In the process of doing their duties, people often experience negative and rebellious states. If they can seek the truth and use the truth principles to address and resolve these issues, their negative emotions will not turn into complaints, resistance, defiance, clamoring, or even blasphemy. However, if people deal with these things relying solely on their own petty cleverness, on human self-restraint, human effort, diligence, disciplining their bodies, and other such approaches, then sooner or later, these human imaginings, judgments, and conjectures will become complaints, defiance, resistance, clamoring, and even blasphemy against God. When people are trapped in such negative emotions, they are liable to develop disobedience, dissatisfaction, and complaints against God, among other such feelings or thoughts. When these thoughts pile up inside people over time and they still do not seek the truth or use the truth to resolve them, their disobedience, dissatisfaction, and complaints will turn into defiance; they will engage in rebellious behavior, such as doing their duties perfunctorily or deliberately disturbing and sabotaging the church’s work, among other negative behaviors, to express their disobedience and dissatisfaction and thus achieve their aim of defying God. Some people wreck and disturb other people’s performance of duty. The meaning behind their actions is: “If I can’t do my duty, or if God doesn’t bless me in my duty, I’ll make sure none of you can do your duties well!” and then they start causing disturbances. Some people do this through words, while others use some actions. What things might those who disturb others with their actions do? For example, they might deliberately delete files from someone else’s computer to affect the results of their duty, or they might deliberately disturb online gatherings. This is devils and Satans disturbing people. People don’t understand: “How can someone of such an age do such foul things? They’re not a teenager, after all; how can they still carry out such pranks?” In fact, people in their thirties, forties, fifties, or sixties can also do these things. These various behaviors are inconceivable; these are not actions of a person with a conscience and reason, but those of devils and Satans. Seeing that others are not affected and their goals are not achieved, such a person would then vent negativity and cause disturbances during times when many people are present or during gatherings. When they begin to pour out their dissatisfaction through actions, it already becomes difficult to control the situation; it’s very hard to rein them in, and if the situation continues to develop it can only escalate, becoming increasingly serious in nature. They not only cause disturbances with their actions but also use various means and methods, employing aggressive and judgmental language to disturb others as they do their duty. Regardless of whether they achieve their goals, they then resist God in their heart; they don’t read God’s words or learn hymns, and they refuse to read any books related to God’s words or the truth. What do they do at home? They read novels, watch TV series, learn cooking techniques, study makeup and hairstyling…. During gatherings, they do not fellowship their understanding of God’s words, nor do they fellowship how to resolve corrupt dispositions and revelations of corruption. When others fellowship, they deliberately hijack the conversation, cut off whoever is speaking, intentionally shift the topic, and so on, always saying things that undermine and disturb. Why do they act this way? The reason lies in their belief that they have no hope of salvation, which causes them to give up and begin to act recklessly; they look to find a few companions before they are cleared out or expelled from the church—if they cannot be blessed, they’ll make sure others can’t either. Why do they think this way? They believe the God they have faith in is not like the god they initially imagined; He does not love people as much as they imagined and is not as righteous either, and He is certainly not as sincerely affectionate toward people as they imagined. God loves others but not them; God saves others but not them. Now that they see no hope for themselves and feel they cannot be saved, they give up and begin to act recklessly. But that’s not all; they also want others to see that since there is no hope for them, there is no hope for others either, and they are only satisfied when they’ve made everyone give up their faith in God and withdraw from their belief. Their goal in doing this is: “If I can’t receive the blessings of the kingdom of heaven, you’d better not even dream of gaining them either!” What sort of wretch is such a person? Are they not a devil? They are a devil, headed for hell, who also forbids others from believing in God and entering the kingdom of heaven; they’re marching straight toward a dead end! Anyone with a bit of conscience and a bit of a heart that is afraid of God should not act this way; if they truly commit great evil and are revealed, making them feel they no longer have hope, they will still aim to help others succeed, letting others earnestly believe in God and not follow their example. They might say, “I am too weak, my fleshly desires are strong, and I am too enamored with the world. This is my own fault; I deserve it! You keep being earnest believers; don’t be influenced by me. During gatherings, I’ll keep a lookout, and if the police of the great red dragon enter the village, I will alert you.” Anyone with a shred of humanity should at least do this much, not to disturb others’ pursuit of the truth. But those without humanity, when things don’t go their way or when they see the brothers and sisters looking down on them and distancing themselves, feel that God has revealed and eliminated them, that they have no hope of salvation. When they harbor such ideas and thoughts, they give up and begin to act recklessly, venting negativity and disturbing church life without scruples. What kind of people do this? Are they not devils? (Yes.) Should one show courtesy to people who are devils? (No.) So how should this be handled? You say, “You come to gatherings yet neither read God’s words nor accept the truth. What are you here for then? To cause disturbances, right? You think you have no hope of salvation; actually, we don’t feel that we have much hope either, but we strive. We believe that God is not partial, that He is trustworthy, that His heart in saving people is sincere, and that His heart does not change. As long as there is a sliver of hope, we will not give up. We won’t constantly be negative and misunderstand God like you. You’re dreaming if you think you can disturb us or hold us back! If you stubbornly persist, continue to believe this way, and keep maliciously wanting to disturb us, then don’t blame us for being rude to you. Starting today, you are cleared out; there is no place for you in the church anymore. Now beat it!” In this way, isn’t the problem handled? It’s simple, just a few words and they’re cleared out. It’s such an easy thing to do! Why handle it this way? Because the nature essence of such people cannot change; they will not accept the truth. They think they have no hope of salvation; God has not said this, nor have the brothers and sisters, yet they commit evil and cause disturbances in this way. What will they do if one day they really are expelled for committing evil and disturbing the church’s work, or if God disciplines them because they do not pursue the truth? Could they become enemies of God, could they seek revenge? It’s very likely! It’s good that such people are revealed before they can accomplish any misdeeds or commit any great evil. This is God’s doing; God has revealed them. Now, clearing them out is just right; other people have not yet suffered any loss. Handling it this way is timely and appropriate; everyone gains discernment, and the evil people are dealt with. Their role as a foil has been adequately fulfilled.

Basically, these are the various states and manifestations of people who vent negativity. When their desire to pursue status, fame, and gain has not been fulfilled, when God does things that run contrary to their notions and imaginings, things that involve their interests, they become ensnared in feelings of disobedience and dissatisfaction. And when they have these feelings, their minds start to produce excuses, pretexts, justifications, defenses, and other thoughts of complaint. At this time, they do not praise God or submit to Him, and even less so do they seek the truth to know themselves; instead, they fight against God using their notions, imaginings, thoughts and viewpoints, or impetuousness. And how do they fight against God? They spread their feelings of disobedience and dissatisfaction, using this to make their thoughts and viewpoints clear to God, trying to make God act according to their will and their demands in order to satisfy their wishes; only then are their feelings appeased. In particular, God expresses many truths to judge and chastise people, to purify their corrupt dispositions, to save people from the influence of Satan, and who knows how many people’s dreams of being blessed have been cut short by these truths, shattering the fantasy of being raptured into the kingdom of heaven that they hoped for day and night. They want to do everything they can to turn things around—but they are powerless, they can only be plunged into disaster with negativity and resentment. They are disobedient toward all of this that God has arranged, because what God does is in conflict with their notions, interests, and thinking. In particular, when the church does the work of cleansing and eliminates many people, these people think that God does not save them, that He has spurned them, that they are being treated unfairly, and so they will unite to defy God; they will deny that God is the truth, deny the identity and essence of God, and deny the righteous disposition of God. Of course, they will also deny the fact of God’s sovereignty over all things. And by what means do they deny all this? Through defiance and resistance. The implication is “What God does is at odds with my notions, and so I do not submit, I do not believe that you are the truth. I am going to clamor against you and will spread these things in the church and among people! I will say whatever I want, and I don’t care what the consequences are. I have freedom of speech; you can’t shut me up—I’ll say what I want. What can you do?” When these people insist on voicing their wrong thoughts and viewpoints, are they talking about their own understanding? Are they fellowshipping about the truth? Absolutely not. They are spreading negativity; they are giving voice to heresies and fallacies. They are not trying to know their own corruption or exposing it; they are not exposing the things they have done that are at odds with the truth, nor are they exposing the mistakes they have made. Instead, they are doing their utmost to rationalize and defend their mistakes to prove that they are right, and at the same time they are also drawing an absurd conclusion, and voicing adverse and distorted viewpoints, as well as twisted arguments and heresies. The effect on God’s chosen people in the church is to mislead and disturb them; it can even plunge some people into a state of negativity and confusion. These are all the adverse effects and disturbances caused by people venting negativity. Therefore, those who vent negativity should be restricted, along with their speech and behavior—they should not be indulged or permitted. The church should have appropriate methods and principles to deal with these people. For one thing, the brothers and sisters should discern these people and their negative remarks. For another, when God’s chosen people have discernment, the church should promptly clear out or expel these individuals according to the truth principles, to prevent more people from being influenced and disturbed. This concludes our fellowship on the various facets of venting negativity.

C. The Principles and Paths for Resolving Negativity

People possess a satanic nature; living by a satanic disposition, it is difficult to avoid negative states. Especially when one does not understand the truth, negativity becomes a common occurrence. Everyone has moments of negativity; some more often, some less, some for longer periods, and some for shorter. People’s stature differs, and so do their states of negativity. Those with greater stature only become somewhat negative when faced with trials, while those with lesser stature, still not understanding the truth, are unable to discern when others spread some notions or speak absurdities; they can be disturbed, influenced, and become negative. Any problem that arises can lead to their negativity, even trivial matters not worth mentioning. How should this issue of frequent negativity be resolved? If someone does not know how to seek the truth, does not know how to eat and drink God’s words, or pray to God, then it becomes very problematic; they can only rely on the support and help of the brothers and sisters. If no one is able to help, or if they do not accept help, they might remain so negative that they can’t recover and may even stop believing. Look, it is very dangerous for someone to always have notions and easily become negative. No matter how one fellowships the truth to such people, they don’t accept it, always insisting that their own notions and imaginings are correct; they are extremely troublesome people. However negative you might be, you should understand in your heart that having notions does not mean they align with the truth; it means there is a problem in your comprehension. If you have some reason, you should not spread these notions; this is the least people should uphold. If you have a bit of a God-fearing heart and can admit you are a follower of God, you should seek the truth to resolve your notions, submit to the truth, and avoid causing disruptions and disturbances. If you cannot do this and insist on spreading notions, then you have lost your reason; you are mentally abnormal, possessed by demons, and not in control of yourself. Dominated by demons, you speak out and spread these notions no matter what—there’s no helping it, this is the work of evil spirits. If you have some conscience and reason, you should be able to do this: not spread notions, and not disturb the brothers and sisters. Even if you become negative, you should not do things that harm the brothers and sisters; you should simply do your duty well, do what you should do properly, and ensure that you are beyond self-reproach—this is the basic standard of being a person. Even if you are sometimes negative, but haven’t done anything to overstep boundaries, God will not fuss over your negativity. As long as you possess conscience and reason, are able to pray to and rely on God, and seek the truth, you will eventually come to understand the truth and turn yourself around. If you face significant events, such as being dismissed and eliminated for not doing real work as a leader, and you feel there is no hope of salvation, and become negative—overly negative to the point that you can’t recover, feeling like you’ve been condemned and cursed, and you develop misunderstandings and complaints against God—what should you do? This is very easy to handle: Find some people who understand the truth to fellowship and seek with, and speak your heart out with these people. More importantly, come before God to pray truthfully about your negativity and weakness, as well as some of the things you don’t understand and can’t overcome, one by one—fellowship with God, don’t conceal anything. If there are unspeakable things that you cannot express to others, it is even more imperative that you come before God to pray. Some people ask, “Doesn’t speaking to God about it lead to condemnation?” Haven’t you already done many things that oppose God and earn His condemnation? Why fret over this one additional thing? Do you think that if you don’t speak about it, God won’t know? God knows everything you think. You should openly fellowship with God, speaking your heart out, presenting your problems and states truthfully to Him. Your weakness, rebelliousness, and even your complaints can all be spoken to God; even if you just want to vent, that’s fine—God will not condemn this. Why doesn’t God condemn this? God knows man’s stature; even if you don’t speak with Him, He still knows your stature. By speaking with God, in one regard, this is your opportunity to lay yourself bare and be open to God. In another regard, it also shows your attitude of submission to God; at the very least, you are letting God see that your heart is not closed to Him, you are just weak, not having enough stature to overcome this matter, that’s all. You don’t intend to defy; your attitude is to submit, it’s just that your stature is too small, and you cannot bear this matter. When you fully open your heart to God and are able to share your deepest thoughts with Him, although what you say may contain weakness and complaints—and, in particular, many negative and adverse things—there is one thing that is correct in this: You acknowledge that you possess a corrupt disposition, you acknowledge that you are a created being, you do not deny God’s identity as the Creator, nor do you deny that the relationship between you and God is that of a created being and the Creator. You entrust to God the things you find most difficult to overcome, the things that make you weakest, and you tell God all your innermost feelings—this shows your attitude. Some people say, “I prayed to God once, and it didn’t resolve my negativity. I still can’t overcome it.” It doesn’t matter; you just need to earnestly seek the truth. Regardless of how much you understand, God will gradually strengthen you, and you will no longer be as weak as you were at the beginning. No matter how much weakness and negativity you have, or how many complaints and adverse emotions you have, speak with God; don’t treat God as an outsider. Whoever you may hide things from, do not hide anything from God, because God is your only reliance and also your only salvation. Only by coming before God can these problems be resolved; relying on people is useless. Thus, when facing negativity and weakness, those who come before God and rely on Him are the smartest. Only foolish and stubborn people, when facing significant and critical events and needing to pour out their hearts to God, move away from and avoid God even more, plotting in their own minds. And what is the result of all this plotting? Their negativity and complaints turn into defiance, and defiance turns into resisting and clamoring against God; these people become utterly irreconcilable with God, and their relationship with God is completely broken. However, when you face such negativity and weakness, if you can choose to still come before God to seek the truth, and choose to submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements, and you take on a genuinely submissive attitude, then, seeing that you still sincerely want to submit to Him even when you are negative and weak, God will know how to guide you, leading you out of your negativity and weakness. After having these experiences, you will develop a true faith in God. You will feel that no matter what difficulties you face, as long as you seek God and wait for Him, He will arrange a way out for you without you knowing it, allowing you to see that, without you having even realized it, situations have changed, making you no longer weak but strong, and increasing your faith in God. When you reflect on these events, you will feel how childish your weakness was at that time. In fact, people are just that childish, and without God’s support, they would never mature from their childishness and ignorance. Only by gradually accepting and submitting to God’s sovereignty in the process of experiencing these things, positively and actively facing these facts, seeking principles, seeking God’s intentions, no longer avoiding or distancing oneself from God, nor being rebellious against God, but becoming more and more submissive, with less and less rebellion, becoming closer and closer to God, and more and more able to submit to God—only by experiencing like this does one’s life gradually grow and mature, growing fully into the stature of an adult.

How should one treat and resolve negative states? Negativity is not to be feared; the key is to have reason. Is it not easy for one to act foolishly when they are constantly negative? When one is negative, they only either complain or give up on themselves, and speak and act without any reason—does this not affect their performance of duty? If one can succumb to despair and slack off in negativity, isn’t this a betrayal of God? Severe negativity is like having a mental illness, it’s somewhat similar to being possessed by demons; it is to lack reason. Not seeking the truth for solutions is indeed dangerous. When people are negative, if they entirely lack a God-fearing heart, they will easily lose reason; they will go around spreading their negativity, dissatisfaction, and notions. This is intentionally opposing God and can all too easily disrupt and disturb the church’s work, a consequence too dreadful to contemplate, and they very well might be spurned by God. However, if a person in their negativity is able to seek the truth, maintains a God-fearing heart, does not speak negatively, nor spread their own negativity and notions, and maintains their faith in God and a submissive attitude toward Him, such a person can easily emerge from negativity. Everyone has moments of negativity; they just vary in intensity, duration, and reasons. Some people generally aren’t negative but become so when they face failing or faltering at something; others can become negative over trivial matters, even if it’s just something someone says that wounds their pride. And some become negative over slightly unfavorable circumstances. Do such people understand how to live life? Do they have insight? Do they possess the breadth of mind and magnanimity of a normal person? No. No matter the circumstances, as long as one lives within their corrupt dispositions, they will frequently fall into some negative states. Of course, if a person understands the truth and can see through things, their negative states will become increasingly rare and their negativity will gradually disappear as their stature grows, ultimately vanishing completely. Those who do not love the truth, who do not accept the truth at all, will have an increasing number of negative emotions, negative states, and negative thoughts and attitudes, which will become more serious the more they pile up, and once these things overwhelm them, they will not be able to recover, which is very dangerous. Therefore, resolving negativity promptly is crucial. To resolve negativity, one must proactively seek the truth; reading and pondering God’s words while maintaining a state of quietude in His presence will lead to gaining enlightenment and illumination, allowing one to understand the truth and see through the essence of negativity, thus resolving the problem of negativity. If you still cling to your own notions and reasons, then you are extremely foolish, and you will die from your foolishness and ignorance. Regardless, resolving negativity should be proactive, not passive. Some people think that when negativity arises, they should just ignore it; when they feel happy again, their negativity will have naturally turned into joy. This is a fantasy; without seeking or accepting the truth, negativity will not automatically remove itself. Even if you forget it and feel nothing in your heart, it does not mean that the root cause of your negativity has been resolved. Once the right circumstances arise, it will flare up again, which is a common occurrence. If one is smart and has reason, they should immediately seek the truth when negativity arises and use the method of accepting the truth to resolve it, thus resolving the issue of negativity from its roots. All who are frequently negative are so because they cannot accept the truth. If you do not accept the truth, negativity will cling to you like a devil, making you perpetually negative, causing you to develop feelings of disobedience, dissatisfaction, and grievance toward God, until you find yourself resisting, fighting against, and clamoring against God—that’s when you’ll have reached the end, and your ugly face will be exposed. People begin to expose you, dissect you, and characterize you, and it’s only now, faced with the grim reality, that your tears start to flow; this is when you collapse and begin to beat your chest in despair—just you wait to accept God’s punishment! Negativity not only weakens people, but it also causes them to complain about God, judge God, deny God, and even directly fight and clamor against God. Therefore, if the resolution of someone’s negativity is delayed, once they reveal blasphemous words and offend God’s disposition, the consequences are very severe. If you fall into negativity and harbor complaints due to a single event, a phrase, or a thought or viewpoint, this shows that your understanding of the matter is distorted, and you have notions and imaginings about it; your views on this matter certainly do not align with the truth. At this point, you need to seek the truth and face it correctly, striving to swiftly correct these erroneous notions and ideas as early as possible, not allowing yourself to be bound and misguided by these notions into a state of disobedience, dissatisfaction, and grievance toward God. Resolving negativity promptly is crucial, and resolving it completely is also very important. Of course, the best way to resolve negativity is to seek the truth, read God’s words more, and come before God to seek His enlightenment. Sometimes, you might temporarily be unable to reverse your thoughts and viewpoints, but at the very least, you should know that you are wrong and that these thoughts of yours are distorted. In this way, the minimum result will be that these erroneous thoughts and viewpoints will not affect your loyalty in doing your duty, will not affect your relationship with God, and will not affect your coming before God to open your heart and pray—at the very least, this is the result that must be achieved. When you are engulfed in negativity and are disobedient and dissatisfied, and you harbor complaints toward God but don’t want to seek the truth for resolution, thinking your relationship with God is normal when in fact your heart is far from God and you no longer wish to read His words or pray, hasn’t the problem become severe? You say, “No matter how negative I am, my performance of duty hasn’t been hindered and I haven’t abandoned my responsibilities. I am loyal!” Are these words valid? If you are frequently negative, it is not a matter of a corrupt disposition; there are more serious issues: You have notions about God, misunderstand Him, and have created barriers between yourself and God. If you do not seek the truth to resolve this, it is very dangerous. How can one ensure they do their duty loyally to the end and without perfunctoriness if they are often negative? Can negativity just go away or disappear on its own if it’s not resolved? If one does not seek the truth for a solution in a timely manner, negativity will continue to develop and only get worse. The consequences it causes will only become more detrimental. They absolutely will not develop in a positive direction, only growing in an adverse one. Therefore, when negativity arises, you must quickly seek the truth to resolve it; only this ensures that you are able to do your duties well. Resolving negativity is crucial, and it cannot be delayed!

June 26, 2021