We have fellowshipped on this topic of how to pursue the truth for quite a long time, and everything we have fellowshipped on has involved one aspect of practice regarding how to pursue the truth: letting go. That is, the content of our fellowship has all been about things that people should let go of in the process of believing in God and pursuing the truth, which are also things that people should let go of in their lives and on the life path that they walk. These are precisely some of the things that influence people’s pursuit of the truth. So what was the first item of our content on letting go? (Letting go of people’s various negative emotions.) And what was the second item? (Letting go of people’s pursuits, aspirations, and desires.) The first item of our content on letting go was letting go of various negative emotions, and the second was letting go of people’s pursuits, aspirations, and desires. Each item encompassed a fair few subtopics and details, right? (Yes.) Regardless of what we were fellowshipping on, or what categories and items there were within this content, and regardless of however many examples were given, or however many states and however many essences of problems were exposed, in short, all the content we fellowshipped on touched on the various problems that befall people in the process of believing in God and pursuing the truth or in their real lives, as well as the paths of practice that people should choose and the truth principles they should adhere to whenever they face these problems. The various facets that these problems involve are not hollow and do not exist solely in people’s thoughts or spiritual worlds. Rather, they exist in people’s real lives. So if you are willing to pursue the truth, then no matter what kind of problems befall you, I hope you can seek the truth and find the corresponding truth principles to take as your basis, discover the path of practice, and thereby have a path to follow whenever these problems befall you. This is one fundamental aim of fellowshipping on all this content. Even though we have finished fellowshipping on all these truths, it will take some time for people to enter into these truth realities. People should begin with fellowshipping on these truths, and they should take the various truth principles as their basis, and change their viewpoints on all kinds of things, as well as their life attitudes and means of existing. That way, in the process of believing in God or in the process of living and existing, by coming to accept these truth principles people will, without realizing it, manage to change their various fallacious thoughts, viewpoints, or attitudes and means for existing which were pre-existing, old, and stemmed from Satan, and they will manage to cast off their corrupt dispositions. Therefore, these words that we fellowshipped before and the words we will fellowship in the future are not a kind of knowledge, or a kind of scholarship, and they are certainly not a theory. Rather, they are used to guide, direct, and help people to resolve the various problems and difficulties they encounter in their everyday lives. Whenever you encounter a problem, or whenever you encounter a circumstance, or a person, event, or thing, you can look within the content of our fellowship for the truth criteria that you should abide by and put into practice, so that you can act with the truth as your basis and criterion, rather than practicing according to your corrupt dispositions and your old, incorrect viewpoints. The purpose of people believing in God is to pursue the truth, but the purpose of pursuing the truth is not to fill people’s empty lives, or to change their empty lives, or to enrich their spiritual worlds. What is the purpose of pursuing the truth? For people, the purpose is to cast off their corrupt dispositions in order to be saved; of course, casting off one’s corrupt dispositions is also in order to submit to God, and fear God and shun evil. But for God, the purpose and significance of people pursuing the truth are not so ordinary; it is not just about someone being saved. Instead, it is about God gaining a person who is no longer fooled by Satan’s corrupt dispositions, and of course, it is also about gaining a type of person who can be compatible with God; more importantly, it is about God being able to gain, from among created humankind, a type of person He wants, one that can manage all things and exist forever with all things. This significance is not as simple as just being saved, like it is for people. Therefore, whether it be for people or for God, pursuing the truth is very important. Since it is so important, the content of one aspect of practice regarding pursuing the truth—that of “letting go”—is crucial to everyone who wants to pursue the attainment of salvation. Since the practice of “letting go” is so important, the various truth principles related to “letting go,” as well as the various states, revelations of corrupt dispositions, and corrupt thoughts and viewpoints concerned with the practice of “letting go” that have been exposed, are things that people must understand thoroughly. Only when people examine and understand the fallacious thoughts and viewpoints that are often revealed in everyday life, as well as their corrupt dispositions and revelations of corruption, and thereby come to know themselves, and understand and accept an aspect of the truth, and then practice according to the corresponding truth principles, will they achieve the purpose of pursuing the truth. We have basically come to the end of our fellowship from this period of time on the two major items of “letting go” within how to pursue the truth. What was the first item? Letting go of people’s various negative emotions. What was the second item? Letting go of people’s pursuits, aspirations, and desires. Though we covered a lot of content in our fellowship on these two items, what’s more important is that you need to understand each of the specific truth principles involved in these topics. Only when people understand the truth principles can they conduct themselves and act according to these truth principles in their everyday lives and on their life path, gradually enter into the truth reality, and, in the process of pursuing the truth, gradually achieve the results of understanding and obtaining the truth.

The two items of practicing “letting go” within how to pursue the truth that we fellowshipped on before touch on people’s corrupt dispositions, their various thoughts and viewpoints, and the various problems that befall them in their everyday lives. But there is another more important or, it could be said, even greater item within “letting go” that we really must fellowship on. What is that item? It involves people’s attitudes toward God, their thoughts and viewpoints regarding God, and the principles of practice by which they treat God in their everyday lives. It can be said that this item is a bit more important than the first two. Because this item directly concerns people’s attitudes toward God, their thoughts and viewpoints regarding God, and the relationship between people and God, it is the last one we will talk about under this item of “letting go,” and of course it is also the most important one. Some of the topics within the two items that we previously discussed relate to certain attitudes and viewpoints that people harbor regarding God, or to the relationship between people and God, but in terms of the standpoint that we adopted in our fellowship, we basically dissected the various problems with people from a human standpoint—we dissected people’s various corrupt dispositions or fallacious thoughts and viewpoints within the context of their different kinds of problems. What we are going to fellowship on today concerns people’s attitudes toward God and their thoughts and viewpoints regarding God. These are the most important things that people must let go of in the process of pursuing the truth. This item is not so simple either, because no matter who they are, or which type of person they are, nobody has just one kind of attitude toward God or one kind of thought and viewpoint regarding God, and of course, the relationship between people and God is not just one kind of relationship, and it also does not only involve one kind of human state. Because of people’s various attitudes toward God, and because of the various thoughts and viewpoints that people harbor toward God’s identity, status, and image, as well as other reasons, various kinds of relationships arise between people and God. So, today we will fellowship on this item and see what serious problems or irreconcilable conflicts still exist between people and God, and exactly what else people need to let go of. After understanding this, if you are someone who pursues the truth, your relationship with God will improve, and your viewpoint regarding God will gradually come closer to being correct, positive, or consistent with the truth. The third item of the content on letting go should be to let go of the barriers between oneself and God and one’s hostility toward God—this is the third item of the things that people should let go of. Before we formally fellowship on this topic, let’s first briefly discuss which problems in everyday life involve barriers between people and God, and people’s hostility toward God. Besides some subjective issues to do with people themselves, are there not all sorts of problems with how people treat God in the process of them believing in God and pursuing the truth? People have all sorts of fallacious thoughts and viewpoints and incorrect principles of practice in how they treat various events and things, and in the same way, they have all sorts of fallacious thoughts and viewpoints and incorrect principles of practice in how they treat God. If, for all kinds of people, events, and things, you are able to treat them and practice based on the truth principles—that is, if you come to know the fallacious thoughts and viewpoints you harbor regarding all kinds of people, events, and things, and at the same time rectify and let go of these fallacious thoughts and viewpoints, and then face and resolve various problems according to the correct thoughts and viewpoints that God tells people—then your principles of practice for how you treat all kinds of people, events, and things will be relatively in line with the truth principles. Can this be considered a sign that someone is saved? Looking at it now, no, it can’t. If I hadn’t brought up the content of today’s fellowship, people might have thought, “When it comes to all kinds of things, I am able to view them and practice in accordance with the truth principles in God’s words, so I think I am a person who pursues the truth, a person who has achieved results in the pursuit of the truth, and a person who is saved.” Judging based on the topic I have brought up today—the various attitudes people harbor toward God—does this idea of theirs conform to the facts? (No, it doesn’t.) It very clearly doesn’t conform to the facts. You may have a certain basis and a certain positive attitude in how you treat all kinds of people, events, and things, but there are still all kinds of barriers between you and God, and your attitude toward God is still hostile when it comes to various issues. This problem is serious, and it is the biggest of all problems. In the period that you have been following God and doing your duty, your performance in all aspects may seem quite decent to others, and may outwardly appear consistent with the truth and the principles. However, there are many notions about God and barriers between you and God in your heart, and you even still harbor a hostile attitude toward God when you come up against many problems. These issues are very serious. If these issues do exist in your heart, this does not prove that you are a saved person. Because there are still many barriers between you and God, and you still harbor a hostile attitude toward God when it comes to key, important issues, not only are you not a saved person, but you are also in danger. Even if you believe that you are able to act according to the truth principles when you encounter lots of issues in life, and that your actions are relatively consistent with the truth, it could be said that this is merely an outward appearance and it cannot prove that you have been saved. This is because you have not achieved compatibility in your relationship with God, and you do not yet submit to God or fear Him. Therefore, whenever various things befall you, your outward behavior or your thoughts and viewpoints can only show that you have adhered to doctrines, slogans, and regulations that you believe to be right in these matters, rather than adhering to the truth principles. This may be something of a relationship of inference here, and it may sound complicated, but after we have fellowshipped on the specific content of letting go of barriers between oneself and God and one’s hostility toward God, and people have engaged in careful examination, they will understand the meaning of My words.

Before formally fellowshipping on the topic of letting go of barriers between oneself and God and one’s hostility toward God, let us first discuss what barriers exist between people and God. What barriers between people and God, and hostility toward God are there that you’re able to sense and are aware of in your everyday life, or that occur in other people? These manifestations definitely exist. They happen around people every day, and they happen to you every day, so you don’t have to expend too much energy thinking—when you open your mouth, a list of these problems will come right out. Is this not the case? (Yes.) What kinds of barriers exist between people and God? Let’s first talk about what the term “barriers” encompasses. It includes conflict, defiance, notions, misunderstandings, and the like, does it not? Tell Me more. (When someone is revealed or pruned while doing their duty, they may have some misunderstandings about God and become guarded toward Him, thinking that the more important a duty they do, the faster they will be revealed. Therefore, in their heart there will be some barriers between them and God, and they won’t be able to accept certain duties and commissions with a pure and open heart.) What is the barrier here? (Guardedness and misunderstandings.) Guardedness and misunderstandings. This is one kind of barrier. Who can add to that? Are there no barriers between the rest of you and God? Are your hearts clean and sanctified? Have you never had any adverse or negative thoughts about God? (God, I can add something. Whenever things are going quite smoothly in the circumstances that God orchestrates for me, the relationship between me and God seems to be relatively normal. But if I ever come up against adversity or something that doesn’t conform to my notions, I start to speculate about what God will do, and what will befall me next, and what the outcome will be. I do a lot of thinking, and I even produce complaints, and judge and misunderstand God in my mind, and that’s when my heart closes up. I also want to talk about something I’ve seen. When some people encounter undesirable circumstances, they feel resistant in their hearts and say, “Why is God making me encounter these circumstances? Why haven’t they befallen other people?” They cannot submit to the circumstances that God arranges for them, and conflict arises between them and God.) The issue you mentioned first was that there are barriers between people and God, that as a conditioned reflex to certain circumstances, people develop barriers between themselves and God, guardedness toward God, and misunderstandings about God. The second issue you mentioned was that people become hostile toward God because they are inwardly defiant. Who can add anything else? (Whenever I am pruned by the Above and my poor caliber is revealed, I pass verdicts on myself and think that I can’t be saved, and I have no motivation to pursue the truth even though I want to. This is a kind of misunderstanding about God. In addition, when some brothers and sisters become ill and are faced with death, they think, “Does God not remember all the running around and expending that I’ve done for Him?” In their hearts, they argue with God, clamor against Him, and fight against Him. This kind of state is quite common.) In terms of barriers between oneself and God and hostility toward God, the problems that most people manifest are more or less guardedness and misunderstandings, as well as the defiance and dissatisfaction that people reveal when they encounter certain things, which, in other words, are hostility toward God. That’s basically all of it. The various problems with people’s inner attitudes toward God actually go far beyond the scope of the issues you have fellowshipped on. There are some problems that you are not aware of. In one respect, this is because people do not examine what problems exist in themselves whenever they experience various circumstances. In another respect, people have never carefully considered exactly what their relationship with God is like, or what the correct attitudes and viewpoints are that people should have toward God. So, based on people’s different manifestations and these statuses which currently really do exist in people, we will fellowship specifically today on different manifestations of the barriers between people and God and people’s hostility toward God. The goal of fellowshipping on these different manifestations is to enable people to proactively let go of the barriers between themselves and God, and the hostility they harbor toward God whenever these things arise in them in their everyday lives, attain a harmonious relationship with Him, and ultimately come to be fully compatible with Him. In this way, they will have completely removed the barriers between themselves and God, and their hostility toward God, and have come to fear God and truly submit to Him. Only this is a normal relationship between people and God, and only people like this are true created beings.

When it comes to letting go of the barriers between themselves and God and their hostility toward God, the first thing that people should let go of is their notions and imaginings. This is a very important piece of content, isn’t it? (Yes, it is.) Don’t notions and imaginings about God exist in every person? (Yes, they do.) No person lives in a vacuum, and no person is a robot. Every person has free will, and harbors various thoughts and viewpoints that they have gotten from the outside world; of course, every person also has various notions and imaginings about God which have developed within their subjective will based on their own needs, preferences, and desires. The fact that they are called “notions” and “imaginings” means that they are definitely not consistent with the truth or the facts; at the very least, they are not consistent with God’s intentions, God’s identity, and God’s essence. Therefore, these notions and imaginings are the first major thing that people should let go of. So what does the content that relates to notions and imaginings about God mainly include? In one respect, they include the pre-existing notions that people have about God before they come to believe in Him. In another respect, they include the new notions that people develop about God after they start believing in Him, and these new notions are more specific and realistic notions and imaginings. Before people come to believe in God, their hearts are full of imaginings about God, and these imaginings can also be said to be notions that are common to all human beings. It’s like how the Chinese call God “the Old Man in the Sky,” despite not believing in Him, and how Westerners—of whom a higher proportion do believe in God—call Him “the Lord.” Although many people don’t believe in God, most people believe that there is a God and are full of imaginings about Him, thinking that God exists among everything and towers over everything, and that He is omnipresent, omnipotent, and possesses great, incredible powers. So who exactly is this God? No one knows, but in any case, they know that God is the greatest and that He rules over everything. What is the specific image of God then? Every person, in their mind, harbors an idea of the appearance and image of God which they’ve imagined and determined. We have discussed these universal human notions and imaginings before, and they are not the main content of today’s fellowship. What we are going to fellowship on today are the various kinds of notions and imaginings that are opposed to God and inconsistent with His essence, which people ought to let go of, within all the different sorts of notions and imaginings that relate to the barriers between people and God and their hostility toward God. We will not talk about those hollow, unreal and inscrutable notions and imaginings. It could be said that, given your current stature, those things are basically not a problem and will not affect your pursuit of the truth, much less your following of God, and that even if some individuals still have some fanciful imaginings in their minds, these will not affect their following of God, and are therefore not that big a problem. The human notions and imaginings that we are going to fellowship on relate to people’s attitudes toward God in their everyday lives, as well as people’s performance of duties, the paths people take, and of course, they relate even more so to people’s pursuits. Among the various notions and imaginings that people have about God, first of all, people have a great deal of notions and imaginings about His work, which are much more realistic than the various imaginings that nonbelievers have about God, and are neither hollow nor inscrutable. They are things that exist in the mind of every person while they follow God. That is to say, people are filled with many fanciful and unrealistic notions and imaginings about God’s work. For example, people imagine that His work is full of miracles, and full of wonders that humans cannot foresee or achieve. Of course, people’s biggest notions and imaginings in this regard are that God’s work may be able to instantaneously make a person complete, or that, just by saying a few words or performing a miracle or wonder, God can transform a person in an instant and make them into someone who has broken free from the life of the flesh and the various practical difficulties of the flesh. This person, they imagine, neither eats nor drinks, and has no physical needs like a robot; furthermore, they believe that this person thinks in a pure way, with no selfish considerations, and that they are extremely sanctified within. They imagine that for this to be achieved, it’s not necessary to pursue the truth, or to fellowship on the truth or accept being pruned for years on end; instead, God can achieve all this with just a few words, because whatever God says will be accomplished and whatever He commands will stand fast. Especially in the beginning, when people had just accepted the third stage of God’s work, they were even more so full of all kinds of notions and imaginings about His work. When some people heard that “God’s work will soon end,” they didn’t know which year, month, or day it would end, and yet they felt anxious and even forsook their jobs and families. Some farmers stopped growing crops, and others stopped raising cattle and sheep. Some people even sold their properties and cars, withdrew all the money they had in the bank, gathered up their assets, and started to carry their gold, silver, and valuables on them, ready to follow God. This was because people thought that God’s work was ending, and that they no longer needed to live their lives, and they believed that God had broken up families and marriages, and that they should give up their marriages, jobs, and futures, and abandon all worldly pleasures to follow God. If someone asked them, “Where are you going with that suitcase and your whole family in tow?” they would say, “I’m going to the kingdom of heaven.” If they were then asked, “Where is the kingdom of heaven?” they would reply, “I don’t know yet, I’ll go wherever God takes me.” Regardless of whether they were acting on impulse or had thought it through, in any case, these manifestations reveal one fact, which is that people have a great deal of imaginings about God’s work. They don’t know how God will work to save them, or how they will feel or what kind of state and environment they will live in after He saves them. And as for what God’s intentions are exactly, or what result God wants to achieve through His work on people, they don’t know any of this either. So what do they know? They just remember one sentence: The day of God is near, the disasters have descended, God’s work will soon end, and we should forsake everything and follow God. This is the source and basis for the formation of all their notions and imaginings, and it is through these notions and imaginings that they have made all sorts of choices and decisions. What choices and decisions have they made? They have chosen to abandon the world, abandon their studies, abandon their careers, abandon their marriages, abandon their families, and even abandon fleshly, familial love, and so on, and having let go of all of these things, they are waiting for God’s work to end. What is their aim in waiting for God’s work to end? It is to be caught up and follow God. Caught up to where exactly? They think that no matter where they are caught up to, or exactly on which day they are going to be caught up, in any case, they won’t be going to hell. They believe that even if it isn’t heaven, they are going to a higher place, and that even if it isn’t heaven, or a physical kingdom, they can’t go wrong by following God, and that they’ll probably be caught up to wherever God is. Although these notions and imaginings that people have are consummate, can they come true? Has the moment they have been waiting for—the end of God’s work—arrived yet? (No.) And since God’s work has not yet ended, do people feel disappointed or anxious? Do they feel regretful? Some people are disappointed, right? Some people become negative when they encounter difficulties while doing their duty, or they feel regretful when they experience tribulation in their home life or when they suffer persecution and have no way out. Of course, it hasn’t been easy for some people to endure up to the present moment, but in their hearts they are indeed very anxious. What are they anxious about? They think, “Why hasn’t God’s work ended yet? How much longer will God’s work take? Should I go home and get on with my life? Should I go back to work and seek a future for myself in the world? Should I buy back my house? God doesn’t respond to us or give us a clear answer about this! Shouldn’t we be told when God’s work will end, and what other work He will do, so that we can be prepared? God doesn’t tell us these things, He just keeps expressing truths, fellowshipping truths, and talking about salvation. He never talks about what will come later, or about the future, or when humankind will enter a beautiful destination, or when the life of the flesh will end; He just makes us wait indefinitely.” People do not have knowledge of God’s work. More specifically, they are not clear on how God saves people, what methods He uses to save people, what specific work God carries out within all His work to enable people to be saved, and so on. Instead, they always live within their own notions and imaginings, and regard God’s work as a formality or as a fantastical kind of magic. It’s as if His work is just rhetoric and doesn’t have any specific content to it—God only has to say a few words and whatever He says will be accomplished, and whatever He commands will stand fast, and afterward people will change, and become just as predicted in the Book of Revelation, turning into saints and becoming sanctified. Regardless of what fanciful and hollow ideas people have about God’s work, whether they be specific or non-specific, in sum, people are full of notions and imaginings about His work, and they always live within hollow notions and imaginings in how they approach God’s work, and in how they approach every specific piece of work that God does and every specific thing He says to save humankind. Of course, the majority of people have only one notion and imagining about God’s work, which is that once God’s work is finished, people will have finally made it through, and as long as they can wait until His work is finished and survive at that time, then they will have won, and everything they have forsaken and offered up, and the hardships they have suffered, and the prices they have paid, will all have been worth it. Judging based on this, in one respect, people are full of all sorts of imaginings about God’s work. In another respect, people are not pursuing the truth in their belief in God; instead, there is gambling quality to their faith—they are betting their life and all their possessions, their future, their marriage, and everything they have, and they think that they just need to endure until God’s work is finished, and that as long as they are still alive when God proclaims that His work is finished, they then will have profited, and gotten back everything that they paid out. Isn’t that the way people think? (Yes.) Now that we’ve spoken so much about this, what are people’s main notions and imaginings about God’s work? (People believe that God’s work is full of miracles, and that God can cleanse people with just a few words, and they can enter the kingdom of heaven without needing to pay any price or pursue the truth.) These are notions and imaginings that people have about God’s work. What other notions and imaginings are there? (People don’t know exactly what result God wants to achieve through His work on people, and they think that as long as they can endure until God’s work is done, they will have hope of entering the kingdom of heaven.) This is also a notion and imagining—people think God’s work is just a formality and a procedure. What else is there? (In their belief in God, people are not pursuing the truth, instead there’s a gambling quality to their faith.) Is this a notion and imagining? This is the essence of people’s belief in God and the essence of their pursuit. What notions and imaginings are there within this? Isn’t it that people think that as long as they forsake everything and do a duty while following God, they will be changed, as if by magic? (Yes.) People’s thoughts are extremely hollow, concerned with supernatural things, and fanciful. People think that they don’t need to accept chastisement, judgment, or pruning, or the provision of God’s words, that they merely need to follow God in this way, doing whatever duties they are asked to, and that as long as they follow to the end, they will be changed, and ultimately enter the kingdom of heaven once God’s work is finished. Aren’t these people’s notions and imaginings? (Yes.)

People are filled with all kinds of notions and imaginings about God’s work. What we fellowshipped on just now concerns people’s notions about the days of God’s work. In addition to these notions, there is another kind of notion and imagining. It is that whenever people encounter some real difficulties, they often hope in their subjective will that they’ll get a flash of inspiration from God and then have a brainwave, without them needing to eat and drink God’s words, equip themselves with the truth, or grasp the truth principles at ordinary times, and that God can help them to resolve whatever issues they come up against in their everyday lives, no matter how big or small. People’s comprehension and understanding of God’s work is extremely fanciful and hollow, and people are also full of notions and imaginings about God’s methods of saving man. People do not want to seek various truths in God’s work and deal with every matter in a practical way according to the truth principles. Instead, they hope that whenever they encounter any kind of issue, God will give them light and revelations, just as He gave revelations to the prophets, so that no matter what befalls them in their real lives, they will have wisdom and ability, and ways to deal with all kinds of issues, without them needing to pray to God and seek the truth, or eat and drink God’s words, as though they were living in a magical world. According to people’s imaginings, they think that once they start believing in God they will become smart and clever. Some even think that once they start believing in God they will become beautiful, and no longer have any of the difficulties and problems of the flesh, or the impediment of corrupt dispositions, or any real difficulties in their daily lives. They believe that as long as they have the will to satisfy God, He will give them strength and create good and superior circumstances for them, make all of this a reality, and make all their aspirations and wishes come true, and that, especially when they encounter things that are beyond what their caliber and instincts can achieve, God will even more so lend a helping hand so that they can cleverly or easily do the things they want to do. There are also some people that have poor caliber and a lack of skills in every kind of profession who think that God only has to work a miracle or wonder and their caliber will suddenly become good, and they will suddenly become smart. They also believe that nothing is difficult for God to achieve, and that God can help them accomplish things which they cannot accomplish themselves, and help them resolve the difficult problems that they cannot overcome themselves and that are beyond their abilities. In sum, in God’s work, people have many notions and imaginings. In one respect, they are full of various imaginings about the duration of God’s work, and have also performed various actions and paid various prices in this regard. At the same time, people are also full of all kinds of notions and imaginings about the various difficulties and problems they encounter, and even about their own corrupt dispositions. Most of these notions and imaginings are hollow, fanciful, and unrealistic, and even more so, they surpass people’s caliber and minds, and go beyond the scope of their instincts. People often hope that God will not act based on their actual difficulties, or based on their caliber, mind, and instincts, and that He will instead enable them to surpass all of this, and surpass their normal humanity and their caliber and instincts to do certain things. People are full of notions and imaginings about God’s work, and the content of their imaginings is extremely supernatural. These notions and imaginings are completely contradictory and hostile to the truths expressed by God. People don’t think to themselves: If God does these supernatural things, why does He still speak so many words and provide so many truths to people? There would be no need for Him to do that. The reason why God’s work is so practical is that God hopes to provide all of His words and truths to people and to work them into people, so that they can live by these words and these truths. His intention is not to enable people to surpass normal humanity or their instincts, but to enable them, on the basis of normal humanity, to hold to the truth principles, and to hold to the duties and commissions that He has given them. However, people’s notions and imaginings are exactly the opposite of God’s work, and they are not in line with the way God works at all. God wants to work in a practical way, whereas people’s imaginings about God’s work are concerned with supernatural things, hollow, and unrealistic. Of course, some people hope that God will employ some even more special methods to give them revelations, provide for them, support and help them, and even change them and enable them to be saved. For example, whenever some people encounter an issue, oftentimes they don’t look within God’s words for answers or paths of practice, but instead kneel down, close their eyes, and pray. They don’t seek the truth about the problem when they pray, and then find the corresponding words of God to resolve it. Instead, they hope that God can tell them what to do in their hearts; or enlighten them with a sentence, an idea, or an image; or enable them to gain some light and give them some motivation—they want to understand the truth in this manner. Of course, there are some people who take a more extreme approach, which is that, whenever they encounter a problem, they hope that God can reveal to them a passage of His words in a dream, telling them whether they should do such and such a thing and how to do it, or whether they should go to such and such a place, or whether they should preach the gospel to So-and-so. Some people, when faced with great difficulties, hope to receive a dream or to get the answer in a dream, and even hope to analyze and interpret their dream with their brothers and sisters or the church leaders, thinking, “What is the meaning of this dream that God gave me? What does He want me to do? Is He telling me to go or not?” They believe that God’s work is to give revelations to people, lead people, and provide for people using these special means, and thus enable them to be saved. Is this not a notion and imagining? (Yes, it is.) There are other people who, when a problem befalls them, and they don’t know what to do and don’t get answers from God when they pray, resort to making decisions by flipping a coin. For example, when it comes to going someplace to preach the gospel, they pray to God about whether they should go or not and don’t get an answer, and what do they do then? They just flip a coin to decide whether to go or not. They think that if it lands heads up, it proves that God wants them to go, whereas if it lands tails up, it proves that God doesn’t want them to go. They throw the coin three times and it lands heads up once and tails up twice, so they conclude, “It’s two to one, which means God doesn’t want me to go,” and they don’t go. They even feel quite at ease about not going, thinking that it’s God’s wish, and telling themselves, “I must follow God’s guidance. This is God’s decision, not mine. I should submit to God’s guidance and not go.” So should they actually go or not? Can seeking out God’s intentions in this way get an accurate answer? The answer absolutely cannot be accurate. When faced with such a situation, you should make a decision based on the principles and whether the circumstances allow it—only this method is correct. Preaching the gospel is your duty, your task, and the work that you should do today, so you should go—it is only right that you go. However, people often don’t comprehend or handle such matters based on these realities. Instead, they often approach them based on some notions and imaginings, and judge them using some unusual means and methods, and ultimately make some absurd and distorted decisions. Isn’t this caused by their notions and imaginings? (Yes.) Within God’s work, when God does not provide clear words that tell people how each thing should be done or what principles to abide by in dealing with each type of issue, people need to follow the direction of the Holy Spirit and follow the guidance that God provides to them within real circumstances. Of course, they also need to discuss or pray and seek together with their brothers and sisters, and ultimately decide how to deal with the issue at hand based on the actual situation. However, in God’s work, when God has clear words and clear instructions that tell people the principles of practice for various matters, these previously adopted formalities can be done away with, and people no longer need to abide by them. If they do continue to abide by them, it will just delay things. For example, suppose that, whenever something comes up and it’s necessary to go and act, people still get on their knees and pray, asking, “God, should I go or not? If You don’t want me to go, just create some circumstance to obstruct me, or if You want me to go, just make everything go smoothly for me.” This is rigidly adhering to formalities and it is not what God requires of people. When God has clear words regarding His requirements and criteria, people no longer need to go through any formalities of seeking, praying, probing, and so on. Instead, in one regard, they should act according to the actual situation and real circumstances, and in another regard, above all they should act according to the truth principles—this is correct. Each day, handle things in the proper order, do whatever you should be doing, and do not do the things you shouldn’t be doing; deal with whatever is urgent and needs dealing with, put on hold whatever can be left aside for the time being, and attend first to the urgent matters. Are these not principles? (Yes, they are.) They are indeed principles. You must remember this: When you pray to God and seek to grasp His intentions, you must do so based on His words; in special situations, namely when there are no clear words from God providing instruction, you should nevertheless know that He has clear words and principles of practice for all types of matters, and in such cases, you should act in accordance with the various truth principles that God admonished people with in the past. However, in their minds people have developed many notions and imaginings about God’s work that are ridiculous, bizarre, and concerned with supernatural things, which turn God’s words and the various truth principles into decorations and hollow doctrines, and make it so that they cannot be people’s criteria for handling things or paths of practice when problems befall them. This is a lamentable thing, and it is entirely caused by the fact that people have developed a great many notions and imaginings about God’s work.

People have some other ridiculous, bizarre, and strange notions and imaginings about God’s work that permeate their everyday lives. Say, for example, that just when someone is about to do the task that they most ought to be doing, something happens that they think wasn’t supposed to happen, such as them having their cell phone stolen while they are on the way to do the task, or their car breaking down or them having a fall on the way there, or something else goes wrong. What does this mean? Does it mean that God is obstructing them from doing this task? Does it mean that doing this task is not in line with God’s intentions? Does it mean that this task shouldn’t be done? Should it be understood and comprehended this way? (No, it shouldn’t.) If this is the most important thing you should do right now in the performance of your duty, and you go and do it, then even if you encounter some setbacks and difficulties along the way, or even things that people think aren’t supposed to happen, it cannot be said that this duty you are performing and this job you are doing displease God, or that God is obstructing you from doing these things—that is a human notion and imagining. If God wants to obstruct you, He won’t use those methods. Instead, He will directly orchestrate a circumstance so that you naturally don’t have to go and do that task. That is, God will make it very clear in your mind that there is something more important that you ought to do today, and consequently that task will have to be pushed down to second or third on your list, and left to do later. No matter how you make your calculations, you will find that it will not be possible to accomplish that task today based on the actual situation. This is God obstructing you. But, no matter what you think, and no matter what setbacks or difficulties arise in the process of carrying out that task, in any case, if that task ought to be done today, then you should go and do it. If God obstructs you, He will use the most suitable and fitting means to make you naturally give up on that task—this is the way that God works. The way that God works is to let people do what they ought to do within the scope of the instincts of humanity. In one regard, this is the attitude that people should have. In another regard, there is also the factor of objective circumstances—if the circumstances permit the task to be done, then it ought to be done; if the circumstances don’t permit it, then people should wait a while to do it. What is the purpose of waiting? It is to wait for the right time and circumstances that God arranges. If the circumstances are constantly unsuitable and things keep going wrong while you’re trying to perform this task, then you shouldn’t do it. Have you understood? (Yes.) In people’s everyday lives, there is no need for them to try and grasp what they’re feeling in their spirits when they perform tasks, regardless of what kind of tasks they are, whether they’re big or small matters, or whether they’re personal affairs or church affairs. If you feel low in spirit today and, in your heart, you don’t want to do a task, then ask the others who are going to perform it with you if they feel low in spirit. If the others don’t feel low in spirit, and they are willing in their hearts to do the task, and yet you conclude that it isn’t supposed to be done based on your own feelings, aren’t you being a little bit too subjective about it? (Yes.) Therefore, whenever people perform a task, they must at least understand that they shouldn’t try and grasp their feelings or act based on their feelings. Say, for example, that you have to perform some task, and you feel a little nervous, your eye keeps twitching, and your ears are buzzing, and you say, “My right eyelid is twitching, does that spell bad news? Am I supposed to perform this task?” Someone then says, “Twitching on the left eye forecasts fortune but twitching on the right eye forecasts disaster,” and after hearing this, you do not dare go and do the task. No matter which one of your eyes twitches, if this is a task that was previously agreed upon, and all the factors needed to do this task are in place, and the time and place are right, then you must go and do it. If you decide not to go just because one person says that twitching on your right eye forecasts disaster, is that appropriate? (No, it isn’t.) Why isn’t it appropriate? If it is your responsibility and your duty, and today the objective circumstances and all the conditions permit it to be done, and moreover, the task needs to be done urgently, then you should go and do it. So what if your right eyelid twitches? It may be that some minor issues arise and things don’t go too smoothly, but the task gets done nevertheless. Only if God obstructs it and the circumstances don’t permit it, may you then not go and do the task. Someone says, “Something must be wrong for your right eye to twitch,” but somebody else says, “This is a task that was previously agreed upon, so we should go and do it.” In the end, you all set off to do it anyway, but the car unexpectedly breaks down halfway there. Tell Me, if someone’s right eye twitches as the group is setting out, should they go in that case? I want to see if you actually understand the truth or not. What do you think, would it be correct to go and do this task? (Yes, it would.) That is for sure. You cannot judge whether you should go or not based on whether your right or left eyelid twitches. First of all, going to do this task is correct. So why did the car break down on the way there? Was that permitted by God? It’s hard to explain, is it not? (The car breaking down on the way there might have been caused by human negligence, such as if the car hadn’t been inspected beforehand to see whether there were any problems with it.) That’s one possible reason. If we rule out that reason, is it normal for a car to break down mid-journey? (Yes.) If you buy a second-hand Chinese car that wasn’t very good quality to start with, and you don’t maintain it or fix it up properly and just keep driving it, the car will break down mid-journey. If the car breaks down mid-journey, does that mean the task definitely can’t be accomplished? (Not necessarily.) The car breaks down and it takes one or two hours to fix it. When you arrive at the destination, the brothers and sisters there say, “It’s fortunate you’ve come at this time. The surveillance agents have only just left. If you had come two hours earlier, you would definitely have been caught by the great red dragon. That was a close call!” You see, a bad thing turned out to be a good thing. Was it right to go and do the task? (Yes.) Was there God’s good intention in the car’s breakdown? (Yes.) So was your twitching right eyelid a sign of misfortune or good fortune? (Neither.) Nothing came to pass as a result of it. If we cut off the story at the point when the car broke down, then the claim that “twitching on the right eye forecasts disaster” would seem to be pretty accurate. The car breaking down was a mishap, was it not? But looking at the final outcome, the car breaking down turned out to be a good thing. If the car hadn’t broken down, you would all have gotten into trouble once you reached the destination—not only would you have failed to accomplish the task, but you would also have been arrested. As it turned out, though, the car broke down en route and took two hours to fix, so by the time you got there, the danger had just passed and you were in the clear. This was God protecting you! Think about it, if viewed from the perspective of the car breaking down, it seems as if God was obstructing you from going, but actually you only found out what had happened after the car got fixed and you arrived without any further incident. How do you view the principles and methods of God’s actions during this whole process? What kind of understanding should people have of God’s work? Summarize it, there are truths that can be sought here, and I will see whether you are able to seek them or not. (God, my understanding is that no matter whether good or bad things befall people, there is God’s good intention in this.) This is one aspect. (There is another aspect, which is that God’s work is not supernatural or fanciful, but very practical.) Yes, that’s a good understanding. God’s work is practical, and it is not fanciful or supernatural; anyone with normal humanity can feel it and come to know it through experience, and it is also something that people are capable of comprehending. Isn’t this the understanding that people should have regarding God’s work? (Yes.) In addition to this understanding, what else should people understand? They should understand that God holds sovereignty over everything. In God’s work, every specific thing that He does enables people to see that His actions are extremely practical. At the beginning, when your group was setting out, some of you discussed whether to go or not. God did not obstruct you; He didn’t make you feel nauseous, or vomit, or have diarrhea. He neither obstructed you, nor urged you to go. Is this not very practical? He allowed the group to talk it over together. Some people said that their right eyelid was twitching, while others said they felt uncomfortable inside, but regardless of whether you relied on your feelings and mood, or on imaginings concerned with supernatural things, ultimately you should go where you were supposed to, and God didn’t obstruct you in any way. Isn’t it very practical for God to work in this way? (Yes.) God’s actions aren’t the slightest bit hollow; all kinds of human manifestations are allowed, which even include some people’s eyelids twitching. Tell Me, can God stop or control people’s eyelids twitching? Wouldn’t it have been so easy for God to control this? But did He do that? (No.) God didn’t do that. He didn’t intervene, He gave you freedom. Your eyelid twitched as it would, but in the end, the group set off nonetheless—all of this was so practical. But there was trouble at the destination, and God didn’t get rid of this danger just because you were headed there. God didn’t do that, and the trouble still occurred as it was supposed to. Yet God did a clever thing: He made your car break down halfway there, so that by the time the car was fixed and you all arrived at the destination, the danger had passed. This was God protecting you. You see, because of this time lag, He cleverly enabled you to avoid the danger. Everything God does is so practical, isn’t it? (Yes.) So this shows you, in a very practical way, that what God does is not hollow or supernatural at all, and that the occurrence of each thing is natural and inevitable, but therein lies God’s almightiness. Throughout the entire event, no matter what people’s imaginings were, no matter what their difficulties, weaknesses, and problems were, no matter whether the viewpoints they discussed together were right or wrong, none of this affected what ultimately happened, nor did it affect the inevitable outcome of the event. Every single thing that was supposed to happen did happen, the trouble that was supposed to occur did occur, the car that was supposed to break down did break down, and people’s viewpoints were also laid bare, but the final outcome of the event still happened according to the way that God had set out, and according to what God predestined and how God ruled over the event. This is God’s almightiness, is it not? (Yes.) All of this happened so practically and normally, just like everything that happens to people each day in their everyday lives; it happened naturally and it wasn’t supernatural, fanciful, or hollow. Therefore, in this matter people should understand that God’s work is practical and that He holds sovereignty over everything. How should people practice? First of all, they must understand what principles they should abide by no matter what befalls them. If they only go by human feelings, that is unreliable. They should not go by supernatural feelings, or make wild guesses based on hollow imaginings. Instead, they should go and do what they ought to do based on the actual circumstances and the duties they ought to do. In addition, the important thing is that they go and do what they ought to do based on the truth principles. Is this not then much easier? (Yes.) Therefore, no matter what problems you encounter, and no matter what stage God’s work has reached, you don’t need to go by your feelings, you don’t need to check whether a date is auspicious or not, and of course you especially don’t need to look at any astronomical phenomena or listen to any prophecies—just do what you ought to do. Some people like to look at astronomical phenomena or check whether dates are auspicious or not, saying, “Tomorrow is not a good date, will everything go awry if I go out? Will the great red dragon be conducting arrests? How come there was a crow calling by the door when I got up early and went outside this morning? I heard that some people saw a black cat when they went out last night. These are all ominous signs! What should I do? Is some danger about to occur?” If you have normal humanity and normal human thinking, you should be able to judge what kinds of circumstances are dangerous and what kinds of circumstances are relatively safe, and know how to approach and deal with them according to the actual situation—you don’t need to look at those other things. As for what you ought to do and ought not to do every day, in one respect, there are clear words of God that serve as the truth principles, and in another respect, you have normal humanity, conscience and reason, and as long as you do what you ought to do every day based on the arrangement of the actual circumstances and the direction they provide, and according to the actual needs of normal humanity and your own responsibilities and obligations, then that’s fine. If people approach their everyday lives like this, won’t things be much simpler? (Yes.)

Although God’s work is almighty and wondrous, and although God’s words are the truth and life, it is not possible to make people complete or change people overnight. Some people, based on their notions and imaginings, often say, “I have believed in God for so many years, so how come I still haven’t changed? How come I still haven’t attained sanctification? Why, in my heart, do I still love the world? Why am I still so vain? Why do I still have wicked lust? I used to like watching some videos or entertainment shows of the nonbelieving world. Why do I still want to watch them from time to time, despite the fact that I’ve believed in God until now, eaten and drunk God’s words for many years, done my duty, forsaken things, and expended myself for many years, and feel like I’ve already let go of those things in my heart?” These are some notions that people have, are they not? In particular, in their belief in God, some people always pursue things like subduing their body, not coveting the pleasures of the flesh, enduring more suffering and toil, and being able to overcome many physical hardships. But despite the fact that they keep pursuing in this way, they still feel that they are often controlled by the flesh’s extravagant desires, cravings for comfort, and laziness, and so they are often negative and lose faith in God, thinking, “God’s work has reached this point, so why am I such a let-down and still often negative?” Sometimes, when they have achieved a few results in a task and earned everyone’s approval, they feel at ease and think, “I still have hope of being saved. God’s work and His words are so good. His work can really change people.” But then after a while, they feel that they still miss their loved ones. In particular, they sometimes even reminisce about the people they once adored, and recall with nostalgia the worldly life they led, and really miss their glory days when they were out in the world, and so they wonder, “How come I still miss those things? Why haven’t I let go of the pleasures of the flesh and separated myself from the world as sanctified? How come I haven’t changed yet?” And they feel upset once again. They often linger in the midst of these thoughts and viewpoints. Their state is sometimes good and sometimes bad, they’re weak for a while and then strong for a while, they’re negative for a spell and then positive for a spell. They often pass verdicts on themselves based on their manifestations in everyday life. If they are in a good state, they think they are a target for salvation; if they are in a bad state, they feel that there is no hope of them being saved and that they are beyond redemption. They are either at one extreme or the other. When they are in a good state, they feel that they’re like a saint and very close to God, that there aren’t any barriers between them and God, and they feel that God is right beside them. When they are in a bad state, they feel like they have fallen into the 18th level of hell and cannot see or touch God, and they feel that God is very distant from them. Why is this? Why do they have these states? Are these states normal or abnormal? (Abnormal.) When they are in a good state, they do whatever the church arranges for them to do, and they can overcome any difficulties, endure any hardship, and pay any price. They feel that they are the one who is most capable of submitting to God, that they are a person in God’s house who pursues the truth, and that no difficulty can stump them. They work very hard to do their duty and they are willing to put in effort. They don’t feel tired, no matter how much they talk when they fellowship with others, and they don’t mind skipping a meal, or missing two or three hours of sleep. They are willing to expend themselves for God and dedicate their whole life to God. Consequently, they feel that they have changed. They no longer think about their family, they no longer miss the people they once loved, and they no longer recall with nostalgia the glory and honor they had in the world. They cast all of that to the wind and expend themselves for God wholeheartedly, adhering to the principles, pruning anyone who causes disturbances or disruptions, upholding fairness for God’s house, standing firmly on the side of justice, defending the interests of God’s house, and establishing their own image as a strict and impartial “judge.” They perform pretty well for a while. But there may well come a time when they reveal their corrupt dispositions or do something wrong, and then they will become negative and weak, thinking, “God has revealed me, He no longer loves me.” From then on, they won’t be able to get back on their feet. They’ll feel that they are nothing and that they’re incapable of doing anything, that they still have selfish thoughts, and wicked lust, that they often miss the people they once loved and liked, that they are often negative and weak, that they still resist God, that they are incapable of practicing the truth, and that they haven’t changed in spite of having believed in God for so many years, and they’ll think, “Doesn’t this mean that I’m done for?” They’ll think that they have no chance of being saved, and that there is no hope for them whatsoever. When they are happy, they are beside themselves with joy, and when they are in pain, they are incredibly miserable. They always go to these two extremes, veering from one to the other. Why is this? Regardless of whether these states and manifestations are positive ones or those of despondency, in sum, this is all the same type of problem, namely that of being full of notions and imaginings about God’s work, and always passing verdicts on oneself and characterizing oneself based on one’s moods, and based on one’s revelations and manifestations over a certain period, while at the same time passing verdicts on God’s work, on the results attained by His work on people, and on the purpose and goal that His work on people achieves. Is this the root of the problem? (Yes.) When people are positive, they pray before God, expressing their resolve while crying fiercely, willing to dedicate their entire lives to God without asking for anything, willing to follow God and expend themselves for Him. When they pray and make resolutions like this, they feel that all difficulties are no longer difficulties. They are moved to tears, and even believe that it’s the Holy Spirit that has moved them. They think, “The Holy Spirit has moved me. God must love me so much! God has not forsaken me!” They pray tearfully and say that they have been moved by the Holy Spirit—isn’t this a delusion? (Yes.) In actuality, you were moved by how good you felt about yourself; you were moved by your own resolve, aspirations, wishes, and by your own actions, rather than by the Holy Spirit. Why do I say that you were moved by yourself? You have so many notions and imaginings about God’s work, and they are so distorted—do you think God would move you? With you being in this extreme state, would God move you so that you were even more extreme? If God moved you, it would only make you even more extreme, and make you admire yourself and be moved by yourself even more, and make you want even more to make this resolution: “I will sleep less and suffer more hardship, I will eat food no matter if it is good or bad, I’ll be fine with eating anything, and not care whether it does my body any good or not. I must overcome the preferences of my old flesh, I must specifically cure the failings of my old flesh, and I must make my flesh suffer more and not let it be comfortable. If it feels comfortable, then I will not love God; if it feels comfortable, then I will indulge in the comforts of the flesh and not work hard to do my duty.” If this was the Holy Spirit moving you, you would just keep sustaining this extreme, and would even more so mistakenly believe that you had already prevailed over the flesh and defeated Satan, and that you had already been saved. That is why I say that you were not moved by the Holy Spirit, but by yourself. Are you often moved by yourselves? (Yes.) You are moved by your own resolve to expend yourself and suffer hardship for God, and you are so willing in your heart to suffer hardship for God, to suffer any amount of hardship, or even to die, and then tears stream down your face. In all actuality, God is not moved by you being moved, nor is He moved by your resolve. This outpouring of yours is just a momentary impulse, a momentary surge of fiery passion. In this situation, you may even pray to Him and say, “God, I am willing to die for You! God, I was so busy doing my duty today that I skipped a meal. Even if I have to skip 10 meals, I’ll be willing to do it! People don’t live on bread alone, instead they live on the words that come from the mouth of God. God, I am willing to love You for my whole life, forever and ever, and my love for You will never change!” These grandiose words of yours move you to cry fiercely, but God’s attitude toward you does not change. Why? It’s because you are moved by a momentary impulse, and your tears are not tears of remorse, tears of indebtedness, or tears from having truly come to know yourself, and much less are they tears of sadness for your inability to practice the truth and uphold the truth principles. Therefore, this emotion of yours can only move yourself, and perhaps also move others or those around you, but God is not moved by it. Therefore, it is not the Holy Spirit that moves you, but rather it is you moving yourself. Your tears flow because you have moved yourself. Your tears, your emotional words, and your fiery passion are just a surface-level phenomenon, they are just a kind of behavior. They are not a change to your essence and life, nor a revelation of the truth being your life. When you have the passion and the impulse to expend yourself and suffer for God and are particularly proactive, you feel that it is the Holy Spirit moving you, that you have changed, and that you are a target for salvation—this is one kind of notion and imagining that you have about God’s work. When you become negative because of a temporary failure and falling down, or because your corruption and shortcomings were laid bare, or because you were pruned and revealed, you feel sad and pained, and think that you haven’t changed and that you have no hope of being saved—this is another kind of notion and imagining that you have about God’s work. In fact, no matter what God sees—whether you are in a negative or a positive state, or to what extent your state has deteriorated and fallen—how does God view you all along? Your stature is what it is. God will determine how much you have changed and how many truth realities you have entered based on your actual situation, your actual manifestations, and your actual stature. Your current inability to get back on your feet and your current plunge into complete despondency are not the standard by which God views you or determines your actual stature. So, no matter whether you are in a positive or negative state, or whether you are filled with fiery passion or feeling despondent, it will not affect God’s assessment and characterization of you. You are the only one who characterizes yourself incorrectly based on your temporary revelations and manifestations—either as someone who is already like Peter, or as someone who is beyond redemption—because you have a great number of notions and imaginings about God’s work. But no matter how you pass verdicts, no matter what good or bad feelings you experience, it is all caused by the notions and imaginings you have developed about God’s work, and these notions and imaginings do not conform to God’s accurate and practical definition of a person and the accurate and practical verdict He passes on them. Is this not the case? (It is.) Therefore, whether it be their own manifestations, their own essence, or their ultimate characterization of themselves, people cannot pass verdicts on these things based on their own notions and imaginings. Rather, they should measure these things based on the normal laws of God’s work and the actual results that God wants to achieve in His work, or based on the ways in which God works and His accurate definitions of people. What are people’s main notions and imaginings about God’s work here? People believe that their actual stature is determined based on their temporary manifestations, or their manifestations during a certain period: If they are in a good state during this period, then the Holy Spirit will work on them, and they will have changed, possess life, have grown in stature, and be able to attain salvation; if they are in a bad state and do not have any genuine faith in God during this period, this means that they do not have any stature. Are these not people’s notions and imaginings? (Yes.) A notion and imagining that people have about God’s work is that it isn’t performed on people in a long-term and continuous manner, but rather that it fleetingly gives them a bit of enlightenment, causing them to manifest a burst of energy and a momentary impulse. Another kind is that people believe that God’s work is supernatural, that He moves people to have a positive attitude, and to have the will to suffer hardship and to expend themselves for Him, and that they then gain stature and become people who have God’s truth as their life. They believe that if they become weak because of one issue, God will determine that they have failed and been revealed, and they will then be condemned by God, and eliminated and forsaken by Him. Aren’t these people’s notions and imaginings? (Yes.)

What are the notions and imaginings of people that we just fellowshipped about? (People have several kinds of notions and imaginings about God’s work. They believe that a person’s actual stature is decided by their manifestations during a certain period or by their temporary manifestations, and they think that God’s work on people takes place in a moment, rather than being long-term and continuous. People also believe that God’s work is very supernatural and that God often moves people. When people are momentarily moved by the Holy Spirit, they feel that they are about to be made perfect or that they are closer to achieving the standard of Peter, and when people fail and become weak, they determine that they have been eliminated.) What are people’s notions and imaginings about God’s work in this regard? People believe that their temporary manifestations represent their actual stature, and that God passes verdicts on people based on their temporary manifestations. People think that God likes to see people suffer hardship and pay a price, that He likes to see people often pray and make resolutions and be moved to the point that they cry their eyes out, and that He likes people to be able to forsake things and expend themselves and work diligently, and to be able to overcome the various difficulties of the flesh. They think that regardless of whether or not they act according to the principles or in line with the truth, as long as they are able to frequently pay a price, and, in the performance of their duty, often miss out on food and sleep, get up early and go to bed late, and work night and day, then God will like this. This implies that no matter what work God does or how many words He speaks, He just hopes that people are all able to suffer hardship and pay a price for Him, not eat good food or wear nice clothes, and not have any free time, and that they must spend each day either doing their duties or praying, and often make resolutions, express their resolve, set their minds, and swear oaths. Some people think that God likes to restrain people’s hearts and limbs, that He does not give people freedom and liberation, and that He instead makes them feel repressed so that they cannot be liberated, and deprives them of the freedom of a life of normal humanity. People think this, don’t they? (Yes.) What else do people think? That God does not permit people to fail, to reveal weakness or corruption, or to show their shortcomings. People also believe that if they want to attain salvation and be made perfect, then in the process of doing their duty they cannot be weak at all, or have any of the needs, shortcomings, or flaws of normal humanity, and must not reveal any corrupt dispositions. Aren’t these people’s notions and imaginings? (Yes.) In people’s notions and imaginings, they think that under God’s work and guidance, they must stay young at heart, remain zealous, and be full of passion for their work and have a serious attitude toward it, as well as being constantly tightly-wound and never relaxing. Isn’t this what people think? Is this a notion and imagining that people have, or is it God’s true requirement of people? (It’s a notion and imagining that people have.) People think that if they are a bit negative and weak, or have a slight fleshly difficulty, or have some defects or flaws in their humanity, or reveal corrupt dispositions, and occasionally covet fleshly comfort, then God won’t want them, He won’t speak to them or work on them, and they will be eliminated and have no hope of being saved. Is this actually the case? (No.) Aren’t these notions and imaginings that people have? (Yes.) In people’s notions and imaginings, they believe, in one respect, that God likes people who are constantly full of enthusiasm and fiery passion regarding their work, and in another respect, that God does not like people’s negativity and does not allow them to show their weaknesses. In other words, people think that God likes ascetics, do they not? They think that it’s necessary to live their whole lives in poverty, to pay no attention at all to outside matters, and to read God’s words day after day under the dim light of a cold oil lamp; they believe that both morning and evening prayers are compulsory, that they must thank God before every meal, and that they cannot have any of the various needs of normal humanity. They believe that only then can they be considered absolutely loyal to God and absolutely faithful to their work, and that only by maintaining this kind of zeal can they be liked by God and be someone that God wants to save and make perfect. Because people have these notions and imaginings, some feel especially reproached inside when they occasionally miss their family, and also feel uneasy whenever they occasionally chat for a bit, thinking that God will reproach them. When some young women get dressed up and wear clothes that are a bit vibrant and fairly fashionable every once in a while, they feel uncomfortable all over, and think, “Isn’t it a bit indecent for me to dress like this? Isn’t it a bit dissolute?” In fact, they aren’t wearing bizarre outfits or revealing attire, but they just feel dissolute and think, “God is reproaching me inside. He doesn’t like me doing this.” If you think God doesn’t like it, why don’t you wear the robes of a Buddhist monk or a Taoist robe? How “elegant” and “decent” that would be! That wouldn’t be dissolute, would it? Some people occasionally indulge in a bit of vanity or show off, and then feel reproached and uneasy inside and think, “God no longer likes me. He doesn’t want me anymore.” Some people even set rules that they are not allowed to brush their hair, put on makeup, or look in the mirror, and that they can only take a bath once a month or every six months, and think that if they take a bath more frequently than once a month or every six months, this is loathed by God and they will definitely not be saved. They set a rule that they must get up before five in the morning, and think that if they get up half an hour later, they are indulging in comfort, and are not people who love God; they set a rule that they must go to bed after midnight, and think that if they go to bed before midnight, they aren’t someone who does their duty loyally. These people create many fixed rules for their own behavior, everyday life, and life needs. They do not seek what God’s requirements are, nor do they try to understand what God’s views and attitudes toward these matters are. Instead, they believe in a completely subjective manner that in God’s work, God does not permit people to have these manifestations, and that if they ever do possess these manifestations, they are being utterly rebellious, and they are loathed by God, and therefore cannot be saved. Oftentimes, just because of some trivial matters that are not worth mentioning, such as saying the wrong thing, using the wrong word, eating a few extra snacks, or watching some entertainment videos occasionally, people think, “I’m done for, this is utterly rebellious of me! I didn’t know that I could have such behaviors and such penchants—I didn’t know I still had these problems. This is terrible. I must deeply reflect on myself, dissect myself in the depths of my soul, and undergo a revolution. I cannot let this go!” People attach great importance to these matters that have no connection with the truth principles. These are all people’s notions and imaginings and God loathes them. God does not want to see people reveal these manifestations. So what are the truths that people should understand in this regard? What are the principles that should be adhered to? Since these things are people’s notions and imaginings, they are definitely not the principles that God requires for people, and they definitely have nothing to do with God’s requirements for people. And since they are notions and imaginings, this means that they are conceived and pieced together in the human mind—in short, they come from people’s minds and have nothing whatsoever to do with the truth realities that God requires people to possess. No matter how people adhere to these notions and imaginings, as long as they have nothing to do with the truth, then people adhering to them is futile. Even if you do adhere to them, you are not adhering to the truth principles, and God will not remember it. In particular, some people feel deeply uneasy and strongly reprimanded inside when they occasionally reveal their own preferences or fleshly habits. How does this uneasiness and self-reprimanding come about? Is it the result of them being moved by the Holy Spirit? (No, people have notions and imaginings about God, that’s why they feel uneasy.) The basis of these feelings is people’s notions and imaginings, not the truth. Some people feel reproached and uneasy inside at the drop of a hat, and they rush to pray and confess their sins, and hurriedly repent. What do you have to repent for? These things you’ve done are common behaviors in daily life. They are not sins, and they are certainly not major transgressions. Don’t make a fuss over such insignificant things! If you think that those things are wrong, you can choose not to do them. But not doing them doesn’t mean that you are abiding by the truth principles, and being uneasy doesn’t mean that you have violated the truth principles. Why are you repenting? Why are you turning yourself around? Is it because your notions and imaginings are causing you to mistakenly believe that those are behaviors you’re not supposed to engage in, or is it because you think that your behaviors go against God’s words and the truth principles? If they go against the truth principles, and you really do feel uneasy, then you should hurry to reverse your course and repent to God. This uneasiness at the very least is the reprimanding of the conscience of humanity. If you feel uneasy merely because you have gone against your own notions and imaginings, aren’t you indulging in unnecessary feelings? (Yes.) This is purely indulging in unnecessary feelings and it is redundant. How come you don’t feel uneasy when you follow antichrists? How come you don’t feel reproached for that? When you see evil people disrupting and disturbing the church’s work and damaging the interests of God’s house, and you do not stand up to stop them, do you feel uneasy? When you speak and act in violation of the truth principles and based on your own will, do you feel uneasy? If you have violated the truth principles in these matters and yet you never feel uneasy about it, then you do not even have humanity, nor do you have a conscience. And if you have no conscience, what things will make you feel uneasy? Your uneasiness is purely you indulging in unnecessary feelings. It is your own notions and imaginings that are tormenting you and making you feel uneasy—there is no use in that. What will the end result be of you believing in God within your own notions and imaginings? You will only become more and more hypocritical and more and more like the Pharisees. You will only stray further and further from God’s words and the truth principles, and it will be impossible for you to enter into the truth reality. You always feel good about yourself, but what is so good about you, exactly? You are so filled with notions and imaginings, and everything you feel has nothing to do with the truth. Your feelings of being moved and reproached, the indebtedness and remorse you feel, the repentance you think you should have, and the oaths and resolutions you make are all related to your notions and imaginings. These things are only based on your notions and imaginings and have nothing to do with the truth. Therefore, anything you do—whether it be suffering hardship and paying a price or offering things up and expending yourself, and regardless of what you expend—is in vain if it has nothing to do with the truth. Have you understood? (Yes.)

Now that we’ve fellowshipped on and dissected these notions and imaginings that people have about God’s work, are you a bit clearer on how to view behaviors like whether or not people suffer hardship, pay a price, and restrain themselves in doing their duties, and whether or not they have a fondness for eating good food and dressing up nicely, and so on, as well as what the principles that God requires of people are, and what exactly the result is that God wants to achieve in people with His work? The result that God wants to achieve in people is not to see your passion for your work all the time. That is, what God wants to see is not your enthusiasm or your resolve to suffer hardship and pay a price. In God’s eyes, if you do not understand the truth, then these manifestations are just a momentary impulse. In other words, they are just your enthusiasm. What essentially is enthusiasm? It is your impetuousness, or to be more specific, it is an emotional approach to things. What God wants is not people’s enthusiasm, their emotional approach to things, their temporary impulses, or this kind of passionate condition. What does God want? (He wants people to be able to understand the truth.) At the very least, He wants you to be able to love the truth and understand the truth, and, when faced with various matters, to not adhere to a regulation, a formality, or a behavior, but to instead abide by the truth principles; He also wants you, in the duty you do and in everything, to be able to seek the truth principles, and practice according to the truth principles, and to make God’s words and truth your reality—this is the result that God’s work is intended to achieve. As for whether, in your personal life, you want to go to bed early and get up early, or go to bed late and get up late, or what kind of gifts you have or how articulate you are, none of this matters to God. Regardless of whether or not you have the resolve to suffer hardship or how much of a price you pay, God doesn’t value these things. Some people say, “For the sake of my belief in God, I haven’t bought nice clothes for several years, and I haven’t been to the hairdresser for over ten years.” Even if you don’t eat well, don’t wear nice clothes, and suffer a great many hardships for your whole life, so what? Is that what God wants? Is the ultimate purpose of God’s preaching and fellowshipping to provide people with a great number of truths just to turn you into an ascetic? Is it just to turn you into a pathetic wretch, a beggar, or an angry youth? No. What God wants to do is to work His words and the truth principles into people. Therefore, when many believe that God likes to see people suffer more hardships and pay more of a price, and that He likes to see them living extremely frugal, hard, and simple lives, being extremely possessed of resolve and aspirations, and extremely passionate, or being extremely self-restrained, and really keeping to their place and behaving themselves, these are just their notions and imaginings about God’s work. Suppose that, for many years of your life, you only eat one meal a day and sleep three hours a night, and aren’t able to eat good food or wear nice clothes, and that you do what you think you ought to be doing for many years, and have suffered countless hardships and made countless resolutions. In your own words, you “stay true to your original aspiration,” and you suffer hardships and expend for God and dedicate your whole life to God. However, despite all this, if you never put effort into God’s words or the truth, and don’t seek the truth principles in everything you do, then you are bound to be abandoned. You want to attain salvation through suffering hardship and paying a price, and through never changing your original aspiration, and expending yourself for God your whole life, and offering up everything you have to Him. This is just a dream—it is wishful thinking. Even if you eat cornmeal and steamed cornbread all your life and never eat good food or enjoy nice things, it will be of no use. God never looks at a person’s behavior, nor does He look at what rules a person outwardly follows, or whether they outwardly lead a simple and plain life. What God wants to see is what path you are on, what principles you abide by in every matter that you encounter, and whether you abide by the truth principles in dealing with problems. If you do not abide by the truth principles, then regardless of how well you follow those fixed stipulations and rules, it will be of no use. It will only indicate that you are a person who lives within notions and imaginings, a person who lives within completely subjective, nice wishes, who has nothing whatsoever to do with God’s work, and nothing to do with any of the ways in which God performs His work of salvation on people—a person who is far away from God’s work. Therefore, if you want to gain something from God’s work, you must first work hard on the truth; you must not put any work into or apply any efforts to your own notions and imaginings—doing so is useless. Some people ask Me: “Do You think I look more decent and proper with long hair or short hair?” I ask them in response, “Do you like having your hair long or short?” They say, “I like having my hair long. But I think that long hair isn’t decent and proper, and that God does not like it.” And I reply, “When did God say that? Does this have anything to do with truth?” There are others who ask Me: “Can I eat snacks?” And I reply, “Is eating snacks a need of normal humanity? Does God stipulate that people can’t eat them? Does God condemn it?” And they say, “I think God condemns it, because eating snacks is dissolute.” What does “dissolute” mean? If you think that eating snacks is dissolute, then does not eating snacks mean that you are not dissolute? Does not eating snacks mean that you understand the truth and practice the truth? You can understand it when I put it this way, right? (Yes.) Notions and imaginings are not the truth and they have nothing to do with the truth. If you are smart, you should hurry to examine what notions and imaginings you still have, and what practices, thoughts and viewpoints of the Pharisees you still have, and let them go without delay. The purpose of letting these things go is not to make you become dissolute and self-indulgent, but to make you come before God to seek the truth principles, and come to gain the truth as your life. God doesn’t want to see you being a beggar and leading the life of an ascetic. Some people say, “God doesn’t like people to be beggars, so does that mean He likes them to be wealthy?” God doesn’t like people to be wealthy either. Some people say, “It is a human notion and imagining that God likes people to suffer physical hardship. So if God doesn’t like people to suffer hardship, does that mean He likes them to live in comfort?” Wrong, this is also your notion and imagining. What, then, is the right way to act? (God likes people to be able to come before Him and seek the truth principles, regardless of what befalls them.) No matter when, the truth principles cannot be forgotten. Some people say, “God likes people to make resolutions before Him and possess the resolve to suffer hardship.” Others say, “God doesn’t like people who are unwilling to suffer hardship.” Is it right or wrong to say these things? Which statement is right and which one is wrong? (They are both wrong.) Some people always suffer hardship for the sake of their own status, fame, and gain—they have a strong resolve to suffer hardship. Do these manifestations please God? (No.) Some people are unwilling to suffer hardship when it comes to personal matters, but are willing to suffer hardship for the sake of doing their duty and for the truth, and are willing to suffer a little hardship in order to act according to the truth principles. Which of these manifestations is better? (Suffering hardship for the sake of the truth principles.) What can be seen from these things? That it is right to act according to the truth principles and to practice the truth. Be it in relation to matters of doing one’s duty, or to matters in one’s own personal life, whether or not one suffers hardship is not a standard or a principle. What are the principles? The principles are God’s requirements, God’s words, and the truth. If you practice according to the truth principles, then even if you do not suffer hardship in doing so, what you are doing is right, and God approves of it; if you don’t act according to the truth principles, then even if you suffer a great deal of hardship or experience great humiliation in the process, it is in vain, and God does not approve of your actions. It’s just like how some people hear an order from an antichrist and then do as they are told, implementing the work according to the antichrist’s preferences, doing a lot of talking and suffering, and keeping themselves very busy, to the point that their body becomes bent and broken-down from physical exhaustion. Does God approve of this? Will God remember it? (He doesn’t approve of it, and He will not remember it.) So what is God’s attitude? (God loathes such people.) What did God say? “Depart from Me, you that work iniquity.” This is God’s attitude, is it not? (Yes.) No matter how much hardship you’ve suffered or how much of a price you’ve paid, though you may use these to boast about your contributions, God does not look at these things. God only looks at whether you did these things according to the truth principles and whether you were following God’s words—He uses this principle to measure you. If you do not follow God’s words, but instead act according to your own ideas, then no matter how much hardship you suffer or how much of a price you pay, it will all be futile. Not only will God not remember it, but He will also condemn it. That would be bringing about your own destruction, would it not? (Yes.) Such people will be eliminated in the end—they deserve this, don’t they? (Yes.) God has spoken thousands upon thousands of words and told you the truth principles, but you just don’t listen. You always have your own ideas, and you wishfully hope to replace the truth with your own notions and imaginings, and thereby gain God’s approval, enter the kingdom, and be blessed and rewarded. Isn’t this courting death? Aren’t such people of the same ilk as Paul? (Yes.) Therefore, if people want to let go of the barriers between them and God and their hostility toward God, they should have an accurate understanding of God’s work. They should not speculate about God, measure His work, or measure their own behavior and practices based on their notions and imaginings, and then handle everything based on these notions and imaginings. The ultimate result of this approach will be that it comes to naught, and in serious cases, they will disrupt and disturb the church’s work, offend God’s disposition, and be punished. Therefore, in approaching God’s work, people should let go of their various notions and imaginings about God. That is, they should examine and dissect their own notions and imaginings and then let go of them, come to seek God’s intentions and the truth, and use the truth principles to replace their notions, imaginings, wrong principles and practices. Only in this way can you embark on the path of salvation. Otherwise, it is impossible for you to be saved, it is out of the question! This is one kind of notion and imagining that people have about God’s work. Let us end our fellowship here.

People have another kind of notion and imagining about God’s work, which is that in their everyday lives, when they are weak, when various kinds of rebelliousness toward God arise in them, or when they have done things that rebel against God and oppose God, they believe in their notions and imaginings that they should be disciplined, chastened, or even punished, cursed, and so on. For example, sometimes people say the wrong thing or reveal some notions, or they harbor certain opinions and some defiance toward something, and after a while, they think, “I have revealed this rebelliousness and betrayal, but why haven’t I been disciplined for it? There are no blisters on my tongue, I don’t have nightmares at night, and I don’t feel uneasy in my heart. Why is that? How come I don’t feel the work of the Holy Spirit?” In their notions and imaginings, they believe that since God has come to save them, and since God’s work must not only conquer them, but also transform and purify them, and change all kinds of thoughts and viewpoints that they harbor which are inconsistent with the truth, then if there are some things in their thoughts that are inconsistent with the truth, or things that are filthy, dirty, or wicked, then they should be disciplined, reproached, or even punished for them, and they think, “How can people change and how can they be sanctified if they are not disciplined frequently?” What are people’s notions and imaginings here? Namely, that they should be frequently disciplined, reproached, chastened, punished, and even chastised and judged and that only then can they achieve dispositional change. However, in everyday life, when people reveal filthiness, wickedness, and corruption, they do so very naturally, they can feel it, and they even feel at peace living this way and do not sense that they are being disciplined or punished, and they find this to be abnormal. People think that if they reveal corruption, they should at least feel reproached, or fall ill, or get blisters on their mouth, or choke or bite their tongue when eating, and that they should get red and swollen eyes if they watch something they shouldn’t watch. Tell Me, does God do these things? (No.) Does He absolutely not do them? (When people do not understand the truth, God may discipline and reproach them a bit according to their stature, so that they can reflect on themselves and enter into the truth. However, when people understand the truth and know clearly in their hearts that what they have done is wrong, God will definitely not discipline them in that case, because He hopes that they can seek the truth, and use His words and the truth to measure their own actions and behavior.) That was fellowshipped really well. In people’s notions and imaginings, they believe that whenever they reveal corruption and rebelliousness, God should discipline them, and that in particular, when evil people do evil, God’s punishment should come upon them immediately, so that the evil people definitely get punished. But in real life, they rarely see these punishments taking place. In one respect, when people reveal various kinds of corruption and rebelliousness, they do not get disciplined or chastened, and in another respect, when evil people do evil, they do not get punished. This gives rise to certain notions about God’s work deep in people’s hearts, and some people will even lose their faith, and measure God’s work based on these outward things, and pass judgment on His work. These are people’s notions and imaginings, are they not? When people reveal corruption and rebelliousness, must God discipline them, or chastise and judge them? (No.) Some people say, “When God saves people, He must save them thoroughly. What is the purpose of God’s work? Is it not to purify people? So when people reveal corruption and rebelliousness, God should discipline and reproach them—this is being responsible toward them. Otherwise, He does not care about people and does not truly love them and have mercy on them.” Don’t people think in this way? (Yes.) What are the truths that should be understood here? Are being disciplined, chastened, and punished essential processes for people to understand the truth and enter into the truth reality? Are they necessary means and ways for God to save people and transform them? Some people can’t work it out and think, “If God really exists and He does His work in order to save people, then why doesn’t He discipline people when they reveal corruption or rebel against Him? Why doesn’t God punish evil people for doing evil?” When God doesn’t discipline people, or when evil people are not punished for doing evil, won’t it cause some people to question the existence of God and the results of His work? If frequent disciplining and punishment could replace people seeking the truth or enable them to enter into the truth reality, then disciplining and punishment would be the main way that God works to save people, and a necessary means of doing so. But given people’s current level of corruption, could their satanic nature be transformed immediately through God’s disciplining and punishment? Could people immediately come to have true repentance? Could they immediately enter into the truth reality? (No, they could not.) That would be beyond them. Therefore, in this stage of God’s work, at the same time as God expresses truths to provide people with life, He does not—with the exception of the Holy Spirit’s work of enlightening and guiding people—do anything supernatural, and rarely even does He do such things as chastening, disciplining, or punishing people. Chastening, disciplining, and punishing people are not a predominant part of God’s work, but He does still do these things. That is, in the case of certain special people or special matters, or in certain special environments, for the sake of achieving certain special results or due to certain special reasons, God will do the work of disciplining, chastening, or punishing people. But overall, in this stage of His work, the predominant way that He works is to speak and express the truth to provide what people need on their path of pursuing the truth, and the purpose of this is to enable them to understand the truth principles and enter into the truth reality. Now that God has expressed a great number of truths, He rarely does this work of disciplining, chastening, and even punishing that He did in the past. So what people ought to focus on more is the various truth principles that they should put into practice when they encounter matters in everyday life, rather than focusing on whether God is disciplining them, obstructing them, or making things go smoothly for them in a given matter, and other such ways and practices. Since God seldom uses methods such as disciplining, chastening, and punishing, it’s not the case that He never uses them, He just seldom uses them. What do I mean by “seldom uses them”? Occasionally, in some special circumstances, He will use the methods of disciplining, chastening, or punishing to—in a light or representative and symbolic way—do some work that helps people to understand the truth and practice according to the truth principles. That is, He uses these ways to help people enter into the truth principles, but that’s all. Why, then, doesn’t God use these methods in His work a lot? Why doesn’t He predominantly work in these ways? In one regard, it is because at this stage of His work, He has already told and provided people with the various truths that they should understand, and they have already heard these truths, and already have a grasp and knowledge of them within the scope of their comprehension. This is one reason. The other reason relates to people’s subjective factors. People have the conscience of normal humanity, and under the effect of this conscience, they will gauge whether the corrupt dispositions they reveal, or their own actions, thoughts, and viewpoints, are positive or negative. Within people, at the very least, there is the standard of conscience by which to gauge all of this. If you use your conscience to gauge a certain thing and you determine that it is positive, then you should go ahead and do it, and you needn’t reproach yourself if you are a little slow or late in doing it. If you use your conscience to gauge that thing and you determine that it is negative and something that shouldn’t be done, then you should restrain yourself and not say or do it. However, if you do not have feelings driven by your conscience and reason, then you are not a human being. If you do not even have conscience and reason, then you cannot possibly gauge whether something is right or wrong, positive or negative, and thus it would be meaningless for God to discipline and punish you. In other words, God does not work on those who are not subject to the effects of a conscience, and He does not save such people. What does “not saving them” include? He does not even want to discipline them; He does not discipline them or chasten them. There are those who ask, “If someone does evil, will God punish them?” God will not punish them directly, because the church has administrative decrees. If they are an evil person who is causing a disturbance or disruption, then clearing them out or expelling them will be the end of it. Even if they do not meet the conditions for being cleared out or expelled, they will be sent to a B group. If someone squanders God’s offerings, that is more serious, and they must reimburse whatever they ought to, and afterward they must be dealt with appropriately. This is the principle of God’s work and the principle by which He treats people. It’s simple, is it not? (Yes, it is.) Do you think that God choosing you means that He must make you complete, and will not stop until He does so? That is only the case for those who have a conscience and reason, and who pursue the truth—it is only the case for those who can be saved. As for those who do not even have the awareness of conscience, they need only be treated and dealt with according to the church’s administrative decrees—God will not discipline them. What point is there in disciplining them? Disciplining people who lack normal humanity and a conscience is equivalent to trying to force a fish to live on land, or a pig to fly, it is the same as casting pearls before swine and casting holy things unto the unclean to eat—God certainly does not do it. Therefore, in this matter, people should not think, “I was chosen by God, I am one of God’s sheep, and even if I make mistakes and do evil, God will not abandon me.” This statement does not hold water—it is hard to say whether you are a sheep or a wolf. How do you gauge whether you are one of God’s sheep? It depends on whether you have awareness of it and whether your conscience feels reproached and reprimanded when you have done something that goes against humanity and conscience. If it does feel reprimanded, you will turn yourself around, and even if you do not understand the truth, you will be able to act according to the standard of conscience. At the very least, you will be able to act in accordance with normal humanity. If you have these manifestations, then you are one of God’s sheep. If, when you encounter something that goes against the conscience of normal humanity and violates moral justice, you don’t have the slightest sense of justice, and you don’t feel loathing or hatred for the evil you have done, or for the disturbance caused by evil people, and your conscience doesn’t feel reprimanded at all, then you are not one of God’s sheep, you are a wolf, you are a beast, and you are a devil. This is the standard by which to gauge whether you are one of God’s sheep or a wolf. If you are not one of God’s sheep, and yet you still constantly measure God’s work using ideas, notions, and imaginings such as, “I have revealed corruption and rebelliousness, yet God has not disciplined me; God should discipline me,” then you are stupid. You are not one of God’s sheep at all, and God has no intention of saving you, so are you qualified to measure and judge God’s work? If this isn’t stupidity, what is it? You can gauge this matter, right? (I can now.)

What is the standard for having a conscience? How should you gauge whether a person has a conscience or not? (It depends on whether they have a sense of justice in their heart when they see evil people doing evil or see things that harm the interests of God’s house, and whether they are able to hate these things. If they have no awareness at all in their heart, then they have no conscience. Also, if someone has no awareness in their heart of the evil they have done, or of the things they have done that clearly violate the principles, such people too have no conscience.) If you have no conscience, then you are not human. In that case, will God still save you? If God won’t save you, will He still discipline you? Disciplining and chastening are a minimal part of God’s work. When I say “minimal,” I mean that God only uses these methods sparingly, but they are still a part of God’s work. If you don’t even have a conscience or reason, is there any use in God disciplining you? If you have no sense of justice, and you do not feel anything toward all that is wicked, all that goes against the truth, all that goes against moral justice, and even that which goes against your conscience, and you do not hate such things, and if you cannot stand on the side of God to defend the interests of God’s house, and you cannot stand up and say one thing in defense of the church’s work—not even a single fair statement—then you are not human. You are not human, and yet you extravagantly hope for God to discipline you. You really are elevating yourself and not regarding yourself as an outsider! There are some who say, “If someone is not one of God’s sheep but a wolf, then God will not discipline them. So if they are one of God’s sheep, will God discipline them?” Under special circumstances, God will occasionally discipline you and take responsibility for you. Even if you are numb and unaware, God will prompt you, discipline you, and reproach you. God’s work is done to the appropriate extent and leave it at that. Why does He work in this way? Because if you have a conscience, then when God reproaches you in this way, your conscience will quickly have awareness, and you will blame yourself and feel indebted to Him; you will feel remorseful, saddened, and anguished, and you will be able to turn yourself around and ultimately seek the truth principles and practice according to the truth—this is the result that God wants. If you have a sensitive conscience and understand many truths, and even if God does not discipline you, chasten you, or prompt you, you are still able to realize the problem, and your conscience still has awareness, and it feels reproached and reprimanded, then that is even better, and God’s discipline is not needed. Even if God doesn’t discipline you, your conscience is extremely sensitive and feels reprimanded, and you feel remorseful, saddened, indebted to God, and that you have wronged Him, let Him down, and left Him dissatisfied, and you are able to proactively seek the truth principles and act according to His requirements. This is the effect that the conscience of normal humanity exerts on people, and it is also the effect that it ought to exert on people. Therefore, whether a person is one of God’s sheep or not, and whether they can be saved or not, depends on whether they have normal humanity and a conscience. This is crucial and important. If you say that you understand a lot of truths, then when you yourself are rebellious, or you encounter evil people doing evil, do the truths you understand come into effect? Do they have the effect of supervising you, enlightening you, and making your conscience feel reproached and come into play? If you have no awareness of conscience, then you lack a conscience and normal humanity, and what you understand is doctrine rather than the truth. If you only understand doctrine, then you cannot put the truth into practice, and you are not one of those who will be saved. You understand this, right? (Yes.) Therefore, in God’s work, when it comes to some of the most fundamental ways in which God works, people should not delimit them based on their own notions and imaginings. Regardless of whether you have been disciplined, chastened, and punished by God, or have never been disciplined, chastened, or punished, this is no indication of how many truth principles you have understood, nor does it indicate that you are a person that God has chosen. It may be that you have believed in God for many years and been disciplined and chastened countless times, but you have never acted according to the truth principles—in that case, when you are not saved in the end, it will be all your own fault and exactly what you deserve. It may also be that you have rarely been disciplined and punished in your belief in God, but because of your conscience, you often feel reprimanded and reproached, and when you commit transgressions you feel remorseful and turn yourself around, and you’re able to seek the truth principles, practice the truth, and act according to the truth principles—in this case, you are one of those who will be saved. Have you understood? (Yes.) I mentioned two situations. What are they specifically? (One situation is when people have been disciplined and punished a lot, but in the end they still cannot act according to the truth principles and have not obtained the truth, and so they are not saved, and this is all of their own doing. Another situation is when some people are able to use their conscience to restrain themselves without needing to be disciplined or chastened a lot by God, and whenever they violate the principles or reveal rebelliousness they feel reprimanded by their conscience, and can proactively seek the truth and act according to the truth principles, and, at the very least, they can do some positive things, and so they are among those who will be saved. God talked just now about these two situations.) Whether or not they can act according to the truth principles is the standard for evaluating these two types of people. Some people are unable to act according to the truth principles, and no matter how much doctrine they understand or how much they are disciplined and punished, they are not targets of salvation. Whereas, some other people are rarely disciplined and punished by God or chastened and reproached by Him, but they are frequently able to reflect on themselves, and whenever they act in violation of the principles or reveal rebelliousness, they can feel the reprimanding and reproach of their conscience, and afterward they feel remorse and can proactively practice according to the truth principles. Although they are rarely disciplined or chastened by God, people of this type are nevertheless targets of salvation. The disciplining and punishment I refer to here have nothing to do with the judgment and chastisement of God’s words, they are simply what people think of as disciplining and punishment in their own notions and imaginings. In people’s notions and imaginings, they believe that if they are disciplined and punished frequently, then this means that they have experiential testimony, and that they are spiritual people. People also often link being disciplined and punished with the work of the Holy Spirit, and believe that they are connected to the stream of the Holy Spirit. There are some people who often say, “I didn’t do my duty well, and I was pruned once again. Now I have blisters on my mouth and I have fallen ill—this is God disciplining me.” Many people often fellowship about these experiences, but you should look at what their manifestations are whenever issues befall them—see whether they feel reprimanded by their conscience when they do something wrong, and whether they are able to stand up and uphold the truth principles and defend the interests of God’s house when they encounter evil people doing evil or when they encounter wicked things. If not, then these people have no conscience and they are not human! They say nice-sounding words, and speak so consummately about the many experiential testimonies they possess—it’s as if God has shown them so much grace, and done so much work on them and spoken so many words to them, and this seems to suggest that they have already attained salvation. However, in their everyday lives, whenever they encounter problems that relate to the principles, they never uphold the truth principles, and they always shrink back like a turtle hiding in its shell and evade the issue. And every time they are asked to speak and express their views and standpoint, they abstain, play dumb, and stay silent. They don’t uphold the truth principles at all, nor do they practice the truth. What people are these? They are hypocrites. When they are watering and helping others, they talk about spiritual theories in a very systematic and logical manner, and they go on for hours at a time, moving some people to tears, and yet they never practice the truth in their own actions—these are Pharisees. No matter how many pseudo-spiritual experiences and pseudo-spiritual doctrines they speak of, or however many empty words and exaggerated words they say, their conscience does not reproach them; and when it comes to any cardinal issues of right and wrong or matters of principle, they don’t stand on the side of the truth or uphold the truth principles, and their conscience does not reproach them at all, but afterward they can still shamelessly boast about how they defend the interests of God’s house, and they can still spout many nice-sounding doctrines—this is being hypocritical and lacking the awareness of conscience. They fail to practice the truth so many times, they violate the truth so many times, they deceive and mislead people so many times, yet their conscience does not reproach them at all, and they can still brazenly show themselves off—this is being devoid of humanity! They swagger around and bluff in this way all over the place, and they don’t even feel embarrassed; they do not practice the truth, and yet they still brag that they are spiritual people, that they are people who have been saved and made perfect by God, and who love God more than anyone else—this is lacking the awareness of conscience, and these are not people who have been saved. Can those who have been saved lack normal humanity and the awareness of conscience? Some people feel that they don’t like the truth that much, and whenever they encounter problems that involve the truth principles, or cardinal issues of right and wrong, they become people-pleasers, try to muddle through, and are never able to uphold the truth principles, and so they feel reproached in their hearts and often pray before God and feel indebted to Him. Although they are often weak and unable to break through this barrier, they know in their hearts that they have not upheld the truth or justice, and that they have not stood firm in their testimony for God, and that they are just people-pleasers, so they would feel too embarrassed to say that they have any testimony. This is because they have not upheld the truth principles and have no genuine experiential testimony, and they are impoverished and blind and have not met God’s requirements; they know this in their hearts, and their consciences often feel reprimanded for it, and they feel that they owe a debt to God and are saddened. There is still hope and leeway for these people to attain salvation. By contrast, there are those who outwardly appear to understand the truth very well, and to be able to water, provide for, and help people, but when they encounter problems that involve the truth principles, or cardinal issues of right and wrong, they never stand on the side of God and they never uphold the truth principles, and yet they brag about being spiritual people, people who love God, and people who are loyal to God. People of this kind are in great trouble. They do not dare to face reality, they do not dare to solve real problems, they do not dare to declare their position on major issues, and they do not dare to uphold the truth principles in an open and straightforward manner, but after the fact, they still shamelessly boast that they are spiritual people, and say that they love God the most and can best grasp God’s intentions. People of this kind have absolutely no awareness of conscience. Can a person who lacks the awareness of conscience uphold the truth principles? Do they dare to openly declare their position and stand on the side of God to deal with evil people? There’s no chance of that; it is very difficult for such people to practice the truth.

If a person has the conscience of normal humanity, they will regulate their thoughts, words, and deeds. What does “regulate” mean? It means that, when your thoughts and behaviors stray outside the standard of normal humanity, your conscience will judge that it is wrong to think in that way and not good to do that thing, and so you will blush and feel uneasy and reproached. After having these feelings, your thoughts and behaviors will be restrained to a certain degree, and this certain degree of restraint will regulate your behavior and enable you to avoid doing things that clearly violate the truth principles, and things that go against your conscience and moral justice. But if you don’t have the standard of conscience, then when you do things, you won’t have any criterion by which to regulate and restrain your thoughts and behaviors, and so you will run wild, you will do whatever comes into your head, whatever you want, and whatever is beneficial and advantageous to yourself. Under these circumstances of you having no restraints whatsoever, your thoughts and behaviors will be greatly amplified. What does “greatly amplified” mean? There will be no regulation to them at all. It’ll be just like how it is when nonbelievers cheat people—they lack the awareness of conscience, and if they con you out of a thousand bucks, they won’t feel bad, and if they swindle you to the point that your family is ruined, they won’t feel bad either, and even if you get down on your knees and plead with them, they will take no notice of you. They truly are immensely evil people. Why is it that they can do such evil? It is because they have no awareness of conscience, or the restraint that a conscience provides, and so they can be so evil and become heinous sinners. Therefore, it is important to have the conscience of normal humanity. People are able to uphold the truth principles firstly under the condition that they have the awareness of conscience. Having the awareness of conscience and a sense of shame is what enables your behavior to be regulated and gives you the opportunity to embark on the path of seeking and practicing the truth. If you don’t have the awareness of conscience to regulate yourself, then you will not have the opportunity to embark on the path of pursuing the truth. Therefore, it is only upon the foundation of possessing the awareness of conscience that people can have the opportunity to be led onto the path of practicing the truth and upholding the truth principles—but even then, they merely have this opportunity. I say that they merely have this opportunity, because even if a person’s thoughts and behaviors are regulated by the awareness of conscience, they may still violate the truth principles or not act in accordance with them, taking a middle path, not upholding the truth principles but also not teaming up with evil people. That is to say, under the effect of conscience, fairly good people can practice the truth and uphold the truth principles, whereas people of slightly worse caliber can at least avoid being controlled or coerced by evil people, and avoid following them into evildoing—this is merely reaching the baseline that comes from the standard of conscience. Even though you have not practiced the truth, you haven’t done evil. A person like this can at least still be called a person with a conscience, and although they have not practiced the truth, they definitely will not do evil. This is the effect that conscience has on people. For those who love the truth, one of the most beneficial effects of conscience is that it has a chance of regulating their words and behaviors, and can lead them onto the path of practicing the truth and upholding the truth principles. Therefore, for people, conscience is a very important part of their humanity, and it is something that they cannot do without. So what does “conscience” mean? We will talk about that in detail later when we have the opportunity, but let’s just say something about it briefly today. Conscience refers to a person’s kindheartedness and sense of justice, which are the two most basic qualities. If you possess these two qualities, you are a person with a conscience; if you do not possess either of these two qualities, then you lack conscience. People who lack conscience do not have normal humanity, and not having normal humanity means that they have no sense of justice and are not kindhearted. What does “no sense of justice” mean? It means being crooked and wicked. What does “not kindhearted” mean? It means being malicious, vicious, and wicked. People who possess these dispositions are people with no humanity, and consequently they are capable of doing any kind of evil thing, because they do not have the conscience of normal humanity, nor the two essences of a sense of justice and kindheartedness that the conscience of normal humanity contains. They are shameless, extremely crooked, and especially vicious and malicious, so they are capable of doing any kind of evil thing. That is, no matter how wicked and malicious the things they do are, they feel nothing—they do not feel bad, and they do not feel reproached. Why are they capable of doing any kind of evil? It is because they are not kindhearted and they lack the essence of humanity; no matter what evil they do, they think it is justified and do not feel that it is evil. For example, if you are a person with the awareness of conscience, when you say something that curses at or attacks another person, you won’t be able to bear it. You will think, “I’ve said a few things to curse at them, and that’s enough. Cursing at people makes them feel really upset! I too would get upset if someone cursed at me like that, so now that I’ve said a few things to curse at them to relieve my hatred and let off some steam, I’ll leave it at that.” And so you will stop. But evil people don’t think like that. They think, “Cursing at you would be letting you off lightly. I’m also going to beat you, bring your family to ruin, and make your descendants suffer! Whatever evil or bad things I do to you are justified. As long as you get your comeuppance and I get to relieve my hatred, I’m willing to do anything!” They may not even curse at you, but just go straight ahead and do evil things to you and take revenge on you—this is what being evil is. This is what people without the awareness of conscience are like—they are capable of committing all kinds of evil.

Within the various notions and imaginings which people have about God’s work, the ones that people are aware of are mainly the notions they often talk about which relate to disciplining, chastening, and punishment. In one regard, we have fellowshipped on the notions and imaginings that arise in people within God’s work; in another regard, people should also know that God works on people in many and varied ways. Depending on the different ages in which He works, and depending on the different standards He requires of people, and of course depending on the different results that He wants to achieve in people through His work, and also depending on the different targets of His work and people’s different nature essences, God adopts different methods and works on people in many and varied ways. Disciplining, chastening, and punishment are only a small part of His work, and they are not the main methods that He uses in His work. Because in the third stage of His work God has expressed a great number of truths to provide for people and to achieve the result of saving them, the amount of disciplining, chastening, and even punishment work that He does on people is very small. Furthermore, depending on the different targets of His work, God also does these things in accordance with the corresponding principles, and His actions vary depending on the targets and the various different circumstances. As such, relatively speaking, He rarely disciplines, chastens, or punishes people. Therefore, people should stop holding onto their previous notions and imaginings about God’s work, and as God has expressed a great number of words and a great number of truths, they should not continue to depend on God disciplining, chastening, or punishing them, passively letting Him prod them to practice the truth and to enter into the truth reality—this is an idea that people shouldn’t have. The correct idea that people should have is that they must not passively depend on God’s disciplining, chastening, or punishing to make them understand His intentions or come before Him, and that they must instead be more positive and proactive in coming before God to seek out His intentions and the truth principles. No matter when, God’s words and the truth principles are the direction for you to move forward in, and they are the principles and paths that you should most uphold and practice in your daily life or on your path of existence, whereas God’s disciplining, chastening, or punishing are just ways of working that He displays in certain special situations and in circumstances where He deems it necessary. For people, they should not passively wait or passively request for this to happen, thinking, “God should discipline, chasten, and punish me so that I can come to love the truth and be able to enter into the truth principles.” This is a fallacious idea, and it is one that people shouldn’t have. Some people hear that those who lack a conscience are beasts and cannot be saved, so they become anxious and think, “If I can’t be saved that’ll be really troublesome. Since I don’t have the awareness of conscience of normal humanity, I’d prefer for God to discipline and punish me as a substitute for the conscience of normal humanity.” Is this a good idea? As a created being, and as an ordinary member of the corrupted human race, if you really think that you are devoid of normal humanity and lack the conscience of normal humanity, you feel the pain of this deeply, and you hope that God’s disciplining, chastening, and punishment will not leave you, and that they will enable you to be transformed and ultimately survive—if you really have this kind of resolve, then that may be a good thing, and it is a ray of hope for your survival. But if you do not have that kind of resolve, then I say to you: You are in great danger if you do not have the awareness of conscience of normal humanity. Even if you have occasionally been on the receiving end of God’s disciplining, chastening, and punishment, that is something that He has granted to you. God does these things and uses these methods to prompt you and warn you, so that you will do less evil and receive less punishment. God has saved your pride enough; you should be grateful to God for Him making an exception by showing you this grace, instead of not knowing what’s good for you. In normal situations, God will not do any work or use any ways of working on someone who lacks the conscience and reason of humanity. If you have received disciplining, chastening, or punishment from God, no matter which it is, whether it be mild or somewhat more severe, then you should be grateful to God for all of it. To put it in the colloquial words of man, this is God having some basic respect for you and raising you up. God absolutely does not look upon you with hostility or condemn you, so you should accept it from God. If you really have the chance to receive God’s discipline, chastening, or punishment beyond the provision of the truth, then it proves that God still treats you as a created being and a member of the corrupted human race. You should thank God, understand this correctly, and submit to God’s disciplining, chastening, or punishment. You should not harbor a hostile attitude toward God because of it, nor should you rebel even more against God because of it. No matter what kind of discipline you have received, or how severe the punishment you have received is, you should submit to God and thank Him without delay, thanking Him for prompting and warning you, and for giving you this chance, and for letting you have the opportunity to receive all this from God. This also proves that you still have a relationship with God and that this tie has not been completely severed. In God’s work of managing humankind, and in the process of Him saving people, God still has you in His heart; at the very least, God still sees you—when He sees your rebelliousness and your corruption, He is still willing to discipline you, chasten you, and punish you. This proves that He has not completely given up on you; for you, this is fortunate, and it is also good news. Therefore, even if you are subjected to a bit of painful disciplining or chastening, you should come before God without delay. The purpose of coming before God is not for you to bow down before Him, nor is it to make you feel that God is frightening or fearsome. Instead, you ought to understand what you should do in order to please God, what you should do so that God will no longer be angry with you, and what you should do so that His anger will be dispelled. At the very least, you should do your best, within the scope of what your caliber can achieve, to practice the truth principles that God has told you, and you should not make God angry with you again. If God gets angry with you time and time again, and you continue to be extremely numb, and you still stiffen your neck and intransigently view God with hostility and fight against Him to the very end, then in the end what you will inevitably be met with is God giving up on you. The time when God no longer disciplines, chastens, or punishes you, is the time when God has given up on you. And once God gives up on you, He will stop prompting you, and He will remove you from His sight, moving you to a place outside of the church, to a place far from the center of His work; at the very least, He will make it so that He cannot see you during His period of work—God will not want to see you anymore. If you commit evil to this extent and reach this point, then there is no hope of you being saved. Have you understood? (Yes.)

Today’s fellowship related to the topic of letting go of the barriers between oneself and God and one’s hostility toward God. Whether it be exposing people’s notions and imaginings about God, or exposing their attitudes toward God, or fellowshipping about exactly how and in what ways God performs His work on people, in any case, what all of this ultimately tells people is that: The correct viewpoint which they most ought to hold toward God’s work is to accept and submit to God’s judgment and chastisement, and to accept God’s words and each truth principle that He provides to them, rather than straying from God. Whenever they do anything, they should seek the truth principles and practice according to them, and pursue entry into the truth reality, instead of putting effort into their outward behavior, or into outwardly suffering hardship and paying a price, and certainly instead of getting caught up in their notions and imaginings and making a big fuss over them. When all is said and done, no matter what your notions and imaginings about God are, the result that God’s work is intended to achieve is to work His words and the truth into people, and to enable them to have truth principles to abide by and to uphold these truth principles in everything they encounter during their daily lives and on their path of existence—this is the intended result of God’s work. The ultimate result that God’s work achieves is that the truth becomes people’s reality and people’s life, rather than Him accomplishing all of this according to their notions and imaginings. You understand this, right? We have more or less fellowshipped enough on these topics, have we not? (Yes.) Then here ends our fellowship for today. Goodbye!

July 8, 2023