Lessons Learned Through Failures and Setbacks

July 21, 2022

By Chengxin, South Korea

During the time I was serving as a church leader, Wang Hua presided over my work. She would often talk about how she managed the church’s work. Not only was she in charge of the work in her church, she would also supervise the work of several other churches, and the upper leaders praised her for being wise, of good caliber and a skilled leader. She said the reason she was successful in her work was mainly because she focused on her personal life entry. She also said that during her school years, she enjoyed writing essays and was a good writer, so her written correspondence with leaders and co-workers rarely required editing, and she could communicate complicated issues in clear and eloquent prose. She said that God had endowed her with these skills and now she was putting them to use. I was quite envious when she told me that, and admired her good caliber, impressive work performance and seeking of the truth.

But after working with her for two months, I noticed that she would often stay at the host home instead of attending gatherings. I asked her: “Why don’t you come to gatherings?” She replied: “I eat and drink of God’s words and equip myself with truth so that I can fellowship on God’s words with others and resolve their issues.” I thought to myself: “Now is the time to expand the gospel, and the gospel work is your main responsibility. Yet, at such a busy time, you’re still sitting at home. Aren’t you failing to do practical work and greedily reveling in the perks of your status?” But then I thought: “She has such good caliber, has been a leader for such a long time, and even the upper leaders say she has good caliber, wisdom and good work ability. Even if she does revel a little bit in the perks of her status, so what? We all have corruption, so it’s perfectly normal to manifest it now and then. I should stop all this idle thinking.” Just like that, I dropped the matter and life went on. During that time, a few co-workers and I were holding gatherings with each group to provide fellowship and motivate everyone in gospel work. The more I fellowshiped, the more lucid I became. I gained some clarity on the principles of spreading the gospel and a path of practice. We told Wang Hua about the results we’d achieved in the gatherings, but to our surprise, she looked unimpressed and with a forced smile, said: “These things you did should have been carried out by those spreading the gospel. That kind of work is just child’s play. In gatherings, you should focus on fellowshiping about seeking the truth and life entry. Then, success in gospel work will come naturally.” But, at the time, I didn’t have much discernment of her, and after hearing what she said, I didn’t dare adhere to my own opinion. I felt conflicted and was at a loss, not knowing how I should proceed. If I didn’t do as she said and something went wrong, affecting the gospel work, the brothers and sisters would say it was my fault. Disrupting and obstructing the gospel work is a kind of evildoing. Being replaced would be a light punishment, and in a more serious case, I could be expelled. “Forget it,” I thought, “I’ll just do as she says!”

On the next day, during a gathering, when the others brought up some practical issues they’d encountered while spreading the gospel, I didn’t help analyze issues and find ways to resolve them according to the actual situations they faced. Instead, I just avoided these issues and problems, and asked them what they had learned about themselves through these issues. I also said that only by focusing on life entry can we achieve results in our duties. Hearing this, the brothers and sisters just looked around at each other and were visibly frustrated. No one said a word. Gatherings proceeded in that way for the next few days. The more I fellowshiped in this way, the more tired I became. My fellowship was dull and boring, I didn’t have much to say and lacked direction in leading the gatherings. I felt truly awful and our gatherings seemed to lack the work of the Holy Spirit. My co-workers also felt the same way. Later on, we sought Wang Hua to fellowship with her. We brought up our concern that working in this way seemed a bit problematic. But Wang Hua insisted on her belief that as long as we fellowshiped on life entry, the gospel work would be effective. She also said that we were inexperienced and lacked insight, only focused on our work and failed to seek the truth. After she said that, I was again at a loss as to how to proceed. I thought: “She has good caliber, presides over many different projects and the upper leaders think highly of her, so I should just do as she says! After all, I have poor caliber, lack experience and insight and I’m her inferior in every aspect.” So, ultimately, I kept going by her orders.

During that time, other churches were doubling their results in spreading the gospel, but our church was actually seeing worse as opposed to better results. I felt absolutely terrible and had no idea how I should proceed. Just at that time, a co-worker gathering was held, and when the leaders from the other churches heard why our church hadn’t achieved good outcomes in spreading the gospel, they criticized Wang Hua for reveling in the perks of her position and not doing practical work. No, she didn’t. She began crying and tried to defend herself. She said that it wasn’t only her fault that results of the gospel work had been poor, and other co-workers were also to blame. We tried to fellowship with her and tell her to reflect on her actions, but she just wasn’t having it and went on crying and making a fuss, and completely disrupted the gathering. Seeing that unfold, I thought to myself: “We fellowshiped and spearheaded the gospel work according to work arrangements, but you kept obstructing us and saying we needed to focus on life entry. Did you not say that? You neglected to resolve practical issues in the gospel work claiming that we should ‘focus on life entry.’ Is that not what you did? The facts of the matter are plain to see, not only have you not acknowledged what you’ve done, you’ve even tried to pass the buck. Are you not failing to accept the truth?” I planned to inform the upper leaders about her situation and let them judge whether she was a right person. But then it occurred to me that maybe she was just in a bad state, and then she was dealt with and took it as a direct afront to her dignity and status, which was why she had such a big reaction. If she had just fallen into a bad state and I reported her situation to the upper leaders, would they think I lacked truth and discernment, and was unable to treat people fairly? And if Wang Hua found out, would she think I was intentionally making things difficult for her? Would she isolate me and give me a hard time? Would she try to replace me because of this? I guessed I should just fellowship with her first and go from there. Once we’d fellowshiped and I had proper discernment of her, I could still report if need be.

On the second day of the co-worker gathering, I happened to hear Wang Hua passing judgment on a sister’s partner in front of that sister, and stirring up controversy between the two of them. I reminded her, saying: “These two sisters already were having some misunderstandings, fellowshiping like that is just going to fan the flames. How are they supposed to keep collaborating after that?” She wouldn’t accept it and kept defending herself: “Everything I said was true, I’m an honest person, I call it like I see it, and say what’s on my mind.” I said: “That’s not calling it like you see it, The way you described that sister was not factual or objective, you were passing judgment. You didn’t consider how what you said might harm that sister, or what effect it might have on the church’s work. All that could result from this is that their relationship will deteriorate, and they’ll be unable to collaborate properly. That’s called sowing discord.” To my surprise, she responded saying: “I’m not like some people that don’t say what they think, that always equivocate, aren’t transparent in their work and are sly and cunning.” She was attacking people with thinly veiled innuendos. She had some serious issues. At the time, I did want to report her, but then I thought, “All I did today was give her some suggestions and she attacked me right away. If she knew that I had reported her issues, would she be shamed into anger and seek revenge? She already said she thought I was sly and cunning, what if she continued to stand facts on their heads, accused me of being cunning and replaced me? The CCP police is still pursuing me, so I can’t return home. If I was replaced and I couldn’t return to gatherings back home, where else could I go?” That night, I felt truly awful, my thoughts ran rampant and I couldn’t get a wink of sleep all night. Ultimately, I decided not to report her. Then, the next morning, I banged my head on the bedpost of my bunkbed so hard that I felt dizzy and dazed, and I had two big lumps that didn’t go away for several days. I thought to myself: “Is God disciplining me?” But at the time, my thoughts were muddled and I felt spiritually numb, so I didn’t reflect on myself at all. During those couple of days, I went around like a zombie and felt like I had lost the work of the Holy Spirit.

To my surprise, directly after the co-worker gathering, some brothers and sisters sent by the upper leaders came to investigate Wang Hua’s situation and so I told them everything I knew. The brothers and sisters dealt with me quite severely: “You clearly knew there was a problem, so why didn’t you report what you saw? Even if you couldn’t grasp the substance of the issue, you could at least report what you had seen, what you knew and the specific details of her behavior to the upper leaders. You knew that you should report her problems, but to protect yourself, you neglected the Holy Spirit’s guidance, failed to practice the truth and didn’t safeguard the interests of God’s house in the slightest. You are truly selfish and despicable!” I felt truly repentant and regretful after being dealt with and pruned like that, and I was deeply ashamed. I prayed to God, saying: “O God! I know that I didn’t safeguard the interests of Your house, but I don’t know where I’ve gone wrong. Please enlighten and guide me to know myself. I am willing to repent.”

After that, I came across this passage of God’s words. “In their work, church leaders and workers must pay attention to two principles: One is to do their work exactly according to the principles stipulated by the work arrangements, never violating those principles and not basing their work on anything that they might imagine or on any of their own ideas. In everything they do, they should show concern for the work of the church, and always put its interests first. Another thing—and this is most crucial—is that in all things, they must focus on following the Holy Spirit’s guidance and do everything in strict keeping with God’s words. If they are still capable of going against the Holy Spirit’s guidance, or if they stubbornly follow their own ideas and do things according to their own imagination, then their actions will constitute a most serious resistance against God. Frequently turning their back on the enlightenment and guidance of the Holy Spirit will only lead to a dead end. If they lose the work of the Holy Spirit, then they will not be able to work; and even if they do somehow manage to work, they will accomplish nothing(The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. The Main Principles of Work for Leaders and Workers). Pondering God’s words, I realized what God demands of leaders and workers in their work is that they work precisely according to work arrangements and stick to the principles of God’s house. And if they go their own way, against the principles and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, stubbornly sticking to their own ideas in their work, this constitutes severe resistance to God. It was only then that I realized why I had lost the work of the Holy Spirit and had sunk into darkness. Thinking back to how I’d seen Wang Hua not going to church and carrying out gospel work, I realized that this went against the work arrangements. After I did as she said, I had clearly lost the work of the Holy Spirt and failed to achieve results. But because I believed she had good caliber and was an effective leader, I went along with her in violating the work arrangements, and the gospel work suffered as a result. I saw that Wang Hua wouldn’t reflect on herself no matter how many times she was in the wrong, that she would even turn the tables and attack others and wouldn’t accept the truth at all. But because I was scared of offending her and being replaced, I didn’t report her issue, failing to right my ways even after being disciplined by God. I went against work arrangements and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, doubling down in my resistance to God. How could God not hide His face from me? I didn’t gain enlightenment from God’s words, didn’t have anything to say in my fellowship, failed to find a path in my duties and had sunken into utter darkness. As God’s words say, I had reached a dead end. Had I not been faced with God’s righteous disposition?

Later, while I was reflecting on all this, I came across this passage of God’s words: “When confusion arises, are you beset with difficulty? This means that you are beset by difficulty and face a choice. And if you cannot see what the source of this problem is, there will be no way to solve the problem. When such circumstances arise, leaders and workers should take stock of the overall situation and the views and attitudes of the majority of people, then report this to the Above and seek an answer, in order to rapidly solve the problem. Do you often encounter confusion? (Yes.) Often being faced with confusion is a problem. If something happens and you don’t know what the right way to handle it is, and someone proposes a solution that sounds reasonable to you, and then someone else proposes another solution that you also feel is reasonable, and you can’t see which solution is more suitable—if everyone’s opinions vary, and no one is able to grasp what the root and essence of the problem is—then slip-ups will occur in the solving of the problem. And so if the problem is to be solved, it is very crucial, very important, to cut to the source and to the essence. If the leaders and workers can’t tell the difference, if they are incapable of grasping the essence of the problem, if they are not able to form the correct conclusion, then they should promptly report this to the Above and seek an answer; this is highly necessary, it is not making a mountain out of a molehill. If the problem cannot be solved, then there will be serious consequences, which will impact the work of the church—this must be clear to you(Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers). Through reading God’s words, I realized that when we encounter problems in our duties, like conflicts between co-workers that we don’t know how to resolve, or if we see problems with people in important roles, but can’t see it clearly and don’t know how to resolve, leading to confusion and other issues, we should report this to the upper leaders in a timely manner and seek resolution. Reporting issues is not about picking out faults in people, or telling on people, and it’s not making a mountain out of a molehill; the point is to help resolve issues that people can’t grasp themselves, to prevent delays in the work and people’s life entry. As for me, no matter how many issues I faced and how serious they were, I would rather delay the work and damage my brothers’ and sisters’ life entry than report problems if doing so threatened my interests or my future prospects. When I saw that Wang Hua was going against work arrangements and failing to supervise gospel work, even though I hadn’t fully grasped the issue, I felt something was off, that she was out of line and I should report her situation to the upper leaders, but I worried that if I didn’t go along with her orders, I’d be held responsible and so I did as she said. When Wang Hua made a big fuss after being pruned and dealt with, even though I wasn’t sure if she was just in a bad state, or if she rejected and despised the truth in her very essence, I could have made a timely report, and let the upper leaders send someone to investigate and discern to avoid delaying the work of God’s house because the wrong person had been used. But I worried that if I was wrong to report her, the upper leaders would think I lacked discernment, and I feared that Wang Hua would suppress me afterwards, so I kept putting off reporting her issue. If I were responsible and safeguarded the work of God’s house, then no matter whether or not I could grasp the essence of the issue and understood the truth, I wouldn’t have been constrained by anything and would find a way to safeguard the church’s interests. But instead, in order to protect myself, I stood by passively, and excused myself by saying I’d report once I had proper discernment. But if I waited until I had proper discernment, wouldn’t it be too late? Wouldn’t the gospel work be even more adversely affected then? It was then that I realized how important it is to seek the truth when we are confused and face difficulties. Being committed to safeguarding the work of God’s house is truly important.

To protect myself, I kept putting off reporting Wang Hua’s issues, and this did a lot of serious damage to the gospel work. I felt incredibly regretful. Later, I came across a few passages in which God exposes antichrists. “How does the selfishness and vileness of the antichrists manifest itself? In anything that benefits their status or reputation, they make effort to do or say whatever is necessary, and they willingly endure any suffering. But where work arranged by God’s house is concerned, or where work that benefits the life growth of God’s chosen people is concerned, they utterly ignore it. Even when evildoers disrupt, interfere, and commit all kinds of evil, thereby seriously affecting the work of the church, they remain impassive and unconcerned, as if this has nothing to do with them. And if someone discovers and reports an evildoer’s wicked deeds, they say they saw nothing and feign ignorance(The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Excursus Four: Summarizing the Character of Antichrists and the Essence of Their Disposition (Part One)). “Some people do not understand many truths. They do not understand the principles in anything they do, and when they encounter problems, they do not know the proper way to handle them. How should people practice in this situation? The lowest standard is to act according to conscience—this is the baseline. How should you act according to conscience? Act from sincerity, and be worthy of God’s kindness, of God having given you this life, and of this God-given opportunity to attain salvation. Is that acting according to conscience? Once you have met this bare minimum of standards, you will have obtained protection and you will not commit grievous errors. You will not then so easily do things to disobey God or shirk your responsibilities, nor will you be so liable to act in a perfunctory manner. You will also not be so prone to scheming for your own position, fame, fortune, and future. This is the role that conscience plays. Conscience and reason should both be components of a person’s humanity. These are both most fundamental and most important. What kind of person is one who lacks conscience and does not have the reason of normal humanity? Generally speaking, he is a person who lacks humanity, a person of extremely poor humanity. Going into more detail, what manifestations of lost humanity does this person exhibit? Have a go at analyzing what characteristics are found in such people and what specific manifestations they present. (They are selfish and mean.) Selfish and mean people are perfunctory in their actions and stand aloof from anything that does not concern them personally. They do not consider the interests of God’s house, nor do they show consideration for God’s will. They take on no burden of testifying for God or performing their duties, and they have no sense of responsibility. … There are some people who do not take any responsibility regardless of the duty they are performing. They don’t report problems they discover to their superiors, either. When they see people being meddlesome and disruptive, they turn a blind eye. When they see wicked people committing evil, they don’t try to stop them. They don’t give the slightest consideration to the interests of the house of God, nor to what their duty and responsibility is. When they perform their duty, people like this don’t do any real work; they are yes men who are greedy for comfort; they speak and act only for their own vanity, face, status, and interests, and are sure to devote their time and effort to anything that benefits them(The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. In Giving One’s Heart to God, One Can Obtain the Truth). Through reading God’s words, I realized that in our duties, we will often face issues we don’t fully grasp and don’t know how to resolve, but those with humanity safeguard the interests of God’s house in good conscience. Those without conscience and reason consider only their own dignity, status and self-interest. They don’t report issues they observe and are incredibly selfish and despicable. That was exactly how I was. I had put off reporting how Wang Hua had been disrupting the work of God’s house in order to preserve my reputation, status, and future prospects. I was living by satanic poisons like “Protect yourself, seek only to escape blame” and “When you know something is wrong, it is better to say less.” I was afraid that if I reported Wang Hua’s issues, I’d be suppressed or replaced, so I came up with some reasonable-sounding excuses like, “Everyone is corrupted,” “Perhaps she’s just in a bad state” and “I’ll report the problem once I have a better grasp.” These excuses might seem right, but in reality, I was just trying to protect myself and shirk responsibility. I only cared about my reputation, status, future prospects and destination, and failed to consider the work of God’s house and safeguard its interests. I was incredibly selfish and inhumane. I was really biting the hand that fed me! I had lost the Holy Spirit’s work, and was undergoing God’s chastisement. This was His righteousness.

Later on, I reflected on why I kept putting off reporting Wang Hua’s issues— another aspect of it was that I didn’t have discernment of her. Through the exposition of God’s words, I gained discernment and understanding of Wang Hua’s behavior. God says, “People’s method of exalting and testifying to themselves is to flaunt themselves and belittle others. They also dissemble and camouflage themselves, hiding their weaknesses, shortcomings, and deficiencies from people so that they only ever see their brilliance. They do not even dare to tell other people when they feel negative; they lack the courage to open up and fellowship with them, and when they do something wrong, they do their utmost to conceal it and cover it up. Never do they mention the harm they have caused to the work of the church in the course of doing their duty. When they have made some minor contribution or achieved some small success, however, they are quick to show it off. They cannot wait to let the whole world know how capable they are, how high their caliber is, how exceptional they are, and how much better they are than normal people. Is this not a way of exalting and testifying to themselves? Is exalting and testifying to oneself something someone with conscience and reason does? It is not. So when people do this, what disposition is usually revealed? Arrogance is one of the chief dispositions revealed, followed by deceitfulness, which involves doing everything possible to make other people hold them in high esteem. Their stories are completely watertight; their words clearly contain motivations and schemes, yet they want to hide the fact that they are showing off. The outcome of what they say is that people are made to feel that they are better than others, that no one is their equal, that everyone else is inferior to them. And is this outcome not achieved via underhanded means? What disposition is behind such means? And are there any elements of wickedness? This is a kind of wicked disposition. It can be seen that these means they employ are directed by a deceitful disposition—so why do I say it is wicked? What connection does this have to wickedness? What do you think: Can they be open about their aims in exalting and testifying to themselves? They can’t. But there is always a desire in the depths of their hearts, and what they say and do is in aid of that desire, and the aims and motivations of what they say and do are kept very secret. They will, for example, employ misdirection or some shady tactics to achieve these aims. Is such secretiveness not sly in nature? And can such slyness not be called wicked? Yes, it can indeed be called wicked, and it runs deeper than deceitfulness. They use a certain way or method to achieve their goals. This disposition is deceitfulness. However, the shameless ambition and desire deep in their hearts to always have people following, looking up to, and worshiping them often governs them, so that they exalt and testify to themselves everywhere and unscrupulously and unabashedly do these things. What is this disposition? This rises to evil(The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Four: They Exalt and Testify About Themselves). Through God’s words I saw how antichrists have an arrogant and evil disposition. They use all kinds of methods to exalt and testify to themselves, making people gradually and unwittingly admire them above everyone else, to accomplish their goal of ensnaring and controlling people. God’s words allowed me to gain some discernment of Wang Hua’s methods and intentions. Thinking back on my interactions with her, she would often brag about how she managed the work, how the upper leaders praised her and through what she implied, she seemed to place great importance on life entry and to be someone who sought the truth. She would also show off her talents, claiming that she wrote letters with elegant and flowing prose that rarely needed editing, which made others feel inferior to her in all aspects, that they couldn’t compare with her. Wang Hua used all kinds of methods to show off and brag about herself, but never exposed her own corruption. She would even stand the facts on their heads and whitewash herself, packaging herself up completely, so that no one could see her weaknesses, deficiencies or her sly intentions. In fact, the upper leaders had dealt with her many times for not choosing people according to principle, and acting recklessly in her duties, but she never brought that up. She only ever talked about how the upper leaders praised and thought highly of her, and only showed people the most presentable aspects of herself. She would often stay at home instead of coming to the church, and would claim she was equipping herself with truth to be better able to resolve people’s problems, when in fact she was just reveling in the perks of her status. She clearly didn’t do any practical work or resolve any actual problems existing in the gospel work, but she spread the fallacy that by resolving issues in gospel work during gatherings, people were only placing importance on work and not on life entry. She also always attacked and disparaged others, characterizing other people’s practical work as child’s play. She was sowing discord, destroying relationships between brothers and sisters and secretly undermining others, yet she claimed she was honest and a straight shooter. … All of Wang Hua’s actions were sinister and cunning. If it weren’t for God’s exposition, it would be easy to be fooled into admiring and adoring her. Having realized all this, I finally came to my senses, and gained some discernment of Wang Hua’s antichrist essence.

As I reflected, I realized that another reason I had lacked discernment of her was because I couldn’t distinguish between an isolated instance of corruption and a corrupt nature and essence. Later on, I found some of God’s words: “All who have been corrupted by Satan have corrupt dispositions. Some have nothing more than corrupt dispositions, while others are different: Not only do they have corrupt satanic dispositions, but their nature is also extremely malicious. Not only do their words and actions reveal their corrupt, satanic dispositions; these people are, moreover, the genuine devil Satan(The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. A Warning to Those Who Do Not Practice the Truth). “How does God define antichrists? They hate the truth and are hostile to God. They are the enemies of God! Being hostile to the truth, hating God, hating all positive things—this is not the momentary weakness and ignorance of ordinary people, nor is it a passing case of mistaken thinking, or mistaken views, or absurd understanding that are incompatible with the truth. This is not the problem. They are the antichrists, the enemies of God, and their role is hatred of all positive things, it is hatred of all truths, it is hatred of God, and hostility to God. And how does God view such a role? There shall be no salvation by God! These people scorn the truth, they hate the truth—which is the nature of an antichrist. Do you understand this? What is exposed here is evil, malevolence, and sickness of the truth, these are the most grievous satanic dispositions of all corrupt dispositions—things which are the hallmarks of Satan, and have the most essence of Satan; they are not the corrupt dispositions revealed in ordinary corrupt mankind. Antichrists are a force that is hostile to God, they are liable to disrupt and try to control the church, and are apt to undermine and interrupt God’s management plan. These are not things done by ordinary people with a corrupt disposition, only the antichrists do this. You must not treat it lightly(The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Six: They Behave in Strange and Mysterious Ways, They Are Arbitrary and Dictatorial, They Never Fellowship With Others, and They Force Others to Obey Them). God’s words helped me understand that all who have been corrupted by Satan have a corrupt disposition, but some people have humanity, conscience and reason and can accept the truth. If they make mistakes in their duty, and they are exposed, dealt with and corrected, though they might feel ashamed and resistant, and defend themselves, when they reflect on themselves afterwards, they come to despise their corrupt nature and flawed methods, they realize how they obstructed the church’s work, and they feel regretful, are able to despise themselves, repent and achieve transformation. Yet, there are some that not only have Satan’s corrupt disposition, but also have a malicious nature, don’t accept the truth in the least and even despise it. No matter how much evil they do, or how much harm they cause to the church’s work, they don’t suffer in the slightest and don’t reflect on themselves at all. They don’t have even an ounce of guilt. No matter how much they are dealt with and exposed, they never acknowledge their wrongs, and never accept the plain facts as they’re revealed. They despise how God deals with, prunes, judges and chastises them and based on their attitudes towards the truth and positive things, they are clearly hostile to God—they are His sworn enemies. Thinking back on Wang Hua’s behavior, she clearly didn’t do practical work, and was arrogant, upholding her own beliefs and obstructing the gospel work. When other leaders exposed and dealt with her, she not only didn’t accept what they said, she made unfounded arguments, and tried to pass blame, and, as such, disrupted the whole gathering. When I warned her that she was judging others and sowing discord between brothers and sisters, not only did she not accept this, she turned the tables, attacking and condemning me. She would always be talking about focusing on life entry, making people think she was seeking the truth, but, in reality, she was particularly disgusted by and opposed to the work arrangements of God’s house and God’s will. When she was exposed and dealt with, she didn’t submit at all and was even offended and repulsed. No matter how many mistakes she made, and how much she harmed the work of God’s house, she never acknowledged it, didn’t feel regretful or indebted and completely lacked conscience. She only looked after her own interests, and if you said anything that threatened her status she’d get angry and make unfounded countercharges. She didn’t accept the truth or positive things at all, and she would treat anyone that tried to fellowship with or correct her as an enemy. She would attack anyone that tried to expose her. Given that she truly hated the truth, despised those who practiced truth and hated those that exposed her out of a sense of justice, was she not taking God as her enemy? It’s just like God’s words say: “This is not the momentary weakness and ignorance of ordinary people, nor is it a passing case of mistaken thinking, or mistaken views, or absurd understanding that are incompatible with the truth. This is not the problem. They are the antichrists, the enemies of God, and their role is hatred of all positive things, it is hatred of all truths, it is hatred of God, and hostility to God.” After Wang Hua was replaced, she still wouldn’t relent and didn’t acknowledge her evildoing. She even said, “I do things before God and don’t care what others think.” She really didn’t seem regretful or self-reflective at all. Her nature was malicious and truth-hating, wasn’t she just a classic antichrist? People like this will only disrupt and disturb the work of God’s house.

Later on, a majority of brothers and sisters voted to expel Wang Hua from the church. While replacing her, we also provided fellowship to facilitate the gospel work based on work arrangements, and the church’s gospel work soon saw noticeably better results. At that time, I felt even more indebted, and I despised myself for being so selfish, only looking out for myself, not safeguarding the church’s work, and allowing an antichrist to do evil, disrupt the church’s gospel work. I swore to myself that, in the future, whenever I observed someone disrupting the church’s work, I would practice the truth and safeguard the church’s work. No matter how high their status, no matter how much work they’d done, or how convincingly they spoke doctrine, as long as they disrupted the work of God’s house, I would stand by the principles of truth. Even if others called me arrogant or condemned me as an evildoer or antichrist, I would safeguard the work of God’s house. Even if I didn’t quite grasp the situation, I would report what I had seen to the upper leaders. I prayed to God, and said if I didn’t safeguard the work of God’s house upon observing an issue, I was willing to be disciplined by God.

A few months later, some people reported that a leader named Li Na from another church wasn’t doing practical work, had failed to replace false leaders and workers and had even promoted evildoers. These people didn’t work according to principle and God’s offerings were damaged as a result. Li Na was particularly given to showing off and disparaging others and the brothers and sisters all admired her. Her co-workers had pointed out her issues many times, but she wouldn’t accept what they said. On top of that, she also judged the upper leaders, which led her partners and co-workers to develop biases toward them. When the upper leaders sent someone to help carry out the work, she ostracized them. She not only didn’t cooperate, but was passing judgment and sabotaging the work, saying that the person the leaders sent couldn’t resolve issues, which meant the work didn’t get done. After hearing all this, I realized that this person might very well be an antichrist and so I talked with co-workers about replacing her quickly. But when I learned that Li Na was my partner’s younger sister, I hesitated. If I replaced Li Na, what would my partner think of me? Would she say I had it out for Li Na? I went back and forth in my head, and felt increasingly conflicted and didn’t know what to do. It was then that I realized my state of mind and intentions were off—I was trying to protect my own interests again. I remembered how last time, because I’d been too concerned about protecting myself, I didn’t expose the antichrist in time, and severely harmed the work of God’s house—a transgression that I could never make right. I couldn’t protect my own interests again, I had to practice the truth and safeguard the work of God’s house. No matter what others thought of me, fulfilling God’s will was paramount. So my co-workers and I dismissed Li Na according to principle. Later on, investigations revealed that Li Na had continually exalted herself and shown off to deceive and ensnare others, control the church and establish an independent kingdom. She was an antichrist. The majority of people in the church voted to have her expelled. I experienced how forsaking my flesh, practicing the truth and acting according to principle brought me peace, contentedness and joy. I also realized that only by practicing the truth can one bear testimony and shame Satan. Thank God for His guidance.

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