(1) All antichrist demons are arrogant and conceited, submitting to no one. They never exalt God or bear witness to Him, but are most talented at preaching letters and doctrines that beguile others;

(2) All antichrist demons hate and resist the truth. They do not know themselves in the least, have no insight into themselves, and are especially arrogant and self-righteous;

(3) Antichrist demons act sneakily, behave individualistically and dictatorially, and never fellowship with people. They would have others obey only them, not the truth or God;

(4) Antichrist demons do not in any way accept being dealt with or pruned. They have no attitude of repentance about any wrongdoings at all. On the contrary, they disseminate notions and pass open judgment on God;

(5) None who is an antichrist demon believes in God’s existence. They despise Christ and the truth, and they flagrantly violate principles and disregard the arrangements of God’s house;

(6) Antichrist demons always want to control the church’s finances, usurp offerings to God, and proscribe the work of God’s house, all while engaging in religious rituals and activities;

(7) All who number among antichrist demons harbor a bone-deep hatred of the man used by the Holy Spirit, and they employ a hundred methods to discredit, defame, and attack him in the hope of taking his place;

(8) Antichrist demons are interested only in fighting for power and profit. They seek always to beguile, ensnare, and control others—to establish their own kingdoms and to make God’s house their own, personal household.

Relevant Words of God:

What is God’s definition of an antichrist? One who is hostile to God. This is an enemy of God! One who is hostile to God, hostile to the truth, who loathes the truth, loathes God, and who loathes absolutely anything that is positive—this is no common person who is momentarily weak, foolish, and slightly mistaken in their thoughts and views, nor one with a slightly absurd understanding that does not accord with the truth. This is not the kind of person they are. This is an antichrist, an enemy of God. His role is that of someone who hates absolutely anything that is positive, hates all truth, and hates all of God’s disposition and essence. How does God treat one in this role? God will not save them! Such people despise and detest the truth by nature. What is exposed here is evil, ferocity, and detestation of the truth—these are the most serious manifestations and dispositions among corrupt dispositions, and they are the things most typical of and essential to Satan. This is no minor revelation of the corrupt disposition that is in common, corrupted people, but is a force that is hostile to God. They can disrupt and control a church, and they can destroy and interrupt God’s management work. Is this something that common, corrupted people do? Absolutely not, and you should therefore not underestimate it. Common people can also have an evil disposition; some of them behave selfishly and despicably, and some fiendishly, not allowing others to push them around, and thinking to themselves, “If people don’t offend me, I won’t offend them.” But how are the antichrists different from this? Their main disposition is not arrogance, but full-blown evil. And how is this evil mainly manifested? It can be seen in their bizarre way of doing things, which common people with some intelligence, with some knowledge and some social experience, find difficult to detect; this has risen to evil, and it is not deceit. They can play shadow games and tricks, and play them “better” than most people; most ordinary people cannot compete with them and cannot deal with them. This is an antichrist. Why is it said that ordinary people cannot deal with them? It is because their evil is so extreme that they possess an enormous power to deceive people. Why are we fellowshiping about the manifestations of antichrists? Because antichrists are all too able to deceive people. They deceive swaths of people at once, like a lethal plague, which, through its contagion, can harm and kill many in a single outbreak; it is highly contagious and wide reaching, and its infectiousness and mortality rates are greater than those of common diseases. Are these not severe consequences?

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Behave in Strange and Mysterious Ways, They Are Arbitrary and Dictatorial, They Never Fellowship With Others, and They Force Others to Obey Them

In the time when God had not yet become flesh, the measure of whether man opposed God was based on whether man worshiped and looked up to the invisible God in heaven. The way in which opposition to God was defined at that time was not all that practical, for man could not see God, nor did he know what the image of God was like, or how He worked and spoke. Man had no notions about God whatsoever, and he believed in God vaguely, because God had not yet appeared to man. Therefore, no matter how man believed in God in his imagination, God did not condemn man or make too many demands of him, because man was completely unable to see God. When God becomes flesh and comes to work among men, all behold Him and hear His words, and all see the deeds that God works from within His body of flesh. At that moment, all man’s notions become foam. As for those who have seen God appearing in the flesh, they shall not be condemned if they willingly obey Him, whereas those who purposefully stand against Him shall be deemed an opponent of God. Such people are antichrists, enemies who willfully stand against God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. All People Who Do Not Know God Are People Who Oppose God

Anyone who does not understand the purpose of God’s work is one who opposes Him, and one who has come to understand the purpose of God’s work but still does not seek to satisfy God is even more to be deemed an opponent of God. There are those who read the Bible in grand churches and recite it all day long, yet not one among them understands the purpose of God’s work. Not one among them is able to know God; still less can any one among them accord with God’s will. They are all worthless, vile people, each standing on high to lecture God. They willfully oppose God even as they carry His banner. Claiming faith in God, still they eat the flesh and drink the blood of man. All such people are devils that devour the soul of man, head demons that deliberately get in the way of those trying to step onto the right path, and stumbling blocks impeding those who seek God. They may appear of “sound constitution,” but how are their followers to know that they are none other than antichrists who lead people to stand against God? How are their followers to know that they are living devils dedicated to the devouring of human souls?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. All People Who Do Not Know God Are People Who Oppose God

Look at the leaders of each denomination—they are all arrogant and self-righteous, and their interpretations of the Bible lack context and are guided by their own imaginings. They all rely on gifts and erudition to do their work. If they could not preach at all, would people follow them? They do, after all, possess some knowledge and can preach on some doctrine, or they know how to win others over and make use of some artifice. They use these to bring people before themselves and deceive them. Nominally, those people believe in God, but in reality, they follow their leaders. When they encounter someone preaching the true way, some of them say, “We have to consult our leader about our faith.” A human is the medium of their faith in God; is that not a problem? What have those leaders become, then? Have they not become Pharisees, false shepherds, antichrists, and stumbling blocks to people’s acceptance of the true way?

—“Only to Pursue the Truth Is Truly to Believe in God” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

There are some who are entirely too cavalier in their attitude toward work arrangements from the Above. “The Above makes the work arrangements,” they think, “and we’re down here, doing the work. Some of what’s said and some of the tasks can be implemented flexibly—they can be altered when they come down to us. The Above just talks, after all, and we’re the ones doing practical work. We understand the situation in the church, but the Above doesn’t, so the people and work of the church that are given to us are ours to do with as we see fit. We can do as we like, and no one has the right to interfere.” To such people, the principle of serving God is this: “If I think something’s right, I’ll take note of it; if I think something isn’t workable, I’ll ignore it. I can resist you if I like, or go against you, and I don’t have to implement or carry out anything I don’t want to. If something you say strikes me as unsuitable, I’ll edit it for you, and, once I’ve filtered it, I’ll pass it on down. Nothing I haven’t approved may go to print.” Everywhere else, they disseminate the arrangements from the Above in their original form, but this person sends their edited version of the work arrangements to the people in the area they lead. Such a person wishes always to set God off to the side, and desperately wants everyone to follow and believe in them. The way they see it, God is not their equal in certain areas—they should be God, too, and everyone should believe in them. That is the nature of what they do. If you understood this, would you still cry when such a person is removed and replaced? Would you still feel sympathy for them? Would you still think, “What the Above does is uncalled for and unjust—how could the Above dismiss someone who’s suffered so much?” For whose sake have they suffered? They have suffered for the sake of their own status. Are they serving God? Are they performing their duty? Are they loyal and submissive to God? They are nothing but a lackey of Satan, and their work is the devil’s dominion; it destroys God’s management plan and disturbs His work. What sort of faith is that? They are nothing but a devil, an antichrist!

—“What Is It to Offend God?” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

What kind of person sets up his own kingdom? (An antichrist.) And why is such a person called “an antichrist”? First of all, “anti” means being antagonistic and hostile, and it involves being antagonistic and hostile toward Christ, toward God, and toward the truth. What does it mean to be “antagonistic and hostile?” (To stand in direct opposition.) (To have hatred.) Can people who hate God and who are in direct opposition to Him accept the truth? Can they love the truth? They certainly cannot. The very first way in which they express themselves is to not love the truth. Whenever someone speaks the truth, they do not express anything to that person’s face, but in their hearts they do not accept the truth, and deep down they resist it. While resisting, with regard to all positive things—all these truths such as submitting to God, loyally performing their duties, being honest people, seeking the truth in all things, and so on—do they have a little bit of subjective yearning or love? No, not in the slightest. Therefore, given this sort of nature essence that they have, they are already standing in direct opposition to God and the truth. So, inevitably, such people do not, deep down, love the truth or any positive thing. For example, people in positions of leadership have to be able to accept the various opinions of their brothers and sisters, they must be able to open themselves up to the brothers and sisters and accept the reproach of the brothers and sisters, and they must not take up status. What would an antichrist think of all of these correct ways of practicing? Perhaps he would say, “If I heard the brothers’ and sisters’ opinions, then would I still be a leader? Would I then still have status and prestige? Would I still be able to make people fear me? If I cannot make people fear me, and if I have no prestige, then what work can I do?” This is precisely the kind of disposition possessed by an antichrist; he does not accept the truth in even the tiniest way, and the more proper a method of practice is, the more he resists it. He does not admit that these correct methods of practice are ways of practicing the truth. What is the truth, as he believes it to be? It is that one should always use an iron fist, evil deeds, cruel methods, and shadowy tricks when dealing with anyone; one should never use truth, love, and God’s words. His way is an evil way. This is the nature essence of those who are of an antichrist’s ilk, and it is also the way they do things and the impetus behind their actions, the source from which they spring. This is what their motivation and their intentions are like. The essence of their motivations and intentions, which they often reveal, is precisely the essence of an antichrist—an aversion and hatred toward the truth. This is their essence. What, then, does it mean to stand in opposition to the truth and to God? It means hating the truth and positive things. For example, as an object of creation, one should fulfill the duty of a created being; no matter what God might say, people should submit, for humans are objects of creation. But how does an antichrist think? “It’s not untrue that I am an object of creation, but when it comes to submitting, that depends on the situation. First and foremost, there has to be some benefit in it for me; I mustn’t be put at a disadvantage, and I must put my own interests first. If there are rewards and great blessings to be gained and You want me to submit, then that’s fine, but without rewards and without a destination, then I can’t submit.” That is how an antichrist sees it. As another example, God would have people be honest, but what does an antichrist think of this? “Only idiots are honest; clever people aren’t honest.” Do these opinions constitute the antichrists’ attitude of not accepting of the truth? What is the essence of this sort of attitude? Its essence is a hatred for the truth. This is precisely the essence of antichrists, and their essence determines what kind of path they walk and, in turn, the path they walk determines what things they will do while fulfilling this sort of duty.

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Try to Win People Over

Some people have certain manifestations of an antichrist and certain outpourings of the disposition of an antichrist, but also accept and acknowledge the truth, and love the truth. They are possible objects of salvation. There are some people who, regardless of their appearance, are hostile and loathsome toward the truth by their nature essence. As soon as you speak of the truth or preach to them, they grow annoyed and oppositional: They start to doze off, they fall asleep, they are bored, and are not interested even when they do understand; or they may seem diligent on the outside, but measure the truth with a different attitude, or with some body of knowledge and theory. If this is the case, then regardless of how many of God’s words they have read or how many sermons they have listened to, there will ultimately never be the least change in their attitude, which is the pursuit of status and worldly things, enmity to God, and hostility to the truth. This is typical of the antichrist. Therefore, when you say that their actions are meant to win people to their side, and that they exalt and testify about themselves to vie for God’s status, to deceive people, and that their actions are those of Satan and antichrists, do they accept such condemnation? They do not. They think: “It is right and proper for me to act in this way. This is how I do things. You can condemn and criticize me all you want—I will not give up on this pursuit, this desire, or this way of doing things.” It is settled: They are antichrists. Nothing you say can alter their perspective, nor can it alter their motivations and intentions, nor their ambitions and desires. Such is the nature essence of a typical antichrist. No matter how their circumstances change, or how the people, matters, and things around them change, or how the times change, and regardless of the signs and miracles performed by God, and how much grace God gives them—even if He punishes them—their intentions will never change. Their way of being a human and way of doing things will never change, nor will their attitude of hostility to the truth. When others point out that what they are doing is exalting and testifying about themselves and trying to deceive people, they change their manner of speaking to one with which others can find no fault and which no one can discern. They use even more crafty means to carry on their management and achieve their secret aims. This is what is manifested in an antichrist, and it is engendered by the essence of an antichrist. Even if God told them they would be punished, that their end had come, that they were cursed and damned, could this change their essence? Could it change their attitude toward the truth? Could it change their love of status, fortune, and prestige? It could not. Turning people who have been corrupted by Satan into people with normal humanity who worship God is the work of God; it can be achieved. But is it possible to turn demons, people who are dressed in human skin but whose essence is satanic, who worship Satan in Satan’s camp and are hostile to God, into normal people? That would be impossible. God does not do this kind of work; these people are not included among those God saves. How, then, does God define such people? They belong to Satan. They are not objects of God’s selection or salvation; God does not want such people. No matter how long they have been in the house of God, how much they have suffered or what they have accomplished, their intentions do not change. They will not put aside their ambitions or desires, much less will they relinquish their motivation and craving to vie for status and for people with God. Such people are living antichrists.

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Exalt and Testify About Themselves

All antichrists would rather die than repent. They vow to resist God to the death, and fight to the very end. Even though, deep down, they acknowledge that there is a God, that He created man, and that He can save mankind, their nature makes them incapable of changing the path they have chosen, and incapable of changing the fact of their hostility to God. Thus, the essence of the behavior of antichrists is to constantly use various means and methods to achieve their goal of having status, of winning people over and making them follow and venerate them. It is possible that in the depths of their hearts they are not deliberately vying over humanity with God, but one thing is certain: Even when they do not vie with God for humans, they still wish to have status and power among them. Even if the day comes when they realize that they are vying with God for status, and they rein themselves in, they still employ other methods to gain status among people and be validated. In short, though everything antichrists do appears to comprise a faithful performance of their duties, and they seem to be true followers of God, their ambition to control people—and to gain status and power among them—will never change. No matter what God says or does, and no matter what He asks of people, they do not do what they should do or fulfill their duties in a way that befits His words and requirements, nor do they give up their pursuit of power and status as a result of understanding His utterances and the truth; throughout, their ambition consumes them, controls and directs their behavior and thoughts, and determines the path they walk. This is the epitome of an antichrist. What is emphasized here? Some people ask, “Are antichrists not those who vie with God to gain people, and who do not recognize Him?” They may recognize God, they may genuinely recognize and believe in His existence, and they may be willing to follow Him and pursue the truth, but one thing will never change: They will never relinquish their ambition for power and status, nor will they give up their pursuit of those things due to their environments or God’s attitude toward them. These are the characteristics of antichrists. However much a person has suffered, however much of the truth they have understood, however many truth realities they have entered, and however much knowledge of God they possess, beyond these external phenomena and manifestations, they will never rein in or relinquish their ambition for, and pursuit of, status and power, and this determines precisely their nature essence. There is not the slightest inaccuracy in God’s defining such people as antichrists; it has been determined by their very nature essence. Some people, perhaps, used to believe that an antichrist was anyone who tried to vie over humanity with God. However, sometimes antichrists do not necessarily have to vie with Him; they simply have to be those whose knowledge, understanding, and need for status and power is unlike that of normal people. Normal people can be vainglorious; they can try to win credit with others and make a good impression on them, and they can try to vie for a good ranking. This is the ambition of normal people. When they are replaced as leaders, losing their positions, they get over it; with a change in their environment, some growth in their stature, some attainment of entry to the truth, or the gaining of a deeper understanding of the truth, their ambition gradually cools. A change occurs in the path they take and in the direction they travel, and their pursuit of status and power fades. Their desires, too, gradually lessen. Antichrists, however, are different: They could never give up their pursuit of status and power. At any given time, in any environment, and no matter what people they have around them and however old they might be, their ambition will never change. What indicates that their ambition will never change? Supposing they are church leaders: They would want to control everyone in the church. They might then go to another church, where they are not the leaders, yet, they still yearn for that status. Wherever such people go, they want to wield power. Are their hearts not swollen with ambition? What they manifest goes beyond the realm of normal humanity. Is there not something abnormal about this? What is abnormal about it? What they manifest is not what ought to be manifested by normal humanity. What do they manifest? What is it that causes this to manifest? It is caused by their nature. They are evil spirits. This is not the same as ordinary corruption; there is a difference. Antichrists will stop at nothing in their pursuit of status and power; they are utterly engrossed by it. This is their nature essence; it is their original form, and their true face. They do not merely compete with God for status, but they compete with people for status, too. Whether others are willing or in agreement or not, antichrists actively try to control them and be their leaders, without regard for their wishes. Wherever they go, antichrists want to be in charge and have the last word. Is this their nature? Do people want to listen to you? Did they choose you? Did they elect you? Do they agree with your having the last word? No one wants these people to have the last word, and no one listens to them, but they still try to have it. Is this a problem? They are utterly shameless and unapologetic. When such people are leaders, they are antichrists; when they are not leaders, they are also antichrists.

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Confound, Draw In, Threaten, and Control People

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, status and prestige are the purpose they pursue, the goal they pursue that they cannot let go of in their hearts. 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. And so, 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. On the path of faith in God, if they feel that they have not gained substantial status—if no one reveres or looks up to them, if they are not exalted among others, and have no real power—then they are much discouraged, and believe that there is no significance or worth to faith in God. “Is the way I believe disapproved of by God? Have I not gained life?” In their minds, they often calculate about these things; they plan how they can gain a position in the house of God or environment they are in, how they can gain an elevated reputation and a certain level of authority, how they can make people listen to them and flatter them when they speak, how they can have them do as they say, how, in a group, they can have unilateral say over things and assert their presence. This is what they often think about in their minds. This is what such people strive for. Why are they always thinking about such things? After hearing the truth, after listening to the sermons, after reading the words of God, do they really not understand all this? Are the words of God and the truth really not able to change their notions, ideas, and opinions? This is a problem of people’s nature and essence.

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Do Their Duty Only to Distinguish Themselves and Feed Their Own Interests and Ambitions; They Never Consider the Interests of God’s House, and Even Sell Those Interests Out in Exchange for Personal Glory (Part Three)

One of the most obvious characteristics of the essence of an antichrist is that they are like despots running their own dictatorship: They do not listen to anyone, they look down on everyone, and what anyone else says, does, the insights they have, their viewpoint, their strengths—in their eyes, they are all inferior to them. It seems to them that no one is fit to participate in what they want to do, nor are they qualified to be consulted, or to give suggestions—that is the kind of disposition of an antichrist. Some people say this is being of poor humanity—how could it just be commonplace poor humanity? This is entirely a satanic disposition; this kind of disposition is supremely fierce. Why do I say that their disposition is supremely fierce? Antichrists think of the work of the house of God, including the interests of the church, as entirely their own, as their personal property that should be entirely managed by them, without anyone else interfering. And so the only things they think about when doing the work of the house of God are their own interests, their own status and prestige. They reject anyone who, in their eyes, is a threat to their status and reputation; they suppress and ostracize them. They even exclude and suppress people who are useful and suitable for performing certain special duties. They do not give the slightest consideration to the work of the house of God, nor to the interests of the house of God. If anyone may be a threat to their status, does not submit to them, does not pay them any mind, then they exclude them and keep them at a distance. They do not allow them to cooperate with them, and they particularly do not let them play any important role or be of any important use within their scope of power. No matter how deserving of merit these people’s deeds or how great the thing they have done for God’s house, antichrists cover it up, play it down, don’t let it show in front of the brothers and sisters, and keep them in the dark. Furthermore, the antichrists often bring up these people’s failings and corruptions among the brothers and sisters, they say these people are arrogant, that they make a fuss over people and issues, that they are liable to sell out the interests of the house of God, that they help outsiders instead of God’s house, that they are ignorant, and so on. They find every kind of excuse they can to exclude and suppress these people. In fact, some of these people have a special skill, and some just have a slight fault. Overall, they are suitable for performing a duty, they accord with the principles for those who perform a duty. But in the eyes of the antichrists, they think, “There’s no way I’m going to put up with this. You want to have a role within my domain, to compete with me. That’s impossible, don’t even think about it. You’re more capable than me, more articulate than me, more educated than me, and more popular than me. What would I do if you stole my thunder? You want me to work alongside you? Don’t even think about it!” Are they considering the interests of the house of God? No. All they are thinking about is how to preserve their own status, so they would rather harm the interests of the house of God than use these people. This is exclusion.

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Would Have Others Obey Only Them, Not the Truth or God (Part One)

The evil of antichrists has one major characteristic—I will share with you the secret of how to discern it. The secret is this—firstly, whether in their speech or their actions, they are unfathomable to you; you cannot read them. When they are speaking to you, their eyes are always swiveling to and fro, and you cannot tell what sort of scheme they are hatching. Even when they do appear very “sincere” and “honest,” you still cannot figure them out. You have a particular feeling in your heart, a sense that there is a deep subtlety within their thoughts, an unfathomable depth. They seem secretive and strange. This is the first characteristic, and this alone is a characteristic of evil. The second characteristic of the evil of antichrists is that they speak and behave in very delusive ways. Where can this delusiveness be seen? It can be seen in the fact that they are particularly skilled in grasping the psychology of others, their words sound pleasant and correct; they expound upon profound theories and say the right things, things that others find acceptable from the standpoints of emotions, conscience and reason, and ideology. But there is one thing that you should discern: All those pleasant-sounding things that they say, they never personally honor. Suppose, for example, they tell you how to be an honest person, how to pray when you are confronted with a problem, or how to let God take charge in your life—just look at what they do when they are the one confronted with problems. They rely on their own ideas, their own thinking, and they rely on their own abilities, racking their brains, doing this and that. They try everything possible to make other people do service for them, to take care of their own affairs. What they do not do is pray to God. Also, they pay lip service to how people should accept and submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements, but when faced with their own problems, the very first thing they do is look for a way out. They do not accept God’s orchestrations and arrangements—what people see is that they do not submit in their actions but just try to find a way out for themselves. This is the evil side of antichrists, which lies behind their delusive aspect. In their work, sometimes they labor late into the night or even eschew food and sleep, yet when they are faced with an arrangement made by the house of God, they do not implement it or put it into practice, and they do not accept the truth. Another behavior they reveal is that when brothers and sisters express an opinion they don’t agree with, they reject it in a very roundabout way, talking in circles. It makes you feel like they are taking your idea very seriously; they share fellowship and discuss it with everyone, but when all is said and done, you still have to do as they say. They will do whatever it takes to negate other people’s ideas, to make others go along with them and do as they say. Is this seeking the truth principles? What is the principle that they are putting into practice? It is to make everyone listen and submit to them, and that listening to other people can never be as good as listening to them, that their ideas are the best, the most elevated, and they themselves are the truth and what they say is absolutely correct. Is this not evil? The third characteristic of the evil of an antichrist is that whenever they bear witness to themselves—bearing witness to their own merit, the price they paid, and some things that they did well on the surface that everyone can see, or some things that can bring others some benefits along with them—every time they finish saying all these things, they end by saying something particularly spiritual, like “Thanks be to God; this was all done by Him,” making you see that they are so capable, yet still is able to bear witness to God, when in fact, they are just bearing witness to themselves and making God a footnote. They have not borne witness to God in the least, but are using this as an opportunity to bear witness to themselves alone. Is this not a cunning trick on the part of an antichrist? Is this not evil? With these three things as a basis, antichrists can easily be discerned.

There is another major characteristic of antichrists, which is also one of the primary expressions of their evil disposition and essence. Whether they are hearing sermons and fellowship, or taking part in a gathering—regardless of how other brothers and sisters fellowship on their knowledge of themselves, on acceptance of being judged, chastised, dealt with, and pruned, on properly performing duties, on standing in a position befitting a created being, and on letting go of their longing for blessings, what is antichrists’ attitude to this? No matter how others fellowship or how many people share their fellowship, the antichrists never change their motive to pursue status and blessings. This is why, each time they have worked for a certain period, they tally the things they did, what contribution they made to God’s house, and what matters they handled for the brothers and sisters. They are always surreptitiously making calculations, tallying things within their heart, and haggling with God. Why would they haggle over these things? It is because, deep within their heart, their aim in their pursuit and in their faith from the beginning has always been to chase after blessings. No matter how many years they listen to sermons or how much of God’s words they eat and drink, they will never let go of their desire and motive to receive blessings. If you ask them to be a dutiful created being and accept God’s rule and arrangements, they say, “That is not the right path, it is not what I should be pursuing. What I’m after is, when I have fought the fight, when I have made the requisite effort and suffered the requisite hardship, once I have done everything according to God’s standards, what sort of reward God will give me, whether I will be one of the ones kept, what kind of position I will have in God’s kingdom, and what my final destination will be.” No matter how you fellowship, you can never dispel this motive and longing that they harbor. They are of the same ilk as Paul. Is there not a certain kind of ferocious disposition harbored within this kind of evil?

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Are Evil, Insidious, and Deceitful (Part Two)

No matter what their circumstances, antichrists always feel that this ordinary person who is the incarnate flesh of God is superfluous to them, an obstacle to their getting to know God. They think to themselves, “As soon as human beings come into contact with Christ, He shows us up to be so insignificant and so corrupt in comparison. As long as we do not come into contact with Christ, we are so holy, but as soon as we come into contact with Christ, we feel ourselves to be so lacking. Before meeting Christ, we understand a good many things, and our stature is great. This Christ is just too much trouble.” Thus do they believe that it would be best to only read The Word Appears in the Flesh as much as possible when they have time on their hands. Regardless of what means they employ, or what their situation, the chief manifestation of antichrists is that they try to deny the fact of God’s incarnation and the fact that the words from Christ’s mouth are the truth. It’s as if denying the essence of the incarnate God and the fact that the words from Christ’s mouth are the truth gives them hope of salvation. In their inborn nature, the antichrists and the incarnate flesh of God are as fundamentally incompatible as fire and water and can never be reconciled. What these antichrists believe is, “As long as Christ continues to exist, there will be no hope that my day will come, and I will be in danger of being condemned and eliminated, of being destroyed and punished. But so long as this Christ does not make utterances or do His work and people do not look up to Him, even to the point of forgetting Him and consigning Him to the back of their minds, then there will be a chance for me.” The nature and essence of antichrists is that they can’t help but loathe and abhor Christ; they compare themselves with Christ in the size of their talent and the level of their skill, and vie with Him to see whose words are more powerful and who is more capable. In doing the same thing as Christ, they try to show people that Christ, though likewise a human being, has not even the talent or learning of an ordinary human being. In every respect, the antichrists pit themselves against Christ and compete with Him. In every respect, they try to deny the fact that Christ is God, the embodiment of God’s Spirit, and the incarnation of the truth. In every respect, they rack their brains to find ways to stop Christ from holding sway among the brothers and sisters, to prevent His words from finding fruition among them, and, furthermore, to prevent the things Christ does, the words He speaks, and the demands He makes of people and the expectations He has of them from being realized among them. It’s as if, with Christ present, these antichrists are going to be cast aside and will become that contingent of people within the church who are condemned, forsaken, and placed in a dark corner. From all kinds of manifestations, it can be seen that antichrists are in essence so utterly inimical to Christ that they are irreconcilable. Antichrists are born with the desire to separate themselves from Christ and stand against Him, to defeat Christ and strike Him down, to make the work done by Christ cease to exist, become untenable, and be unable to come to fruition among God’s chosen ones; no matter what work Christ is doing, and where He is working, they wish to see it utterly in ruins and without fruit. But when none of this goes as they would wish, there is darkness and depression in their hearts; they feel that these are dark times and their day will never come. They feel that they have been cast aside. Do these manifestations of the antichrists show that their essence of opposition and enmity to God is something acquired? (No.) In that case, it is innate. Therefore, it is impossible for people who are antichrists to accept the truth, to tolerate Christ. Seen from the outside, they don’t seem to have said or done anything, and they, too, are capable of doing their bit and paying a price in a down-to-earth manner. But as soon as they get the chance, as soon as the time is ripe, scenarios of the antichrists’ fundamental incompatibility with Christ will begin to appear, and the fact of the antichrists’ war against God and their rupture with God will become plainly visible. All these things have happened before in places where there are antichrists, and have become especially numerous during these years of God’s work of the last days. Many people have experienced them at first hand.

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Despise the Truth, Flagrantly Violate the Principles, and Disregard the Arrangements of God’s House (Part Four)

Since you believe in God, you must put faith in all of the words of God and in all of His work. Which is to say, since you believe in God, you must obey Him. If you are unable to do this, then it does not matter whether you believe in God or not. If you have believed in God for many years, and yet have never obeyed Him, and do not accept the entirety of His words, and instead ask that God submit to you and act according to your notions, then you are the most rebellious of all, you are a nonbeliever. How could such people be able to obey the work and words of God that do not conform to the notions of man? Most rebellious of all are those who intentionally defy and resist God. They are the enemies of God, the antichrists. Theirs is always an attitude of hostility toward the new work of God; they never have the slightest inclination to submit, nor have they ever gladly submitted or humbled themselves. They exalt themselves before others and never submit to anyone. Before God, they consider themselves the best at preaching the word, and the most skillful in working on others. Never do they discard the “treasures” in their possession, but treat them as family heirlooms for worship, for preaching about to others, and they use them to lecture those fools who idolize them. There are indeed a certain number of people like this in the church. It can be said that they are “indomitable heroes,” generation after generation sojourning in the house of God. They take preaching the word (doctrine) to be their highest duty. Year after year, generation after generation, they go about vigorously enforcing their “sacred and inviolable” duty. None dare touch them; not a single person dares openly reproach them. They become “kings” in the house of God, running rampant as they tyrannize others from age to age. This pack of demons seeks to join hands and demolish My work; how can I allow these living devils to exist before My eyes? Even those who are only half obedient cannot carry on until the end, much less these tyrants without the slightest obedience in their hearts! The work of God is not easily gained by man. Even using all the strength they have, people can only gain a mere portion of it, ultimately allowing them to be made perfect. What, then, of the children of the archangel, who seek to destroy the work of God? Do they not have even less hope of being gained by God?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Obey God With a True Heart Shall Surely Be Gained by God

How should God’s chosen ones treat antichrists? They must identify them, expose them, report them, and cast them out. No matter how an antichrist comes into a position of leadership, he invariably is one who resists God. You must not accept the leadership of an antichrist, and you also must not recognize him as your leader, for what he does is not to lead you into the words of God; he wants to drag you down to hell and haul you along the same path of the antichrists that he is walking. He causes you to join with him in resistance against God and in disrupting and destroying God’s work. He tugs and pulls at you so that you come to wallow with him in the mire. Will you consent to this? If you do, and if you compromise with him, beg him for mercy, or are conquered by him, then you have not borne witness, and you are a person who betrays both the truth and God—and such people cannot be saved. What are the conditions a person must meet in order to receive salvation? First of all, they must possess the ability to identify satanic antichrists; they must have this aspect of the truth. It is only by possessing this aspect of the truth that they can genuinely believe in God and refrain from worshiping or following man; only people who can identify antichrists have the ability to truly believe in God and follow and bear witness to Him. In order to identify antichrists, people must first learn to see people and things with complete clarity and understanding; they must be able to perceive the essence of antichrists, and they must see through all of their conspiracies, tricks, inner motivations, and objectives. If you can do this, then you can stand firm. If you want to obtain salvation, then the first test you must pass is to learn how to defeat Satan and how to overcome and triumph over hostile forces and interference from the outside world. Once you possess stature and sufficient truth to persevere to the end in a battle against Satan’s forces, and have defeated them, then—and only then—can you pursue the truth steadily, and only then can you step steadfastly and without mishap upon the path of pursuing the truth and being granted salvation. If you cannot pass this test, then it can be said that you are in great danger, and you are liable to be captured by an antichrist and come to live under Satan’s influence. It is possible that there are currently some among you who hinder and trip people who are pursuing the truth, and they are those people’s enemies. Do you accept this? There are those who do not dare to face this fact, nor do they dare to accept it as fact. In reality, these things do indeed exist in the church; it is just that people cannot discern them. If you cannot pass this test—the test of antichrists, then you are either deceived and controlled by antichrists or made to suffer, tortured, pushed out, suppressed, and abused by them. Ultimately, your measly little life will not withstand for long, and will wither; you will no longer have faith in God, and you will leave Him, saying, “God isn’t even righteous; where is God? There is no righteousness or light in this world, and there’s no such thing as God’s salvation of humanity. We might as well pass our days going to work and making money!” You deny God and no longer believe that He exists; any hope that you will obtain salvation is entirely gone. So, if you want to get to where you can be granted salvation, the first test you must pass is one of being able to see through Satan, and you must also have the courage to stand up and expose and forsake Satan. Where, then, is Satan? Satan is at your side and all around you; it might even be living inside your heart. If you are living within Satan’s disposition, it can be said that you belong to Satan. You cannot see or touch the Satan of the spiritual realm, but the Satan that exists in practical life is everywhere. Any person who detests the truth is evil, and any leader or worker who does not accept the truth is an antichrist and an evil person. Are such people not living Satans? These people might be the very ones you worship and look up to; they could be the people who lead you or the people you have long hoped for, admired, trusted and relied upon in your hearts. In fact, however, they are roadblocks standing in your way and hindering you from obtaining salvation; they are antichrists. They can take control of your life and the path you walk, and they can ruin your chance to be granted salvation. If you fail to identify them and see through them, then at any moment, you could plummet into their traps or be captured and taken away by them. Thus, you are in great danger.

—The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Exclude and Attack Those Who Pursue the Truth