Let’s talk now about sickness. When it comes to this old flesh of man’s, it doesn’t matter what sickness people get, whether they can get better, or to what degree they suffer, none of it is up to them—it is all in God’s hands. If, when you get sick, you submit to God’s orchestrations, and you’re willing to endure and accept this fact, then you will still have this illness; if you don’t accept this fact, you still won’t be able to get rid of this sickness—this is a fact. You can face your sickness positively for a day, or face it negatively for a day. That is, regardless of your attitude, you cannot change the fact that you are sick. What choice do intelligent people make? And what choice do foolish people make? Foolish people will choose to live in feelings of distress, anxiety, and worry. They will even become mired in these feelings and will not wish to climb back out. They listen to no advice they’re given, and wonder, “Oh, how did I get this sickness? Was it caused by tiredness? Was it caused by worry? Or was it caused by inhibition?” Every day, they wonder how they got sick and when it started, thinking, “Why didn’t I notice it? How could I be so stupid and perform my duty so honestly? Other people get a physical checkup every year, and at least have their blood pressure tested and have an X-ray taken. How did I not realize that I should go have a physical checkup? Other people live so carefully. How come I live so obtusely? I got this sickness and didn’t even know it. Oh, I must get treatment for this sickness! What treatment can I get?” They then go online and search for how they got this illness, what caused it, how to treat it with Chinese medicine, how to treat it with Western medicine, and what folk remedies there are—they search for all these things. Afterward, they take Chinese medicine and then Western medicine at home, always feeling serious, anxious, and impatient about having gotten sick, and over time, they stop performing their duty, they fling their faith in God away, they stop believing, and they think only of how to cure their sickness; their duty is now curing their sickness. They are consumed by their sickness, they feel distressed every day about having gotten sick, and when they see anyone, they say, “Oh, I got this sickness in this way. Let what is happening to me be a lesson to you, and when you get sick you must go and get checked out and get treatment. Taking care of your health is most important. You must be savvy, and you mustn’t live too obtusely.” They say these things to everyone they come across. By getting sick, they have this experience and learn this lesson. Once they’re sick, they’re careful when eating and careful when walking along, and they learn how to take care of their own health. In the end, they reach a conclusion: “People have to rely on themselves to take care of their own health. I haven’t paid much attention to looking after my health these last few years, and the moment I took my eye off the ball, I got this illness. Luckily, I caught it early. If I’d found it later, I’d be done for. It would be so unlucky to get sick and die at a young age. I haven’t yet been able to enjoy life, there are so many good things to eat that I haven’t yet eaten, and so many fun places I haven’t yet been to!” They get sick and draw this conclusion. They get sick but don’t die, and they believe themselves to be clever and that they caught the sickness in time. They never say that this is all down to God’s sovereignty and predestined by Him, and that if someone is not supposed to die, then no matter how severely they’re struck with sickness, they still cannot die, and that if someone is supposed to die, then they will die even without getting sick—they don’t understand this. They believe their sickness has made them clever, when in fact they go too far with their “cleverness” and they are too foolish. When people who pursue the truth encounter sickness, will they become mired in feelings of distress, anxiety, and worry? (No.) What approach will they take toward sickness? (First, they are able to submit, and then, while they are sick, they seek to understand God’s will and reflect on what corrupt dispositions they have.) Can these few words resolve the problem? If all they do is reflect, will they not still need to treat their sickness? (They will also seek treatment.) Yes, if it’s a sickness that should be treated, a major illness, or an illness that could get worse if you don’t seek treatment for it, then it must be treated—this is what intelligent people do. When foolish people are not sick, they always worry, “Oh, could I be sick? And if I am sick, will it get worse? Will I get that sickness? And if I do get that sickness, will I die a premature death? Will it be very painful when I die? Will I live a happy life? If I get that sickness, then should I make arrangements for my death and enjoy life as soon as possible?” Foolish people will often feel distressed, anxious, and worried about things like this. They never seek the truth or seek the truths they should understand in this matter. Intelligent people, however, have some understanding of and insight into this matter either when someone else gets sick or when they themselves are not yet sick. So, what understanding and insight should they have? First of all, will sickness pass someone by because they feel distressed, anxious, and worried? (No.) Tell Me, is it not already fated when someone will get sick with some illness, what their health will be like at a certain age, and whether they will contract some major or serious illness? It is, and that’s for certain, let Me tell you. We won’t discuss now how God predestines things for you; people’s appearance, facial features, body shape and their date of birth are clearly known to all. Those unbelieving diviners, astrologers, and those who can read the stars and people’s palms, can tell from people’s palms, faces, and birth dates when they will have a disaster, and when they will encounter some misfortune—these things have already been determined. So, when someone gets sick, it may seem as though it has been caused by exhaustion, feelings of anger, or because they live poorly and lack nutrition—it may seem like this on the surface. This situation applies to everyone, so why do some people in the same age group get this illness, while others don’t? Is it fated to be like this? (Yes.) In layman’s terms, it is fated. How do we say it in words that accord with the truth? All this comes under the sovereignty and arrangements of God. Therefore, irrespective of what your food, drink, accommodation, and living environment are like, they have nothing to do with when you will get sick or what sickness will afflict you. People who don’t believe in God always look for reasons from an objective standpoint and always emphasize the causes of the sickness, saying, “You have to exercise more, and eat more vegetables and less meat.” Is that truly the case? People who never eat any meat can still get high blood pressure and diabetes just the same, and vegetarians can still have high cholesterol. Medical science has not provided an accurate or reasonable explanation for these things. Let Me tell you, all the different foods God has created for man are foods which man is supposed to eat; just don’t eat them to excess, but instead eat them in moderation. It is necessary to learn how to take care of your health, but always wanting to study how to prevent illness is wrong. As we just said, what someone’s health will be like at a certain age and whether they will contract a major illness is all arranged by God. Unbelievers don’t believe in God and they go looking for someone to see these things in palms, in birth dates, and in faces, and they believe these things. You believe in God and often listen to sermons and fellowships on the truth, so if you don’t believe this, then you are nothing but a nonbeliever. If you truly believe that everything is in God’s hands, then you should believe that these things—serious illnesses, major illnesses, minor illnesses, and health—all fall under the sovereignty and arrangements of God. The emergence of a serious illness and what someone’s health will be like at a certain age are not things that happen by accident, and to understand this is to have a positive and accurate understanding. Does this accord with the truth? (Yes.) It accords with the truth, it is the truth, you should accept this, and your attitude and views on this matter should be transformed. And what is resolved once these things are transformed? Are your feelings of distress, anxiety, and worry not resolved? At the very least, your negative emotions of distress, anxiety, and worry about sickness are resolved in theory. Because your understanding has transformed your thoughts and views, it therefore resolves your negative emotions. This is one aspect: Whether or not someone will get sick, what serious illness they will get, and what their health will be like at each stage of life cannot be changed by the will of man, but rather are all predestined by God. Some people say, “So is it okay if I don’t want to get sick? Is it okay if I want to ask God to take sickness from me? Is it okay if I want to ask God to steer me clear of this disaster and misfortune?” What do you think? Are these things okay? (No.) You say this with such certainty, but no one is able to understand these things clearly. Perhaps someone is loyally performing their duty and has the determination to pursue the truth, and they are so very important for some work in God’s house, and God perhaps takes this serious illness that affects their duty, their work, and their physical energy and strength away from them, as God will take responsibility for His work. But is there such a person as this? Who is like this? You don’t know, do you? There are perhaps people like this. If there really were people like this, then wouldn’t God be able to take away their illness or misfortune with just one word? Wouldn’t God be able to do it with just a thought? God’s thought would be: “This person will encounter an illness in a particular month at this age. They are now so busy with their work, so they will not get this sickness. They do not need to experience this sickness. Let it pass them by.” There is no reason why this shouldn’t happen, and it would require only a word from God, right? But who could receive such a blessing? Whosoever truly possesses such determination and loyalty and can truly serve this function in God’s work, that is for whom it is possible to receive such a blessing. This isn’t the topic we need to talk about, so we won’t talk about it right now. We’re talking about sickness; this is something most people will experience during their lifetime. Therefore, the kind of sickness that will afflict people’s bodies at what time or at what age and what their health will be like are all things arranged by God and people cannot decide these things for themselves; just like the time when someone is born, they are not able to decide it for themselves. So, is it not foolish to feel distressed, anxious, and worried about things you cannot decide for yourself? (Yes.) People should set about resolving the things they can resolve themselves, and for those things they cannot do themselves, they should wait for God; people should submit silently and ask God to protect them—this is the mindset people should have. When illness really does strike and death really is near, then people should submit and not complain or rebel against God or say things that blaspheme against God or things that attack Him. Instead, people should stand as created beings and experience and appreciate all that comes from God—they should not try to choose things for themselves. This should be a special experience that enriches your life, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing, right? Therefore, when it comes to illness, people should first resolve their wrong thoughts and views concerning the origin of the illness, and then they will no longer worry about this; moreover, people have no right to control known or unknown things, nor are they capable of controlling them, as all these things are under the sovereignty of God. The attitude and principle of practice people should have are to wait and submit. From understanding to practice, all should be done in line with the truth principles—this is to pursue the truth.

Some people are always worrying about their illness, saying, “Will I be able to endure it if my illness gets worse? If my condition deteriorates, will it take my life? Will I need to have an operation? And if I have an operation, will I die on the operating table? I have submitted. Will God take my life because of this illness?” What’s the point in thinking these things? If you can’t help but think these things, then you should pray to God. It’s no good relying on yourself, you will certainly be unable to endure it. No one wants to have to endure sickness, and no one beams with smiles, feels overjoyed and celebrates when they get sick. There is no one like this because that is not normal humanity. When normal people get sick, they will always suffer and feel down, and they have a limit to what they can endure. There’s one thing to note, however: If people always thought to depend on their own strength when sick to rid themselves of their sickness and escape it, what would the end result be? As well as their sickness, wouldn’t they suffer and feel down even more? That’s why the more people find themselves enveloped in sickness, the more they should seek the truth, and the more they should seek the way to practice to be in accordance with God’s will. The more people are enveloped in sickness, the more they should come before God and know their own corruption and the unreasonable demands they make of God. The more enveloped in sickness you are, the more your true submission is tested. Therefore, when you are sick, your ability to continue to submit to God’s orchestrations and rebel against your own complaints and unreasonable demands shows that you are someone who truly pursues the truth and truly submits to God, that you bear testimony, that your loyalty and submission to God are real and can pass the test, and that your loyalty and submission to God are not just slogans and doctrine. This is what people ought to practice when they get sick. When you get sick, it is to reveal all your unreasonable demands and your unrealistic imaginings and notions about God, and it is also to test your faith in God and submission to Him. If you pass the test with these things, then you have true testimony and real evidence of your faith in God, your loyalty to God, and your submission to Him. This is what God wants, and it is what a created being should possess and live out. Are these things not all positive? (They are.) These are all things which people should pursue. Moreover, if God allows you to get sick, can He not also take your sickness from you at any time and place? (He can.) God can take your sickness from you at any time and place, so can He not also cause your sickness to persist in you and never leave you? (He can.) And if God causes this same sickness to never leave you, can you still perform your duty? Can you keep your faith in God? Is this not a test? (It is.) If you get sick and then recover after several months, then your faith in God, and your loyalty and submission to Him are not tested, and you have no testimony. It’s easy to endure sickness for a few months, but if your sickness persists for two or three years, and your faith and your wish to be submissive and loyal to God do not change, but instead grow more real, does this not show that you have grown in life? Do you not reap this harvest? (Yes.) So, while someone who truly pursues the truth is sick, they undergo and personally experience the myriad benefits brought by their sickness. They do not anxiously try to escape their sickness or worry what the outcome will be if their sickness drags on, what problems it will cause, whether it will get worse, or whether they will die—they don’t worry about such things. As well as not worrying about such things, they are able to enter positively, and to have true faith in God, and be truly submissive and loyal to Him. By practicing in this way, they come to have testimony, and this also greatly benefits their life entry and dispositional change, and it builds a solid foundation for their attainment of salvation. How wonderful that is! Furthermore, sickness can be major or it can be minor, but whether major or minor it always refines people. Having undergone some illness, people do not lose their faith in God, they are submissive and do not complain, their behavior is basically acceptable, and they then reap some harvest after the sickness is gone and feel very pleased—this is what happens when people encounter an ordinary illness. They are not sick for long and are able to endure it, and the sickness basically falls within the scope of that which they can endure. There are some illnesses, however, which, despite getting better after receiving treatment for a while, come back again and get worse. This happens time after time, until finally the illness reaches such a degree that it can no longer be treated, and all the means available to modern medicine are of no avail. What degree does the illness reach? It reaches the degree whereby the afflicted person can die anywhere and at any moment. What does this signify? It signifies that that person’s life is limited. It’s not a time when they are not sick and death is distant and there is no sense of it, but rather the person senses that the day of their death is nigh, and they are facing death. Facing death heralds the arrival of the hardest, most crucial time in a person’s life. So what do you do? Those who feel distressed, anxious, and worried will feel constantly anxious, distressed, and worried about their death, until finally the hardest moment in their life arrives and the thing they are anxious, distressed, and worried about finally becomes a fact. The more they fear death, the closer death comes and the less they want to face death so soon, and yet death unexpectedly makes a surprise attack on them. What are they to do? Do they try to flee death, reject death, oppose death, complain about it, or do they try to make a bargain with God? Which of these methods will work? None of them will work, and their distress and anxiety are useless. What is the saddest thing when they reach the moment of their death? They used to love eating red braised pork, but over the last few years they haven’t eaten it very much, and have suffered tremendously and are at the end of their life. They think of red braised pork and want to eat it again, but their health is not up to it, and they cannot eat it, it’s too greasy. They used to love making themselves look attractive and getting dressed up. Now they’re about to die, and all they can do is gaze upon their closet full of nice clothes, unable to wear any of them. How sad death is! Death is the most painful thing of all, and when they think of it, it feels like a knife twisting in their heart and all the bones throughout their entire body turn to jelly. When they think of death, they feel grieved and want to cry, they want to weep, and they do cry, they do weep, and they feel hurt that they are about to face death. They think, “Why do I not want to die? Why do I fear death so much? Before, when I wasn’t seriously ill, I didn’t think death was scary. Who won’t face death? Who doesn’t die? Let me die then! Thinking about it now, that isn’t such an easy thing to say, and when death really does come, it’s not such an easy thing to solve. Why do I feel so sad?” Do you feel sad when you think of death? Whenever you think of death you feel sad and pained, and this thing which causes you the most anxiety and worry finally arrives. Therefore, the more you think like this, the more afraid you feel, the more helpless you feel, and the more you suffer. Your heart is without comfort, and you don’t want to die. Who can solve this matter of death? No one can, and you certainly can’t solve it yourself. You don’t want to die, so what can you do? You must still die, and no one can escape death. Death hems people in; in their hearts, they don’t want to die, but all they ever think about is death, and isn’t this a case of dying before they’re even dead? Can they really die? Who dares say for sure when they will die or in what year they will die? Who can know these things? Some people say, “I’ve had my fortune read and I know the year, the month, and the day of my death, and what my death will be like.” Do you dare say this for sure? (No.) You cannot know this for sure. You don’t know when you will die—this is secondary. The crucial matter is what attitude you will adopt when your sickness really does bring you close to death. This is a question you should ponder and think about. Will you face death with an attitude of submission, or will you approach death with an attitude of resistance, rejection, or unwillingness? What attitude should you have? (An attitude of submission.) This submission is not achievable and practicable by just saying it. How can you achieve this submission? What understanding do you need to have before you can achieve willing submission? This isn’t simple, is it? (No, it isn’t.) So, say what is in your hearts. (If I got seriously ill, I would think that, even if I really did die, it would all be under the sovereignty of God and arranged by Him. Man is corrupted so deeply that if I were to die, it would be by God’s righteousness. It’s not that I absolutely must live; man is not qualified to make such a demand of God. Besides this, I think that now that I believe in God, no matter what happens, I have seen the right path in life and understood so many truths that, even if I was to die soon, it would all be worth it.) Is this the right way to think? Does this constitute a certain supporting theory? (It does.) Who else will speak? (God, if one day I really encounter an illness and may perhaps die, then there’s no way to avoid death anyway. This is God’s predestination and sovereignty, and no matter how much I fret or worry, it’s no use. I should spend the little time I have left focusing on how I can perform my duty well. Even if I really do die, then I'll have no regrets. To be able to submit to God and to God’s arrangements at the very end is much better than living in fear and terror.) What do you think of this understanding? Isn’t this a little better? (Yes.) That’s right, this is how you should regard the matter of death. Everyone must face death in this life, that is, death is what everyone must face at the end of their journey. However, there are many different attributes to death. One of these is, at the time predestined by God, you have completed your mission and God draws a line under your fleshly life, and your fleshly life comes to an end, though this doesn’t mean that your life is over. When a person is without flesh, their life is over—is that the case? (No.) The form in which your life exists after death depends on how you treated God’s work and words while you were alive—this is very important. The form in which you exist after death, or whether you will exist or not, will depend upon your attitude toward God and toward the truth while you are alive. If while you are alive, when you face death and all manner of illnesses, your attitude toward the truth is one of rebelliousness, opposition, and feeling averse toward the truth, then when it comes time for your fleshly life to be over, in what way will you exist after death? You will certainly exist in some other way, and your life will certainly not continue. Conversely, if while you are alive, when you have awareness in the flesh, your attitude toward the truth and toward God is one of submission and loyalty and you have true faith, then even though your fleshly life comes to an end, your life will go on to exist in a different form in another world. This is one explanation of death. There is something else to note, and that is that the matter of death has the same nature as other matters. It is not up to people to choose for themselves, much less can it be changed by the will of man. Death is the same as any other important event in life: It is entirely under the predestination and sovereignty of the Creator. If someone were to beg for death, they may not necessarily die; if they were to beg to live, they may not necessarily live. All this is under the sovereignty and predestination of God, and it is changed and decided by the authority of God, by God’s righteous disposition, and by God’s sovereignty and arrangements. Therefore, say you contract a serious illness, a potentially fatal serious illness, you will not necessarily die—who decides whether you will die or not? (God.) God decides. And since God decides and people cannot decide such a thing, what are people feeling anxious and distressed about? It’s like who your parents are, and when and where you are born—these things cannot be chosen by you, either. The wisest choice in these matters is to let things take their natural course, to submit, and not to choose, not to expend any thought or energy on this matter, and not to feel distressed, anxious, or worried about it. Since people are not able to choose for themselves, expending so much energy and thought on this matter is foolish and unwise. What people ought to do when facing the tremendously important matter of death is not get distressed, or fret over it, or fear it, but what? People should wait, yes? (Yes.) Right? Does waiting mean waiting for death? Waiting to die when facing death? Is that right? (No, people should face it positively and submit.) That’s right, it doesn’t mean waiting for death. Do not be petrified of death, and do not use all your energy thinking about death. Do not think all day long, “Will I die? When will I die? What will I do after I die?” Just don’t think about it. Some people say, “Why not think about it? Why not think about it when I’m about to die?” Because it is not known whether you will die or not, and it is not known whether God will allow you to die—these things are unknown. Specifically, it is unknown when you will die, where you will die, what time you will die, or how your body will feel when you die. By racking your brains thinking about and pondering things you don’t know and feeling anxious and worried about them, doesn’t that make you foolish? Since it makes you foolish, you shouldn’t rack your brains over these things.

Whatever matter people find themselves dealing with, they should always approach it with an active, positive attitude, and this is even more true when it comes to the matter of death. Having an active, positive attitude does not mean going along with death, waiting for death, or positively and actively pursuing death. If it doesn’t mean pursuing death, going along with death, or waiting for death, what does it mean? (Submitting.) Submission is a kind of attitude toward the matter of death, and letting go of death and not thinking about it is the best way to handle it. Some people say, “Why not think about it? If I don’t think it through, will I be able to overcome it? If I don’t think it through, will I be able to let it go?” Yes, you will. And why is that? Tell Me, when your parents had you, was it your idea to be born? The way you look, your age, the industry you work in, the fact of your sitting here now, and how you feel right now—did you think all of this into being? You didn’t think all of this into being, it has come about through the passing of the days and months and through you living your normal life from day to day, one day following another, until you have reached where you are now, and this is very natural. Death is just the same. Without being aware of it, you grow to become an adult, to become middle-aged, to become elderly, to get into your last years, and then death comes—don’t think about it. You cannot avoid the things you don’t think about by not thinking about them, nor will they come early by thinking about them; they cannot be changed by the will of man, right? Don’t think about them. What do I mean when I say, “Don’t think about them”? Because if this thing really is about to happen in the near future, then always thinking about it will feel like an invisible pressure on you. This pressure will make you afraid of life and living, you will be without an active and positive attitude, and instead you will become even more depressed. Because a person facing death has no interest in or positive attitude toward anything, they feel only depressed. They’re going to die, it’s all over, there’s no longer any meaning in pursuing anything or doing anything, they no longer have any prospects or motivation, and everything they do is in preparation for death and heading in the direction of death, so what meaning is there to anything they do? Therefore, everything they do carries elements of and a nature of negativity and death. So, can you not think about death? Is that easy to achieve? If this matter is simply a result of your own mental reasoning and imagination, then you have given yourself a false alarm, you scare yourself, and it simply is not going to happen in the near future, so what are you thinking about it for? This makes it even more unnecessary. What is supposed to happen will always happen; what is not supposed to happen will not happen no matter how you think about it. Fearing it is useless, as is worrying about it. Death cannot be avoided by worrying about it, nor will it pass you by just because you fear it. Therefore, one aspect is that you should let go of the matter of death from within your heart and don’t think anything of it; you should entrust it to God, as though death has nothing to do with you. It is something God arranges, so allow God to arrange it—doesn’t it then become simple? Another aspect is that you should have an active and positive attitude toward death. Tell Me, who among the billions of people all across the world is so blessed to hear so many of God’s words, to understand so many of the truths of life, and understand so many mysteries? Who among them can personally receive God’s guidance, God’s provision, His care and protection? Who is so blessed? Very few. Therefore, you few being able to live in God’s house today, receive His salvation, and receive His provision, makes it all worth it even if you were to die right now. You are so very blessed, isn’t that right? (Yes.) Looking at it from this perspective, people should not be scared stiff by the matter of death, nor should they be constrained by it. Even though you haven’t enjoyed any of the glory and wealth of the world, yet you have received the pity of the Creator and heard so many of God’s words—isn’t this blissful? (It is.) No matter how many years you live in this life, it’s all worth it and you have no regrets, because you have been constantly performing your duty in God’s work, you have understood the truth, understood the mysteries of life, and understood the path and goals you should pursue in life—you have gained so much! You have lived a worthwhile life! Even if you can’t explain it very clearly, you are able to practice some truths and possess some reality, and that proves that you have gained some life provision and understood some truths from God’s work. You have gained so much—a true abundance—and that is such a great blessing! Since the beginning of human history, no one throughout all the ages has enjoyed this blessing, yet you are enjoying it. Are you willing to die now? With such a willingness, your attitude toward death would be truly submissive, yes? (Yes.) One aspect is that people should have true understanding, they should cooperate positively and actively, and truly submit, and they should have the correct attitude toward death. In this way, aren’t people’s feelings of distress, anxiety, and worry about death greatly lessened? (They are.) They are greatly lessened. Some people say, “I’ve just now finished listening to this fellowship, but it doesn’t feel as though these feelings have lessened very much. Maybe it takes some time. In particular, older people and those who have a sickness think about death a lot.” People know their own difficulties. When some people have been sick for a long time, they sum it all up and think, “I’ve believed in God all these years and people who got the same illness as I have died long ago. If they were reincarnated, they might be in their twenties or thirties by now. I have lived for so many years by the grace of God, all freely given. If I didn’t believe in God, I would be long dead by now. When I went to the hospital for a check-up, the doctors were startled. What a great advantage and blessing I have! If I had died 20 years ago, then I wouldn’t have heard these truths and sermons and wouldn’t have understood them; if I’d died like that, I would’ve gained nothing. Even if I lived a long life, it would all have been empty and a wasted life. Now, I have lived all these extra years and been favored so much. I haven’t thought about death all these years, and I don’t fear it.” If people are always afraid of death, then they will always think about all the questions to do with death. If people are not afraid to die and are not terrified of death, then it shows that they have suffered more than enough and are no longer terrified of death. Some people say, “If someone isn’t terrified of death, does that mean that they are seeking death?” No, that’s not right. Seeking death is a kind of negative attitude, an evasive attitude, whereas what I said before about not thinking about death is an objective, positive attitude; that is, looking upon death with indifference, not seeing it as so important, not thinking of it as such a sorrowful, anxiety-provoking event; not worrying about it anymore, not being concerned about it anymore, not being fettered by death, leaving it far behind you—people who can do this have some personal knowledge and experience of death. If someone is always bound up and constrained by sickness and death, is always mired in the negative emotions of distress, anxiety, and worry, is unable to perform their duty normally or live normally, then they should listen to experiential testimony concerning death more, see how those who are able to look upon death with indifference experience it and understand death in their experience, and then they will be able to gain something precious.

Death is not an easy problem to solve, and it is man’s greatest difficulty. If someone says to you, “Your corrupt dispositions are so deep and your humanity is not good, either. If you don’t earnestly pursue the truth and you do many evil things in the future, then you will go down to hell and be punished!” you may feel upset for a while afterward. You may ponder it, and feel a lot better after getting a night’s sleep, and then you don’t feel so upset. However, if you get sick with a mortal sickness, and you don’t have long left to live, then that is not something that can be solved with a night’s sleep, and it cannot be let go of so easily. You are required to be tempered in this matter for a time. Those who genuinely pursue the truth can leave the matter behind them, seek the truth in everything, and use the truth to resolve it—there is no problem they cannot solve. If people use the ways of man, however, then they will ultimately only be able to feel constantly distressed, anxious, and worried about death. When things are unsolvable, they take extreme measures to try to solve them. Some people take a depressed and negative approach, saying, “So I’ll just die then. Who’s afraid of death? After death, I’ll just be reincarnated and live again!” Can you verify this? You’re just looking for some words of comfort, and that doesn’t solve the problem. All things and everything, visible or invisible, material or immaterial, are controlled and ruled in the hands of the Creator. No one can control their own destiny and the only attitude man should have, whether toward sickness or death, is that of understanding, acceptance, and submission; people should not rely on their imaginings or notions, they should not seek a way out of these things, and even less so should they reject or resist them. If you blindly try to resolve the issues of sickness and death using your own methods, then the longer you live, the more you will suffer, the more depressed you will become, and the more trapped you will feel. In the end, you will still have to walk the path of death, and your end will truly be the same as your death—you will die indeed. If you can actively seek the truth and, whether with regard to understanding the sickness God has arranged for you or facing death, you can positively and actively seek the truth, seek the Creator’s orchestrations, sovereignty and arrangements regarding this kind of major event, and achieve true submission, then this is in accord with God’s will. If you rely on the strength and methods of man to cope with all these things, and you try hard to resolve them or escape them, then even if you don’t die and you temporarily manage to avoid the difficulty of death, because you don’t harbor true understanding, acceptance and submission toward God and the truth, leading you to not bear testimony in this matter, then the final result will be that when you encounter this same issue again, it will still be a major test for you. You will still have the possibility of betraying God and falling, and this will undoubtedly be a dangerous thing for you. Therefore, if you really are now facing sickness or death, then let Me tell you, it’s better to take advantage of this practical situation right now to seek the truth and resolve this matter from the root, instead of waiting for death to truly come only to be caught off guard, to feel lost, perplexed, and helpless, thereby causing you to do things that you will regret for as long as your life lasts. If you do things that you regret and feel remorse over, then this could lead you to perish. Therefore, no matter what the issue is, you should always begin your entry with the understanding you should have on the matter and with the truths you should understand. If you constantly feel distressed, anxious, and worried about such things as sickness and you live enveloped within these kinds of negative emotions, then you should start seeking the truth right now and resolve these problems as soon as you can.

Negative emotions like distress, anxiety, and worry have the same nature as various other kinds of negative emotions. They are all kinds of negative emotions that arise in people because they don’t understand the truth and live shackled by their manifold satanic corrupt dispositions, or else they live beleaguered and impacted by all kinds of satanic thoughts. These negative emotions cause people to live perpetually with all manner of incorrect thoughts and views as well as to be constantly controlled by all manner of incorrect thoughts and views, which affect and obstruct their pursuit of the truth. Of course, these kinds of negative emotions of distress, anxiety, and worry disrupt people’s lives, direct their lives, affect their pursuit of the truth, and keep them from pursuing the truth. Therefore, although these negative emotions are emotions in a simple sense, their function must not be underestimated; the effect they have on people and the consequences they bring about to people’s pursuit and the path they walk are perilous. In any case, when someone often has all manner of negative emotions bubbling up to disturb them, they should immediately discover and dissect why these negative emotions often arise, and why they are often vexed by these negative emotions. Also, in a certain special environment, these negative emotions will vex that person constantly and greatly disturb their pursuit of the truth—these are things that people ought to understand. Once they have understood these things, the next thing for them to do is think about how to seek and understand the truth in this matter, strive not to keep being vexed and affected by those incorrect thoughts and views, and replace them with the truth principles taught to them by God. Once they have understood the truth principles, the next step is for them to practice in accordance with the truth principles God has taught them. While they do this, all their negative emotions will gradually emerge to disturb them, only to be gradually resolved and rebelled against one by one, until, without them being aware of it, they will leave all these negative emotions behind them. So, what does the resolution of the various negative emotions rely upon? It relies upon people’s dissection and understanding of them, it relies upon people’s acceptance of the truth and, even more so, it relies upon people’s pursuit and practice of the truth. Isn’t that so? (It is.) As people gradually pursue and practice the truth, all their various negative emotions are gradually resolved and let go. So, looking at it now, which do you think are easier to let go and resolve, these various negative emotions or corrupt dispositions? (Negative emotions are easier to resolve.) You think negative emotions are easier to resolve? It varies from person to person. One is not harder or easier than the other, it just depends on the person. In any case, beginning with fellowshipping on letting go of negative emotions, we have added some content to people’s pursuit of dispositional change, and that is letting go of the various negative emotions. Letting go of negative emotions is primarily done to resolve some incorrect thoughts and views, whereas resolving one’s corrupt dispositions requires an understanding of the essence of corrupt dispositions. Tell Me, which is easier, resolving negative emotions or resolving corrupt dispositions? In fact, neither problem is easy to solve. If you are truly determined and can seek the truth, then whichever problem you attempt to solve will not be a problem at all. However, if you do not pursue the truth and are unable to sense just how serious these two problems are, then it won’t be easy no matter which problem you try to solve. When it comes to these negative, adverse things, you need to accept the truth, practice the truth, and submit to the truth in order to resolve them, and replace them with positive things. This is always the process, and it always requires people to rebel against negative things, and accept positive and active things, and things which accord with the truth. One aspect is to work on your thoughts and views, and one is to work on your dispositions; one is to resolve your thoughts and views, and one is to resolve your corrupt dispositions. Of course, these two things sometimes emerge together and involve each other. In any case, letting go of negative emotions is something people should practice when pursuing the truth. Right, let’s end today’s fellowship here.

October 29, 2022