place for people to pursue the truth and obtain salvation. It is not a place for anyone to indulge in fleshly comfort, much less a place that allows people to live like princes. False leaders know no shame, they are dead to shame, and they have no reason. No matter what specific work is assigned to them, they do not take it seriously, and they put it to the back of their minds; though they respond very well in words, they do not do anything real. Is this not immoral? Not only do they not do real work, but they also want to have sole power—to hold power over financial, personnel, and all other matters in their own hands, and to get people to provide reports to them every day. They are actually very diligent when it comes to these things. When the time comes for them to make a report on work to the Above, they attribute the results of all the work done by brothers and sisters to themselves so that the Above mistakenly believes that they’ve done great work, when in fact it has all been done by others. How many people have been gained through preaching the gospel, which people have been promoted and are being cultivated, which people have been dismissed from their posts, which people have been cleared out, and so on—none of these specific tasks are done by them, and yet they have the nerve to report them. Aren’t these people dead to shame? Aren’t they engaging in deception? Such people are so deceitful and cunning! They think themselves to be smart—this is really a case of them falling victim to their own clever tricks, and in the end they get themselves revealed and eliminated. No matter what work some people do or what duty they perform, they are incompetent in it, they cannot shoulder it, and they are incapable of fulfilling any of the obligations or responsibilities that a person ought to. Are they not trash? Are they still worthy of being called human? With the exception of simpletons, the mentally incompetent, and those who suffer from physical impairments, is there anyone alive who ought not to do their duties and fulfill their responsibilities? But this kind of person is always slippery and slacking off, and does not wish to fulfill their responsibilities; the implication is that they do not wish to be a proper human being. God gave them the opportunity to be a human being, and He gave them caliber and gifts, yet they cannot use these in doing their duty. They do nothing, but wish to relish enjoyment at every turn. Is such a person fit to be called a human being? No matter what work is given to them—whether it be important or ordinary, difficult or simple—they are always perfunctory and slippery and slacking off. When problems arise, they try to push responsibility for them onto other people, taking no responsibility, and they wish to keep living their parasitic lives. Are they not useless trash? In society, who does not have to depend on themselves to make a living? Once a person becomes an adult, they must provide for themselves. Their parents have fulfilled their responsibility. Even if their parents were willing to support them, they would be uneasy with it. They ought to be able to realize that their parents have finished their mission of raising them, and that they are an able-bodied adult, and should be able to live independently. Is this not the minimum reason that an adult ought to have? If someone truly has reason, they could not possibly continue mooching off their parents; they would be afraid of others’ laughter, of losing face. So, does one who loves ease and hates work have reason? (No.) They always want something for nothing; they want to never fulfill any responsibility, wishing sweets would just fall from the sky and drop into their mouths; they always want to get three square meals a day, to have someone wait on them, and to enjoy good food and drinks without doing the slightest bit of work. Is this not the mindset of a parasite? And do people who are parasites have conscience and reason? Do they have integrity and dignity? Absolutely not. They are all freeloading good-for-nothings, all beasts without conscience or reason. None of them are fit to remain in God’s house.

Suppose the church arranges a job for you, and you say, “Whether the job is one that allows me to gain attention or not—since it’s been given to me, I’ll do it well and take on this responsibility. If I’m arranged to do hosting, I’ll give my all to doing it well; I’ll look after the brothers and sisters well, and do my best to ensure everyone’s safety. If I’m arranged to preach the gospel, I’ll equip myself with the truth and preach the gospel well with love and fulfill my duty. If I’m arranged to learn a foreign language, I’ll study it wholeheartedly and work hard at it, and try to master it as quickly as possible, within a year or two, so that I can testify of God to foreigners. If I’m asked to write testimony articles, I’ll conscientiously train myself to do so, view things according to the truth principles, and learn about language. Though I may not be able to write articles with beautiful prose, I’ll at least be able to clearly communicate my experiential testimony, to fellowship comprehensibly about the truth, and to give true testimony for God, such that people are edified and benefited by reading my articles. Whatever job the church assigns me, I’ll take it up with all my heart and strength. If there’s something I don’t understand or a problem comes up, I’ll pray to God, seek the truth, resolve problems according to the truth principles, and do the job well. Whatever my duty, I’ll use everything I have to do it well and satisfy God. For whatever I can achieve, I will do my best to shoulder the responsibility that I should bear, and at the least, I will not go against my conscience and reason, or be perfunctory, or be slippery and slack off, or indulge in the fruits of others’ labor. Nothing I do will be beneath the standard of conscience.” This is the minimum standard of human comportment, and one who does their duty in such a way may qualify as a person with conscience and reason. You must at least be clear of conscience in doing your duty, and you must at least be worthy of your three meals a day and not be freeloading. This is called having a sense of responsibility. Whether your caliber is high or low, and whether or not you understand the truth, in any case, you must have this attitude: “Since this work was given to me to do, I must treat it seriously, I must make it my concern, and I must use all my heart and strength to do it well. As for whether I can do it perfectly well, I can’t presume to offer a guarantee, but my attitude is that I’ll do my best to perform it well, and I certainly won’t be perfunctory about it. If a problem arises in work, I should take responsibility then, and ensure I draw a lesson from it and do my duty well.” This is the right attitude. Do you have such an attitude? Some people say, “I don’t necessarily need to do a good job on the work I’m assigned. I’ll just do what I can and the end product will be what it will be. I don’t need to tire myself so much, or become wracked with anxiety if I do something wrong, and I don’t need to take on so much stress. What’s the point of making myself so tired? After all, I’m always working and I’m not freeloading.” This kind of attitude toward one’s duty is irresponsible. “If I feel like working, I’ll do some work. I’ll just do what I can and the end product will be what it will be. There’s no need to take it so seriously.” Such people do not have a responsible attitude toward their duty and they lack a sense of responsibility. What kind of person are you? If you are the first kind of person, then you’re someone with reason and humanity. If you’re the second kind of person, then you’re no different from the kind of false leaders I’ve just dissected. You’re just idling your days away. “I’ll avoid fatigue and hardship and just enjoy myself more. Even if one day I’m dismissed, I won’t have lost anything. At least I’ll have enjoyed the benefits of status for a few days, it won’t be a loss for me. If I’m selected as a leader, that’s how I’ll act.” What do you think of the mindset of this kind of person? Such people are disbelievers who do not pursue the truth in the slightest. If you truly have a sense of responsibility, then it shows that you have conscience and reason. No matter how large or small the task, no matter who assigns you that task, whether God’s house entrusts you with it or a church leader or worker assigns it to you, your attitude should be: “Since this duty has been assigned to me, it is God’s exaltation and grace. I should do it well according to the truth principles. Despite having average caliber, I’m willing to take on this responsibility and give it all I have to do it well. If I do a poor job, I should take responsibility for it, and if I do a good job, this isn’t a credit to me. This is what I ought to do.” Why do I say that how one treats one’s duty is a matter of principle? If you really have a sense of responsibility and are a responsible person, then you will be able to shoulder the church’s work and fulfill the duty you are supposed to. If you take your duty lightly, then your view on belief in God is incorrect, and your attitude toward God and your duty is problematic. Your view on doing your duty is to do it perfunctorily and to just muddle through it, and whether it’s something you are willing to do or not, something you’re good at or not, you always approach it with an attitude of just muddling along, so you’re not suited to being a leader or worker and you don’t deserve to do church work. What’s more, to put it very bluntly, people like you are good-for-nothings, destined to achieve nothing, and just useless people. What kind of people are useless? Muddleheaded people, people who idle their days away. People of this sort are not responsible in anything they do, nor do they take it seriously; they make a mess of everything. They do not heed your words no matter how you fellowship the truth. They think, “I’ll muddle along like this if I want to. Say what you want! In any case, right now I’m doing my duty and I’ve got food to eat, that’s good enough. At least I don’t have to be a beggar. If I have nothing to eat one day, I’ll think about it then. Heaven will always leave a way out for man. You say that I have no conscience or reason, and that I’m muddleheaded—well, so what? I haven’t broken the law. At the very most, I’m just a little lacking in character, but that’s no loss to me. So long as I have food to eat, it’s fine.” What do you think of this perspective? I say to you, muddleheaded people like this who idle their days away are all destined to be eliminated, and there is no way they can achieve salvation. All those who have believed in God for several years but have never accepted any of the truth and are without experiential testimonies will be eliminated. None will survive. Trash and good-for-nothings are all freeloaders and they are destined to be eliminated. If leaders and workers are just freeloaders, all the more must they be dismissed and eliminated. Muddleheaded people like this still want to be leaders and workers; they are unworthy! They do not do any real work, yet they want to be leaders. They truly have no shame!

After some leaders and workers get dismissed from their posts, they say, “It’s great to not be a leader or worker. I don’t need to be so anxious or trouble myself so much. It’s wonderful to be an ordinary brother or sister. Why should I trouble myself with that? I don’t possess caliber just so I can exhaust myself.” Someone else says to them, “What will you do now that you’re not a leader or worker?” They reply, “I’m fine with doing anything, so long as it’s not too tiring and it doesn’t take a lot of effort—something that involves walking and looking around, or sitting and talking or looking at the computer, and doesn’t require very long hours or physical suffering would be fine.” What kind of talk is this? If you discover that the leader or worker you selected is this kind of thing, how will you feel in your heart? Won’t you feel very regretful? (Yes.) So, will you have any thoughts on this? You’ll say, “Originally, I saw that you had a bit of caliber and I wanted to promote and cultivate you, and give you a chance, so that you could understand some more truths. I never imagined you were less than nothing. I regret that I regarded you as a human being back then. I never imagined that you weren’t one after all. You are even lower than a pig or a dog, you’re trash. You don’t deserve to wear this human skin, and you don’t deserve to be a human!” Do these words sound unpleasant? (No.) They do not sound unpleasant to you, but don’t they sound very unpleasant to this kind of trash? (Yes.) Does trash like this have a heart? (No.) So can they tell whether someone is saying good or bad things about them? When people without a heart encounter any matter, they won’t change their attitude of idling their days away. They think that it’s fine so long as they themselves benefit and profit and feel comfortable. So no matter what anyone else says, they don’t care. Their famous saying is: “No matter what you say, no matter how you see me or evaluate me, or how you classify or handle me, I don’t care!” Aren’t these people just trash? No matter what you say, they do not have any sense of feeling and they don’t take it to heart. Why don’t they take it to heart? They’re just idlers, and they do not have a heart. People who do not have a heart have no dignity or integrity, they don’t care about anything you say, and no matter how sternly you speak to them, they won’t feel a sting in their hearts. Only those with dignity, integrity, and reason will be pained and feel that their hearts are being pierced when they hear such words. They will say, “That was a lowly way to comport myself, it made people look down on me, and I lost my dignity, so I won’t act that way anymore. I want to recover my dignity and not cause people to look down on me. I will strive to recover my honor, and I’ll do whatever it takes to live with dignity and satisfy God.” They have a sense of feeling when it comes to words that hurt their dignity and prick them in a sore spot, in a weak spot—these are people with hearts. When those who have a sense of feeling and possess dignity hear statements that are right and see positive things and distinguish between what is right and what is wrong, they resolve to change because they have dignity, and they don’t want others to look down on them. Those idlers and useless people have no dignity, and so no matter what you say to them, no matter how correct or accurate or in line with the truth your statements are, or how much your statements are positive things, they have no effect on these people and will not move them in the slightest. A person with no dignity has no sense of feeling at all with regard to any positive thing, any verdict, or any exposure, nor do they have the right attitude toward what kind of life path to choose. That’s why, no matter what you say to them, no matter how you expose or characterize them, they absolutely refuse to accept it, and they don’t care. So, is there any use preaching the truth and giving sermons to such people? Is there any use pruning them? Is there any use judging and chastising them? No! Such people are just useless. They muddle through their days, and they belong to the category of beasts—to be precise, they’re not human. They don’t deserve to hear God’s words. If these good-for-nothings, parasites, become church leaders, can they discover the problems that are present in the church? Can they resolve issues? Certainly not. If God’s chosen people raise an issue, can they resolve it? They certainly can’t resolve it, either. They’re incapable of resolving any issue, so how can they do the work of a leader? That would be unthinkable! As leaders and workers, people must at the very least be able to resolve problems that are present in the church work and problems that exist with the life entry of God’s chosen people. If they train for a time and come to have some experience, and they can also fellowship on some truths and talk about some experiential testimony, then they can gradually become competent in the work of a leader. If they’re not capable of discovering or resolving any problems, then there is no way they can do the work of a leader; they are then false leaders, and they should be dismissed, and new leaders should be elected.

Those who serve as leaders must at least understand a bit of the truth and have some practical experiences. If they have no experiences at all, then they certainly do not understand any of the truth. Some people who serve as leaders are good at preaching words and doctrines, and they are able to get approval and praise from most people. Although, on the surface, false leaders are able to answer questions, they aren’t able to fellowship the truth principles. All they preach is empty theory, and there’s nothing practical to it at all. When people hear their preaching, they feel that it accords with their own tastes, and those without discernment are very approving of it. Afterward, however, they still have no path of practice and can’t find the principles of practice. Can this be considered to have resolved any issues, then? Isn’t this them being perfunctory? Can trying to resolve issues in this way be regarded as doing real work? False leaders do not do real work, but they know how to act like an official. What is the first thing they do once they become a leader? It is to buy people’s favor. They take the approach of “New officials are eager to impress”: First they do a few things to curry favor with people and handle a few things that improve everybody’s day-to-day welfare. They first try to make a good impression on people, to show everyone that they are in tune with the masses, so that everyone praises them and says, “This leader acts like a parent toward us!” Then they officially take over. They feel that they have popular support and that their position has been secured; then they begin to enjoy the benefits of status, as though they were their proper due. Their mottos are, “Life is all about eating well and dressing nice,” “Life is short, so enjoy it while you can,” and “Drink today’s wine today, and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.” They enjoy each day as it comes, they have fun while they can, and they give no thought to the future, much less do they consider what responsibilities a leader should fulfill and what duties they should do. They preach a few words and doctrines and do a few tasks for appearance’s sake as a matter of routine—they do not do any real work. They are not unearthing real problems in the church and completely solving them, so what is the point in them doing such superficial tasks? Is this not deceptive? Can important tasks be entrusted to this kind of false leader? Are they in line with principles and conditions of God’s house for selecting leaders and workers? (No.) These people don’t have any conscience or reason, they are devoid of any sense of responsibility, and yet they still wish to hold some official position, to be a leader, in the church—why are they so shameless? For some people who have a sense of responsibility, if they are of poor caliber, they cannot be leaders—and that’s to say nothing of useless people who have no sense of responsibility at all; they are even less qualified to be leaders. Just how lazy are such gluttonous and indolent false leaders? Even when they discover an issue, and they are aware that this is an issue, they don’t take it seriously and pay it no mind. They are so irresponsible! Though they are good talkers and seem to have a little caliber, they can’t solve various problems in the church’s work, leading to the work grinding to a standstill; the problems keep piling up, but these leaders do not concern themselves with them, and insist on carrying out a few superficial tasks as a matter of routine. And what is the end result? Do they not make a mess of church work, do they not screw it up? Do they not cause chaos and a lack of unity in the church? This is the inevitable outcome. In this situation, will false leaders make a report to the Above? Certainly not. If someone in the church wants to report the false leaders’ problems to the Above, will they consent to this? They will most definitely suppress and block that person off, they won’t allow anyone to report a problem to the Above, and they will restrict, suppress, and isolate anyone who does. Tell Me, aren’t these false leaders so despicable? Regardless of how much they have harmed the church’s work, they still won’t allow the Above to know about this, much less resolve it. All they care about is enjoying the benefits of their status and protecting their own vanity and pride—such people are so utterly despicable and shameless! Are they not totally without conscience and without humanity? When the Above inquires about the work, they say decisively that there are no problems, prevaricating and fobbing the Above off—in doing this, aren’t they deceiving the Above and hiding things from those below them? Problems with the church’s work keep piling up and up, and the false leaders cannot solve them themselves, yet they also don’t report these issues to the Above. Under these circumstances, they act as if nothing is wrong; they indulge in comfort just the same, they sit around doing nothing all day and idle their days away, and they don’t get anxious at all. And when the problems are exposed and the Above probes into this, they still say, “I arranged for people to do this work. I’ve fulfilled my responsibilities. If the work isn’t done well, then that’s on other people. What has it got to do with me?” With these few words, they totally absolve themselves of responsibility. It’s as though they have no responsibility for this matter at all. Not only do they not reflect on themselves, they also feel justified and at ease, saying, “In any case, I haven’t been idle in my duty; I’m not a freeloader. If the Above doesn’t dismiss me, then I’ll continue serving as a leader. If I put forward my resignation, won’t I be betraying God? Won’t I be showing disloyalty toward my duty?” If you prune them, they’ll be able to come up with many reasons to refute you. They won’t say that they are responsible for this matter, they won’t say what their responsibilities are, and they won’t reflect on what the nature of them not resolving issues and not doing real work is. Aren’t such people so hateful? They bring the church’s work to a standstill and harm God’s chosen people for such a long time without a shred of remorse in their hearts—are they still human? Do they still have a shred of conscience or reason? Some people say, “People like this should not be elected to be leaders.” This is how it is theoretically; however, there really are some people like this among the elected leaders and workers; this is a fact. This all happens because God’s chosen people lack discernment, and it’s also because most people like people-pleasers, and consequently elect some false leaders and false workers. Therefore, before church elections, the principles for electing leaders and workers must be fellowshipped on more, as must the principles for discerning false leaders and false workers; this will ensure that more people cast their votes in accordance with the principles. Only by doing this can good results come from church elections.

Tell Me, can such despicable and shameless idlers do a good job with the church work as leaders and workers? Can they resolve the problems present in the church or the difficulties encountered by God’s chosen people? (No.) So, what should you do when you encounter such false leaders? Suppose that someone says, “Our caliber is poor and we lack discernment, so there’s nothing we can do if we encounter a false leader.” Is this correct? Surely not everyone in the church is of poor caliber and without discernment? There must at least be several people who relatively understand the truth. So, if someone finds a false leader who is unable to do real work or resolve any problems, they should then fellowship with those who understand the truth and ask them to use their discernment and make a judgment. Is this appropriate? (Yes, it is.) Why is it appropriate? What will the consequences be if a church leader is not able to do real work? Who will the victims be? Won’t they be God’s chosen people in the church? If a false leader controls the church for three or five years, then how many people’s understanding of the truth and entry into reality will be affected? How many people’s attainment of God’s salvation will be delayed? These consequences don’t bear thinking about. So, when a false leader is found to not be doing real work and to be incapable of resolving any issue, this is a big deal for every single one of God’s chosen people, and they should promptly expose and report that false leader in order to avoid causing delays to the work. The ones who are harmed by church leaders not doing real work are God’s chosen people. If none of God’s chosen people expose or report them, and they are all just apathetic about doing this, then there is no hope for that church. Suppose that in your hearts you always harbor thoughts of not taking responsibility as, “Anyway, you’re the leader. You can’t do real work and yet you don’t report problems to the Above—if this delays the church’s work, the Above will hold you responsible. What’s that got to do with us? What’s the point of us worrying about it? We’re not the ones in charge. This responsibility is on you.” If you always harbor this notion in your hearts, won’t this delay things? Won’t this impact you pursuing the truth, entering reality, and attaining God’s salvation? If no one in the church takes responsibility, then it’s hard to say whether this church can bear testimony to God and receive God’s blessings, and it’s even harder to say how many people will attain salvation in this church. If everyone in this church thinks this way and holds this view, then there is absolutely no hope for this church. Don’t the film production teams have this problem right now? Some of your leaders don’t handle issues or report problems—they are false leaders. Are you able to see this? These leaders don’t resolve problems for you—have you not discovered that this is a problem? Do you actually feel happy about this? “Our leader is not reporting this problem and this problem can’t be resolved, so this is a good time for us to take a rest. That’s great! Moreover, the Above hasn’t personally asked about this matter recently, so there’s no need for us to report the problem either. Why shouldn’t we try to get ourselves a bit of leisure time? Do we have to film the movie so fast and get it filmed on time? The progress we’re making is fine! So what if we’re not done filming? Will we be condemned for it?” Is this your attitude? Do you think there isn’t such a strict schedule for the work of God’s house, so you can drag it out indefinitely, and that as long as the Above doesn’t ask about or look into the matter, there’s no need for you to worry or feel any pressure, and you can just resolve any issues that you can, and let slide any that you can’t? Is this your perspective? (No.) So why don’t you report problems when you have them? Is it that these false leaders have you under their control or that they’ve slipped you a magical, stupefying potion that has caused you to become delirious and unable to speak? What is the problem here? When there are problems present, do you know about them? If you say you don’t know about them, then you’re lying; if you know about them yet don’t report them, then you’re being negligent and severely derelict in your duties, and you have no loyalty to your duty whatsoever. Even if you work in the world to earn money, you still have to be worthy of your meager wages. Not to mention, you are today eating the food of God’s house; you are pursuing salvation while performing your duty, and by doing so you are paving the way and preparing for your own destination. You’re not doing this for God’s house, nor for any individual, much less for Me—you’re doing it for yourself. To put it in pleasant terms, people are doing their duty in order to attain salvation, but to be precise, they’re doing it for themselves to gain blessings and to have a good destination. You must understand this matter clearly; don’t be a fool. You’re not doing your duty for other people or for your parents, and you’re not doing it to bring glory to your ancestors or honor to your family name—you’re doing it for yourself. God created you, and ever since He created the world, He predetermined that you would be born in the last days. He brought you to His house, He let you hear His voice, He let you eat and drink His words every day and receive life provision, and He gave you a chance so that you could do your duty in God’s house. This is your best chance as a created being to attain salvation, and it is also your only chance. If, while you are doing your duty, you destroy this chance, then no matter if you receive punishment or weep and gnash your teeth when you ultimately fall into the disasters, it will all be your doing, and you will deserve it! It will be your own fault. There is no need for other people to shoulder your responsibilities, and there is no need for you to shoulder other people’s responsibilities. Only you can take responsibility for the path you walk and everything you do today, and only you can bear the ultimate consequences. What I can do is get you to understand the things I should say and tell you, and pave the way for you so that you may embark upon the path to salvation. I’ve explained everything clearly, so how you go about specifically acting is up to you. I don’t concern Myself with your business; I just perform the work that falls to Me, and I don’t do any work more than this. Isn’t it a fact that you are doing your duty for the sake of your own destination? If you say, “There are so many problems, but my leader isn’t reporting them, so I won’t report them either,” then isn’t that stupid? Isn’t that calculating? What is your responsibility when you see a problem? Your responsibility is to call everyone together and quieten yourselves to seek and fellowship on the problem, to see in which area the problem has arisen, and find the root cause of the problem. If, after some discussion, the root cause is found, but you aren’t able to resolve the problem yourselves, you should immediately report it to the Above. Who should report it? You should put yourself forward and say, “I’ll report it. If that doesn’t work, then we can select a few representatives and report it together.” Some people say, “Don’t we have a leader?” You reply, “He’s no leader! He doesn’t fulfill the responsibilities of a human being at all. He’s just a beast in human skin, and he should be kicked to the curb and dismissed! He isn’t reporting the problem, so we should report it ourselves—this is our responsibility. Only when we have fulfilled our responsibilities will God treat us as human beings. If we clearly know what our responsibilities are but we don’t fulfill them, then we don’t deserve to be human, and there’s no way God will regard us as such.” If God does not regard you as a human, what does this imply that He regards you as? It implies that He regards you as a pig or a dog. And would God still save you then? No way. So, if you don’t end up with a good destination, won’t you have brought that upon yourself? And won’t you have done your duty for nothing? It’s up to you to choose your path, and it’s up to you to walk it, too. No matter what path you pick, or what the ultimate consequences are, it is you who bears the responsibility; no one will take responsibility for the path you walk and the resulting consequences.

If, as leaders and workers, you ignore problems that occur in the performance of duties, and you even look for various pretexts and excuses to shirk responsibility, and you don’t solve some problems that you are capable of solving, and you do not report the problems you are incapable of solving to the Above, as if they have nothing to do with you, is this not a dereliction of duty? Is treating the work of the church in this way a clever thing to do, or a foolish thing to do? (It’s a foolish thing to do.) Are such leaders and workers not slippery? Are they not devoid of any sense of responsibility? When they encounter problems, they ignore them—are they not thoughtless people? Are they not cunning people? Cunning people are the most foolish people of all. You must be an honest person, you must have a sense of responsibility when you face problems, and you must try every means possible and seek the truth to resolve them. You absolutely must not be a cunning person. If you only concern yourself with shirking responsibility and washing your hands of it when problems arise, you would even be condemned for this behavior among nonbelievers, not to mention in God’s house! This behavior is certain to be condemned and cursed by God, and it is loathed and rejected by God’s chosen people. God likes honest people, and He loathes deceitful and slippery people. If you are a cunning person and act in a slippery manner, will God not loathe you? Will God’s house simply let you off the hook? Sooner or later, you will be held accountable. God likes honest people and dislikes cunning people. Everyone should understand this clearly, and stop being muddled and doing foolish things. Momentary ignorance is excusable, but if a person does not accept the truth at all then they are too obstinate. Honest people can take responsibility. They do not consider their own gains and losses; they just safeguard the work and interests of God’s house. They have kind and honest hearts that are like bowls of clear water which one can see the bottom of at a glance. There’s also transparency to their actions. A deceitful person always acts in a slippery way, always engages in pretense, covers up and conceals things, and wraps themselves up incredibly tightly. No one can see through this kind of person. People can’t see through to their inner thoughts, but God can scrutinize the things in their innermost hearts. When God sees that they are not an honest person, that they are a slippery thing, that they never accept the truth, always engage in deceit against Him, and never hand their heart over to Him, He does not like them, and He loathes and abandons them. What kind of people are all those who prosper among the nonbelievers, and those who are smooth-tongued and quick-witted? Is this clear to you? What is their essence? It can be said that they are all extraordinarily inscrutable, they are all extremely deceitful and cunning, they are the genuine devils and Satans. Could God save people like this? God loathes nothing more than devils—people who are deceitful and cunning—and He definitely will not save such people. You absolutely must not be this kind of person. Those who are always observant and alert when they speak, who are smooth and slick and play a role to suit the occasion when they deal with matters—I tell you, God loathes such people the most, people like this are beyond saving. With regard to all those who belong to the category of deceitful and cunning people, no matter how nice their words may sound, they are all deceptive, devilish words. The nicer their words sound, the more these people are devils and Satans. These are exactly the kind of people that God loathes the most. This is absolutely correct. What do you say: Can deceitful people, people who often lie, and smooth-tongued people obtain the work of the Holy Spirit? Can they gain the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit? Absolutely not. What is God’s attitude toward people who are deceitful and cunning? He spurns them, He sets them aside and pays them no heed, He regards them as of the same class as animals. In God’s eyes, such people are merely wearing human skin and in essence they are devils and Satans, they are walking corpses, and God absolutely will not save them. So, what state are these people in now? There is darkness in their hearts, they lack true faith, and no matter what happens to them, they are never enlightened or illuminated. When faced with disasters and tribulations, they pray to God, but God is not with them, and they have nothing they can truly depend on in their hearts. In order to obtain blessings, they try to put on a good show, but they can’t help themselves, because they are devoid of conscience and reason. They couldn’t be good people even if they wanted to; even if they wanted to stop doing bad things, they wouldn’t be able to control themselves, it wouldn’t work. Will they be able to know themselves after they are sent away and eliminated? Although they will know that they deserved this, they will not admit it to anyone, and even if they appear able to do a bit of a duty, they will still act in a slippery way, and their work will not produce any clear results. So what do you say: Are these people able to truly repent? Absolutely not. This is because they do not possess conscience or reason and they do not love the truth. God does not save this kind of cunning and evil person. What hope is there in believing in God for such people? Their belief is already bereft of significance, and they are bound to gain nothing from it. If, throughout their faith in God, people do not pursue the truth, then no matter how many years they believe for, it will have no effect; even if they believe to the very end, they will gain nothing. To gain God, people must gain the truth. Only if they understand the truth, practice the truth, and enter the truth reality will they have gained the truth and attained God’s salvation; and only then will they gain God’s recognition and blessings; and only this is gaining God. If people want to gain the truth, then the first step they should take is to learn to fulfill their responsibilities, that is, they should do their duty well—this is the most basic thing. People must absolutely not learn from false leaders, only preaching words and doctrines and not doing real work, not taking responsibility for anything they do, doing everything perfunctorily, and ending up being eliminated. Doing one’s duty is not a minor matter; people are most revealed in the performance of their duty, and God determines people’s outcomes based on their consistent performance while doing their duty. What does it signify when someone doesn’t do their duty well? It signifies that they don’t accept the truth or truly repent, and are eliminated by God. When false leaders and false workers get dismissed, what does this represent? This is the attitude of God’s house toward such people and, of course, it also represents God’s attitude toward such people. So, what is God’s attitude toward useless people such as these? He spurns them, condemns them, and eliminates them. So, do you still want to indulge in the benefits of status and be a false leader?

After people come to believe in God, what is the most painful and most upsetting thing that can happen to them? The biggest thing is nothing more than learning that they have been cleared out or expelled, and that they have been revealed and eliminated by God—this is the most painful and most sorrowful thing, and no one wants this to happen to them after they come to believe in God. So, how can people avoid this happening to them? At the very least, they must act according to their conscience, that is, they must first learn how to fulfill their responsibilities, they absolutely must not be perfunctory, and they must not delay that which God has entrusted to them. Since you are a person, you should contemplate what a person’s responsibilities are. Responsibilities that the nonbelievers value most, such as being filial, providing for your parents, and making a name for your family need not be mentioned. These are all empty and devoid of real meaning. What is the very minimum responsibility that a person should fulfill? The most realistic thing is how you perform your duty well now. Only ever being satisfied with going through the motions is not fulfilling your responsibility, and only being able to speak words and doctrines is not fulfilling your responsibility. Only practicing the truth and doing things according to principle is fulfilling your responsibility. Only when your practicing of the truth has been effective, and of benefit to people, will you have truly fulfilled your responsibility. No matter what duty you are doing, only when you persist in acting according to the truth principles in all things, will you have truly fulfilled your responsibility. Going through the motions according to the human way of doing things is being perfunctory; only sticking to the truth principles is properly performing your duty and fulfilling your responsibility. And when you fulfill your responsibility, is this not the manifestation of loyalty? This is the manifestation of performing your duty loyally. Only when you have this sense of responsibility, this aspiration and desire, and this manifestation of loyalty with regard to your duty, shall God look upon you with favor and approve of you. If you don’t even have this sense of responsibility, God will treat you as an idler, a blockhead, and will despise you. From a human point of view, it means disrespecting you, not taking you seriously, and looking down on you. It’s like how, if you’ve been in contact with someone for a while, and you see them speak about fanciful, impractical matters, and ramble on saying unrealistic things, and you notice that they like to brag and talk big, and that they’re not reliable—would you respect them? Would you dare entrust them with any task? Perhaps they would delay the task you entrust to them due to some reason or another, and so you wouldn’t dare to entrust anything to people like that. You would detest them from the bottom of your heart, and you would regret having ever associated with them. You’d feel fortunate that you hadn’t entrusted them with anything, and you’d think that if you had, you would have regretted it for the rest of your life. Say that you interact with someone and, through conversation and contact with them, you see that not only do they possess good humanity, but they also have a sense of responsibility, and when you entrust them with a task, even if you just say something casually to them, they imprint it in their mind, and they think of ways to handle the task well to satisfy you, and if they don’t handle the task you’ve handed to them well, they feel embarrassed to see you afterward—this is someone with a sense of responsibility. So long as they are told something or something is assigned to them—regardless of whether it is by a leader, worker, or the Above—people with a sense of responsibility will always think, “Well, since they think this highly of me, I must handle this matter well and not let them down.” Wouldn’t you feel at ease entrusting a task to such people who possess conscience and reason? The people you can entrust a task to are certainly those whom you look favorably upon and trust. In particular, if they have handled several tasks for you and carried them all out very conscientiously, and completely met your requirements, you will think they are trustworthy. In your heart, you will really admire and think highly of them. People are willing to associate with this type of person, to say nothing of God. Do you think God would be willing to entrust the church work and the duty that man is obligated to do to a person who is not trustworthy? (No, He would not.) When God assigns a piece of church work to someone, what is God’s expectation of them? Firstly, God hopes that they are diligent and responsible, that they treat this piece of work like a great matter and handle it accordingly, and do it well. Secondly, God hopes that they are a person who is worthy of trust, that no matter how much time passes, and no matter how the environment changes, their sense of responsibility does not waver, and their integrity stands up to testing. If they are a trustworthy person, God will be reassured, and He will no longer supervise or follow up on this matter. This is because, in His heart, He trusts them, and they are sure to complete the task that’s given to them without anything going wrong. When God entrusts a task to someone, is this not what He hopes for? (It is.) Then once you understand God’s intention, you should then know in your heart how to act in order to meet God’s requirements, how to find favor in God’s eyes and earn God’s trust. If you can see clearly your own manifestations and behavior, and the attitude with which you approach your duty, if you have self-awareness, and you know what you are, is it not then unreasonable for you to demand that God look favorably upon you, show you grace, or give you special treatment? (Yes, it is.) Even you think very little of yourself, even you look down on yourself, and yet you demand that God look upon you with favor—this does not make sense. As such, if you want God to look favorably upon you, you should at least make yourself trustworthy in the eyes of other people. If you want others to trust you, to look favorably upon you, to think highly of you, then at the very least you must be dignified, have a sense of responsibility, be true to your word, and be trustworthy. Furthermore, you must come to be diligent, responsible, and loyal before God—then you will have essentially fulfilled God’s requirements of you. Then there will be hope of you gaining God’s approval, will there not? (Yes, there will be.) Is this difficult to achieve? (No.) Even people want to find a reliable person to handle tasks and associate with, so is it excessive for God to ask that people do their duties well, and for Him to have this small requirement of them? (No, it isn’t excessive.) It’s not excessive at all. This is not to make things difficult for people, but rather it is very proper. It’s just that people don’t have the heart to do this, they don’t contemplate on God’s thoughts or appreciate God’s intentions. All they can do is constantly make demands of God, saying, “You have to bless me! You have to show me grace! You have to guide me!” So, what is it that you are doing? Can you truly fulfill your duty according to your conscience and reason? Can you truly be diligent, responsible, and loyal? This is the bare minimum condition you must meet in order for God to look upon you with favor. Isn’t this the direction which people should work hard toward? Since you believe in God, you must strive toward the truth and God’s requirements—this is the direction which people should work hard toward. People must work hard in the correct direction. That way, their seeking to satisfy God will no longer be hollow.

In their hearts, do false leaders have any concept of satisfying God in their belief in Him? Do they have any attitude? Clearly not. They just have an attitude of muddling through the world, and they treat God the same way, in a way that is incredibly irreverent and disdainful. This kind of attitude seriously humiliates and blasphemes against God, and God detests it. God gave them life and everything that a person possesses, and yet their attitude toward everything God has given them, toward the arrangements that God makes for their lives, toward God’s commission and work, and toward their own duties, is one of contempt and disdain. What does “disdain” mean? It means wanting to muddle through the days and not taking anything seriously. God detests this attitude of theirs in the extreme, and that is why He absolutely will not save such people. What is it you should understand here? It is that you must not be this kind of person. Regardless of whether you are a leader or not, or whether you have the ambition and desire to become a leader or not, you must first learn how to comport yourself, and absolutely not be an idler, a loafer, or a scummy person. In your comportment, you must have an upright attitude, dignity, and a sense of responsibility—this is the bare minimum. Only upon this foundation can people meet God’s requirements and complete His commission. If you don’t even have this bit of foundation, then there’s nothing to talk about.

April 3, 2021