(1) God’s chosen people must be received lovingly and with principles, and in submission to the church’s arrangements. Never receive antichrists, evil people, or evil spirits;

(2) In times of tribulation, leaders and workers, as well as the brothers and sisters, must be kept safe. This is an honor-bound responsibility, and it is also a good deed;

(3) A household should do what they can as befits their economic situation, with an eye toward simplicity and convenience. It is forbidden to eat and drink with abandon; instead, be guided by the principle of letting others eat to satiety;

(4) If a host household encounters difficulties, the church must resolve them; if a host household has financial issues, the church may bear the entire cost of reception.

Bible Verses for Reference:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, He that receives whomsoever I send receives Me; and he that receives Me receives Him that sent Me” (Jhn 13:20).

“He that receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward” (Mat 10:41).

Relevant Words of God:

Are the principles you must understand and the truths you must put into practice the same regardless of what duty you are performing? Whether you are asked to be a leader or a worker, or whether you are cooking up dishes as a host, or whether you are asked to take care of some matters outside the church or do some physical labor, the principles governing all these duties revolve around the truth. What then is the biggest and the chief among these principles? To properly perform your duties and to meet the requisite standards in doing so, you must know what duty is. What is duty, really? Is it your own career? Is it right to go about your duty as though it were your career, thinking, “I have to do it well so that people see how great and successful I am, and then my life will have meaning”? (It is not right.) Many people do not know what duty truly is, and this vision must now be clarified. What is duty? A duty is not managed by you—it is not your own career or your own work; instead, it is God’s work. God’s work requires your cooperation, which gives rise to your duty. The part of God’s work with which man must cooperate is his duty. The duty is a portion of God’s work—it is not your career, not your domestic affairs nor your personal affairs in life. Whether your duty is to deal with external or internal affairs, it is the work of the house of God, it forms one part of God’s management plan, and it is the commission God has given to you. It is not your personal business. So then, how should you treat your duty? You therefore cannot perform your duty whichever way you please. …

No matter what duty you fulfill, you must always seek to grasp God’s will and understand what His requirements are regarding your duty; only then will you be able to handle matters in a principled way. In performing your duty, you absolutely cannot go by your personal preferences, by just doing whatever you would like to do, whatever you would be happy and comfortable doing, or whatever would make you look good. If you forcibly impose your personal preferences on God or practice them as though they were the truth, observing them as if they were the truth principles, then that is not fulfilling your duty, and performing your duty in this way will not be remembered by God.

—“Only by Seeking the Truth Principles Can One Perform Their Duty Well” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

6. Do that which ought to be done by man, and carry out your obligations, and fulfill your responsibilities, and hold to your duty. Since you believe in God, you should make your contribution to God’s work; if you do not, then you are unfit to eat and drink the words of God, and unfit to live in God’s household.

Decree Six relates to the duties of man. Regardless of your previous life entry or how your personal pursuit has gone, and no matter your caliber or humanity, if the work of the church requires you to do something, then, no matter how great the difficulty, you should do it; if you do not, you are not fit to stay in the house of God—the house of God does not give free board! The house of God does not ask much of man: It does not require that you be of good caliber, good humanity, and good at your job, all at once—yet, at the very least, your behavior and the way you act must be acceptable. You must have a bit of a God-fearing attitude, and show some submission to Him. If you cannot even do that, then you should hurry on back home and stop muddling along in God’s house. If you are capable of fulfilling your duty, yet you refuse to, and you just want to freeload in God’s house, is this an example of someone who sincerely believes in God? In My view, such a person can be counted as a nonbeliever, and no different from an unbeliever. They are sickening to behold! If you wish to believe in God, you should do so properly; if you do not want to believe, no one is begging you to do so. Who asked you to believe? Doing so was of your own volition. If you cannot even do such a small thing, then why even talk about believing in God? If you cannot be a righteous person, then be a good person of the world, one who does some good; if you cannot even do that, you are worthless trash. The house of God does not want worthless trash. This is not a junkyard—such trash has no use. People who have no shred of truth must all be eliminated and cleared out! You absolutely must not commit all those outrages; you have to act in accordance with the principles. Whoever commits outrages and disrupts or disturbs the work of God’s house will be gotten rid of and thoroughly eliminated.

—“A Talk About God’s Administrative Decrees in the Age of Kingdom” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

Some people are horribly selfish—selfish to the extreme—and this represents their nature. Everyone is somewhat selfish, but there is a difference. When associating with others, some people can watch out and care for them, be concerned about them, and be considerate of them in everything they do, whereas others are not like this. Consider a person who is especially selfish and who, when hosting his brothers and sisters, puts the best things in front of his family. He always gives his own family the best food, but when his brothers and sisters come over, he only gives them small servings of inferior food. When his own relatives come, though, he makes the most comfortable arrangements for them and puts everything in order. However, when his brothers and sisters come over, he makes them sleep on the floor. When his brothers and sisters fall ill or have some other difficulty, such a person does not even give them any thought, behaving as though he does not notice. He thinks it is good enough that he allows them to stay over when they visit. Such people do not care or feel concern for others in the least; they only care for themselves and their relatives. This selfish nature of theirs is what determines that they are unwilling to care for others. They feel that caring for others involves suffering losses and going to a lot of trouble. Some people might rationalize, saying, “A selfish person does not know how to be considerate of others.” Why, then, are they so good to their own relatives and show full consideration for their needs? How do they know what they themselves lack and what is appropriate to wear or eat at a certain time? Why are they unable to be like that for others? Actually, they understand all of this, but they are selfish. This is determined by their nature.

—“How to Know Man’s Nature” in Records of Talks of Christ of the Last Days

Sermon and Fellowship Excerpts for Reference:

Some people, despite having become well-known for believing in God, are still able to take risks by taking in and protecting brothers and sisters who have been listed as wanted and are being sought after for arrest. Some people are not well-known as believers, so when they take people in, they are not at much risk; moreover, they, too, meet the condition of being able to shield some brothers and sisters who are on the run, but they simply do not want to take them in because they worry that doing so will bring them trouble. Are such people doers of good deeds? They are not willing to take even the slightest risk for believing in God. These people are especially selfish and despicable, and of malicious character. Therefore, their belief in God is empty; they absolutely will not gain God’s praise. Some of you even want to wait until after the downfall of the great red dragon before they will take people in, but by then, you will not be needed. Do not open up an umbrella after the rain has gone, because that is useless! God is righteous. You cannot even bring yourself to do this tiny bit of service, yet you still want to gain blessings! Stop daydreaming! What sorts of good deeds does God’s house value the most? In mainland China, there are a lot of brothers and sisters who are being hunted and are listed as wanted for arrest by the great red dragon, with no place to hide. Some brothers and sisters are able to put themselves at risk to take them in and give them protection; these are the kind of people who are loyal to God and can gain His blessings. Good deeds do not stem from how much people understand of the truth; all that matters is whether they are virtuous at heart, whether they are considerate of God’s will, and whether or not they genuinely have love for His chosen ones. This is the most crucial thing.

—Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life

Some people perform the duty of taking others in, and in the process, they can practice the truth and take their brothers and sisters in, all the while with a mindset of loving and satisfying God. In the end, those brothers and sisters see God’s love in them, they see His mercy for man, they see the true human likeness that people should live out and the conscience and reason humans should possess, and they come to know how to conduct themselves. Although such hosts may not be church leaders, others gain quite a few benefits from them. Because these hosts pursue the truth, are capable of consideration for God’s will, and love Him, they can be tolerant and patient toward their brothers and sisters. No matter what corruption brothers and sisters might reveal, these hosts are not averse to them; they always pray to God, depend on God, seek the truth to find resolution, and can still perform their own duties for others—fellowshiping on the truth and sharing their own experiential testimonies so that others can benefit. In this way, the duties they fulfill are completely in line with God’s will, and they themselves are people who conform to His will, too.

—Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life