After many Chinese people come to the West, they want to instill their traditional culture and the things which they think are right and good into Westerners. Likewise, Westerners won’t be outdone and believe that their traditional cultures go back a long way too. For example, ancient Rome, ancient Egypt, and ancient Greece all have the word “ancient” in them, and their cultures are more than three thousand years old. Looking at it based on this number, there is a certain cultural heritage here, and the things produced by this cultural heritage are considered among humankind to be the quintessence of all human life, and the summation of the most quintessential things to come out of the life, existence, and comportment of humankind. What are the most quintessential things passed down by humankind called? Traditional culture. Generation after generation of people have passed down this traditional culture, and everyone thinks in their hearts that this is the best thing. No matter whether people can adhere to it or not, generally speaking, people of all races regard it as something that is above all else and regard it as the truth. Therefore, every race of people has some traditional things that stand up to scrutiny and which have a particularly profound influence on them, and they use these things to contend and compare with each other, and even to try and outdo each other. For instance, Chinese people say: “Our Chinese baijiu liquor is good, it has a really high alcohol content!” Westerners say: “What’s so great about your liquor? The alcohol content is so high that you get intoxicated after drinking it, and what’s more, it’s really bad for the liver. The red wine that we Westerners drink has a low alcohol content, it does little damage to the liver and it also promotes blood circulation.” Chinese people say: “Our baijiu promotes blood circulation too, and does a very good job of it. As soon as you drink it, it goes to your head and your face glows all over. That red wine of yours isn’t strong enough, you don’t get drunk on it no matter how much you drink. You see, we have an alcohol culture for drinking alcohol, and a tea culture for drinking tea.” Westerners say: “We also have a tea culture for drinking tea, and a coffee culture for drinking coffee, an alcohol culture for drinking alcohol, and nowadays we even have a fast-food culture.” In comparing with each other, no one gives in to anyone else, and no one accepts anything from anyone else. They all think that their own things are the truth, but in fact none of them are the truth. Leaving aside nonbelievers, the most lamentable thing is that not even those who believe in God—and worse still, those who have accepted this stage of work for 20 or 30 years—realize that these things are not the truth at all. There are some who say, “Is it okay to say that it’s related to the truth?” It is not even okay to say that it’s related. It is not the truth, it has no association or connection whatsoever with the truth, they are not alike, and they are not the same thing. Just like copper is still copper no matter how well plated with gold or polished it is, whereas gold that is not polished, shiny, or lustrous is still gold—they are not the same thing.

There are some who ask: “Is it easy for people who have received a fairly good traditional cultural education and conditioning to accept the truth?” No, these are two separate matters. It’s only their lifestyles that are somewhat different, but people’s attitudes toward accepting the truth, their various thoughts and views, and the extent of the entire human race’s corruption are the same. When God started speaking in this stage of His work, that of the last days, He was talking in the context of Chinese people, and addressing His words to them. Thirty years passed, and when these words spread to all the various races in other parts of Asia, and in places such as Europe and America, and so on, after people read them, no matter whether the people are black, white, brown or yellow, they all say, “These words are talking about us.” God’s words expose the corrupt dispositions of all human beings. Few people say, “These words are all addressed to you Chinese. They are talking about the corrupt dispositions of you Chinese, which we don’t have.” Only a very small number of people, those who do not have spiritual understanding, would say such things. In the past, South Koreans had this kind of misunderstanding. They believed that the South Korean people lived under a democratic and free social system and were influenced by Christian culture, as well as thousands of years of Korean culture, so their race was more distinguished and more noble than that of Chinese people. Why did they think that? Because after many Chinese people arrived in South Korea, they made the places they went to unhygienic and noisier, theft and crime increased, and this had some adverse effects on the social climate. Therefore, brothers and sisters in South Korea believed that “the Chinese are offspring of the great red dragon and descendants of Moab. We South Koreans have not been corrupted by the great red dragon.” What were they implying by saying that? It was that “we have not been corrupted by the great red dragon, so we are not as corrupt as the Chinese. The Chinese are more corrupt than us. We are better than the Chinese.” What did they mean by “better”? (Better behaved.) In one sense, it is about behavior. In another sense, they believed from the bottom of their hearts that the traditional culture which the South Korean nation had produced and accepted since the beginning of history was noble, more so than the culture and traditions of the Chinese nation, and that the people and race conditioned by this kind of traditional culture were nobler than those conditioned by Chinese traditional culture. Therefore, when they read God’s words and saw God saying, “You cheap trash,” they thought He was talking about Chinese people. Chinese brothers and sisters said: “The ‘you’ that God speaks of refers to humankind.” South Koreans said, “That’s not correct, God is talking about ‘you,’ not us. What God is implying doesn’t include South Koreans.” That’s what they thought. That is to say, no matter from which aspect they looked at things, their viewpoints and perspectives were not from the perspective of truth, let alone from an objective and fair perspective. Instead, they looked at things from the context of a race and a traditional culture. Therefore, no matter how they looked at things, the subsequent results were at odds with the truth. Because no matter how they looked at things, their starting point was always, “Everything about our great South Korean nation is right, everything about it is the standard, and everything about it is correct.” They viewed everything and measured everything from a wrong perspective and starting point, so were the results as they perceived them right or wrong? (Wrong.) They were certainly wrong. So what should be the standard by which everything is measured? (The truth.) It should be the truth—this is the standard. Their standard was in itself wrong. They measured all things and all events from the wrong perspective and viewpoint, so the measured results were definitely wrong, not fair, not correct, and much less were they objective. Therefore, it was difficult for them to accept some foreign things, and what’s more, their thinking was very extreme, closed off, narrow-minded, and prone to impetuousness. Where did their impetuousness come from? It was that no matter what they said, they had to mention “our great South Korean nation,” and they insisted on adding the word “great.” What does “great” mean? Does this word “great” not represent arrogance? If you travel around the world or look at an atlas, how big is South Korea? If it really was bigger than other countries and could really be called great, then okay, call it “great.” But compared with other countries on earth, South Korea is not a big place, so why do they insist on calling it “great”? In addition, no matter whether a country is big or small, the rules and traditional culture it produces do not come from God, and they absolutely do not come from the truth. This is because before a person accepts the truth and accepts God’s salvation, all the ideas they accept come from Satan. What do all the ideas, views, and traditional culture generated by Satan do to people? What they do is mislead, corrupt, bind, and restrict people, with the result that corrupt humankind has thoughts that are narrow-minded and extreme, and views on things that are one-sided and biased, even to the point of being preposterous and absurd—these are the consequences of Satan’s corruption of humankind. So, when people in many countries and even some races hear the words “God became flesh in China,” what is their first reaction? One word—impossible! Where do they think that place might have been? (Israel.) That’s right, Israel. People most like to follow regulations and adhere to notions. They think that Israel is the place where God has done work, and so God should appear in Israel, or in some powerful empire that they revere, or they think that God should appear in a country that in their notions and imaginings was once an ancient civilization. China is precisely not such a country, so it is difficult for them to accept testimony that God became flesh in China, and this alone is enough to make them lose this opportunity to be saved. Who caused this? (They did themselves.) Because they harbor such a notion, and have become rebellious, and don’t seek the truth in order to resolve the problem at all, they have done terrible harm to themselves and ruined this one and only chance of attaining salvation.

Many of the imaginings and notions that people have when they don’t understand the truth, and even some of the things that people worship, are very ridiculous and absurd. A South Korean lady, who is in the United States and who likes the country, comes into contact with Americans and one of them asks her: “Spring Festival is just around the corner. What do Chinese people eat during Spring Festival?” She says: “I’m not Chinese, I’m South Korean.” The American replies, “So don’t South Koreans also celebrate Spring Festival?” To which she says, “We South Koreans don’t celebrate Spring Festival.” The American says: “I thought South Koreans celebrate Spring Festival just like the Chinese do.” She replies in an extremely abrupt tone: “We are not the same as the Chinese! Is it right that you think we celebrate Spring Festival? This seriously insults the dignity of us South Koreans!” Do South Koreans really not celebrate Spring Festival? (They do celebrate it.) In fact, South Koreans do also celebrate Spring Festival. So, why did she say that South Koreans don’t celebrate it? Let’s discuss this matter. Is it right to celebrate Spring Festival or not? Can you explain this matter clearly? For foreigners, celebrating Spring Festival is not a shameful thing in itself. It’s a special ritual that commemorates an important day in people’s lives. For humans living in this world of traditional culture, celebrating Spring Festival is not a wrong thing or a shameful thing, so why doesn’t the woman dare admit to celebrating Spring Festival? Because as soon as she admits to celebrating Spring Festival she is no longer westernized, and she will be labeled as a very traditional East Asian person, and she doesn’t want people to think that she is a traditional East Asian woman. She wants people to think that she has no East Asian traditions, and that she doesn’t understand East Asian traditions, or that she even knows nothing about them. She also wants them to know that she speaks fluent English, dyes her hair blonde, wears blue contact lenses, dresses like a Westerner, and is as bold and unconstrained, liberated, independent, and insightful as Western women—that is how she wants people to regard her. Therefore, under the sway of this thinking, whenever something befalls her, the way she acts will accord with this thinking. Whenever someone asks her whether South Koreans celebrate Spring Festival, she replies, “We South Koreans don’t celebrate Spring Festival.” If those close to her said, “We obviously celebrate Spring Festival, why do you say that we don’t celebrate it?” what would she reply? “You are stupid. If I say that we celebrate Spring Festival, wouldn’t they know that I’m a traditional South Korean?” She wants people to think she was born and raised in the United States. If you asked her, “You were born here, but how many generations has your family been here?” she would say: “Our ancestors grew up here.” She thinks this is a symbol of identity and status, so she goes so far as to tell this lie, and isn’t afraid of being found out by others. What kind of thinking is this? Is this matter worth lying about? Is it worth the risk? No, it isn’t. Even such a small matter can expose a person’s thoughts and views. What kind of thoughts and views are exposed? Some Chinese girls are really pretty, but they insist on dyeing their hair blonde, perming it into curls, wearing various shades of contact lenses that change their eye color, and passing themselves off as foreigners—it’s really awkward to witness. Why do they insist on being like that kind of person? Did their lineage change after they started dressing like that? Even if their lineage has changed, and in their next life they are reincarnated as a white person, or a person of a race they think highly of—what then? Can you see this matter clearly? If someone insists on comporting themselves with a certain style and a certain temperament, and passing themselves off as a member of a nation or race that they revere, why is this? Is there some underlying thinking that governs this? What is the thinking that governs it? It’s like that South Korean woman; when Americans ask her if she can play table tennis, she says, “What’s table tennis? Only Chinese people play that. We play tennis and golf.” What kind of person is it that can comport themselves and speak like this? Isn’t it somewhat fake? Everything she does is fake, and it makes her life so tiring! Would you comport yourselves like this? Some Chinese people who have lived in the West for decades can no longer speak Chinese when they return to their hometowns. Is this a bad thing? (Yes.) Some people say: “We mustn’t forget our roots. God also says that people shouldn’t forget their roots. God is the root of people. People were created by God, and everything about people originates from God, so as created beings, people must worship God—this is what it means to not forget one’s roots.” Is this not the case? There is truth to be sought in every situation, but people don’t seek the truth, and they adhere entirely to traditional culture. Why is that? Some people say: “We never forget our roots. Wherever we go, we acknowledge that we are Chinese, and we acknowledge that our country is poor and backward. We will never, ever forget our roots.” Is this right? All these problems, in one respect, are due to the excessively profound influence and education of these so-called traditional cultures on humankind. Another aspect is that even after people have listened to sermons for so many years, they don’t carefully contemplate and seek what the truth is. Instead, they often use the traditional culture and decadent things that they already have, that they have already learned and which are therefore firmly entrenched, and pass them off as truths. This is the second aspect. Thirdly, after listening to sermons, people don’t search for the truth in God’s words. Instead, they use traditional perspectives and the knowledge and learnings in human notions that they already know of to measure God’s words. So up to now, although people have listened to many sermons, the so-called principles of conduct and the so-called principles of doing one’s duty and serving God that people pass on by word of mouth are also often based on some knowledge, proverbs, and common sayings that they hold to be correct. For example, if some people do something wrong and the church leaders or brothers and sisters prune them, they will think: “Humph, it’s like those sayings go, ‘Execution does nothing but make heads roll’ and ‘Don’t raise a hand against a smiling face.’ I have patiently accepted this minor shortcoming of mine with a smile—why do you keep on exposing me for it?” Outwardly they listen and submit obediently, but actually, deep within their hearts they are using traditional notions to contradict and defy the church leaders or the brothers and sisters. What is the reason for their defiance? It’s that they think the sayings “Execution does nothing but make heads roll” and “Don’t raise a hand against a smiling face” are veritable truths and are right, and that it’s wrong for anyone to keep incessantly pruning and exposing them without the slightest hint of feeling, and that is not the truth.

Have you gained a deeper understanding of the truth from the content we have just fellowshipped on? (Yes.) Some may say: “Now that You’ve told us this, we don’t know what principles we should abide by in practicing. Without these traditional cultures and these notions and knowledge, how should we live? How should we act? Without these things to govern us, how can we open our mouths and preach God’s words? Without these things, isn’t the basis for us to preach God’s words gone? So then what else are we left with?” Well, what I say to them is that if you really don’t have these things, it will be easier to seek the truth, and it will be easier to accept the truth and return to God. Previously when you opened your mouth, all that came out were satanic philosophies and cultural knowledge such as “A wise man submits to circumstances,” “Don’t raise a hand against a smiling face,” “Execution does nothing but make heads roll,” and so on. Now you ponder and think, “I can’t say that, these sayings are all wrong, they’ve been repudiated and condemned, so what should I say? Get on with reading God’s words meekly and properly, and find the basis from God’s words.” People do their duty and follow God, but whenever they open their mouths, all that comes out are these proverbs, sayings, and some things and views that they get from traditional culture. No one, whenever something befalls them, can fully exalt or testify to God, and say, “God says this” or “God says that.” No one speaks like that, no one opens their mouth and reels off God’s words. You cannot reel off God’s words, but you can reel off those common sayings, so what is your heart filled with, exactly? All those things that come from Satan. Some people, when their team leader checks up on their work, say: “What are you checking up on? Neither doubt those you employ nor employ those you doubt. If you always doubt me, then why do you use me? Just find someone else to do it.” They think this is the right way to act, and they don’t allow others to supervise and criticize them. There are also people who have suffered a great deal in doing their duties, but because they didn’t seek the principles and caused disruption and disturbance to the church’s work, they are eventually replaced, and pruned on top of it. After listening to some condemnatory remarks, they are defiant and think, “There’s a saying that goes, ‘I might not have earned any credit, but I’ve tried and toiled nonetheless.’ I just made this small mistake, what does it matter?” Because they learned this common saying first and it is therefore firmly entrenched in them, governing and influencing their thoughts, it prompts them to use this saying—in this environment and after this situation happened—as a basis for defying and not submitting to their treatment by God’s house. That being the case, can they still submit? Is it still easy for them to accept the truth? Even if outwardly they submit, it is because they have no alternative and it’s a last resort. Although outwardly they do not resist, there is still resistance in their heart. Is this true submission? (No.) This is going through the motions, it is not true submission. There is no submission here, only rationalization, negativity, and opposition. How did this rationalization, negativity, and opposition arise? They arose from this saying “I might not have earned any credit, but I’ve tried and toiled nonetheless.” What kind of disposition did this saying give rise to in these people? Disobedience, intransigence, opposition, and rationalization. Have you gained a further understanding of the truth from this fellowship? Once you have dissected and discerned these negative things and dug them out of your heart, you will be able to seek the truth and practice the truth whenever something befalls you, because the old things have been renounced, and can no longer induce you to rely on them in doing your duties, and serving God, and following God. Those things are no longer the principles of your comportment, they are no longer the principles you should abide by when doing your duties, and they have already been criticized and condemned. If you take them and use them again, what will happen deep within your heart? Will you still be as happy? Will you still be so assured that you are in the right? Clearly that’s unlikely. If these things inside you really are stripped away, then you should seek in God’s words what exactly the true principles are and what exactly God’s requirements are. Some people often say, “Do as your master commands, or you won’t gain anything from even your most painstaking efforts.” Is this saying right or wrong? It’s definitely wrong. How is it wrong? Who does “master” refer to in the phrase “do as your master commands”? Your employer, your boss, your superior. This word “master” is itself wrong. God is not your employer, nor your boss, nor your manager. God is your God. Managers, bosses, and superiors are all of the same kind and on the same level as people. Essentially they are alike; they are all corrupt human beings. You listen to them, receive a wage from them, and do whatever they ask you to do. They pay you for whatever amount of work you do, and nothing more. What does “gain” mean in the phrase “or you won’t gain anything from even your most painstaking efforts”? (Credit.) Credit and remuneration. The impetus for your actions is to get paid. This does not call for loyalty or obedience, and does not require truth-seeking and worship—there is none of this, it is just a transaction. This is precisely something that is criticized and condemned in the course of your believing in God, doing your duty, and pursuing the truth. If you regard the saying “Do as your master commands, or you won’t gain anything from even your most painstaking efforts” as a truth, then this is a grave mistake. When you try to get some people to understand the truth, their reactions will be slow and sluggish, and however much they eat and drink God’s words, they will not be able to understand even one or two truths, nor will they be able to remember even one or two phrases of God’s words. But when it comes to the catchphrases, proverbs, and common sayings that are often spread among the population, and these things that ordinary people often say, they accept them extremely quickly. No matter how stupid someone is, even they accept these things extremely quickly. How can this be? Whatever race or color you are, in the final analysis you are all human beings and you are all of the same kind. Only God is of a different kind to human beings. Human beings will forever be of the same kind as other human beings. Therefore, whenever God does something, it is not easy for all of humankind to accept it, whereas, whenever someone among humankind does something, no matter who or how lowly the person who does it is, if it conforms to everyone’s notions, everyone will quickly accept it, because people’s ideas, views, ways of thinking, and levels and paths of understanding are basically all the same, differing only in small degrees. Therefore, as soon as someone says something that is characteristic of notions and is inconsistent with the truth, some people will quickly accept it, and that’s just how it is.

Have you more or less understood what the truth is, and what things are not the truth but which purport to be the truth? What other such things are there in your minds? You cannot yet say them right now, off the top of your heads, because they do not count as knowledge, they are not like something in a book that you can just flip to by leafing through the pages. Rather, they are things that you cannot stop yourselves saying out loud whenever something happens, in an extremely natural way that you can’t control. This proves that those things have become your life and taken root deep in your bones. You cannot recall them when asked to recall them, but neither can you resist saying them when you’re asked not to say them. Whenever something happens, those distorted views will come out—this is a fact. Take your time to experience. From now on you should pay attention to those things that people often say and which they think are right. We previously mentioned some of the great red dragon’s poisons and Satan’s philosophies for worldly dealings. Those things may be easy to discern from the perspective of their literal meaning, that is, people can work out straight away that they are definitely not the truth, and can clearly tell that they are the great red dragon’s poison, and that there are cunning schemes behind them. Those things are easy to discern, and I reckon that you can more or less pick them apart when asked to dissect them. You have cast off those things that are obviously satanic, but there are still many sayings in your hearts such as “Enduring humiliation and bearing a heavy burden,” and “Sleeping on brushwood and licking gall,” and “Don’t raise a hand against a smiling face,” and “A just cause attracts abundant support while an unjust one finds little,” and “A gentleman does not eat insulting handouts.” Deep in your hearts, you may still put a check mark next to these sayings and think, “These are precious. Everything decent about how I should comport myself in this life is all in these sayings,” and these things still have not been unearthed. Once they have been thoroughly unearthed and you have discernment of them, in future when these traditional cultural things come out, whether it be a natural reaction, or a reflection of objective conditions, you will immediately realize that these things are wrong and definitely not the truth. At that time, your level of cognition and recognition of the truth will be higher than now. What do I mean by “higher than now”? I mean that you will have reached a certain stature, your ability to discern will have improved, your experience and understanding of the truth will be more profound than now, and you will feel what the truth actually is. Now you may think, “All the traditional cultures that come from Satan and which developed out of the cultural background of all the ethnic groups of this world are wrong.” This is a general way of putting it, but you may not yet know which ones are wrong and how they are wrong. So, you must dissect and understand each one in turn, and then reach the point where you can let go of it, condemn it, completely separate yourself from it, and live not by it but by God’s words. Right now, you may only know in terms of your subjective will that those proverbs, common sayings, famous maxims, and those words that are often bandied around have nothing whatsoever to do with God’s words and are not the truth, but whenever something happens, you still unconsciously use these words as a basis for condemning others, restraining yourself and guiding your behavior. They restrict and manipulate your thoughts and views, which can spell trouble, and will affect your entry into the truth. Although one day these things from Satan may still appear in your heart, if you are able to discern them, live without relying on them, and practice according to the truth principles, you will truly have stature. Do you have this stature now? Not yet. If there is a saying that you all recognize to be correct, and if similar statements can perhaps be found in God’s words—though they are not expressed in entirely the same way—you may mistakenly believe that this saying is also the truth, and that it is the same as God’s words. If you still cannot see these matters clearly, and you still cling to the words of man and are unwilling to give them up, then this saying will influence your entry into the truth, because it is not God’s words and it cannot replace the truth.

Nowadays I am constantly fellowshipping about what the truth is. That means I am being serious with you. In order for you to understand the truth, we must take people’s various ideas and views, their good deeds and their good intentions, and some correct sayings and commonsense practices that people rely on to live, as well as some ideas and views from traditional culture, and dissect and discern them all to see whether they really accord with the truth, and whether they really have anything to do with the truth. If you believe them to be the truth, what is your basis for this assertion? If you determine them to be the truth based on satanic theories and teachings, then you belong to Satan. If these things do not accord with the truth, then they come from Satan, so you need to dissect what exactly their essence is. In particular, one should have a correct understanding of and a correct attitude toward the many sayings and views in traditional culture that have been passed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next. Only in this way can people truly understand and know what the truth really is, and understand exactly what God requires of people, and understand what the phrase “Everything God says is the truth” really means. At the same time, this also enables people to know why—given that humans have these views and sayings that supposedly accord with moral ethics, humanity, and secular conventions of human relations, and given that they have these ideas, views, and sayings that they rely on to live—God still expresses truths in order to save people, and moreover, why God says that only the truth can save people and only the truth can change people. Clearly there are truths to be found herein. At the very least, one point is that the ideas, views, and sayings that people rely on in life come from corrupt humankind, are summated by corrupt humankind, and are people’s notions and imaginings, and they have nothing whatsoever to do with the truth. Furthermore, these things are essentially in conflict with and hostile to the truth. They cannot replace the truth, they certainly are not the truth, and nor will they ever be the truth. From God’s perspective, these things are defined as wrong and condemned, and they are not the truth at all. God’s actions and the truth that God expresses have nothing whatsoever to do with these things. That is to say, the truth that God expresses has nothing to do in the slightest with corrupt humankind’s secular conventions of human relations, or people’s traditional cultures, their ideas, views and good deeds, or with their definitions of morality, dignity, and positive things. In His expression of the truth, God expresses His disposition and essence; His expression of the truth is not based on the various positive things and statements people believe that are summarized by humankind. God’s words are God’s words; God’s words are truth. They are the sole foundation and law by which humankind exists, and all those so-called tenets that originate from man are wrong, absurd, and condemned by God. They do not meet with His approval, and less still are they the origin or basis of His utterances. God expresses His disposition and His essence through His words. All the words brought forth by God’s expression are truth, for He has the essence of God, and He is the reality of all positive things. No matter how this corrupt humankind positions or defines God’s words, nor how they view them or understand them, God’s words are eternally the truth, and this is a fact that never alters. No matter how many words of God have been spoken, and no matter how much this corrupt, wicked humankind condemns and rejects them, there remains a fact that is forever unchanging: God’s words will always be the truth, and man can never change this. In the end, man must admit that God’s words are the truth, and that humankind’s esteemed traditional culture and scientific knowledge can never become positive things, and that they can never become the truth. This is absolute. Humankind’s traditional culture and survival strategies will not become truth because of the changes or passage of time, and neither will the words of God become the words of man due to humankind’s condemnation or forgetfulness. Truth is always truth; this essence will never change. What fact exists herein? It is that these common sayings which humankind has summated find their source in Satan and human imaginings and notions, or they arise from human hot-headedness and the corrupt dispositions of humans, and they have nothing at all to do with positive things. The words of God, on the other hand, are expressions of God’s essence and identity. For what reason does He express these words? Why do I say they are truth? The reason is that God is sovereign over all the laws, rules, roots, essences, actualities, and mysteries of all things. They are grasped in His hand. Therefore, only God knows the rules, actualities, facts, and mysteries of all things. God knows the origin of all things, and God knows what exactly the root of all things is. Only the definitions for all things presented in God’s words are the most accurate, and only God’s words are the standards and principles for the life of human beings and are the truths and criteria by which human beings can live, whereas the satanic laws and theories which man has relied on to live since being corrupted by Satan are at once contrary to the fact that God is sovereign over all things, and to the fact that He is sovereign over all thing’s laws and rules. All of man’s satanic theories arise from man’s notions and imaginings, and they are from Satan. What sort of role does Satan play? First, it presents itself as the truth; next, it disturbs, destroys, and tramples on all the laws and rules of all the things that God created. Therefore, that which comes from Satan matches Satan’s essence all too well, and it is filled with Satan’s wicked purpose, with counterfeit and pretense, and with Satan’s ever-unchanging ambition. No matter whether corrupt humans can discern these philosophies and theories from Satan, and no matter how many people tout, promote, and follow these things, and no matter for how many years and ages corrupt humankind has admired, worshiped, and preached about them, they will not become truth. Because their essence, origin, and source is Satan, who is hostile to God and hostile to the truth, these things will therefore never become truth—they will always be negative things. When there is no truth to compare with, they may pass for good and positive things, but when the truth is used to expose and dissect them, they are not infallible, they cannot stand up to scrutiny, and are things that are quickly condemned and rejected. The truth expressed by God precisely coincides with the needs of the normal humanity of humankind that God created, whereas the things that Satan instills into people are precisely contrary to the needs of the normal humanity of humankind. They make a normal person become abnormal, and become extreme, narrow-minded, arrogant, foolish, wicked, intransigent, vicious, and even unbearably haughty. There is a point at which it gets so serious that people become deranged and don’t even know who they are. They don’t want to be normal or ordinary people, and instead insist on being superhumans, people with special powers, or high-level human beings—these things have warped people’s humanity and warped their instinct. The truth makes people able to exist more instinctively according to the rules and laws of normal humanity and all these rules established by God, whereas these so-called common adages and misleading sayings precisely make people turn against human instinct and evade the laws ordained and formulated by God, even to the point of making people deviate from the track of normal humanity and do some extreme things that normal people should not do or think about. These satanic laws not only warp people’s humanity, but also make people lose their normal humanity and normal humanity instinct. For example, satanic laws say, “One’s destiny is in his own hands,” and “Happiness is created by one’s own two hands.” This is contrary to God’s sovereignty and contrary to human instinct. When people’s body and instinct reach the limit, or when their destiny is at a critical juncture, people who depend on these laws from Satan are unable to bear up. Most feel that the pressure has exceeded their limit and gone beyond what their mind can endure, and in the end some people become schizophrenic. People taking the college entrance examinations right now are suffering from the immense pressure that those exams bring. People’s physical condition and mental qualities are different; some can adapt to such a regime, while others cannot. In the end, some people become depressed, while others become schizophrenic, and even jump off buildings and commit suicide—all sorts of things happen. How are these consequences caused? The reason is that Satan misleads people by making them pursue fame and gain, which harms people. If people can live naturally according to the rules set by God, and live according to the way God has ordained for people, and read God’s words, and live before God, will they become deranged? Will they withstand so much pressure? They absolutely will not. God does His work in order for people to understand the truth, cast off their corrupt dispositions, and submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangements. In this way, people can live before God, without pressure, and gain only freedom and release. Humankind was created by God, and only God knows human instinct and everything about people. God uses the rules He formulated to guide people and provide for their needs, whereas Satan precisely does not do that. It makes people violate all these rules, and compels people to be superhumans and hotshots. Is this not playing tricks on people? People are actually normal and ordinary people—how can they be superhumans or people with special powers? Is this not ruining people? No matter how much you struggle, no matter how great your ambitions and desires, you cannot become superhuman or a person with special powers. Even if you ruin yourself to the point that you lose all semblance of humanity, you cannot become superhuman or a person with special powers. Whatever career a person should have in life is preordained by God. If you don’t live according to the laws and rules formulated by God, but instead choose Satan’s misleading and devilish words and pursue being a superhuman or a person with special powers, you will have to suffer torment and die. That is to say, if you choose to accept being ruined, trampled on, and corrupted by Satan, then all that you endure is the consequence of your own actions, it is what you deserve, and it is of your own volition. Some people take the college entrance examination, fail it two or three times, and end up going crazy from never managing to pass it. Is this something they brought upon themselves? Why do you want to take the college entrance exam? Is it not just to stand out above the rest, and bring honor to your ancestors? If you abandon these two goals of standing out above the rest, and bringing honor to your ancestors, and don’t chase after these things, but instead switch to a correct goal, won’t the pressure then disappear? If you accept corruption from Satan, and if you accept all these ideas and views from it, then your body will have to endure all kinds of pain, and it will be no less than you deserve! This consequence is your own choice and of your own making. It is not preordained by God. God doesn’t make you live like that. God’s words have already made things very clear, and it is you who does not practice according to God’s words. There is a limit to what a person’s body, willpower, and mental qualities can endure, but people themselves don’t realize that and think otherwise, and even say that their destiny is in their own hands, yet in the end they don’t manage to wrest control over their destiny, and instead die a miserable and tragic death. How is this grasping one’s own destiny? This is how Satan uses all kinds of fallacious ideas and all kinds of heresies and fallacies to corrupt people. People themselves don’t know this, and even feel fine about them, thinking, “Society is constantly progressing, we should keep pace with the times and accept all that positive energy.” These are completely devilish words. How can there be any positive energy in a demonic world of nonbelievers? It is all negative energy, it is all cancer, and it is all a time bomb. If you accept these things, you will have to bear their consequences, and you will have to be tortured and devastated by Satan. This is what comes of not pursuing the truth. What good end can there be if you follow Satan? Satan will do everything it can to poison you and instill poison into you. God saves you; Satan harms you. God cures your ills; Satan instills poison into you to make you ill. The more poison you accept from Satan, the more strenuous it becomes for you to accept the truth. That’s just how it is. Here ends our fellowship on the topic of what the truth is. Next, we will fellowship on another topic.