For a while now we have been discussing the first major item in the practice of how to pursue the truth, which is “letting go.” Last time we fellowshipped about the third item regarding “letting go”—letting go of the barriers between oneself and God and one’s hostility toward God—which was brand-new content. There isn’t just one aspect of this content; it includes many items and lots of contents. These contents are what people experience in the process of God’s work, and they are directly related to people’s lives and pursuits, so the first aspect that we really must fellowship on is people’s notions and imaginings about God. This is a topic that people cannot avoid in the process of walking the path of believing in God. I fellowshipped on part of this content last time. Someone tell us what I fellowshipped on specifically. (Last time, God fellowshipped about letting go of the barriers between oneself and God and one’s hostility toward God. God first exposed our notions and imaginings about God’s work. For example, we have notions and imaginings about God’s day, and we also believe that God’s work is very supernatural and that as long as the Holy Spirit works and moves people, people will be able to resolve any problems and their corrupt dispositions will be transformed. While exposing these notions and imaginings, God told us that the result He intends to achieve in His work is to work His words into us, so that when things befall us in our everyday lives, we are able to practice according to God’s words and the truth principles—this is God’s requirement for each of us.) Who else can add to that? (Last time God also fellowshipped on the fact that people believe God passes verdict on them based on their temporary manifestations, and they also think that by adhering to outward regulations and outwardly good behaviors they are satisfying God and can attain salvation—these are all people’s notions and imaginings. Also, when people are weak or reveal rebelliousness and corruption, they believe that God will discipline and punish them—this is also a notion and imagining. From God’s exposure of these notions and imaginings of people, we have understood that what God wants is not our outwardly good behaviors, nor does He want us to adhere to certain outward practices and regulations. Rather, He hopes that when things befall us, we are able to seek the truth principles and enter into the truth reality.) Everyone has these notions and imaginings to varying degrees, do they not? (Yes.) Before people begin to pursue the truth, or when they do not understand the truth and have not yet gained the truth, they tend to use these notions and imaginings to make conjectures about how God works or to jump to conclusions about how God will work. At the same time, they also tend to use these conjectures to pass verdict on themselves, their own outcome, and whether they will be blessed or suffer misfortune in the future. Therefore, in the process of people’s pursuit of the truth, these notions and imaginings have to a great extent become obstacles to people’s acceptance of God’s work, to their pursuit of the truth, and to their gaining of the truth. That is to say, if people cannot let go of these notions and imaginings, and they always regard them as their motivation and root cause for believing in and following God, then these notions and imaginings will to a great extent obstruct them from pursuing and gaining the truth. And in the end they can only use their notions and imaginings to determine their own worth, identity, and status before God, and to determine what kind of treatment they will be able to receive in God’s house, what their destination will be and what blessings they will gain in the future, how much authority they will have and how many cities they will govern, and whether they will be a pillar or a mainstay in heaven, or how much they can gain in this life and how much they can gain in the world to come. Because these notions and imaginings involve people’s lives and pursuits, they influence the paths that people take and, of course, they also influence people’s final outcome and destination. People live and pursue amid their notions and imaginings; thus, they inevitably view everything, and judge and make determinations about everything, based on these notions and imaginings. So, no matter how God provides the truth and tells people what views they should hold and what path they should take, as long as people do not let go of their notions and imaginings, they will continue to live by them, and these notions and imaginings will naturally become people’s life and the laws by which they survive, and they will inevitably become the ways and methods by which people deal with all kinds of events and things. Once people’s notions and imaginings become the principles and criteria by which they view people and things and conduct themselves and act, then no matter how they believe in God, or how they pursue, and no matter how much hardship they suffer or how much of a price they pay, it will all be futile. As long as someone lives by their notions and imaginings, then this person is resisting God and is antagonistic toward Him; they do not have true submission to the environments laid out by God or to His requirements. Ultimately, then, their outcome will be a very tragic one. If you have believed in God for many years, and have expended yourself for Him, running all about and paying a great price, but the starting point and source of everything you do is your own notions and imaginings, then you do not truly accept and submit to God. No matter whether these notions and imaginings come from books, from society, or from your personal desires and interests, in short, as long as they are notions and imaginings, they are not the truth; and as long as they are not the truth, they are antagonistic toward the truth, a stumbling block for people’s acceptance of the truth, and an enemy of God and the truth. Therefore, as long as you live according to your notions and imaginings, you will measure and view everything according to these notions and imaginings, and because of them you are ultimately certain to rebel against the environments that God lays out for you, and rebel against God’s guidance of or sovereignty over you. In short, there is no true acceptance and submission here. Why is that? Because no matter how many hardships you suffer or how much of a price you pay, as long as you live according to your notions and imaginings, the hardships you suffer and the price you pay are not in line with the truth principles, and have nothing to do with the truth; it could be said that the hardships you suffer and the price you pay are based on human notions and imaginings, and on your preferences, and are for the purpose of gratifying your fleshly desires and satisfying certain aims of yours. It’s just like what was manifested by Paul: He did a lot of work and a lot of running around, preaching the gospel throughout the greater part of Europe, but no matter how much hardship he suffered and how much of a price he paid, or however much running around he did, he never had thoughts and views that accorded with the truth, he never accepted the truth, and he never had the attitude and real experience of submission to God—he always lived within his own notions and imaginings. What was his specific notion and imagining? It was that when he had finished running the course and fighting the good fight, there was a crown of righteousness in store for him—this was Paul’s notion and imagining. What was the specific theoretical basis of his notion and imagining? That God would determine a person’s outcome based on the amount of running about they have done, the price they have paid, and how much hardship they have suffered. It was on just such a theoretical basis of his notion and imagining that Paul unknowingly embarked upon the path of antichrists. As a result, when he reached the end of the road, he had no understanding whatsoever about his behavior and manifestations of resisting God or his essence of resisting God, much less any repentance. He still held on to his original notion and imagining while believing in God, and not only did he not have the slightest true submission to God, but on the contrary, he believed that he was even more entitled to receive a good outcome and destination from God in exchange. “In exchange” is a nice-sounding, civilized way of putting it, but in fact it was not an exchange, or even a transaction—he was directly asking God for these things, downright demanding them from God. How did he demand them from God? Just like he said, “I have finished my course, I have fought the good fight—the crown of glory is now mine. This is what I deserve and what god should rightfully give me.” The path Paul took was a path of resistance to God, which led him to destruction, and the ultimate outcome that befell him was being punished. This was inseparable from his notion and imagining about God. He always held on persistently to his own notion and imagining; he put aside and ignored what God said, the truths—the way of life—that God provided to people, even adopting an attitude of disdain and contempt, and he did not even acknowledge or accept the fact that Jesus Christ was the incarnation of God. When he had reached the end of the road, he still clung persistently to his notion and imagining as before, and continued to pit himself against God, ultimately heading toward the inevitable outcome of destruction. Therefore, in the process of believing in God, if people are able to let go of all their various negative emotions, and are able to let go of some things in real life that obstruct them from pursuing the truth, yet cannot let go of the barriers between themselves and God or their hostility toward God, then this will be a very regrettable and tragic thing, and in the end, people will reap the same outcome of being punished as Paul did. That is certain beyond all doubt. Therefore, in the practice of “letting go,” the item of “letting go of the barriers between oneself and God and one’s hostility toward God” is the most crucial and important one and cannot be overlooked. This is what you must often examine: In your relationship with God and in the process of experiencing God’s work, what notions and imaginings you still have that are not in alignment with the truth, God’s desires, or God’s requirements and that stand between yourself and God. You should examine these, compare them to God’s words, and then let go of them. The purpose of letting go is not to go through a process, but to accept the truth, to accept the truth principles in this regard that God has put forward to people, and to use these truth principles to replace your notions and imaginings, and to change the perspective behind your pursuit and the direction of your pursuit, so that you can be compatible with God in your life and in the process of following God, rather than being compatible with your notions and imaginings. God’s work is to resolve people’s notions and imaginings, and He provides people with the truth in order to resolve their notions and imaginings as well. By resolving their notions and imaginings, God enables people to have correct thoughts, views, standpoints, and perspectives for approaching every environment that He lays out, and for approaching every matter they face in life. God does His work and provides people with the truth through His words not in order to fulfill their notions and imaginings, but to counter their notions and imaginings, and ultimately to enable them to let go of their notions and imaginings and attain knowledge of God.

We have previously fellowshipped on some of people’s notions and imaginings about God’s work. In addition to these notions and imaginings, people also have some other notions and imaginings about God’s work that they should let go of in the process of pursuing the truth. For example, people believe that, after having accepted God’s work, if they are able to pursue the truth, they will become completely renewed, and that once they have God’s words as their life, they will have a completely new life, and will be reborn into a new person. They believe that their caliber will have improved and that their instincts will also have changed to some extent, and so things will often happen to them that they would never expect. That is, not only will they be able to do things that are beyond their own caliber and instincts, but they will also be able to do them extremely effortlessly and smoothly. What’s more, in the process of believing in God, some people even often feel that since they started pursuing the truth, their personality and temper have improved, their eyes are brighter than before, and their hearing is better than before. From time to time, they look in the mirror and feel they are becoming more and more like angels; they feel they are looking more and more beautiful, and are much more sprightly than ever before. Some people even feel that some of their life habits have changed and their living patterns have become different—in the past, if they went to bed too late, they would yawn incessantly, but since they began pursuing the truth, these reactions have disappeared, and they find this particularly miraculous. In people’s notions and imaginings, they believe that once they start pursuing the truth, God will do some work on them so that they undergo unexpected transformations. This includes an overnight improvement in their caliber—they will go from being of mediocre or very poor caliber to being extremely astute, capable, and experienced, becoming a person of caliber and wisdom, and the realm of their thinking will also be elevated. When people first start believing in God and decide to pursue the truth, they have extravagantly exaggerated and unrealistic imaginings about the pursuit of the truth, in short, none of them really conform to reality. People believe that as long as they pursue the truth, many aspects about them will be elevated and leap forward, and that in some areas they will even surpass ordinary people. Therefore, some people name themselves Lyu Chao, others Ma Chao, and still others Niu Chao. These names respectively mean surpassing donkeys, horses, and oxen—that is, being able to run faster than a horse and having more strength than a donkey or an ox. Donkeys are generally very strong at pulling things, horses have very powerful legs, and oxen have great endurance, so these people call themselves Lyu Chao, Ma Chao, and Niu Chao. You see, they give special consideration to the names they choose. From the names that people pick for themselves it can be seen that people have their own understanding of God’s work; unfortunately, this understanding is not in line with the truth and is not positive—it is a notion and imagining of people. Regardless of whether this notion and imagining is distorted or extreme, in short, it is inconsistent with the facts and with the truth; it is very hollow and concerned with supernatural things. The principle by which God works on people is this: No matter what kind of caliber people have, or what kind of work capability or ability to deal with things they have, no matter what their innate instincts are, and no matter what their personality, habits, living patterns, interests and hobbies are, or even what their gender is, in short, God’s work is to achieve the result of enabling people to understand the truth, accept the truth, submit to the truth, and then enter into the truth reality, based on their inherent caliber, instincts, personality, habits, their correct living patterns, and also their legitimate interests and hobbies, and so on. So, on what basis is this result achieved? It is achieved on the basis of people having the ability to understand and comprehend the truth, and on the basis of their having normal humanity. It is not achieved on the basis of a so-called elevated humanity, nor is it achieved on the basis of a supernatural humanity. Therefore, no matter which aspects of the truth we fellowship on, it is all to enable you to enter into them on the basis that you possess normal humanity and the ability to comprehend the truth. However, people’s notions and imaginings are exactly the opposite of this. People believe that the result achieved in people by God’s work and His expression of the truth go against their inherent caliber and instincts, and also go against their personality, habits, interests, and hobbies. People often hope that some miracle will happen to them, that something supernatural or something that is unexpected and beyond their own caliber and instincts will happen to them, rather than putting in the effort to seek the truth in a down-to-earth manner. What does this fact prove? Isn’t it that people view the pursuit of truth as something particularly supernatural and hollow? Isn’t it that they view the ways God works on people as being particularly supernatural and hollow? (Yes.) People often hope that the more they pursue the truth, the higher their caliber will be, or that after listening to a lot of sermons and accepting and understanding much of the truth, their caliber will be higher than before. This is a notion and imagining, is it not? (Yes.) Take learning a profession, for example: When you were studying at school, if you wanted to master some profession, you had to memorize the knowledge of this profession by rote, and study from dawn to dusk, spending your spare time putting in effort to learn it. Since you started believing in God, you think that as long as the Holy Spirit works, people’s caliber will be improved, they will transform, and they will be different from before. So, you determine that no matter how God works, one just has to cooperate, and that there is no need to put effort into pursuing the truth and learning professional knowledge; it’s enough for one to do their duty—one will have still made progress believing in God in this way. Isn’t this the way people imagine it? (Yes.) Tell Me, is this the right way to pursue? Can pursuing this way lead to a true transformation? (No, it cannot.) There cannot possibly be a transformation. For example, some people think that in order to sing well they have to practice from dawn to dusk, steal others’ techniques, and listen to all kinds of songs to learn from other people’s merits, and that only in this way can they have achievements. By contrast, some people believe that singing depends on talent; they think that if a person has a gift for singing and likes singing, then they’ll be able to sing well, and that if someone doesn’t have a gift for singing or a fondness for singing, then they’ll have to rely on being moved by the Holy Spirit in order to sing well, in order to sing with emotion, such that hearing them sing will bring others pleasure. Consequently, most people always harbor this kind of delusion; they rely on the Holy Spirit to move them, otherwise they won’t open their mouths to sing. This is a notion and imagining, is it not? Some people think that there is no need to put that much effort into learning professional knowledge, and that as long as people pursue the truth, God will work, and that it is useless and futile for people to make those pointless sacrifices. They think that as soon as God works, it is of more use than any amount of effort people put in, so as long as people sincerely do their duties and are willing to dedicate their hearts to God, the Holy Spirit will work in them, and their caliber and abilities will be instantly elevated, beyond the scope of normal humanity—they will be able to understand things that didn’t click for them before, and though previously they couldn’t even read two lines of text at a time, they will be able to read ten lines at a time and commit them all to memory after they start believing in God. But no matter how much they train, they still cannot achieve this, so they ponder, “Is God not granting me grace? Am I not hardworking enough and sincere enough in doing my duty?” Is this the case? (No.) You think that the more you are able to attain what is supernatural, surpassing the range of your own caliber and abilities, the more it proves that this is the work of God; that if your sincerity and your will to cooperate grow increasingly greater, then God will work in you more and more, and your caliber and abilities will grow increasingly greater. Is this not a notion and imagining people have? (Yes.) Are you especially inclined to think this way? (Yes.) What is the result of thinking this way? Is it not always failure and absence of materialization? Some people even become negative, saying, “I have given my utmost sincerity to God—why doesn’t God grant me good caliber? Why doesn’t God give me supernatural abilities? Why am I still always weak? My caliber has not improved, I can’t see anything clearly, and I become confused when faced with complex matters. It was like this before, why is it still the same now? Additionally, in my performance of my duty and my handling of problems, why can I never transcend my flesh? I understand some doctrines, but still, I cannot see things clearly, and when it comes to dealing with matters, I remain indecisive, and I still fall short of those of good caliber. My work capability is also poor, and my performance of duty is inefficient. My caliber has not improved at all! What’s going on? Could it be that my sincerity toward God is insufficient? Or does God not like me? Where am I lacking?” Some people search for various reasons and have tried many approaches to change this fact, such as listening to more sermons, memorizing more of God’s words, writing more spiritual devotion notes, as well as listening to people fellowship the truth more, and seeking more, but the final result is still disappointing. Their caliber and work capability remain as before, without any improvement even after believing in God for three to five years. They then take a look at their own personality and find that they are still as cowardly as before, as sluggish as an old cow, or that they still have an impatient personality, handling everything in a frantic way—there has been no transformation! Others observe that lately their interests and hobbies don’t seem to have changed, and that some of their defects, habits, and flaws haven’t changed either. Still others who like going to bed late and getting up late notice that these life habits also remain unchanged. So they all wonder, “What’s going on? Could it be that the Holy Spirit isn’t working on me? Has God abandoned me? Is God not pleased with me? Am I taking the wrong path? Am I pursuing in the wrong way? Have I not put my heart into doing my duty enough? Have I not paid enough of a price?” They look for all sorts of reasons, but still end up with no results. What is the reason for their lack of results? (It’s because they have always lived within their own notions and imaginings. They think that after believing in God, as long as they are sincere toward Him, then as soon as God works, their caliber and work capability will improve—such ideas of theirs stem from their notions and imaginings.) People’s notions and imaginings decide the goals and methods of their pursuit, the paths they take, and ultimately decide their gains and outcomes. What will people gain if they have such notions and imaginings? Will they gain the truth? Will they gain true faith in God and true love for God? Will they gain true submission to God? (No.) They will gain none of these things.

In believing in God, one should understand what exactly God’s work is intended to change about people, how God resolves the problem of people’s corruption, and what He intends to accomplish in people—these are issues that should be fellowshipped on clearly, are they not? In sum, one should understand exactly what effects God intends to achieve in people with His work. Firstly, in this stage of God’s work, He is expressing the truth and supplying life. The work of providing people with the truth is clearly fellowshipping the truth principles that people must abide by when they encounter all kinds of people, events, and things in real life, so that after they have understood them, they can view people and things, and conduct themselves and act based on these truth principles, and on this basis their corrupt dispositions are resolved, and they are enabled to cast off these corrupt dispositions and to truly and absolutely submit to God. Of course, this is also a sign of being saved, and it is a true manifestation of being saved that can ultimately be seen in people. In the whole process of God providing people with the truth, what are the main issues that need to be resolved? There are mainly two kinds of issues to resolve. The first kind of issue to resolve is people’s notions. People’s various kinds of fallacious, distorted and tightly-held thoughts and views that come from Satan are collectively referred to as people’s notions. These erroneous thoughts and views control people’s thoughts and behaviors, and have already become a basic theory of thought by which they view people and things, and conduct themselves and act, and so they must be thoroughly resolved. This is an issue related to people’s thoughts that needs to be resolved. The other kind of issue to resolve is people’s corrupt dispositions. Corrupt dispositions are a topic that is often fellowshipped on, discussed, and dissected in church life. Some corrupt dispositions are caused by people’s fallacious thoughts and views, while other corrupt dispositions are purely satanic dispositions. The two things that God intends to resolve in people through His work and words are their notions and their corrupt dispositions. The former relates to how one views people and things, whereas the latter relates to how one conducts oneself and acts. When these two things are resolved and people have obtained the truth and are able to submit to God and become compatible with Him, then God’s work will have achieved its effect, and God’s work will have come to an end. However, throughout the whole process of God’s work—whether it be the way God works, the specific steps of His work, or each of the truths expressed by Him—none of this is targeted at aspects such as people’s personalities, calibers, abilities, instincts, life habits and living patterns, or their interests and hobbies. In other words, the objective, purpose, and significance of God’s work is not to change people’s inherent calibers and abilities, instincts, personalities, and so on. No matter what caliber and work capability you possess, or what your innate personality, life habits, instincts, and various other aspects are like, God does not look at any of these things. He only looks at whether you are a person with normal humanity, and then on this basis He provides you with the truth and works on you. No matter what aspects of the truth God provides you with, or what kind of work He does on you, ultimately it is not in order to change your inherent caliber and instincts, it is not to raise your caliber or instincts and make them better, or to make them particularly supernatural—none of these aspects are the targets that God wants to change with His work. Therefore, no matter how many years you have believed in God, or however many sermons you have listened to, or however much effort you have put into God’s words, your inherent caliber will remain the same and will not change. It will not change because you have believed in God for many years, listened to sermons for many years, and run around and expended yourself for many years. Of course, the same goes for your personality, instincts, life habits, interests, hobbies, and so on; they will not change because you have believed in God for many years and have done your duty for many years. In people’s notions, this change certainly does not mean lowering, but rather elevating—making these things higher and better than before. That is, regardless of which stage God’s work is at, or whichever method He uses to do it, what His work changes is not people’s inherent calibers, work capabilities, instincts, personalities, and so on. So, if your caliber is poor and you do not currently possess the caliber to be a leader or worker, or to be a supervisor for a certain item of work, then you will not possess it 20 or 30 years from now either; and even if you are eventually saved because of your pursuit of the truth, you will still not possess it. Your caliber won’t change. Will your instincts change then? Everyone experiences birth, aging, illness, and death, and when faced with major events, they will become nervous, afraid, terrified, and so on—these instincts will not change either. For example, when people hear a particularly loud noise, they will all cover their heads and hide in a safe place—this is instinct. When your hand touches a flame or something else that is hot, you will instinctively withdraw it, or when you hear some unfortunate news, you will instinctively shudder inside and feel terrified. When you face danger, instinctively your first thought will be, “Am I safe? Is this danger coming my way?” This is instinct. Also, when someone reaches out to hit you, you will instinctively dodge to protect yourself; when dust or water gets into your eyes, you will instinctively close them; and when you have a toothache, you will touch your tooth with your hand frequently. You will instinctively have a natural reflex, have a certain manifestation, or perform an instinctive action. People were born with these instinctive reactions. No one can take them away, and God will not change them either. These instinctive reactions were set up for people by God when He created them, and they are meant to protect people. They are something that a created human must possess. God will not take these instincts away, and you will not lose them because of your pursuit of the truth either. What do I mean by this? I mean that it’s not the case that you won’t be afraid when there’s a fire or that you won’t feel your hand being scalded when you place it in a pan of hot oil because you pursue the truth, have understood many truths, and have true submission to God—this is an impossibility. What would you think if someone gave such a testimony? Would you envy and admire them? What kind of assessment and characterization would you make of it? At the very least, this is a supernatural phenomenon, and God would not perform it. As for the instincts that God has created for humankind, God will not take away these instincts of yours because you pursue the truth, nor will He transform these instincts into supernatural powers. For instance, say you are in a dark space and you can’t see a thing; you will instinctively reach out to feel around you, and listen carefully with your ears to distinguish the sounds around you, instinctively feeling your way forward. You will not transcend the flesh because you pursue the truth—it will not be the case that the darker it gets, the brighter your eyes feel, and the clearer you are able to see things and the easier it is to find your bearings—this is supernatural, and it is something that God does not do. Even if you have understood many truths, and are able to submit to the truth and put the truth into practice, if your instincts in this regard can stay the same and do not regress, then that is already great, and yet you want them to become supernatural—that is an impossibility! In addition, a person’s ability to view things and handle things and their ability to resolve problems aren’t what God intends to change with His work either. A person’s ability to handle things depends in one respect on their caliber, and in another respect on their innate IQ, and their IQ includes their gifts. Some people are born particularly possessed of certain abilities and gifts for handling external matters, that is, they are good at thinking and socializing, they are born with a special social ability, and they know how to interact with people, view things, and handle certain matters. In their minds, they have particularly clear threads of thought when it comes to all kinds of things, which are also very logical. When they view something, they can grasp the crux of the matter, without any deviation or absurdity, and handle problems in a relatively accurate manner. This type of person possesses the ability to handle matters. Some people are not born with this ability, and they just like to read books, grow flowers, plant grass, raise birds, and things like that. What is this called? It’s called having a refined and leisurely way of life. These are people who pursue elegance and refinement. They are not good at socializing or handling external matters, they don’t have this capability. When they need to go out and handle affairs, to consult a lawyer or interact with some personage, they get all timid and afraid and dare not look that person in the eye, and when they are asked questions, they hem and haw and don’t know what to say. They are useless, are they not? When this kind of person is not faced with some issue, they are really good at bragging, saying, “I did such and such things, I had such and such illustrious past, I once interacted with such and such people, and I’ve known such and such celebrities….” However, when they are actually sent to handle something, they disappear without a trace. It turns out that the only thing they are capable of is bragging, and they have no real talent or knowledge, and no ability to handle affairs. Can the fact that someone is bad at handling matters be changed by them pursuing the truth? Unfortunately, no, it cannot. Look at those individuals who have introverted personalities and have been afraid to face other people since childhood. When they are in their twenties or thirties, they are still very nervous when talking to people or handling matters that involve interacting with people. By the time they are middle-aged, they still feel shy and blush when speaking in front of a crowd. Such people will never be able to face the wider world as long as they live. Other people are different, in that they have liked chatting and interacting with people ever since they were teenagers. No matter what personage they interact with, they won’t feel afraid, and no matter what they are doing, they don’t get anxious or panicky. They have wits, and so they don’t suffer from stage fright. The more people there are, the happier and more energized they get, and the more they want to perform. Can someone’s personality and ability to handle matters be changed through them experiencing God’s work? (No.) God does not change these things about people. Some people know that their poor ability to handle matters is a defect in their humanity, so they work hard to overcome it. It may be that, when they reach middle or old age, after experiencing decades of tempering and having accumulated extensive experience, they barely manage to cope with some immediate matters; but they still won’t have the ability to handle critical, life-and-death matters. In particular there are some people who can’t handle anything themselves when they reach old age; whatever they try to handle, they make a complete mess of it—they simply cannot shoulder it—and they can’t even take on the burden of attending to their own family affairs. And what do they do? In some cases, their children have the ability to handle matters, so these people let their children help them, while they enjoy things that have already been done for them. They think, “I have made a contribution, I have the ability to handle affairs,” but actually, they don’t have this capability. It was their children, now grown up and capable of taking charge, who took on these affairs. These people may not be as nervous and fearful about tackling things now as they were when they were young, but that does not mean their ability to handle matters has changed or improved. What does it mean? It means that they are older, have gained experience, and are no longer afraid of things. What does “no longer afraid of things” refer to? It is that they are able to look at matters in a more open-minded way because they have experienced a lot of things and figured out the patterns of things, and so if they really do run into a bit of danger, they won’t be afraid, and they will think: “Well, here I am. If you want money, I haven’t got any; if you want my life, then here’s one—do whatever you like!” Have such people made any progress? They haven’t made any progress at all—they are still quite careless and muddleheaded when it comes to handling things. They are just as rash and impatient as they were before. They failed to carry things through before, and they haven’t changed one bit even now. It’s just the way they are. Tell Me, isn’t this how things really are? (Yes.)

There are people of all ages among you. Up to now, have you ever experienced something special—in the process of pursuing the truth, has your caliber completely changed and become much better than before, or have your instincts changed? Have you ever had such an experience? (No.) Well then, has anyone ever said, “I used to be quite useless. I wasn’t eloquent, I didn’t have any abilities or skills, and I didn’t have any social abilities. Now that I have accepted God’s work, I am able to speak eloquently, I have social abilities, and when it comes to handling things, I’m intelligent and have the knack, and I know how to deal with things”? Has anyone had this kind of experience? (No.) Some say, “Although those things haven’t happened to me, in the process of experiencing God’s work after coming to believe in God, I feel that my personality has changed. I used to speak slowly, and everyone called me “Slowcoach.” I also had another nickname, which was “Slowpoke.” Since I started believing in God, my reactions have become faster than before, and I speak and act faster. I also handle things more quickly and efficiently.” Do such things happen? (No.) There is one case where it might be possible. For example, when some people learn a foreign language and first practice speaking it, they speak very slowly, one word at a time. Others think that these people might speak so slowly because they were born with a slow temperament. After three or five years, because these people have been in frequent contact with speakers of that foreign language, they end up speaking it very fluently, just as quickly as they speak their native language, and others who are none the wiser think, “That person’s personality has changed. They used to speak slowly and people felt impatient while listening to them, but now they speak very fluently—they’ve become a brisk person. From the straightforward and clear way they speak, you can tell they handle matters with alacrity and have a good personality.” In this case, has there been a change in their personality? (No.) In fact, this is a normal pattern. It is the process of normal progress in learning a kind of profession—it is not a process of changing personality. Whether it be caliber, ability and instincts, or personality, habits, interests, and hobbies, none of these aspects are things that God wants to change through His work. If you always believe that the purpose of God working and speaking to supply people with the truth is to change all these innate qualities of humans, and think that only then can one be considered a completely reborn, truly new person as spoken of by God, then you are gravely mistaken. This is a human notion and imagining. After understanding this, you should let go of such notions, imaginings, conjectures, or feelings. That is, in the process of pursuing the truth, you should not always rely on feelings or guesses to sum up these things: “Has my caliber improved? Have my instincts changed? Is my personality still as bad as before? Have my living patterns changed?” Do not ponder over these; such pondering is futile, because these are not the aspects God intends to change, and God’s words and work have never targeted these things. God’s work has never aimed to change people’s caliber, instincts, personality, and so on, nor has God ever spoken for the purpose of changing these aspects of people. The implication is that God’s work supplies people with the truth on the basis of their inherent conditions, aiming to make people understand the truth and then accept and submit to the truth. In other words, regardless of what kind of caliber you have, and regardless of what your personality and instincts are like, what God wants to do is to work the truth into you, to change your old notions and corrupt dispositions, rather than changing your inherent caliber, instincts, and personality. You understand now, right? What is it that God’s work aims to change? (God’s work aims to change the old notions and corrupt dispositions within people.) Now that you understand this truth, you should let go of those imaginings and notions that are unrealistic and concerned with supernatural things, and should not use these notions and imaginings to measure yourself or make demands of yourself. Instead, you should seek and accept the truth based on the various inherent conditions given to you by God. What is the ultimate goal in this? It is that on the basis of your inherent conditions, you understand the truth principles, understand each and every truth principle that should be practiced in the face of various situations you encounter, and you can view people and things, and conduct yourself and act according to these truth principles. Doing this meets God’s requirements. This is because the purpose of God’s words and work is to work truths into people so that they become their principles and criteria of practice, and so that they become the bases by which they view people and things, and conduct themselves and act, and so that they become their life, rather than it being to turn people into superhumans or people with supernatural powers. What do I mean by “superhumans” and “people with supernatural powers”? Being able to transcend one’s instincts, transcend the scope of one’s ability, transcend one’s caliber, and even transcend one’s gender, and being able to live beyond one’s gender—aren’t these supernatural powers? (Yes.) For instance, some people can speak several or even more than ten languages without engaging in specialized language studies. Is this supernatural? (Yes.) This supernaturalness goes beyond human caliber, ability and instinct, does it not? (Yes.) What’s more, when speaking the various languages, they can even flexibly put on different male and female voices. Isn’t this even more supernatural? (Yes.) No matter how many languages they speak, they don’t get them mixed up, and they don’t feel tired no matter how long they speak for, and even if they don’t drink some water, they don’t feel thirsty. Moreover, the more they speak, the brighter their eyes get, the more their face glows, and they shine all over. Isn’t this supernatural? (Yes.) Even if they get shot while talking, they are fine and just carry on talking. That is even more supernatural, is it not? (Yes.) When they see the bullet, they don’t even try to dodge it, instead they face it directly. The bullet passes through their chest, but they stand firm and don’t falter. They aren’t affected in any way, and not even a hair on their head is hurt. This is transcending instinct, is it not? (Yes.) All these phenomena transcend human instinct. The most serious thing of all is that they have become an unusual person, that is to say, someone who is different from ordinary people, who transcends the caliber and abilities of normal people, and who also transcends the instincts of normal people. Their manifestations in all aspects are different from those of ordinary people and are particularly supernatural. This means trouble. Are they still a normal person? (No.) Then what are they? (An evil spirit.) They are an evil spirit. Do you want to pursue this? (No.) None of you want to, so do you think God’s work would change people to that extent? Is the purpose of God’s work to transform individuals into unusual people? (No.) It is for you to accept the truth and to experience the environments He has laid out for you within the scope of normal humanity, so that from this you can understand the painstaking intentions with which God does His work, or your own inadequacies and deficiencies, or your own corrupt dispositions, and then, on the basis of this understanding, seek the truth and put it into practice, and come to progressively enter into the truth—this process is slow and not at all supernatural. When some people are being negative, they like to say this: “What have I gained from believing in God for so many years?” You say that you haven’t gained anything, but you should think carefully about the following. Having believed in God for so many years, do you now have a clear view of many things? Is it the case that the longer you believe, the more peaceful and grounded you feel, and the more you feel that this is the right path in life? If you do feel this way, it means that you have indeed gained something. Though you have not gained any material things, though you have not gained money, status, fame, gain—things that you can grasp in your hand or see with your eyes—you have nevertheless understood some truths in your heart. You have gained some understanding of God’s actual existence and His sovereignty over everything. In addition, you have also understood God’s intentions and His requirements for people, and you know what a created being is and what duty you should do. And if, right now, you were not allowed to do a duty, you would feel anguished and feel that your life was empty. Doesn’t all this show that you have already made gains from believing in God? What you have gained is worth more than any material thing. These are the effects that God’s work achieves in people. He does not intend to enable people to undergo some supernatural, unrealistic changes that transcend humanity, human instincts, or the normal needs and normal manifestations of the flesh. Instead, He intends to enable people to experience all sorts of environments within the scope of normal humanity, and in this process, to progressively and slowly gain all sorts of understandings and experiences. In short, throughout this progressive and slow process, people’s thoughts and notions are changed little by little, the perspectives from which they view people and things are changed, their views on and ways of dealing with all kinds of people, events, and things are changed, some of their corrupt dispositions are no longer as obvious as before, and their conscience and reason are restored to some extent. They obtain these real gains, instead of those unrealistic, illusory, void, hollow, or even supernatural things.

God performs the work of saving mankind in a gradual manner, and of course there is another more primary principle, which is that in doing His work, God lets things take their own course. This principle of “letting things take their own course” may be somewhat difficult for people to understand. What does it mean to let things take their own course? It means that, whether God is working on people or speaking to people, He never forces anyone to do things. God lays out environments for you, and provides you with the truth just as He does for other people. Regarding how you should view and understand the environments that He lays out, and what viewpoint and attitude you should approach them with, God has explicit words and has told you clear truth principles. As for how you approach them, that is your own free choice. You can choose to accept the truth and know yourself, or you can choose to reject the truth; you can choose to accept the revelation of you by the environments that God orchestrates, or you can choose to ignore God’s work—you have the freedom of choice, you are free to choose. For instance, when it comes to the duty you ought to do, you can choose to do it with all your heart and all your strength, or you can choose to do it with a perfunctory attitude. This is entirely based on your personal choice, and of course, it is also based on your own caliber, abilities, instincts, and so on. God does not do extra work—that is to say, under normal circumstances, God does not do any extra work of urging, or compelling. What does this mean? It means that God lays out environments for you—it’s just as if He has laid out a banquet for you, with hot and cold dishes, rice and soup, fruits, drinks, and so on and so forth, and when it comes to what you choose, God gives you freedom—no matter what choice you make, you have the freedom to do so, and God does not interfere, He just focuses on expressing the truth to supply people. Some people just take a cursory look at the banquet, without tasting for themselves what its delicious dishes are actually like. They just comment on the banquet, speak some doctrines, and then leave. Others just choose to look at the banquet, ignore its delicious foods, and leave without having any attitude or any opinion. There are others who have personally tasted and who have experienced its delicious dishes, and who have also learned how to make one of the tasty foods. In the environment laid out by God, no matter what your attitude is—whether it be to welcome it, or to reject it and deny it, or to despise it and be hostile to it, and so on, these are all attitudes as far as God is concerned. How does God approach and deal with people’s various attitudes? Having provided people with a great number of truths, God’s attitude toward them is merely to watch and keep a record. As for what people choose or what their attitude is, God does not intervene—this matter has nothing to do with God. What, then, does this matter have to do with? It has to do with what path you choose, what you ultimately gain, and your own final outcome. On this matter, God does not do any extra, facilitative work, He only fulfills the responsibilities and obligations that He should fulfill. After He has provided you with the truth and told you the principles for dealing with all kinds of people, events, and things, He may also lay out environments for you. However, God does not intervene with exactly what final choices you make or what kind of path you take—He lets you choose for yourself. If you are elected to be a leader or worker, for example, you can choose to act according to the truth principles and the work arrangements of God’s house, or to act arbitrarily and recklessly according to your own preferences. If you choose to handle everything according to the truth principles and do your duty according to the work arrangements, God will observe and keep a record of this, and eventually you will have gained the truth and submitted to God—this is one outcome. If you do things according to your own will, and act arbitrarily and recklessly, violating the work arrangements of God’s house and the truth principles, this is also a choice and it represents the path that you are taking, and God will likewise observe and keep a record of it, and of course it goes without saying what your outcome will be. If you have gained the truth and life, this will also enable you to gain God’s approval and secure you a good destination.

People believe that God’s work includes His orchestrations and arrangements. So what are God’s orchestrations and arrangements in people’s notions and imaginings? They’re a kind of manipulation, that is to say, God is secretly covering people in a big net, manipulating all their behaviors and the environments they are in, and monitoring everything they do. These are notions and imaginings that people have, are they not? (Yes.) Consequently, people begin to guard against and feel frightened of God in their hearts, and this is caused by their notions and imaginings about God’s orchestrations and arrangements. Them being frightened and guarded in this way is not true submission to and fear of God, but rather a form of rebelliousness and resistance. People think that God is omnipotent and omnipresent, and that no matter what they do it’s true that “when man acts, Heaven is watching.” They think that God is constantly watching over them and keeping an eye on them, with the purpose of restraining their hearts, their hands and feet, not giving them the freedom to choose, and forcing them to practice the truth, forcing them to change their thoughts and views, and forcing them to do things according to God’s wishes. These are all human notions. Strictly speaking, this is a kind of blasphemy against God. In fact, God has never intended to force, bind, or manipulate people. God never constrains or compels people, and even less does He force people. What God gives people is ample freedom—He allows people to choose the path that they should walk. Even if you are in God’s house, and even if you are predestined and chosen by God, you are free nonetheless. You can choose to reject God’s various requirements and arrangements, or you can choose to accept them; God gives you the opportunity to choose freely. But no matter what you choose, or how you act, or what your viewpoint is in handling a matter that you’re faced with, or what means and methods you ultimately use to resolve it, you must take responsibility for your actions. Your final outcome is not based on your personal judgments and definitions, and instead God is keeping a record on you. After God has expressed a great number of truths, and after people have heard this great number of truths, God will strictly measure the rights and wrongs of each person and determine the final outcome of each person based on what He has said, what He requires, and the principles that He has formulated for people. In this matter, God’s scrutiny, and God’s orchestrations and arrangements are not God manipulating people, or Him binding people—you are free. You do not need to be guarded against God, nor do you need to feel afraid or uneasy. You are a free person from start to finish. God gives you a free environment, a will to make free choices, and space to choose freely, allowing you to choose for yourself, and whatever outcome you end up with is entirely determined by the path you take. This is fair, is it not? (Yes.) If, ultimately, you are saved, and you are someone who submits to God and is compatible with God, and you are someone who is accepted by God, that is what you get because of your correct choices; if, ultimately, you are not saved, and you are not able to be compatible with God, and you are not gained by God, and you are not someone who is accepted by God, then that is also down to your own choices. Therefore, in His work, God gives people a lot of space to choose, and He also gives people absolute freedom. This is because God uses the truth to measure all people, events, and things, including people’s outcomes and destinations. People’s outcomes and destinations are likewise determined using the truth—this is the principle of God’s work, which never, ever changes. God will not accept you, show you grace, and allow you to be saved because you are frightened of Him, guarded against Him, and walk timidly and subserviently to the end of the road; nor will God allow you to be saved in the end because of any contributions you have made. In other words, there will be no exceptions where someone ends up with an outcome or a good destination that they do not deserve—whatever outcome each person ends up with is determined by the path they take. I’ll give you an example. Say God lays out an environment for you, and in this environment, what you ought to do is reflect on and know your own transgressions, and come to know your corrupt dispositions, fallacious thoughts and views, deficiencies and inadequacies, or some of your misunderstandings and complaints about God. You also ought to stop making excuses and offering weaselly arguments to defend yourself and instead be able to submit, seek the corresponding truths to change your present situation, and accept the truth into you and then act in accordance with the truth principles. In doing so you will achieve the desired effect. When similar things happen to you again, you will naturally practice according to the truth principles, and there will be no need for God to lay out special environments to assist you. This is something that people can achieve, and if they can achieve it, God will not do any needless work. But when it comes to those who do not pursue the truth, God’s attitude is different. Some people do not seek the truth or reflect on themselves when things befall them, but instead just keep being negative and griping, complaining about God and other people. Not only do they develop notions about God, but they also pass judgment on Him. If someone prunes them and exposes them, they will find excuses to justify themselves, and they may also become passive and slack off in their work, or even undermine things. Such people are beyond redemption, and they are those that God spurns. If you have some interest in the truth while believing in God, and you are willing to listen to sermons and strive toward the truth, and you have a bit of a positive attitude, then God will scrutinize your heart, and move you a little when you seek the truth, and then He will scrutinize whether you are able to practice the truth. But if you choose to be negative and slack off in your work, to make excuses and justify yourself, and to kick up a fuss all over the place, and do not choose to know yourself or to repent, what will God do and how will He deal with you? God will just quietly observe what changes occur. God will not move you, nor will He urge you to read His words and seek the truth. God will not get involved or intervene—He will let you put on a show to your heart’s content. When your conscience awakens and you think, “I shouldn’t have done this,” or you occasionally hear an experiential testimony that resembles your current situation and find out how that person acted, and then suddenly feel that what you did was inappropriate, irrational, and indecent, and there is a subtle pain in your heart, from that point onward, you will no longer be negative or weak, and you will be embarrassed to open your mouth to justify yourself, and your ideas or actions that disturb and undermine things will become fewer and fewer in number, and less and less severe. No matter how far this ultimately develops, in any case, it is all your own behavior. God is just secretly and silently watching, with the aim of finding evidence by which to ultimately assess you. Just like when the city of Nineveh was about to be destroyed, God merely sent Jonah to convey a message to the Ninevites. God did not move them to confess their sins, repent, or understand their own problems—He did not do these things. God only sent Jonah to convey the message, and at the same time secretly observed to see what series of responses and actions they undertook on hearing this notice, and to see what the plans of all the various people from the top to the bottom were, and what their attitudes were toward this notice from God. All He did was observe in secret. What does “observe” mean? It means that God is watching, like an onlooker, the process of how things develop and the direction in which things change, and He does not intervene in any way. Apart from getting Jonah to convey those few sentences, God did not do any additional work, nor did He do any work of exhorting people, and even more so, there were no additional words to be conveyed, only those few sentences that came from Jonah’s mouth. Of course, the principles of God’s work on the people of today remain unchanged—He still works in this way, and this is God’s attitude toward humankind from start to finish. Whether He wants to change someone or accomplish something in a person, God’s attitude, principles, and methods in His work do not change. Why is that? What God created is living people, created human beings with free will, and not machines or puppets. When God expresses the truth or wants to accomplish something, He often first lays out an environment to enable them to seek to grasp His intentions, and sometimes He will directly tell people what His intentions and requirements are; the rest depends on people making decisions based on their free will and the various conditions that they possess. This was God’s attitude toward the Ninevites, and His attitude toward the people whom He wants to save now remains unchanged. The principles of God’s work have not changed; God always works in this way, and the principles of His work on the human beings He created are always like this. After Jonah gave notice to the people of Nineveh, he went to find a place to cool off and he watched the people of the city from the sidelines to see what kind of shockwaves and activity would be stirred up among the Ninevites once God’s message had been conveyed from top to bottom of the city, and everyone had learned the news that God was going to destroy Nineveh—all he did was observe. Of course, this observation took time, and during this process, God was watching the changes in all these things. If things developed in a good direction, then of course God would be delighted; if things developed in a bad direction, He might grieve, but that would depend on the situation. God would grieve because human beings were created by God, and God grieves when human beings are facing destruction, or when a life is about to be lost. However, when faced with corrupt people being so numb and slow-witted, and so rebellious, God does not grieve. God will do what He should do according to His original plan, according to the ways in which He works, and according to the ways and principles with which He deals with created beings. There are no human feelings or emotions here, only the Creator’s principles and criteria in doing things. So in this regard, people should let go of their own notions and accurately grasp God’s attitude and methods for treating people, rather than using the narrow-mindedness of created humans to make speculations and conjectures about God’s thoughts and ideas. God works on you, laying out environments for you, and arranging people, events, and things to train you and enable you to practice, and He wants to work the truth into you—what is God’s original intention for doing things this way based on? It is based on the principle of respecting and cherishing life. This is not a feeling that the Creator has toward created human beings—God has no feelings. The principle of this original intention goes beyond the feelings of human fleshly kinship, and of course, it is not some kind of affection either—it arises due to the principle of cherishing and respecting life. Some people say: “Is this God’s breadth of mind? Is this His high level of being?” Do you think that is the case? (No.) You can use the terms “level of being” and “breadth of mind” to describe people, but don’t apply them to God. This is neither breadth of mind nor a level of being. In one respect, this can be said to be the loveliness of the Creator, and in another respect, it can also be said that this is a revelation of God’s identity and essence. God cherishes and respects the life of any created being, but on the basis of this cherishing and respecting, God does not compromise on His principles, and these principles are not of feelings or of the flesh. What are they of? They are principles of the truth, which belong to God alone. Think about it, if people have children, they dote on them excessively and have very deep feelings for them. They even wish that they could cradle their children in their arms and be with them all day long. God has no such feelings or affection toward humans. Because of their blood ties, people develop those kinds of feelings toward their children, and those kinds of feelings will make people lose their reason and principles. They are not natural or normal revelations of normal humanity, nor are they a manifestation of love. They are purely feelings and hotheadedness—they are feelings that arise out of blood ties. Feelings are not truths, and they are not what normal humanity should possess; they are negative things. God does not dote on or spoil humankind. What is God’s attitude toward humankind? God chose you, and is responsible for you, and works and pays a price upon you, and speaks words to supply you with the truth and life, based on the principle of cherishing the life of created humans and of respecting life. But the way God works is not as people imagine, that is, by seizing onto you tightly, or to use a more colloquial term, by shaking you down. It is not like that. God does not shake down people; He never compels people to do anything. In order to gain blessings, in their belief in God people always want to shake down God, and always want to force God into giving them blessings, and also want to latch onto God and shake Him down so that He lets them enter the kingdom of heaven. Is this not the case? (Yes.) God does not shake you down. It’s not good to use this colloquial term “shake you down,” but it is somewhat vivid and it’s easy for people to understand. God is not seizing onto you tightly—you are free. If you cherish all this work that God does on you because He respects, cherishes, and treasures your life, you should not choose to be guarded against, to harbor misunderstandings about, to feel resistant toward, or to reject God when He orchestrates and arranges any environment for you. Instead, you should do what a created being ought to do and display the attitude a created being ought to have toward the Creator—submission and acceptance. Isn’t this so? (Yes.) This aspect has now been fellowshipped clearly.

The way people approach God’s work has already exposed one of their notions and imaginings. What is this notion and imagining? People interpret God’s orchestrations and arrangements as Him manipulating and controlling them. Is this how God works? (No.) Deep in people’s hearts, they are indistinctly frightened of God. At the very mention of God, they feel that He is fearsome and not lovely. They believe that if you don’t listen to God’s words and submit to His orchestrations and arrangements, He will be angry with you until you listen to His words and submit to His orchestrations and arrangements, and that He will not give up until He makes you complete. Isn’t this a notion that people have? What do people imagine God to be? Don’t they imagine Him to be a dictator? They think that you must accept His rule, accept His policies, and be deferential to Him and do whatever He tells you to, and that you cannot talk about Him behind His back, and that you have to accept the environments He lays out for you, and that if you don’t accept, you will be punished and suffer retribution. Does God really do things this way? (No.) God respects you and takes responsibility for you. God cherishes the life of created human beings. People should not fail to recognize what’s good for them, or be unappreciative of His kindness. If you do appreciate God’s kindness, then you should accept the environments He lays out and accept them from Him. Even if you do not accept the truths therein, do not understand the truth principles therein, and do not understand what you should practice or change, at the very least you should not be guarded against God or misunderstand Him—this is what you should achieve. Even if you don’t gain anything from these environments, don’t misconstrue God’s desires. God is not seeking to gain anything from you. You are just a tiny created being, what could God possibly seek to gain from you? Your life and everything you enjoy today were given to you by God, and so too was the little bit of doctrine you understand. Your free will, your caliber, your gifts, and your abilities and skills, both great and small, were all given to you by God. What is there for God to seek to gain from you? If God gains glory after He works the truth into you, making you submit to Him and fear Him, and you think that this is what God seeks to gain from you, then are you not judging Him by your own vile standards? This is blasphemy against God, is it not? (Yes.) What glory can God gain from people? In the end, it is people themselves who obtain tangible benefits. Before His work is completed, God has already gained glory, because God Himself is glorious—His truth and authority are evidence of Satan’s defeat, and they are the reality of all positive things. God Himself is glorious, so does He still need to gain a little bit of glory from a tiny created being like you? God does not seek to gain anything from people. If He seeks to gain anything, it is to enable people to ultimately meet His requirements according to His management plan, and once people attain salvation and are able to be compatible with God, He will then rest—because of the human race’s salvation, God will get to rest in return—this is what God seeks to gain. So, aren’t people the ones who obtain tangible benefits in the end? People will have obtained the truth, they will no longer feel lost in life—they will have a direction and a path—and they will be compatible with God and no longer rebel against Him, they will no longer be taken captive by any evil force, they will be true created beings, and they will no longer face death—what a great honor that is! The ones who obtain the greatest tangible benefits are human beings, those who accept God’s work and God’s salvation. Has this aspect been fellowshipped clearly? What is people’s notion and imagining within this? (They interpret God’s orchestrations and arrangements as Him manipulating and controlling people.) If we didn’t fellowship about this, people would always have some thoughts and views in their minds that they couldn’t express or that hadn’t formed into a systematic theory. Although these things do not constrain them in doing their duties, or affect their daily lives in an obvious way, they severely affect their pursuit of truth, their attitude toward God, and their relationship with God. Therefore, these are things that people must let go of. Once this problem is resolved, you will have let go of a barrier between you and God, and one kind of obstacle on your path of pursuing the truth will have been removed, making it easier for you to pursue the truth. When real difficulties are resolved, the barriers and obstacles between you and God will be reduced, so you will be able to do your duty and practice the truth with much more ease. It’s just like going to a battlefield—do you think it is better to be carrying a light load or to be bearing a heavy burden when you go into battle? Which one is more comfortable? (To go into battle carrying a light load.) To go into battle with a light load, just carrying a weapon on your back is enough—it’s simple and easy that way. If on top of that, you carry pots and luggage, or cosmetics and fitness equipment, the burden will be too heavy; it will be painful to carry so many things into battle, and inconvenient to fight. These notions and imaginings are like different kinds of burdens that people carry around, and are troubles and encumbrances to them wherever they go. In short, from time to time these things will affect you and obstruct you from pursuing and practicing the truth. When there are no critical issues, it will seem like you don’t have any major problems. But once critical problems of principle do arise, you will have a barrier of these things separating you from God. When these things come out, you will feel that there is a problem in your relationship with God, that there is a conflict between you and God; your heart of belief in God will no longer be so pure, and you will have many difficulties. But when you let go of these things, you will feel great, your heart will be relaxed and liberated, and no longer constrained or bound. Although these things will flash up from time to time in your subconscious mind or your thoughts, you will have already basically resolved them, and when you do things again, you will feel much more at ease doing them and do so much more simply. Although these notions and imaginings may still have a subtle effect in the depths of your mind, at the very least you will have clearly discerned in your subjective will that they are not positive things, so subjectively you will let them go and not be affected by them. In this way, you will have basically let go of and resolved this barrier between you and God.

We often fellowship in this way on the topic of pursuing the truth. Can you feel the importance of pursuing the truth? When you saw people around you whom you are acquainted with being handled by the church, with some even being cleared out or expelled, did you have any thoughts about it? Did you draw any experience or lessons from it? What are the main problems with those who were moved to B groups and those who were cleared out? (When I saw some people around me that I am acquainted with being transferred to B groups or being cleared out, it stirred up my heart and mind. Although they have believed in God for many years, they really do not pursue the truth, and if I, too, don’t pursue the truth and don’t seek the truth whenever things befall me, I will ultimately be eliminated like them.) Do you know what the principles of God’s house were for handling these people? Did God’s house clear them out just because they are of poor humanity and don’t pursue the truth, and because it finds them displeasing? (No.) Then, is it the case that all those who were not handled have no problems with their humanity, that they all love the truth, pursue the truth, and can submit to the truth, and love and fear God? Is that the case? (No.) Were those people cleared out or moved to B groups by God’s house merely because they do not love the truth and are averse to it? Were they handled because they are of poor humanity and totally refuse to accept the truth, or because of their poor appearance or some temporary transgression? Is this the principle by which God’s house handles people? (No.) Is it because someone does not pursue the truth that God’s house handles them, disqualifies them from doing a duty, and sends them away? (No.) So why did it handle and send away these people? (Because they didn’t act according to the truth principles and they disrupted and disturbed the church’s work, causing serious losses to the work of God’s house.) Was this the main reason? (Yes.) What other reasons were there? Has anyone ever been sent away for constantly lying? (No.) Has anyone ever been sent away because they don’t love the truth and are averse to the truth? Has anyone ever been sent away because they are disloyal in doing their duty? (No.) Do you think it’s a pity that these people were sent away? Were any of them being wronged? (No.) Absolutely none of them were being wronged. According to the evil deeds these people committed, they deserve to die eighteen times when they go to the spiritual realm, and they all must be punished—dying and then coming back to life, and being punished again, and dying again, and coming back to life again, and being punished again, and dying again—they deserve to die eighteen times in total. They committed many evil deeds and their sins are heinous! Why were these people handled and expelled, then? It is because not handling them was not an option—they were not doing their duties, they were causing disruptions and disturbances, and they were sabotaging things! Some even think that these people were handled because they love to lie and are of poor humanity, or because they vie for status and power and are disloyal in doing their duties; other muddled people say that it’s because they don’t love the truth and don’t pursue the truth. So, do you love the truth? Do all those who have not been sent away love the truth and pursue the truth? (No.) None of these are facts. In all actuality, these people were handled and expelled because in the process of doing their duties, they played the role of causing disruptions and disturbances and sabotaging things, they did things that Satan and devils and the great red dragon want to do but are unable to, seriously violating the administrative decrees of God’s house and gravely angering God. They were only sent away because not sending them away was just not an option. It’s not that God’s house is unloving and harsh toward people, and it’s not that God doesn’t give people chances. Rather, it’s that those people went too far in their actions, causing disruptions and disturbances, and the losses they caused to the church’s work were too great. They weren’t doing their duties, and they were not even laboring; they were causing disruptions and disturbances, and they were doing evil. None of God’s chosen ones like having people like this in the church. If you say something derisive or tell a lie in the church, it is just your personal behavior, it is just that you don’t love the truth and don’t pursue the truth, and as long as it doesn’t cause a disruption or disturbance, no one will handle you; if sometimes you are somewhat perfunctory in doing your duty, but most of the time you are effective, then as long as you don’t cause a disruption or disturbance, God’s house will give you the opportunity to stay and do a duty, treating you according to the principles. However, these people caused disruptions and disturbances. They recklessly committed misdeeds, and they violated principles in every regard, causing great turmoil; all aspects of the church’s work were sabotaged, and the fruits of the duties done by many of the brothers and sisters went completely to waste. The consequences of their disruptions and disturbances are very serious, and it will take countless others countless hours to redress them, so these people had to be sent away! Only in this way was it possible to protect the brothers and sisters so that they could do their duties normally and achieve good results. Only by clearing out these evil people and antichrists was it possible to create a suitable working and living environment for the brothers and sisters. If these evil people and antichrists remained in the church, they would only be a scourge, and there would be a foul and turbid atmosphere and chaos wherever they went. Nothing they did even met the standard of laboring. All they did was disturb, sabotage, and demolish. Everything they did was in order to disrupt and disturb the church’s work and church life. Are they not servants of Satan? Can such people remain in the church? They are not ordinary corrupt humans, but servants of Satan! What did these people do? They squandered God’s offerings and gave them to nonbelievers unconditionally—they were extremely generous in giving money to nonbelievers, forcing it on them even when they didn’t ask for it. When they asked nonbelievers to do some work and the nonbelievers said one hundred dollars would be enough, they insisted on paying three hundred, and when the nonbelievers asked for three hundred dollars, they insisted on paying five hundred, even giving the nonbelievers additional bonuses after they had finished paying their wages. No matter how many offerings were to be spent, they would not ask the Above about it, and instead just make the decision on their own. No matter what work they did, they did not perform it according to the work arrangements of God’s house, or according to the principles given by God’s house, and of course, they certainly did not perform it according to the truth principles. They just followed their own desires and did it however they pleased, without defending the interests of God’s house at all. They would rather defend nonbelievers than the interests of God’s house, and they squandered God’s offerings everywhere. Was that money they had earned? They didn’t hold back at all when it came to giving bonuses and gifts to nonbelievers, and no one was allowed to disagree with them, and they rebuked anyone who did disagree with them. Do you think that people like this are people who believe in God and follow God? They are dregs, aren’t they? Should people like this be cleared out? (Yes.) What other evils did these people commit? In preaching the gospel they reported false numbers to deceive God’s house, and ruthlessly tormented and suppressed anyone who didn’t report false numbers. They forced others to report false numbers, giving them no option but to do so. What manner of people are these? Are they even people? If you say that they are merely of poor humanity, do not love the truth, and do not pursue the truth, does this statement hold water? Isn’t it nonsense? (Yes.) Not only do they not love the truth and not pursue the truth, but they do not even possess normal humanity, never mind loving and pursuing the truth—devils are what they are! You see this clearly now, right? (Yes.) What is the nature of these people? (The nature of devils.) They have the nature of devils. After being cleared out, these people were defiant, and even felt wronged, saying “I am innocent, I didn’t do that!” The facts were right before their eyes, but they refused to own up to it and even stubbornly clung to their excuses and remained defiant to the end; doesn’t this prove that it was right to clear them out? What will be the consequences if these kinds of people are not cleared out? Will they repent? Even if you give them the opportunity to continue doing a duty and only prune them, can they repent and change for the better? (No, they can’t.) There is absolutely no way they could repent. What nature essence is this? What kind of people cannot repent, and do not repent even when faced with the facts? (Devils.) Devils, people with the essence of Satan, evil spirits, and filthy demons will not repent; no matter how you fellowship on the truth, they will not repent. They don’t even acknowledge the facts of their evildoing, so can they accept the truth and come to know themselves? They absolutely will not do that! If they could acknowledge the facts of their evildoing, they would have a chance of accepting the truth, but they do not even admit the facts, and do not acknowledge or accept the nature of their deeds—such people cannot possibly repent. They’re just like the Sodomites—if you told the Sodomites, “If you don’t repent, God will destroy this city,” would they accept it? What would be their attitude after hearing these words? They would act as if they hadn’t heard them and continue to do things according to their own preferences, doing whatever they liked, without repenting at all. Therefore, their final outcome was that of being destroyed. As for these people who caused disruptions and disturbances in the church, God gave them opportunities and yet they did not cherish them or repent, and they insisted on opposing God to the end. These people have no conscience or reason—are they worthy of pity? (No, they are not.) Is there anyone who has defended these people that are unworthy of pity? Is there anyone who admires them, feeling that they have suffered and paid a price for many years, and that they have worked extremely hard and extremely diligently, and that some of them have pretty good caliber, and possess great work capability and leadership skills, and that it is a pity that they were sent away? Is it a pity? (No, it isn’t.) It isn’t a pity, which means that it was right to send them away. Just observe and see whether these people can accept the truth and what path they are walking. If people even cause disruptions or disturbances while doing their duties, they are the dregs of mankind! It is only right that created beings do their duties, and no matter what that duty is, they must fulfill their responsibility. Even if their performance of their duty falls short of being up to standard, at the very least they should not cause disruptions and disturbances! Causing disruptions and disturbances is something that Satan does; it should not be something that corrupt humans do. Corrupt humans have been corrupted by Satan and they cannot help but resist God; however, people with normal humanity, conscience, and reason would not intentionally cause disruptions and disturbances while doing their duties. This is because their conscience and reason restrain them, and so they will not disrupt, disturb, or sabotage the work of God’s house in the process of doing their duty. Even if one cannot do their duty in a way that is up to standard, it is passable to do it to an average standard, and this at least meets the standard of conscience and reason. However, these people cannot even meet this standard, so in the end they can only end up at this point—being cleared out or expelled from God’s house because of their many evil deeds. These are the dregs of mankind!

Next, let’s talk about the problems of notions and imaginings in “letting go of the barriers between oneself and God and one’s hostility toward God,” which is the third item in “letting go” within the practice of how to pursue the truth. We just talked about some of people’s notions and imaginings about God’s work. Looking at it now, don’t people have some other notions and imaginings about God’s work? Will these notions and imaginings affect how people treat God’s work, how they experience God’s work, and how they understand and know God’s work? Among the various types of people who appear in the church, one type is evil people and antichrists. No matter what evil they did that caused them to be handled, and no matter what matters led the church to clear them out or expel them, there are always some people who have certain notions about God’s house cleansing away disbelievers, evil people, and antichrists, and these notions and imaginings are due to the fact that they have no understanding whatsoever of God’s work or God’s sovereignty. In people’s notions and imaginings, the church is the place where God works on earth, so the church is the most direct place for people to see God’s sovereignty, and it can also be said that it is the most direct and obvious place where God’s sovereignty is manifested. However, in this place, people often see some people, events, and things appear that are inconsistent with their notions. In people’s notions they think that, since the church is a place associated with God’s work, it should be a calm and tranquil place filled with friendliness and peace, love and tolerance, and joy and comfort. They believe that individuals like evil people and antichrists should never appear in the church, and that there shouldn’t be occurrences of evil people doing evil. And they think that under God’s sovereignty, there should of course be no occurrences of the truth principles being violated in the church, much less should there be lawless people or lawless things of any kind, or things that are inconsistent with human will, human feelings, and humanity. They believe that everything should be so peaceful, tranquil, pleasant, positive, optimistic, and uplifting in the church, and there shouldn’t even be any fighting, or any hideousness or ugly things happening that are inconsistent with the needs of humanity. These are all people’s notions. However, the facts are inconsistent with people’s notions and imaginings. Regardless of the period or work stage, in the church, there are always incidents occurring of some evil people and antichrists disturbing and disrupting the church’s work, causing certain aspects of the work of God’s house to be sabotaged, the order of the church’s work to be upset and disturbed, and other such things. When these things happen, people feel that it is unthinkable, and their hearts are filled with helplessness, incomprehension, and confusion, and they wonder, “Does God really exist? How exactly does God hold sovereignty over humankind and govern His church, govern His house? Does God really concern Himself with this or not? Where is God? Why is it that, when these lawless things happen and when evil people appear and cause a disturbance, no one steps forward to stop them, and God doesn’t come forward and stop them either? What exactly is going on here? Isn’t the church God’s house? Aren’t those who follow God His chosen people? Why doesn’t God watch over or protect His house? Why doesn’t God protect His chosen people so that they can live peacefully in a cocoon, in a haven?” These doubts and this incomprehension that people have are caused by people’s various notions, are they not? (Yes.) So, what are these notions mainly about? Aren’t they about God’s work and God’s sovereignty? Because such matters as evil people doing evil and causing disruptions and disturbances happen in the church, and because people do not understand these matters, it is difficult for them to see through to the origins of these matters and what the end result of them will be. Because people cannot see through to these things, they develop all sorts of ideas, and notions regarding God. Some people think, “God’s house should show love to evil people and antichrists. If God’s house doesn’t show them love, won’t it be the same as society? In society, there is always one group of people tormenting some other group of people, all for the sake of vying for power and influence. By clearing out and expelling evil people isn’t God’s house likewise tormenting people? It’s not that safe to stay in God’s house! If you really do encounter any turbulent situations, you might be wronged and cleared out, and no one will vindicate you! Where exactly is God? Why doesn’t God come out and say something or do something? Let us see your existence, let us see your almightiness, let us see your sovereignty with our own eyes, that way we will feel at ease, won’t we?” In the church, every time people experience some events that they find incomprehensible, feelings like unease and doubt arise in some of them, with some even wanting to avoid these events, and others falling into negativity; some in particular, having been misled and fooled by antichrists, give up on themselves, and some, having been misled and exploited by antichrists and having become their accomplices, even get isolated for self-reflection or cleared out by the church. At the same time as finding all these things incomprehensible, people also come to doubt the existence of God. This is because the main source of many people’s faith in God is their belief that God is sovereign over all things, over everything. That is, many people believe that God can hold sovereignty over everything, over all things, and over the fate of humankind, and so they believe in God’s existence, and in God’s identity and essence. However, these things happening around them cause them to doubt and waver in their belief in God’s sovereignty, and then they begin to doubt the fact that God holds sovereignty over everything, and their faith in God subsequently starts to waver too, and so this whole series of problems arises. People have all manner of notions and imaginings about God’s sovereignty, and these notions and imaginings definitely do not accord with the truth or with the facts, and are instead people’s fallacious interpretations or misunderstandings. So, next we will fellowship on how God holds sovereignty over all the people, events, and things around you that you can see and feel, what the principles are for God’s sovereignty over all of this, and what the purpose is that He intends to achieve.

The term “God’s sovereignty” covers a very broad range of content. Leaving aside the broader environment, when it comes to the church, the fact that God holds sovereignty over everything is real. God’s sovereignty isn’t an empty phrase, nor is it merely a phenomenon, but rather, there are actual examples of it, and actual results. So what are the principles of God’s sovereignty in the church? Let us first think about this: Does God have sovereignty over and arrange which people are accepted into the church? (Yes, He does.) This is not empty. Which people God’s gospel and God’s words come to, and which people are able to accept God’s work, and which people can enter the church—all of this is ordained by God. For now, let us not talk about the humanity of these people, and whether they are evil people; the fact that they are able to enter the church means that God ordained this. Is God’s ordination an aspect of God’s sovereignty? (Yes.) First of all, there is one thing we can be sure of, which is that every person’s entry into the church is ordained by God. The term “God’s ordination” sounds a bit abstract, so let’s just say “God has the final say, God guards the door.” God is the gate to the kingdom and also the gate to the church. God guards the door when it comes to what kind of people can officially become members of the church, of God’s house. Regardless of whether they are disbelievers or evil people who have made their way into the church, or good people who are interested in believing in God or who are able to accept the truth and follow God, if they join the church and become members of the church, then this is not something that can be decided by any person, it is due to God’s sovereignty, arrangements, and ordination. Regardless of whether they harbor certain ulterior motives or goals for believing in God, or what their humanity is like, or what their education level and social background are, it is God who decides that they can join the church and come before Him—it is God who guards the door. Can people guard the door properly? (No, they can’t.) People cannot decide this matter, it doesn’t depend on people’s will. For example, when you see that someone is shrewd and has status in society, you think, “It would be great if this person could come to God’s house to be a church leader. Our church lacks such people.” But God doesn’t want them; He doesn’t move them. When other people preach the gospel and fellowship God’s words to them, they don’t understand what they have heard. When they listen to anything else, they are able to grasp it; it’s only when they hear the words of God that they can’t, and are like idiots—can such people still enter the church? Although they are interested in gaining blessings, they aren’t able to quiet their hearts and cannot sit still when listening to God’s words and fellowship on the truth, and after listening to two or three sermons, they stop coming. Such people have no real faith, so will your good intentions toward them have any effect? Will you be able to bring them into the church? No. God has the final say on that. God says He doesn’t want such people, and no matter whether it be for rendering service or for playing some role, He doesn’t want them. So, even if you, with good intentions, drag them along, it will be useless, and in the end, they will still have to leave. They cannot possibly become members of the church; no matter who drags them along, it will be useless. This is a matter that cannot be decided by people; it is ordained by God, and God guards the door. Some people do not have social status, they are not important figures, and they are of average caliber and look unremarkable, but they are quite simple and forthright, and they are interested in matters of belief in God. No matter what difficulties they have, they are inseparable from God, and their enthusiasm is extremely great—this enthusiastic energy is something that the brothers and sisters are happy to see, and God is pleased to see it, too—and in fact, it is because they are moved by the Spirit of God that they are so enthusiastic. After they enter the church and see that the people in the church are all good people, eating and drinking the words of God and fellowshipping on the truth every day, they are extremely encouraged by this and feel that this is the right path of life, so they begin preaching the gospel and doing their duties and become followers of God. Who decides that they can believe in God? (God decides.) It is God who decides. They can only believe in God because God allows them to enter the church. If God didn’t work and move them, they wouldn’t be able to believe in God, and if they were forcibly dragged into the church, they would have to leave sooner or later. People have no faculty within their innate attributes for accepting the truth; the fact that they can love the truth and accept the truth proves that God works on them. If God works on them, they can become members of the church—this is a prerequisite for all kinds of people entering the church, the prerequisite being that God wants them. No matter what role they play in the church, in any case, God guards the door to His house. If He does not allow them to come in, then they are outside the door; if He allows them to come in, then they are inside the door. Therefore, becoming a member of the church is not such a simple matter. When it comes to specifically what principles serve as the basis for God accepting people, God, of course, has His own principles. We won’t fellowship on what kind of person God wants and what kind of person He doesn’t want—it’s very complicated. Why do I say that it’s complicated? God has a plan for who enters the church, what role they play during what period, and what duty they do or what important work they shoulder during what period, and in what period they conform to the work needs of God’s house and its personnel needs. God regulates and controls on a macroscopic and overall level, rather than just acting in the present moment—this is a very complicated matter, and cannot be explained clearly in a few words, so we will not get into the details. In short, whether a person can enter the gate to God’s house is not decided by any person; God holds sovereignty over this and arranges this. After entering God’s house, all kinds of people do all kinds of duties, play all kinds of roles, and walk all kinds of paths. All these various sorts of people have all manner of different manifestations, whether good or bad, positive or negative, proactive or passive—all of this is under God’s sovereignty and governance.

God’s sovereignty means that everything occurs and happens according to its natural course under His governance; no event occurs by chance, and the developments and changes that any event undergoes are not initiated or determined by any person—God holds sovereignty over all of this. Of course, the final result and characterization of any event are also based on the essence of that type of event and the essence of the types of people involved in it, and the basis for characterizing the event is entirely God’s words and God’s required principles. No type of event happens by chance, and the final result of any type of event is not decided by people. In fact, the beginning of any type of event that happens is arranged and given rise to by God. When God gives rise to a type of event, He arranges for a type of person to act in it, and that type of person might play the role of a service-doer or a foil, they might play a negative role, or they might play a positive role. But no matter what role they play, the beginning of all these things is arranged by God. There are two explanations of God making arrangements in this regard. One explanation is that God personally makes some positive arrangements and provides some positive direction and supervision, and has some positive figures initiate an event—this is one explanation of “God’s arrangements.” Another explanation is that God dispatches and sends a type of spirit to do certain things. These things are negative and wicked in people’s eyes, and so these negative and wicked characters are definitely negative figures, that is, the types of people whom God ordains from the outset to enter His house as foils and negative teaching materials. God gets them to play these roles, because with their nature essence, these are the only roles they can play, and He lets them perform to their hearts’ content and do what they ought to do as foils to their hearts’ content. Throughout the entire process, whether it be the manifestations of positive figures or those of negative figures, God’s principle in approaching and handling all these matters is to let them take their natural course. In viewing and dealing with these matters, the positive figures have some positive viewpoints, and some viewpoints that accord with humanity and the standard of conscience. Even though some of them reveal some corrupt dispositions—possessing some manifestations of being a people pleaser, or revealing some other corrupt dispositions—at the very least they hold to the conscience and reason of humanity, that is, they hold to the fundamental baseline for conducting oneself. And when it comes to the negative figures, God does not intervene in or guide anything that they do, but lets them follow their natural course; they also perform to their hearts’ content, and they expose their hideousness and do certain things to their hearts’ content. They successfully play the roles of the negative figures that God exposes, namely evil people and antichrists, enabling others to see vividly, in real life, what kind of people are devils, what kind of people are evil people, and what kind of people are antichrists, and exactly what the hideous countenances of the antichrists, evil people, Satans, and devils that God exposes are like. If these negative figures were not used as living teaching materials in real life, then in your mind, devils and Satans would forever be intangible, and would forever be just a guess or a picture. But now these living examples are placed right before your eyes, and these devils wearing human skin are living vividly before your very eyes, and their speech and conduct, their every word and action, their facial expressions, and even their tone of voice, all appear vividly in your life, right in front of you, and are imprinted in your mind. This is not a bad thing for you. This kind of thing occurs repeatedly in the church. The first time it happens, you feel uneasy and think you need to pray to God. The second time it happens, you think, “I must learn to use the truth to protect myself, and next time I encounter this kind of person, I must avoid them,” and you begin to think about how to protect yourself and stay away from evil people. The third time this kind of person appears, you ponder, “Why do these people speak exactly like the great red dragon, like Satan? Aren’t the things they say misleading? Are they not evil people? It seems that God’s words have said that people who display these manifestations are antichrists. I must discern and expose them, I cannot be misled by them, and I must stay away from them.” By experiencing this kind of thing again and again, you obtain a clearer and more thorough understanding of discerning antichrists, evil people, Satans, and devils, and of what disruptions and disturbances are. Your understanding no longer stops at words and doctrines, and much less at images. Instead you are increasingly able to identify these things in real life, and at the same time, you are able to view these people using the truth, and to resolve these things that have happened using the truth. Of course, when these things happen, you are also constantly correcting your views and standpoints, thinking about exactly what standpoint you should adopt toward these people, what perspective you should regard them from, and what kind of relationship you should maintain with them. When you face these things, you will unconsciously ponder on these issues, constantly seek the truth to find the answers and draw conclusions, and ultimately gain something. During this process, all God does is provide people with the truth and enable them to understand the truth, whether it be fellowshipping on the truth or enabling people to understand the truth in the things that befall them—in sum, God does not nip this situation in the bud. If this thing must happen, and it is beneficial to the life entry of God’s chosen people and to the work of the church, then God will allow it to befall people, and He will not stop it, but will let it develop according to its natural course. God’s purpose in working this way is, in one regard, to eliminate people, and in another regard, to make people perfect. Of course, in eliminating people He definitely targets those who serve as foils and aren’t even worthy of rendering service, whereas in perfecting people, He targets His chosen ones—those of them who are willing to pursue the truth. There is a twofold significance to this. One significance is that through the performance they put on, evil people are revealed, eliminated, and cleared out of the church. The other is that, in the process of these evil people gradually putting on a performance and serving as foils, God’s chosen people are enabled to learn to discern, and to understand the truth in God’s words; in this way, God works the truth into people in a practical manner—that is, God allows all the various manifestations of the wicked essence of all the kinds of evil people, antichrists, Satans, and devils that He exposes to be displayed in people’s real lives, and this enables people to have a clear understanding and knowledge of various types of wicked, hideous, and negative figures, events, and things. Say, for example, that God tells you, “You cannot touch burning coals with your hands; your fingers will get burned and they will hurt.” You don’t know what burning coals look like, you don’t know what it feels like to touch them, and after He tells you this, what you understand is a doctrine. Some people then imagine that a burning coal is a ball or a long strip. And what is the color of burning coals like? What do they feel like to touch? What would the pain of touching them be like? You don’t know. Your impression of burning coals is merely a picture of what your mind is able to imagine, and it will never have anything to do with the real thing. So, one day, when God takes out a tray of burning coals and places it in front of you, you don’t recognize them, and you just feel that they seem pretty hot. You gingerly reach toward them with your hand, to see whether your fingers will feel hotter when you touch them. God says, “You can try it, but don’t touch them for too long, otherwise they will burn your skin.” Some people are foolish—they stretch out all five fingers and grab a coal, and their entire hand gets burned and blisters. Others are smart and cautious—they just reach out one finger and lightly touch a coal and recoil in less than a second, saying, “Ouch, it’s too hot! It really is burning!” Whether you use five fingers or one finger to touch it, in any case, what you touch is the real thing rather than an image or words, and for the rest of your life, you will never forget the feeling and experience of touching burning coals, and what burning coals mean to you. When you see burning coals again, you will tell others: “You can use them to keep warm, and to dry clothes and toast buns, but you must never touch them with your hands. You will get burned and blistered if you touch them.” People may say: “So what will happen if I get burned and blistered?” And you will reply: “At the very least, you won’t be able to hold things with your hands, and it will also be inconvenient for you to eat and even more inconvenient for you to do physical work.” This is speaking from experience, is it not? After that profound experience, the burning sensation of hot coals will be deeply etched into your memory, and so you won’t readily touch burning coals ever again. God holds sovereignty over all things and arranges all kinds of things to happen to people so that they can learn lessons and benefit from them, and so that the truths and words that He provides to people can be truly worked into them, and thus God’s words and truths are no longer doctrines, slogans, or regulations in people’s hearts, but become their life, and the principles and criteria which they depend on for survival, and are a part of their life—in this way, God’s work will have achieved its effect.

When it comes to the matter of God’s sovereignty, what people should see is that God arranges the beginning of an event, then guides and leads the course of its development; as for what the result of the event is in the end, what those who pursue the truth gain from it and how much they gain, where this event and the people and things involved in it end up, and how they are finally arranged, these are also determined by God, of course—this is a principle of God’s sovereignty over all things. God only predetermines the beginning, process, and result of each event, and He allows the entire event to develop freely in the direction He has set, the purpose being to make everything conform to the natural patterns, or to let everything exert its function without undergoing any distortion or any processing, so as to achieve the effect that God intends to achieve. Isn’t this so? (Yes.) For example, when God arranges for an event to start and occur, He then begins to observe the attitudes of the people who come into contact with this event, and what their views toward it are—whether they view it in an attentive manner or aren’t interested in paying mind to it, and whether they engage in it with their heart or reject, resist, and avoid it—God is observing the manifestations of the various types of people. So, does God intervene in the manifestations of the various types of people? God does not intervene. God gives you the right to choose freely. You can attach great importance to this event and be very earnest about it, or you can adopt an attitude of disregarding it and being indifferent to it, and of course, you can also adopt an attitude of abstaining, avoiding it, and not participating in it—God just silently observes. But the emergence and occurrence of the whole event is initiated by God. This is the initial step of God’s sovereignty over an event. When this event begins to develop, as for which people participate in it, which people get involved in it, and in which direction the event develops once they have gotten involved in it, of course it is God who maneuvers and arranges all of these people, so that the event develops in the direction and with the effect that God wants. In the same way, when this event gets out into the open and the whole affair develops to a climax, God is still watching the attitudes, manifestations, opinions, and views of the various types of people. He is watching whether you really take this event to heart, whether you are extremely serious, rigorous, and earnest with regard to this event, or whether you are indifferent toward it, ignore it, and are incredibly numb toward it, or adopt an attitude of avoidance and repulsion toward it. He is watching to see whether you are someone who loves the truth, and whether you are someone who is earnest when it comes to God’s words, God’s requirements, and the truth. In the process of development of the whole event, your attitude becomes increasingly apparent, and God will see with increasing clarity your attitude toward the truth, your attitude toward the environments He lays out, and He will also clearly see your attitude toward pursuing the truth. When the whole event develops to its end and has its inevitable result, God is still watching what you have gained from the whole event, what you are thinking in your mind, and what you are calculating. He is looking at whether you are only focused on gaining experience and drawing lessons from this event in order to protect yourself—being a people pleaser—or whether you do things according to the truth principles and are no longer muddled like you were before. God will also look at what your attitude toward this event is, whether you keep silent and don’t express any views, standing aloof from anything that does not affect you personally, or whether in encountering this event you not only lack a pure comprehension, but instead your misunderstandings and complaints about God have also become more severe, and you have developed even more notions and imaginings about Him, even to the point of wanting to avoid it. Various types of people have different thoughts and views when all kinds of events play out, and God is observing and recording all of them. In any given year, on any given day, and at any given hour, minute, or second, what you are thinking, what you are saying, what you are calculating, what you are planning, what aspect of the truths you come to understand, what your attitude is when someone fellowships about some aspect of the truth, whether you resist and are averse to it and don’t want to listen to it, or plan to make your escape—God scrutinizes all these things. There are also some people who never have any attitude toward the people, events, and things that appear in the church, God’s house, or around them, who are numb and dull-witted like dummies. They just cling tightly to their own views, thinking: “As long as I don’t do evil and don’t cause disruptions or disturbances, or judge others, and I don’t make any comments or have any attitude or views when I encounter any people, events, or things, and I just act like a robot and do my duty well and labor well in a rule-abiding manner, that’s enough.” This, too, is a kind of thought and view. Of course, God will also observe and record this type of thought and view. The purpose of God’s sovereignty over all things and events and over every specific thing that happens around people is to lay out environments for people and to provide them with living teaching materials, so that in the face of all sorts of things, the various types of people show their truest side, and show their truest thoughts and views, and their truest attitude toward God and the truth. These attitudes that people have are manifested entirely in a state of freedom and liberty. God never intervenes, interferes, or manipulates, He just allows the various types of people to express their thoughts, views, and attitudes to their hearts’ content and according to their natural course, and ultimately reveals and treats the various types of people according to their manifestations. Who is included within “the various types of people”? What arrangements does God make for the various types of people? God enables those who love the truth to obtain the truth; He enables those who are not interested in the truth but are willing to labor to settle down to do so; as for those who are repulsed by and averse to the truth, He reveals their attitude of being averse to the truth, but if they can settle down to render service or are suitable for rendering service, God will select these better ones and entitle them to render service, whereas if they are not suitable for rendering service, or they are averse to the truth to the extent that they may cause disruptions and disturbances, God will clear them out when the time and occasion are right. All of this work that God does is inconsistent with people’s notions, is it not? (Yes.) Can people see God’s tolerance and loveliness in all this? (From these things, we can see that through this practical work, God leads people to experience, and behind all this work is God’s love for man.) Within this work are God’s painstaking intentions, the wisdom of His work, and His responsible attitude toward the human beings He intends to save. There is one other aspect, which is that God’s possessions and being are not things that human beings have. God is extremely rigorous and earnest in everything He does, and never careless. Particularly when it comes to the matter of people gaining the truth, He is extremely rigorous and earnest; in order to take responsibility for people’s lives and people’s outcomes, God must act like this. Of course, for God, this is exactly what His essence and His possessions and being are like. No matter what attitude you have toward your life, and toward your outcome and destination, whether it be a serious and rigorous attitude or a perfunctory attitude, in any case, for God, since He has selected you and since He provides you with the truth and wants to save you, He will fully grasp your every word and action, and your attitudes in everything, and He will ultimately determine your outcome based on all your attitudes. And on the basis of all your attitudes, He will look at whether you will ultimately be someone who obtains the truth, and someone who will be able to submit to God and be compatible with Him. It may be that you have never been earnest about the matter of God saving people, have never pondered it carefully, and don’t know how God saves people. However, as the Creator who holds sovereignty over created human beings, He is not muddled and confused like humans are; He does the work of saving humankind in a serious manner. He created you and selected you. He promised people that He would thoroughly save them, so He will accomplish this work and will be responsible to the end. Therefore, there are real manifestations and actual work content in God’s accomplishment of His work and assumption of responsibility to the end. This is how God works, and this is His sincere and earnest attitude. God won’t be perfunctory with you, or fob you off with some slogan, and God’s work in particular better reflects the real price God pays in order to save people, and His responsible attitude toward people.

Once people understand the principles and purpose of God’s salvation of people and God’s sovereignty over everything, won’t their notions and imaginings about God in this regard be resolved to some extent? (Yes.) What should people understand in this regard? It is that, whether it is in all kinds of matters or one specific matter that God holds sovereignty over, people’s cooperation accounts for 80 or even 90 percent, and their thoughts and views, and their attitudes toward the matter in question are very important in the eyes of God. Don’t think that if you say nothing and don’t show your stance when things befall you, then God will pay no heed to you and ignore you. If you would like God to ignore you, then you’d be better off not believing in God. Since you are in God’s house and since God has selected you, God will absolutely not ignore you. All things are scrutinized in God’s eyes, all the more so you, a tiny person. Even if you were an ant, if you were selected by God, God would still constantly scrutinize you and lead you. Since God scrutinizes you, you just have to accept the things that befall you. Don’t avoid them—avoidance is not a wise choice. You must face them. Only when you face them and have a clear attitude will you have the opportunity, in the environments that He has laid out for you, to obtain the truths that God lets you understand, whereas avoiding them will not enable you to understand truths in your silence. Apart from truths regarding visions, other truths—namely all kinds of truths concerning human life and existence—are expressed through an environment or through the context of the behavior of a kind of person playing out. People can only truly comprehend the realities of these truths after they have gained real experience and understanding. Most people cannot see this point clearly, and their attitude toward the various kinds of truths is lukewarm, and they also constantly want to avoid these environments, and they do not wish to seek the truth regarding real problems. They neither learn to discern different types of people and events based on the truth, nor do they train at applying the truth to resolve various problems. No matter what befalls them, they have no attitude or views, and they don’t participate in fellowship and discussions. They are satisfied with just praying to God, reading God’s words, learning hymns, and fulfilling their duties every day, and that’s it. I will tell you one thing, which is that the characteristics of a laborer are that they are only willing to exert effort, and they are not interested in any aspect of truth or willing to be earnest regarding any aspect of the truth, and find doing so troublesome—this is a laborer. If you are not a servant of Satan, or some evil person or antichrist, then at best you can only be a laborer. But it is different for God’s people who can achieve salvation. They are not satisfied with merely laboring and exerting a bit of effort, but learn and understand various truths in all types of people, events, and things, and then view and deal with the various types of people and events based on these truths. In this way, the various truths are gradually worked into them, and gradually become their life and the principles for their actions and self-conduct. Only when the truth becomes your life will you be able to submit to God and fear God and shun evil; otherwise, this effect cannot be achieved. Don’t be afraid to experience things, and don’t be afraid to discern people. It’s not a bad thing that all kinds of events occur, and God holds sovereignty over this. With God holding sovereignty and making the arrangements, what do you have to fear? With God holding sovereignty and making the arrangements, then for you, the occurrence of an event is at the very least not malicious or a temptation. Rather, it is in order for you to learn lessons, to be edified and to benefit, and in order to make you perfect. If you can submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements, approach what happens to you as positive teaching materials, and seek the truth and learn the lessons you ought to learn, then the truth will naturally and imperceptibly be worked into you and become your life. Therefore, it is wrong for most people to adopt an attitude of indifference, avoidance, non-participation, and non-engagement, and to not express views or fellowship, when they are faced with various events—this is inadvisable. Why do I say it is wrong and inadvisable? This attitude shows God that you are not interested in His salvation or His good intentions, and that you are not interested in being made perfect by God, and pay no heed to it and reject it. When God sees that this is your attitude, will He still want to save you? And even if God does want to save you, how can He save you if you don’t cooperate? As the saying goes, “It’s a hopeless case,” and this saying refers to precisely this type of person.

Within God’s whole management plan, especially within this final stage of His work, He has expressed a great number of truths, and you have heard them all. No matter how many of them you have experienced or understood, at the very least you know them, so God will not do any additional work of intervention and facilitation. God just awaits your attitude, as well as your cooperation in everything that befalls you—He wants to see your attitude, your views, your pursuits, and the path you take. If, every time you face people, events, or things, God records that you have no attitude and no views, and that you always have nothing to say, then tell Me, are you not a fool? What people always have nothing to say? Isn’t it those who are deaf, mute, halfwits, or idiots? What God records is that you have no attitude, so when He ultimately gives you a score, zero points is what you will get. When something befalls you, God asks, “Are you willing to pay a price?” and you say, “Yes, I am!” and He asks, “Do you have resolve? Have you sworn an oath?” and you reply, “Yes!” If you only have this resolve, but when asked what you have gained from experiencing this environment, you have nothing to say, and you’ve gained nothing from every environment you have experienced, then in the end, when God gives you a score, it will only be two points. Why two points? It is because of that little bit of resolve of yours that you will have gained two points. Tell Me, will you not then be done for? Will you still have hope of salvation? Hope of salvation is obtained through you striving for it yourself. It is the fruit that you get in exchange for choosing to walk the path of pursuing the truth. So no matter what befalls you, don’t be afraid of it or avoid it, and don’t cover your head with your hands and retreat into your shell like a tortoise—instead, face it positively and proactively. If you are timid and afraid of things, and do not dare to give an assessment of anything—no matter who it relates to—for fear of getting exposed and being seen through by others if you say something wrong, and you are always afraid and never participate, this means you are forfeiting your chance! You may have put a lot of energy into doing your duty, but the fact is that you have already determined your own outcome long ago. In the end, you will only get two points, so are you not a two-bit fool? Isn’t getting two points the same as being a two-bit fool? And since you will only get two points, won’t your belief in God during this lifetime have been in vain? This is the final stage of God’s work, if your faith has been in vain this time, then your outcome will be set. God will never again do the work of saving human beings. This is the last chance—if you still do not strive for it and you let it slip by, and you cannot attain salvation, that will be such a pity! No matter how many years you have experienced God’s work, you must at least get a passing score, then there will still be hope of you surviving. If your labor isn’t even up to standard, and you have also caused many disruptions and disturbances, then you will not have reaped any fruit at all, and your hope of attaining salvation will have become zero. In every environment that God lays out, don’t be an onlooker; be a participant, be a part of it. But there is one principle that you must adhere to at a minimum: Don’t cause disturbances. You can participate and express your own opinions and assessments, and even if you speak like a layman and just speak words and doctrines, it doesn’t matter. However, you must participate in every matter with the principle and intention of seeking the truth, practicing the truth, and submitting to the truth—only then is there hope of your salvation. On what basis is the hope of salvation established? It is established on the basis of you being able to strive toward the truth, ponder on the truth, and put effort into the truth when each matter occurs. Only on this basis can you understand the truth, practice the truth, and attain salvation. However, if you are always an onlooker when matters occur—not giving any assessments or characterizations, and not expressing any personal opinions—and you have no views on anything, or, even if you do have views, you do not express them, and you do not know whether they are right or wrong, but just keep them under lock and key in your mind and think about them, then you will end up not having obtained the truth. Think about it, this is like starving while sitting at a great feast. Are you not pitiful? In God’s work, if you have believed for ten years and have been an onlooker for all of that time, or you have believed for 20 or 30 years and been an onlooker for all of that time, then in the end, when it’s time to determine your outcome, the score God assigns to your record will be two points, and so you will be a two-bit fool, and your chance to obtain the truth and your hope of being saved will have been completely ruined by yourself. In the very end, you will be labeled as a two-bit fool, and it will serve you right, won’t it? (Yes.) What’s the secret to not being a two-bit fool? (The secret is to not be an onlooker.) Don’t be an onlooker. You believe in God, so then you must experience God’s work in order to gain the truth. Some may ask, “So, are You asking me to participate in everything? But people say, ‘Do not comment on what is not your concern.’” Asking you to participate means asking you to seek the truth and learn lessons from the things you encounter. For example, when you encounter a certain type of person, you must gain discernment through their manifestations and the things they do. If they violate the truth, you must discern what it is they did that violates the truth. If others say that this person is an evil person, you must discern what it is they said and did and what manifestations of evildoing they have for them to be characterized as an evil person. If others say that this person doesn’t defend the interests of God’s house and helps outsiders at its expense, then you should make inquiries about what it is this person has been doing. And after making inquiries, it’s not enough just to know these things. You also have to ponder: “Could I do such things? If no one reminded me, I might do the same things too, and would I not then have the same outcome as that person? Wouldn’t this be dangerous? Fortunately, God laid out this environment to give me a heads-up, which is the greatest protection for me!” After pondering on it, you realize one thing: You cannot follow the path which that type of person is following, you cannot be that type of person, and you must admonish yourself. No matter what things you encounter, you must learn lessons from them. If there are things you don’t fully understand and that you feel in your heart are odd, you should ask questions about them and find out about them, and ascertain the true state of affairs by seeking the truth. This is not curiosity; it is being earnest. Being earnest doesn’t mean going through the motions or following the herd—it is an attitude of taking responsibility. By gaining clarity about problems and then seeking the truth to resolve them, only then, when faced with the same kind of situation in the future, will you have a path of practice, be able to practice accurately, and have a feeling of being at peace and at ease. You are being earnest based on the principle of trying to understand the true state of the facts and from them gain the truth and learn how to view people and things, rather than following other people and going with the flow in all matters. Only by being earnest in your actions can you come to practice the truth and act based on the principles. Those who aren’t earnest are liable to follow other people and go with the flow, and in this way, they are likely to violate the truth principles. Say, for example, that someone consistently does their duty in a perfunctory way and so is disqualified from doing their duty. You say, “They seemed fine on the surface. How did I not notice that they were being perfunctory? Was I misled by them? In what ways were they muddling through their duty? What things did they do in a perfunctory way?” When someone else tells you a few of the ways in which that person behaved perfunctorily, you say, “That person really is good at pretending! They seemed fine on the surface, and they said really nice things. They said, ‘God has given us so much grace—we cannot be without conscience, we must do our duties properly!’ When I heard them say that, I thought they were doing their duty loyally; I never imagined that they were so perfunctory! Have I not been misled? I lacked discernment of people, I didn’t view people and things or treat people based on the truth principles. I just went by how nicely that person spoke, without looking at the results they got in their duty, or their specific behavior and manifestations, or their essence—in this matter I made a mistake. It turns out that people who outwardly appear to be good may not necessarily be truly good, and though they say nice-sounding things, they may not really do what they say, and they may not necessarily be people with conscience and humanity. From now on, I must view people based on God’s words, and learn to discern people. I cannot be fooled again!” You see, no matter what happens, as long as you are somewhat earnest and you seek the truth, and then draw conclusions, you will gain something. If you do reap these gains, isn’t that a good thing? (Yes.) You will have learned something and benefited somewhat in the matter of discerning people—this is what you gain from being earnest and putting in effort with regard to the truth. Suppose that you aren’t earnest in this way. When you hear that someone has been sent away because they were always perfunctory in doing their duty, you don’t ask, “Why were they perfunctory? Why were they sent away?” Instead you just think to yourself, “What’s the big deal about being perfunctory? In any case, I haven’t been sent away, so everything is fine.” In that case, will you have received a bit of a warning, learned a bit of a lesson, or developed a bit of discernment from this matter? No. Why won’t you have? Because you are not interested in or serious about such things, and you bear no burden at all for your own life entry or pursuit of the truth, and you are not interested in and don’t participate in other people’s fellowship on matters of pursuing the truth and of life entry, and at most, you just perfunctorily utter some words of agreement and that is all. Are there many people of this type? When things befall them, they particularly like to be perfunctory and go through the motions, and bear no burden at all for their own life entry or pursuit of the truth. Besides liking to gossip a bit when interacting with others, they have no interest whatsoever in things like those involving life entry or the lessons people should learn in the environments that God lays out. After they finish the little work they have at hand, they sit there staring off into space, just wanting to doze off or rest for a while, and they do not bear any burden at all for their own life entry. Aside from the bit of resolve and the few wishes they have, these people will ultimately gain no truths, and in the end, their total score can only be two, they will not be able to get rid of their two-bit foolishness, and so, in this lifetime they will be finished. If you are finished this time, then you really will be finished, and there will be no hope of you being saved, because your outcome will have been set. The score that a created being ultimately receives is directly linked to their outcome. If you receive a passing score, then your outcome will be that you are saved. If you do not receive a passing score, then you won’t have a good outcome. This is the time when people’s outcomes are finally determined, and once an outcome is set, it is permanent and will not change. There will not be another chance to strive for a good one and no chance to change it—your fate will be determined once and for all. Have you understood? Is this meant to frighten you? (No.) Think about it—God is doing the work of managing and saving humankind, and He is providing people with the various truths that they should possess—how many times can God do this kind of work? (Only this one time.) It has never been done before, and will never be done again. This is the only time, and once it is completed, God’s great work will be fully accomplished. What does “fully accomplished” mean? It means that He will not do it again, and has no plans to. Therefore, whatever the ultimate outcomes of people are this time, they will be finalized and will not change. God will not give people the opportunity to perform again or to live their lives again. The time that has passed will never come back, and there will not be any changes. So if you don’t seize this opportunity, you will lose the chance to be saved. If you ignore the various environments and the various people, events, and things that God has laid out, are numb and dull-witted when it comes to them, and treat them indifferently, then you are a two-bit fool. Even you don’t take your own outcome and destination seriously, so who will pay any heed to you? You have been told this so many times but you don’t take it seriously, so what are you if not a two-bit fool? Nothing is so important as the matter of being saved. Is that not the case? (Yes.) Of course, as I just said, a person’s ultimate outcome is determined by their overall manifestations in the various environments that God holds sovereignty over, so people should pay attention to their overall manifestations in daily life. The intention here is not to ask you to gossip and get drawn into disputes, but to get you, on the basis of your existing environment and conditions, and to the greatest extent possible, to come to understand the truth and enter into the truth, to embark on the path of pursuing the truth, and to strive to more or less enter into the three items of “letting go” that we have fellowshipped on, before God’s work is finished—then you will have passed with a score of 60 or more, and you will be a saved person. However, if you don’t even get close when it comes to any of these three items, or if you don’t pass in any of them, and if you have no actual entry into any of them, then you will not get a passing score, and you will not be an object of salvation. Have you understood? (Yes.)

What should you all focus on putting into practice now? Seeking the truth and learning lessons in the environments that God lays out. If every day you are content to just exert effort and perform work without pursuing the truth at all, then you are just a laborer. If you have exerted effort, experienced the various environments laid out by God, and understood some truths; and regardless of how many truths you’ve gained, you have ultimately made gains, whether they be big or small, many or few; and even if it took you a very long time to gain these things and your progress was slow, you are at the very least in the stream of God’s work, and you are someone who has made gains; then you will have a chance of being saved. What is the most basic thing you should do now? You should step out from all the various kinds of complicated and meaningless affairs and set your heart on pursuing the truth; you should strive to, within a short period of time, get a handle on your various states, to come to know your Achilles’ heel, your weaknesses, and your problems, and to then seek the truth to resolve them, so that you have a path to follow and a goal to pursue, and clear truth principles to abide by in the duty you do. You should have a clear goal and direction to pursue with regard to your own deficiencies, your own duty, and your own environment, instead of running around like a headless chicken, ending up wherever your legs blindly take you, which is dangerous. You have to get rid of the state and the present situation of your life whereby you only exert effort but do not gain the truth. Don’t be an onlooker, and don’t get drawn into all sorts of disputes. If you don’t want to get drawn into them, you must learn to put effort into the truth principles. If you understand each of the truth principles, you will be able to escape these sorts of disputes. Why do I say that? Only when you have understood the various truths can you enter into them and have hope of entering into the truth reality. Then when you participate in various things, you will have principles and know how to face these things. If you just stop being an onlooker, but are completely muddled about every truth, and do not understand any truths, and all you understand are doctrines and a few words, and you don’t know how to discern different kinds of people, and when you encounter issues you only talk about the course of events, and make a judgment on who was right and who was wrong and nothing more, and in the end you do not gain the truth, then your participation in any matter is worthless. What does this kind of participation turn into? It turns into provoking disputes. Therefore, you must learn to put effort into the truth principles, and once you become increasingly clear on applying them—and you do so with increasing accuracy—you will have hope of entering into the truth, and then you will also have hope of being saved.

With regard to how people can obtain the truth in the environments that God has laid out for them, how many principles of practice did we just fellowship on in total? Don’t be an onlooker, and what else? (Don’t just exert effort.) Get rid of the kind of state in which you are satisfied with just exerting effort but unwilling to pursue the truth. What else is there? (Don’t get drawn into all kinds of disputes.) Don’t get drawn into all kinds of disputes, don’t get caught up in all kinds of complicated affairs—don’t replace abiding by the truth principles with these things. You should abide by all of these principles. If you hold fast to them, you will not be far from pursuing the truth and will soon be able to enter into the reality of pursuing the truth. Is this easy to put into practice? I have interacted with people in the church for so many years, but very few people ask Me questions about life entry or questions involving the truth principles, and very few people talk about their personal states and then seek paths of practice. Instead, some people ask questions that have nothing to do with the truth, and they even use words such as “seek.” When I hear the word “seek,” I listen very attentively and seriously, giving them My full attention, but when it turns out they are asking about a trivial external matter, I feel disgusted. I say, “The matter you are asking about has nothing to do with the church’s work or life entry. Don’t use the word ‘seek.’ You are insulting the word ‘seek.’” Can the word “seek” be used improperly? (No, it can’t.) Someone even asked Me, “My child has a mole on his back. Some people say that this mole means that he is ill-fated, and others say that there may be a potential risk of illness in the area where the mole is growing. Anyhow, I don’t care if he is ill-fated or not, but if it really is harmful to his health, do You think this mole should be removed?” If you were asked this, how would you answer? Do you think this relates to the truth? Does it relate to the church’s work? (No, it doesn’t.) It doesn’t relate to either of these things, so am I obliged to concern Myself with this matter? (No.) I am under no such obligation. So I said, “The fact that your son has a mole on his body has nothing to do with the truth. Don’t ask Me about it, go and ask a doctor. I am not your family doctor.” Do you think I should concern Myself with this matter? (No, You shouldn’t.) No matter who you ask, no one would be willing to concern themselves with this matter. It’s not that they are afraid of taking responsibility. Rather, it’s that they have no obligation to concern themselves with such things. Would removing or not removing your son’s mole affect the church’s work? Would it affect your own performance of your duty? This matter has nothing to do with Me. Don’t ask Me about it, this is a pointless matter. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the truth, and yet you still use the word “seek.” You defile the word “seek”—it’s disgusting! Someone also asked: “A turtle has gotten into my yard, should I catch it or not? I want to seek from You.” He put forward this question to seek an answer from Me—do you think I should answer him? (No.) He said, “What if I am breaking the law by catching it? If I am breaking the law and You don’t stop me, You’ll be responsible!” What would you say? (You decided to catch it of your own free will—you breaking the law has nothing to do with me.) Whether you break the law or not is your business, and has nothing to do with Me. You can ask Me questions about things such as the principles of the church’s work and the truth principles, but when it comes to legal matters, go find a lawyer—consult a lawyer in whichever country you live. I am not a lawyer, so don’t ask Me about such matters. I am here to express the truth and do the work of saving humankind. I only provide the truth and fellowship on the principles. As for whether you can be saved or not, that has nothing to do with Me; that is your own business. And that is to say nothing of the private matters in your own life—you even more so should not ask Me about them, and I am under no obligation to answer you. That’s how it is, right? (Yes.)

This topic pertaining to God’s work is inextricably linked to people’s final outcomes, so people cannot carry notions and imaginings with them when they accept and experience God’s work; they should let go of these notions and imaginings from the root and they should not allow them to exist between themselves and God. Only by approaching God’s work with correct thoughts, views, and attitudes can people have the opportunity to understand and obtain the truth; only by approaching God’s work with correct attitudes and correct thoughts and views can people truly understand and experience God’s work, and ultimately, from within God’s work, obtain the truths they ought to obtain. Therefore, no matter what you let go of, in sum, it is all to enable you to get on the right track and embark on the path of pursuing the truth, the final result and purpose being none other than to enable you to understand the truth principles and obtain the truth. This is the ultimate purpose of our fellowshipping on this content. Whatever we have fellowshipped on, the ultimate purpose is to enable people to enter into the truth reality. If you understand the truth, and you have the truth principles as your basis in many matters, and you are no longer directionless, aimless, or lost in doing things, this does not mean that your caliber has improved, but that you have God’s truth, God’s words, as the criteria for your actions and self-conduct. That is, on the basis of your inherent caliber, abilities, and talents, you have understood the truth and you have criteria for your self-conduct, and so you are a created human being who can live independently in this world and among all things. Only such a human being is truly up to standard as a created human being—this is a standard created human being. Have you understood? (Yes.) Then here ends our fellowship for today. Goodbye!

July 15, 2023