C. Trying to Replace the Truth

People with the evil essence of Satan have particularly malicious dispositions. Not only do they show hostility toward the truth and attack the truth, but they also want to use their own heresies and fallacies to replace the truth. Their main manifestation is that they hate and attack whoever prunes or exposes them, and make things difficult for them. This disposition essence is too evil, more vicious than that of any ferocious animal. Although tigers and lions have ferocious dispositions, when they are not hungry or when you pose no threat to them, they ignore you and do not want to harm you. Devils, however, are different. Even if you ignore them, as long as you pose a threat to their status, they will not let you go; they will take the initiative to attack you—how much more so will they do this if you expose and prune them. Not only do they never accept being pruned, but they also refuse to listen to any correct sayings or suggestions. Instead, they think of various ways to get back at the other party to turn defeat into victory, gaining the upper hand in every struggle and contest, turning passivity into initiative. Suppose you see someone in the church who doesn’t follow the rules, is not bound by any constraints, cannot take being criticized or crossed by anyone, doesn’t accept it when anyone fellowships on the truth, resists and argues when pruned, and hates and attacks whoever exposes them—this is a devil. Some people make a few mistakes in their work, and before others even criticize or expose them for anything, they preemptively strike, thinking of every which way to come up with reasons to justify and defend themselves, saying that there are reasons and explanations for their poor work and that someone sabotaged it, trying every means to shift the responsibility onto others and clear their own name. They are particularly sensitive whenever anyone fellowships on and dissects their own corrupt disposition, believing it’s actually about them, and they try every means to protect their ego and cover up their mistakes, even judging and condemning those who fellowship on the truth. Such people will absolutely never admit their mistakes or reflect on themselves, much less repent. Instead, they think of every which way to disguise themselves, to be perfect people and flawless individuals in others’ eyes, people who others see as never making mistakes. Whether they say a phrase wrong, use a wrong term, or have some deviations or flaws in their work, or expose some corrupt dispositions and intentions that get discovered by others, they feel it’s a bad omen, as if something terrible is about to happen, their life is at stake, or the world is ending. They then think of various ways to justify and defend themselves; this is their instinctive reaction. They even create some facades, saying things that conform to people’s notions and imaginings, words that win people’s hearts, to dupe those around them. They are particularly afraid of people knowing their true colors, their defects and flaws, and particularly afraid of their true situation being exposed. They never admit that their caliber is poor or that they have problems with their humanity, and of course, even less do they admit the mistakes they’ve made or the corrupt dispositions they’ve revealed. They keep themselves tightly wrapped up, making sure they don’t let anything slip. Their goal is to protect their status and reputation, to forever maintain a glorious, flawless image in people’s hearts, making people think that they have no defects in their humanity, that they love and pursue the truth, can practice the truth, can endure hardship and pay a price, and have no corrupt dispositions whatsoever. Such people are devils, not humans. Devils simply do not accept the truth, and even think of every which way to disguise themselves as the very embodiment of truth, the epitome of a perfect image. This is both deviant and evil, right? No matter how many years they believe in God, they always present themselves as perfect people, free of defects. Even if they have negativity, weakness, or notions, they never dare to expose them, just keeping them wrapped up. Once someone exposes them, they hate that person and think of various ways to torment them, while simultaneously using various methods and means to restore their image. For example, some people always defend themselves, speaking some misleading devilish words, and intentionally turning black into white and confounding right and wrong, to mislead some people who lack discernment, thereby changing people’s perception of them and making people re-evaluate their characterization. Such people are bona fide devils, without a shred of humanity. No matter how well devils can perform, no matter what their viewpoints on various matters are, in short, because they have an evil nature, they will be hostile to the truth. That is, from the depths of their hearts, they never accept the truth or positive things. They don’t listen to God’s words or accept God’s words; their nature essence is to hate God. Whatever God says, they feel revulsion. Perhaps you can’t discover their revulsion; outwardly, they also attend gatherings and read God’s words, and don’t show an attitude of hostility toward every truth. But when something happens that doesn’t conform to their notions or involves their interests, they will judge God, God’s house, and the truth, judge and attack those who pursue the truth, and judge any positive thing—they will expose their evil nature. At this time, you will discover that their claim of being willing to accept the truth is all a facade; deep in their hearts, they detest and are repulsed by the truth, and do not accept it in the slightest. But because they are good at disguising themselves, they deceive some people, just like the Pharisees.

Those who are reincarnated from devils have nothing but hostility, judgment, and attacks for the truth; with such a mentality, it is impossible for them to accept the truth. When it comes to the work arrangements of God’s house, they just give them a cursory reading out loud so that others hear them and then consider it done. When it comes time to do actual work, they do not practice according to the principles required in the work arrangements whatsoever, but rather act according to their own will, their notions and imaginings. They will even only implement those work arrangements that are beneficial to their status and reputation; if the work arrangements are not beneficial to their fame, gain, and status, they will not implement them, even if they have the caliber to do so. Why is this? Because once the work arrangements are implemented, people will know that God’s house did this and will only thank God, not them; people will feel that God loves man and will not feel that they have any merit, which means they will not gain reputation, status, or any benefits. This is one reason. Another reason is that because devils have a nature that is hostile to the truth, they will not do anything according to the truth principles, but rather act according to their own ambitions, desires, and instincts. What are Satan’s instincts? To do evil and resist God, to disrupt God’s work, and to make people distance themselves from God, betray God, and worship it instead. Satan’s purpose in coming to the church is to disturb and demolish the church’s work. It will do whatever can bring chaos and disturbance to the church’s work. Even if it brings no benefit to its status or reputation, as long as it can bring disruption, disturbance, and damage to the church’s work, it has achieved its goal. For example, God’s house requires churches in all localities to accurately and truthfully report the number of people gained through preaching the gospel each month. Can they do this in a way that is free of guile? No, they will think of every which way to deceive and report false numbers, reporting an extra hundred people this month, an extra two hundred next month, and if no one discovers it, they will report another several hundred more. They never practice according to work arrangements, and no matter what problems they encounter they do not seek the truth principles; they have no moral boundaries in how they conduct themselves or act. They are devils. No matter how the truth is fellowshipped, they will not accept it. Their conscience is devoid of feeling; they are conscienceless creatures. The work arrangements of God’s house stipulate the principles for distributing books of God’s words—who should receive them and who should not. Can they act according to these principles? (No.) The work arrangements stipulate how many people are needed to establish a church, how many churches form a district, how many districts can form a region, and what the conditions and principles are for establishing leaders at all levels. Can they practice according to these principles? (No.) They will not do any work that is beneficial to the work of God’s house or to the life entry of the brothers and sisters. They think to themselves, “If I do the work well for you, and the brothers and sisters all grow in life and gain discernment of me, will I still be able to maintain my footing and keep my status? I certainly won’t tire myself out for you! I’ll just do things haphazardly. God’s house requires that fifty people form a church, but I’ll insist on eighty or ninety. As for how church leaders are elected, that depends on what practice benefits me. If the elected church leader is not to my liking, then I’ll appoint someone who listens to me and obeys me.” With them working this way, can normal church life come about? It will take forever. Without a normal church life, can the brothers and sisters quickly grow in life entry? Can new believers quickly establish a foundation? (No.) That is to say, these false leaders and antichrists who are devils will not do any work that is beneficial to the life entry of the brothers and sisters. You see them busying themselves quite energetically, but what are they doing? They are only doing things for their own fame, gain, and status. They do whatever they want as long as it benefits them, giving themselves total carte blanche. Whatever ambitions and desires they have, they will realize them to the fullest extent when they secure power; they will absolutely not miss this opportunity. As for the church life, the life entry of the brothers and sisters, the order of the church, and whether the gospel work of God’s house and the work in other areas are progressing or progressing smoothly—none of these are their concern. For example, if they are told how a church should distribute books and to whom, they ponder, “There’s no need to be so strict. I’ll just distribute them however and that’s it.” When asked if the place where the church stores books is safe, they say, “Who cares if it’s safe or not? At any rate, we’ve got a place to store the books, so it’s fine.” You see, they have countermeasures to the policies from the higher-ups. They do not implement any of the work arrangements or specific principles of practice from God’s house; instead, they act according to their own ideas and methods. Isn’t this trying to replace the truth with their own practices? If God’s chosen people fall into the hands of such devils, they will suffer—the devils will do whatever they want, and everyone will have to listen to them, as though they were bandit overlords, local tyrants, masters, or emperors. It will be impossible for God’s chosen people to have a normal church life, impossible for them to quickly establish a foundation in the true way, and impossible for them to quickly make progress in various truths. The devils won’t do a single good thing. Wherever a church experiences disturbances from evil people and antichrists, and a state of chaos emerges, it proves that the leaders of that church are incapable of doing actual work and are mere figureheads. The brothers and sisters who are new in the faith are misled by antichrists before they have even established a foundation, and the church life also descends into chaos. This is all caused by false leaders not doing actual work. Could it be that false leaders don’t have time to do actual work? (No.) If they wanted to do this essential work, they would have more than enough time, but they simply don’t do it. This exposes the evil nature of devils. They fear nothing more than the church not being in chaos, wishing it would become utterly chaotic, yearning for the church’s work to be in a state of chaos and stagnation, hoping all church members would obey evil people and antichrists, and be misled by antichrists, evil people, and devils, and not follow God. This would be exactly what they want, and they would be happy and satisfied. When brothers and sisters have a normal church life, can normally eat and drink God’s words and fellowship on the truth, and can gain something every time they participate in church life, they feel uncomfortable. Because if people are always gaining something and they’re gradually growing in life, they will gain discernment of them and reject them, and they’ll lose their status, which is an outcome they do not want to see. They feel that the more chaotic the church is, the more opportunities they have to display their talents, the more room they have to put their talents into play, and the more they can be in their element and seek victory in chaos. This is truly the scheme of devils! No truth principle and no specific work arrangement can be implemented where devils are present. Brothers and sisters are not able to read the work arrangements and have no path in doing their duty. When chaos arises in the church, these false leaders and antichrists who are devils simply don’t resolve it, and even secretly rejoice. They even think of every which way to create some trouble, appointing another devil or antichrist as a leader, which causes the church to become even more chaotic; this makes them even happier. Isn’t this the same as how the great red dragon does things? The great red dragon doesn’t allow people to believe in God, follow God, or do their duty; it only allows people to listen to the Party and follow the Party. They can eat, drink, make merry, and commit any crime; no matter what crime they commit, it doesn’t restrict them. There are many local ruffians, hooligans, and prostitutes in society; people live in sin and indulge in the pleasures of sin, and thus no one cares about national affairs, and no one investigates how much evil the CCP has done behind the scenes. This is called diverting attention. Over its many years of ruling China, the most effective tactic for the great red dragon has been to introduce various evil trends and evil thoughts and viewpoints from various countries into China. After this, Chinese people are completely liberated in terms of sex, their minds are open, and the way they talk about sex is also open. They think about these things all day long. What has the life of the common people become? It revolves around food and sex, their natural desires. The common people are all trapped in such a vicious cycle, so they relax their vigilance toward politics and rulers, have no sensitivity about politics and rulers, and don’t care about them anymore. Like opium addicts, their willpower wanes. Men no longer have the ambition to pursue careers, and women no longer have the desire to be good wives and loving mothers. People don’t walk the right path or attend to proper tasks. No one participates in politics, and everyone is completely subservient to the great red dragon. In this way, the great red dragon’s regime is consolidated, because such people are easy to rule. What does “easy to rule” mean? It means that no matter how the great red dragon oppresses the common people, they have no objections and have to endure it. Isn’t this precisely the effect that’s been achieved now? (Yes.) Look at Chinese movies or online videos; eighty to ninety percent of them are about sexual desire or relationships between men and women. This has a terrible impact on people; it doesn’t protect children and minors. Westerners have strict regulations in this regard; they protect children and minors and have preventive measures in place for them. Chinese youths today grow up in such a social environment. At a very young age, their minds are crammed with things like romance, love, sex, and marriage. It’s terrifying! If mankind lives in such a societal context, and through the conditioning and education of the social environment, mankind’s normal physiological needs are corrupted by Satan to a degenerate degree, then people’s hearts will be wicked and degenerate. One manifestation of wickedness and degeneracy is that people have no sense of shame in this regard, or their standard for the sense of shame in this regard is lowered. Some people, because they have conscience and reason, have a line in their hearts that they will not cross; this is the little sense of shame that their meager conscience and reason can achieve. But after these people believe in God, they still carry the shadows and imprints of growing up in that societal context. To this day, some are gradually shedding them, while others are still living in that shadow and haven’t emerged from it. People who grow up in that kind of social environment and background have had their inner desire for positive things, for justice, and their resolve, determination, or yearning to walk the right path ravaged to a certain extent. What does “ravaged” mean? It means that having been conditioned and educated by such a social environment, these people’s determination, perseverance, and willpower to yearn for positive things and pursue light and justice are very weak; they cannot withstand any storms, any setbacks, or any defeats. It’s like people who have smoked opium; even if they quit, the harm of the drug doesn’t stop there. When they encounter setbacks or failures, when they feel discouraged or negative, they might relapse and use opium again to numb their minds and escape the various difficulties in life. That is, it’s impossible for them to quit their drug addiction once and for all; they will relapse along the way, return to their old ways, and use the same method to solve various problems in life. These people who grew up in such an evil social environment and background have received many heresies and fallacies from Satan, which have taken very deep root in their hearts. Their will to pursue the truth is still very fragile, and they cannot withstand being misled and enticed by, or the various temptations of, satanic evil forces. That is, although these people follow God, their outlook on life, their value system, their outlook on love, and their outlook on happiness are all deeply influenced and conditioned by evil trends, even being bound and shackled by these things. Some still want to pursue a happy marriage, a world of two, and return to the evil trends of the world to indulge sexual desire. It’s very easy for these people to be permeated or controlled by those evil thoughts and viewpoints again. Especially when people see some movies involving love and marriage, their hearts grow weak, they envy nonbelievers living in marriage and love and enjoying life, and they lose the desire to pursue the truth and do their duty. This is a very frightening thing. From these actual situations, it can be seen that every person, although they have gone through countless hardships to follow God to this day, is still not safe. Perhaps you feel you have already exerted all your strength in pursuing the truth, in accepting the truth and practicing the truth, but the repercussions of Satan’s ravages on man have still not been eradicated in you, so you are still in great danger.

Let’s continue fellowshipping on the evil manifestations of devils. The evil manifestations of devils are too numerous; you could say they’re ubiquitous—you’ll find them in any group of people. We primarily measure the various evil manifestations of devils according to the truth to characterize their evil essence. This is the most accurate way. Based on the various attitudes devils have toward the truth—being hostile to it, attacking it, and seeking to replace it—the nature essence of this type of person is an evil essence, the essence of a devil. They will never change, because they never accept the truth and never regard the truth as a positive thing. Why do they not regard the truth as a positive thing? Because they have no humanity, and they are devils; they cannot accept the truth, and they have no faculty for accepting the truth, nor do they have any need to accept the truth. What, then, is their need? It is to do evil things, things that are antagonistic toward God and the truth, and things that attack and replace the truth. This is their mission, and it is also dictated by their nature essence. Therefore, in the end, such people can only be cleared out of the church. God’s house has no place for them, nor any duty for them to do. God’s house has no need for them whatsoever. Those who sincerely do their duty in God’s house, regardless of whether they love the truth or not, are at the very least subjectively willing to accept the truth, are not hostile to the truth, will never deny the truth, and will never judge, attack, or blaspheme God. Of course, they will also not intentionally utter any statements or engage in any behaviors or practices that replace the truth. The evil manifestations of Satan and devils—being hostile to the truth, attacking the truth, and replacing the truth—are sufficient to prove that Satan has an evil essence; they cannot remain in the church. As God’s chosen people increasingly understand the truth, and as most people gain discernment of various kinds of people who are averse to and hostile to the truth, the nature essence of those who are devils is increasingly clearly exposed, and increasingly clearly and accurately recognized and discerned by people. Therefore, these people become increasingly rejected by others, and increasingly unable to get along amicably and cooperate harmoniously with others. Ultimately, then, they can only be gradually eliminated. Are you willing to see such people eliminated? (Yes.) Their gradual elimination is a good thing. For one thing, it proves that most of God’s chosen people have grown in stature and gained discernment of those who are devils, no longer regarding them as believers in God or as brothers and sisters. For another, the things done by those who are devils are increasingly exposed. People lay their nature essence bare, and everyone sees that even the service they render is not up to standard; they only cause disturbances and disruptions in the church and have no positive effect. Once they are eliminated and cleared out, the church’s work progresses normally. Those who are devils have no humanity; they are worse than beasts. Some beasts know to listen to their masters, work diligently, and don’t cause trouble for their masters. Beasts have some reason, but devils cannot achieve this. If you use them to do a duty, you still have to arrange for some people to supervise them. If they could render service obediently, that would be acceptable, but they will not render service properly. Even if you supervise them, there will always be times when you can’t watch them. If you take your eyes off them for a moment or overlook one thing, devils will exploit the loophole and cause chaos and trouble for the church’s work. You use several people to watch over them, and in the end, you still need several people to clean up the mess they create. You will feel that using them to do a duty causes too great a loss, that it’s not worth it, and that using them is too taxing and infuriating. Watching them work is like watching beasts at work; they can never do what normal people can do. Finally, you’ll see through them: Such people are beasts, they are devils; they will never change. Beasts and devils will never accept the truth. You finally perceive this matter clearly, and you ultimately decide to never use devils again and you cleanse them away. Can beasts and devils become humans? This is impossible. Getting the great red dragon to put down the butcher’s knife is impossible; its nature is that of a devil—it kills people without batting an eye. Devils and Satan are of the same cohort. How you view the great red dragon is how you should view these beasts and devils; this is correct. If you view devils differently from how you view Satan and the great red dragon, this proves that you still do not have a thorough understanding of the essence of devils; if you still treat them as humans, believe that they have humanity, have some commendable qualities, and can still be redeemed, and you still need to give them chances, then you are ignorant, you have fallen for their ruse again, and you will have to pay the price for this. To avoid falling for their ruse, you must thoroughly clear devils out. Show them no leniency! Alright, that’s all for today’s fellowship on the evil manifestations of devils. Goodbye!

February 17, 2024