Fellowship From the Brother Above – December 5, 2025 (Part Two)

God likes honest people. So why does God like honest people? Honest people can open up to God in a simple manner, speak to God from the heart, and give their hearts to God. Therefore, God likes honest people and blesses them, allowing them to gain the truth and have knowledge of God. An honest person’s heart is right. They do not put their guard up against God, nor do they speculate about or doubt God. They commune with God and open up to God. They say whatever is on their mind to God, only speaking words that are from the heart and sincere. They do not hide things, play tricks, or engage in deceit. That’s why God likes honest people. So how can leaders and workers achieve being liked and blessed by God? What is the path of practice? You must first be an honest person, give your heart to God, and speak from the heart when praying to God, without any barriers, doubts, or speculations, much less any resistance or rebellion. In this way, when God sees that you have opened your heart, that you are speaking to Him from the heart, and that you can give your heart to Him, the Holy Spirit will enlighten you to understand God’s words. So, if leaders and workers want to gain God’s blessings, what is the attitude they should take toward God at the very least? (To treat Him with frankness and sincerity.) At the bare minimum, they must have an attitude of simple submission, give their hearts to God, and be honest people. If a leader or worker is deceitful, can they do their work well? (No.) Some people say, “Some people are honest, but their caliber isn’t up to par, so how can they do their work well? Some people are deceitful, but their caliber is good, so they can do their work well.” Is this statement correct? (No. Even if a deceitful person has good caliber, it is not easy for them to obtain the work and guidance of the Holy Spirit, so they cannot do church work well.) Honest people have God’s blessings. Even if their caliber is a bit poor, they can do church work well with the work and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Doing church work in God’s house, resolving the problems of God’s chosen people’s corrupt dispositions and their difficulties in practicing the truth, and leading God’s chosen people into the truth reality—all this relies on the work of the Holy Spirit. Without the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, you cannot achieve results. Is that not so? (It is.) Some people have knowledge and good caliber, so why can they not do church work? (Because what is needed to do the work of God’s house is not knowledge, but an understanding of the truth principles. If a person’s heart is too deceitful, they cannot obtain the work, enlightenment, and illumination of the Holy Spirit. In that case, they will not understand the truth principles, and they will be prone to messing things up.) (Honest people have good humanity and can keep their feet on the ground when they do their duty, so they can gain the work of the Holy Spirit. Most people with knowledge have deceitful humanity and are always thinking about how to play tricks and cut corners in their duty. Doing duty with a deceitful disposition incurs God’s loathing, so God does not work on these people.) This is quite crucial. If you see this clearly, you will have a path toward becoming fit for God’s use and obtaining the work of the Holy Spirit. Tell me, can the pastors and doctors of theology in the religious world lead the church? Can they lead people onto the right track of believing in God? (No.) Why not? Do these religious pastors and doctors of theology have the work of the Holy Spirit? (No.) Then does their ability to explain biblical knowledge mean they understand the truth? (It does not mean they understand the truth. Everything they preach is doctrine.) How great is the gap between biblical knowledge and the truth? Is biblical knowledge the same as the truth? (It is not.) Does biblical knowledge come from God? Can biblical knowledge become man’s life? Religious pastors and doctors of theology understand so much biblical knowledge, but do they understand what submitting to God is? (No.) Do they know that being an honest person is very important? (No.) Do they understand to what extent God must work on His chosen people before they can be considered as having been completely gained by Him and made into people who belong to God? (No.) Do they know their own corrupt dispositions? Do they know the root cause of their sinning? (No.) Do they know what it is to know themselves, what being saved is, and what breaking free from Satan’s influence is? (No.) Do they know what worshiping God and loving God is, and what being of one heart and mind with God is? (No.) Do they know how to discern all kinds of people? Do they know what kind of people God saves and what kind of people He eliminates? Do they know what God’s management plan is, and what the work of judgment in the last days is? (No.) They have no understanding of God’s work whatsoever, and cannot clearly see what kind of people God saves and eliminates. Do they know whether they themselves are people who are saved? (No.) Religious pastors and doctors of theology do not know these truths and mysteries, so do they really understand the Bible? (No.) They don’t truly understand the Bible. Then what are the consequences of pastors, elders, and doctors of theology doing church work? (They do not understand the truth principles, and in doing church work, they only run amok, following their own notions and imaginings. This is the blind leading the blind, and they will definitely lead people onto the wrong path.) The consequences of pastors, elders, and doctors of theology doing church work are that all those who believe in God will be led onto a path of no return, and all of God’s chosen people will be ruined. Then tell me—by living under the power of pastors and elders and accepting their shepherding and provision, are religious people following Satan and living under Satan’s power? (Yes.) Since pastors and elders explain the Bible to people without understanding the truth, are they not hypocrites? Are they not antichrists who mislead people? (They are.) Pastors and elders are antichrists who mislead people; they are living demons that devour people’s souls. So why do I say these things? It is because if, as a leader or worker, you cannot see clearly the path walked by religious pastors and the essence of these false shepherds, I am afraid you are also walking the path of antichrists in serving God. This is very dangerous. Many people emulate pastors and elders when acting as leaders and workers. They watch how religious pastors lead churches, hold gatherings, preach, and resolve believers’ difficulties, and they follow along, learning from them and imitating them. What kind of person are they? They are muddleheaded, utterly lacking discernment! By emulating religious pastors, you are emulating the Pharisees; you are a hypocrite. Therefore, leaders and workers must be cautious when walking the path of serving God. The Pharisees and religious pastors are object lessons. Do not walk their path to failure. I saw a report on church life in France where a sister shared a testimony. She was a waterer in the church. When the supervisor asked her about the details of her work, she hadn’t done any real work, and so she lied and avoided the question to protect her pride. Later, after reading God’s words, she came to know her corrupt disposition and realized that she was too deceitful and slippery—she was not an honest person. This experiential testimony was very good and very genuine, because she discussed a real problem and did not spout empty words. Simple and honest people like her should be elected as leaders and workers. God’s house absolutely does not cultivate hypocrites like religious pastors. To do real work, leaders and workers must open their hearts, accept the truth, accept God’s scrutiny, and then be honest people according to God’s words. They must be down-to-earth in resolving the brothers and sisters’ difficulties and fellowship the truth with them to resolve their corrupt dispositions. During gatherings, you should first talk about your own experiences so that the brothers and sisters can benefit from them, go on to experience and practice for themselves, and gain real knowledge. Then, during gatherings, they too will share their experiential understandings. By sharing your experiential testimonies and understanding with each other in this way, you will ultimately resolve problems. Brothers and sisters who can do real work and fellowship their practical experiential understanding in this way are suitable to be leaders in God’s house. People who are like religious pastors should not be elected to be leaders in God’s house. The greater a person’s theological knowledge is, the more troublesome they are. Never elect such a person to be a leader. They cannot do real work; they can only preach empty theories to show themselves off so that people look up to and worship them. Is this not so? (It is.) God never looks at the level of a person’s knowledge when He uses them. Tell me, why does God use someone like me, with a low level of education and knowledge? What do you realize from this? In the Age of Grace, why did God choose Peter to shepherd the church and not Paul? It was because Paul was an antichrist. He had a bad disposition, did not accept the truth, and only knew how to show himself off. He always wanted to reign supreme, and in his work, he constantly belittled Peter and testified to himself so that all of God’s chosen people would worship him. But Peter’s humanity was very good. No matter how Paul belittled him, he had no heart to take revenge. He never belittled Paul, and even agreed that Paul had received revelations from God. Peter’s humanity was so good. From these things, you must apprehend, consider, and ponder what God’s intentions are. God cultivates people like Peter—who can accept the truth, pursue the truth, are honest in their hearts, and can love God—to be church leaders, getting them to do the work of shepherding the church. In contrast, God gets people like Paul—who have gifts and knowledge but do not love the truth—to train themselves in preaching the gospel and do external work. Are the principles by which God makes arrangements for leaders and workers not very wise and practical? (They are.) It is the same when I do my work. I arrange for people who pursue the truth and have practical experience to be leaders and workers, getting them to water and provide for the church, whereas I arrange for those who have knowledge, have brains, and are eloquent to preach the gospel and testify, getting them to direct the gospel work. Are these arrangements appropriate? (They are.) This is the principle of arranging people to do work, and leaders and workers must do their work in this way. If someone arranged by the leaders and workers has gifts, is eloquent, and has a high level of education and knowledge, but they do not love the truth, then what will the consequences be if they become a member of a district or pastoral area decision-making group? They will be arrogant and self-righteous and yield to no one. They will do whatever they want, and will often show themselves off and testify to themselves. Ultimately, they will make all of God’s chosen people worship them, listen to their words, and submit to them as if they were christ. Is this not the same as Paul? Paul walked this very path. He showed himself off and testified to himself at every turn to make people look up to and worship him, and he made everyone listen to him in an attempt to take the Lord Jesus’ place in people’s hearts. He even shamelessly testified to himself in the end, saying: “For to me to live is christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Paul dared to say these words—he meant that since the Lord Jesus had ascended to heaven and was no longer on earth, he, Paul, living on earth, was christ. Was this not what he meant? (It was.) Therefore, people like Paul are dangerous elements; they are out-and-out antichrists. So the first thing leaders and workers must do to do church work well is know how to make reasonable arrangements and know how to use people. You must grasp the principles underlying what kind of people should be used to provide for and shepherd the church, and what kind of people should be used to do the work of spreading the gospel. This is a matter of the first importance. If you arrange for the wrong people to do a task, then you, as a leader or worker, are not handling things according to the principles, and you really do not understand God’s intentions. Tell me, what are the principles for electing the members of district and regional decision-making groups? Say most people in the church have only believed in God for three to five years, have only just gained a little awareness of the spiritual matters in life, have only just understood a little about what the truth reality is, have not yet entered into the truth reality, and cannot discern all kinds of people. Under these circumstances, is there a risk of deviations when electing members of district, regional, and pastoral area decision-making groups? (There is.) Since most people do not understand the truth and lack discernment, they are liable to elect eloquent and gifted people as members of decision-making groups. But do eloquent and gifted people have the truth reality? Have there been changes in their life dispositions? The more gifts and knowledge a person has, the more arrogant they often are, and their arrogant disposition is deep-rooted and hard to change! If scientists and high-level intellectuals come to believe in God, should they be elected as heads of decision-making groups? (No.) Remember, they should not be elected as leaders or workers at any level! Tell me, what would be the consequence of fellowshipping the truth with scientists and high-level intellectuals? Could they accept the truth? (They could not.) Perhaps they would nod in agreement, but if they made a mistake and you pruned them, could they accept and acknowledge it? (No, they would not accept it.) If you pruned them, they would have a hundred arguments to rebut you with, and they could preach at you for a whole day to dissect you. We are no match for the eloquence of intellectuals. Therefore, what would the consequences be if an intellectual becomes a church leader? The church would lose the work of the Holy Spirit and lose God’s blessings. This is because the church would be controlled by an antichrist, and people would worship the antichrist and believe what the antichrist said. They would believe the antichrist’s words more than God’s words, and they would submit to the antichrist more than they submit to God, and so they would not be able to obtain the work of the Holy Spirit. This is the most dangerous path to walk in your belief in God. It is the path to failure and destruction!

Now, God is using me to do the work. Although I do not have a very high level of education or knowledge, I stand with you on an equal footing when I speak to you and fellowship the truth. I speak from the heart and speak honestly. I am principled in how I speak, act, and treat others, and I can support brothers and sisters out of love, rather than standing on high and preaching empty theories. If scientists and high-level intellectuals became leaders of the church, there would be no need for me to go into detail about the consequences. You can probably imagine: People would be misled into worshiping them, and very few would worship the practical God. It would be fine if they truly understood the truth and could lead people into the truth reality, but the key issue is that they lead people into knowledge and theories. They cannot lead people into the truth reality, and if people worship and follow them, it will ultimately be in vain—like trying to draw water with a wicker basket. Tell me, what would happen if high-level intellectuals and scientists became leaders in our Church? They would likely create a set of theological theories and only preach these theories in gatherings, making them sound loftier and loftier, deeper and deeper. They would also want to write books to establish their own theories. Seeing that God has expressed seven or eight volumes of the truth, they would even want to write a few volumes of books to show themselves off and get people to read their words. Tell me, is doing this in line with God’s intentions? (It is not in line with God’s intentions.) Is this problem not very serious? (It is.) Then why do they want to create lofty and profound theological theories, and why do they want to write books to establish their own theories? (They do it to show themselves off and control people’s thoughts, making everyone listen to them.) They want to make all believers in God worship and follow them. This is exactly like Paul. Paul wrote a vast number of epistles to the various churches, containing even more words than those spoken by the Lord Jesus. His goal was to make everyone read his words, treat his words as God’s words and submit to them, and treat him as God. This was Paul’s intention in what he did, and this is exactly how antichrists do things. If a person has knowledge, a good mind, and is eloquent, and they can create many theories after reading God’s words, they can mislead and control people so that they betray God and follow them, and treat them as God. Not only do they fail to bring people before God, but they bring everyone before themselves instead. In the end, they drag everyone down with them. Are they not dragging everyone to hell? This is the danger presented by intellectuals believing in God. If an intellectual wants to pursue the truth and be perfected, will God perfect them? (No.) God does not show favoritism to anyone, so why will God not perfect them? Let’s set aside whether or not their intentions are right for the moment. Let’s first talk about what people experience if God perfects them. Look at the process of God perfecting Peter. What did Peter experience? Peter was perfected only after experiencing hundreds of trials and refinements in his final seven years. Although the Bible does not record many of Peter’s deeds, it still shows us that Peter was not an intellectual. He was a relatively simple and honest person, who was straightforward and honest in how he spoke, saying whatever was on his mind. He spoke from the heart and said exactly what he meant no matter who he was interacting with, and he absolutely would not say anything against his conscience. This is the kind of person Peter was. He did not show any revelations of crookedness and deceit. Yet even a person like Peter, who was much less corrupt than us and whose humanity was much better than ours, still had to experience hundreds of trials and refinements to be perfected. So, is it easier for people like Peter to be perfected by experiencing trials and refinements, or is it easier for high-level intellectuals? (People like Peter.) Then think about this: How many years of refinement would people like the pastors and elders, doctors of theology of the religious world, and high-level intellectuals have to undergo to be perfected by God? Would it be easy? (It would not be easy.) To be perfected, they would have to experience thousands of trials and refinements. So, would it be easy for people like Paul to be perfected by God? (It would not be easy. His nature does not love the truth.) What mistake did Paul make when the Lord Jesus appeared and worked? He frantically hunted down and killed the disciples of the Lord Jesus. There were many Jewish biblical scholars at that time, and Paul was not the only student of Gamaliel. Why was it that of so many people, Paul alone acted as the vanguard in resisting the Lord Jesus? (His humanity was vicious. If his humanity had been average or slightly better, he would not have done that, because the Lord Jesus never did anything bad. Yet he was still capable of frantically resisting the Lord Jesus. This exposed his humanity, and it also exposed his truth-hating essence.) Therefore, Paul was extremely arrogant, and he was also extremely wicked, sinister, and malicious. Where was his extreme arrogance manifested? At that time, the preaching and work of the Lord Jesus caused a sensation throughout Judea. Many people said, “Although we have never heard the words Jesus speaks, none of the sermons preached by the chief priests and scribes are as practical as His, and no one’s words have the authority and power of Jesus’ words!” So, many people chose to follow the Lord Jesus, and this matter quickly spread throughout Judea. Whose hatred was this most likely to provoke? Those who were arrogant and highly jealous; such people were the first to develop hatred. And who did Paul worship? He worshiped the chief priests; he worshiped whoever was the chief priest, and he also worshiped his teacher, Gamaliel. At that time, the Lord Jesus’ reputation surpassed that of the chief priests and his teacher, so he stood up to address the perceived injustice, saying, “You, Jesus, have such a great reputation. Everyone is propagating Your words, saying Your words are the truth and possess authority and power. I would like to see exactly what truths You have expressed, and witness where Your authority and power lie! Do You really understand the Bible better than my teacher and the chief priests?” You see, he remained defiant in his heart. Is this not arrogance and self-righteousness coupled with jealousy? (It is.) In his heart, he did not allow anyone to rise higher than the chief priests or his teacher. At that time, although most people could not fathom the things the Lord Jesus did, they kept their mouths shut and did not dare to casually judge and condemn Him—not even Paul’s teacher, Gamaliel, dared to judge Him. He felt, “We cannot see this matter clearly, but I firmly believe that if it comes from God, no one can overthrow it; if it comes from man, it will perish of its own accord, because man does not have the truth, lacks authority and power, and cannot accomplish anything.” So he said: “And now I say to you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nothing: But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it; lest haply you be found even to fight against God” (Acts 5:38–39). What do you think of Gamaliel saying these words? These words showed great insight. His humanity was quite mature and steady, and he possessed rationality. Although Paul was his student, Paul’s humanity fell so far short of Gamaliel’s. In modern terms, Paul was an angry young man with an arrogant disposition, who was also intensely jealous, so he took the lead in persecuting the Lord Jesus and arresting His disciples. You see, Paul was no good! Did he arrest the Lord Jesus’ disciples due to youthful impulsiveness? (No.) It was due to his nature essence. Therefore, Paul acted as the vanguard in resisting the Lord Jesus. He didn’t care whether the Lord Jesus’ work came from the work of the Holy Spirit, nor did he care whether the words spoken by the Lord Jesus were the truth. He remained defiant, made himself an enemy of the Lord Jesus, and wanted to arrest all of the Lord Jesus’ disciples and scatter them all simply because the Lord Jesus’ reputation surpassed that of the chief priests and his teacher. Gamaliel did not approve of Paul arresting the Lord Jesus’ disciples, but Paul would not listen; he insisted on doing it. His nature was exposed through this: He was a person who hated the truth and hated God. Tell me, was Paul not quite ruthless? Did he have the slightest bit of conscience and reason? (No.) When Paul persecuted the Lord Jesus, did he first try to understand why the Lord Jesus’ disciples followed Him, and whether the words He expressed were the truth? He condemned and resisted the Lord Jesus and arrested His disciples without trying to understand these things in the slightest. Even though God later subdued Paul through signs and wonders—that is, the Lord Jesus appeared to him from heaven, and he was blinded by a great light—could he develop a God-fearing heart given his nature? Most people have something of a God-fearing heart even without seeing signs and wonders, but as for Paul, even when God appeared to him, he did not develop the slightest hint of a God-fearing heart. Was his mindset right? (No.) Can you see even the slightest hint of a God-fearing heart in Paul’s epistles? (No.) In Paul’s epistles, we do not see him propagate a single word of the Lord Jesus, nor do we see him quote a single word of the Lord Jesus. We don’t see him take to heart or become familiar with a single word of the Lord Jesus, much less do we see him take any of the Lord Jesus’ words as his motto or his life. We cannot see these things in his epistles; they are simply not there! Tell me, if Paul were someone who testified to the Lord Jesus, what actual manifestations should he have had? At the very least, he should have propagated the words of the Lord Jesus. Regardless of whether his knowledge of the Lord Jesus’ words was deep or shallow, he should have first collected the Lord Jesus’ words and distributed them to the churches, making reading the Lord Jesus’ words the primary focus for all believers. The apostles’ words should only have served as a supplement; reading the apostles’ words should absolutely not have been the primary focus. Did Paul do this? (No.) He never propagated the words of the Lord Jesus, and he never collected the words of the Lord Jesus for God’s chosen people to read. It is evident that he did not show even the slightest hint of any actual manifestations of testifying to the Lord Jesus. Instead, he kept writing epistles to the churches in various places, letting God’s chosen people read his words. In the epistles he wrote, he also frequently belittled and excluded Peter, preventing people from accepting Peter’s watering and provision, and only wanting everyone to worship him. You see, was Paul not vile? He was far too vile!