When I come into contact with people and interact with them, no matter who they may be or however long the interaction may take, do any of them feel: “He’s always trying to control me, He takes charge of all the affairs of my house, He’s always trying to conquer me”? I’m not conquering you! What use would there be in that? Read God’s words on your own, and ponder on them and enter them slowly. If you’re someone who pursues the truth, the Holy Spirit will work on you, and God will have blessings and guidance for you. If you’re not someone who pursues the truth, if you’re always defiant toward everything I say, and don’t want to hear it, and don’t accept it, then in the end, you’ll always get revealed, and things will always go wrong when you act—you won’t have God’s leadership. How does that happen? (God scrutinizes all.) It’s not just that God scrutinizes all. Go through this and experience this for yourselves. When I say something, regardless of whether people agree with it or not, or whether they accept it or not, does the Holy Spirit uphold it, or does He not bother? (He upholds it.) The Holy Spirit certainly upholds it and He absolutely won’t undermine it. It would be right of you to remember this. Regardless of whether people can accept what I say or not, there will come a day when the facts are made plain, and at a glance, everyone will say, “What You said was right all along! You said this long ago—why did I have no idea about it?” No matter whether you believed at the time that My words came from My imagination, or from My mind, or from knowledge—one day, after experiencing some things, you’ll think, “What You said has been the truth all along!” And how will you have come to this understanding? From experience. If you’re able to attain this knowledge, will it be through mental analysis? Absolutely not; you’ll have been led by the Holy Spirit—it will be God’s doing. Nonbelievers go their whole lives with a bit of knowledge about some of the rules for the heavens and earth and all things, but can they gain the truth? (No.) So, what are they missing? (They don’t have the work of the Holy Spirit.) Right. They don’t have the work of the Holy Spirit—that’s what they’re missing. So, no matter how you regard Me and evaluate Me as a person, and however you treat the words I say and the things I do, this must ultimately have its result. God will act, and He will reveal whether your choice was right or wrong, whether your attitude was right or wrong, and whether something has gone wrong with your view. God upholds the work of His flesh. Why doesn’t God support other people, then? Why doesn’t He support antichrists? It’s because the Spirit and the flesh are one; They have the same source. In fact, this isn’t upholding—that is, once you’ve experienced to the end, regardless of whether they are words spoken by God incarnate or those that came to you from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, they will be consistent. They will never contradict each other; they will be in accord. Do you have confirmation of this? Some people do, while others haven’t yet gotten to this point in their experience, and do not possess confirmation of this. This means that their faith hasn’t yet reached that point; it’s still very small. In other words, when your belief reaches a certain degree, there will suddenly come a day when you feel that an ordinary phrase, spoken by this ordinary flesh, a phrase that you didn’t find to be very impressive when you heard it, has become your life. How will it have become your life? You will be relying on it, without knowing so, in your actions. It will have become a guide for your day-to-day life. And when you lack a path, that phrase will become your reality, and it will become a goal that shows you the way; when you’re in pain, that phrase will allow you to emerge from negativity and understand what your problem is. After such experience, you’ll see that as ordinary as that phrase is, there’s weight and life within its words—that it’s the truth! If you don’t focus on pursuing the truth and don’t love the truth, you may condemn God, and His incarnation, and the truths He expresses. If you’re someone who pursues the truth, then a day will come in your experience when you’ll say, “God’s quite easy to get along with. God incarnate is quite easy to get along with”—but no one will say, “I’ve been getting along with Him as though He were a person.” Why is this? Because your experience of Christ’s words, and the work that the Holy Spirit does in you when you do not see Him during your day-to-day life, are the same. What will this “same” evoke in you? You’ll say, “God has adopted an ordinary, common exterior, the image of a flesh, so people have overlooked His essence. It is precisely because people have corrupt dispositions that they can’t see the side of God that is His essence. They just see the side that man is able to see. People really do lack the truth!” Is that not how it is? (It is.) That’s how it is. With some work, for instance, if there are many aspects of it that I can’t do, a lot of people are sure to develop notions. But when I’m able to do some of each aspect of the work, everyone’s a bit calmer, and they’re somewhat comforted at heart: “Alright. He seems like God—that’s all I can say. He seems like God incarnate, He seems like Christ. He’s probably Christ.” That’s the only sort of definition people have. Yet if I were only to fellowship the truth and express some of God’s words, and did no more than that—if I gave no practical counsel about any work, and were unable to give practical counsel, then that would lessen people’s regard for this flesh and the weight they assign to Him. People believe that the flesh must be possessed of certain abilities and certain talents. Is this, in fact, talent? No. God can grant people all manner of talents, gifts, and abilities, so tell Me, does God Himself have those things? In spades! So, there are some people who can’t solve this puzzle, and say, “How can You instruct us to sing when You can’t sing Yourself? Isn’t that a layman giving instructions to pros? Doesn’t that go against the principles?” I’ll tell you, I’m the exception. Why’s that? If you can’t do something well, I have to reach out My hand to help you; if you can do something, I’m fine with being hands-off, I don’t want to intervene—doing so would tire Me out. If you can do something well, why do I need to reach out My hand to help you? I’m not showing off here, and I’m not spouting lofty ideas. I just want to teach you, in the realm of professional skills and in the realm of the truth principles alike. Once you’ve all learned the skills and grasped the principles, it’ll be a great weight off My heart, as those things are outside of the work that falls to Me to do. Some say, “If it’s not work that falls to You, why do You do it?” It has to be done, and people are far from up to the task. If I didn’t give counsel as I do, the works produced would then be nothing special, and testifying for God would yield so-so results. If I had no significant works to show, I’d be a bit remiss and ill at ease, too, so I do a bit of work, as My energy and bodily condition allow. Why? There are several considerations. When all mankind sees the things that people have made, and absorbs them, the perspectives, views, and comprehension abilities that people have only differ in terms of how long they’ve been believers, their experience, and their caliber, but their starting points are all basically the same. Their starting points are the experiences they have of the truth realities on the basis of their understanding of the truth. These are the things that mankind can make. I couldn’t do things or produce works from the perspective of an ordinary person. What perspective must I take, then? That of the flesh? I couldn’t do that, either. It would be inappropriate, don’t you think? I would, of course, adopt the perspective of God and His work from within the flesh, to say those words, do those things, and express those views. Can the value of these things be measured with money among mankind? (No.) It can’t. This is because these things, once made into finished works, are things that will endure forever for mankind. Those ordinary works will also endure forever, of course. But since these works will endure forever, and into the future, and will make a contribution to all mankind, whether they be a guide for believing in God, or provisions and aid, I ought to make a few weightier works, right? That’s why I must say words and produce works from a perspective that mankind can’t take. What do I do this for? To increase the fame of the church. Is that motive correct? (It is.) Tell Me, is it advantageous for testifying to God if the fame of the church is heightened? (Yes.) Does it promote this, or hold it back? (It promotes it.) That’s for sure—it definitely promotes it. When some nonbeliever and religious groups see these works, they are amazed at how well-made these films are, and always wish to meet the behind-the-scenes filmmaker. I won’t meet with these people. I don’t have the time to meet these people, and I don’t know what the purpose of them meeting Me would be. What use would there be in Me meeting them, then? If those people who see these films can accept the truth, then that’s enough, and if they’re willing to investigate the true way, that’s even better. It’s not necessary for them to meet Me. In short, I make a few weighty works, so that when mankind sees these things, it is of somewhat greater benefit to them. Is it a good thing or a bad thing, to leave these things to mankind? (A good thing.) It’s worthwhile; it’s worth doing.

This is the way I have of getting along with you. The relationship I have with you is this one that you see and feel. So, what sort of relationship does God have with you? Can it be felt? It’s the same. Don’t go thinking, “God incarnate is a person; He’s easy to get along with. But God in heaven isn’t, with His majesty and wrath—He’s terrifying!” God’s as I am. He wouldn’t conquer or control you with a remark or a method, or with force. He wouldn’t do that. He’d get along with you in the same way as you feel Me getting along with you: I teach you whatever I can, and I enable you to understand whatever I can. As for the things you can’t understand, I don’t forcibly indoctrinate you with them. Some may say, “You say that You don’t indoctrinate us by force—well then, what are You doing by preaching the truth all the time?” Is that indoctrination? That’s called providing for you—it’s not a case of forcing you to make progress, it’s watering. Watering is proper; it’s a positive thing. Some will say, “Isn’t antichrists’ conquest of people the same as God’s?” (It’s not.) In what way is it not? The same word is used for antichrists’ conquest of people and God’s conquest of people; what’s the difference in essence between those two uses of the word? Can you explain this clearly? If you can’t even do that, your understanding of the truth is just too poor. (Satan’s conquest of people is forcible control, whereas God’s is the provision of truth—it’s telling people the truth principles, which people can then practice, and thereby gain life.) So, I ask you: Satan controls and conquers people, but does it have the truth? (No.) What is Satan? On what grounds does it conquer people? In other words, what qualifies Satan to conquer people and try to gain them? Satan has nothing at all. So, what does it use to conquer people? What can it provide people with, once it’s conquered them? It can only corrupt you; it can only toy with you and ruin you, and in the end, when it’s done ruining you, it will send you down to hell. What is its sort of conquest and control? It’s simply abuse. Its goal in controlling and conquering you is to stop you from submitting to God and the truth, and make you submit to it. To Satan, it’s wrong of you to submit to God, and submitting to it is right. If you do submit to it, and are controlled and conquered by it, you’ll have left God and rejected Him utterly. How, then, does God’s conquest of people work? God is Himself the truth; He’s the reality of all positive things, the source of all positive things, the source of the truth. What, then, are people? People are of a Satan-corrupted sort. They don’t have the truth. So, God must judge and chastise people, and try and refine them, by means of expressing the truth and exposing man’s corrupt dispositions, so that people may understand the words He says, and acknowledge Him as the Creator and themselves as His created beings, and come before Him, prostrate themselves to Him, and accept His sovereignty and arrangements. Is all this not in line with the truth? (It is.) So, what is this conquest? It’s gaining people, it’s salvation; it’s a positive thing. It’s not harming you. Isn’t there a difference between that and Satan’s conquest? It’s proper for God to conquer people. He’s the truth, the source of all positive things. To say He “conquers mankind” is all too apt a way to put it! Mankind doesn’t have the truth, they have been deeply corrupted by Satan, and made into its ilk. That’s why people don’t submit to God, and deny Him, and reject Him. What’s to be done about this? God must express the truth and use the methods of chastisement and judgment to get people to understand who God is, who the Creator is, who created beings are, and who Satan is, and get them to recognize the Lord and return to Him, acknowledge the Creator, and acknowledge themselves to be His created beings in His presence. That’s what conquest signifies. Do those conquered by God understand the truth, or do they not? (They do.) And people conquered by Satan—what do they gain? They understand no truths, and they shun, betray, and reject God, have notions about Him, and even follow Satan and antichrists. They may even pass judgment on God, rebel against Him, and curse Him, refusing to acknowledge His sovereignty, much less submit to it. Are these acceptable created beings? (No.) They’re the exact opposite of people conquered by God; the effect is the reverse of God’s conquest of people.

If someone such as an antichrist has status, and they go somewhere where people don’t know they’re a leader, will they be happy about it? No. Wherever they go, they’ll use any means at their disposal to tell everyone, “I’m the leader; make me some food. I’ve got to eat something good!” What would you say My view is on status? (You’re uninterested in it.) How does that lack of interest manifest? When I go somewhere, I tell the people there as much as I can not to freely spread word of or let people know of My identity. Why do I do this? Because when people know about it, it’s a real pain. If they don’t, they may say a bit of what’s in their hearts to Me; it’s a pain once they know—they clam up with Me. Tell Me, wouldn’t I be lonely, without anyone who’d speak their heart to Me? I try My utmost to not let people know, so that people can treat Me as if I were a common person, and say what they want to say to Me. It’s so nice for people to feel free and liberated, for Me to not always be tying them down, and for them to not always be so deferential in My presence. There’s no need for them to act like that; I don’t like that. Those who don’t understand the truth think, “Surely You like that, so that’s how I’ll treat You.” When I see people like that, I hide. When I see someone who’s always bowing and scraping, I hide, as quickly as I can. I absolutely don’t want to be in contact with such people—it’s too much of a hassle, too much trouble! Antichrists, though, are different. They hope to gain people’s respect, to receive special treatment wherever they go. And what do they hope for even more? That so long as they’re around, the people under their leadership will completely obey their orders, and obey them without compromise, to the point of absoluteness; then they think, “Look—what do you think of the soldiers I lead, the team I lead? They all do what I say, obediently.” They feel a special sense of accomplishment. They train people to be like puppets, to be like slaves, without independent thought, or opinions of their own, or views; they make each of them numb and dull-witted. Antichrists then feel joyful and pleased deep in their hearts, feeling that their work has gotten results, that their desires and ambitions have been fulfilled. If things aren’t like that, they’re saddened at heart: “Why don’t people just do what I say? What method do I have to use to get them to obey me? Fine—if you don’t know that I’m awesome, I’ll just have to show you! I have a graduate degree; I carry my diploma with me every day, so that you see it. I passed the Test for English Majors Grade Eight, and I was head of the student union. Seeing as you don’t understand me very well, I’ll show off a bit for you!” Whenever they discuss the work, they say, “Whatever thoughts you all have, say them; freely express your views—don’t be constrained by me.” And so, the people there begin to express their views. After they have, this “superior person” with a graduate degree says, “Your views are no good. They’re all ordinary, all the views of common people. I really do have to intervene—look: You can’t do the work! I don’t want to take this work on, in fact, but if I weren’t here, you really wouldn’t be able to take on this burden, so I need to lend a hand. I’ve thought this matter through. Here’s how we’ll handle it. None of the tricks you mentioned will work; I’ll give you a better one. That was what the work arrangements required us to do in the past—from now on, we won’t stick to those regulations. We won’t do it like that anymore.” Some people say, “If we don’t act according to the work arrangements, it’ll cause such a great loss to God’s house.” They respond, “Don’t think about it so much—will god’s house care about this little sum of money? Let’s focus on the results—they’re what matters. From now on, just do as I say. If something goes wrong, it’s on me!” No one can dissuade them. Are they not just spouting high-sounding ideas? What’s their goal in doing that? It is to show off, and remind every single person at all times of their existence, as well as their brilliance. In what way are they brilliant? In their inscrutability to ordinary people. Even if antichrists share the same view as other people, they still reject that view when it is expressed by others, after which they start over and take the lead by restating it. The group hears them and says: “Isn’t that the same idea?” They say, “Same or not, I’m the one who said it. You’re not the ones who said it. I’m the one who took the lead with this idea.” No matter how they go back and forth with what they say, their goal is to convince everybody, to let people know: “I’m not a leader for nothing; I’m not the group leader and the person in charge for nothing. I’m not all talk—I wouldn’t be in this position without my talents, gifts, and abilities.” If something should happen while they’re not there, no one else can call the shots, and if they are there, it must be them calling the shots. Everyone must keep an eye on their expression. Everyone can only breathe a sigh of relief when they’re calling the shots; if they aren’t, then everyone feels anxious. If they’re not allowed to call the shots, then it won’t be possible to resolve the task at hand. Don’t they have a goal in doing this? They sometimes think to themselves, “Is what I’m doing right? I’d better not do this—I’m making quite a fool of myself. Isn’t this the way antichrists act? That won’t do; my pride is what matters. ‘Antichrist’? The above hasn’t condemned me, so I’m not one!” And they keep on acting as they have been. Sometimes, they know quite well that what they’re doing violates the work arrangements and the truth principles, that they’re obviously considering their own pride and status, that they have their own intentions—yet they keep on doing what they have been, without a thought for the consequences, much less a God-fearing heart. Is this not a dispositional problem? What does this sort of disposition lead them to do? To be extremely egotistical, and to run amok doing bad things. Do they truly not know in their hearts the proper way to act? Do they truly not understand that what they’re doing violates the principles? Do they really not know that what they’re doing is misleading and controlling others, that they’re doing evil? They know and understand these things. That they could keep acting in the same way, then, means that they don’t love the truth and are averse to it. They reject any view, way, method, or statement, so long as it doesn’t come from their mouth. Is this not ambition? (It is.) There’s ambition and evil intents within it. What evil intents? What’s hidden behind it? (Having people do what they say.) Having people do what they say—they absolutely cannot miss out on any such advantage or chance to stand out, or allow these to fall to anybody else. Every time, it must be them making the decisions; every time, it must be them calling the shots; every time, the fruits of the work must be theirs alone, and be credited to them alone. In the end, they make everyone develop a tendency. What tendency? The tendency to think that the work can only operate when they’re in the group—without them, it’s as if no one else can bear the load. With this, have they not accomplished their goal? Those people have fallen under their control. What’s the precursor to being controlled? Being utterly conquered and defeated—antichrists torment you into surrendering to them, such that you don’t know right from wrong, and do not try to discern them at all or link any aspect of the truth to them, and firmly believe that whatever they do is right, and no longer dare to analyze if they’re right or wrong. These are the consequences brought about after people are misled and controlled by antichrists, and right afterward, those people follow the antichrists. Is that not so? (It is.) Is this not clearly a manifestation of antichrists having others submit only to them, not the truth or God? (It is.) What are the motives and evil intents behind everything they do, and what is the source of their actions, their ways and means, and even their statements? It’s that they want to defeat you, subdue you, get you to surrender to them, and show you who’s boss, who’s qualified to take the lead, who has the final say there, and that it isn’t the truth that has the final say—that no one but them could be lord of these people, or call the shots, or make the decisions. You’d like to mention the truth, but there’s no way for you to. You’d like to raise differing opinions—but don’t even think about it. What disposition of antichrists is this? It’s viciousness; they want to conquer and control people. No matter whether you look at antichrists’ desires and ambitions, or at their real actions, these all demonstrate their disposition of viciousness and being averse to the truth. These ways, revelations, and manifestations that antichrists have of conquering and controlling people, as well as their essences, coincide perfectly with the main topic we’re fellowshipping on. Antichrists would have people submit only to them—the implication of this is that people must do as they say, that to do so is to submit to God. If someone should raise a differing opinion and say what they’re doing is contrary to the truth, they’ll retort, “Contrary to the truth? Tell us—what is the truth? If you can explain it clearly, I’ll yield to you—but if you can’t, then I’ll put you in an embarrassing position!” When they say that, some people really feel afraid, saying, “I really can’t explain it clearly, so I’ll just do what you say.” With that, the antichrists have accomplished their goal. Are there people who do this? (Yes.) Have you done things like this? (No.) Antichrists have this skill. An ordinary person gives up when they see that they can’t persuade others; they don’t possess that technique. In one regard, it’s that they’re not able to speak and express themselves in that way—they can’t speak and debate well. In another, it’s that they’re not ruthless enough at heart. Those who can do these things must have a wicked disposition inside them. They must be vicious and sufficiently ruthless, and not care about anyone else’s feelings. If anyone disagrees with them, they’ll torture them to death, and no matter how cruelly they do so, their conscience will feel no reproach for it or awareness of it. Someone would say, “They are pitiful enough already; why am I making them do as I say? I’ll let them off the hook—they believe in God, not me. They can just heed whoever speaks in a way that accords with the truth—it doesn’t matter who it is. I’ll just drop it this time.” Do antichrists think in this way? No; antichrists absolutely don’t have such rationality. They’re quite unambiguous about their own ambitions and desires. They cling onto them and won’t let go, just like a wolf that’s gotten a sheep in its jaws. If you try to negotiate with a wolf, and stop it from eating a sheep—will that work? It won’t. Why not? Because that is its disposition. What does the wolf believe? “I’m hungry. I like eating sheep. This is right. Whether I want to eat the sheep or not, it’s all right.” That’s its philosophy, the standard and source of its actions. Likewise, when antichrists conquer and control people, do they think, “I’m not God. How shameless it is of me to control people. If people come to discern me, how can I show my face anywhere?” Do they have such a sense of shame? (No.) They have no sense of shame. So, what’s missing from their humanity? Shame, rationality, and conscience. These things aren’t in their humanity. Without those things, are they still human? They are not. Not all who wear human skin are human, necessarily—some are demons, some are walking corpses, and some are animals. What sort of thing are antichrists, then? They’re devils; some of them are evil demons, and others are evil spirits. In sum, they aren’t human. It’s because they aren’t possessed of the reason, conscience, and shame of normal humanity that antichrists are able to contend with God for people and people’s hearts. This shows their nature essence to be wicked. It’s not justifiable for them to contend with others for status, let alone contend with God for status and for people! This shows all the more that they’re authentic antichrists, that they’re devils and Satans.

We’ve now fellowshipped on the manifestations of antichrists through to item eight. Can you now make links between yourselves and antichrists, as well as people who walk the path of antichrists and those who possess their disposition, to see which sort of person you are? (Yes.) You can make some of these links. Which of people’s problems can doing this resolve? (It can keep us from taking the wrong path.) It can keep you from taking the wrong path. What else? (It enables us to discern the people, events, and things around us.) It enables you to discern some of the people around you. Being discerning of others is part of it; mainly, though, you must know how to be discerning of yourself, of the antichrist’s disposition inside you and the path you walk. This will help you to not go astray in doing your duty, and to not take the path of antichrists. Once someone has set off on the path of antichrists, is it easy for them to turn back? No; once they’ve set off, it’s not easy for them to turn back. Do you know the reason for this? (The Holy Spirit doesn’t work in them.) That’s the main reason. Setting off on the wrong path is dangerous, as you have chosen to struggle against God, to contend with Him for His chosen people, and to fight against Him to the end; you are not seeking the truth, or seeking to accept God’s salvation. Set off on a path like that, and you’ll be in trouble. You’ll be standing in opposition to God—you’ll be standing in opposition to Him by your subjective will; that is, your thoughts, views, opinions, and choices will all be hostile to God. If, before you’ve set off on this path, you have some objective manifestations, dispositions, and essences that are antithetical and hostile to God, yet at all times, you’re cautious at heart about not walking the path of hostility to God, or the path of antichrists, then you have a chance of being saved. If you do set off on the path of antichrists, of hostility to God, then you’re in danger. How great is the danger? Great enough that it won’t be easy for you to turn back. Some people just now said that the Holy Spirit won’t work in you anymore—that’s so obvious! How could the Holy Spirit work in such a person? Once you’ve set off on that kind of path, once you’ve made that choice, you’re in danger. If you understand this in your heart, but still do this, go that way, and make that choice, and proceed always according to your own principles and your old, prior ways when you act, without turning around or repenting, without reversing your course, that represents your choice—you’ve made up your mind about going down this path in hostility to God. It’s not that you don’t understand what you’re doing—you’re knowingly committing a sin. It’s just like Paul, who said, “Who are you, lord? Why do you want to strike me down?” He knew quite well that the Lord Jesus was the Lord, that He was Christ, but he still opposed Him to the end. That’s knowingly committing a sin. Paul didn’t testify for the Lord, nor did he exalt Him. He thought, “Aren’t you just an ordinary person? Aren’t you just striking me down because you have the power to? You may have the power, but I still believe in the god in heaven. You, the incarnation, aren’t god; you’re unrelated to god. You’re god’s son, and you’re our equal.” Was that not his view? What was the foundation for this view of Paul’s? After he came to know that the Lord Jesus was Christ incarnate, he still upheld this view, as he did before. This was a serious problem, and with it, his outcome was decided. Given that he held onto that view the whole time, could the path he walked have changed? The path a person walks is based on their views: Whatever your views are, that’s the path you walk. And vice versa, whatever path you walk, those are the views that will arise in you, the views you’ll have, the views that will sway and direct you. As soon as you set off on the path of hostility to God, these views will take form and root inside you, and one thing is then certain: You’re bound to oppose God to the end; you’re bound to hold always onto your own mistaken views, knowledge, and attitude, raising a clamor against God until the end. You won’t reverse your course at all—not if anyone should tell you to, or if the Holy Spirit should enlighten you, or if the brothers and sisters should exhort you, or if God should illuminate you. There will not be room for it. This is your choice. You will be given a first, second, and third chance—if, after three chances to repent, you haven’t done so, you’ll have no more chances in the future. However you work and pay a price then, it won’t be moving to God—He’ll already have made up His mind about you. What will God have decided for you? That you’ll be made to render service, that you’ll be made use of; and after you’ve been used, He’ll put you somewhere where you’ll be chastised and punished, as He has decided. How does it happen, God’s making up His mind in this way? Is it because of your momentary thought? Is it based on your fleeting ideas? On your stepping for a moment onto the wrong path? No; God bases this on the views you have deep in your heart, on your long-term attitude toward the truth, and on the path you decide to walk. You’ve made up your mind to act in this way, and no matter what anyone says, it’s of no use; you’ve made up your mind to use this theory as the foundation for the path you walk in the future. And since you’ve made up your mind, doesn’t God have to determine your outcome? Your outcome has been determined long ago; there’s no need for God to wait until the very end to do this. With some people, God always looks at their manifestations—when these people finally get to the end of the road, their outcomes are ultimately determined based on their various manifestations. Some people have done more good deeds than evil ones; they’ve harbored more good and positive attitudes toward God than negative and evil-doing ones, and based on the measurement of the sum of their different behaviors and manifestations, their ultimate outcomes are determined. There are others, however, whose outcomes are determined by God after a glance at the path that they walk. Does God give people chances before determining their outcomes, then? He does. How many? There’s most likely no concrete number. It depends on a person’s nature essence, and it’s based on their pursuit, too. Some people may get three chances. Some are irredeemable, they are incredibly foolish and intransigent, and they don’t accept any truths at all—their outcomes are determined before they’ve had three chances. Yet with some people, God arranges some environments for them based on their states, and based on their age and the things they’ve been through, He may give them five chances. This is based on their nature, essence, and attitude while accepting the truth. God determines a person’s outcome and destination based on these things.

All sorts of things happen to people, and they often don’t know how to face them; would it be alright if they didn’t strive to understand the truth? It’s easy for people to take the wrong path when they don’t understand the truth. Why do I say this? People live by Satan’s corrupt dispositions, and the things that come out from within them are things that they naturally reveal, and not one of them accords with the truth, or isn’t traitorous against God. So, why should they always listen to sermons, then? Always listening to sermons, pondering them, and taking them to heart; always praying and seeking; coming before God with a God-fearing heart, with a heart of piety, with a heart that longs for the truth; having set times each day for devotionals, prayer, and eating and drinking God’s words; and fellowshipping with others, and cooperating in harmony with others to do work; acting each day according to these principles, and holding to them each day—God looks at whether these detailed elements of people’s practice achieve results. Some may ask, “Aren’t those just processes?” What’s a process? These are not external things—you can only hold to these things if you have the heart to do so. Without that heart, how many days could you hold to them? You’d be unable to hold to them. Some leaders never eat and drink God’s words and never engage in devotionals. What does this mean? That they’re not true believers. If they’re not, then how’d they get to be leaders? In some places, there’s no one fit for the job, so the church has to make do with using these people. They wrongly think, “I’ve been chosen as leader. I can do this work all the same without eating and drinking God’s words—so long as people have legs and mouths, they can do this work.” This is foolishness. God doesn’t look at whether you can do the work—He looks at what you have done. The work you can do, someone else can do, too. Anyone with a bit of normal intelligence can do it. Don’t go thinking that because you’ve been chosen as leader, and you can do that work, that your success is guaranteed, that you’ve then been made perfect, that you then have a chance to survive. That’s not how it works. God never looks at how much you do; He looks at what you’ve done, at the path you walk. Don’t fool yourself about this. You may think, “There are so many people who weren’t picked, yet I was. It seems that I’m outstanding, that I’m of greater caliber and better than others.” What’s good about you? Even if you’re good, surely you aren’t entitled to not practice the truth, and to act in violation of the truth? Even if you’re good, surely you aren’t entitled to not engage in devotionals or prayer, and to not seek the truth when you act? You’re not entitled to those things. No status or title is your capital. Those are fleeting things, external things. God looks at your loyalty; He looks at your practice of the truth, your pursuit of it, and your attitude toward it; He looks at your submission; He looks at your attitude toward your duty and your mission. Some people may put a lot of effort into doing their duty, but they don’t do it in line with the truth principles. If you tell them that they should act according to the truth principles, they resist, they get mad and don’t accept it. Just like that, they’re revealed. What’s been revealed? That they don’t accept the truth. What sort of people are they, those who don’t accept the truth? Disbelievers. What do disbelievers blindly busy themselves with? Why are they so energized in their busyness? They have a goal—they see that, “There’s a chance for me to become an official here, and if I do, I can profit from the church, and be worshiped by all. This place is great! This meal-ticket is all too easy to come by, and so is this prestige and profit; this status is just so easy to attain—it’s just so easy to be an official here!” They never thought they’d get to be an “official” in this lifetime. But once they lose their “office,” they show their true colors. They don’t make any more efforts for God’s house. Will they still be able to suffer and pay a price? No. Aren’t they then revealed? Some people go all-out once they have status, making efforts and sweating, not complaining no matter how much they suffer—yet as soon as they don’t have status anymore, they become negative, to the point that their negativity overwhelms them. Aren’t they then revealed? Status has revealed them. Is there any need to put them through trials? No. Alright, we’ll wrap up today’s fellowship here.

October 1, 2019