By Su Shan, Japan

When I started serving as a church leader, Chen was responsible for our church’s work. We were about the same age and got along pretty well. We were always chatting about how we were feeling and she was lovingly helpful and supportive when I encountered difficulties in my duty. After a while, when I was promoted to oversee Chen’s work, she seemed to become a different person. She’d hardly acknowledge me and didn’t seem to want to talk to me, plus she always had a sour look on her face. I thought maybe she was in a bad mood because she was under a lot of pressure with work, so I didn’t give it much thought. Then later on in a gathering, she said, “I’ve been feeling jealous about you taking charge of my work. I feel like I do okay, so why wasn’t I selected? Everyone must think I’m not up to the task. The thought of not being valued and esteemed makes me so negative I don’t want to do a duty.” Then I realized those sour looks on her face came from jealousy. Later on, the sister I was partnered with told me Chen’s disposition was kind of unstable, she cared a lot about status and tended to be headstrong. When it was bad, it impacted work. She wanted me to fellowship with her and help her. I was thinking that she was too concerned with status, but she was simple and open, and in fellowship she could reflect on and understand herself. It couldn’t be too serious of an issue. Besides, she was young, so it was normal to feel some jealousy or be competitive. But after a while I realized that she really was too focused on status, and she would become negative and slack off if she didn’t get the prestige she wanted. For example, when my partner and I noticed some of her shortcomings in her duty and pointed them out to her, Chen thought we were trying to make her look bad in front of other coworkers, and she just refused to talk to us after that, no matter what we said. When we assigned someone else to a task instead of her, she would get moody, feeling like she wasn’t valued. Sometimes she felt so wronged she’d cry about it in gatherings and everyone had to drop everything to fellowship with her. She’d be happy and open up when we were all clustered around her fellowshiping. Sometimes she’d understand something about herself and cry with regret, saying she knew she was focused on status and wanted to change, but she couldn’t help but show that. Hearing that made me think she was just constrained by her corrupt disposition, and since she was so obsessed with it, that couldn’t be changed in an instant. I thought she just needed more help.

She was later elected to a leadership position and we became partners again. Once, a sister was arrested out of the blue the very day after I’d met up with her. We found out the police had been watching her for several days, so the brothers and sisters she’d been in contact with were almost certainly being watched. We had to let them know right away to take precautions and leave the area. Since I’d just seen her, it was very likely I was being tracked by the police, too, so there was no way I could help deal with the aftermath. I wrote to Chen and another coworker to discuss our next steps. Not only did Chen not come up with any solutions, but took that opportunity to provoke trouble between me and that coworker. She said that sister was arrested because I wasn’t principled in how I did things. The coworker saw me poorly, and dealt with and pruned me really harshly. She later learned that things weren’t at all the way Chen had said and she felt terrible. She opened up to me about it and said she’d fellowshiped with Chen, too, detailing how that was undermining others and sowing dissension. Chen not only refused to accept that, but argued her case. I was shocked to hear that. How could Chen be that way? She was called out for undermining me and being disruptive, but refused to admit it. That’s refusing to accept the truth. I was thinking about how Chen and I had worked together for so long, and she’d never mentioned any thoughts or biases toward me, or given me any suggestions. I wondered if I was doing something wrong that made her feel constrained and that’s why she’d say that to my coworker. If so, I knew I had to really carefully reflect on myself. So I got in touch with Chen and told her frankly what my reaction to that had been. I also mentioned that her undermining, disruptive behavior counted as evildoing. Chen responded by saying, “It wasn’t right of me to judge you that way in front of our coworker and I’ve been reflecting on myself. I’ve been striving for name and status recently. You take the lead and proactively handle so much work and everyone else supports you. No matter what you say, whatever you suggest, everyone wants to listen, but they just snub me. I feel really uncomfortable, and my corruption is taking over my mind.” She was crying while saying all this. I got really flustered to see her so hurt and I felt a little guilty. I felt like I hadn’t been attentive to her feelings and she struggled with corruption. She wasn’t in full control when she said those things about me, so since she could reflect and learn about herself, and really open up about it, that meant she wanted to repent and change. But after that, I discovered that she hadn’t changed, and that behavior was even getting worse.

Another coworker, someone always visiting those with important duties, was secretly tracked and arrested by the police. It seemed pretty certain that the police could find them through their surveillance. This was all really unexpected. We started emergency discussions about how to handle this to ensure everyone’s safety. But Chen was hardly saying anything, and she looked kind of unhappy. When we needed joint decisions, she was stammering and wouldn’t talk for ages. It really impacted our strategizing. I remembered in the past, when others didn’t agree with her perspective or she felt like she wasn’t valued, she’d silently pout and refuse to participate in discussions. I didn’t know what had been said this time that put her in a huff. It was such an urgent situation. Brothers and sisters could be arrested at any moment, which would damage the interests of God’s house, but she seemed indifferent. Furious, I just ignored her and continued discussions with the others. We notified the ones in danger they had to move right away. It was already past 11 p.m. when that was done and there was still some urgent work left to be done. But Chen was just sitting there pulling a long face, totally disengaged. She wouldn’t say anything or would just say a few perfunctory words when something needed joint discussion. It really held us up. Things that could have been wrapped up pretty quickly took us until 3 or 4 a.m. That’s not just being willful or temperamental, but it’s sabotaging and hindering work. Afterward, I exposed and dissected her selfishness and despicableness, only considering her own name and status without a thought for the church’s work. The nature of that is actually acting as the great red dragon’s helper, disrupting the work of God’s house. A few other coworkers also shared fellowship on her problems. But surprisingly, she just defiantly said, “If all of you think I can’t do this work, then fire me. Anyway, I feel like I can’t take on this duty.” She went on, “It’s not that I don’t want to be involved, but everyone rejects whatever I say. It’s gotten to the point that I don’t have any confidence left. What can I say? I want to help out with problems every time, but everyone else insists on dealing with it, so what can I do? In any case, everyone just sees me as useless as a leader. You think nothing of me, so I don’t want to engage with you, either.” We were all shocked to hear her say that. She still wasn’t accepting the truth. When criticized, she just dispensed with her duty and even blamed us, putting the responsibility on us. Even with such urgent work, she was just fighting for name and status. She was really lacking humanity. But then I wondered if I was being too forceful, just monopolizing everything and leaving her out in the cold. When nothing would impact her name or status, she was pretty involved and was good at finding issues in our work. But in this discussion, I did ignore her when I saw she wasn’t participating. If I really had caused her to stumble, that would be doing evil, too. I didn’t say anything more after that occurred to me.

But thinking it over later, I saw that Chen had acted this way over and over. Any time her name and status were involved, she’d get negative and slack off and not care about work, not remotely upholding the church’s work. What was the real problem? Then I read a passage of God’s words. “No matter how busy they seem on the outside, how much time they spend running about the streets, how much they sacrifice, give up, and expend, can the kind of people who only ever speak and act for the sake of status be considered those who pursue the truth? (No.) Absolutely not. For status, they will pay any price. For status, they will suffer any hardship. For status, they will stop at nothing. And for status, they will fight and argue with others. They don’t even fear the risk of punishment and retribution; they act for the sake of status without any thought of the consequences. What do people such as this pursue? (They pursue status.) Where is the similarity with Paul? (The pursuit of the crown.) They pursue the crown of righteousness, they pursue status and prestige, and treat the pursuit of status and prestige as legitimate pursuit, rather than pursuing the truth. What is the foremost characteristic of such people? It is that in all respects, they act for the sake of status and prestige” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only in the Pursuit of the Truth Is There Life Entry). With God’s words, I started to look back over Chen’s behavior all that time. She seemed to be ready to suffer and pay a price, but everything she did was for her own name and status. When I was in charge of her work, she immediately turned cold toward me, thinking she was on a lower rung. She got so depressed she didn’t want to do her duty anymore. We pointed out issues in her work to help her and sometimes we assigned other people to tasks instead of her. That’s the most normal thing in the world. But she thought doing that made her lose face, so she was defiant, sulking and refusing to speak, waiting for everyone to revolve around her, to make her the center of things. As a leader, she knew that the work in the aftermath of arrests is urgent, but she still wanted to fight for name and gain, undermined things, and refused to participate. She didn’t give a thought to brothers’ and sisters’ safety and didn’t uphold the work of God’s house. I could see from this her heart wasn’t in the right place, that she could only seek name and status, but not the truth. She was on a path against God. We tried to help and fellowship with her so many times, but she was resistant and wouldn’t accept it. That’s not someone who accepts the truth. The most basic principle for electing leaders is that they pursue and accept the truth. Without meeting that requirement, could she really act as a leader?

After that, some of us discussed whether Chen could continue to serve as a leader. Some said she was willful and it impacted work when her desire for status wasn’t met, but when her name and status weren’t involved, she could get some work done. She had good caliber and ability, and handled problems proactively. Also, a focus on status can’t be changed right away, so maybe she just needed some more help from us. Another coworker said when Chen fought for name and status and looked sour, we felt constrained, but she got along well with us when nothing threatened her status, and after every incident, she’d cry and be able to learn about herself, so she thought Chen wanted to repent and change. And after that last time we’d exposed her issues, she wasn’t negative for days on end like before, but got back to work the next day. This coworker wanted us to wait and see, and if Chen still didn’t change, it wouldn’t be too late to dismiss her. I started feeling uncertain when I heard that. I felt like that was all true. Once we pointed out her problems, she’d cry and talk openly about her own corruption and then get back to her duty as usual. If she really wanted to repent, couldn’t she change? Maybe we should wait and see, and if she kept disrupting and impacting church work, we could dismiss her then. And just like that, I shelved the issue of Chen.

But Chen just kept on being temperamental and sulky from time to time, and sometimes when we didn’t go along with her opinion, she felt like she was being snubbed. Sometimes she’d get upset if a coworker spoke with me a little more than with her, thinking we had a better relationship and she wasn’t important to us. Sometimes she’d suddenly get upset for no reason that I could see. We all felt really constrained by her. We had no idea what was said or done that was so upsetting for her. Sometimes I didn’t even want to come home from errands, because being with her was so difficult and oppressive. Once she went to a church to make changes to some of the leadership. Beforehand, we discussed that she absolutely had to dismiss false leaders and workers that weren’t well-suited and then have good leaders elected. She came back a couple weeks later and couldn’t wait to tell all of us about how she’d looked into everything and found out that a leader, Yang Chen, was shielding evildoers and antichrists, creating chaos in the church, and how she’d learned Yang Chen enjoyed the benefits of status and didn’t do real work, which practically paralyzed some of the church’s work. She also said Yang Chen was really selfish and cunning, and hardly said a true word, that the others lacked discernment and had been taken in, that they admired her. She pointed out all these behaviors to Yang Chen, who didn’t accept the truth or know herself, and didn’t have any regret for the things that she did. From everything Chen said about her, she was a false leader through and through. We asked Chen if she’d dismissed her. She kind of froze, thought for a moment, then said, “That was just my feeling, but I wasn’t entirely sure what her issues were, so I didn’t dismiss her.” I was a little angry when she said that. I thought: Hadn’t you just been going on and on about your discernment over Yang Chen? How could you say you wasn’t sure? You clearly saw Yang Chen was a false leader but didn’t dismiss her immediately, and let her keep her post. Wasn’t that hurting brothers and sisters? She was being a shield for a false leader and impeding the work of God’s house! We called Chen out based on these things and she looked pretty displeased at the time. She argued her own case, saying she lacked the discernment to understand things. Afterward, feeling her defensiveness was too blatant, she pretended to self-reflect again. She said she wasn’t lacking discernment over Yang Chen, but was trying to protect her status, afraid we’d say she dragged her feet and was inefficient, so she rushed back and didn’t dismiss Yang Chen in time. Even later, Chen didn’t have any understanding or regret for not dismissing a false leader right away. Soon after, she went to another church to make some changes in leadership. She was well aware one of the leaders there didn’t do practical work, but was always spouting off about doctrine, that he was a false leader. And there were two deacons. One was always using her position to scold, oppress, and discipline people, and another was lacking the caliber to do practical work. Principles required them to be dismissed. In the end, Chen just dismissed that church leader, so I asked her why she hadn’t dismissed the two deacons. She said she was afraid the leaders and deacons would say she was unloving, and the others would say she was arrogant, vicious, and wouldn’t give people a chance. She had a whole bunch of other excuses. Whenever this came up later on, Chen was all smiles; she didn’t have the least bit of remorse for not having dismissed them in time. We’d fellowshiped countless times on the importance of this kind of work. Chen had been a leader for years, and it’s not like she wasn’t aware of the harm false leaders and workers do to the church, but just to protect her name and status, she stood on false leaders’ side time after time, shielding them. This was a serious hindrance to the church’s work. When we fellowshiped with her on the nature of her actions, she had tons of excuses, but not any self-knowledge, much less regret or a sense of guilt. What kind of person was she? With this question in mind, I reached out to God in prayer and had fellowship with coworkers.

Then I read a passage in God’s words: “Antichrists’ archetypal attitude toward dealing and pruning is to vehemently refuse to accept or admit it; no matter how much harm they have done to the brothers and sisters and the house of God, they do not feel the slightest remorse or that they owe anything. From this point of view, do the antichrists have humanity? (No.) They have caused such harm to the lives of the brothers and sisters and all aspects of the interests of God’s house—anyone can see it, and everyone who sees it would say that is the case—and yet the antichrists do not accept or acknowledge this fact, they stubbornly stick to their guns and do not admit that they are in error in this matter, that they are responsible. Is this not an indication that they abhor the truth? Such is the antichrists’ abhorrence of the truth, such is the way they treat these matters. This is not taking the house of God, the church, and the interests of the brothers and sisters and the house of God seriously, isn’t it? (Yes.) If they acknowledged that they have harmed the interests of the brothers and sisters and the house of God, then they would have to accept responsibility. At the same time, wouldn’t their status and prestige be severely compromised? (Yes.) So they staunchly refuse to acknowledge it, they absolutely do not admit it, and even if they do admit this in their hearts, they will still not do so outwardly, believing that once they admit this, it will all be over for them. Whether their denial is deliberate or not, in short, in one regard this relates to the antichrists’ nature and essence of abhorrence of, and hostility toward the truth. In another regard, what does it show? It shows how much the antichrists treasure their own interests. What, meanwhile, is their attitude toward the house of God, and the interests of the church? It is one of contempt and denial of responsibility. They have no humanity. Does the antichrists’ shirking of responsibility demonstrate these issues? (Yes.) In one regard, shirking responsibility represents their attitude of hostility toward the truth; in another regard, it shows their lack of humanity. No matter how much other people’s interests are harmed because of them, they feel no self-recrimination and could never be troubled by this. What sort of creature is this? Even if they only conceded a little, saying ‘I did have something to do with this, but it wasn’t all my fault,’ this could still be considered as having some humanity, some conscience, a moral baseline—but the antichrists do not even have that slight amount of humanity. So what would you say they are? (The devil.) The essence of such people is the devil. They do not see the tremendous harm they have done to the interests of the house of God, they are not the slightest bit troubled in their hearts, and nor do they reproach themselves, much less feel indebted. Are they even people? This is absolutely not what should be seen in normal people. This is the devil” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Nine (Part Three)). From God’s words, I saw that antichrists won’t remotely accept the truth, but they despise the truth by nature. When they’re pruned and dealt with, they make excuses, refusing to accept it. No matter how much their actions hurt brothers and sisters or harm the work of God’s house, they never feel bad about it, and especially won’t repent or feel guilty. When someone does expose their evildoing, they’ll die before acknowledging it, just to protect their image. They’re incredibly cavalier and irresponsible about the work and interests of God’s house, and are even ready to sacrifice the interests of God’s house and brothers and sisters for the sake of their name and status. They’re totally lacking conscience and reason, and have zero humanity. They’re demons, Satan. I realized all of Chen’s behavior was exactly the same as what God reveals about antichrists. In everything she did, she defended her own name and status. When there was work that required urgent discussion after the arrest, when her suggestions weren’t accepted by everyone, she felt like we didn’t take her seriously, so she pouted and refused to participate in decisions, holding us up. She was well aware Yang Chen was a false leader who didn’t do real work, but still didn’t dismiss her, allowing her to continue harming church members. When another church’s deacons weren’t fit for the job, to protect her status, she didn’t dismiss them and allowed them to keep harming brothers and sisters. When she was called out for it, she was unwilling to admit it, but made excuses, telling bold-faced lies. The leaders of those two churches were later shown to be antichrists. They did so much evil and stirred up outrage. Even so, Chen had zero remorse for her evil deeds of siding with and shielding false leaders and antichrists. She even had a smile on her face. This showed me that by nature, she despised, hated the truth, and possessed evil humanity. She was a demon, a Satan, one of the antichrists.

I saw a video reading of God’s words later on. Almighty God says, “The antichrists’ cherishment of their status and prestige goes beyond that of normal people, and is something within their disposition and essence; it is not a temporary interest, or the transient effect of their surroundings—it is something within their life, their bones, and so it is their essence. This is to say that in everything an antichrist does, their first consideration is their own status and prestige, nothing else. For an antichrist, status and prestige are their life, and their lifelong goal. In all they do, their first consideration is: ‘What will happen to my status? And to my prestige? Will doing this give me prestige? Will it elevate my status in people’s minds?’ That is the first thing they think about, which is ample proof that they have the disposition and essence of antichrists; they would not strive thus otherwise. It can be said that for an antichrist, status and prestige are not some additional requirement, much less something extraneous that they could do without. They are part of the nature of antichrists, they are in their bones, in their blood, they are innate to them. Antichrists are not indifferent toward whether they possess status and prestige; this is not their attitude. Then, what is their attitude? Status and prestige are intimately connected to their daily lives, to their daily state, to what they strive for on a daily basis. And so for antichrists, status and prestige are their life. No matter how they live, no matter what environment they live in, no matter what work they do, no matter what they strive for, what their goals are, what their life’s direction is, it all revolves around having a good reputation and a high station. And this aim does not change; they can never put it aside. This is the true face of the antichrists, and their essence. You could put them in a primeval forest deep in the mountains, and still they would not forsake status and prestige; you can put them among a group of ordinary people, and all they think about is still status and prestige. Once they acquire faith, they see their own status and prestige as tantamount to the pursuit of faith in God; which is to say, as they walk the path of faith in God, they also pursue their own status and prestige. It can be said that in their hearts, they believe that faith in God and the pursuit of the truth is the pursuit of status and prestige; pursuit of status and prestige is also the pursuit of the truth, and to gain status and prestige is to gain the truth and life. If they feel that they have no prestige or status, that no one admires them, or venerates them, or follows them, then they are very frustrated, they believe there is no point in believing in God, no value to it, and they say to themselves, ‘Is such faith in God a waste of time? Is it hopeless?’ They often deliberate such things in their hearts, they deliberate how they can carve a place out for themselves in the house of God, how they can have a lofty reputation in the church, so that people listen when they talk, and support them when they act, and follow them wherever they go; so that they have a voice in the church, a reputation, so that they enjoy benefits, and have status—they often ponder such things. These are all what such people pursue. Why are they always thinking about such things? After reading the words of God, after hearing sermons, do they really not understand all this, are they really not able to discern all this? Are the words of God and the truth really not able to change their notions, ideas, and opinions? That is not the case at all. The problem starts with them, it is wholly because they do not love the truth, because, in their hearts, they detest the truth, and as a result, they are utterly unreceptive to the truth—which is determined by their nature and essence” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. Item Nine (Part Three)). Pondering God’s words, I saw that antichrists particularly covet name and status. Wherever they are, whatever they do they’re just thinking about whether they’ll be admired and valued by others, if they’ll have decision-making authority. If they can’t get that, they’re incredibly disappointed and will even lose interest in having faith and doing a duty. In their hearts, reputation and status are above all else. No matter what’s going on around them or how many words of God they listen to, they’ll never change this pursuit. And for the sake of their own image and interests, they’ll even fight God and the truth till the very end. I thought back over Chen’s behavior. She treasured her name and status above all else, to the point it had become her very life. She was always fighting for the authority to make final decisions, and she’d get spiteful and sulky when she didn’t get it. She even undermined others and incited problems. She’d entirely lost all proper human reason. When the church’s interests were involved, she still put her own name and status first. No matter how urgent it was for the work of God’s house or if others were in danger, she just didn’t care. Sometimes she was perfectly aware she was a disrupting influence, but still wanted to protect her own status. Chen was a leader for years. She knew false leaders and antichrists needed immediate dismissal, but she just wanted to protect her own status, so when she saw false leaders and antichrists doing all sorts of evil, disrupting church work, she just fully acted as a shield for them. This harmed the church’s work and seriously damaged church members’ life entry. She was an accomplice in evil, brazenly working against God. I thought of this passage 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. Their behavior interrupts and disturbs God’s work, it impairs the brothers’ and sisters’ entry into life, and it damages the normal life of the church. Sooner or later, these wolves in sheep’s clothing must be cleared out; an unsparing attitude, an attitude of rejection, should be adopted toward these lackeys of Satan. Only this is standing on the side of God, and those who fail to do so are wallowing in the mire with Satan” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. A Warning to Those Who Do Not Practice the Truth). She was a leader, but wasn’t remotely upholding the interests of God’s house. The more critical or urgent it was, the more of a roadblock she became. She was always like that. That wasn’t simply showing some corruption or lacking discernment for a moment. She was knowingly disrupting and undermining the work of God’s house. That’s exactly what God described as “the genuine devil Satan.” Based on the principles, that kind of person must be removed from the church. The more I pondered God’s words, the clearer it became. I saw how blind and foolish I’d been. I’d been nothing but tolerant of this evildoer, this antichrist, treating her like a sister. I thought she was just young and unstable, that she had gifts, caliber, and was competent, so I kept helping and supporting her, giving her chances out of love. I was also shielding a false leader, an antichrist, allowing the work of God’s house to be harmed. I prayed to God in my pain and self-recrimination: “God, I didn’t have any discernment. I was a shield for a false leader, an antichrist, committing a serious transgression before You. God, I want to repent. Please guide me to stand up and expose Chen’s evildoing and protect the church’s work.”

After that, a few other coworkers and I jointly wrote a letter reporting Chen and then exposed and dissected her evil deeds to her in person. She appeared to feel wronged and didn’t have the slightest understanding of her behavior. I remembered something from God’s words, that there’s no such word as “repentance” in an evil person’s lexicon. I felt even more certain that Chen by nature hated, despised the truth. No matter how much evil she did or what failures she experienced, she couldn’t possibly truly repent. We dismissed her according to principle. After being dismissed from her post, she didn’t self-reflect in the least. She kept saying judgmental things about God’s house lacking love, and ultimately gave up her faith. Through this I saw that Chen was one of the antichrists, nonbelievers exposed through God’s work. She was officially expelled from the church.

Afterward, I was reflecting on myself. Why didn’t I see an antichrist right by my side? What was I lacking, that I didn’t have this discernment? I realized through this reflection that after every time she fought for her image, she opened up about her behavior and thoughts, and sometimes even shed tears. I figured she was preoccupied with status, but could accept the truth and wanted to repent. The reason behind her doing disruptive, unreasonable things was being young, unstable, bound by her corruption and unable to stop. So I mostly just offered fellowship and help, and always tried to reflect on and understand myself. Also, when her name and status weren’t involved, she got along well with others and really had a burden in her duty. I was taken in by this false image she created. I later saw another video of a reading of God’s words that really helped me understand this. Almighty God says, “Regardless of by what means antichrists deceive people and try to rope them in, one thing is for certain: For the sake of their own power and status, they will rack their brains and use every means at their disposal to achieve their aims. Something else is for sure, too: No matter what they are doing, they are not performing their duty, much less is it in order to perform their duty well, but in order to achieve their aim of taking power within the church. What’s more, no matter what they are doing, they never take into account the interests of God’s house, much less do they give any consideration to the interests of God’s chosen ones. You will never find either of these things in the antichrist’s dictionary; both are naturally absent in them. No matter what level of leader they are, they are totally indifferent to the interests of God’s house and the chosen ones. To their mind, the interests and work of God’s house have nothing to do with them. Both are disdained by them; they only consider their own status and interests. … Sometimes, if they are reported for doing too many wicked deeds and the Above finds out, they will feel as if they are about to lose their status, so they will cry bitterly, and outwardly appear to be repenting and turning to God; but what is the real reason for their tears? Why do they feel remorse? Their sadness and anguish stem from the fact that they no longer hold a place in people’s hearts, and lost their own status and reputation. That is the reason for their tears. At the same time, they are contemplating the next steps in consolidating their status and learning from their failure. Judging by what is manifested in the antichrists, they never regret or suffer for their own transgressions and the corrupt dispositions that are revealed in them, much less could they have true understanding of these things and repent. Even if they kneel before God with tears streaming down their faces, reflecting on themselves and cursing themselves, this is still a subterfuge—one that some believe is genuine. It could be that their emotions at such times are genuine, but remember that antichrists can never truly repent. Even if a day comes when they are exposed and cast out, they will never truly repent, they will just admit they failed, that the ploy didn’t work. Why do I say this? It is based on the nature of antichrists: They can never accept the truth. Therefore, their self-knowledge is always be false” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Deceive, Draw In, Threaten, and Control People). I saw from God’s words that antichrists are demons, evil and cunning by nature, and have incredibly clever tactics for deceit. Sometimes they appear loving, tolerant, and patient with others, but once their own interests are involved, they’ll stop at nothing to lash out and reject other people. That’s how you can tell their so-called love, patience and tolerance are all fake. Sometimes, they may weep bitterly, know and curse themselves, but that’s not true repentance. It’s to mislead and control others, to solidify their own position. I carefully thought back on all my interactions with Chen. She got along with us normally when her name and status weren’t involved, but as soon as they were, she’d instantly show another side. When she was in charge of my work, she was helpful and supportive, but when I was in charge of her work, she suddenly became really cold toward me, and undermined me out of jealousy. When we pointed out her issues, she was totally unreceptive, and even made excuses. She put the responsibility on us, attacking us. Later on she did speak openly about the corruption she’d shown, and cried, saying she wanted to change and repent, but there was absolutely no change in her. Satan’s tricks were hiding behind her self-knowledge and opening up. She wanted to use these to mislead us, so we’d think she understood herself and we wouldn’t see her for what she was. That way she’d protect the place she held. She also wanted us to stand on her side, to be sympathetic and understanding. Her self-knowledge was just to pull the wool over people’s eyes. It was really sly and wicked. Those were just crocodile tears, and without staying sharp, it was easy to be taken in, to be misled by her. Those who really have a conscience and reason, who possess humanity are filled with regret and hate themselves the moment they do something that’s bad for God’s house or interrupts its work. After the fact, they want to do everything possible to make up for it, and deep in their hearts, they want to repent and change. But Chen was exactly the opposite. No matter how much damage she caused to the work of God’s house, she never repented or felt bad at all, and she wasn’t crying because she hated the evil she’d done. When we exposed her evil deeds afterward, she didn’t repent at all. She just made a false countercharge, accusing God’s house of lacking love. This showed that she wouldn’t accept the truth at all. By nature, she hated the truth, she was really rigid and vicious. She fully displayed an antichrist’s nature and essence, without a doubt. Then I finally saw that not discerning antichrists’ natures, characteristics, and tactics for deceit means it’s easy to mistake someone with an antichrist essence for someone with an antichrist disposition, then be blindly kind toward devils, and unwittingly do something against God.

After all this I really felt how important it is to learn to discern false leaders and antichrists. I never used to focus on learning truths related to discernment. I had a basic idea, a general understanding of false leaders’ and antichrists’ behavior, which meant I didn’t see the one right by my side. I was an antichrist’s shield without knowing it, leaving me with so much regret and guilt. I also experienced that learning the truth and gaining discernment is the only way to do God’s will at critical moments, to expose false leaders and antichrists and protect God’s house. I’m grateful to God for arranging this real-life situation for me and for the guidance of His words, which have given me some discernment over antichrists and some understanding of my own shortcomings. Now I have heartfelt experience of the importance of pursuing the truth. Learning this is thanks to God’s guidance and blessings! Thanks be to God!