By Song Yu, Netherlands

In 2019, I was training in a leadership position, working alongside Wang. Over the course of our interactions, I learned that he had served in leadership for a number of years in China, and handled lots of different projects. After coming abroad, he was promoted to leadership right away and became responsible for several churches. I felt like he had to have pretty good caliber and have a good grasp of principles, and must understand the truth. Otherwise, how could he handle such important duties? I couldn’t help but admire him somewhat. I was telling myself that I was just learning the ropes and wasn’t familiar with a lot of the principles. I didn’t have great insight into things and was likely to get confused by complicated issues. Being partnered with someone who knew the principles, I needed to learn from him and gain a grasp on the principles as soon as I could, to do the church’s work well.

As time went on, in gatherings with Wang, I heard him talking about a duty he’d held in mainland China. A few churches weren’t doing too well, so he was given responsibility for them. At first, he felt like it was going to be a tough job, so he didn’t want to go, but after eating and drinking God’s words and praying, he accepted the duty. After taking it on, there were some real difficulties, but through a period of hard work, things started picking up with the churches’ work. Hearing his description of this, I felt like he had good caliber and he really took on a burden and considered God’s will, reviving projects that were practically dead in the water. He had to have the Holy Spirit’s work, and God’s guidance and blessings. I couldn’t help but admire him even more. As our cooperation went on, I made sure to listen closely to his fellowship. He talked about leaving his family behind, setting aside personal feelings to do his duty, how his family tried to stand in his way, how he overcame Satan’s tricks and stood witness, how he’d discerned antichrists, step by step, and then how he’d gotten them out of the church, protecting brothers and sisters. He also talked about how he supported leaders who were struggling with their work, taking them by the hand to help them learn the principles. Listening to all his stories, I felt that though we were partners, he was on a higher level than us common folk, that he had a broader view of things, and we were just nowhere near him. Over time, I carefully observed how he carried out his duty. In gatherings, he’d start with fellowship on God’s words about God’s love for man and being considerate of His will, how God works in us and saves us, how much grace He bestows, and how we should repay His love. Then he’d fellowship on how to do practical work, and how back in China he had immersed himself in every location to get real work done, to get results. After all that, if he noticed there were problems in a certain area, he’d deal with and dissect those leaders for not doing practical work, saying they lacked humanity and conscience, that they were irresponsible and inconsiderate of God’s will, and that’s why they didn’t have God’s guidance and couldn’t get results. Then he’d talk about his work in China, how he leaned on God to gain the Holy Spirit’s work and resolve all the problems and difficulties. Then he told those leaders to go back and rely on God to fix things. After a while, in gatherings he started asking them really detailed questions, and in some places they were seeing more success in their gospel work. That work style was totally new to me. Each phase linked to the next, and it was really methodical. The way he spoke and worked was decisive and confident, and lots of brothers and sisters really admired him. I figured he’d served as a leader for a long time and had accumulated lots of experience, so he was better than me at handling problems and taking remedial action. His work style seemed so elevated and I wondered when I could be like him. I figured if I started doing things just like he did, I might achieve good results too, and the others might look up to me.

In gatherings with brothers and sisters after that, I started out with passages about considering God’s will, I fellowshiped on how God works in us and saves us, how we should repay God’s love, how to put our hearts into our duty and do practical work. When the gospel team wasn’t getting good results, I imitated Wang’s speaking style, pruning and dealing with them, saying their lack of results had to be because they didn’t take on a burden in their duty, and people like that don’t have any conscience or humanity, that they are just service-doers. In every gathering, I asked detailed questions about their results from their gospel work. When things weren’t looking good, I was disdainful for them, thinking that even after so much fellowship they couldn’t get good results, so they weren’t putting effort into it. Then I fellowshiped on how to do practical work in their duty, how to put their heart into it and not be careless. I pruned and dealt with them in my fellowship. But even after that, their performance still didn’t improve. I was so confused—I followed Wang’s own working method, so why wasn’t I seeing results? I only reflected on myself later after a sister said something to me. We were chatting about how we were feeling in our duties and challenges we had, and she opened up to me, saying she’d felt really pressured and constrained in her work with me, that in every gathering, I’d take a lofty stance and scold her, and after the fact, she’d steel herself and trudge on, just checking things off a list. She was afraid of being dealt with if she didn’t do it well, and was so pressured she didn’t want to be in gatherings with me anymore. She also said I didn’t share much about my corruption and faults, but just talked about others’ problems, so people couldn’t see into my heart, and felt distant from me. She was crying as she told me this. That was really upsetting to hear—I felt like I’d really wronged her. I didn’t know that doing my duty that way would hurt others so much. I just wanted to do my duty well and improve our work’s results. Instead, not only was I not doing my duty well, but I was making brothers and sisters feel constrained. Where was I going wrong? I came before God in prayer and seeking, asking Him to guide me to understand my problem.

In my devotionals, I saw this passage of God’s words: “If, as a church leader or worker, you are to lead God’s chosen ones in entering the reality of the truth and bearing proper testimony to God, of chief importance is to guide people in spending more time reading God’s words and fellowshiping the truth, so that God’s chosen ones can have a deeper knowledge of God’s aims in saving man and the purpose of God’s work, and can understand God’s will and His various requirements for man, thus allowing them to understand the truth. … Can you make people understand the truth and enter its reality if you only deal with and lecture them? If the truth you fellowship is not real, if it is nothing but words of doctrine, then no matter how much you deal with and lecture them, it will be to no avail. Do you think people being afraid of you, and doing what you tell them to, and not daring to object, is the same as them understanding the truth and being obedient? This is a major mistake; entry into life is not so simple. Some leaders are like a new manager trying to make a strong impression, they try to impose their new-found authority on God’s chosen ones so that everyone submits to them, thinking that this will make their job easier. If you lack the reality of the truth, then before long your true colors will be revealed, your true stature will be exposed, and you could well be eliminated. In some administrative work, a little dealing, pruning, and discipline is acceptable. But if you are unable to provide the truth—if you are only capable of lecturing people, and all you do is fly into a rage—then this is your corrupt disposition revealing itself, and you have shown the ugly face of your corruption. As time goes on, God’s chosen ones will be unable to receive the provision of life from you, they will not gain anything real, and so will be repulsed and disgusted by you, and will shun you. … Some leaders and workers are incapable of communicating the truth to resolve problems. Instead, they just blindly deal with others and flaunt their power so that others come to fear them and obey them—such are the habitual methods of false leaders and antichrists. The facts prove that those whose disposition has not changed are not fit to be leaders and workers, much less are they qualified to serve and testify to God” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only Those With the Reality of the Truth Can Lead). Everything that God described fit me perfectly, to a tee. In gatherings with brothers and sisters, when I noticed they weren’t getting results, I didn’t try to understand their actual struggles or the reasons for them not doing well spreading the gospel, and I made no effort to fellowship on the truth to help them with their problems. I just pruned and dealt with them, and haughtily scolded them, criticizing them for not carrying a burden, for lacking humanity. Then brothers and sisters felt constrained and scared of me, and distanced themselves. I haughtily scolded them, stressed them out and threw my weight around instead of fellowshiping truths to help them. If that went on, I could become a false leader or an antichrist. When I saw what a serious problem it was, I came before God and prayed: “God, I’ve been abusing my power and blindly dealing with people. I haven’t been doing well in my duty and I’ve hurt brothers and sisters. I want to repent to You. Please guide me.” I found a path of practice in some of God’s words after that. In gatherings from then on, I asked brothers and sisters to talk about their struggles first, then I told them how I saw the problems and shared fellowship based on God’s words. That way, the others didn’t feel constrained and they got some help. I felt so much better after doing things that way for a while.

I thought I’d already learned that lesson well enough until I read a passage of God’s words that helped me understand why I’d imitate Wang’s work practices, and the path I was taking in my faith in God. God’s words say, “No matter the level of leaders and workers within a church, if you always worship them, if your eyes are always fixed on them, and you venerate them, and you rely on them for everything, and hope that this will allow you to achieve salvation, then it will all come to nothing, because this impetus is wrong in itself; when people believe in God, they can only venerate and follow God. Regardless of their rank among the leadership, leaders are still common people, and if you see them as your immediate superiors, if you feel that they are superior to you, that they are more competent than you, and that they should lead you, that they are in all ways a cut above anyone else, then that is wrong—it is your delusion. And what are the consequences that this delusion leads to? This delusion, this flawed understanding will lead you unconsciously to measure your leaders against requirements that do not conform with reality; at the same time, without your knowing it, you will also be profoundly drawn to their flair, gifts and talents, such that before you know it, you are worshiping them, and they have become your Gods. That path, from the moment they start to become your role model, the object of your worship, to the moment that you become one of their followers, is one that will lead you unconsciously away from God. And even as you gradually move away from God, you will still believe that you are following God, that you are in the house of God, that you are in the presence of God. But actually, you have been drawn away by someone who is of Satan, or an antichrist, and you won’t even sense it—which is a very dangerous state of affairs. In order to resolve this problem, you must accurately understand and discern the different dispositions of the antichrists and the ways in which they operate, as well as the nature of their actions and the methods and tricks they like to use; you must also start by working on yourself. Believing in God yet worshiping man is not the correct path. Some might say: ‘Well, I do have reasons for worshiping the leaders that I do—the ones I worship are in line with my notions.’ Why do you insist on worshiping man though you believe in God? When all is said and done, who is it who will save you? Who is it who truly loves you and protects you—can you truly not see? You follow God and listen to His word, and if someone speaks and acts correctly, and it accords with the principles of the truth, is obeying the truth not okay? Why are you so base? Why do you insist on finding someone whom you worship to follow? Why do you like to be Satan’s slave? Why not be a servant of the truth instead? This shows whether a person has sense and dignity. You should begin by working on yourself, equipping yourself with the truths that differentiate different people and events, developing discernment between various matters, and the various things manifested in various people, knowing what their substance is, and what dispositions are revealed; you must also understand what kind of person you are, what kind of people those around you are, and what kind of people are leading you. You must be able to regard them accurately. … If you do not pursue the truth, and always live amid a certain kind of imaginings, and always blindly depend on, venerate, and flatter other people, if you do not walk the path of pursuing the truth, then what will the ultimate consequence be? Everyone is able to dupe you. You are not able to see anyone for who they really are—not even the most blatant antichrists, who confound you with their manipulation; yet you still admire them for their abilities, dancing to their tune each day. Is this someone who follows and obeys God?” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Behave in Strange and Mysterious Ways, They Are Arbitrary and Dictatorial, They Never Fellowship With Others, and They Force Others to Obey Them). After reading God’s words, I saw that even though I had faith, I was on a path of worshiping and following people. I knew from my interactions with Wang that he’d been a leader for years, so I thought he pursued the truth, and I really adulated him. Knowing he’d been responsible for multiple churches’ work and that he’d revived things when they were going poorly, I admired him even more. I felt like he had the Holy Spirit’s guidance and God’s blessings to get all that work done, that God must love him. And hearing him talk about how he was considerate of God’s will, plus his working methods and outcomes, I felt like out of all these leaders and workers, Wang had the best caliber and capabilities, that he had a greater stature. Before I knew it, he had a grand image within my mind. I started idolizing him. I thought that if I wanted to be a qualified leader, I should learn from his working style. In gatherings, I wasn’t really listening to what other people said. I felt like their fellowship didn’t have anything on mine, but when Wang started speaking, I put my entire focus on him. Sometimes I’d take notes on the key points he mentioned, afraid of missing something important. During that time, I wasn’t coming before God to pray and seek at all, and I wasn’t seeking principles from God’s words on how leaders should work. I was just putting Wang’s words and working style into practice as if they were the truth. I was even imitating his every gesture, the ways he preached and acted. He held too high of a place in my heart. He was impacting the way I did things and how I did my duty. He’d become my idol. Technically, I believed in and followed God, but in reality, I was following Wang, and God had lost His place in my heart. I was adulating and following a person, which was essentially following Satan, distancing myself from God and betraying Him. The Lord Jesus once said, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:10). God is a jealous God, and He won’t allow His believers to worship any idols. Almighty God says, “Since you have already made resolutions to serve Me, I will not let you go. I am a jealous God, and I am a God who is jealous of humanity. Since you have already placed your words upon the altar, I will not tolerate your running off before My very eyes, nor will I tolerate your serving two masters” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Are All So Base in Character!). I saw that God’s disposition tolerates no offense. He doesn’t like people who have faith in name only, but don’t have Him in their heart, who believe in God but follow man and betray Him. They disgust God—He hates them. Seeing that I was following a person and already on the wrong path, I became terrified. I was also grateful to God’s guidance, showing me such a serious problem in me. I really wanted to stop adulating Wang.

There was another passage I read: “What you admire is not the humility of Christ, but those false shepherds of prominent standing. You do not adore the loveliness or wisdom of Christ, but those libertines who wallow in the filth of the world. You laugh at the pain of Christ who has no place to lay His head, but you admire those corpses that hunt for offerings and live in debauchery. You are not willing to suffer alongside Christ, but you gladly throw yourself into the arms of those reckless antichrists, though they only supply you with flesh, words, and control. Even now, your heart still turns toward them, toward their reputation, toward their status, toward their influence. And yet you continue to hold an attitude whereby you find the work of Christ hard to swallow and you are unwilling to accept it. This is why I say that you lack the faith to acknowledge Christ. The reason you have followed Him to this day is only because you had no other option. A series of lofty images are forever towering in your heart; you cannot forget their every word and deed, nor their influential words and hands. They are, in your heart, forever supreme and forever heroes. But this is not so for the Christ of today. He is forever insignificant in your heart, and forever undeserving of reverence. For He is far too ordinary, has far too little influence, and is far from lofty” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Are You a True Believer in God?). God’s words helped me understand why I was following a person. I adored status and power, and those were the things I loved by nature. Once I knew Wang had been in leadership roles all along, that he’d handled lots of projects, I started looking up to him. When I heard him describing the work he’d done and the things he’d accomplished, I started adulating him, wanting to be just like him one day. The way he spoke and the work he did left a strong impression on me. I admired his dignified fellowship and authoritativeness in work. I felt like that’s what a leader should be like. But I wasn’t remotely adoring Christ’s humility and hiddenness, His loveliness and greatness. I thought of God making clothing for Adam and Eve. He is the Creator and has such great honor, but He wasn’t presenting Himself that way. He personally made clothing for the ignorant people who’d been corrupted by Satan. When the Lord Jesus was working and walking among man, He never revealed His identity, but even washed His disciples’ feet. And now, God has incarnated and come to earth to save man, clothed in regular flesh, just quietly expressing truths and giving man sustenance, never showing off. God’s humility and hiddenness is so worthy of our love. But I didn’t see that this contains God’s holiness, greatness, and dignity. I just looked up to, adored, and even followed whoever I saw had status and put on airs. I was so blind and ignorant. So then I swore that I’d become a true follower of God, that I’d do my duty according to God’s words and have discernment over what others summarized. If their approach was in line with the principles of the truth, I could follow it, because that’s following the truth. But if it went against God’s words and the truth, if it was just a personal whim or a personal experience, if all that work achieved was gaining others’ admiration or getting people to follow rules and feel hemmed in, I couldn’t just blindly accept it.

After understanding the issue a little better, I thought about how I’d scolded the others and made them feel constrained. That was how Wang worked. Maybe some brothers and sisters felt constrained by him, too. And some others reflected that Wang was constantly picking people apart in gatherings and it was uncomfortable, so I let him know that he was using his position to scold people and it was constraining for the others. But his response was, “I know I’m using my position, but this is what gets results. If I didn’t dissect and deal with them, their performance would suffer.” I was pretty shocked to hear that. He knew his approach was problematic, but he just kept on doing things the wrong way. He wasn’t accepting or practicing the truth. He used his position to berate people so he’d get better results in work, so his motives were wrong. He was doing it for name and status. So wasn’t all his fellowship about considering God’s will empty, just spouting doctrine? At that thought, I developed doubts about what sort of person Wang really was and started to pay more attention to how he did his duty. I wanted to figure out what kind of person he was based on what he actually did.

Later, watching him hold gatherings for some team leaders, I noticed he was scolding them for being perfunctory, not responsible enough. He kept saying, “Do you people have any humanity, or any responsibility? How much actual work have you done?” He was just exposing and criticizing people, but never talked about how to resolve practical issues in their work. Every time we were summing up our work, he’d ask team leaders or more experienced brothers and sisters to share, but he himself never helped with solutions or paths of practice. He also never talked about corruption he’d revealed in his duty, or any personal faults. He always just scolded people haughtily. And after that I noticed that he didn’t even follow up on any work, but just issued commands. He put those projects he was in charge of on other people’s shoulders and had them report back to him. In tasks that were more important, that required more responsibility, he was always protecting his own interests without considering the work of God’s house. In light of all this behavior, my partners and I discussed this and came to feel he was a false leader, so we told an upper leader about all of it. When the leader heard he was constantly saying, “You people are this way and that way,” he said that was Wang acting like he was in a different category than corrupt humans, as if he’d been perfected by God, like he was someone God used. He didn’t want to bow to anyone, but wanted to be on equal footing with God. That’s having the essence of Satan, an antichrist. When I heard the leader mention Satan, an antichrist, I was really taken aback. All I knew was that he didn’t fellowship on the truth to resolve problems and loved berating people, that he was a false leader, but I hadn’t seen that he was an antichrist.

Then I read a couple passages of God’s words. “Regardless of the manner with which they speak, it is always to make people think highly of them and worship them, to attain a certain position in their hearts, even to take God’s place there—these are all goals that antichrists wish to achieve when they testify to themselves. The motivation behind all that they say, preach, and fellowship is to make people think highly of them and venerate them; such behavior is exalting and testifying to themselves, so as to occupy a position in the hearts of others. Though the way these people speak is not wholly the same, to a greater or lesser degree, it has the effect of testifying to themselves and making people venerate them; and to a greater or lesser extent, such behaviors exist in almost all who work. If they reach a point, the point where they can’t stop themselves, or they become difficult to restrain, and they have a particularly strong and obvious intention and goal of making people treat them as though they were God or some sort of idol, and then they can achieve the goal of controlling and constraining people, and reach the point of getting them to submit, the nature of all of this is exalting and testifying about themselves; this is all part of the nature of an antichrist. What means do people typically use to exalt and testify about themselves? (They speak of capital.) What does speaking of capital include? Talking about how long they’ve believed in God, how much they’ve suffered, how much of a price they’ve paid, how much work they’ve done, how far they’ve traveled, how many people they’ve gained through spreading the gospel, and how much humiliation they’ve had to endure. Some people also often talk about how many times they’ve been in jail without ever selling out the church or the brothers and sisters, or failing to stand firm in their testimony, and so on; these are all examples of talking about how much capital one possesses. Under the guise of fulfilling the duties of leaders, they run their own operation, consolidating their position, creating a good impression in people’s hearts. At the same time, they use all manner of methods and tricks to win people over, even going so far as to attack and exclude anyone who has differing opinions or views from theirs, particularly those who pursue the truth. And as for those people who are stupid, ignorant and muddle-headed in their faith, as well as the ones who only believe in God for a short while, or who are of especially small stature, what methods do they use? They deceive, draw in and even threaten them, using these strategies to achieve their goal of consolidating their position. These are all the tactics of the antichrists” (The Word, Vol. 4. Exposing Antichrists. They Try to Win People Over). “I have found that many leaders are only capable of lecturing people, they are only able to preach to people from on high, and cannot communicate with them on the same level; they are not able to interact with people normally. When some people talk, it’s always like they are giving a speech or making a report; their words are only ever directed at other people’s states, and they never open up about themselves, they never dissect their own corrupt dispositions, but only dissect other people’s issues for others to know. And why do they do this? Why are they liable to preach such sermons, to say such things? This is proof that they have no knowledge of themselves, that they are too lacking in sense, too arrogant and conceited. They think that their ability to recognize other people’s corrupt dispositions proves that they are above other people, that they are better than others at discerning people and things, that they are less corrupt than other people. Being able to dissect and lecture others, but being incapable of laying themselves bare, not exposing or dissecting their own corrupt dispositions, not showing their true face, saying nothing about their own motivations, only lecturing other people for doing the wrong thing—this is self-magnification and self-exaltation. … When they lead people, they do not ask that they practice the truth, but that they listen to what they say, and follow their ways—and is this not asking that people treat them as God, and obey them as God? Are they possessed of the truth? They are devoid of the truth, and brim with the disposition of Satan, they are demonic—so why do they ask that people obey them? Does someone like this not magnify themselves? Do they not exalt themselves? Can individuals such as this bring people before God? Can they make people worship God? They are the one they want people to obey, and when they work like this, are they truly leading people into entering the reality of the truth? Are they really doing work entrusted to them by God? No, they are trying to establish their own kingdom, they want to be God, they want people to treat them like God, and obey them like God. Are they not an antichrist? The way antichrists do things has always been that regardless of how much they delay the work of God’s house, no matter how much the harm to God’s chosen ones, people must obey them and listen to them. Is this not the nature of demons? Is this not the disposition of Satan? People like this are living demons in human skin; they may have human faces, but everything inside them is demonic. Everything they say and do is demonic. Nothing they do is in line with the truth, none of it is what people with sense do—and so there is no doubt that these are the actions of demons, of Satan, of antichrists. This should be clearly identifiable to you” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. A Talk About God’s Administrative Decrees in the Age of Kingdom). God’s words gave me some discernment over the essence of Wang’s behavior. He hardly ever talked about his corruption, weaknesses, or faults in gatherings, and hardly ever dissected his problems or mistakes in work. He was always talking about the duties he’d taken on, how much practical work he’d done, how many churches he’d supported and how many leaders he’d trained, how many antichrists he’d discovered, all the sacrifices he’d made, how much he’d suffered, what a price he’d paid, how many hardships he’d overcome, and how he satisfied God’s will no matter how much he had to suffer. He was elevating and bearing witness to himself that way just to win prestige among brothers and sisters, to get others to look up to him. And when he talked about those experiences, he’d link it all to God’s words. It looked like he was fellowshiping on his understanding of God’s words and his real experiences, but it was all just showing off, flaunting his credentials. His fellowship didn’t give people an understanding of God or God’s words, but they just remembered his experience and gained admiration for him. He was showing off under the pretense of fellowshiping on God’s words so he’d have a place in people’s hearts and lead them astray. He was also constantly abusing his position to dissect others’ shortcomings, scolding brothers and sisters for lacking humanity, conscience, and responsibility. He was always saying “You people….” It was clear he didn’t think he was on the same footing as everyone else, that he was a created being, another human being corrupted by Satan. He had all the same kinds of corruptions and faults that the rest of us had, but he behaved like he was something special, as if other people were corrupt and belonged to Satan, but he wasn’t like the rest of us, that he’d escaped corruption and filth. He didn’t fellowship on the truth when brothers and sisters didn’t do their duty well, but just berated them, and was always threatening to dismiss people if they didn’t do practical work. It made people afraid of him, and kept everyone really submissive to him, controlled within his grasp. I saw he not only abused his status, but used all sorts of tactics to get people to adore him, to look up to and listen to him. He was on an antichrist’s path, with an antichrist’s nature and essence.

We dismissed Wang, in line with the principles. After that, we heard that some people got so depressed by his dismissal that they wanted to stop doing their duty. They felt like he had such great caliber, yet was dismissed, that they could never match up to him, so they definitely couldn’t do practical work, and they were bound to be fired someday, too. I realized there had to be lots of people who’d been misled by Wang, who lacked discernment. My partners and I went out to fellowship with all the leaders and workers he’d worked with on the reasons for his dismissal and the nature of his behavior based on God’s words. Some of them talked about how they’d looked up to him so much and felt like he had great caliber, that he was gifted, eloquent, and skilled. They used what he said as a gold standard, treating his words like the truth, and they were only just realizing they’d been misled by him. Some of them said they’d been afraid of Wang, that whenever he checked up on their work, they’d get really nervous, afraid of being criticized, and would get depressed afterward. They felt like they were lacking caliber and couldn’t do anything right, that they couldn’t handle a leadership role and should just resign. Then they’d only feel stronger and hold on to their commission after praying to God over and over. From everyone’s fellowship I saw how negatively Wang’s behavior impacted everyone, and his dismissal was definitely God’s righteousness. It would have hurt others if he’d stayed on as a leader.

After some time, we got a letter from mainland China with a report on Wang’s time doing a duty there. Several of the leaders he’d appointed weren’t fit for the job. Some had been kicked out as antichrists, and some sold out the church after being arrested, becoming Judases even without torture. Appointing the wrong people really hurt the work of God’s house. They also said Wang was always showing off about his caliber and gifts to mislead people, so everyone would think he could solve every difficult problem, that with just a few sentences of fellowship, he could hit the nail on the head and resolve the issue, that wherever he went to fellowship, brothers and sisters would feel better about their duty. Everyone felt like he had the reality of the truth and his co-workers all really admired him. Even people who’d never met him would praise him when his name came up, and use him as a benchmark. They thought if they did things like him, they could get better results in work. After seeing these reports about Wang I could see him even more clearly. The way he behaved was exactly the same as God’s description of antichrists bearing witness to and exalting themselves. In China and abroad, Wang didn’t have the slightest bit of change in his life disposition. He was an antichrist. I was also grateful for God’s righteousness. No one can escape God’s scrutiny, so sooner or later, He’ll eliminate anyone who doesn’t pursue the truth, who isn’t on the right path.

This experience showed me that as believers, we have to look at everything and everyone based on God’s words, to learn to see what sort of person someone is, what their path is based on their behavior, what they show. We should draw closer to those around us who pursue the truth, learning and benefiting from them. We should approach someone showing momentary corruption or weakness properly, helping and supporting them, fellowshiping the truth with love. But we should reject and spurn those nonbelievers who never practice the truth, and if we see someone heading in the wrong direction, about to do evil, someone who’s a false leader, antichrist, or evildoer, we need to put a stop to it and report them. We also need to learn from their failure, to think about the ways we act just like them, to use their failures as warnings for ourselves. We can grow faster in life that way. If we don’t seek the truth in our faith or use God’s words to look at others, but just look at people’s caliber and gifts, we’re likely to adulate and follow other people. Then we’ll end up on a path against God and be eliminated. This shows us how important it is to pursue the truth in our faith.