We will now fellowship on another practical problem concerning the various sayings on moral conduct. The various sayings on moral conduct we fellowshiped on before were basically exposed by using traditional Chinese culture as a demonstration, exposing these manifold satanic sayings in the innermost hearts of corrupted mankind. Some people say, “Seeing as traditional Chinese culture is used to demonstrate these sayings on moral conduct, we’re not Chinese, so can’t we just not accept these words You’re fellowshiping? Do we really need to know these various sayings on moral conduct from Satan’s corruption of mankind?” Is this a right thing to say? (No.) Very clearly, this is wrong. Satan’s corruption of mankind does not distinguish between race or time, but rather it corrupts mankind without making any distinction of race or time or religious background. Therefore, if you are a member of the Chinese race, whether you are Han Chinese or a member of a minority ethnic group such as Mongolian, Hui, Miao, Yi, and so on, you have, without exception, been subjected to the indoctrination and inculcation of all manner of sayings on moral conduct that have come from Satan. That is to say, you have likewise, without exception, been subjected to Satan’s corruption of mankind in terms of your thinking. To say it precisely, your thinking, your innermost soul and innermost heart have likewise been deeply corrupted and processed by Satan. Even if you’re not Chinese—if you’re Japanese, Korean, German, or any nationality—whether you’re Asian, European, African, or American, whether your skin is yellow, black, brown, or white, whatever your ethnicity and whatever race you belong to, as long as you are a created being, then you have been deeply corrupted by Satan without exception. Besides possessing satanic corrupt dispositions, you have, without exception, been injected with satanic thoughts and views by Satan, and your heart has of course also been deeply corrupted by Satan. It is only that, for people in different countries and of different races, Satan uses different methods to instill the same things in them. These things may differ in the saying of them, there may be some difference there, but the final result of corrupting people is always the same and largely identical with only minor differences. They all cause people to disguise their appearance through their behavior and, through a number of specious, unrealistic, or even unethical sayings that run contrary to humanity, they demand that people act in a certain way and behave in a certain way in terms of their moral character, and demand how people should conduct themselves and do certain things. Even though there are differences between these sayings, and even though they arise at different times and hail from different corners, different regions, and different areas, and they are originated from different people, yet the final consequence is always that they control people’s thoughts and hearts, they confine people’s thoughts and hearts, and they pump people’s thinking full of views and notions that carry the poisons and the nature essence of Satan. They cause people’s innermost hearts to be filled with Satan’s views, its evil essence, and its evil notions. Ultimately, regardless of ethnicity or race, and regardless of tribe or time period, man has all been deluded and trampled on by Satan and corrupted by Satan in their thoughts and innermost hearts to varying degrees. In the end, regardless of what corner of the world the people upon whom Satan performs this work of corruption are in, or what race they are, or what time period they have lived in, the consequence is always to make mankind the unmitigated progeny, mouthpiece, and embodiment of Satan, and to make man the unmitigated living Satans both great and small, both visible and tangible. Of course, such a mankind as this also becomes the unmitigated enemy of God and opposition to God. Therefore, no matter what kind of people are now listening to sermons or how many people there are, there is one undeniable fact: All of mankind lies within the clutches of the evil one—this is a fact. If we say this another way, it means that while all of mankind is being deeply corrupted by Satan, the thoughts and hearts of all of mankind are also entirely held under the control and confinement of Satan—this is undeniable. So, any noble race and any people with a nationality belonging to a powerful country have all, without exception, been deeply corrupted by Satan, and are profoundly manipulated, controlled, and confined by Satan. As long as you are a member of the human race, as long as you live beneath the sun, as long as you are a human who breathes air, drinks water, and eats grains, then being corrupted by Satan has been unavoidable and, without exception, you have been corrupted by Satan in your thoughts, in your heart, in your dispositions, and in your essence. To say it more accurately, as long as you are a created human being and as long as you have been corrupted by Satan, then you are the enemy of God. As long as you have been corrupted by Satan, as long as you were in the past or are now controlled and confined by Satan, then you are an object for God to save, and this is beyond question. As long as you are a human being who has been corrupted by Satan, then without exception you possess Satan’s disposition and thinking and possess a heart that has been filled and occupied by the poisons of Satan. Therefore, recognizing and discerning the various different thoughts, views, and the manifold sayings on moral conduct that come from Satan is not a task only for Chinese people, or something that Chinese people hold the monopoly for. On the contrary, it is a lesson which every single one of God’s chosen people whom He has selected ought to learn and a reality they should enter into. Every single one of God’s chosen people, without exception, should recognize and discern all the myriad fallacious and evil thoughts and views that come from Satan. Don’t think that just because you were born into a wealthy family, a family with a prominent position, that you can have a sense of superiority, believing yourself uncorrupted by Satan, and that just because you have an honorable identity, that your soul must be noble too—this is a wrong understanding. Or perhaps you believe that you have a noble lineage, and that the color of your skin demonstrates that you have an honorable identity, position, and worth, and so you mistakenly believe that your essence, your thinking, and your heart are more noble and elevated than others. If so, then I say that this understanding you have is foolish and unrealistic, because the mankind God is talking about is not divided by nationality, race, or religion. Regardless of what kind of social circumstances or religious situation you live in, and regardless of what race you were born into, or whether your position in society is lowly or noble, or whether you enjoy high prestige among other people or not, and so on, you cannot use any of these things as excuses to not accept these words of God or to not accept the fact that Satan corrupts mankind. As long as you are a human being, then the words “human being” should have the attributive word “corrupted” before them. To say it precisely, as long as you are a human being, then you must necessarily be a corrupted human being, and this is beyond all doubt. Furthermore, we can say that as long as you are a corrupt human being, then the things within your natural thinking and which are held within your innermost heart come from Satan and have all been profoundly processed and corrupted by Satan—you should accept this fact. You inherently have nothing whatsoever related to the truth, nothing that has anything whatsoever to do with God’s words or God’s life, but on the contrary you are deluded, corrupted, and controlled by Satan. Your mind is filled with the thoughts, philosophies, logic, and rules for living of Satan, and everything within your mind comes from Satan. What does this fact tell people? No one should use any excuse to reject God’s salvation, or selectively accept God’s words. As a corrupted human being, you should accept God’s words without any choice. This is your responsibility, and it is also what you need. If someone has been born in a wealthy and powerful nation and they live in superior social circumstances, or they’re born into a prestigious family and have received higher education, and so they believe themselves to be different from everyone else and nobler than others of God’s chosen people, and so wish to place themselves above all others of God’s chosen people, then this is absurd thinking, it is foolish thinking, and it can even be said to be foolish in the extreme. No matter how special your identity, position, or worth is, or how much loftier your identity, position, or social circumstances are than those of ordinary people, you will always be a created being before God. God doesn’t look at where you came from or your circumstances at birth, He doesn’t look at your nationality or race, and He doesn’t look at your worth, prestige, or achievements in society or in the world. God looks only at whether you accept His words, whether you take His words as the truth, and whether you can view people and things and comport yourself and act according to His words. If you truly regard yourself as just one among ordinary created beings under the dominion of God, then you should let go of your social circumstances, your racial background, your national background, and religious background and come before God as an ordinary created being, accept His words without any labels or background, and by so doing your identity and status will be set aright. If you wish to accept God’s words with this correct identity and status, then the first thing you should understand is what man’s essence is, and the first thing you should accept is that the essence of man has been deeply corrupted by Satan, and that the things which fill and occupy man’s thoughts and their innermost hearts all come from Satan. Since people wish to accept God’s words and accept the truth as life, they should first unearth, reflect on, and come to know all the things in their thinking and innermost hearts which do not accord with the truth and which are hostile to it. Only when these things are clearly recognized, thoroughly understood, and thoroughly dissected can people relinquish them at the right time and in the right environment, thereby enabling their innermost hearts to undergo a total change. When they have expelled all the things of Satan and accepted God’s words and the truth, they will become new people. Only when the perspective, views, and standpoint by which people view other people and things undergo a complete change can they truly and accurately view people and things according to God’s words. They then become relatively pure people, unsullied. People now cannot yet achieve this. Though they may understand a little of the truth in their hearts, they are still sullied by all manner of absurd views and wrong and preposterous things. They accept half of God’s words and the truth and repudiate the other half; they selectively accept a little, accept a little to varying degrees, yet their hearts always leave room for the thoughts and logic of Satan and the specious things Satan instills in them, always keeping these things within their hearts. These things within people affect their minds, their judgment, and the perspective and views by which they view people and things, and this has a tremendous impact on the extent to which they accept the truth.

The corruption and delusion of mankind caused by the various sayings on moral conduct Satan instills in people using traditional culture are extensive. This is not something limited only to Chinese people, but rather it reaches throughout all of mankind, into every corner and every time period. It affects and controls generation after generation of people, and affects and controls people of different races, nationalities and religions. Once people have understood this, the attributive word that goes with “traditional culture” is not only “Chinese”; it can be said that the traditional culture of any nation or race comes from Satan and arises from the corruption of Satan. For example, there is traditional Japanese culture, traditional Korean culture, traditional Indian culture, traditional Filipino culture, traditional Vietnamese culture, traditional African culture, the traditional culture of white people, as well as the traditional cultures of Judaism, Christianity, Catholicism, and other traditional cultures that have arisen out of religions. All these traditional cultures run contrary to the truth and have a profound effect on people’s views, standpoints, and perspectives concerning how they view people and things and comport themselves and act. They are just like hot brands that leave deep imprints on people’s innermost thoughts and hearts. They hold sway over people’s lives, people’s rules for living, the paths they follow in life and the direction and goals of their conduct; they even hold sway over the goals people pursue. These things severely disturb and impact the attitude with which people regard positive things, God’s words, the truth, and God. Of course, they also severely impact and disturb people’s standpoints and views concerning how they view people and things and how they comport themselves and act, meaning that they have a severe impact on people accepting and practicing the truth. And what is the consequence in the end? (People lose their chance to attain salvation.) That’s right, what is impacted finally is the crucial matter of people attaining salvation. Is this not a serious consequence? (Yes.) This is such a serious consequence! How someone sees things, what kind of perspective they take to see things, what views they take and what notions they harbor to see things are all decided based on their corrupt dispositions and on the things present in their thinking. If the things present in their thinking are positive, then they will view people and things from the correct perspective; if the things present in their thinking are negative and passive and have come from Satan, then they will necessarily view people and things from incorrect and absurd perspectives, standpoints, and views, and ultimately this will have an impact on the path they follow. If the standpoints, views, and perspectives by which you view people and things are wrong, then the goals and direction of your pursuit are also wrong, as is the path you follow in your conduct. If you continue with these wrong things, then you will have absolutely no chance of attaining salvation, as the path you follow is wrong. If the perspectives, standpoints, thoughts and views by which you view people and things are correct, then the results that arise will also be correct, they will pertain to positive things, and will not run contrary to the truth. When man views people and things from perspectives that are in accordance with the truth, then the path they choose will also be right, as will their goals and direction, and they will have hope of attaining salvation in the end. However, because people now are occupied and controlled by Satan, the perspectives, standpoints, and views by which they view people and things are wrong, which causes their pursuit and the path they follow to also be wrong. For example, when people work and pay the price for the sake of fame and gain, for face, and for status, is this path wrong? (Yes.) How does it come about that people embark upon such a wrong path? Is it not because the perspectives, views, and starting point from which they regard this kind of thing are wrong? (It is.) This causes people to embark upon the wrong path. And if people keep following such a wrong path, will they be able to attain salvation in the end? No, they won’t. If you view people and things and comport yourself and act in accordance with some thought or view instilled in you by Satan, then the path you walk will necessarily be the path of ruin. It will absolutely not be the path to salvation, because it is precisely opposite and contrary to the path to salvation. If people follow along this wrong path, they destroy their own chance to attain salvation, it is completely gone, and they can never walk the path to salvation. However, if you pursue with the correct view, and you view people and things and comport yourself and act according to God’s words, then the principles of practice which arise will be positive, your path will be positive, and because you are starting from the right place, the path you ultimately follow will also be right. If you follow along such a path as this, then you will certainly be able to attain salvation. This aspect of the truth is somewhat profound and most of you probably don’t understand it. You have no appreciation of it, and you, as yet, don’t possess this aspect of the truth reality. You don’t know whether you view people and things and comport yourselves and act based on wrong views or right views—you don’t yet have this experience. Right now, you know only to act, to exert your strength, to make an effort, and to pay a price, whereas you haven’t even begun to examine what affects and controls the views and thoughts in your innermost hearts. This topic is therefore somewhat far from you, and we will stop talking about it here.

We just talked about the essence of sayings on moral conduct, and the extent to which it relates is not limited only to the Chinese mainland, but rather to all of mankind. This is because all of mankind lies within the clutches of the evil one, and every human being has been deeply corrupted by Satan and is under Satan’s control. There is a factual basis for saying this. It is not only the people of the Chinese mainland who have been corrupted by Satan, but all of mankind has been corrupted by Satan, and all human beings lie within the clutches of the evil one. That mankind has been deeply corrupted by Satan can be seen to some extent by all. We have been fellowshiping for some time now on Satan’s instilling the various sayings on moral conduct into people’s thoughts, using this method to delude, control, and confine people, and thereby achieving its purpose of corrupting people. This fact is not limited to Chinese people, but is present in all people of different races, different nationalities, and different ethnicities. All human beings have been deeply corrupted by Satan, including all races and ethnicities; the manifold specious things which are difficult to discern that Satan instills in people using traditional culture, and even sayings which seem to people to be relatively positive and in accord with their morals, thinking and tastes, are actually all part of Satan’s corruption of mankind. That is to say, all human beings have been corrupted by Satan in this way, and all human beings of any ethnicity, race, or nationality, born in any place, or in any region or land of planet earth, have been deeply deluded, controlled, and corrupted by Satan in both mind and heart. No matter where or when you were born, or which ethnicity or nation you were born into, you have without exception been deluded and corrupted by the sayings of traditional culture Satan has instilled in you. Therefore, you should not think that just because we are only dissecting traditional Chinese culture that your own nation or ethnicity is without a satanic cultural background, that you are better than Chinese people, nor should you have a feeling of superiority whereby you feel more honorable and noble than Chinese people. This feeling of superiority is a misconception, it is wrong, it is absurd, and we can even go so far as to say it is foolish. As long as corrupted mankind is mentioned, you must not exclude yourself from it; as long as corrupted mankind is mentioned, you are a part of it. Of course, as long as it’s said that you are a corrupted human being, then your innermost heart is filled with thoughts dominated by traditional culture which Satan instills in you, and this is an indisputable fact, a fact that is forever immutable. You must understand this fact clearly—it is beyond question and must not be doubted. We will finish our fellowship on this topic here.