Item Nine: Accurately Communicate, Issue, and Implement the Various Work Arrangements of the House of God in Accordance With Its Requirements, Providing Guidance, Supervision, and Urging, and Inspect and Follow Up on the Status of Their Implementation (Part Two)

Providing Guidance, Supervision, and Urging for the Implementation of Work Arrangements, and Inspecting and Following Up on the Status of Their Implementation

Today, we will continue to fellowship on the ninth responsibility of leaders and workers: “Accurately communicate, issue, and implement the various work arrangements of the house of God in accordance with its requirements, providing guidance, supervision, and urging, and inspect and follow up on the status of their implementation.” Last time, we mainly fellowshipped about the various contents and specific items in the work arrangements that people need to understand, as well as the most basic responsibilities of leaders and workers, which are to communicate, issue, and implement the work arrangements. Today, we will specifically fellowship on how leaders and workers should provide guidance, supervision, and urging, and how they should inspect and follow up on the status of the implementation of work arrangements after they have been issued. How leaders and workers should treat the work arrangements, and how to accurately implement and execute the work arrangements according to the requirements of the Above and the steps, once they understand the significance of the work arrangements—these are truth principles that leaders and workers must come to understand through fellowship, and they need to grasp these principles in order to perform the various items of church work well. Leaders and workers should know that the basic requirement of God’s house for those serving in this role is mainly for them to perform their work centered around the various work arrangements. It is not for them to engage in their own personal enterprise or do things according to their own desires, and it is certainly not for them to fumble around by themselves in any of the work they do. Of course, it is also not for them to invent or create anything. Instead, it is for them to work specifically and in detail based on the work arrangements of God’s house. How should the work be done specifically? What details are involved? The answer to these questions is in the requirements of the ninth responsibility: Besides communicating, issuing, and implementing the various work arrangements of God’s house, leaders and workers also need to provide guidance, supervision and urging, and inspect and follow up on the status of their implementation. These are the specific paths of practice for leaders and workers to implement the work arrangements. Next, we will discuss them one by one.

After the work arrangements are issued, leaders and workers must first ponder and fellowship on the various requirements and principles put forward therein. Then, they must find paths and practice plans to specifically implement the work. First, they need to know what the work arrangements require, what specific work needs to be done, and what the principles involved are, as well as which people and which aspect of the work the work arrangements are addressing. This is what leaders and workers must do first after receiving the work arrangements. They should not just casually peruse the work arrangements and then read them aloud to everyone, or pass them down and notify everyone about the work, and then that’s it. This is just communicating and issuing the work arrangements; it is not implementing them. The first specific task in their implementation is for leaders and workers to learn about the specific content of the work arrangements, God’s requirements and goals for these pieces of church work, and the significance of carrying out this work, and to then develop specific execution and implementation plans. This is the first step. Is the first step easy to achieve? (Yes.) As long as you can understand written words and human language, the first step should be easy to achieve. Of course, accomplishing the first step also requires leaders and workers to have a serious, earnest, responsible, and meticulous attitude toward the work, rather than being muddled, perfunctory, or going through the motions. Whether the work arrangement has been mentioned before or not, whether it is easy or somewhat difficult for people to achieve, whether people are willing or unwilling to do it, in any case, leaders and workers should not have a cursory attitude toward the church work, just speaking some doctrines, shouting slogans, or making some surface-level efforts to deal with it in a perfunctory manner. What is the attitude that people should have? First, they should have a serious, earnest, responsible, and meticulous attitude. Does having this attitude mean that a person can implement the specific items in the work arrangements well? No, this is just the attitude that one should have when doing any work; it cannot replace the actual implementation of specific tasks. Once they have this attitude and also understand the specific content, requirements, and principles of the work arrangements, the next step for leaders and workers is how they implement the specific tasks in the work arrangements. What should be done first? They must do the preparatory work properly; this is very important. First, they must gather the leaders and workers and supervisors to fellowship on the specific principles of practice for these tasks. Then, they must develop specific arrangements and plans. At the same time, they should seek the suggestions or ideas of God’s chosen people regarding these plans. Everyone should then seek and fellowship together until all the requirements and principles put forward in the work arrangements are understood and clear, and everyone knows how to implement these work arrangements and practice—then the initial step of implementing the work arrangements is considered complete. So, once everyone knows how to implement the work arrangements, does that mean the task of implementing the work arrangements is complete? No, it does not. Some detailed issues and special situations are not mentioned in the work arrangements, but they are problems that do actually need to be solved. While fellowshipping on the work arrangements, leaders and workers should unearth these special situations, these issues that ought to be resolved, and seek the truth to thoroughly solve them, and at the same time they should also develop specific implementation plans for them. This way, when leaders and workers at all levels are implementing the work arrangements, they will know which principles to follow and which problems to solve. This is the minimum understanding and attitude that leaders and workers should have toward the work arrangements. This task can be considered the starting point for leaders and workers to learn how to do church work. Through seeking, fellowshipping, providing guidance, and making arrangements, they learn to treat and handle some actual difficulties and special situations according to the truth principles. Only then can they truly implement the work arrangements.

I. Providing Guidance

When providing initial guidance for a task, besides offering specific implementation plans for special situations, leaders and workers with average caliber and relatively poor work capability should be given more specific and detailed guidance. Although these people may understand the principles and specific implementation plans for a task in terms of doctrine, they still do not know how to put them into practice when it comes to actual implementation. How should you treat the few leaders and workers who have poor caliber and lack work capability? Some people say, “If a person with poor caliber cannot do the work, why not just find someone with better caliber to replace them?” The difficulty lies here: Some churches cannot find anyone better. In those churches, everyone has believed in God for about the same number of years and they are roughly the same in terms of their stature; in particular, everyone’s caliber and work capability are average. To find someone better, you would need to transfer people from other churches, but it’s not very convenient to do that there, and there aren’t any truly suitable candidates. You can only select relatively suitable candidates from the local church. If their work does not meet the required standards, what should be done in such situations? You need to specifically tell them how to do the work, and how to implement it. You should tell them who should be appointed to and made responsible for this task, and which people should be selected to work on it together. Explain all these details to them and let them carry this out. Why should it be done this way? Because the members of the local church generally only have very shallow experience and lack work capability, making it impossible to select suitable leaders and workers. Only by working in this way can the work arrangements be implemented. If you do not work in this way and treat these people the same as other leaders and workers, only telling them about the specific principles and plans, and being indiscriminate, the work arrangements will not be implemented. If you don’t pay any attention to this, isn’t that a dereliction of duty? (Yes.) This is a responsibility of leaders and workers. Some leaders and workers say, “Others know how to implement the work arrangements and practice; why doesn’t this person? If they don’t know, I won’t bother with them. It’s not my responsibility. At any rate, I’ve done my part.” Does this reasoning hold up? (No.) For example, say that a mother has three children, and one of them is weak, always gets sick, and does not want to eat. If the mother allows this child to not eat, that child might not survive long. What should she do? As a mother, she has to give special care to that weak child. Suppose the mother says, “It’s already good enough that I treat my children equally. I gave birth to this child and prepared food for him. I’ve fulfilled my responsibility. I don’t care whether he eats or not. If he doesn’t eat, let him be hungry, and when he’s really hungry enough, he’ll eat.” What do you think of this kind of mother? (She’s irresponsible.) Are there mothers like this? Only a dim-witted woman or a stepmother would be like that. If she’s the biological mother and not dim-witted, she would never treat her own child like this, right? (Right.) If a child is weak, always gets sick, and doesn’t like to eat, their mother has to put in more care and effort. She has to find ways to get the child to eat, she has to cook whatever the child wants to eat, preparing special meals for them, and when the child doesn’t want to eat, she has to coax them. When they get to eighteen or nineteen years old and their body is healthy like a normal adult, the mother can relax and back off, and no longer needs to give this child special care. If a mother can treat a child with special circumstances like this and fulfill her responsibility, then what about a leader or worker? If you don’t even have the love of a mother for the brothers and sisters, then you are simply irresponsible. You must fulfill the responsibilities you should; you must consider the churches where those who are relatively weak and possessed of relatively poor work capability are in charge. Leaders and workers must pay special attention and provide special guidance in these matters. What does special guidance refer to? Besides fellowshipping on the truth, you must also provide more specific and detailed direction and assistance, which requires more effort in terms of communication. If you explain the work to them and they still do not understand, and do not know how to implement it, or even if they understand it in terms of doctrine and seem to know how to implement it, but you are still unsure and a bit worried about how the actual implementation will go, what should you do then? You need to personally go deep into the local church to guide them and to implement the task with them. Tell them the principles while making specific arrangements concerning the tasks that need to be done according to the requirements of the work arrangements, such as what to do first and what to do next, and how to properly allocate people—organize all of these things properly. This is practically guiding them in their work, as opposed to just shouting slogans or giving random orders, and lecturing them with some doctrines, and then considering your work done—that is not a manifestation of doing specific work, and shouting slogans and bossing people around are not the responsibilities of leaders and workers. Once the local church leaders or supervisors can shoulder the work, and the work has entered onto the right track, and there are basically no major issues, only then can the leader or worker leave. This is the first specific task mentioned in the ninth responsibility of leaders and workers for implementing the work arrangements—providing guidance. So, how exactly should guidance be provided? Leaders and workers should first practice pondering and fellowshipping on the work arrangements, learning about and comprehending the various specific requirements of the work arrangements, and understanding and grasping the principles within the work arrangements. Then, they should fellowship together with leaders and workers at all levels on specific plans for implementing the work arrangements. Additionally, they should provide specific implementation plans for special situations and, finally, they should give more detailed and specific assistance and direction to leaders and workers who are relatively weak and have relatively poor caliber. If some leaders and workers are completely unable to implement the task, what should be done in such situations? The upper-level leaders and workers should go deep into the church and personally participate in the task, resolving the actual issues through fellowshipping the truth, and get them to learn how to do the work and how to implement the work according to the principles. These steps have been clearly stated in words, but is it easy to implement them? Are there any difficulties involved? Some might say, “You make it sound simple, but implementing it is not so easy. Sometimes the work arrangements are very complicated, and no one knows how to implement them!” Just the first task—fellowshipping on the specific requirements of the work arrangements and providing guidance in a practical manner—some leaders and workers find this quite strenuous. They say, “I have never done these specific tasks, so I don’t know how to fellowship and provide guidance about them. They should just follow the exact words of the work arrangements—what is there to fellowship about? Isn’t that just a formality?” They don’t know how to fellowship, they only know how to shout slogans: “We have to implement this work well! This is God’s requirement for us. We absolutely must hold our ground, meet God’s requirements, and not disappoint God’s expectations for us. As for how to do it, you should figure this out yourselves.” What is the problem with people who say things like this? Can they do the work? Do they have work capability? Is their caliber poor? (Yes, it is.)

No matter what happens, whether it’s a big or small matter, you should pray to and seek from God, as well as think and consider carefully and thoroughly, before making a judgment. If a person does not have normal thinking, it is even more vital for them to pray to God, asking for God’s help, and to seek more from those who understand the truth. Additionally, for major matters in church work and major matters encountered while doing duties, you must fellowship and discuss them with the relevant personnel to reach a consensus and finally develop a specific and feasible plan of practice. This plan should be a consensus achieved through careful consideration and consultation, and it should hold up in front of leaders and workers of any level. Those who can develop specific plans of practice that hold up are considered to have normal thinking. If, when faced with issues, whether big or small, there’s nothing concrete within a person’s thoughts, and they cannot think of specific principles of practice, and just use simple theoretical slogans to replace principles for handling problems, can they do their work well? Does such a person have the ability to think and the ability to think through things? (No.) What kind of person lacks the ability to think? (A person with poor caliber.) This is what it means to be a person with poor caliber. Let’s take an example. Suppose you are living overseas, and one day you suddenly receive a court summons. This is quite unexpected and sudden, no? First of all, you have not done anything illegal. Second, you have not filed any lawsuits, nor have you heard of anyone accusing you of anything. You receive the summons without knowing any of the circumstances surrounding it. What is the first feeling that an average person would have when faced with such a situation? Getting caught up in legal matters would cause them some panic, worry, and dread; it would leave them feeling caught off guard, and not really in the mood to eat. Whether a person is important or not, bold or timid, an adult or a minor, no one wants to encounter such a situation because it is not a good thing. Faced with this situation, people react in two different ways. The first type of person thinks, “I haven’t done anything illegal, nor have I violated any government regulations. What do I have to fear? This is a society governed by law, where everything is based on evidence. Since I haven’t done anything bad, they won’t have any evidence against me even if they do prosecute me. I have nothing to fear. What can a summons do? An upright person need not fear accusations. I’ll hire a lawyer to defend me; there won’t be any problems.” After thinking this through, they feel no pressure in their hearts, and their daily life remains unaffected. This is the reaction of one type of person. Now let’s look at the reaction of the second type of person. After receiving the summons, they think, “I haven’t broken any laws, nor have I committed any crimes, so what could this be about? Could it be because I believe in God? Believing in God isn’t illegal. Is it possible that someone has deliberately framed me and reported me? That seems more likely. But could it be something else? I need to consult a lawyer and ask them to go to the court to find out why I received the summons and who the plaintiff is. I need to get to the bottom of this before deciding on a countermeasure. If the lawyer says it is related to my belief in God, then I need to quickly find people to devise a countermeasure and also hurry to hide any books or other such things related to my faith to prevent my enemy from finding something to use against me.” After these initial thoughts, although they haven’t made any definitive conclusions or accurate judgments about receiving the summons, they already have a clear idea of the specific plan of practice: what to do for Plan A, what to do for Plan B, and if both are not feasible, what they should do next. They consider every step thoroughly and carefully; they first calm their mind and quickly pray in their heart, and then, after settling themselves, they immediately get down to handling this matter. Within a day, they have figured out all of these things and know how to proceed. Regardless of what the eventual outcome of this matter is, let’s first look at these two types of people. Which one has the ability to think through problems? Which one has caliber? (The second person.) Obviously, the second person has caliber. Having courage and determination alone when one encounters a situation doesn’t equate to having caliber. One must be able to think, possess discernment, and have the ability to handle problems. In the process of thinking, they must be able to make specific judgments and develop specific operation plans. Only this kind of person has caliber. On the surface, they may seem very timid, acting cautious and careful about even small matters, and treating small matters as significant. However, the method and way they handle problems proves that this person has the ability to think and the ability to think through and handle problems. By contrast, the first type of person is very bold and not afraid of anything. When they encounter a situation, they think simply, “I haven’t done anything bad. No matter what goes wrong, there’ll always be a more capable person there to fix it. What do I have to be afraid of?” They are carefree and live an easy life, but aren’t they a bit foolishly brave and dim-witted? This type of person shouts slogans loudly, and what they say isn’t wrong, but what are they lacking? (They don’t have normal thinking and they lack the ability to think through problems.) Where does their lack of normal thinking manifest? When encountering a situation, whether it is something that has occurred suddenly or something they already knew about, they cannot think it through or make a judgment, so naturally, they won’t have a plan to handle the problem or the ability to solve it. This is very obvious. From the outside, this type of person appears to be eloquent and they can speak doctrines, and they can also boost morale; they seem to have the caliber to be a leader. However, when faced with problems, they cannot see through to the essence of the problems and cannot fellowship on the truth to resolve them. They can only speak some words and doctrines and shout slogans. On the surface, they seem shrewd, but when encountering problems, they cannot analyze or judge the causes of the problems, nor can they assess the serious consequences that will occur if the problems continue to develop. They cannot sort out these matters in their mind, let alone solve the problems. Such a person appears eloquent but actually has poor caliber and cannot do real work. Similarly, if leaders and workers, upon receiving a work arrangement, can only read it and explain it literally, and though they may issue the work arrangement and fellowship on its key points in gatherings, they do not know how to make specific arrangements and provide specific guidance for the work arrangement’s specific requirements, principles, matters that require attention, special situations, and so on, and they have no plans, no ideas, and no ability to solve problems, then they have poor caliber. When implementing work arrangements, the first task that leaders and workers need to perform—providing guidance—is not easy or simple. This first task tests whether a leader or worker has the caliber and work capability that they ought to possess. If leaders and workers do not have this caliber and work capability, they will not be able to provide specific guidance for the work arrangements or implement them.

II. Providing Supervision and Urging

Next, let’s fellowship on the task of “supervision.” Judging from the literal meaning, supervision means inspection: checking which churches have implemented the work arrangements and which have not, the progress of implementation, which leaders and workers are doing real work and which are not, and whether any leaders or workers are merely dispensing the work arrangements without participating in the specific tasks. Supervision is a specific task. Besides supervising the implementation of work arrangements—whether they have been implemented, the speed of implementation, the quality of implementation, and the results achieved—higher-level leaders and workers must check if the leaders and workers are strictly following the work arrangements. Some leaders and workers outwardly say they are willing to follow the work arrangements, but after being faced with a certain environment, they fear being arrested and just focus on hiding, having long since relegated the work arrangements to the back of their minds; the brothers’ and sisters’ problems go unresolved, and they don’t know what the work arrangements specify or what the principles of practice are. This shows that the work arrangements have not been implemented at all. Other leaders and workers have opinions, notions, and resistance to some of the requirements in the work arrangements. When it comes time to implement them, they deviate from the true meaning of the work arrangements, doing things according to their own ideas, going through the motions and glossing over things just to be done with them, or taking their own path, doing things however they feel like. All such situations require supervision by higher-level leaders and workers. The purpose of supervision is to better implement the specific tasks required by the work arrangements without deviation and according to principles. While conducting supervision, higher-level leaders and workers must place great emphasis on identifying if there is anyone who is not doing real work or is irresponsible and slow in implementing the work arrangements; if anyone shows a resistant mood concerning the work arrangements and is unwilling to implement them or implements them selectively, or simply does not follow the work arrangements at all and instead just carries out their own enterprise; if anyone is withholding the work arrangements, and only communicates them according to their own ideas, not letting God’s chosen people know the true meaning and specific requirements of the work arrangements—only by supervising and inspecting these issues can higher-level leaders know what’s really going on. If higher-level leaders do not conduct supervision and inspection, can these problems be identified? (No.) They cannot. Therefore, leaders and workers must not only communicate the work arrangements and provide guidance level by level but also supervise the work level by level when implementing the work arrangements. Regional leaders must supervise the work of district leaders, district leaders must supervise the work of church leaders, and church leaders must supervise the work of each group. Supervision must be carried out level by level. What is the purpose of supervision? It is to facilitate the accurate implementation of the content of the work arrangements according to their specific requirements. Therefore, the task of supervision is very important. When conducting supervision, if the environment permits, leaders and workers should go deep into the churches to interact with those who are doing the actual work. They should ask questions, observe, inquire, learn about, and grasp the situation of the work implementation. At the same time, they should learn about what difficulties and thoughts the brothers and sisters have regarding this work and whether they have grasped the principles of this work. These are all specific tasks that leaders and workers need to perform. Especially for those with relatively poor caliber and humanity, who are somewhat irresponsible, disloyal, and relatively slack in their work, leaders and workers need to supervise and direct their work even more. How should supervision and direction be done? Suppose you say, “Hurry up! The Above is waiting for our work report. This work has a deadline; don’t drag it out!” Would this way of urging them work? Does urging mean just pushing them a bit, and that’s it? What’s the better way to urge? When you work, do you include urging as part of your tasks? (Yes. If I see that some tasks are not being done promptly, I will try to understand why they are not doing them and follow up on their work.) If you see someone who does not know how to do the work, you must provide specific guidance and help, and give them direction. If you see someone being slack, you must prune them. If they know how to do the work but are too lazy to do it, are sluggish and procrastinate, and indulge in fleshly comfort, then they should be pruned as needed. If pruning does not resolve the issue and their attitude does not change, what should be done? (Do not let them do this work.) First, give them a warning: “This work is very important. If you continue to treat it with such an attitude, your duty will be taken away and given to someone else. If you are not willing to do it, someone else will be. You are not loyal to your duty; you are not fit for this work. If you are not up to this task and cannot endure physical hardship, God’s house can replace you with someone else, and you can also submit a resignation. If you do not resign and are still willing to do it, then do it well, and do it according to the requirements and principles of God’s house. If you cannot achieve this and repeatedly delay progress, causing losses to the work, then God’s house will deal with you. If you cannot fulfill this duty, then sorry, but you will have to leave!” If after the warning they are willing to repent, they can be retained. But if after repeated warnings their attitude does not change and they show no hint of remorse, what should be done? They should be dismissed immediately—won’t that resolve the problem? It’s not that we hold small faults or minor issues against people when we see whoever has them; rather, it’s that we are giving people opportunities. If they are willing to repent and they change, becoming much better than before, then retain them if at all possible. If repeatedly giving them opportunities, fellowshipping on the truth, pruning, and warning don’t work, and no one’s help is effective, then this is not an ordinary issue: This person’s humanity is too poor, and they do not accept the truth at all. In that case, they are not suitable for this duty and should be sent away. They are not fit to do duty. This is how the matter should be handled.

When supervising the church’s work, leaders and workers should not only be adept at identifying various problems but also pay special attention to some church leaders whom they feel uneasy about or find unreliable. These people need to be supervised and followed up on for an extended period; you can’t just occasionally ask them about the situation or brush the issue aside with a few words and consider it done. Sometimes, it is necessary to stay on-site to supervise their work. What is the purpose of staying on-site? It is to discover and resolve problems more quickly and to get the work done well. Sometimes, you cannot discover problems as soon as you arrive at the work site. Instead, it is through detailed understanding, inspecting the work, and careful observation that some problems gradually surface and can be discovered. Staying on-site to conduct supervision is not about monitoring or watching over people. What does supervision mean? Supervision involves inspecting and providing direction. It means specifically asking about the work in detail, learning about and grasping the progress of the work and weak links in the work, understanding who is responsible in their work and who is not, and who is and isn’t capable of performing the work, among other things. Supervision sometimes requires consulting, understanding, and inquiring about the situation. Sometimes it requires face-to-face questioning or direct inspection. Of course, more often it involves having direct fellowship with the people in charge, asking about the implementation of the work, the difficulties and problems encountered, and so on. While conducting supervision, you can discover which people only outwardly apply themselves to their work and just do things superficially, which people do not know how to implement specific tasks, which people know how to implement them but do not do the real work, and other such issues. If these discovered problems can be resolved in a timely manner, that is best. What is the purpose of supervision? It is to better implement the work arrangements, to see if the work you have arranged is appropriate, if there are any oversights or things you haven’t considered, if there are any areas that are not in line with principles, if there are any distorted aspects or areas in which mistakes have been made, and so on—all these issues can be discovered during the process of conducting supervision. But if you stay at home and do not perform this specific work, can you discover these problems? (No.) Many problems need to be asked about, observed, and understood on-site to be known and grasped. When conducting supervision, you must urge those who, in their work, are irresponsible and careless, deceive those above them and conceal things from those below them, and are perfunctory and slow. We just discussed several steps regarding how to urge them: You can provide direction, fellowship, prune, warn, and dismiss them. Are these steps easy to carry out? (Yes.)

III. Inspecting and Following Up

After leaders and workers urge the work on, the next step is to inspect the work. What is the usual purpose of inspecting the work? Inspecting the work is to determine the progress of the tasks that have been arranged, identify any problems that need to be urgently resolved, and ultimately ensure that the work is fully done well. After the work has been arranged, it is necessary to inspect several aspects: what stage the subsequent work has reached, whether it has been completed, how efficient it is, what the results are, whether any specific problems have been identified, whether there are any difficulties, whether there are any areas that do not conform to principles, and so on. Inspecting the work you have arranged is also a specific and necessary task. Some leaders and workers often make a mistake: They think that once they have arranged the work, their job is done. They believe, “My task is complete, my responsibility fulfilled. At any rate, I’ve told you how to do it. You know what to do, and you’ve agreed to do it. I don’t need to worry about how things proceed; just report to me once you’ve finished.” After planning and arranging the work, they believe their task is complete and everything is fine. They do not follow up or inspect the work. As for whether the person they arranged to be in charge of the task is suitable, what the state of most people is like, whether there are problems or difficulties, whether they have confidence in doing the church work well, whether there are distorted or wrong aspects, or whether there are any violations of the work arrangements from the Above, they do not learn about, inspect, or follow up on. They just consider their job done after arranging the work; this is not doing specific work. What should be inspected in the work? The main things to check are whether the implementation plan aligns with the work arrangements, whether it violates the principles and requirements of the work arrangements, and whether there are any people who cause disruptions and disturbances, any people who blindly stir up trouble, or any people who spout high-sounding words during the work. Of course, while inspecting the work, you are also checking whether there were any mistakes in your own implementation of the work arrangements. Inspecting others’ work is actually also inspecting your own work.

Fellowshipping on How to Implement Work Arrangements With an Example

Regarding how to implement the work arrangements from the Above, let’s give a specific example. For instance, let’s say the work arrangement requires people to write experiential testimony articles. This is a specific task that covers a wide range of aspects and is a long-term, ongoing task, not a temporary work arrangement. So, after this work arrangement is issued, what should leaders and workers do first? According to the ninth responsibility of leaders and workers, which requires them to provide guidance, supervision, and urging, and inspect and follow up on the status of the implementation of the work arrangements, the first thing leaders and workers need to do is fellowship with the team leaders and supervisors on how to specifically carry out this task appropriately and in a way that yields results, ensuring that everyone has a path and principles to follow for this work. Only by fellowshipping to this extent can the work be done well. First, make sure everyone understands the standards required by the Above for writing testimony articles and what kind of testimony articles are required. First, establish the specific content, principles, and scope of these articles, and make sure all leaders and workers are aware of this. Additionally, provide specific fellowship and guidance on the length, format, subject matter, and language style of the articles—for example, let them know that the articles may be written in the form of a narrative, a diary, a personal account, a prose poem, and so on. Isn’t this providing guidance? (Yes.) After providing guidance, everyone will know the specific concept and definition of the testimony articles they need to write. Following that, determine who has the caliber and experience to write experiential testimony articles, and who lacks deep experience and can only train in writing average testimony articles. Church leaders need to be keenly aware of these situations. After the articles are written, review them to check if they are genuine and edifying. If they are up to standard, they can be used as sample articles for brothers and sisters who have not yet written articles or do not know how to write them to read and reference. If anyone has experiences and is willing to write testimony articles, they should follow the principles and requirements, share the contents of their heart and speak practical words so that they will edify readers. If some people are not good at writing articles and can only write a simple account of events, what should be done with them? Even if their articles do not meet the standards, they should still train. They should write articles about their genuine understanding and appreciation gained from experiencing God’s words. After copyediting and reviewing these articles, if the content meets the standards for testimony articles, then such articles are valid. Regardless of the writing style of the article, and regardless of its form—whether it is written as a narrative or a diary—as long as it is beneficial and edifying to the readers, it can be written. There are also some people with low educational levels who have some experiential testimonies but do not know how to write testimony articles. What should be done in such cases? They can narrate their experiences orally, and someone with more education can help them record their experiences and then express them accurately according to that person’s true meaning, copyediting it into a testimony article that is up to standard. Such articles are also valid. To begin this work, first fellowship on what a testimony article is and its format. Then, make specific requirements and arrangements for people of different educational levels, different age groups, and those with different experiences and statures. Have those with experiences write some articles first. Meanwhile, identify individuals in the church who are suitable for guiding brothers and sisters in writing articles and who are suitable for copyediting and proofreading articles to carry out these specific tasks. This provides an initial arrangement for this work. Does arranging it this way mean the work is thus fully implemented and you can leave it alone? No, this is just providing specific direction, help, and implementation plans based on the requirements of the work arrangement. What should leaders and workers do next? You should supervise the work. Should this supervision have a target? Supervision is not just random spot checks; it needs to have a primary target. You must have a clear understanding of who needs to be supervised and which work stages require supervision. For example, if a certain sister is a church leader who is usually not earnest in her work, likes to boast, aims high but is incompetent, tends to deceive her superiors and conceal things from those below her, speaks in an especially pleasant-sounding way, and tends to be perfunctory in her work, it is imperative that she be supervised in her work. You cannot fully trust her. The first step, then, is to inspect her work and see how her implementation of the work arrangements is going. Is this just arbitrarily supervising people? (No.) This is necessary for the work because this work is too important and those who carry out this kind of work must be reliable. If they do not perform specific tasks and are not trustworthy, blindly trusting them will delay the church’s work, and you will also be derelict in your duty. For such people, you cannot be swayed by how nice their words sound or how strongly they declare their commitment; in actuality they just talk well but do nothing substantive behind the scenes. Such people are precisely the targets of supervision. Through supervision, observe whether they have repented. If they have not, dismiss them immediately and stop wasting effort on them. In fact, you should practice following up, supervising, and providing direction with most leaders and workers. For those who can do real work and have a sense of responsibility, if it is work they know how to do, there is no need for supervision. However, for new or important work, follow-up, supervision, and providing direction are still necessary. It can be said that supervising and following up on work like this is the job of leaders and workers. Follow-up, supervision, and providing direction are not about distrust but ensuring the smooth progress of the work. Because people have various shortcomings and, on top of that, various corrupt dispositions, without practicing this way, it is impossible to guarantee the work is done well. Those who have just been promoted to work require even more follow-up, supervision, and direction. This is a specific task that leaders and workers must perform. If you do not practice follow-up, supervision, and providing direction, many tasks cannot be done well, and some work may even be bungled or brought to a standstill. This is an all-too-common occurrence. In particular, leaders and workers who do not pursue the truth require even more supervision. With others, the work can be implemented quite soundly, but with such people, it is uncertain whether the work can be implemented or how well it will be implemented, and whether it will be implemented according to the work arrangement is even harder to say. Such people are not very reliable in their work. If you trust them without supervising their work, this is essentially being perfunctory and irresponsible toward the work. For such people, you need to follow up and supervise, and be involved in the work of their church. If they are unwilling to let you come or do not welcome you, what should you do? You may say, “I’ll just swallow my pride and go anyway.” Are these words right? (No.) That is not their personal territory; it is a church, and it falls within the scope of your responsibility. You are not dragging out your stay in their house to freeload; you are going to a church to do work. This is not about swallowing your pride. Although they are a leader, God’s chosen people are not theirs. It is because they are irresponsible and disloyal in their work that you need to follow up and supervise their work. So, what should you do when you go there? First, ask them who in the church has life experiences and can write experiential testimony articles, who puts relatively greater focus on pursuing the truth, who puts relatively greater focus on writing diaries and spiritual devotion notes, who focuses on sharing their experiences in gatherings, and who has the most experiential testimonies. Let them point these people out first. If they provide several brothers and sisters, saying that these are the ones who put relatively greater focus on reading God’s words, have the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, often write spiritual devotion notes, focus on practicing the truth when encountering situations, and frequently share experiential testimonies that others are willing to listen to, then you should meet with these brothers and sisters and fellowship with them. Additionally, there are definitely some people in the church who have low educational levels and cannot write articles but have practical experiences. These people need guidance and training, and you can have those who know how to write articles help them for a period of time. At the same time, select a person to be responsible for implementing the specific work of God’s chosen people writing experiential testimony articles. This person will be in charge of collecting, copyediting, reviewing, and then submitting the completed articles. And what should the church leader do? Have them supervise and follow up on these tasks. Some people might say, “Since there is a church leader, why do we need to select someone to be in charge? Isn’t that redundant?” Is it redundant? (No.) Why not? It is because this church leader does not do real work and is too unreliable that you have to select another person to be specifically responsible for this work. If the church leader were reliable, they would be able to steadily carry out the work after receiving the work arrangement, and you wouldn’t need to supervise them like this. Selecting someone to be in charge is not about sidelining the church leader but about achieving better work results. If you do not select this person, the work might fall through, and when it will be completed or yield results would become an uncertainty.

The purpose of leaders and workers participating in church work is to guide God’s chosen people to practically experience God’s work. Not only should they do their own duty well, but they should also help and lead God’s chosen people to carry out all the church’s work according to the standards required by the work arrangements. Only leaders and workers who do this are aligned with God’s intentions. But if you do not specifically participate in the work, and do not practice supervising the leaders and workers who do not do real work, then the results of these church tasks may come to nothing, having been ruined by false leaders. If you clearly understand the situation of a certain church, and you know in your heart that this church’s leader is irresponsible, but you do not follow up and provide direction in a timely manner, isn’t this a dereliction of duty? For this type of work, if you have specifically followed up and participated, and arranged both the supervisor and people to do the work, can you then leave immediately? (No.) It is best to follow up for a period of time. During the follow-up, for one thing, you can urge and guide the church leaders to actively cooperate with this work. Additionally, you can have an accurate understanding of the work situation of the people you arranged, and at the same time you can give timely corrections and help for any problems they encounter at any time. If you leave too early, and then come back to handle and resolve issues when they arise, it will delay the work. In summary, for this specific work, in addition to participating in arranging the personnel and the supervisor, it is best to also follow up for a period of time to see what problems arise during their work. For one thing, supervise whether the church leaders are fulfilling their responsibility; for another, see how the personnel are performing the work. Because most people have not done this work before and the problems that may arise are unknown, you will continually discover some unknown issues while participating in this work. Of course, it is best to provide timely solutions as well. Staying on-site, supervising, and following up are the best practices. Do not just sloppily go through the motions and call it a day. This is work done for a special situation, providing some help and guidance. After solving the problems, follow up on their work for a period of time. You see that some articles have already been written, and there are many types of articles, addressing various issues and covering different topics—some are about experiences of CCP persecution, some about experiences of family persecution, some about how people come to understand the corrupt dispositions they reveal, or how the various corrupt states people exhibit while doing their duties are resolved, and so on. These testimony articles must all be reviewed to ensure they completely conform to the facts and genuinely edify people before they can be approved and made into videos. When the work reaches this level, you will have already seen the results. This proves that, in preliminary terms, the personnel and the supervisor you arranged for this work are relatively suitable. Next, if they can complete this work on their own, then it is appropriate for you to withdraw. Do leaders and workers working in this way also receive edification? Is this more rewarding than just prattling on about theories all day and wasting time? (Yes.) This kind of work has great rewards. For one thing, you learn to solve actual problems. For another, you fulfill the responsibilities of leaders and workers. Additionally, your understanding of the truth does not stop at the level of words and doctrines; rather, you apply the truth more in real life. This way, people gain practical experience, and their understanding of the truth becomes more concrete and practical.

After a pilot work project of a church has been guided to this extent and initial results have been achieved, what work should leaders and workers do next? Is your job done once a pilot project is completed? Is there more work for you to do? There is so much work still! After the work of this church has been guided, see which other church’s work needs focused guidance, and then go to that church and continue to provide guidance. Since you already have some work experience and have grasped some of the truth principles, it will be much easier to provide guidance work again. Of course, according to the work steps discussed earlier, you should first check whether the selected personnel are up to standard, whether they are suitable for this work, and whether their caliber, humanity, educational level, degree of pursuing the truth, attitude toward their duty, and understanding of the truth, among other aspects, are relatively ideal, and whether they are relatively top-notch individuals. Through a period of supervision and inspecting the work, you will have the opportunity to discover that some leaders and workers or supervisors are not up to standard. For example, some people have poor caliber and cannot do the work. Others have distorted comprehension, incorrect viewpoints, lack normal thinking, and don’t have spiritual understanding. They can only proofread articles based on their academic knowledge but are ignorant when it comes to the appropriateness of specific spiritual terms and the appropriateness of quoting God’s words; they are unable to see through these things at all, which shows that it was unsuitable to have selected them and that they should be promptly replaced. Still others, meanwhile, are selected to be supervisors, and although they can do some work, better results are achieved when they write articles on their own. When asked to serve as supervisors, they have no time to write when they become busy with their work, and they do not do the work of a supervisor very well. They are not adept at providing guidance, inspecting work, or rectifying problems but are better at performing a single, specific task. So, selecting such an individual to be the supervisor is not appropriate, and another candidate should be chosen. Therefore, when leaders and workers are inspecting and following up on a specific task, it is not enough to just ask questions and inquire to find out if the supervisor understands the principles. You also need to observe just what the person’s humanity is like, and whether their caliber, comprehension ability, and stature are suitable for doing this duty. If the inspection reveals personnel who are not up to standard, adjustments must be made in a timely manner. This is what inspecting the work entails.

To implement the work of writing testimony articles, leaders and workers, in addition to inspecting whether the supervisor of this work is suitable, must also learn to check the articles and provide some direction and screening for the work of writing articles. Articles that are written specifically and practically can be used as examples. Articles that are written in a hollow and impractical way, without value and not edifying to people, should be directly eliminated. This way, the brothers and sisters will know which types of articles are valuable and which types are not, and in the future, they won’t write articles without value, thus avoiding wasting energy and time. In this way, your work will be valuable. When you go to inspect the work, you need to check all kinds of experiential testimony articles they have written to see if there are any adulterations or falsehoods mixed in and whether the articles are edifying or not. You need to first screen these things. When you are screening, aren’t you also learning? (Yes.) As you learn, you will do this work better and better. Suppose you do not inspect, do not take things seriously, and are irresponsible, and just go through the motions, only aiming to get the job done and then report to those above you that it is finished, thinking, “At any rate, our church has many people who can write testimony articles. After they finish writing, I will submit all of them. Who cares whether they are up to standard or not? As long as the higher-level leaders know that I have done a lot of work, implemented the work arrangements, and kept busy, that’s enough!” Is this a responsible attitude? (No.) This is being irresponsible. If you take responsibility, you must first screen things on your end. Any article submitted through you must be up to standard; anyone who reads it should say it is edifying and be willing to read it. Only this is fulfilling the responsibility of leaders and workers. Inspecting the work is not about going through the motions, shouting slogans, preaching doctrines, or arbitrarily lecturing people. It is about inspecting the efficiency and results of the work, inspecting whether the work you have done is up to standard, whether it achieves the results of implementing the work arrangements, whether it meets God’s requirements, which areas are up to standard and which are not—these are the things to inspect. This involves doing specific work, and is related to people’s caliber, whether they have spiritual understanding, how much truth they understand, how much truth reality they possess, and their ability to view things. If you know how to inspect work, and while inspecting the work you can discover problems, grasp the crux of problems, seize upon the essence of problems, and resolve problems, and before submitting testimony articles you screen them according to principles, guaranteeing that the articles you submit are all up to standard and edifying to those who read them, then you are up to standard as a leader or worker, and you have done your work properly.

Most people can do the work of providing guidance, supervision, and urging. However, when inspection and screening are needed, it tests the caliber of leaders and workers and whether they possess the truth reality. Some people can provide guidance, supervise work, and prune or dismiss and deal with unsuitable personnel, but they do not know how to assess the efficiency and results of the work they have arranged, whether it aligns with the work arrangements, and how to resolve it if it does not. Most leaders and workers can, at most, provide guidance, supervision, and urging, but when it comes to inspecting work, they do not know what to do, have no principles, and are at a loss. They think, “The work arrangements have been implemented, so what is there to inspect? Everyone is working, no one is idle, the people causing disruptions and disturbances have been dealt with, and those who needed to be dismissed or cleansed away have been handled accordingly. What else is there to inspect?” They are just oblivious. Inspecting work requires screening. What does screening mean? It means you need to draw a conclusion. For example, the supervisor of the work of writing experiential testimony articles brings an article to you, saying that the writing style is quite good, the language is smooth, and both the language style and the article’s subject matter are good. However, they feel that it seems to lack practical content and cannot edify people, that it needs to be supplemented and improved upon, but they cannot see through this matter themselves, so they ask you to take a look. What does it mean for them to ask you to take a look? It means they need you to screen it. How you screen it and whether you screen it well tests your actual stature. What does actual stature mean? It means whether you understand the truth principles. If the supervisor does not understand the principles of writing testimony articles, cannot assess whether an article is practical and genuine, and does not know how to make a judgment, and you are the same, unable to make a judgment or decision, this proves one thing: Your caliber is about the same as theirs, and you are unable to screen articles. Is this not the case? The truth you understand is about the same as theirs, and you cannot see through the problems they cannot see through—this indicates an issue. If you can see through problems that they cannot, and you can discover problems through inspection that they cannot, this proves that you can screen articles. For example, they consider most articles to be up to standard and without significant issues, but through your inspection and screening, you find a small portion that is not up to standard. You explain the problems in these articles through dissection and fellowship; everyone agrees that your points are reasonable, align with principles, and are not nitpicking but are indeed real issues, and that these should be corrected. Some articles are hollow and lack practical experiential understanding; some articles have practical experiential understanding but are not expressed concretely enough; some articles quote God’s words inaptly, not choosing more suitable passages of God’s words, resulting in worse results; some articles have incorrect viewpoints, with a distorted comprehension and lacking fellowship on the understanding of the truth, leaving readers unedified and easily causing them to develop negativity and misunderstandings; and so on. You can detect and see through all these issues. Through your fellowship, you help them grasp the principles, enabling those with experiences to write genuine experiential testimonies. You select those articles that are edifying and valuable to people as up-to-standard experiential testimonies, so that when God’s chosen people read them, they are edified. Meanwhile, those articles lacking genuine experiential understanding or containing distorted comprehension are eliminated. If you do this, aren’t you screening? If you have such an ability to perceive matters and do work, isn’t your caliber sufficient? Aren’t you fulfilling the responsibilities of leaders and workers? (Yes.) If they think most articles are acceptable and bring them to you for screening, and you also think most of them are good, while actually some of them have issues and need further selection, copyediting, and correction of problems, but you cannot see through them—when you submit them to the Above, and the Above finds some articles not up to standard and eliminates them—doesn’t this mean you did not screen properly? For one thing, inspecting the work tests the caliber of leaders and workers, and for another, it tests the extent of their understanding of the truth. Some people cannot screen because their caliber is poor and therefore prevents them from doing so, they do not understand the truth in this area, and they cannot see through the problems. Their inspections are just going through the motions, not knowing what to inspect. Some people have sufficient caliber, but because their understanding of the truth is shallow, they can spot problems but do not know how to resolve them. These people still have room for improvement. However, if people cannot even spot the problems, there is no way for them to make progress.

Implementing the work of writing experiential testimony articles involves an important step of inspection, which depends on whether leaders and workers possess the truth reality. Besides inspecting leaders and workers with relatively poor caliber and who are relatively weak, you should also ask about and understand those with average caliber. If the environment is not suitable, you can send someone to inquire and understand the situation, and make detailed records. If the environment permits, it is best to personally go and interact with the supervisor of this work; ask questions, inquire, and understand the specific situation of this work, and see how well the work is being implemented. In summary, once the work arrangement for writing experiential testimony articles is issued, it is not something that can be wrapped up in one or two months. This is not a temporary task but long-term work. Leaders and workers should not just provide guidance, supervision, urging, and inspection within the first one or two months after the work arrangement has been issued and consider it done. Instead, they must follow up on this work continually over the long term. For weaker church leaders, they need to go and provide personal guidance. For church leaders who can independently implement work arrangements, they should also practice regular inspections to understand the progress of the work and solve any problems that arise. This is a responsibility of leaders and workers. Therefore, one thing is certain about leaders and workers doing work: They never have idle time. Some leaders and workers always think, “The work arrangements have been issued, and I’ve fellowshipped on how to implement them. I’ve finished my job, there’s nothing else to do. So I’ll do some suitable chores, like helping with cooking and hosting, or buying some daily necessities that the brothers and sisters lack.” They become idle after issuing the work arrangements and feel they have finished their job and have nothing more to do. This shows they do not know how to do the work or take charge of specific tasks. In fact, once the various work arrangements of God’s house are issued, as long as the Above has not called for a stop, the work must continue and cannot be halted midway. For example, the work of writing experiential testimony articles—has the Above called for a stop on this? Has there been any notice saying to stop this work? (No.) So, how should leaders and workers carry out this work? Don’t be motivated only by short-lived enthusiasm. When the work arrangement is first issued, you are very enthusiastic, proactive, and eager to cooperate with this work. After a period of time, however, if the Above does not urge, does not issue new instructions, or does not give further directives for this work arrangement, you may think that since the Above has not arranged anything new, you can ignore this work. This is not acceptable; this is a dereliction of duty. No matter how long this work has been implemented, and regardless of whether the Above has inquired about, urged, or emphasized this work during that time, as long as this work has been entrusted to you, you should shoulder it and continually do it, carrying it out well. What does “continually” mean? It means that as long as the Above does not call for a stop, leaders and workers must provide uninterrupted and continual guidance, supervision, urging, inspection, and follow-up on this work. Unless you step down or are dismissed, as long as you hold your position, this work is something you must do well as a leader or worker. It is also a task that you must continually implement and follow up on. How should this be practiced? Every time you visit a church, you must ask the local leaders and the supervisor of this work: “How have the testimony articles been coming along during this period? Are there any good, relatively moving testimony articles? Are there any articles with special experiences?” If they say there are, you should look over these articles. If they indeed contain practical experiences and truly edify people, they should be quickly submitted. Every time you visit a church, you must first ask about this matter. This is a specific task you must implement, an obligation that you cannot shirk—this is your responsibility. Regardless of whether the Above urges or inquires about this matter, this task is included in what you have to do. If the brothers and sisters are busy doing their duties and have no time to write testimony articles, you must urge them, saying, “Writing good testimony articles is very beneficial for the life entry of God’s chosen people, and it is also an important duty.” However, some leaders say, “The brothers and sisters feel that they have written all their experiences and have nothing more to write.” Is this statement correct? In fact, many detailed experiences are not noticed by people and are overlooked. It is only when they read the experiential testimonies written by others that they remember they also have had similar experiences. Therefore, writing experiential testimony articles requires careful thought and contemplation. There are many experiential understandings that are worth writing about. Is not having any time to write a valid reason? This is a duty that people should do. No matter how busy they are, they should take time to write. If they do not know how to write testimony articles, they should dictate it for someone else to copyedit, thus producing a good article. In this way, through your urging and direction, another good experiential testimony article is written. Do you know how many people this article can edify? How many people can receive help and benefit from it? If you do not supervise and provide direction, and the local church leaders also do not have a sense of burden, thinking that the brothers and sisters have written all their experiential testimonies and there are no more articles to write, then this good experiential testimony article will not come into existence. Sometimes when you visit a church, some brothers and sisters chat with you and say, “I have suffered all kinds of hardships in my life. After believing in God, I have also been persecuted a lot. Every step of the way, it has been God leading me. I have seen God’s wonderful deeds, and realized that everything is ordained by God and that God truly holds sovereignty over all—this is totally true!” After they tell you their experience, you ask if they have written it down as an article, and they say, “No, I have a low level of education and can’t write. Besides, others say this experience is not valuable.” “How could such a wonderful experience be without value?” you tell them. “After each step of your experience, you deeply felt God’s sovereignty, God’s leading, and God’s ordaining. What experience could be more valuable than this? Such experiences should be written down and not missed.” You then quickly arrange for more educated brothers and sisters to help them copyedit it. Within three days, a good and excellent testimony article is written and then made into an experiential testimony video. Everyone who watches it says, “The protagonist’s experience is fantastic! It is so edifying to watch! It truly shows that God is sovereign over everything—that’s exactly how it is! This has been confirmed to an even greater extent now, and our faith in God has increased.” Others say, “This experiential testimony article is written very practically and is very moving. It would be even better if it were made into a movie!” Many brothers and sisters eagerly look forward to it being quickly made into a movie. So, because leaders and workers treated the church’s work with responsibility and loyalty, a casual conversation was able to lead to a good article and good material for a movie. This is the best testimony and the best subject matter for bearing witness to God’s sovereignty and ordination. Such stories can increase the faith of so many people and edify many as well! What do you think of leaders and workers doing work in this way? They do not adhere to any formality in their work. Wherever they go, they ask questions, inquire, and interact with the brothers and sisters, integrating themselves among them without putting on airs. They not only have a sense of burden in their hearts but also a strong sense of responsibility. By consistently doing this, they naturally achieve results. Won’t this be remembered by God? These are good deeds, no? Tell Me, is it strenuous to do this bit of work? Does it require suffering? Does it require scaling sword-tipped mountains or plunging into seas of fire? No. It isn’t difficult. It just requires putting your heart into it. With this work in your heart, wherever you go, you ask questions and inquire: “How is the work progressing? Have there been any good testimony articles during this period? For brothers and sisters who have experiences but haven’t written articles yet, do you know how to guide them to narrate their experiences? Do you know how to help them express themselves and guide them to write them out?” Wherever you go, you always have to fellowship about this matter, do things related to this work, and speak words related to this work. Doesn’t practicing this way make the work of leaders and workers more abundant? Could there be a situation where you are idle with no work to do? (No.) Can leaders and workers working this way get tired or die from exhaustion? (No.) They won’t get tired or die from exhaustion, the work will have results, and it will be remembered by God. If you work in this way, many will be edified, and the brothers and sisters will feel that writing experiential testimony articles is valuable and meaningful. Previously, they thought their experiences had no value, but through your guidance, they understood how to write experiential testimony articles. This also benefits their life entry. Only when you work in this way are you fulfilling the responsibilities of leaders and workers.

By fellowshipping on how leaders and workers should inspect the work, have you learned how to inspect the work? Inspecting the work is not about finding faults or nitpicking, but rather about seeing how the work has been done, whether it has been arranged, whether there is anyone taking charge of the work, how the work is progressing, what the progress is like, whether it is going smoothly, whether the work is done according to principles, whether it yields results, and so on. At the same time, you need to observe, review, and evaluate the effectiveness of the work, and then from this, find better and more suitable ways to implement the work. For a work arrangement, such as the arrangement of writing experiential testimony articles, as long as the Above has not called for it to stop, this work needs to be continually followed up and implemented, and this is beneficial to the life entry of God’s chosen people. If some people feel that there are already enough experiential testimonies and that God’s chosen people cannot read them all, can this work be stopped then? It cannot be stopped. The more experiential testimonies there are, the better; the more there are, the more abundant they will be—this is what most helps God’s chosen people enter into the truth reality. Some new believers, after reading these experiential testimonies, will know how to experience God’s work. After going through a period of experience and gaining results, they will naturally be able to write experiential testimony articles. Some people with shallow experiences can also be edified by reading those relatively deeper experiential testimonies, and they can achieve deeper experiences and write better testimony articles. These testimonies benefit both people in religion and God’s chosen people in God’s house. Therefore, the work of writing experiential testimony articles can never stop. Leaders and workers must continually follow up on this work and should not stop it for any reason or excuse. This is an important item of work in the church. Leaders and workers should take the lead in writing experiential testimony articles. This practice best reveals whether they possess the truth reality. If they cannot write experiential testimony articles, they are not up to standard as leaders or workers and cannot do real work; they should be dismissed and eliminated. After doing this work well, leaders and workers need to continually visit various churches to inquire about the progress of the work. They can ask questions and learn about the work: “The several brothers and sisters in your church who are relatively earnest in their pursuit all have some experiences—can they write some testimony articles?” They should also ask those who have just accepted the true way how it was they investigated and came to accept it, and whether they can write down their impressions regarding this. Leaders and workers not only need to continually inquire, learn about, follow up, and implement this work, but they also need to inspect how well the implementation is going: “During this period, have you arranged for people to do this work? How many experiential testimony articles have been written? How many are up to standard? What is the proportion of articles that are up to standard?” The supervisor replies: “After the last fellowship, some experiential testimony articles have already been written in our church, and a few articles that are up to standard have been submitted. We have been continually doing this work.” This is fine; this means you have done this task properly. With this in mind, is there a direct relationship between a church being able to produce genuine experiential testimony articles and the role of leaders and workers? In one regard, you need to continually fellowship on this aspect of the work; in another regard, you need to lead by example, continually inquiring about the work, and also participating in and following up on the work. After following up for a period and then leaving this church, you should later return to inspect the implementation. Is this not what leaders and workers should do? This is the responsibility of leaders and workers.

For every work arrangement issued by God’s house, leaders and workers must treat it seriously and implement it seriously. They should frequently use the work arrangements to compare and inspect all the work they have done. They should also examine and reflect on which tasks they have not done well or implemented properly during this period. For any task assigned and required by the work arrangements that has been neglected, they should quickly make up for and inquire about it. If they are busy with a specific task and cannot get away, they can entrust others to inspect and follow up on the work that has not been done well. They should not just issue orders and think the task is completed after assigning and arranging the work, and then just stand by idly. As a leader, you are responsible for all the work, not just one task. If you see that a particular task is especially important, you can oversee that task, but you also need to find time to inspect, direct, and follow up on other tasks. If you are only content with doing one task well and then consider things finished, and assign other tasks to other people without caring or asking about them, this is irresponsible behavior and a dereliction of duty. If you are a leader, then no matter how many tasks you are responsible for, it is your responsibility to constantly ask questions about them and inquire, at the same time also checking up on things and resolving problems promptly as they arise. This is your job. And so, whether you are a regional leader, district leader, church leader, or any team leader or supervisor, once you have known the scope of your responsibilities, you must frequently examine whether you are doing real work, whether you have fulfilled the responsibilities that ought to be fulfilled by a leader or worker, as well as which tasks—out of the several entrusted to you—you haven’t done, which you don’t want to do, which have yielded poor results, and which you have failed to grasp the principles of. These are all things you should examine often. At the same time, you must learn to fellowship with and ask questions of other people, and must learn how to identify, in God’s words and the work arrangements, a plan, principles, and a path for practice. Toward any work arrangement, whether it relates to administration, personnel, or church life, or else any kind of professional work, if it touches upon the responsibilities of leaders and workers, then it is a responsibility that leaders and workers are supposed to fulfill, and within the purview of what leaders and workers are responsible for—these are the tasks you should attend to. Naturally, priorities should be set based on the situation; no work may fall behind. Some leaders and workers say, “I don’t have three heads and six arms. There are so many tasks in the work arrangement; I absolutely can’t manage if I’m put in charge of all of them.” If there are some tasks that you can’t personally be involved in, then have you arranged for someone else to do them? After making this arrangement, did you follow up and make inquiries? Did you screen their work? Surely you had the time to make inquiries and conduct screening? You definitely did! Some leaders and workers say, “I can only do one job at a time. If you ask me to conduct screening, I can only screen one task at a time; any more than that is unfeasible.” If that is the case, you are a good-for-nothing, your caliber is extremely poor, you have no work capability, you are not cut out to be a leader or worker, and you should step down. Just do some work that suits you—don’t cause delays to the church’s work and the life growth of God’s chosen people because your caliber is too poor for you to do work; if you lack this reason, you are selfish and vile. If you are of ordinary caliber but are able to be considerate of God’s intentions, you are willing to train, and you feel unsure that you can do the work well, then you should seek out a couple of people of good caliber to cooperate with you in the work. This is a good approach, and counts as having reason. If your caliber is too poor and you are genuinely incapable of shouldering this work, and yet still wish to continue occupying this position and enjoying its benefits, then you are someone selfish and vile. Leaders and workers must be possessed of conscience and reason—this is of the utmost importance. Without even this humanity, they absolutely cannot be a leader or worker, and even if they do a bit of work, they will be a false leader that will only bring harm to God’s chosen people and jeopardize the work of the church. Leaders and workers should consider God’s intentions; they absolutely must not be dictatorial and take on everything themselves, only to end up not doing any work well and delaying all of the church’s work, as well as the life entry of God’s chosen people. Wouldn’t that be a great transgression? Therefore, people with too poor caliber absolutely cannot be leaders and workers. Those who lack a God-fearing heart and who cannot consider God’s intentions even more so cannot be leaders and workers; they cannot be put in charge of any task. As leaders and workers, it is important to have self-awareness. If you cannot do real work but still want to take everything on yourself, and love enjoying the benefits of status, this is the very definition of a false leader, and you should be dismissed and eliminated.

After fellowshipping on the responsibilities that leaders and workers should fulfill regarding the work arrangements of God’s house, do you now have a path on how leaders and workers should treat and implement the work arrangements? (Yes.) Are there any difficulties? Among the various tasks outlined within the responsibilities of leaders and workers that we have fellowshipped about, some people might only focus on one or two aspects, while others might not even be able to accomplish one or two aspects. For leaders and workers who can focus on one or two aspects of work, if they have sufficient caliber and can also learn to follow up on other aspects of the work, then they are basically up to standard. However, if they only stay at the level of preaching doctrines and holding gatherings but cannot do specific work, and when asked to participate in inspecting and following up on specific tasks, they become worried, without plans, steps, or paths to follow, not knowing what to do, this indicates poor caliber. Can people with poor caliber implement work arrangements? (No.) Such leaders and workers are not up to standard. How should you deal with such leaders and workers? Tell them, “The work arrangements have been issued, and we have a clear understanding of what tasks to perform and what principles to uphold, but you don’t know what to do and have no path to follow. And yet you still have the gall to fellowship and preach sermons to us. You should step down immediately! You are not fit to be a leader or worker, you cannot fulfill this responsibility. Quickly hand it over to someone competent! Stop shouting slogans here, no one wants to listen!” Is this an appropriate way to handle it? (Yes.) If you can’t do the work, what’s the point of blindly shouting slogans! Everyone can read the words in the work arrangements; everyone can speak doctrines—it’s all about how you actually do it. If you can’t do it, then you are not suitable to be a leader or worker. No task is as simple as one plus one equals two. Every task requires leaders and workers to develop specific implementation plans within the scope of principles based on the specific situation. At the same time, they must know how to supervise, inspect, and follow up until the work is implemented properly, fully meeting the requirements of the work arrangements, coming to fruition and producing results. Only then have they fulfilled the responsibilities of leaders and workers; only then are they up to standard as leaders and workers.

The Attitude and Manifestations of False Leaders With Regard to Work Arrangements

We just fellowshipped about what the responsibilities of leaders and workers are when it comes to work arrangements. Next, we shall fellowship on what manifestations false leaders have. Among the false leaders you have encountered, what is their attitude toward work arrangements? What actions and manifestations do they exhibit? False leaders usually understand from the words of the work arrangements what should be done, the specific requirements of the Above, and what the specific work projects are, but they only understand it in terms of doctrine. They still do not understand or thoroughly perceive the specific principles, standards, and paths of practice for implementing the work arrangements. After receiving the work arrangements, they also go through the motions, fellowshipping on how to do the work and how to issue and implement the work arrangements. However, no matter how much they fellowship, it is only a literal, doctrinal understanding of the work arrangements. As for how to specifically implement the work arrangements and what results can be achieved, as well as how effective implementation will be if they select certain people to do the work or choose a certain plan to implement it, or whether the goals and results required by the work arrangements can be met, they are unaware and unclear about these aspects. When false leaders implement work arrangements, they usually just hold a gathering to preach some words and doctrines, assign the work, mention a few of God’s requirements, and then have everyone express their determination. They consider this to be doing their job. They believe that as long as they have assigned the work, appointed someone to be in charge, and mentioned the results that God’s house requires, they have fulfilled their responsibility. They then feel completely at ease, as if the work is done. They have no idea when to inspect the work, what problems and difficulties might arise in the work, and which problems can and cannot be resolved by those below. They also do not know which important tasks must be followed up on and provided with guidance. For example, important steps like supervising, urging, and inspecting never cross the minds of false leaders. Slightly better false leaders, who comparatively have some conscience and do not want to eat for free, believe they should do some work. They will visit the church and ask the brothers and sisters if they have any problems. Someone tells them, “We brothers and sisters often have disputes when we are together. When our opinions differ, we argue endlessly and reveal hotheadedness.” The false leader says, “This is easy to resolve,” and then holds a gathering, where they fellowship: “People should learn forbearance and patience; people should learn to be humble, not be arrogant, and learn submission. This is God’s intention. Whoever reveals a corrupt disposition should reflect on themselves and accept pruning, not live by their corrupt disposition.” After they’ve fellowshipped all this doctrine, they say, “You can handle the remaining issues yourselves. I am not very proficient in technical matters. At any rate, I have held this gathering for you; you just do the work as you see fit. The key and important thing is to be loyal in doing your duties and not cling to your own ideas.” After listening, people ponder and say, “Our problem is not just the revelation of corruption, hotheadedness, and selfish desires, but also that we are uncertain and unclear about some technical issues and don’t know how to act in accordance with principles. This problem hasn’t been resolved!” The false leader replies, “Read more of God’s words. Once the corrupt dispositions that you reveal are resolved, these issues will be resolved as well.” The work that false leaders are most adept at is spouting doctrines and shouting slogans. They do not anticipate the frequent problems that may arise in the work. When someone raises an issue, they only have one solution, which is to explain with some words and doctrines, then offer some exhortation or a piece of advice, and consider it done. They cannot come up with any specific plans and cannot provide correct guidance and help. Isn’t the work of false leaders simple and easy? Wherever they go, they just preach, primarily focusing on speaking doctrines and shouting slogans. This situation is quite common among leaders and workers, is it not? They cannot implement specific work and do not know how to carry out, implement, or follow up on the work arrangements that are issued. They do not know what their work responsibilities are or what tasks they should perform. When asked to do specific work, they just shout slogans. When someone raises an issue, they take it as an opportunity to start preaching. If a crucial issue is brought up that they cannot resolve, they resort to pruning and reprimanding people. They have no other solutions and cannot at all resolve the problems and deviations that arise in the work. This is a main characteristic of false leaders. There are also false leaders who are asked to implement a work arrangement and inspect which difficulties arise while the work is being carried out—if they can resolve the difficulties, they should do so promptly; if they cannot, they can gather some questions and seek upward, and the Above will resolve them. But what happens is that when they go on-site to participate in this work, they convene everyone for gatherings all day long, and besides discovering who has conflicts with whom, who always argues with whom, whose humanity is not too good, who has a distorted comprehension, who is arrogant and always clings to their own ideas, who is gluttonous and lazy, who resembles disbelievers, and who are evil people, they cannot identify any problems or difficulties that arise in implementing the work, nor can they see these issues. Do you think such leaders and workers can carry out their work? (No.) Where does the problem lie? (Their caliber is too poor, they have no ability to discern, and cannot identify problems.) How many of such leaders are there around you? Can your leaders identify problems? If a work arrangement is issued and the leaders and workers only shout slogans and preach without any specific plans or steps to implement the work arrangement, not knowing how to do the work, then the work cannot be implemented. It is effectively rendered null and void. The key to how well a work arrangement is implemented in the church and its effectiveness lies in whether leaders and workers can do real work. If the leaders and workers have good caliber, work capability, and loyalty, then the work arrangement will be implemented well. If the leaders and workers have poor caliber, are muddled, and lack work capability, then regardless of whether the church contains anyone talented in the area of the work or how willing the brothers and sisters are to cooperate, the work arrangement cannot be implemented, let alone achieve any results.

The work of false leaders is limited to what people can see on the surface. Even when they do implement work arrangements, it is just as a formality, without any follow-up or inspection afterward whatsoever. Their work stays at the level of just going through the motions; it doesn’t have any real force behind it and fails to achieve any results. For example, with the work of writing experiential testimony articles, after receiving this work arrangement, a false leader convenes people for gatherings to fellowship and addresses various questions they have about the work arrangement they don’t understand. After they finish preaching doctrines, and people seem to understand, the false leader thinks, “The work has been assigned, so what should I do? Since God’s house requires writing experiential testimony articles, I also need to write. If I don’t write, won’t people have a low opinion of me as a leader?” They ponder at home about what to write and after a day, they still haven’t written anything. They think, “Writing an article is quite challenging. Normally, I feel I have experiences, but why do they disappear when I start writing? Where did those experiences go? No, I do have experiences, it’s just that the writing method is stumping me. I’ve been going out and interacting with people too much, which is distracting me, making it hard to concentrate. I can’t always be fellowshipping and discussing work with people; otherwise, my mind will keep wandering, and I won’t be able to write the article. I need to take some quiet time to think carefully about how to write it properly before I can write.” They have made writing articles their main task and treat the work that a leader or worker should be doing as a side task. They spend all day writing articles at home, paying no attention to the implementation of the work and not learning about or grasping how many people in the various churches can write articles or whether there are suitable people to direct and screen the work—they have no idea about these things. A month passes, and not only have they not written an article themselves, but they also do not know how this work is progressing in the church. What is the problem here? After the work arrangement is issued, some church leaders with poor caliber do not know how to do real work. Like this individual, they just preach some words and doctrines and shout slogans, and that’s it. Whether the brothers and sisters are willing to write or not doesn’t matter to them; the leaders do not urge or guide them, much less correct them. And the false leader does not concern themselves with such leaders and workers. Some brothers and sisters write one kind of article, and some write another kind, but there is no one to screen whether what they write is practical and in accordance with principles. The brothers and sisters do not understand the principles and do not know whom to ask; they just write because they are told to, they obey the arrangements of God’s house. There are also some who have experiences but lack education; these people have no one to help them copyedit their articles, and no one makes arrangements for this matter. All sorts of problems arise, and where are the leaders and workers? What are they doing? They are in “seclusion” writing articles! False leaders do not know what they should be busy with or what tasks they should perform. The work arrangements are implemented in the church in a variety of ways, with different approaches being taken, and they do not inquire about any of it. When brothers and sisters encounter various problems while doing their duties and report these problems to them, they do not resolve them. As a result, many problems and difficulties pile up, and all sorts of experiential testimony articles also accumulate without anyone to copyedit, review, or screen them. Yet the false leaders do not follow up on or inspect these issues, and the brothers and sisters cannot find them when they have problems. False leaders do not realize that this work is their responsibility and that they should be following up on this work. Aren’t they trash? (Yes.)

How a leader or worker implements the work, as well as the efficiency and results of their work, tests whether they are up to standard. This also tests their humanity, their caliber and work capability, and whether they have a sense of burden. When false leaders receive a work arrangement, they consider it done after fellowshipping about it. They do not participate, supervise, urge, or inspect it, nor do they follow up on the implementation. They do not understand that these tasks are what they should be doing; they do not understand that these tasks are their responsibilities as leaders. They believe that being a leader or worker only requires being able to preach. Aren’t they blockheads? Can blockheads be up-to-standard leaders and workers? (No.) They cannot be up-to-standard leaders and workers, yet they think they are quite good and believe they can do the work. Aren’t they a few cards short of a full deck? They cannot even implement such a simple task as writing experiential testimony articles. This is one of the easiest tasks—just mobilize those with good caliber and life experience to write testimony articles, and then follow up and provide direction. Some leaders and workers have average caliber and low educational levels and are not good at text-based work, but they can assign suitable people to be in charge. This way, they can still do some real work. If they do not even know what kind of people to assign to be in charge and conduct screening, they cannot do the work and are false leaders. Some people say, “A false leader might not be able to do text-based work due to poor caliber and low education, but they should be able to do other work.” Does this statement hold? (No.) Why doesn’t it hold? (The work of writing experiential testimony articles is simple. If they cannot explain it clearly or implement the work, then they certainly cannot handle other tasks. They do not know how to do or follow up on the work.) This shows their caliber is too poor. They are blockheads. They think that being a leader or worker is like being an official of the great red dragon: As long as they learn to flatter, talk big, shout slogans, and engage in fraud, deceiving their superiors and concealing things from those below them, they can establish themselves and draw a government salary. They do not understand that the most crucial aspect of being a leader or worker is learning to do real work. They imagine the job of leaders and workers to be very simple. As a result, they do no real work and become a false leader.

What other specific manifestations do false leaders have? Can false leaders see through and grasp the principles and standards required in work arrangements? (No.) Why can’t they? They can’t see through to what the principles of this work are, and they can’t carry out checks on it. When special situations arise during the specific implementation of the work, they don’t know how to resolve them. When the brothers and sisters ask them what to do in one of these situations, they get confused: “This isn’t mentioned in the work arrangement, how would I know how to handle it?” If you don’t know, how can you implement this work? You don’t even know but still ask others to implement it—is that realistic? Is that reasonable? When false leaders and false workers implement work arrangements, for one thing, they have no idea about the steps and plans for implementing the work arrangements. For another, when problems are encountered, they can’t conduct checks according to the principles required by the work arrangements. Therefore, when myriad issues of all sorts arise during the implementation of the work arrangements, they are completely unable to resolve them. Because in the early stages false leaders cannot identify or anticipate problems and cannot fellowship in advance, and in the later stages, when problems arise, they cannot resolve them but just emptily preach doctrines and rigidly apply regulations, problems keep recurring and persist, with some work suffering delays in implementation, and other work not being implemented to a sufficient degree. For example, regarding the work arrangement of God’s house for clearing out and expelling people, when false leaders carry out this work, they only clear out the obvious evil people, antichrists, and evil spirits that cause disruptions and disturbances, as well as the disbelievers whom the brothers and sisters all find repulsive and loathsome. However, there are still some who should be cleared out, that is, those hidden, insidious, cunning evil people and antichrists. The brothers and sisters cannot see through them, and neither can the false leaders. In fact, according to the work arrangements of God’s house, these people have already reached the level of being cleared out. However, because false leaders cannot see through them, they still regard these people as good and even promote, cultivate, and use them for important work, allowing them to hold power and occupy important work positions in the church. Can the work arrangement of God’s house to clear out and expel people be implemented then? Can various problems be thoroughly resolved? Can the work of spreading the gospel proceed normally? Clearly, the work arrangements of God’s house cannot be thoroughly implemented, and a lot of important work cannot be done well. Because the people used by false leaders have no truth reality whatsoever and can even commit evil deeds, this prevents various items of church work from being carried out well. False leaders use these evil people, letting them do important duties and undertake important work in the church, even allowing these evil people to manage offerings. Will this disrupt and disturb the church’s work? Will it cause losses to God’s offerings? (Yes.) This is a very serious consequence. Because false leaders cannot see through these people, are unable to screen them, and let these evil people take on important jobs, the work gets completely bungled. In doing their duties, these evil people always act perfunctorily, deceive those above them and conceal things from those below them, and do no real work; they act with willful recklessness, mislead people, and commit all manner of evil deeds. However, false leaders cannot see through them, and by the time they notice the problems, a great disaster has already occurred. For example, in the Henan pastoral area, some evil people who became leaders used various despicable means to steal God’s offerings; they stole huge amounts, and these amounts have never been recovered. Does this have anything to do with leaders and workers choosing and using the wrong people? (Yes.) According to the work arrangements, if one cannot see through the people selected, they can first be assigned to do some simple work, and one can then follow up on their work and observe them for a period of time. People who cannot be seen through absolutely must not be assigned any important work, especially if it entails risk. Only after long-term observation and seeing through their essence should decisions be made on how to treat and handle them. False leaders do not work according to the work arrangements and cannot grasp principles; even more so, they cannot see through people and they use the wrong people. This leads to losses in both church work and God’s offerings. This is the calamity brought by false leaders. Antichrists deliberately make use of evil people, while false leaders are muddleheaded, cannot see through anyone, and cannot see through to the essence of whatever problems they identify. They use and assign people based solely on their feelings. Most of the people arranged by false leaders are unsuitable; they cause losses to the church’s work, with consequences identical to those of antichrists deliberately using evil people. False leaders, with poor caliber and inability to do work, also bring quite serious consequences, don’t they? (Yes.) So don’t think that only antichrists violate work arrangements; false leaders can also violate work arrangements. Even if it is not intentional, the nature of it ultimately is still a violation of the work arrangements. False leaders, due to not understanding the truth principles and not being able to see through people or matters, end up violating work arrangements and being unable to perform real work. This delays the church’s work and harms God’s chosen people. The nature and consequences of their actions are the same as those of antichrists doing the work, also causing losses to the church’s work and causing harm to the life entry of the brothers and sisters.

False leaders, when doing work and implementing work arrangements, just go through the motions and turn things into a complete mess. They are quite self-righteous and never seek or fellowship, foolishly thinking that they have good caliber; they dare to take action, and can speak eloquently. Because the brothers and sisters elect them or God’s house temporarily promotes and cultivates them, they think they are up to standard as leaders and can fulfill their responsibilities. Little do they know that they are nothing and cannot fulfill any of the responsibilities of leaders and workers. They have no measure of their own inadequacies; they just shamelessly dare to do things. As a result, after various work arrangements are issued, they cannot implement any of them according to the requirements from the Above. Every work arrangement they handle ends up being a complete mess and utterly chaotic. Their implementation of administrative work is poor; they are unclear about how many new believers were gained through preaching the gospel, how to establish churches, select leaders and deacons, and how to conduct church life. As for who has the most results in taking charge of gospel work, who testifies the most effectively, who is best suited to watering the church, which team leaders should be reassigned and dismissed for being irresponsible, and how to resolve problems that arise in certain aspects of the work, false leaders are unclear about all these specific tasks, and they make a complete mess of their work. For the various professional tasks in the church that require a higher level of technical expertise, false leaders also make a complete mess of them. They have no clue how to carry out these tasks specifically. Even if they want to inquire about them, they don’t know how to do so. They want to ask the Above how to approach these tasks, but they don’t even know how to frame their questions. As a result, the work cannot be done. Even the simple task of managing assets required by the work arrangements—assigning suitable people to safeguard and allocate assets, and establishing various systems—is something false leaders cannot handle. They make a complete mess of it. False leaders are in utter confusion about every task they handle. When asked if they have implemented the work arrangements, they feel proud and confidently say, “Yes, I have. Everyone has a copy of the work arrangements, and everyone knows what work God’s house requires.” If you ask them how they did it, to explain the specific work steps, which tasks were done relatively poorly, which tasks were done more smoothly, whether each task was done properly, which tasks need continual follow-up and inspection, and whether any problems were found after inspection, they are oblivious about all of these. Some false leaders, since becoming leaders, don’t even know what tasks they are required to do or what the scope of their responsibility is. Isn’t this even more troublesome? Do most leaders and workers currently have this problem to varying degrees? (Yes.)

The Criterion for Testing If Leaders and Workers Are Up to Standard

Through today’s fellowship, do you now have a clearer understanding of the responsibilities that leaders and workers and supervisors should fulfill? Do you have a better idea in your mind? Is your understanding of the role of leaders and workers more accurate? (Yes.) For one thing, leaders and workers have gained some understanding of which tasks they should perform; for another, everyone else now has some paths for how to discern whether a leader or worker is up to standard. According to the requirements of the ninth responsibility of leaders and workers, are most leaders and workers up to standard? (No.) So, which leaders and workers can become up to standard, and which cannot? Those with qualified caliber, some practical experience, some principles in their handling of things, and a sense of burden for church work can become up to standard as leaders and workers after a period of training. However, those with poor caliber and no comprehension ability, who cannot grasp principles no matter how much truth is fellowshipped, cannot become up to standard as leaders and workers and can only be eliminated. Therefore, if you want to become a leader or worker who is up to standard, and want to be chosen by others as a leader or worker, you should first assess whether your caliber is sufficient. How can you evaluate this? By seeing whether you can implement work arrangements. Take a recent work arrangement, read it over, and test yourself to see if you have the steps and plans for its implementation. If you have ideas and plans and know how to implement it, then you should take on the work as your bounden duty when brothers and sisters choose you. However, if after reading the work arrangement your mind is blank, you utterly cannot see through to who is most suitable to be arranged to take charge of the work, and even more so you cannot see through to how to specifically implement the various items of work of the church, nor do you know how to fellowship, supervise, inspect, and follow up, and you have no steps or plans for implementation in your mind, but some brothers and sisters mistakenly think you are very talented and suitable to be a leader or worker, what should your attitude be? You should say, “Thank you for your praise, but I actually don’t have much talent. I don’t have what it takes—you’ve misjudged me. If you select me as a leader, it will delay the church’s work. I know my own stature; I don’t even know how to implement a simple work arrangement—I have no idea where to start and don’t have any leads. Without understanding the truth, the church’s work cannot be done well. Even if the Above appointed me, I wouldn’t be able to do it. I’m truly not cut out for this role.” What do you think of this kind of admission? This approach shows reason; people who say this have much more reason than false leaders. False leaders could never say something with this much reason. False leaders think, “I was chosen, so I ought to be the leader. Why shouldn’t I be? I’m talented, so I deserve it. Is not being able to implement work arrangements a problem? Who is born knowing how to do it? Isn’t it something I can learn? As long as I can preach, that’s enough. I have spiritual understanding, I know and understand God’s words, I can fellowship, and I can find the path of practice in God’s words. I am adept at resolving people’s corrupt dispositions and various states. Implementing the work arrangements of God’s house is no big deal. Isn’t it just administrative management work? I studied administrative management before, so this bit of work of God’s house is no problem for me!” Isn’t such a person in danger? (Yes.) Where does the danger lie? Can you see through this matter? (They cannot do the work and will disrupt and disturb the work of God’s house, not only harming themselves and the brothers and sisters but also delaying the work of God’s house.) Is it just harm? Is that what it ultimately leads to? If it were only this, it could still be remedied. The key issue is that if a false leader continues in their role for a long time, they will follow the path of antichrists and eventually become an antichrist. Do you think being a leader or worker is that simple? With status comes temptation, and with temptation comes danger. What is this danger? It is the possibility of following the path of antichrists. The worst consequence of following the path of antichrists is becoming an antichrist.

Some people say, “Some false leaders just have somewhat poor caliber but their humanity is not bad. Can they follow the path of antichrists?” Who says that having humanity that is not bad means they won’t follow the path of antichrists? How bad do they have to be to be considered antichrists? Can you see through this? If a false leader continues in their role for a long time, they have already started down the path of antichrists. Is there a gap between following the path of antichrists and becoming an antichrist? (No.) Think back: What path are those false leaders following? False leaders do not do specific work, nor are they capable of doing specific work, yet they still want to stand in high positions to lecture others and make people listen to and obey them. Is this following the path of antichrists? What is the consequence of following the path of antichrists? (They naturally become antichrists.) Although false leaders are not innately antichrists or evil people, if they follow the path of antichrists for a long time without supervision or anyone reporting and dismissing them, can they seize power and establish independent kingdoms? (Yes.) At that point, haven’t they become antichrists? So you see, isn’t the role of a false leader dangerous? (Yes.) Being a false leader is already very dangerous. Although we are currently dissecting false leaders and not touching upon antichrists, there is a connection between the essence of these two. In fact, false leaders are following the path of antichrists. Following this path will naturally lead them to become antichrists, which is determined by their nature essence. At that point, there is no need to look at their humanity essence; their path alone determines whether they are antichrists. Consider those false leaders who have been dismissed. If they were not dismissed in time, then, judging their essence by how they behaved and what they revealed during their tenure, would they eventually follow the path of antichrists? Would they become antichrists? In fact, some people have already shown signs of this, and it was God’s house that promptly dismissed them. If they had not been dismissed, they would have started leeching off the church and misleading people. They would have begun to act like officials or lords in high positions, bossing people around and issuing commands, making others obey them as if they were God. They would even claim to be perfected by God and to be people used by God. Isn’t that troublesome? So how should we view and characterize the states and manifestations of such false leaders? They can be preliminarily characterized as those of hypocrites, people who leech off the church, Pharisees. And what happens if this continues to develop further? Although false leaders may not be as vicious or wicked as antichrists, and although on the surface they may appear capable of enduring hardship and doing hard work, helping others at every turn, and capable of being patient with and tolerating people, just like the Pharisees who traveled over land and sea to preach and work, what does it ultimately matter? If they cannot implement a single task, how are their actions and behavior any different from those of the Pharisees? Are their deeds in cooperation with God’s work, or are they defying and disturbing God’s work? Clearly, they are resisting God’s work and hindering the normal progress of the church’s various items of work. Isn’t this no different from the behavior of Pharisees and those pastors and elders in the religious community? False leaders are just like them. So how should we characterize them? What will happen if false leaders continue to operate? They will not only fail to implement the work arrangements of God’s house but will also start to denounce, criticize, judge, condemn, and do other such things to these arrangements—a whole series of antichrist behaviors will emerge. Not only do they fail to implement the work arrangements, but they also find various excuses to resist and hinder their implementation. This is not cooperating with God’s work but hindering and disturbing the work of God’s house. This is them using their own notions and imaginings, and the power and status given to them by God’s house, to hinder the implementation of the work arrangements of God’s house. Isn’t this the essence of the problem? (Yes.) False leaders do not do real work and cannot implement the various tasks arranged by the Above, yet they still assert their status to preach to people, feeling that they are the heads, the captains, of God’s chosen people. This already makes them antichrists—bona fide antichrists. Is this characterization of such people accurate? It is extremely accurate, without any error! This is not logical reasoning but a characterization based on their essence. Those who cannot implement the work arrangements of God’s house are false leaders, and those who do not implement the work arrangements of God’s house are also false leaders. Before they are revealed as Pharisees, they can be characterized as false leaders. However, from the moment they become Pharisees and leech off the church, rely on their “past achievements,” and occupy positions without implementing work arrangements or doing specific tasks, becoming stumbling blocks to the work of God’s house, such people should be characterized as antichrists. How do you determine whether someone is a false leader or an antichrist? A false leader is characterized based on whether they can implement work arrangements and do real work. Those who do not implement work arrangements and do not do real work are false leaders. However, if they know they cannot do real work and cannot implement the work arrangements from the Above, yet still want to assert their status to preach and shout slogans to win people’s hearts, and ignore the work arrangements of God’s house, and expect God’s house—in light of the fact that they have believed in God for many years and have suffered for the church’s work for many years—to keep them around so they can leech off the church and exploit God’s house as a retirement home, continuing to mislead brothers and sisters, even seeking the power to frame discourse and decision-making authority, then such people are antichrists. This is how you determine whether someone is a false leader or an antichrist. Is this principle and standard for characterization clear? (Yes.)

The ninth responsibility of leaders and workers primarily involves work arrangements. Whether or not a leader or worker implements work arrangements is the criterion for testing if they are up to standard. Evaluating whether leaders and workers are true or false based on whether they carry out church work according to work arrangements is the most accurate method. Using their attitude toward work arrangements to discern and dissect false leaders, and to determine whether they are false leaders or antichrists, is completely fair. Evaluating leaders and workers based on how they implement work arrangements, whether they can implement work arrangements, and the effectiveness and thoroughness of their implementation is fair and reasonable for any leader or worker. It is not intended to deliberately make things difficult for anyone. Can you discern that some false leaders do not implement work arrangements and eventually become antichrists? Does this assertion hold up? (Yes.) Why does it hold up? (Because false leaders do not implement work arrangements and occupy their positions to establish their own independent kingdoms. This means they have already started down the path of antichrists.) This is the phenomenon—what is the essence of the problem? Not implementing work arrangements is resisting God and opposing Him. What does it mean to oppose God? Those who follow the path of antichrists are opposing God, standing in direct opposition to Him. If one is merely a false leader, they simply do not know how to do the work or implement work arrangements; they are not deliberately resisting God. However, the qualities of antichrists are much more serious in nature than those of false leaders. Some false leaders have long been following the path of antichrists. These individuals start by not doing real work and not implementing work arrangements. After being leaders for a long time and being able to preach some words and doctrines, they feel that their position is secure, that they have capital, and that they have gained prestige among people. They then dare to start doing whatever they want and oppose God. They always overestimate themselves, believing they have gained prestige among the brothers and sisters, that their words carry weight, and therefore they should have absolute discursive dominance and decision-making authority in everything they do. They think people should listen to them; people should save face for them if they embarrass themselves while doing something or flub their words—as should God’s house. God’s house should consult them on any issues that come up and give them a share of good things, and they should receive better perks and higher praise than others. They think God should also regard them in a different light. Given these perceived advantages and superiority of theirs, they believe God’s house should not easily prune them or expose their corrupt disposition in front of others, much less dismiss them without giving any consideration to their feelings. Such people are in danger. They are relying on their “past achievements.” They are Pharisees, and have already become antichrists. Isn’t this determined by their nature essence? If someone pursues the truth and possesses the truth reality, would they make these unreasonable demands of God’s house and of God? (No.) There is one kind of person who, after doing work for a long time, feels that they have gained status and have capital, and thus develops these kinds of thoughts and this sense of superiority. What kind of person is this? It is someone with the essence of an antichrist. Because they do not pursue the truth and follow the path of antichrists, they are arrogant and self-righteous, making all sorts of unreasonable demands of God and God’s house. They rely on their “past achievements,” leech off the church, cling to their status, and ultimately become an antichrist. This is a textbook antichrist. Are there such people in the church? Anyone who prides themselves on being a spiritual person is of this type. They are clearly worthless and cannot do any specific work, yet still consider themselves spiritual; they consider themselves to be people who are looked upon favorably by God and who are the targets of His perfection. They believe they are God’s beloved sons, the overcomers. What path are such people following? Are they people who pursue the truth? Are they people who submit to the truth? Are they people who submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements? Absolutely not, one hundred percent not. They are people who pursue status, reputation, and blessings, and walk the path of antichrists. When such people hold a position for a long time, serving as false leaders for a long time, they will inevitably become antichrists. Antichrists are obstacles to the work of God’s house. They cannot possibly do work according to work arrangements, and they cannot possibly follow God’s will or do things according to God’s requirements; even more so, they cannot possibly give up their status, reputation, and interests to do the work of the church, because they are antichrists.

The fellowship on the ninth responsibility of leaders and workers is primarily about the implementation of work arrangements. Whether a leader or worker is up to standard and fulfills their responsibilities is primarily determined by how they implement work arrangements and the results of these implementations. Of course, this standard is also used to expose false leaders and the paths they follow, as well as the consequences they bring to the church’s work and the life entry of God’s chosen people. All these determinations, judgments, and final characterizations are based on false leaders’ implementation of work arrangements. Implementing work arrangements is a primary task, so determining whether a leader or worker is up to standard based on their implementation of work arrangements is very realistic and extremely fundamental. Furthermore, holding every leader and worker to this standard is perfectly reasonable and fair, without any impurity.

April 24, 2021