Fellowship From the Brother Above – January 5, 2026 (Part Six)

Question 5: We found some people and have tried to cultivate them to do church work, but even after spending time cultivating them, they remain incompetent. We would like to seek your guidance on this matter: What is the reason for the lack of people in the church who can shoulder the duty of a leader? Is it because we haven’t cultivated people well, or is it that the caliber of the brothers and sisters is on the low side? How can we cultivate suitable people to do church work as soon as possible?

Answer: There are far too few people who can serve as leaders and workers. This is a common problem in the churches of every country, because most people do not pursue the truth. Tell me, what is the difference between being a leader or worker in the church and being an official out in the nonbelieving world? (To be a leader or worker, a person must use the truth to resolve problems, whereas officials in the nonbelieving world use status to control people.) In the nonbelieving world, all officials, regardless of their position, act according to their own will, doing whatever they want, as long as they can keep their post as officials. Take the officialdom of the CCP, for example—it is a giant corrupting cesspit. There is not a single good person in it, and once you’re in, you’re assimilated. If you don’t do bad things, they force you to, and if you don’t, they eliminate you. Because the officials all do bad things, if you don’t go along with them, they become afraid that you’ll expose them, so they drag you along with them to do bad things, staining your hands with sin and blood. This is how they gain leverage over you, making it so that you don’t dare report them, and can only sink into perdition along with them. How dark officialdom is! But being a leader or worker in God’s house is different. God is holy, and in God’s house, truth and righteousness rule. If you always do filthy things, wicked things, and things that resist God, then God will eliminate and punish you. Is this not the case? (It is.) Therefore, leaders and workers in God’s house must at the very least be right people. What is a right person? Such a person pursues, loves, and is able to accept the truth. When such a person encounters an issue, they can pray to God and seek the truth. If they do something wrong, and their brothers and sisters prune them and point it out to them, they can accept what is being said to them, correct their mistake, and ultimately come to act according to the principles. Such a person can stand firm as a leader or worker in God’s house. Some people say, “To be a leader or worker, a person must possess the truth reality and have attained dispositional change; otherwise, we won’t support them!” Is it appropriate to require such things from leaders and workers? (No, it’s not; this is the standard for those who have been perfected. These requirements are too high.) How many years of experience must leaders and workers have before they can be perfected? How many people can truly be perfected? Do not set the bar too high for leaders and workers. The minimum requirement of God’s house for leaders and workers is that they are right people and can do their duties according to the work arrangements of God’s house. If a person can meet this requirement, they can be cultivated to be a leader or worker. If someone says, “I can lead my brothers and sisters to gather and eat and drink God’s words according to the work arrangements of God’s house. If someone does evil and disturbs the church’s work, I can fellowship about the truth to discern them, and organize everyone to vote on how to handle this person. When I encounter problems I cannot resolve, I can promptly report them to and seek guidance from the Above.” If you can do these things, then you are suited to be a leader or worker, and God’s house will cultivate you. If leaders and workers work like Paul did, can they achieve results? Paul did not organize the brothers and sisters to eat and drink the words of the Lord Jesus, and just had everyone read his epistles, wanting to replace the Lord Jesus’ words with his own. What mistake did he make? (He treated his own words as the truth. By doing so, he was exalting himself, testifying to himself, and vying with God for status.) So, how should leaders and workers do their work before they have gained the truth? They should lead their brothers and sisters to eat and drink God’s words and fellowship the truth. They should stand on equal footing with their brothers and sisters to talk about experiential testimony and knowledge of themselves, and they should open up and lay bare their own revelations of corruption, enabling everyone to discern and supervise them. In this way, everyone can benefit from their actions and behaviors. Everyone will say, “This leader enables us to gain benefits. They lead us to eat and drink God’s words and lead us to know ourselves. I gain a lot from every gathering. Our gatherings have achieved quite good results this year with their leadership.” If your brothers and sisters can assess you in this way, it shows that you are up to standard as a leader. Is this a lot to ask for? (No.) This is what it is like to be a leader or worker: You must lead your brothers and sisters to eat and drink God’s words, fellowship the truth, and talk about knowing themselves. You must also treat your brothers and sisters with love. If anyone is having difficulties in their duty and becomes negative, or if they aren’t getting good results, you should fellowship the truth to help them resolve their problems. In addition, you must lead everyone to do things according to God’s requirements and the work arrangements from the Above. If you can do these few things, you are up to standard as a leader or worker. You must never be like Paul, who did not lead people to eat and drink God’s words and fellowship the truth, nor did he lead people to talk about knowing themselves. Instead, he made people read his own words, and he was always preaching empty spiritual theories, engaging in speech that was both lofty and hollow, and boasting to show off and make people look up to him. If you do this, you are in trouble. This is what it means to walk the path of Paul, the path of an antichrist. Leaders and workers must absolutely not work in this way. You must take the lead in knowing yourself and opening up about your corrupt dispositions. You might say, “I have experienced some of God’s judgment and chastisement, and I now know myself. It is clear to me that I am full of satanic dispositions and have not a shred of conscience or reason. I am a devil and a Satan! I deserve to go to hell and be cursed!” Some people might say, “If I recognize that I am a devil and a Satan, will my brothers and sisters not look down on me?” If you truly know yourself to this extent, not only will your brothers and sisters not look down on you, but they will admire you: “Our leader knows themselves so deeply. They truly recognize that they are a child of hell, a devil and a Satan. We haven’t reached such a degree of recognition. Our stature is insufficient.” You see, when you recognize that you are a devil and a Satan, everyone actually admires you and approves of you as someone who pursues the truth. Is this not the case? (It is.) So, go ahead and know yourself. The deeper you know yourself, the more it shows you love the truth. The deeper you know yourself, the greater your change will be. The deeper you know yourself, the more truth reality you will possess. The deeper you know yourself, the more worthy you will be in bearing testimony for God. Then, you will be able to achieve results in leading and cultivating people. Remember! For leaders and workers, cultivating people means leading everyone to eat and drink God’s words and fellowship the truth to achieve true self-knowledge. This is also a path by which to lead people into the truth reality.

Question 6: How should we judge whether a person’s caliber is good or bad?

Answer: Is it acceptable to judge a person’s caliber just by looking at their gifts and strengths? (No.) Some people think that a person’s caliber is measured by their gifts and strengths, and that the more gifts and strengths a person has, the better their caliber. What do you think of this? (A person’s caliber is measured as good or bad mainly by their ability to comprehend the truth. Some people have gifts and strengths but lack spiritual understanding and cannot comprehend the truth. Such people have poor caliber.) Correct. In fact, most people with gifts and strengths lack spiritual understanding and cannot comprehend the truth. Tell me, do high-level intellectuals have spiritual understanding? (No.) Do most pastors and elders in the religious world have spiritual understanding? (No, they don’t either.) Since they are all gifted, why is it that they lack spiritual understanding? (They do not have a human spirit within them and they cannot comprehend the truth.) Correct. A person’s caliber is primarily measured by whether or not they possess the ability to comprehend the truth. People with comprehension ability can grasp and understand God’s meaning upon hearing His words. Such people are of good caliber. Those without comprehension ability, who cannot even discern what the truth is, are considered to have no caliber. Someone might say, “Some people lack comprehension ability but can preach sermons; they are highly knowledgeable and can also conduct scientific research. Is it right to say that they have no caliber?” This means that they are gifted, but not that they have caliber. What does it mean to be gifted? It means a person is innately talented in a certain area. Their spirit could do that kind of thing in the spiritual realm, and when they were reincarnated as a human, they brought that strength with them. For example, if they were originally a spirit that could compose poetry, then after being reincarnated as a human, they remain able to compose poetry as soon as they open their mouth, regardless of their age. If they were originally a spirit that could write articles, then after being reincarnated as a human, they remain able to write articles regardless of whether they have received training. If they were a spirit engaged in science, then after being reincarnated as a human, even without a high academic degree, they remain deeply interested in and naturally very adept at scientific research, studying these things whenever they have free time, and even figuring out the patterns of the stars and the moon just by looking at them. Such people are innately suited for this line of work. Most people may not grasp these things no matter how they study them later in life, and at most, they might know the basics. But others have an innate adeptness—is this not a gift? People’s gifts are all bestowed and preordained by God. What does it mean for something to be preordained by God? This is directly related to a person’s mission. It means that God has preordained for this person to come into the world to complete a certain mission, and so they innately possess the gifts and strengths needed to complete this mission. For example, suppose God has preordained a person to be a writer. Perhaps this person may not start out being interested, but at some point, suddenly something clicks and they become interested in literature. They can speak eloquently and write books as soon as they pick up a pen. God has long since preordained how many books they will write in their lifetime and once they finish writing these books, their mission will be completed. If their mission is not completed, no one can take their life away. There are so many details in what God preordains for people, just as God said: “If you have a commission from God, and your mission has not been completed, then you will not die, even if you get an illness that is supposed to be fatal” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three). These things are all preordained by God. No one can destroy or change what God has preordained, and Satan and devils cannot disturb these things either. This is God’s almightiness. Therefore, it is preordained by God that people will have certain gifts and strengths. These are things people possess innately, and they possess them in order to complete their own missions. However, no matter how many gifts and strengths a person has, this does not mean that they have caliber. So, is it now clear to you how to distinguish between people’s gifts and caliber? (Yes.)

How should a person’s caliber be measured? This should be done by looking at their comprehension of God’s words. If they can understand God’s meaning upon reading His words, and their comprehension of His words is always illuminated—and that illumination is particularly practical, such that while average people might need to experience things for a few years to come to the same realization, they understand it as soon as they read God’s words—then what would you say about this person’s comprehension ability? (It is good.) This is what it means to have comprehension ability. That this person has such comprehension and understanding shows that they have the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. So, what kind of people does the Holy Spirit enlighten? A person must have comprehension ability for the Holy Spirit to enlighten them. If they don’t, the Holy Spirit will not enlighten them, because it would be of no use. They would not be able to comprehend His enlightenment of them, and the Holy Spirit does not do useless work. In addition, people with comprehension ability can always grasp illumination when listening to others fellowship the truth. The more practically you fellowship, the more their eyes light up, and the more earnestly they listen. The more practically you fellowship, the more moved they are. Perhaps a certain phrase touches their heart and they are moved to tears. Such people are of good caliber. When people of good caliber reveal corruption and you point it out to them, saying that they are acting based on a corrupt disposition, they can admit to their actions and accept what you are saying upon hearing it. Then they can go on to reflect, pray to God, and repent, and they may even weep bitterly in remorse. Their knowledge of themselves is so deep! Tell me, do such people have comprehension ability? (Yes.) After they reveal corruption, when others point it out and help them, they can immediately accept what is being said to them and reflect on themselves. This is what it means to have comprehension ability. Such people are of good caliber. Just like David in the Age of Law: After he committed adultery, the prophet Nathan told him a story about a rich man stealing a poor man’s lamb, and then Nathan said to him, “You are the man!” David immediately realized that he had offended God, and he knelt down to repent and confess his sin to God. David had comprehension ability and caliber. People of good caliber react very quickly to the truth. Whether they are reading God’s words, fellowshipping the truth, being pruned when revealing corruption, or praying to God when facing difficulties and problems, they can understand God’s intentions and the truth very quickly. They can grasp the crux of an issue and find the relevant principles and path of practice. These are people of good caliber. No matter what happens to such people, after experiencing it once or twice, they can understand the truth and find the principles of practice from it. However, some people do not understand the relevant truth principles no matter how many times they experience something. They need others to provide thorough fellowship before they can understand, and if truth principles aren’t fellowshipped thoroughly, they cannot realize them themselves. Such people have no caliber. This is how to discern a person’s caliber. Understood? (Yes.)

Question 7: I am a testimony director. It has been said that testimony directors need to focus on giving testimony themselves, and then follow up on the work of gospel preachers. But as things stand now, I need to spend a lot of time following up on the work of gospel preachers, and also cultivating people to give testimony, leaving me with less time to follow up on the potential gospel recipients I am responsible for. I would like to seek your guidance on this matter: How should I balance these two tasks?

Answer: If a testimony director cannot give testimony themselves, can they effectively direct others in giving testimony? (No.) Therefore, testimony directors must also practice giving testimony themselves. They should practice themselves while guiding others. By giving testimony themselves, they can summarize principles and paths of practice, figure out patterns, and accumulate experience. In this way, when they go on to guide others, won’t their guidance be more accurate and the results better? (Yes.) But some people say, “I’m too busy. If I give testimony myself, I won’t have time to guide others.” If you don’t give testimony yourself, can you guarantee that you will be accurate in guiding others? Will you be able to arrange the work appropriately? (No.) If an elderly person comes to investigate God’s work, is it appropriate for you to arrange for a young person to give testimony to them? (No.) Most elderly people think young people lack life experience and don’t understand anything, so they look down on them. If you arrange for a young person to give testimony to an elderly person, it won’t be easy for them to accept what is said to them. If the person coming to investigate God’s work is an intellectual, is it appropriate for you to arrange for an uneducated person to give testimony to them? (No.) As an intellectual, they are prone to looking down on uneducated people, so it will be very difficult to convert them. Therefore, there are principles regarding how to arrange for gospel preachers so that the potential gospel recipient feels that the situation is appropriate, is willing to listen, takes the words to heart, and so that results can be achieved. If you don’t have experience in this and don’t grasp these principles, and just randomly arrange for people to give testimony, it won’t be easy to achieve results in preaching the gospel. So, by what principles is it appropriate to arrange gospel preachers? (To arrange for whoever is most likely to convert the potential gospel recipient.) The person you arrange to give testimony must be someone the potential gospel recipient will like to interact with and be willing to listen to. This is a minimum that must be met. You must grasp this principle. If the potential gospel recipient is not too well educated, what kind of person is suitable to give testimony to them? You can arrange for someone who is also not too well educated but who has a certain amount of life experience. They’ll be able to communicate with this type of potential gospel recipient, and it will be easy for the recipient to accept what is being said to them. If the potential gospel recipient is knowledgeable and educated, for example, someone involved in literature, what kind of person is suitable to give testimony to them? You should arrange for someone who understands the truth to give testimony to them. By fellowshipping the truth, they can refute the potential gospel recipient’s literary theories and convince them. In this way, it will be easy to achieve results in preaching the gospel.

To be a testimony director, a person must grasp many detailed work principles. If you don’t grasp principles and just randomly arrange for people to preach the gospel, you won’t achieve results. If someone comes to seek and investigate God’s work, you should arrange for a suitable person to give testimony to them based on their personal situation, or you can let the gospel preachers choose amongst themselves. You can introduce the basic situation of the potential gospel recipient to them, and then say, “Look at their situation. Who would be suited to give testimony to them?” If someone says, “I can talk to them, and I can resolve their problems. I’ll go and give testimony to them,” then you can arrange for them to go. Is this not also a good approach? (It is.) In short, if you arrange personnel reasonably, the probability of gaining people through preaching the gospel will be higher, and the results will be better. If the arrangement of personnel is unreasonable, the probability of failure in preaching the gospel will be higher, and the results will be poor. Therefore, a testimony director needs to be experienced and understand principles to be able to arrange personnel appropriately. The fundamental principle for arranging personnel is that it must achieve results. Only by arranging personnel appropriately can the preaching of the gospel be effective. Arranging personnel randomly will not get results. If someone who has some ability and a rather arrogant disposition comes to investigate God’s work, and you arrange for someone with little insight to give testimony to them, they will become resentful and say, “I’m not listening anymore. You people aren’t even worth my time!” Is this not a case of poor arrangement? (Yes.) If you arrange for a more mature person with insight to give testimony to them, and the potential gospel recipient sees that they seem capable of getting things done, they will be willing to listen, and it will be easy for them to accept what is being said to them. If you arrange for someone they look down on or even feel repulsed by to talk to them, then things will be troublesome, and it won’t be easy to achieve results. In reality, most people who come to investigate the true way do not do so to understand the truth—they come with their own intentions and preferences. Is this not the case? (It is.) Therefore, preaching the gospel requires a bit of wisdom. It’s like running a shop. If you find a server who is good-looking and somewhat eloquent, it’s easy to retain customers. Some customers might not have planned to buy anything, but because the server is good-looking and knows how to talk, they change their mind. If you find such servers, business will naturally be good. If you find someone who looks gloomy and unhappy all the time, it’ll bring the customers down and they’ll get bad vibes from them. Will your business still succeed? (No.) Therefore, finding suitable staff is crucial for doing business! So, to achieve results in preaching the gospel, is arranging personnel well not also crucial? (It is.) Although these are not matters of truth principles, they are related to wisdom. When the Old Testament speaks of the building of the temple, the word “wisdom” is often mentioned. It says that wise people should be chosen to build the temple. This shows that building the temple for God requires wisdom. We preach the gospel to proclaim and testify to God, which likewise requires wisdom. Without wisdom, nothing can be accomplished, and without wisdom, people cannot be gained. Because we are interacting with corrupt mankind, for some people, just fellowshipping the truth with them won’t achieve results, and you’ve got to use a bit of wisdom to make it easier for them to accept what you are saying. So, is it not very necessary to use a bit of wisdom to save a soul? (It is.) Therefore, preaching the gospel requires you to be wise and to pay attention to methods, so long as you don’t break the law, commit crimes, or violate the rules of the local government. For some people, if you arrange for someone who is to their liking to preach the gospel to them, they will be willing to seek and investigate God’s work, they will be willing to listen to fellowship, and they will be able to accept what is being said to them. If you arrange for someone who isn’t to their liking, they won’t be willing to interact with or listen to the person you have sent. What does this show? That arranging who goes to preach the gospel requires wisdom. For some people, even after you fellowship many truths with them, they are still skeptical and unwilling to accept what you’ve said. However, they like listening to songs, and after listening to a few hymns, they are moved and come to believe. You see, people are different, and their needs are different. When preaching the gospel to the same potential gospel recipient, if you arrange for someone who is to their liking to talk to them, they might come to believe before much has even been said. If someone who isn’t to their liking goes to talk to them, even a thousand or ten thousand words of preaching may not be effective. You must see this matter clearly. Preaching the gospel requires wisdom and knowledge of how to arrange people. It absolutely won’t do for a testimony director to lack wisdom and not know how to arrange people. To preach the gospel, you must arrange for people who have wisdom and are eloquent. If such people also understand a bit of the truth, the results of their gospel preaching are guaranteed to be good. If you find someone who is clumsy with their words, then even if they talk for ten days, it won’t be easy for the potential gospel recipient to believe. Of course, this also depends on whether this potential gospel recipient is one of God’s sheep. If they have no reaction to the truth, then there is no need to talk to them. It won’t matter who preaches the gospel to people like this—there will be no results. If a person has caliber and is one of God’s sheep, then even if they have weaknesses and preferences, it doesn’t matter, and we just need to find a suitable person and use a bit of wisdom and some methods to give testimony to them. We are to do whatever makes it easier for them to accept the gospel, because this is a good deed. But we must not break the law or commit crimes. These are the most fundamental principles of preaching the gospel: First, do not break the law; second, do not commit crimes. On the basis of keeping to these principles, we can use a bit of wisdom and some methods. There is no need to abide by regulations to gain potential gospel recipients. How is this principle? (Good.)