Discriminating Against Outsiders Is Too Malicious! | Eastern Lightning

42. Discriminating Against Outsiders Is Too Malicious!

Xiaojin    Pan’an County, Zhejiang Province

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In February of 2007, the church received a work arrangement entitled “Water and Supply the New Believers to Help Them Take Root as Quickly as Possible.” It emphasized that “It is necessary to utilize all who are effective and experienced at watering the new believers in order to complete this work. People unsuitable for watering the new believers must not be used; they must be replaced to avoid delaying the work” (“The Issues the Church Is Currently Facing Must Be Resolved” in Annals of Fellowship and Work Arrangements (I)). After seeing this arrangement, instead of using the principles to measure whether the sister from our district who watered the new believers was suitable, I held preconceived ideas against her: This person perfunctorily performed her duty and did not focus on eating and drinking the words of God. Besides, she cared for the flesh, so she wasn’t suitable for watering the new believers. More importantly, she thought she had some caliber and so she became arrogant and looked down on others. Last time, she went to the person in charge of the region watering work and spoke ill of me. If it were not for the demands of my work, I wouldn’t have paid any more attention to her. In thinking about this, I made a plan: Why not take advantage of this opportunity and replace her so that I won’t have to see her anymore? Isn’t she arrogant? I’ll just replace her and then I’ll see how prideful she is!

Consequently, I didn’t weigh out the effectiveness of her work and I was not thinking in the interest of the church. I was just in a hurry to replace her. Afterward, I carelessly transferred a church leader to the district to fulfill the duty of watering. In my view, this person could endure hardships, she spoke kind words and was a fast worker. She had compassion for people and was very suitable for the work of watering. I didn’t realize that the person responsible for the region watering work and the coordinator thought that this person was unsuitable and that the original sister was quite suitable. I did my best to speak highly of this church leader, even to the point of saying there was no one better than her. Just when I wasn’t willing to accept their suggestions, I received news saying that this church leader was being watched by the great red dragon. Without any other option, I put myself aside and grudgingly reinstated the original sister. My heart was severely distraught and depressed, and I felt I had nowhere to vent my frustrations.

This continued until one day when I read in a passage in the man’s preaching: “How leaders treat brothers and sisters who they find disagreeable, who oppose them, who hold completely different views than them—this is a very serious issue and should be handled with caution. If they do not enter into the truth, they will certainly discriminate and strike against this person when met with this kind of issue. This type of action is precisely revealing the nature of the great red dragon resisting and betraying God. If the leader is someone who pursues the truth, who possesses a conscience, and sense, they will seek the truth and handle it correctly” (“Reckless Leaders Who Do Not Carry Out Their Proper Work Must Be Dismissed” in Annals of Fellowship and Work Arrangements (I)). At this time, I couldn’t help but think back about the recent district watering personnel transfer. At that time, God prevented me from doing a wicked thing in order to defend His own work, which prevented my plan from succeeding. However, the satanic nature and the great red dragon’s poison within me completely came to light. The work arrangement clearly emphasized to do everything possible to water new believers and transfer in suitable watering personnel. But in spite of God’s urgency to save people, and without thinking about carrying out the work properly, I took the liberty to discriminate and attack the person who offended me. In doing so, was I not using the same contemptible method as the great red dragon to eliminate outsiders? How was this serving God? It was simply oppressing people and punishing them. It was interrupting and disturbing the work of the church. I have really been deeply corrupted by Satan and have completely become the embodiment of the great red dragon. My actions were no different than those of the great red dragon. The great red dragon uses deplorable means to eliminate outsiders. I was also replacing the person who offended me in the name of putting the work arrangement into practice. The great red dragon promotes those it trusts and I was promoting someone who I personally thought was good and who conformed to my opinion. The great red dragon follows the satanic code of “Those who submit will prosper; those who resist shall perish.” I also used my “authority” to get revenge on the person who offended me and who had an opinion about me. The great red dragon twists facts; it is unjust and unfair. I was emotional when I blindly criticized the person who didn’t conform to my will. I persistently spoke in favor of the person that I liked even to the point of exaggerating, speaking contrary to the fact. … Now I see that the poison of the great red dragon is deeply rooted in me. It has already become a part of my life, to such an extent that it affects every aspect of my behavior. The poison of the great red dragon makes me sinister and malicious; it makes my soul filthy, deplorable, and ugly, which makes me unwittingly resist God. If it were not for God’s enlightenment, I would still be living in my own corruption and would still be brooding over my failed schemes. I would surely not know I had completely lost my sense and conscience and that my conduct had offended God’s disposition.

Almighty God, Your revelations have made me see that my nature is too evil and deplorable. I am completely the embodiment of the great red dragon; my conduct is no different than that of the great red dragon. From now on, I am willing to actively pursue truth. I will analyze myself by contrasting my thoughts, words and actions with the word of God, and recognize the nature of the great red dragon within me. I will see its substance clearly and will truly hate it, turn away from it, and be a real man with humanity to comfort Your heart!

From Judgment Before the Seat of Christ

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