Fellowship From the Brother Above – July 1, 2025 (Part Three)

Question 5: The results of preaching the gospel in person haven’t been improving. The main reason for this is that most people are unwilling to go out and preach the gospel. Leaders and workers plan out in-person gospel preaching strategies for them, and they agree readily at the time, but when the appointed time comes, they start making all sorts of excuses not to go. Recently, we have also been fellowshipping about the urgency of in-person gospel preaching. When they hear this, they might go out to preach once or twice, but then they stop again. Many people are content with just finding some leads online who they can preach the gospel to. I’d like to seek how we can fellowship to motivate the newcomers to rise up and go out to preach the gospel.

Answer: To fellowship on and resolve this problem, let’s first use an example. Tell me, when people are young, are they willing to help their parents with chores or take on some housework? (No.) Why are they unwilling? Their parents treat them so well—raising them with painstaking care and feeding and clothing them every day. Why, then, are they unwilling to help their parents with a few chores? (They’re too young and don’t know any better; they can’t understand or be considerate of their parents’ hardships.) The reason that they are too young and don’t know any better is a valid one. But most people who believe in God are adults, who should know much better than children. So, if a believer in God can’t do their duty with all their heart and strength, what’s the problem? You could say their stature is small, or that they don’t know any better, don’t know right from wrong, don’t understand the truth, and don’t bear a burden. Isn’t that right? (It is.) So, can we condemn them as people who don’t love the truth, as disbelievers? Is it appropriate to say that? (No.) Why not? (Everyone’s stature needs a certain amount of time to grow.) There could be a few different situations here. Some people bear very little of a burden in their duty because they’ve believed in God for a short time and don’t yet understand the truth, or only understand some doctrines. So, in doing one’s duty, how can they go from bearing a small burden to a great one, and then to being devoted? Is this not achieved by pursuing the truth and continually growing in stature? (It is.) Under what circumstances can a person shoulder God’s commission and the duty they ought to do? What kind of stature must they possess? They must have a God-fearing heart and a heart of submission to God. They must be someone who pursues the truth. They must see clearly that in their belief in God, they can only be saved by walking the path of pursuing the truth and doing their duty well. Only then can they truly understand God’s intentions and realize that God’s requirements for man are perfectly natural and justified, and are the basic principles of being human. If someone truly feels their stature has grown, then why can’t they be considerate of God’s intentions? It’s like someone who has grown into an adult but still can’t understand their parents’ hearts. That’s a problem. This doesn’t happen because their stature is too small; this is heinous rebellion! Can we put it this way? (Yes.) There are some who have believed in God and listened to sermons for many years, yet still lack this awareness; they lack this normal mindset. That means their nature is bad, and they don’t possess the conscience and reason of a normal person. Is such a person worthy of being called human? (No.) They are gravely rebellious and don’t accept the truth in the slightest! Therefore, when some people are quite passive in their duties, we must first figure out why they are passive, and treat them differently according to their actual situation. If they don’t see their duty as very important because they’ve believed in God for a short time and don’t understand the truth, this is a problem of small stature. In that case, we must treat them with love—supporting, caring for, and helping them, so that their stature can grow and they can shoulder God’s commission. This is how people of small stature should be treated. If they’ve believed in God for a sufficiently long time but simply don’t have a heart that is considerate of God’s intentions, don’t have the resolve to pursue the truth, and don’t want to bear witness for God and satisfy Him, then they are not a right person. They are a devil. Their belief in God is based on ulterior motives and aims; it’s for the sake of gaining blessings, rather than to satisfy God or to repay God’s love. Still less do they have a God-loving heart. Tell me, is this person not a devil? (They are.) They don’t accept the truth in the slightest. No matter how many years they have listened to sermons, they don’t practice the slightest bit of the truth. So, when we say such a person is a devil, are we insulting them? (No, it’s a fact.) It’s not an insult. Saying this is completely in line with the facts, without a trace of exaggeration, slander, or condemnation. These words are most practical. It’s just like when we say that the CCP, this demonic gang, is a devil, Satan, and an evil devil. No matter how we put it, it’s not going too far, because the things it does are so wicked. It has committed countless evil deeds. No matter how we put it, it’s not going too far, and it’s not an insult; it’s an objective fact. Isn’t that how it is? (It is.) If you have believed in God and listened to sermons for many years but don’t even do one of the things that a person ought to do and bear no burden whatsoever, then what are you doing believing in God? What is the purpose of your faith in God? What is the purpose of you coming to the church to live the church life? Is it to muddle along and wait for death, or for that sliver of hope of gaining blessings? Perhaps you think in your heart, “This way might be true. If I stay in the church and don’t leave, maybe I’ll be able to survive, and I won’t die when the great catastrophes come.” If you think like this, you are wrong. What do God’s words say? “Many are called, but few are chosen” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Many Are Called, but Few Are Chosen). What this means is that many people join the church, but in the end, few are chosen. Those who truly gain the truth, bear resounding testimony, and are able to survive are a minority. Look at the churches now, wherever they are: Although many newcomers are brought in, the church membership is growing slowly. Some people believe for a month or two and then leave, some for three to five months and then leave, others for half a year or a year and then leave, and some even believe for two or three years and still leave. What’s the problem here? Who can see this matter clearly? (Those who truly love positive things and love the truth are still in the minority.) Don’t those who have left acknowledge that God’s words are the truth? (They do.) If they acknowledge that God’s words are the truth, why do they still leave after believing for a year or two, or even three? (They don’t love the truth; they’re not interested in it.) (They don’t pursue the truth.) All correct. So what does this prove? Acknowledging the true way doesn’t mean you can accept the true way; acknowledging the truth doesn’t mean you can pursue the truth; and acknowledging God’s work doesn’t mean you can submit to God’s work. Acknowledging and accepting are two different concepts; they are two different things entirely. So, don’t think that just because someone acknowledges God’s words are the truth, they will definitely accept the truth and will never leave. It’s like a couple when they first get married—they make solemn vows, promising to love each other forever, but after just a few years, they go their separate ways. What’s going on? Why did they say such beautiful things at first, only to divorce a few years into their marriage? (Time reveals a person’s true heart.) Do people who have made such vows necessarily grow old together? (Not necessarily.) You have to see these things clearly. That is why God said: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” So why are many called but few chosen? The chosen are those who can accept the truth and submit to God’s work; they are those who can sincerely expend themselves for God and do their duty well. But no matter how many people believe in God—whether it’s a few hundred, a few thousand, or tens of thousands—those who can sincerely expend themselves for God, accept the truth, and accept judgment and chastisement are in a small minority. Just how small is this minority? Perhaps one-tenth of those called, perhaps one-fifth, or perhaps one-third—these are all possibilities. That’s why the number of people who leave varies from church to church. But regardless of how many years they believed before leaving or for what reason they left, in God’s eyes, they have all betrayed Him, and they are treated as betrayers of God. You knew this is the true way, the work of judgment done by God in the last days, yet you still left. This is a manifestation of your aversion to the truth. You did not accept the truth’s judgment, chastisement, purification, and salvation of you, and you are averse to it, so you left. This is the problem. In God’s eyes, this constitutes betrayal. Those who betray God will be punished. They cannot survive; they are doomed to die!

Back when the churches in mainland China were first established, some churches had fifty or even a hundred members. Everyone did their duties with fiery enthusiasm. Some people forsook their families and careers to do their duties, and they still persisted even after experiencing repeated persecution. But after ten or twenty years, the situation was different. Some people left due to financial hardship at home; some left out of cowardice and fear; some were arrested by the CCP, and denied and betrayed God after being tortured; some were characterized as antichrists and were cleared out and eliminated because they were always vying for power and gain and disturbing the church’s work; and still others, who had believed in God for many years without understanding the truth in the slightest and were unable to do any duty, were of the useless sort, and they were ultimately cleared out as well. After these people left or were cleared out or expelled, how many were left in the church in the end? Not even one-tenth of the original number! This is the situation of the remaining chosen people of God in China. What about God’s chosen people in other countries? Quite a few people joined the church after accepting, so why is it that after a year or two, or even three, many of them just disappeared and returned to the world? What’s going on here? Regardless of why they left, the problem these people share is that they do not love the truth. They are unwilling to expend themselves for God; they just want to live their own lives. Isn’t that how it is? (It is.) Such people do not love the truth; they are unwilling to submit to God’s work, accept judgment and chastisement, and be purified. Nor are they willing to know themselves and truly repent; still less are they willing to fulfill their duty to bear witness for God. They simply don’t have the heart to do so; they lack this normal mindset. They mistakenly think that believing in God should mean receiving His blessings and enjoying His grace every day, that it should mean having His protection and never facing persecution, disasters, calamities, sickness, or pain. They think that believing in God means that everything will be well. They don’t accept the truth in the slightest. This is what it means to be deeply corrupted by Satan! And what are the consequences of being deeply corrupted by Satan? It means people are capable of judging God, rebelling against Him, resisting Him, and betraying Him, and it means they cannot be compatible with God. So, with mankind’s corrupt dispositions being this severe, what must God do to bring people into His kingdom? He must first resolve their corrupt dispositions. Isn’t that how it is? (It is.) If God didn’t resolve people’s corrupt dispositions and brought them directly into the kingdom, what would happen? Could these people submit to God in the kingdom? (No, they would oppose God just like the archangel.) For every word God speaks, they would have a hundred rebuttals ready. They would lock horns with God and set themselves against Him at every turn. Tell me, could God allow such people to enter His kingdom? (No.) So what does God do? Before the great catastrophes arrive, that is, while people are still alive, God becomes incarnate to do a stage of work to save mankind. So, is He not taking a tremendous risk to become incarnate and come among men to work before this wicked age ends, while satanic regimes and all sorts of evil people still exist? (He is.) Two thousand years ago, when the Lord Jesus came into this world in the flesh, He was nailed to the cross by Judaism and the Roman government. How much greater is the risk now? Tell me, is mankind wicked or not? (Wicked.) Someone might ask, “If God became incarnate in another country, would He still suffer the pain of crucifixion?” Tell me, would He? (He would.) He would be treated this way no matter which country He went to. Why is this? Why does mankind resist God to such an extent? Why must they nail God to the cross, insisting that He die and disappear from this world? (Because this world is under the power of the evil one, and all of mankind is wicked and resists God.) So, when God says that mankind has been so deeply corrupted by Satan that they don’t have a shred of human likeness, are His words not incredibly practical? (They are.) Are they an exaggeration? (They are not.) Then why can’t the people of the religious world accept these words? (They haven’t experienced God’s work of judgment and have no knowledge of their own corrupt dispositions.) Religious people don’t acknowledge that they have been so deeply corrupted by Satan that they have become evil demons who resist God. When we preach the gospel and fellowship on the truth with them, they don’t accept it in the slightest. To your face, they’ll flatter you and say nice things like, “Everything you’ve said is correct and aligns with the Bible.” But do you know what they’re saying in their hearts? In their hearts, they’re saying, “Your way is heretical! You are the real demons!” You see, they are hostile to the truth in their hearts. So, don’t be fooled by how nice and tactful people sound on the surface. In their hearts, they do not love the truth. Even if they admit that what you say aligns with the Bible, if they don’t accept Almighty God, they don’t accept the truth and they hate the truth. These are their true colors. They only say some reasonable-sounding things out of courtesy and make themselves sound nice, but in reality, they hate the truth in their hearts. They haven’t said all the nasty things they’re thinking to you. If they did, you wouldn’t preach the gospel to them no matter what. Isn’t that how it is? (It is.) Tell me, could you tell from the outward appearance of those Jews who nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross that they were so evil? When they interacted with people, did they ever beat, scold, condemn, or judge anyone? No. They were very respectful of others, and outwardly they were very nice to people. You couldn’t see a single manifestation of evil in them. Even if God had told you back then, “It was these very Jews who crucified Me,” you wouldn’t have believed it. You would have said, “They wouldn’t do such a thing. I’ve met them. They speak so gently and are very loving to others.” They were very kind on the surface, but once God appeared to work and express the truth, their vicious side was revealed and their eyes burned with rage. They hated God to the point that they chose to release a robber just to crucify Him. So, when you first meet this kind of person, they are quite kind. That’s because you haven’t hurt their interests, so they can treat you normally without getting angry. But the moment you infringe upon their interests or expose them for what they are, their vicious side is bound to come out. Isn’t that how it is? (It is.) You have to see this matter clearly. When you preach the gospel to some religious people, don’t be taken in by how pleasant they sound: You can’t tell right away whether, deep down, they love the truth or hate it. So tell me, what would happen if God really sent someone to a church to preach the gospel? (They would be driven out and beaten by the religious people.) They would beat you, hand you over to the ruling authorities to be tortured, or they would pin you down and force you to confess your sins to the Lord in public. Otherwise, they wouldn’t let you go. They’d want nothing more than to see you dead. If you don’t fellowship about the truth with them, they will still see you as a brother or sister and feel they should show you love. But the moment you fellowship about the truth with them and testify to God’s work of the last days, they’ll drop the pleasantries and start persecuting you. Over the years, as we’ve preached the gospel to people of all religions and denominations, we’ve been brutally beaten, ganged up on, and even handed over to the satanic regime. Things like this have happened far too often. There are many such incidents in the movies produced by God’s house. Therefore, when God returns in the last days, if He doesn’t perform signs and wonders but simply becomes incarnate as an ordinary person to express the truth and do the work of judgment, He will inevitably be resisted and rejected no matter which country He appears and works in. Even if they didn’t crucify Him, they would find other ways to make Christ disappear. Wouldn’t this be the case? (It would.) This is because they hate the truth and they hate God! Tell me, if this wicked mankind hates God so much, how would they treat me? If the CCP caught me, how would they treat me? (They’d execute you on the spot.) What else is possible? (They’d also beat and humiliate you.) Would they parade me through the streets? (They would.) Those who think the CCP would parade me through the streets, raise your hand. About half of you raised your hands. Now, those who think they wouldn’t, tell me why. (It wouldn’t dare.) Wouldn’t dare? Is there anything Satan is incapable of? It even dared to parade the Lord Jesus through the streets, having Him carry the cross to Golgotha. Would it not dare to do the same to me? You can’t see this matter clearly, can you? I’m telling you, if the CCP, this satanic regime, caught me, it wouldn’t find pastors to debate with me to try and persuade me to renounce my faith in Almighty God. It knows that wouldn’t convince me. It wouldn’t parade me through the streets, either; it would see that as too foolish, creating too much of a stir and causing effects it doesn’t want. The only thing it would do is execute me on the spot. And after executing me, it wouldn’t even admit it was the one who killed me; it would claim someone else had. The CCP, this king of demons, is cunning—far more cunning than the Jews who crucified the Lord Jesus. It even knows to consider the international repercussions. In the era when the Jews crucified the Lord Jesus, there were neither computers nor the internet; information didn’t spread easily. No one in the outside world would know what evil they were doing. In that context, Satan dared to brazenly crucify the Lord. But things are different now. The internet is so developed that news of anything that happens can spread across the world in an instant. Satan the devil is no fool. So if it caught me, it would just have someone secretly execute me and then deny it later. That’s just how the CCP operates. Can you see this clearly now? (We understand it better now.)