By Christina, USA

In June 2021, two leaders in our church were dismissed for not doing actual work. While I fellowshipped on dissecting their behavior, a sister raised a question, “Before these two false leaders were dismissed, we were somewhat aware of their issues. Also, recently, the church has been fellowshipping the truth about discerning false leaders, so everyone understood a bit about their behavior. Why then did no one report the issues of these two leaders before they were dismissed?” Hearing her words deeply moved me. I reflected on myself. Despite having heard so many truth principles about discerning false leaders, I still hadn’t consciously discerned false leaders around me in real life. Sometimes, even when I noticed some problems with the leaders, I adopted an indifferent attitude. I realized this attitude was not in line with God’s intentions, so I wanted to change. I needed to be aware of discerning the people, events, and things around me, supervise the leaders’ work according to God’s requirements, and offer guidance and help if I notice the leaders doing the work against the principles. If I identified a false leader or an antichrist, I needed to report it to the upper leaders to protect the church’s interests.

Later, I lived with Sister Wendy, a leader of another church. At first, I thought she was amiable, didn’t have the airs of a leader, and was easy to get along with. However, after a period of time, I noticed she lived out poor humanity. She seemed to focus a lot on eating and was quite lazy. When she found things dirty, she wouldn’t take the initiative to clean, but only mentioned it verbally. Sometimes, she asked others to do tasks that could easily be done by herself. The sisters around her were all somewhat displeased with her behavior. At first, I thought Wendy only had issues with living out her humanity, which was not something of principles, so I didn’t take it to heart. Later, I noticed that she often attended online fellowships in her room, sometimes even brought her laptop to the dining table and ate while fellowshipping, and sometimes, she would fellowship late into the night, but the brothers and sisters said she rarely resolved their issues and difficulties in their duties. Initially, I felt that as a church leader, she had to attend to various aspects of the work, which wasn’t easy. I didn’t think it was a big deal if there were some shortcomings in her work. So I didn’t pay attention to those things. But later, I felt something was wrong. As a church leader, her primary duty was to fellowship the truth and solve the brothers’ and sisters’ problems and difficulties. She often held online gatherings with the brothers and sisters, appearing very busy, but she didn’t solve actual problems. Wasn’t this just preaching empty doctrines without doing actual work? I recalled God’s fellowship exposing that some false leaders spend all day in online gatherings, appearing busy, but only speaking words and doctrines and doing superficial work. As for the real problems in work related to the truth principles, they can’t discover or fellowship clearly on them, causing much work to be delayed. I wondered if Wendy might be one of the false leaders God had exposed. Later, I heard a sister say that Wendy couldn’t fellowship on the truth realities or solve actual problems in gatherings. Once, the sister’s state was quite negative and it affected her duties. Knowing this, Wendy only sent her a few passages of God’s words without fellowshipping. There were also several sisters not cooperating in harmony and it was reported to Wendy, but she did not fellowship with them to resolve these issues. Later, I found that Wendy lacked consideration and principles while arranging things. There was a sister whose duty was video production. Wendy thought that the sister was also suitable for watering new believers. Without investigating the sister’s duty situation ahead of time or discussing with the supervisor to see if it was appropriate, Wendy directly assigned her to water new believers part-time. Everyone felt that Wendy was thinking too simply about the situation, because watering duty requires timely understanding and resolving the states and difficulties of new believers. To do this duty well requires a significant amount of time and energy. The sister was skilled in video production, and if not coordinated properly, assigning her to water new believers would delay her main duty. However, Wendy still assigned her to water new believers. Seeing Wendy’s work arrangement, I was somewhat incredulous and thought, “She is so careless in arranging things, lacking communication and seeking. How then would she handle the significant matters in church work? Does she have the caliber and work capability to be a leader? Can she actually do real work?” I kept questioning in my heart and vaguely felt that Wendy had some problems. I thought of reporting to upper leaders to have them investigate and understand her actual performance. But then I thought, “If my reports are valid and Wendy is indeed a false leader, then this is an act of justice that protects the church work. But if my view is incomprehensive and she doesn’t have serious problems and can do some real work, will the brothers and sisters say I lack understanding of the truth, blindly report, and meddle recklessly? If it causes disruption and disturbance, will they say I have bad humanity and cannot treat a leader correctly, casually judging her? Will the upper leaders dismiss me then? If Wendy finds out I report her problems, will she hold a grudge against me and seize upon my issues? Wendy and I live together and see each other every day. How awkward would that be!” Thinking about these things, I hesitated and comforted myself, “What I’ve seen are not major issues, just minor flaws in living out humanity and in work capability. Seeing her attend fellowships online every day, she seems to have some sense of burden. Forget it; I won’t report her. If she really doesn’t do actual work, the brothers and sisters in her church will report it. The leaders and workers will follow up on and supervise her work, so they should understand her issues. I should stop worrying and meddling so much.” After thinking back and forth, I decided not to report her issues. But when I decided to let it go, I felt uneasy in my heart and my conscience was troubled. I clearly saw some manifestations of her not doing actual work and recognized it as a problem, but I kept wanting to avoid and bypass it. This is being irresponsible! If she was indeed a false leader who didn’t do actual work, it would directly affect the brothers’ and sisters’ life entry and delay the church’s work. I reflected on myself: Why was I reluctant to report Wendy’s problems? What was I worried about? What corrupt disposition was constraining me?

Later, I read these words of God: “The most prominent aspect of man’s philosophies for worldly dealings is cunningness. People think that if they are not cunning, they will be liable to offend others and unable to protect themselves; they think that they must be sufficiently cunning—not hurting or offending anyone—so that they can keep themselves safe, protect their livelihoods, and gain a firm foothold among others. Nonbelievers all live by Satan’s philosophies. They are all people pleasers and do not offend anyone. You have come to the house of God, read the word of God, and listened to the sermons of God’s house, so why are you unable to practice the truth, speaking from the heart and being an honest person? Why are you always a people pleaser? People pleasers only protect their own interests, and not the interests of the church. When they see someone do evil and harm the church’s interests, they ignore it. They like to be people pleasers, and do not offend anyone. This is irresponsible, and such people are too cunning and untrustworthy. To protect their own vanity and pride, and to protect their reputation and status, some people are happy to help others, and are willing to take a bullet for their friends, paying any price for them. But when they need to protect the interests of the house of God, uphold the truth, and uphold justice, their goodwill is gone, and it has completely disappeared. When they should practice the truth, they do not practice it at all. What is going on? To protect their own dignity and pride, they will pay any price and endure any suffering. But when they need to do real work and handle actual affairs, to safeguard the church’s work and positive things, and to protect and provide for God’s chosen people, why does that strength to pay any price and endure any suffering vanish? That is inconceivable. Actually, they have a disposition that is averse to the truth. Why do I say that they are averse to the truth? Because whenever something involves practicing the truth, bearing witness to God, fighting against Satan’s schemes, or safeguarding the work of the church and protecting God’s chosen people, they flee and shy away from it, and don’t handle any proper matters. Where are their heroism and their spirit to endure suffering? Where do they apply these things? This is plain to see. Even if someone reproaches them, saying that they should not be selfish and base and try to protect themselves, and that they ought to protect the work of the church, they don’t really care. They say to themselves, ‘I don’t do those things, and they do not have anything to do with me. What good would that do for my pursuit of fame, gain, and status?’ They are not people who pursue the truth. They only like to pursue fame, gain, and status, and they do not do the work that God has entrusted to them at all. So, when they are needed in the church’s work, they simply choose to flee. This means that, in their hearts, they do not love positive things, and are not interested in the truth. This is a clear manifestation of being averse to the truth” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three). “Most people are willing to pursue the truth and want to practice the truth, but a lot of the time they merely have the resolve and a desire to do so; inwardly, however, the truth has not become their life. So when you encounter evil forces disturbing and sabotaging the church’s work—for example, when you are faced with false leaders handling matters in violation of the principles and not doing real work, or evil people and antichrists doing evil and disturbing the church’s work and thereby causing harm to God’s chosen people—you do not have the courage to stand up and speak out. Why do you not have this courage? Is it because you are timid or inarticulate, or do you not dare to speak up because you can’t see things clearly? It is not due to any of these things; it is primarily the consequence of you being constrained by your corrupt dispositions. One of the corrupt dispositions you reveal is a deceitful disposition: When something happens, the first thing you consider is your own interests, the consequences of your actions, and whether they will be beneficial to you. This is a deceitful disposition, is it not? Another is a selfish and base disposition. You think, ‘What does them harming the interests of God’s house have to do with me? I’m not a leader, so why should I get involved? It’s got nothing to do with me, and it’s not my responsibility.’ Such thoughts and words are not something that you intentionally think up, but are produced by you unconsciously—these are the corrupt dispositions that people reveal when they encounter an issue” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three). God’s words exposed my corrupt disposition. I was indeed selfish and deceitful. I saw that Wendy didn’t solve actual problems or do actual work in many matters, and her deeds were already harming the church’s interests. Yet, I was worried that if I reported her wrongly, the brothers and sisters would think badly of me, that I might be dismissed, and even more afraid of offending Wendy and damaging our relationship, making it difficult to get along in the future. So, I was unwilling to report her. To protect myself and my own interests, I kept silent about the problems I saw. I didn’t practice the truth or protect the church’s work at all, which is truly detestable and hateful to God. Thinking about how Wendy lacked principles in her actions, couldn’t distinguish priorities in her work, and did not do actual work, although I couldn’t be 100% sure she was a false leader, I could see that her issues were already affecting the brothers’ and sisters’ life entry and the church’s work. I should report these issues to the upper-level leaders as soon as possible, letting them understand the situation and investigate and verify. If she was confirmed to be a false leader, she should be dismissed and reassigned according to principles. If she merely had some deviations in her work, the leaders could help her through fellowshipping on these issues. Otherwise, if she continued working like this, it would delay the church’s work and harm the brothers’ and sisters’ life entry. However, I previously thought that Wendy’s problems were not directly related to me, and reporting them wrongly might harm my own vanity and future. Since I hadn’t seen through her problems, I used “I haven’t seen through them, and I’m afraid of reporting wrongly” as an excuse not to report her to upper leaders. I also made the excuse that if she was truly a false leader not doing actual work, other brothers and sisters would report her. I wanted to push the “offending matter” onto others and hide like a coward. To maintain my relationship with Wendy and protect my own vanity, prospects, and destiny, I didn’t consider the church’s interests or protect church work at all. I was extremely selfish and deceitful, following Satan’s philosophies like “Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost,” “Sensible people are good at self-protection, seeking only to avoid making mistakes,” and “Let things drift if they do not affect one personally.” These things had become deeply rooted in my heart, dominating my thoughts, causing me to always consider personal benefits in what I said and did and to be overcautious and indecisive. Even when I saw problems with a leader, I was unwilling to report her, just looking on and watching things unfold as the interests of the church were harmed. I saw that living by satanic dispositions and philosophies had made me truly despicable and sordid, and that I was completely lacking in integrity or human likeness. If I continued this way and didn’t repent, I would only be spurned and eliminated by God. These thoughts frightened me, and I realized that I needed to break free from the bonds of satanic disposition quickly and not be controlled by it anymore.

In my reflection, I also realized that I had a wrong viewpoint. I worried that I might not see things accurately or comprehensively, and that if I reported something wrongly, it would cause disruptions and disturbances. Because of this, I didn’t dare to report Wendy’s problems. Later, I quieted my heart and pondered, “Is this viewpoint correct? Does it align with the truth principles?” I remembered these words of God: “Are the talented people promoted and cultivated by the house of God adequately capable of undertaking their work and doing their duty well during the promotion and cultivation period or prior to promotion and cultivation? Of course not. Thus, it is unavoidable that, during the cultivation period, these people will experience pruning, judgment and chastisement, exposure and even dismissal; this is normal, this is training and cultivation. People must not have any high expectations or unrealistic demands of those who are promoted and cultivated; that would be unreasonable, and unfair to them. You can supervise their work. If you discover problems or things that violate principles in the course of their work, you can raise the issue and seek the truth to resolve these matters. What you should not do is judge, condemn, attack, or exclude them, because they are just in the cultivation period, and should not be viewed as people who have been made perfect, much less as people who are flawless, or as people who are possessed of the truth reality. … So what is the most reasonable way to treat them? To regard them as ordinary people and, when you need to seek someone out regarding a problem, to fellowship with them and learn from each other’s strengths and complement each other. In addition, it is everyone’s responsibility to supervise leaders and workers to see whether they are doing real work, whether they can use the truth to solve problems; these are the standards and principles for measuring whether a leader or worker is up to standard. If a leader or worker is capable of dealing with and solving general problems, then they are competent. But if they can’t even handle and fix ordinary problems, they are not fit to be a leader or worker, and must be quickly removed from their position. Someone else must be chosen, and the work of the house of God must not be delayed. Delaying the work of the house of God is hurting oneself and others, it is good for no one” (The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (5)). From God’s words, I understood the principles of dealing with leaders and workers. Leaders and workers are still in the training period; they have not yet achieved salvation or perfection and are also corrupted people. We need to treat them correctly: If a leader only reveals corruption or has work deviations due to a short practice period that are not substantial issues, we should help or prune them with love. However, if a leader or worker is of poor caliber, lacks work capability, and cannot do actual work, or if a leader’s humanity has problems and they follow the wrong path, and don’t do actual work, then continuing to use such a leader will delay the brothers’ and sisters’ life entry and church work. When discovering such false leaders, we need to expose and report them. God has never said that if we can’t see something clearly, we can just sit back and ignore it or we don’t have to practice the truth. Instead, for difficulties and problems we can’t perceive clearly, we should seek out those who understand the truth to fellowship, seek truth principles, or report these things to upper leaders. Even if we report something wrongly, it doesn’t matter; the most important thing is that the problem gets solved. If we sit back and do nothing because we can’t see something clearly or fear reporting something wrongly, and the situation worsens as events take their course, harming the church’s interests and delaying church work, it will end up being too late to say anything, and the damage will become irreparable. Before, I wasn’t clear on what constitutes disruption and disturbance, but later, through seeking and fellowshipping, I understood more. Whether a person’s action counts as disruption and disturbance mainly depends on whether their intentions are right and whether the issues they report are true and involve the church’s interests or principles. If their intentions are right, what’s being reported is true and is for the sake of protecting the church’s interests, then even if they don’t see clearly whether a leader is false at the time, reporting problems they see based on facts is protecting the church’s work and is not disruption and disturbance. However, if their intentions are wrong, and they have ulterior motives like vying for power, seizing on a leader’s work deviations to make a mountain out of a molehill, to overthrow them and take their place, or harboring resentment due to pruning from the leader, finding faults and distorting facts to attack and judge the leader to vent personal grievances, or nitpicking the leader according to their own arrogant disposition, seizing on the leader’s revelations of corruption, deviations, issues, deficiencies, or shortcomings in their duties, and raising objections at every turn and trying to find leverage without letting go, this constitutes disturbance and disruption. Realizing this, I gained a better understanding of the distinction between normal seeking and reporting issues and disruption and disturbance.

After understanding the principles, I thought about Wendy’s issues again, and I realized her living out poor humanity wasn’t a substantial issue and could be addressed with appropriate guidance and help at the right opportunity. However, her hasty and unprincipled arrangements had disturbed the brothers’ and sisters’ duties and the church work. She was also inattentive to her main responsibilities, lacked a genuine sense of burden, and failed to achieve results in the work she was in charge of and didn’t resolve the states and issues of the brothers and sisters. These matters related to whether she could do and whether she had done real work. Although I couldn’t see these things clearly and couldn’t characterize her as a false leader, I could make a report and seek guidance. Since my intention was not to make life hard for her or gain leverage against her, practicing in this way was appropriate. I couldn’t use “If I can’t see something clearly, reporting it wrongly would cause disturbance and disruption” as an excuse to muddle through this matter. That would be irresponsible for the church’s work and a manifestation of not protecting the church’s interests or practicing the truth.

Later, I read another passage from God’s words: “Once the truth has become your life, if you see anyone blaspheming God, not fearing God, being perfunctory while doing their duty, or disrupting and disturbing the church’s work, you will be able to treat them according to the truth principles, discerning those who ought to be discerned, and exposing those who ought to be exposed. … Those who truly believe in God, even if they have yet to gain the truth and life, at the very least will take God’s side in their speech and actions; at the very least, they will not stand idly by when they see the interests of the house of God being harmed. If they try to ignore it, their conscience will feel reproached and ill at ease, and they will say to themselves, ‘I can’t just sit by and do nothing. I must stand up and say something, I must fulfill my responsibility. I must come forward to expose and stop this evil deed, to safeguard the interests of the house of God from harm, and to ensure the church life is not disturbed.’ If the truth has become your life in your heart, then you will not only have this courage and determination, but you will also be capable of seeing through this matter. Moreover, you will be able to fulfill your due share of responsibility for God’s work and for the interests of His house, and in this way, your duty will be fulfilled” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three). From God’s words, I understood that those who have truth realities possess a God-fearing heart. When faced with situations, they act according to the truth principles. When they see issues that harm the church’s interests or disrupt and disturb church work, they don’t stand idly by or ignore them, nor do they prioritize maintaining their relationships with others or protecting their own interests. Instead, they focus on protecting the church’s interests and work. They have the courage to expose negative things and act according to principles, and they have a sense of burden and are responsible in their duties. Now that God has arranged for me to see the issues with Wendy, I had the responsibility to follow up and resolve them. I couldn’t turn a blind eye. I had to bring these issues to light and seek guidance from upper leaders. Regardless of how the brothers and sisters might view me or whether I might face suppression or torment, I must act according to the truth principles. I should have faith in God and believe in His righteousness. With these thoughts in mind, I let go of my worries. Later on, I approached an upper leader to report the issues. The leader listened carefully and patiently, encouraging me to speak openly about whatever I had seen. She said that God’s house especially supports those who can truly expose and report false leaders and antichrists, and that God is comforted by such people. So, I detailed all of Wendy’s problems. The leader also felt that there were problems with Wendy, saying that every time she checked on Wendy’s work, Wendy would give positive reports, but there was no actual progress. The leader also thought of looking into Wendy’s performance.

The next day, the leader asked the brothers and sisters who knew Wendy to write evaluations. The results were shocking—Wendy’s issues were far more serious than I had imagined. From the brothers’ and sisters’ evaluations, I saw that while Wendy appeared to be busy, attending online gatherings every day, usually on time for gatherings, and spending much time in gatherings, her fellowship was just words and doctrines, and couldn’t resolve actual problems. One time, a sister, who was in a negative state, actively sought her out for fellowship, leaving her messages several times, but Wendy never came to help her. When they finally arranged a time, before even starting the fellowship, Wendy left the sister alone and went to handle personal matters, displaying a particular coldness and selfishness. She rarely checked on or followed up with the brothers’ and sisters’ duties, and when she occasionally did, she was merely going through the motions. She didn’t proactively identify or resolve various issues and difficulties, and she wasn’t fulfilling the role of a leader at all. When she saw poor results in the brothers’ and sisters’ duties, she would just remind or prod them on as if she were some foreman at a factory. As for the actual issues like where their duties got stuck and how to find solutions, she never paid them any mind. Furthermore, she lacked principles in personnel reassignments. She reassigned two key gospel workers to do general affairs duties, which soon impacted the gospel work, and so she reassigned them back. She did the same in finding waterers, never considering the situation of brothers’ and sisters’ duties, and just picking whomever she thought appropriate without thorough consideration, resulting in disturbing brothers’ and sisters’ duties and disrupting the church’s work…. From the brothers’ and sisters’ exposure of each of her behaviors, it was clear that Wendy not only failed to advance the church’s work she was responsible for but actually hindered it.

Later, I read two passages of God’s words which helped me better understand the essence of Wendy’s behaviors. God’s words say: “How should one judge if a leader is fulfilling the responsibilities of leaders and workers, or if they are a false leader? At the most basic level, one must look at whether they are capable of doing real work, at whether or not they have this caliber. Then, one should look at whether they have the burden to do this work well. Ignore how nice the things they say sound and how much they seem to understand the doctrines, and ignore how talented and gifted they are when they handle external matters—these things are not important. What is most crucial is whether they are able to properly carry out the most fundamental items of work of the church, whether they can solve problems using the truth, and whether they can lead people into the truth reality. This is the most fundamental and essential work. If they are incapable of doing these items of real work, then no matter how good their caliber is, how talented they are, or how much they can endure hardship and pay a price, they are still a false leader. Some people say, ‘Forget that they don’t do any real work now. They have good caliber and they’re capable. If they train for a while, they are bound to be able to do real work. Besides, they haven’t done anything bad and they haven’t done evil or caused disruptions or disturbances—how can You say that they are a false leader?’ How can we explain this? It doesn’t matter how talented you are, what level of caliber and education you possess, how many slogans you can shout, or how many words and doctrines are in your grasp; regardless of how busy you are or how exhausted you are in a day, or how far you’ve traveled, how many churches you visit, or how much risk you take and suffering you endure—none of these matter. What matters is whether you are performing your work based on the work arrangements, whether you are accurately implementing those arrangements; whether, during your leadership, you are participating in every specific work you are responsible for, and how many real issues you have actually resolved; how many individuals have come to understand the truth principles because of your leadership and guidance, and how much the church’s work has advanced and developed—what matters is whether or not you have achieved these results. Regardless of the specific work you’re involved in, what matters is whether you are consistently following up on and directing the work rather than acting high and mighty and issuing orders. Besides this, what also matters is whether or not you have life entry while doing your duty, whether you can deal with matters according to principles, whether you possess a testimony of putting the truth into practice, and whether you can handle and resolve the real issues faced by God’s chosen people. These and other similar things are all criteria for assessing whether or not a leader or worker has fulfilled their responsibilities” (The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (9)). “False leaders are basically incapable of doing essential, critical church work. They just handle some simple, general affairs; their work doesn’t play a critical or decisive role in the work of the church as a whole, and it does not produce real results. Their fellowship basically just covers a few trite and commonplace topics, it’s all oft-repeated words and doctrines and it is incredibly hollow, broad, and lacking in detail. Their fellowship only contains stuff that people can understand from reading something in a literal way. These false leaders cannot resolve the real problems God’s chosen people have in their life entry at all; in particular, they are even less capable of resolving people’s notions, imaginings, and revelations of corrupt dispositions. The main thing is that false leaders simply cannot shoulder the vital work arranged by God’s house, such as gospel work, film production work, or text-based work. In particular, when it comes to work that involves professional knowledge, while false leaders may know quite clearly that they are laymen in these fields, they do not study them, nor do they do research, and less still are they able to provide others with specific direction or resolve any problems related to them. And yet they still shamelessly hold gatherings, talking endlessly about empty theories, and speaking words and doctrines. False leaders know very well that they cannot do this kind of work, yet they pretend to be experts, act conceited, and always use grand doctrines to chide others. They are unable to answer anyone’s questions, yet they find pretexts and excuses to chide others, asking why they aren’t learning the profession, why they do not seek the truth, and why they are unable to resolve their own problems. These false leaders, who are laymen in these fields and cannot resolve any problems, still lecture others from up on high. On the surface, they appear very busy to other people, as if they’re able to do a lot of work and are very capable, but in reality, they are nothing. False leaders are clearly unable to do real work, yet they enthusiastically busy themselves, and always say the same platitudes at gatherings, repeating themselves over and over again, without being able to resolve a single real problem. People get very fed up with this, and are unable to derive any edification at all from it. This kind of work is terribly inefficient, and it yields no results. This is how false leaders work, and the work of the church is delayed because of it. Yet false leaders still feel they are doing great work and that they are very capable, when the fact is that they have not done a single aspect of the church’s work well. They don’t know if the leaders and workers who fall under the scope of their responsibility are up to standard, nor do they know if the leaders and supervisors of various teams are able to shoulder their work, and they neither care nor ask if problems have come up in the brothers and sisters’ performance of their duties. In short, false leaders cannot resolve any problems in their work, yet they remain energetically busy. From the perspective of other people, false leaders are able to undergo hardship, willing to pay a price, and they spend every day rushing about. When it is time to eat, they need to be called to the table, and they go to bed very late. Yet the results of their work just aren’t good. … The most obvious consequence of a false leader having been at work for some time is that most people are unable to understand the truth, they do not know how to discern whenever anyone reveals corruption or develops notions, and they certainly do not understand the truth principles that should be upheld in doing their duties. Those who perform their duties and those who do not are all sluggish, unrestrained and undisciplined, and in disarray like scattered sand. Most of them may be able to speak a few words and doctrines, but while doing their duties, they only observe regulations; they don’t know how to seek the truth to resolve problems. Since false leaders themselves do not know how to seek the truth to resolve problems, how can they lead others to do so? No matter what happens to other people, false leaders can only exhort them by saying, ‘We must be considerate of God’s intentions!’ ‘We must be loyal in the performance of our duties!’ ‘When something happens to us, we must know how to pray, and we must seek the truth principles!’ False leaders often shout these slogans and doctrines, and it doesn’t yield any results at all. After people hear them, they still do not understand what the truth principles are, and they lack a path of practice” (The Word, Vol. 5. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers. The Responsibilities of Leaders and Workers (3)). Wendy’s behavior was just as God’s words exposed. She only focused on looking busy, going through the motions, adhering to formalities, and emphasizing spouting slogans, words and doctrines in doing duty. She didn’t immerse herself among the brothers and sisters, and failed to look into their actual states and difficulties, let alone seek the truth to resolve these issues. She was like a Communist Party official who issues commands from on high without truly understanding the people’s conditions. It was evident that she was a false leader who didn’t do real work. Later, the leaders held a gathering to discern Wendy’s behaviors according to God’s words. Everyone gained a clearer understanding of the principles for discerning false leaders. They realized that the criteria to determine whether a leader does real work isn’t how busy they appear or how loudly they shout slogans, but whether they can solve real problems and achieve genuine results in their work. In the end, everyone unanimously agreed to dismiss Wendy. Seeing this result, I felt very excited, but I also regretted not reporting her problems earlier. If I had reported them sooner, the losses to the church’s work could have been avoided.

Through this experience, I learned to discern false leaders better and I gained some knowledge of my own corrupt disposition. I saw how selfish and deceitful I had been, always protecting myself and even sacrificing the church’s interests to protect my own at critical moments. If these satanic dispositions in me were not resolved, I would surely be spurned and eliminated by God. I also corrected a fallacious viewpoint. In the past, I did not dare report things I couldn’t perceive clearly, fearing my viewpoint wouldn’t be comprehensive and that I would be held accountable if I reported something wrongly, as if I needed to be 100% certain and infallible before I could report anything to the upper leadership. However, by practicing this way, many false leaders, antichrists, evil people, and disbelievers won’t be identified and dealt with in time, and by the time they cause significant losses to the church’s work or commit all kinds of evil and provoke widespread outrage, it is too late to dismiss them or clear them out, and the damage will already have been done. I saw that my previous concern that “If I can’t see something clearly, reporting it wrongly would cause disturbance and disruption” was ridiculous. It is also a cunning satanic philosophy for worldly dealings, and not in line with the truth principles. Through this experience, I truly felt that the house of God is governed by truth and righteousness, that false leaders and antichrists cannot stand in the house of God, and that the house of God particularly supports and upholds just acts of exposing and reporting false leaders. Only by being someone who practices the truth and protects the church’s interests, can one be in alignment with God’s intentions.