Today, let us first ponder a question. God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart—is this a fact? (Yes.) Since God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart, why does He still test man? Have you pondered this question? (No.) You have not pondered it, so now that this question has been raised, what do you think? Do you have any understanding of this matter? (Although God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart, we still have to bear witness for God before Satan, so that Satan can see our true heart toward God and our loyalty to Him. Thus, this testing also gives us an opportunity to bear witness before Satan.) This is one aspect of what we fellowshipped on last time. Besides this, what else can you think of? (I also thought of one point: Although God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart, God also sets up environments to test man, allowing him to actually experience things, and allowing him, within those environments, to constantly battle against his own corrupt dispositions and constantly rebel against his flesh, so that he can practice the truth and practice God’s words. This is a practical process by which a created being gains the truth.) Who else has any understanding? Aren’t you usually so good at talking? Why, then, do you have no understanding when faced with an actual issue? Do you know what the question I just mentioned involves? It involves God’s way of working, and it also involves coming to know God’s intentions. So what understanding can you gain from this? If you have no understanding of such a major matter, it proves that you do not ponder these actual issues, much less understand the truth and enter into reality. Therefore, when you encounter such issues, you have no firsthand experience of them and consequently cannot speak of any understanding. Who else would like to talk about their understanding of this question? Since God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart and knows that people are willing to practice the truth, willing to do their duties devotedly, and willing to submit to God, isn’t that enough? Why does God still test man? What effect does God ultimately intend to achieve by doing this? (I think that God sets up environments to put man through trials and refinement in order to take the truth and work it into him, and make the truth his life; it is a relatively practical process.) Is this correct? (Yes. I would add one more point: I think that God’s testing of man’s work serves, in one respect, to take the truth and work it into man by having him experience trials and refinement, and in another, to fulfill God’s will in man.) You say that God tests man in order to allow him to fulfill God’s will, but can man fulfill God’s will? (No, he cannot.) You have listened to sermons for so many years, yet you have no understanding of most things, especially when it comes to actual issues in your daily lives. No matter what happens, most people only know how to spout lofty-sounding rhetoric and talk about empty doctrines and theories. Some people even say things that are completely beside the point, bearing no relation whatsoever to the truth, to reality—not even remotely connected. Although some people have not pondered these questions either, they still have some understanding of certain actual issues, right? Judging from your answers, during ordinary times in your actual lives you have made no entry into most of the truths concerning practice, and so you have no experience of them. No matter what actual issue you encounter, you have no understanding to speak of and only know how to talk about doctrines; whenever something happens, you respond with doctrines. Therefore, in any work or any area of duty, what you can do is very limited, and even the limited things you can do are not in line with the truth principles. The truth principles are beyond the grasp of most people, most people also cannot understand them, and even more so, they are unable to do their duties according to the principles. Regarding the question just now, “God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart, so why does He still test man?” most of you had no understanding, but once a few individuals had voiced some understanding, most of you could still receive confirmation in your hearts and determine who had spoken more accurately and comparatively in line with the facts. So, how exactly should this question be understood? We need to fellowship on it.

Scrutinizing man’s innermost heart is an ability that God Himself possesses. God has a penetrating understanding of mankind, of created beings; this is entirely accurate; this fact cannot be denied. Whether or not you have experienced this, whether or not you have gained any appreciation of it, and whether or not you have ever perceived it, in any case, it is a fact that God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart. Since God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart, He naturally has an especially deep understanding of man. What man’s caliber and instincts are like, how great his stature is, what he can and what he cannot do, and what corrupt dispositions he has—God knows all these things like the back of His hand; God is perfectly clear about them! Then why does God still constantly test man? What is the purpose of this testing? God needs man to give Him an answer through his own behavior and manifestations. God wants to see man’s resolve, his wishes, his prayers, or the oaths he swears before God, receive confirmation. In God’s eyes, this is an essential process; it concerns how God saves man and how He takes His words and takes the truth and works them into man. Last time, we also fellowshipped on part of why God tests man, mentioning that He tests man because He needs man to bear witness for Him. But this is a very minor part of the reason. The main reason is that, by testing man, God intends for him to take God’s words, to take the truth, and put them into practice and turn them into his own reality. The aim is not for man merely to finish reading God’s words with no more than an impression or some ideas, intentions, or resolve. Rather, it is for man, after reading God’s words, to ponder and fellowship on them, and thereby come to understand the truth, and be able to put the truth into practice so that it becomes his life reality. So why does God want man’s practice? This practice is crucial to man’s attainment of salvation. This is a necessary process through which God takes the truth and works it into man. By practicing the truth, in one respect, man is able to cast off his corrupt dispositions; in another, he truly experiences what God’s words speak of, truly experiences what God’s required standards are and what His intentions are, and also truly experiences the process of casting off his corrupt dispositions and submitting to God. Through this process, God’s words and the truth are worked into man. Of course, this is not a result that can be achieved by practicing the truth once or twice; rather, man must practice and enter into every aspect of the truth over the long term. In this long-term process, as man continually experiences and continually goes through things, his corrupt dispositions are gradually resolved to varying degrees. The resolution of man’s corrupt dispositions is still not the ultimate result God intends to achieve by testing him. What is the ultimate result? What God intends to accomplish in man is, through the truth taking effect within him, to rid him of his corrupt dispositions and then take the truth and make it his life; this is the ultimate result. When the truth becomes man’s life, his corrupt dispositions are resolved at the root. The resolution of man’s corrupt dispositions at the root is the ultimate result man achieves by walking the path of salvation. This is the principal reason why God tests man. Therefore, the two points that some people talk about when they say, “God tests man, in one respect, because He needs man to bear witness, and in another, to have man follow God’s will” are actually not very important compared with God’s management plan and His aim of making man complete and enabling man to attain salvation. What is important is that God intends, during the process of testing man, to take His words and take the truth and work them into man. The ultimate result is enabling God’s words and enabling the truth to become man’s life, to replace his old life—his corrupt dispositions. Would man not then be gained by God? (Yes.) For man to ultimately be gained by God, this is the result God intends to achieve by testing him. This testing takes many forms. Sometimes God uses an environment to put you through trials and refinement; sometimes He uses an environment to chastise and judge you; and sometimes He uses an environment to prompt you and warn you. Sometimes He uses other people to remind you, warn you, and prune you; and sometimes He uses His words to explicitly rebuke you, chasten you, and discipline you, or even uses His words to explicitly judge you and expose your rebelliousness. These are all ways in which God tests man; God’s ways of testing man are many and varied. What, then, are the conditions under which God tests man? What conditions must you meet for God to test you? You must have life entry. God scrutinizes you; He knows what you are thinking at heart, and He knows what kind of nature essence you have. However, if you do not have life entry—in other words, if you usually do not pursue the truth and do not seek the truth principles in anything—even if God enlightens you and guides you in order to help you understand an aspect of the truth, you remain indifferent, you are not moved inwardly, and neither in your heart nor in your subjective awareness do you have any intention to practice according to the truth principles. In that case, God’s various ways of testing man will rarely come upon you. What does this indicate? It indicates that you are still in the stage of laboring and have not yet embarked on the path of salvation. What is this a sign of? That you are still laboring! What does laboring mean? It means that when you do that little bit of your duty and do those tasks, this is merely exerting effort, and has nothing to do with the truth principles. Since you are merely exerting effort, there is no talk of the principles of practice, nor is there any talk of seeking the truth principles. It is enough if you can exert effort, do not cause disruptions, do not cause disturbances, do not intentionally disrupt the order, do not intentionally sabotage anything, and do not intentionally damage any kind of equipment. The requirements placed on you are not high; it is enough if you can exert effort, do not cause disturbances, and outwardly appear reasonably well-behaved. That is the standard required of you. Why is such a standard required of you? Because you do not pursue the truth, you usually do not have life entry, and you do not seek the truth in anything. Some people say, “Although we don’t seek the truth when things happen, we haven’t violated any principles. We do whatever God’s house asks us to do, we have been obedient, and we have completed our tasks. We also haven’t deliberately caused disruptions or disturbances, so how can You say we are laboring?” Does saying that these people are laboring wrong them? (No.) People know doctrinally that it does not, but some still remain unconvinced in their hearts. Why is it said that these people are laboring? (The main purpose of God becoming flesh and expressing the truth in the last days is to allow us to accept the truth, practice the truth, and gain the truth as our life. If we do our duties without principles, then doing them has nothing to do with the truth and can only be called laboring.) Upon hearing these words, some people cannot accept them, and say, “We have believed in God for so many years and have paid such a great price in doing our duties, so how can we still be laboring? We aren’t convinced by this! Doesn’t God scrutinize man’s innermost heart? Yet God doesn’t know what our hearts toward Him are like, and He doesn’t understand us! If God doesn’t understand us, how can it be said that God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart? If God does not understand man, He can easily wrong man.” Such a person believes that God has wronged them; is it right for them to think this way? (No.) They acknowledge that God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart yet also say that God has wronged them. Do they truly acknowledge that God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart? (No. If they believe God has wronged them, then even if they say, “God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart,” this is not a genuine understanding.) God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart, so does He understand people’s various states and essences? (He does.) Since God does understand, is His characterization of many people who have believed in God for years as still laboring—not being people who pursue the truth and not having embarked on the path of salvation—accurate? (It is accurate.) What is this based on? (On our actual states. In the environments God sets up, we do not seek the truth to resolve our corrupt dispositions, and we do our duties without the truth principles, so I think that God’s characterization of us is correct.) You still cannot see through this matter.

Over the years, I have spoken so many truths and fellowshipped so many truth principles—are you willing to practice them? (Yes.) You are willing to practice the truth, so have you ever prayed and made resolves or sworn oaths to God about this? (Sometimes I swear oaths and make resolves.) Most people are willing to practice the truth in their hearts, and they often pray and make resolves, and they also swear oaths to God; some even ask God to discipline them. But can this willingness mean that people possess the truth reality? Can it take the place of their practicing the truth? (No.) It cannot take the place of their practicing the truth. Look, are most people not in this state? When it comes to practicing the truth or fellowshipping on a certain aspect of the truth, as far as people’s subjective intentions are concerned, no one wants to harbor resistance to it; they are all willing to practice the truth. For example, being an honest person, performing one’s duty devotedly, not being perfunctory, cooperating harmoniously, not causing disruptions or disturbances when doing things, and being able to safeguard the interests of God’s house and uphold God’s testimony, and so on—people are all willing to practice and enter into these truths. If you were to ask, “Who is not willing to practice the truth?” no one would raise their hand; everyone is willing to practice it. If you then asked, “When do you plan to start practicing it?” they would say, “I’ll start practicing it from now on.” But afterward, they take no actual action; they still keep thinking in their hearts, “God, I am willing to practice the truth.” Not only do they pray like this before God, but they also express their resolve and express their wishes before everyone, and sometimes even move themselves to the point where tears stream down their faces and they choke with sobs. Being moved is one thing, but whether they can actually put the truth into practice is hard to say. Some people always remain at the stage of being willing to practice the truth; whenever you ask them, they say they are willing to practice, just like a child speaking the words of an adult. For example, some parents ask their child whether they will be willing to earn money to support Mom and Dad when they grow up, and the child says, “Yes!” But whether they will actually support their parents when they grow up is another matter. After hearing a child say that they are willing to support their parents, some parents take the words seriously and they take all of their hopes and pin them on the child, even being willing to work themselves to the bone for them. Actually, the child is just talking big; they themselves don’t even understand what this “willingness” means. They simply think that as long as their parents are happy and satisfied after hearing it, their “willingness” has been fulfilled. They don’t know what hardships they will have to endure, what price they will have to pay, or what responsibilities and obligations they will have to fulfill for the sake of this “willingness” when they grow up. They don’t know how this “willingness” should be put into practice, how it should be fulfilled, or how it should be turned into reality. The child is just talking big, and that’s the end of it; when they grow up, they completely forget the words they said in childhood and cast them to the winds. Making money in real life is not easy; reality is so harsh, and nothing goes smoothly no matter what job they do. So, can the words they said in childhood, “I am willing to support my parents,” be achieved? (It’s not easy to achieve.) Most of you are also in this state; you are unwilling to merely labor for God, and are willing to expend yourselves devotedly for God, willing to submit to God, willing to enter into the truth reality, and willing to do everything according to the truth principles. However, merely stopping at being willing does not represent your reality and is not your reality; you possess no reality in these areas. People stop at merely being willing and then think, “Because I am willing, I count as being loyal and as having practiced the truth. Since I have this resolve, I can cast off my corrupt dispositions and satisfy God’s intentions.” They believe that being willing means they already have the truth as their life and that they already possess the truth reality. They don’t know that this “willingness” of theirs merely remains in their wishes and thoughts; it has nothing to do with reality, and there is still some distance between it and practicing the truth, and between it and entering into the truth reality. Although you are willing to practice the truth, you have not put it into practice and have no actual manifestations, so you still remain in the imaginings of your subjective intentions, and you still live at the stage where your corrupt dispositions dictate your thoughts and behavior. While you remain at this stage, can your willingness overcome your corrupt dispositions? (No.) Whatever you encounter, you still live by your corrupt dispositions. For example, when you cooperate with someone in doing your duty, you think that if you cooperate and discuss things with them, it will make you seem inferior to them, and as such, you will lose your status and prestige. So, you don’t cooperate with them, and you make all the decisions yourself. When you see someone being perfunctory in doing their duty, you don’t expose or prune them either, thinking to yourself, “I usually have a good relationship with this person. If they are perfunctory, so be it; anyway, my personal interests haven’t suffered any loss. I’ll just drop some hints and give them a little advice—that will do; if they don’t repent, I’ll observe them a bit longer and leave some leeway for them.” You don’t practice the truth no matter what you encounter. That “willingness” of yours is just a relatively positive thought; it is not your reality at all. You have not practiced the truth at all, nor have you entered into the truth reality. Whenever you encounter something that requires you to practice the truth, you always treat and handle it based on your corrupt dispositions; you don’t seek the truth principles, nor do you enter into the truth reality. And in your heart you constantly think, “I am willing to practice the truth, I am willing to love God, and I am willing to submit to God,” and so assume that you have already practiced the truth yourself, loved God yourself, and submitted to God yourself. You even define yourself, giving yourself the fine-sounding title of “a person who practices the truth and pursues the truth.” You are deceiving yourself, and you are also deceiving God. You don’t enter into the truth reality no matter what you encounter, and you don’t use the truth to resolve things, yet you still make resolves before God: “God, I am willing to be loyal to You, I am willing to submit to You, I am willing to love You, and I am willing to give up everything I have for You.” After praying, when God sets up an environment for you, you don’t act according to the truth principles and don’t practice the truth; your willingness has long since been set aside. After the matter passes, you immediately start expressing your resolve again: “I am willing to practice the truth, I am willing to submit to God, I am willing to love God.” There is a voice constantly telling you in your heart: “Since I am willing to do all these things, I am not a laborer; I am a person who loves God, someone who practices the truth.” You fob yourself off quite nicely, but does God let you deceive Him like this? (No.) You can deceive yourself, but God will not permit you to deceive Him like this. You may be able to deceive yourself and deceive the people around you, but you cannot deceive God. You repeatedly make resolves before God: “God, I am willing to submit to You, I am willing to satisfy You!” “God, I am willing to expend myself for You, I am willing to offer my whole self to You!” Which of the vows you made before God have you put into practice? Which have you fulfilled? Not a single one has been fulfilled; in the end, you still remain at the stage of willingness. Therefore, no matter how much effort you have exerted, as long as you still remain at the stage of willingness, have not started seeking the truth principles, and have not started practicing the truth, then you have no life entry. Does a person without life entry have life? (No.) What kind of thing is someone without life? Are they a laborer or one of God’s chosen people? Are they among those God saves? Are they someone God intends to save? Are they someone who submits under God’s dominion? (No.) You do not have life entry, yet you claim you are someone who practices the truth and claim you are not a laborer. If you are not a laborer, then what are you? Are you one of God’s people, or someone saved and perfected by God? (Neither.) In My view, calling you a laborer is already giving you more credit than you deserve; some people are not even laborers—they are unwilling and reluctant even to exert a little effort in doing their duties. Do not think that just because you exert a little effort and have a willingness to practice the truth, you are qualified to receive blessings and rewards and have the capital to try to bargain with God. You are still far from attaining salvation. Almost none of you have any evident life entry yet. You think that, after coming to believe in God, leaving your family and career behind to do your duties and being willing to do whatever God’s house arranges for you to do means you possess the truth reality. But actually, what lies behind that willingness of yours? Your willingness is heavily adulterated and cannot withstand being tested, so for you to be characterized as laborers does not wrong you in the slightest. You do not have life entry, so aren’t you a laborer? It’s already quite good that I have not called you a devil. A person without life entry is a person without life. Some people have believed in God for ten years but have no life; some have believed for twenty years but have no life; some have even believed for over thirty years, yet still have no life. They cannot do any actual work and cannot clearly explain or lucidly articulate even the simplest and most surface-level truths—doesn’t this mean that they have no life? Throughout their years of believing in God, they have always thought they were doing quite well in their faith, often saying, “I am willing to run around and expend myself for God, I am willing to pay a price for God, and I am willing to be loyal to God. Look at how much I have offered up and how much I have expended for God. I have dedicated my time and energy and let go of my family, studies, work, and money. I am willing to do whatever I am asked to do. I am willing to submit to God, I am willing to satisfy God, I am willing to accept pruning, and I am willing to accept chastisement and judgment.” Can that “willingness” mean that you have entered into the truth reality? How can that “willingness” of yours roll off your tongue so easily? You are “willing” to do so much, but how much truth have you put into practice? Where is your truth reality? You are “willing” to do so much, but do you have experiential testimony? Why is it that, even now, the likelihood of you betraying God remains one hundred percent? Why hasn’t it decreased even a little bit? Even if it decreased by twenty or thirty percent, decreasing gradually, this would still count as having practiced and entered into the truth a little. But you can’t even attain that much. That “willingness” of yours is deception; it is the greatest deception against God. That is not loyalty to God, nor is it a true heart toward God. Do you think that if a lie is told a thousand or ten thousand times, it will actually become the truth, become a fact? With God, this claim does not hold true; it is twisted reasoning and heresy. God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart. No matter how much you say you are willing to expend yourself for God, and no matter how good your words sound, God observes with perfect clarity what kind of thing you are. You keep claiming that you are willing to practice the truth, and you say that you have the reality of pursuing the truth, and that you have evidence of practicing it. So what is it that you give back to God when He tests you? You watch evil people causing disruptions and disturbances in God’s house, yet you pay it no heed and don’t involve yourself. Even if someone reports a problem, you don’t resolve or handle it, and you just let evil people commit evil and run amok. Is this your submission to God? Is this your loyalty to God? Since you think you are loyal to God, how many times did you safeguard the interests of God’s house while you were a leader or worker? In what matters did you take the initiative to identify and resolve problems, ensuring the normal operation of the church’s work? When evil people were causing disruptions and disturbances to the church’s work, how many times did you stand up to expose them and resolve the disturbances they caused? When did you ever uphold the principles in the use and expenditure of offerings and properly protect God’s offerings from loss? In these matters, you have never shown consideration for God’s intentions, carrying out strict checks so as to restrict evil people from doing evil. Instead, you have been utterly irresponsible, watching as the church’s work and the interests of God’s house suffered losses, yet remaining indifferent. Especially regarding the expenditure of offerings, you carry out no checks at all, casually giving approval and signing off. With a casual word from your mouth and a sweep of your pen, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands in offerings were squandered, and you didn’t even blink. Later, when God’s house held you accountable, you were afraid of having to compensate for the losses, so you were even capable of fabricating evidence, finding someone to tamper with the evidence and alter signatures. This is your “loyalty” to God. When evil people were running amok doing bad things and causing disruptions and disturbances to the church’s work, and when you saw people being perfunctory in doing their duties and freeloading in God’s house, you played deaf and dumb, pretending not to see and pretending not to know, while thinking in your heart, “I am willing to be loyal to God, I am willing to stand guard at my post for God’s house, guard its gate well, and watch over the flock well.” You are willing, but have you done it? You say you are willing to stand guard at your post and carry out strict checks for God’s house and guard its gate well, but do you possess loyalty to God? Are you qualified to say these words? Do you have any self-awareness? You are thinking far too highly of yourself! If you cannot do it, do not speak carelessly. You say you are willing, and you make resolves and swear oaths before God. After you swear oaths, God waits; God will observe and will watch, to see what you do next, whether you practice the truth, and whether the words you said have been fulfilled. If you do not fulfill them, then in God’s eyes you are a deceiver, and the resolves you made and oaths you swore before God are a bunch of lies. You blatantly deceive God and blatantly try to fool God; what kind of thing are you? Do you think that simply expressing your resolve to God, exerting a little effort, and going through the motions counts as practicing the truth? You betrayed the interests of God’s house, yet you still want God to accept you, and still want God’s chosen people to approve of you; you even want to bargain with God, and even want to receive a reward—could things really work out so nicely for you? You deceive God and deal with Him perfunctorily, and you toy with Him, yet you still want God to give you a reward; what kind of thing are you? If you are capable of doing this, do you have life? If corrupt mankind had human conscience and reason, they would not treat God this way after listening to sermons for so many years. Yet you have believed in God for many years and listened to sermons for so many years, and can still treat God like this, using your own willingness to take the place of practicing the truth, to try to fool God and deal with Him perfunctorily, and to deceive Him and toy with Him. Tell Me, what kind of thing are you? You are a Satan, a devil—not a human being. In God’s eyes, you are not even a created being; you are just a devil, just a wretch who deserves to die! Tell Me, doesn’t such a person deserve to die? (Yes.)

Some people think that they have exerted a great deal of effort in doing their duties in God’s house, and that they are willing to expend themselves for God, are willing to heed God’s words, and are willing to practice the truth. When they say they are willing, they feel somewhat moved and have some sincerity, and so they exalt themselves as people like Peter who pursue the truth and practice the truth, placing themselves on a throne. Is this something a created being should do? Should a created being have such manifestations? (No.) A person with life entry does not merely have willingness; on the basis of that willingness, they have practice and have entry. What manifestations, then, will such a person have? Having life entry means that a person gradually casts off their corrupt dispositions and gradually comes to have God’s words as their life. What do people who have God’s words as their life ordinarily reveal and live out? What attitude do they have toward God? What are their manifestations in doing their duties? (A person with life entry has several main manifestations. For one thing, they have true knowledge of themselves. They see that they still fall far short of God’s requirements and that their stature is still too small. They feel pained and distressed over some of their transgressions and revelations of corruption, and they also hope to experience more environments set up by God and shoulder more burdens, training themselves in practicing the truth in the process, for only in this way can they gain the truth. For another, at the very least, they can avoid being perfunctory in doing their duty and can frequently reflect on themselves. If they discover that they have violated the principles or fallen short in some respect, they can promptly reverse course. In addition, when it comes to matters involving God’s administrative decrees or involving God’s offerings, they have a God-fearing heart and do not dare to offend God’s disposition.) (I would like to add one point. A person with life entry will be cautious and careful in doing their duty, put effort into God’s words and seek the truth principles, and refrain from acting recklessly according to their own will. They will also discuss matters and communicate with people who understand the truth, and they will practice according to the truth principles.) In their actual lives, people with life entry have corresponding living out and revelations. They do not remain at the level of intentions; they are not merely willing to be loyal and willing to submit. Instead, they have actual living out and revelations. The simplest point is that, no matter what happens in their daily life, they can proactively and consciously seek the truth principles. Before acting, they first take the principles for doing it and gain a clear understanding of them, and they do not recklessly commit misdeeds. If they do not understand, they look for the principles in God’s words. If, after finding them, they are still not entirely clear, they seek out someone who understands the truth to fellowship and discuss them further. Once they understand the principles, they can put them into practice. On the positive side, they are especially proactive and especially conscientious in practicing the truth. No matter what they encounter, whether the matter is important or minor—and especially when it is a major matter involving the work of God’s house—they are particularly cautious. They do not casually make decisions alone but consult others more, make more inquiries, and seek more. On the negative side, when they do something wrong, they can reflect on and come to know their corrupt dispositions, and come to know their inadequacies and shortcomings, the areas they are unaware of, and the areas in which they tend to become negative and weak and fail to measure up. They reflect on themselves frequently. During this process, for one thing, they pray to God and seek the truth, reflecting on and coming to know themselves through God’s words of judgment and exposure; for another, they ask their brothers and sisters to offer feedback. After completing a task, they repeatedly ponder whether they violated the principles in any respect, whether they overlooked anything, whether there were any distortions, or whether there were any discrepancies with the Above’s work arrangements. They reflect on themselves continually. Whether it be on the positive side or the negative side, the goal and direction of their practice are to strive to act according to the truth principles and align with the truth principles, rather than act according to their own will. If they do not understand the truth principles or are not clear about them, they do not keep the matter bottled up inside. Instead, they seek out people who understand the truth and fellowship with them until the principles become clear, and only then do they put the principles into practice and implement them. In short, when it comes to practice, they do not act according to their preferences or mood, much less recklessly commit misdeeds according to their own will; instead, they can seek the truth and perform their duties according to the principles. This is their manifestation in practice. In addition, in terms of their attitude toward God, in how they treat God’s requirements and treat every aspect of matters related to God, they can have a God-fearing heart, a heart that dreads God, and a heart filled with trepidation and trembling. They are deeply afraid that they might take the wrong path or do something wrong and hurt God’s heart, and are deeply afraid that they might offend God, violate God’s administrative decrees, or offend God’s disposition. They have this mentality toward God, and they have these actual actions and revelations in their treatment of the truth and in their treatment of the truth principles; only this constitutes life entry, right? (Yes.) Do you have these manifestations? Those who have these manifestations have life entry; those who do not are all laboring. If you were asked what you were busy doing as you ran around and expended yourself every day, and you said that you were doing your duty and you were offering devotion to God, then are your words and actions principled? Are they grounded in God’s words? If every word you say, everything you do, and every view you hold is not based on God’s words and on the truth, if you do not seek the truth when things happen and have no life entry, then aren’t you merely laboring? To put it nicely, you are laboring; to put it less nicely, you are merely exerting effort; and to put it even more bluntly, you are simply selling your labor! Selling your labor amounts to laboring. What can you gain from selling your labor? You simply gain some grace: eating some good food, wearing some nice clothes, enjoying some comforts in life, living somewhere fairly spacious, and being relatively warm in winter and relatively cool in summer. That is already pretty good. If you merely exert effort, what else do you expect to gain? You are merely willing to do your duty but do not practice the truth. This is not following God’s way. In that case, what you are doing is merely laboring. Those who labor do not practice the truth and have no principles in everything they do. Laboring in this way cannot bring them life; being able to enjoy a little grace is already pretty good. You are willing to exert effort, and in consideration of your toil, God’s house provides you with some daily necessities so that you can live a little better, have fresh vegetables throughout the year, and eat some organic food. This is already God’s grace—what else do you expect to enjoy? If you worked and exerted effort to earn money in the world, what could you afford to eat or wear? Neither food nor clothing would simply be provided for you; you would have to earn the money to buy them yourself, and you would also have to put up with mistreatment and be bullied by others. By exerting effort in God’s house, you can enjoy God’s grace and be spared from bullying; you can eat well, dress well, live in a nice place, and lead an agreeable life. No one bullies you, no one attacks and retaliates against you, and when you become ill, brothers and sisters care for and look after you. Isn’t this grace? Aren’t these the things you seek? If these are all you seek, you have already attained them; you have already gained what you sought. Aren’t these the things people without life seek? Haven’t all their wishes come true in seeking these things? Your “willingness” can be exchanged only for this grace and these comforts from God. That is already pretty good; God has not shortchanged you. In fact, that “willingness” of yours is worthless. Without life entry, you cannot exchange it for life; you can exchange it only for a little grace. Doesn’t the grace you have received already exceed what you asked for or imagined? (Yes.) Then is this what you want? Is this what you pursue? When you first came to believe in God, did you merely hope to obtain this grace and leave it at that? (No.) Then do you have any other aspirations? (Yes. We also want to pursue attaining salvation.) If you have only the intention to practice the truth but never actually practice it, can this aspiration of yours—to pursue attaining salvation—still be realized? (No.) Why can it not be realized? Because you merely remain at the level of willingness and have not put the truth into practice. You live in an environment of physical comfort and ease, enjoy God’s grace, and feel very satisfied in your heart. Is it good to continue like this? (No.) What is wrong with it? Aren’t these the very things you pursue? (Merely remaining at the level of intentions without practicing the truth, and without living out a human likeness—I think that living this way is meaningless and without value.) Don’t you think that eating and dressing well constitute the value of living? Eating well, dressing well, living in a nice place, and enjoying a good life; a lifetime with no worries about food or clothing and enjoying wealth, honor, and peace—weren’t these the things the emperors of the past pursued? Even emperors pursued these things, so what else do insignificant people like you hope to pursue? Look at each one of you: You do not pursue life and you do not pursue the attainment of salvation; you pursue only eating well, dressing well, and enjoying a good life. Isn’t that the full extent of your pursuit? That pursuit is far too easy to achieve. There is no need to fellowship the truth; even one additional word of fellowship would be inappropriate. You do not need the truth. What do you need? You all seek to eat your fill of loaves. So long as your flesh enjoys peace and joy, you have food and clothing, and you live happily throughout this life, that is enough for you. You do not pursue attaining salvation, so most people have little awareness of or resolve to pursue the truth. Even if I repeated a statement concerning the truth principles a hundred times, how many of you could take it in? How many of you would take it to heart? Very few, as I see it. I have interacted with you for so many years. Regardless of what matter is being handled—whether it’s a general affairs matter, or a matter that involves church work or involves the performance of duties—if I simply speak calmly without placing particular emphasis on what I say, and without using a forceful tone, I find that afterward very few people can strictly put things into practice and implement them according to the truth principles. I have fellowshipped the truth principles for so many years, yet you still cannot understand them and have no awareness of them in your hearts. Someone has to prune you and discipline you before you can remember and uphold them. If I simply speak to you calmly, you remain oblivious and do not take practicing the truth seriously at all. People with a little caliber understand only a little doctrine and then think they have entered into the truth reality and even feel quite pleased with themselves. Some even push their luck, showing themselves off. Is this not shameless?

Recently, I have been resolving problems in a certain church, and I fellowshipped several principles with them. I have fellowshipped these principles several times over the past few years, yet to this day the people in charge still do not grasp them. I simply speak calmly, but some people cannot understand human language. They do not know what to do, and they do not know how to implement things. I have said these things many times but they just go in one ear and out the other; their ears have practically grown calluses from hearing them, yet they still do not understand. Tell Me, what kind of things are they? Are they human beings? I tell them the principles according to which a matter should be handled and how it should be done. I also regularly fellowship the truth, and when special circumstances arise, I fellowship some special principles. Yet even now, they still do not know what the principles are. Tell Me, can they uphold the principles? Can they practice according to the truth principles? They cannot uphold the principles, nor can they practice according to the truth principles, so what they do cannot be considered the performance of duty. What, then, are they doing? Aren’t they merely exerting effort? If you cannot uphold the truth principles I have told you, is exerting that little bit of effort practicing the truth? Does it mean that you have life entry? That is not life entry; it is laboring. If your laboring can earn you the cost of your food, that is already pretty good; you cannot gain life. You cannot understand the truth principles I speak of, so how do I characterize you? If you can understand the truth principles, then you possess humanity, you are a human being. If you cannot understand the truth principles, then you have no humanity, you are a beast. If you are averse to the truth and hate the truth, and deliberately set yourself against God’s house, then you are a Satan, and you are a devil. If you understand what I say and act accordingly—if you understand without Me having to emphasize it a second time and without Me having to prompt you again, can practice according to My words, and continue upholding them—then I can see that you have conscience and reason. In My heart, I respect you and esteem you, and treat you as a human being. If I have said something a thousand or ten thousand times and you still have not understood it, then I do not treat you as a human being; in My heart, you are not a human being, you are a beast. Why? If you cannot even understand words that I have spoken so simply and clearly, and so explicitly, then what are you if not a beast? You are worse than a beast. The dog I have can understand things people commonly say. It may not know what I want it to do, but after living with Me for so many years, it knows what I do not want it to do. Ordinarily, it refrains from doing anything it knows I dislike. How can this be seen? For example, when I discipline its puppies, it cooperates as much as it can, deeply afraid that the two little dogs will fail to understand and anger their master. It knows that it is not allowed to bite the things or clothes hung out to dry in the yard and that its master will become angry if it does. Every time it enters the yard, it first keeps the two puppies under control and prevents them from biting the things hung out to dry. If it does something that makes Me angry, it keeps trying to coax Me and make Me happy. Only when I am willing to pet it and speak to it again does it become happy. A dog’s thinking is very simple, but a dog possesses one most precious thing that corrupt mankind does not: A dog’s sincerity is something mankind lacks. If mankind lacks sincerity, how can they be called mankind? Although members of mankind are clad in human skin and outwardly have a human form, in essence they are not human beings. They lack even the most basic conscience and reason, so how can they manifest sincerity? Some people can understand the principles and can put them into practice; such people can be called human beings. Why is that? (For one thing, their ability to understand the principles demonstrates that they have spiritual understanding and know the meaning of God’s words and God’s intentions. For another, such people possess conscience and reason, have boundaries for their self-conduct, and can uphold the principles; therefore, only such people can be called human beings.) That is right. For one thing, they have comprehension ability. They can understand human language and can think and comprehend in ways common to other people. For another, they possess conscience and reason, have boundaries of conscience, are willing to practice the truth, and are able to practice it. Such a person can be called a human being; those who do not possess these two things are not human beings. If someone is not a human being, how can they possess conscience and possess reason? Without conscience and reason, how could they manage to understand human language? A person without conscience and reason cannot even follow regulations despite understanding a little doctrine and wanting to do so. Yet they still think that their willingness to practice the truth means they are someone who is loyal to God and are someone whom God accepts and loves. Isn’t this the logic of a scoundrel? (It is.) People who have the logic of a scoundrel ultimately cannot gain the truth. What kind of people have the logic of a scoundrel? Muddleheaded people. Muddleheaded people are always coming up with the logic of a scoundrel. What do I mean by telling you these things? Am I trying to spur you to practice the truth, or am I exposing the essence of your problems? (You are making us see clearly that we have not yet embarked on the path of pursuing the truth and getting us to start down that path.) Some people say, “Aren’t You saying these things simply to urge us to practice the truth?” I truly do not mean that. Whether you can practice the truth is your own business and has nothing to do with Me. Once the truths that I ought to fellowship have been clearly fellowshipped by Me, I will have fulfilled My responsibilities and obligations. As for which path you choose and what road you take, I do not interfere. Whether you can ultimately attain salvation depends entirely on your own choices and hinges entirely on the road you take; My responsibility toward you ends here. That is, I take all the truths you should understand and tell them to you, and if you are willing to practice them, that is naturally better, but if you are unwilling, I will not interfere. I certainly will not follow you around every day and supervise you, much less will I force you to practice the truth. I do not do such things; that is not My work, nor does it fall within the scope of My work. If you require Me to treat you like slaves, pruning and disciplining you every day before you can follow a few rules, show a little obedience, and practice a little of the truth, then in My eyes, such people are those who cannot be salvaged. If I have spoken the truth principles a thousand or ten thousand times and you still have not understood them and do not seek, what else can I say? What is My attitude toward this? Do as you please. If you are unwilling to listen, then do not listen. You may believe however you wish; I will not interfere, nor do I wish to expend that effort. The truth has been freely bestowed on you, but you do not know to cherish it. Whether you can ultimately attain salvation is your own affair and has nothing to do with Me. If you always have to rely on other people to supervise, prune, and discipline you before you can barely manage to practice a little of the truth or do something beneficial to the work of God’s house and to your duty, then this is not what I want. If all of you are like this, then there is no significance in My fellowshipping the truth; fellowshipping any aspect of the truth would be superfluous, and would be entirely unnecessary. If you do not even possess the conscience and reason that normal humanity should have, and after hearing so much truth fellowshipped you still have no subjective intention or plan for how to practice the truth and how to enter into the truth reality, then you have no hope of attaining salvation. Is that right? (Yes.)

Some people are always trying to play mind games and engage in deceit with Me. Whenever they do something, they wait for Me to issue an order before acting. No matter how many times I have fellowshipped the principles, it has no effect on them; they simply do not practice according to the principles. They keep thinking, “I must obtain an order from You concerning this matter. If You say we can do it, we will do it; if You say we cannot, we will not. What if I act according to the principles You have explained and, after I finish, You are dissatisfied? What if You give me a hard time? What if You make me compensate for the losses?” They play mind games with Me, neither acting according to the principles nor fulfilling the responsibilities of a human being. They do none of the things that fall within their own responsibility—cooperating with others, discussing and fellowshipping matters with others, or consulting reference materials. Instead, they continually chase after and pester Me, asking this and that and always saying, “Do You think it is all right for me to do it this way?” In fact, I have taken the principles and explained them very clearly, but these people simply do not take them seriously. They think, “The principles You fellowshipped are merely a broad framework—words meant to deceive people. You must tell me how to handle this matter, and You must explain every detail to me.” You cannot take in the principles I have explained and don’t take them seriously, and you have Me tell you directly how to do everything. Doesn’t that make you useless? Do you not have a brain? Do you not have thoughts? What is your duty? You do not want to shoulder any of the duties a human being should perform or the responsibilities they should assume; you simply want Me to tell you directly what to do. What use, then, are your heart and brain? You do not want to put your heart into it, you do not want to use your brain, nor do you want to exert effort, and you are also afraid of assuming responsibility. What kind of person are you? Aren’t you a slippery operator? Your caliber is quite poor, yet you are full of schemes! Trying this trick on Me will not work. It is disgusting enough that you cannot understand the principles, yet you still try to play tricks on Me and are afraid of assuming responsibility. How could you possibly put the truth into practice? What is the nature of being afraid to assume responsibility while performing one’s duty? Is there any true heart in performing one’s duty this way? Is there any devotion? (No.) If there is neither a true heart nor devotion, is there any life entry? Is this the performance of duty? (No.) Then what is the nature of performing one’s duty this way? It is laboring; that is its nature. Anyone who plays mind games with Me disgusts Me. If you work in an earnest, down-to-earth way, promptly seek when you do not understand, and practice according to the principles once you have asked about them and gained clarity, then even if you sometimes ask one more time under special circumstances, I will not be put off by your poor caliber. But if someone is always inwardly contending with Me, playing mind games and trying to outsmart Me, refusing to assume any responsibility, asking Me about everything they encounter, and acting only after I give them an instruction, what problem is this? Outwardly, they appear to submit to God in everything, but in fact, they are being sly. They think that if something goes wrong when they act this way, they will bear no responsibility; at the same time, they can let others see that they submit to God in everything. Therefore, no matter what they do, they always want to hear instructions personally issued by God, as though their relationship with God were particularly close. They do not realize that this disturbs God’s thoughts, disturbs His work, and makes Him averse to and disgusted with them. They even think that they are doing their duties and expending themselves for God, that God ought to guide them in this way, that God’s house must allow them to act like this, and that God’s house ought to pamper them like little babies. Only then do they feel pleased inside and feel that they are enjoying themselves. What kind of thinking is this? Is this someone who pursues the truth? Does such a person have reason? (No.) People who understand the truth act with reason. At the very least, they resolve the problems they are able to resolve themselves and do not pester God with question after question. Even if they cannot resolve a problem themselves, they should seek and fellowship with the brothers and sisters with whom they cooperate or with people who understand the truth. In this way, they can resolve the problem and find a path of practice. A person with reason can do this; people without reason are liable to recklessly commit misdeeds. If a person with life entry understands the truth, can practice it and enter into the truth reality, and has God’s words as their life, would they have this kind of attitude toward God or behave in this way? Would they interact with God in this manner? (No.) They would not; that is certain. What, then, is going on with people who act this way? Clearly, they have never had life entry. They do everything entirely according to their interests and intentions, yet they continually claim, “I am willing to be loyal to God, I am willing to render service for God, and I am willing to die for God! As long as I am willing, I am someone who loves God, and I am someone who is loyal to and submits to God!” Under this banner, they think they have life. They truly do not know their place in the universe! Is this not a manifestation of lacking reason? (It is.) If someone has reason, would they take this “willingness” and regard it as life? (No.) Why not? (Because they see that they still have many corrupt dispositions that have not been resolved and many truths that they cannot put into practice, and feel that they fall short of God’s requirements, they do not think that they have life.) The most prominent characteristic of a person with reason is that they can frequently reflect on themselves. When they discover their problems, they treat them rationally and come to understand them, and they seek the truth to resolve them. Only such a person has true life entry. People who understand the truth all have some true knowledge of themselves; they all have an accurate evaluation and assessment of themselves. They know precisely what their caliber is, what their humanity is like, how much of God’s words and the truth principles they have put into practice, and how much they have yet to put into practice. They will have these considerations, and after pondering them, they will make these gains. Having made these gains, they think, “Man’s willingness in terms of his subjective intention is not life. Merely being willing is useless; I have not yet put the truth into practice. I still have corruption and rebelliousness within me, and my humanity is not very good. I always want to compare myself with others, and whatever I do, I always want to act unilaterally and arbitrarily. I never want to discuss matters or cooperate with anyone; I simply want to have the final say myself. I look down on everyone and hold no one in any regard. These are not manifestations of possessing humanity, and these are not manifestations of practicing the truth!” By reflecting on and knowing themselves compared against God’s words and against the experiential testimonies of their brothers and sisters, they can get these results and make these gains. Having made these gains, do they reach a conclusion about their pursuit and about their various manifestations? (Yes.) What conclusion do they reach? (That they are not yet someone who pursues the truth.) They recognize that they are not someone who pursues the truth, that they do not understand the truth, and that they still fall far short of God’s requirements. They recognize that in doing their duty they have merely exerted a little effort and have not yet put the truth into practice. This is the conclusion they reach. Doesn’t their intention to practice the truth then grow stronger? (Yes.) After people with conscience and with reason reach these results through reflection, their intention to practice the truth grows stronger. When something happens, they ponder what rebellious thoughts they have, what fallacious thoughts and views they have, what corrupt states and revelations of corrupt dispositions they have, and how they should rebel against them and how they should resolve them. After pondering these things, they will then seek what God’s words say and how God requires man to practice, and they will search for the truth principles. When they find the truth principles, their intention to practice the truth becomes even stronger. They know what God’s required standards are and how they should practice in specific terms. The path is clear to them, and their next step is to practice.

Tell Me, can people without rationality reflect on themselves? (No.) They will never reflect on themselves; they always think that although they have corrupt dispositions, they have never revealed them, that they are always right and better than everyone else in every way, and that they have never been wrong and have never done anything wrong. Why are they able to think this way? This is what it means to be devoid of rationality. People without rationality will not reflect on themselves and will not compare themselves against God’s words. They will not compare themselves against God’s words and have no relatively accurate evaluation, assessment, or knowledge of themselves, so do they have the intention to practice the truth? This intention cannot arise in them. Then will they love the truth? Will they come before God to seek the truth? No. They believe they have done everything they ought to do, just as Paul said, “I have kept the faith, I have fought the good fight.” After merely exerting some effort, they draw this conclusion about themselves, and so they do not seek the truth. People without rationality characterize themselves in this way and do not seek the truth, so can they practice the truth? (No.) Even if they occasionally follow a few regulations and go through the motions, and outwardly it looks as if they are practicing the truth, in reality they are following regulations, yet they still believe they are practicing the truth. Is this not self-deception? Why are people so inclined to follow regulations? It is because they are not good at seeking the truth. If they do not seek the truth, they cannot possibly understand the truth principles, and they cannot possibly understand what the path of practicing the truth is. Therefore, whatever they do, they merely follow a few regulations and go through the motions. They are clearly following regulations yet say that they are practicing the truth—this is a pretense, it is a deception, and it is playing around. You are merely following a regulation. It is just like Paul: He suffered greatly and paid a great price in his work and preaching, yet he merely went through the motions and never followed God’s way. That is, in everything he did, he never sought God’s intentions, never took God’s words to heart, never practiced according to them, and simply acted according to his own will. Then he used his suffering and expenditure as capital with which to demand a reward from God: “I have finished the course I ought to run. Give me the crown; give me the reward!” Someone asked him, “Do you know who the Lord Jesus is?” He said, “He is Christ.” They asked him again, “Then who are you?” He said, “I am also christ.” Were his true colors not exposed? Did he have any actual manifestations of practicing the truth? (No.) People who never reflect on themselves will never know to practice the truth. They have no awareness of practicing the truth and will never seek the truth. They cannot find the path of practicing the truth, much less understand the details of practicing the truth. Therefore, when they try to write a testimony article about life experience, even after straining with all their might, they cannot put pen to paper. They desperately want to show off, and desperately want to demonstrate what they can do, but they cannot; they are so anxious that they break into a sweat, yet still cannot write anything. Why is this? They have never practiced the truth and have never gone through the process of seeking the truth and practicing it. Are these people with life entry? (No.) Do people without life entry have life? They do not have life. Then what do they rely on when doing their duties? (They rely on their own will and rely on their own preferences.) It is correct to say that they rely on their own will and rely on their own preferences, but they still feel wronged and do not accept this. Then we can put it this way: What do they rely on when doing their duties? They simply rely on: “I am willing to practice the truth and satisfy God; I am willing to be loyal to God; I am willing to submit to the truth; I am willing to walk the way of fearing God and shunning evil; I am willing to repent and admit my mistakes; I am willing to pursue the truth and walk the path of salvation.” They simply rely on such wishes of “I am willing” while doing their duties; this is the basis for them doing their duty according to their own will. To them, this “willingness” can take the place of everything and can accomplish everything, but to God, their willingness is not worth a penny. Why? God observes your heart and knows that you are willing to practice the truth and are willing to pursue the truth. God waits for your practice and your entry, yet He never sees any actual action from you or sees any life entry from you. Therefore, such people have no life; this is certain. People without life have one very obvious characteristic: They always treat God with the same attitude as they would treat a person. They are always thinking about how to contend with God and scheme against Him, always speculating about how God views them, and always treating God as though they were interacting with another person or with a superior. They do not have a God-fearing heart, and they do not have an attitude of submission to God. This is the most obvious characteristic of a person without life. In their heart, they are always speculating about God: “What are You thinking? What does the look in Your eyes mean? What is the meaning behind Your tone and the sound of Your voice? Are You telling me to do it this way or that way?” They do not seek the truth principles; they have no fear of God, only suspicion, guardedness, and contention. A person without life can never come to have fear of God, and so they do not even have the most basic respect for God incarnate. You may always say “God, God” when you pray, and it may sound very pleasant. Outwardly, it may look as though you greatly respect God incarnate, but in reality, because you have no life entry and you do not possess God’s words as your life, when you call out “God,” you are merely uttering a word. It does not mean that you know God’s essence and His identity or truly treat Him as God. It is merely a form of address, just like the terms you use to address your parents, grandparents, or any elder. To you, “God” is just a respectful form of address because, as far as you are concerned, God is not the object of your worship, and you have no God-fearing heart. Do you understand? (Yes.) Only after God’s words have become a person’s life will a God-fearing heart gradually arise within them. What does this statement show you? A God-fearing heart arises because God’s words have become the life within a person; it does not arise from a person’s conscience and reason. Having conscience and having reason cannot produce a God-fearing heart. Even if you are a good person, are a rule-abiding person, and are a person who is guileless and keeps to their proper place, if you have no knowledge of God whatsoever or have never had life entry, then at most you only have a little respect, courtesy, and politeness toward God; this cannot be called fear. A person’s fear of God arises because God’s words have become their life. Therefore, do not think that a mere “willingness” can encompass everything or can take the place of everything. To God, your willingness is worthless and has little value. Some people say, “Didn’t You fellowship that man should have an attitude of submission toward God?” Your attitude toward God and your subjective intention—what you are willing to do—are two different things. Having an attitude of submission toward God is the rationality you should possess, whereas your subjective intention and your willingness are merely a wish or resolve of yours. The key is that you must clearly recognize this: Your willingness may be able to lead you onto the path of salvation, and of course, it is also a prerequisite for allowing you to embark on the path of salvation, but being willing to practice the truth does not mean that you have already practiced it, nor does it mean that you have already entered into the truth reality, much less does it mean that you possess the truth reality or have life entry. That is, if you merely remain at the stage of being willing to practice the truth, it cannot be said that you already have life. So when do you truly have life entry? When you can practice the truth, and you know yourself, and can practice according to God’s requirements—only this is what it means to truly have life entry. You have life entry because, through your understanding of the truth, your thoughts and views, your attitude toward God, and your corrupt dispositions have all changed to varying degrees; your attitude toward God and your attitude toward doing your duty have been set right, and you no longer live by your corrupt dispositions or by fallacious thoughts and views; in your views on people and things, and in your self-conduct and actions, you are able to take God’s words as your basis and take the truth as your criterion—only this is having life. Do you have life? Only when you possess these realities do you have life; without these realities, you do not have life. If you do not have life, then what kind of person are you? You are a beast, you are a devil, and you are someone who is of Satan. What do people who are of Satan rely on when doing their duties? They rely on their corrupt dispositions and rely on their desire for blessings. What is the ultimate result? They run amok and commit wrongdoing; they are utterly unable to practice the truth, unable to follow God’s way, and even more so unable to attain salvation. This is the result.

We just fellowshipped on some manifestations of people who lack life entry. After hearing this, some people say, “So it turns out that even after believing in God all this time, we still have no life entry and have not gained the truth and life. Then, in Your heart, do You dislike us and feel very fed up with us?” Such people are always concerned with how I evaluate them. Is this right? (No.) Why is it not right? (God fellowships so much with us today so that we can clearly recognize our true state and clearly see that, up to now, we have not embarked on the path of pursuing the truth and, in doing our duties, are still at the stage of laboring. This allows us to awaken and repent in time, and allows us to find the correct path for practicing the truth. If we merely guess how God evaluates and regards us without seeking to understand God’s painstaking intentions, this is a manifestation of not pursuing the truth, and ultimately we still will not gain the truth.) Regardless of how I evaluate you or what impression I have of you, this is not a matter you should care about, and it is not the focus of your concern. Is that not so? (It is.) You even want Me to like you and have a good impression of you? Given your performance, it is already quite good if you can manage not to make Me feel repulsed by you. As for whether I like you, whom I have a good impression of, and whom I think highly of, I have My principles. This is not a matter you should care about, nor is it something you should know. Furthermore, regardless of My attitude toward you when I speak or what views I have about any individual, I will not act out of hotheadedness or out of feelings, much less out of emotion; I will treat you fairly. Even if your performance is very poor, do not become negative and do not become constrained. Just focus on fulfilling the duty you ought to do according to the principles required by God’s house. As for what path each of you can embark on, that depends on your pursuits and choices. Of course, from My point of view, I hope that every one of you can pursue the truth and accept the truth and embark on the path of salvation. In particular, I hope that those of you who toil and shoulder heavy burdens and who do important duties, those with spiritual understanding who have relatively good caliber, and those with good humanity will all become people who pursue the truth, be able to embark on the path of salvation as soon as possible, and be able to practice the truth and gain life entry in all things. However, if you are unwilling to pursue the truth and walk the path of salvation, I will not force you; I won’t compel you. This is My attitude. When it comes to each of you, I know and understand what your caliber is like, and what your pursuits are like, and I have My views about them. But I will not draw conclusions about you now. What path you walk and how far you can go depend on your own choices. God’s house has principles for treating people. If you violate the administrative decrees, the church will handle you as it should according to the principles. I will not shield you; even if I think highly of you, I will not shield you. Even if you have exerted a great deal of effort in the past and are someone who has toiled, shouldered heavy burdens, and previously contributed to a certain area of the work of God’s house, if you violate the administrative decrees, the church will handle you as it should. The blisters on your feet came from your own walking; the path you are walking is the one you chose yourself. These are the consequences of taking the wrong path. Handling these matters is simple for Me. I have some dealings with a few individuals over general affairs. The way they do things is quite off-putting and quite detestable, but I can still treat them correctly. Stop constantly guessing My thoughts. I am most averse to people constantly reading between the lines and watching My expression, constantly inquiring about what I am thinking, and constantly speculating about whether I like them or what impression I have of them. I am most disgusted by these things. Never speculate about My thoughts or ponder how I view you and evaluate you, what plans I have for you, or how I will handle you. Do not worry about these things, and do not expend effort pondering them either. The more you ponder them, the more disgusted I become with you. No matter which of your problems I point out when fellowshipping the truth, it is not to write you off completely, it is not to attack you, nor is it to condemn you. Rather, it is to help you resolve your problems so that you can understand the truth, have a path of practice, and ultimately be able to embark on the path of salvation. Therefore, you should not focus your mind on the words I use or on the tone of My voice. You should focus on the content of what I say, compare yourself against it, and see whether what I say addresses your problem, and whether it can resolve your problem. If I speak a few extra words to you, if I think highly of you, or I put you in an important position, do not become haughty. Sometimes the words I speak to you are very stern and very piercing, and even if you feel that I am very angry, you must not become negative. I am not doing this to attack you; I am merely handling the matter impartially and judging the issue on its merits. I do it to take the truth and fellowship it clearly and fellowship it thoroughly, not to give you a hard time personally. I fellowship about your problem because it involves an aspect of the truth or involves an aspect of mankind’s state. We need to fellowship about it so that everyone can gain insight and learn a lesson through the matter. Do not guess My thoughts; if you do, you are putting your effort in the wrong place. Do you understand? (Yes.) If you ponder every day what I am thinking, how I view you and evaluate you, what plans I have for you, and whether I am going to handle you or make you suffer—if you are always thinking about these things, you are wrong and you are putting your effort in the wrong place. If I wanted to handle you, I would not need to do so personally; leaders and workers would handle you directly according to the principles. God’s house has administrative rules, and the church will follow procedures according to the principles and handle the matter impartially. If I wanted to handle you, I would tell the church leaders and workers to fellowship the truth and resolve the issue based on your manifestations, and then have them handle you according to the principles; this would be very easy. Therefore, you do not need to read between the lines and watch My expression, and you also do not need to listen for hints in what I say, much less do you need to heed My tone of voice. If you have genuine belief in God, if you believe that God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart, and if you believe that God is the source of the truth, the way, and the life, then you should not have these speculations about Me or treat Me in this way. Do you understand? (Yes.) I do not like you treating Me with this mentality and in this way. It is perfectly natural and justified for Me to understand your essence, understand your humanity, and understand your corrupt dispositions. But if you want to understand what I am thinking in My heart, how I view you, and what I plan to do with you, then you are wrong. Do you know where you are wrong? (We have taken the wrong position.) This is taking the wrong position. If you take the wrong position when interacting with Me, then you are in great danger. By no means should you walk this path; if you do, you will be in danger.

In believing in God, there is no need to read between the lines and watch God’s expression, nor should you be guarded or suspicious toward Him. Do you know clearly in your hearts what you should do and how you should act? (It is a little clearer now. We should be open and honest with God and put effort into the words God expresses and the truths He fellowships.) These words are easy to say, but are they easy to put into practice? (No.) When I expose and dissect the states and problems of some people, if I speak mildly, some people let it go in one ear and out the other; if I speak more strongly or sternly, some people feel upset and become negative, saying, “God is so angry when speaking to me. He definitely does not like me anymore and is dissatisfied with me, so haven’t I lost all hope of salvation? God does not even want me anymore, so what is the point of living? I might as well die!” Is this the right way to understand it? (No.) Would you think this way? (No.) Some people are thick-skinned. No matter how they are exposed or pruned, they do not care. No matter what you say to them, they do not feel upset in their hearts, thinking, “You can say whatever you want. If I do not accept it in my heart, there is nothing you can do. You can prune me, but as long as you do not clear me out or expel me, I will not become negative, nor will I become weak. I will keep doing things as I did before. I simply will not practice the truth. As long as I do not commit evil, what can you do to me?” This is troublesome. If they neither accept the truth nor practice the truth, can they still attain salvation? (No.) You see, people are very difficult things to deal with. What makes them difficult to deal with? In one respect, they have all manner of fallacious thoughts and views; in another respect, they possess something fatal—their corrupt dispositions. Fallacious thoughts and views cause you to have fallacious understandings and comprehensions, and to have fallacious attitudes, when it comes to certain things. On this basis, you also express your fallacious thoughts and views through your corrupt dispositions, compounding one error with another. Is this not difficult to deal with? (Yes.) Your views and attitudes are fallacious in themselves, yet you still cling to them, still try to explain and justify yourself, and refuse to accept the truth. You even use certain tactics and give all kinds of reasons and excuses to exonerate yourself and shirk responsibility. Is this not revealing corrupt dispositions while still clinging to your fallacious views? (Yes.) Having corrupt dispositions is already very troublesome, yet you still cling to fallacious thoughts and views. Does this not make the problem serious? This exposes that you are intransigent in your heart, averse to the truth, arrogant, and deceitful, and that you leave no openings in anything you say. Is this not a living Satan? (Yes.) If you conduct yourself in this way, you will never gain the truth and life. If, after recognizing this, you can let go of your fallacious thoughts and views, stop using them to approach things, reverse your wrong attitude, and, according to God’s words and in the way God teaches man, honestly and sincerely resolve the problems you encounter with a God-fearing heart, then you have life entry. Once you have life entry, once you have rebelled against, resolved, and let go of your fallacious thoughts and views, and once your satanic dispositions have been rebelled against, resolved, and let go of by you in the process of you practicing the truth and gaining life entry, what is it that you live out and reveal? Things that align with the truth principles and align with God’s requirements. What you live out is therefore the life of the truth that God requires. Is that not so? (It is.) What is the key to attaining life entry? (It is not enough merely to have the wish and subjective intention to practice the truth; one must have actual manifestations of practicing the truth.) Everyone knows and understands this as doctrine, but it is not so easy to put it into practice; it is difficult. This is, to a certain extent, related to whether a person’s humanity is good or bad. People with conscience and reason can accept the truth, so it is less difficult for them to practice it; if they make an effort, they can put it into practice. People without conscience and reason do not love the truth, so it is very difficult for them to practice it; they simply cannot do so. Only those who can practice the truth have life entry. By practicing the truth regularly, they gradually gain life. Those who cannot practice the truth grow further and further away from life entry and cannot gain life, right? (Yes.) This aspect is a very simple issue; it is an issue often discussed in people’s daily lives. Some individuals may have a little perceptual understanding in their minds, but still lack personal experience and appreciation of this issue. If asked to speak about their understanding, they cannot explain it clearly and they cannot explain it lucidly. Through fellowshipping in this way, are you clear now? (Yes.) Then summarize it: God scrutinizes man’s innermost heart, so why does He still test man? (Because man needs to practically experience God’s work, know his own corrupt dispositions, and gain the truth as his life through the environments God sets up. This is also a process in which God takes the truth and takes His words, and works them into man. In this process, man repeatedly battles against his corrupt dispositions, repeatedly denies his erroneous thoughts and views, and gradually becomes able to rebel against the flesh and practice God’s words; ultimately, he can practice the truth and gain it.) This process has been explained clearly. Do you all understand? (Yes.) Put this way, the question seems very simple. The explanation in words may seem simple, but there are many details involved in putting it into practice. That is how it works in theory, as set out in words. Basically, this question has now been fellowshipped clearly: God’s testing of man is a process by which God takes His words and works them into man so that those words become his life; it is one way God works, and it is also a process that man must experience in order to attain salvation. That concludes our fellowship on this topic.

Let Me tell you about how someone behaved, and you can listen and see what the problem was. That winter, it snowed, and I told people they should go shovel the snow. Someone asked whether it should be shoveled by people or by a machine. I said, “If the snow is too deep, use a machine; if people can manage to shovel it, then don’t use a machine.” Although I didn’t tell him how deep the snow had to be before a machine should be used, or under what circumstances people should shovel it, I did tell him the principle. But he just couldn’t understand it and simply didn’t know how to shovel the snow. Tell Me, weren’t My words easy to understand? If you were asked to implement this, how would you implement it? (First, I would look at how deep the accumulated snow was and decide based on the actual situation.) In some places, the accumulated snow was a meter deep, while in others it was only five inches deep. What would you do? (If the snow was under five inches deep in most places, then people should shovel it, and a machine could be used to clear the few isolated spots.) What do you think of this principle? (It is appropriate.) Some people do not know how to implement even something as simple as this. What does it mean not to know how to implement it? It means not even knowing how to handle ordinary situations. When the snow was an inch deep, he asked, “Should we go out and shovel the snow? Should people shovel it, or should we use a machine?” I said, “You can only shovel the snow after it stops snowing. If the snow gets too deep for people to shovel it, use a machine to deal with it. This is the principle.” He said he understood. When the snow reached two inches deep, he came again to ask whether it should be shoveled, and I repeated the principle once more. When the snow reached seven inches deep, he came to ask again. Tell Me, does this person have any caliber? (No.) I stated the principle several times, yet he couldn’t understand it and repeatedly asked what should be done. He could not figure out when the snow should be shoveled, under what circumstances people should shovel it, or under what circumstances a machine should be used. Just how poor must his caliber be? How much more would have to be said when arranging work for such a person before he could understand? Such a person cannot see anything clearly. So what was the problem with this behavior of his? Did he understand what I said? (He didn’t understand; he was following regulations.) If he was following regulations, he should have hurried to shovel the snow. Regardless of whether he arranged for people to shovel it or had it shoveled by machine, he should have at least stuck to one or the other. But did he stick to either one? He did not go shovel the snow; he just repeatedly asked whether it should be shoveled, and whether people should shovel it or a machine should be used. Why did he keep asking instead of doing anything? (He actually wanted to use a machine to shovel it, but he wouldn’t make the decision himself; he was just waiting for God to give the word.) He was waiting for Me to give the word. Did this attitude of his show any intent to submit? (No.) First, let’s see whether he could understand the principle I stated. Did he understand what I said? (No.) He didn’t understand. He just wanted Me to tell him directly what to do, what not to do, and how to do it. Those were the only kinds of words he could understand; he simply could not understand principles. After hearing the principle, he was completely bewildered, as if he was reading a wordless heavenly book and felt that everything was a mystery. He could not understand the principle and did not know what to do, so when it came to dealing with the accumulated snow, all he knew to do was keep asking whether people should shovel it or a machine should be used. Tell Me, doesn’t dealing with this kind of person make you feel uncomfortable and upset? (Yes, it makes me upset and very tired.) What is dealing with such a person like? Describe it. (It’s a bit like talking to a brick wall; no matter what you say, they don’t understand.) Isn’t talking to this kind of person like dealing with a three- to five-year-old child? Isn’t it like talking to a beast? (Yes.) Tell Me, then, is it exhausting dealing with this kind of person? Does it make you angry? (Yes, it makes me angry.) Dealing with this kind of person is both exasperating and exhausting. So how should this kind of person be handled? Just send them away at once and be done with it. Use whoever can understand this principle and, after hearing it, can practice and carry out the task according to this principle, and can get the matter resolved. Saying anything to someone who cannot understand the principle is pointless. No matter how you explain it, they still will not understand and they will pester you with endless questions, just like a fool. They even think that asking questions this way is very reasonable, thinking, “Look, am I not doing this work in a very specific and very meticulous way? When the snow was an inch deep, I hurried to ask whether it should be shoveled, and when it reached two inches, I didn’t dare delay and hurried to ask again. See, I don’t act recklessly. Don’t I have submission and have loyalty? Am I not being responsible? I ask questions promptly and provide timely feedback, without delaying anything in the slightest!” Aren’t they quite impressed with themselves? (Yes.) If you send them away, what will they think? They will even feel aggrieved, thinking, “I worried so much and ran around so much for this matter! Has it been easy for me? How could I be sent away in the end?” Would they accept this in their heart? (No.) The caliber of this kind of person is too poor. Never mind the truth principles being beyond them; even the principles for doing an ordinary task are incomprehensible to them and beyond them. They do not possess the IQ of a normal person, so how could the truth be within their reach? Sending them away is actually in accordance with the principles, but they do not understand this and even feel wronged and aggrieved. This kind of person cannot grasp the principles even in minor matters, so are major matters, matters involving the truth, within their reach? (No.) Even less so. So, for some people who cannot understand the truth, the truth principles are beyond them. Can such people put the truth into practice? (No.) Some people say, “According to what You say, since this kind of person cannot put the truth into practice, doesn’t that mean they cannot attain salvation?” Is that how it is? What should you do if the truth principles are beyond you? There is a simple way that will enable you to perform your duty through to the end. If the truth principles are beyond you, then abide by one regulation: In performing your duty, you must have a true and sincere heart, rely on your conscience and reason to do what you can as well as you possibly can, and absolutely must not play mind games. Given that your caliber is already very poor and you do not have the ability to understand the truth, if, in performing your duty, you still do not have a true heart at all and still play mind games, isn’t that a devilish nature? Such a person is done for. So what does it mean to have a true heart in performing your duty? It means doing as much as you are capable of. Take shoveling snow, for example. According to the principle given, people should shovel it if they can, and use a machine if they cannot. If you see that an inch of snow has fallen and do not know whether it should be shoveled by hand or by machine, you can start shoveling it first and use a machine only if you really cannot manage it by hand. Although you do not know whether doing this is right, you do it with all your might, without being slippery or slacking off. Even if the effort you put in proves useless, at the very least, your heart is sincere before God. When God sees that you have a sincere heart, and that you have not been slippery or slacked off and have not played mind games with Him, God will accept your good behavior. But if you are slippery and slack off and play mind games with God, God will detest you, and if you do not repent, God will condemn you and eliminate you. What are some manifestations of playing mind games with God? You think to yourself, “I don’t understand the principle that was just given. An inch of snow has fallen, so should it be shoveled by hand, or should a machine be used? If it shouldn’t be shoveled by hand, and I do just that, won’t that mean putting in extra effort? If I use a machine, then what if the snow isn’t deep and should be shoveled by hand, but I use a machine—wouldn’t I get blamed for using the machine recklessly and wasting fuel? I definitely cannot act recklessly. If I do, not only may all my effort be wasted, but I will also be blamed. I may even be pruned and made to compensate for the losses. I must get a clear answer before I act.” You have this kind of scheme in mind. What is this called? (Deceitfulness.) This is playing mind games. When that person played mind games like this, outwardly he may have appeared submissive, and he pretended that he was seeking and not acting recklessly, but he actually had ulterior motives. People could not tell, but God had seen long ago that this person was not guileless. He did not want to work, so he was always finding excuses to ask questions. He used a form of good behavior as a disguise to conceal his own intention. When someone plays mind games and engages in deceitfulness like this, it constitutes a transgression in God’s eyes. Do you understand? (Yes, we understand.) Then, are you clear now on how you should practice? Although you do not understand the truth principles, you should not play mind games with God. You should say, “My thinking is muddled, my caliber is poor, and the truth principles are beyond me. So I will do something practical: I will put in a bit more effort and do a bit more myself. When I am tired, I will rest for a while and then continue working.” Even if someone ultimately complains that the effort you put in was unnecessary and in vain, God will see that your heart is true and is honest. God will recognize you, and you will not have committed a transgression. Is this easy to achieve? (Yes, it is.) This is the simplest principle of practice. Although it is simple, the concern is that you may fail to do it. Those who understand the truth have ways to resolve whatever they encounter, and they have principles for how to treat every kind of person: In their treatment of foolish people, they have principles for how to treat such people, and in their treatment of evil people, they have principles for how to treat such people. If you understand the truth but do not practice it and instead play mind games, this constitutes a transgression. If you have a true heart, and once you understand a principle, you can put it into practice accordingly without committing a transgression before God, then what you do will be accepted by God. What is the key point here? (Not playing mind games, and first practicing according to what we can understand.) Do not play mind games; have a true heart toward God. Have a true heart toward the work, tasks, and mission that God gives you. Practice however much you understand. Even if you do not understand, you can still hold to the basic meaning of God’s words; even if you are following regulations, you still have to hold to it. Right? (Yes.) What is the principle here? What is God’s required standard for man? God’s requirements of man are not high; that is, you need to have a true heart. Although God is repulsed by and does not like people who do not understand the principles and who are of poor caliber, if you have a true heart, God will still accept you, and He will treat you fairly. If you do not have a true heart and are always playing mind games with God, then no matter how good your caliber is or how high your comprehension is, God will detest you all the same, and He will record the transgressions you commit. Do you understand? (Yes, we understand.) These are all things commonly encountered in daily life. You should now have a path for how to view such things, shouldn’t you? (Yes.) We will conclude our fellowship on this aspect here.

Previously, we fellowshipped quite a bit on notions and imaginings about the incarnate God. We also fellowshipped extensively on how to let go of and how to resolve notions and imaginings about the incarnate God. Building on this content, we will conclude by fellowshipping on how to achieve a tacit understanding with God. Of course, at the present stage, this refers to having a tacit understanding with the incarnate God. Is it easy to achieve a tacit understanding with God? (No, it is not easy.) Within the scope of what you can understand, what must one possess, at the very least, to achieve a tacit understanding with God? What must they possess in terms of caliber, humanity, pursuit, the path they walk, and so on, in order to achieve a tacit understanding with God? (In terms of caliber, one must possess comprehension ability; in terms of humanity, one must at least possess conscience and reason; and one must also be able to understand some truths. Only then can one achieve a tacit understanding with God.) (To achieve a tacit understanding with God, first, one must have a true heart and be sincere toward God. In another respect, one must have caliber and must understand God’s intentions and His requirements for man. Another aspect is that one’s views on things and the perspectives behind one’s pursuit must become compatible with God’s. Only then will it be easy to achieve a tacit understanding with God.) Is there anything else? (I can think of one aspect: Because God is very sincere when He speaks to people, if people wish to have a tacit understanding with God, they must also have a sincere attitude.) This is also one aspect; at the very least, it is one viewpoint. How to achieve a tacit understanding with God is a very broad topic. It is also a very deep topic. Fellowshipping with you on this content is like teaching university courses to kindergarteners. Judging by the understanding you just shared, many of you are drawing a complete blank on this aspect. This further confirms just how far you fall short: You do not understand this aspect of the truth, you have never thought about this topic, and this topic is beyond your grasp. How to achieve a tacit understanding with God is the final topic concerning letting go of notions and imaginings about the incarnate God. This is a very important topic. It is a goal that one can ultimately achieve in following the incarnate God, and it is also one expression of the life essence that one can live out when they believe in God and gain the truth as their life. Letting go of one’s notions and imaginings about the incarnate God is not merely a matter of having no notions about God. This aspect of the truth involves many notions and imaginings about the incarnate God, and it also involves people’s various attitudes toward the incarnate God, their various understandings of Him, and their various ways of practicing in their treatment of Him. The best outcome that can ultimately be achieved by practicing this aspect of letting go of notions and imaginings about the incarnate God is for people to have a tacit understanding with the incarnate God. This “having a tacit understanding” is a human way of speaking; in words we often use, it means being in accord with God and being compatible with God. But given man’s stature, given man’s attributes, and given man’s essence, and judging from every aspect of his background and conditions, it is in fact utterly impossible for man to reach the point of being in accord with God or to reach the point of being compatible with God. Using the expression “being compatible with God” would therefore be somewhat unrealistic, and somewhat hollow and not objective. So I gave it some careful consideration and found the term “tacit understanding” more objective and more appropriate, and it can be considered relatively apt. Is this not so? (Yes.) Letting go of notions and imaginings about the incarnate God ultimately does not require you to become compatible with God. Because man’s life and God’s differ in essence, and because of man’s problems in every respect, man cannot possibly become compatible with God. Only one thing is required: One must achieve a tacit understanding with God. What does this tacit understanding mean? It means that whenever anything arises, you can stand on the same side as God, share the same thoughts and views, and use the same standards that align with the truth principles to view, understand, and handle any person, event, or thing. This is what is called a tacit understanding. Simply put, a tacit understanding means knowing what the other one is thinking without either of you speaking, and holding the same view of the same thing, without any need to communicate in words. What is another way of describing a tacit understanding? (Being on the same wavelength.) Right, being on the same wavelength. Even though the two do not live in the same region or the same space, because they have the same thoughts and views, and they have the same stance and the same perspective, and they also have the same attitude toward everything, without needing to communicate and without needing to exchange any words, they can arrive at the same methods and paths for handling any problem, and they can also come to have the same goals and purposes in handling it. This is what is called a tacit understanding; it is like what people call being on the same wavelength. If one can be on the same wavelength as God, this is called a tacit understanding. What must one possess to achieve a tacit understanding with God—or at the very least, with the incarnate God? You just said some things. Some of you spoke more accurately, while others did not quite hit the mark. Those who spoke accurately have hope of achieving a tacit understanding with God.

What conditions must one possess to achieve a tacit understanding with God? First, one must possess genuine belief. Is this important? (Yes.) Specifically, genuine belief means having genuine faith in God. That is, you acknowledge that He is the Creator, you believe He can hold sovereignty over all things, and you understand what His attitude is toward mankind, and what His attitude is toward all events and things. You have some sense and knowledge in your heart of what He says and does, His essence, His identity, His almightiness, His power, His authority, and so on. This is genuine belief. This genuine belief refers to faith. However, this faith is not just a matter of verbally acknowledging that the incarnate God is the Creator and that He is God; it is not merely acknowledging and recognizing His identity, status, and essence. Rather, it means having a basic or in-depth understanding and knowledge of His identity, status, and essence. This is genuine belief. Only after you have genuine and basic understanding, knowledge, and experience can you have genuine faith in the Creator. This is one condition one must possess to achieve a tacit understanding with God. In another respect, one must have a true heart. To have a true heart means that your heart toward God is genuine. You do not believe in God and follow God in a muddleheaded way, nor are you just playing around. Your belief in God and your following of God is not like how you would treat an ordinary person; it is also not a religious belief, it is not a ritual, it is not an act of paying homage, much less is it an act of veneration. Rather, you have a true heart. Having a true heart means that, at the very least, you must be able to offer up everything you have to God; you must at least be prepared to do so. If God tells you to die, you think it over: “God has told me to die, so I will go and die. Even though I am unwilling in my heart, I still must offer myself up to God.” You must have this kind of true heart. Furthermore, no matter what God asks of you, what He asks you to offer up, or what He tells you to do, you can submit to Him and not bargain with Him; your attitude toward God is earnest and sincere. Even if you have corrupt dispositions, and even if you still have many notions and imaginings about God, at the very least, this heart of yours is true, and you are sincere toward God. Having a true heart toward God is the second condition one must possess to achieve a tacit understanding with God.

If one wants to achieve a tacit understanding with the incarnate God, after possessing the two conditions of genuine belief and a true heart, the third condition they must possess is consideration. The word “consideration” is a bit abstract; what does it mean to show consideration? It means that what God wants to say and what God wants to do, what God is anxious and worried about, and what God is happy about can all tug at your heart, and can all affect your mood and your emotions. You can think about what God thinks about and be anxious about what God is anxious about; this is called showing consideration. Showing consideration means that when you see the meaning of what God says and see God’s every move, you can understand God’s heart, and can positively and proactively cooperate with God, do all you can, and fulfill the duty you should do, satisfying and comforting God’s heart. This is showing consideration. Also, with regard to God’s requirements, you can accept and submit to them, thereby satisfying God; you have the wish to follow God’s will and can proactively cooperate. This is called showing consideration. For example, when you read God’s words, “Who can feed My sheep? Who is My Peter? Who is the one who follows My will?” these words of God will touch you. After hearing these words of God, you can feel His anxiety and His sorrow; your heart will be stirred, and you will take God’s words to heart and ponder them. Whenever you see these words of God, you will be moved; these words of God will occupy a place in your heart, and you will have the wish to satisfy God, satisfying His intentions and bringing Him comfort. Is this showing consideration? (Yes.) For example, God says, “I want to gain a group of people on earth who accord with My intentions.” You ponder in your heart, “God wants to gain a group of people on earth who accord with His intentions. How does God do this? Through what means will it be accomplished? How should I cooperate so as to satisfy God?” This is called showing consideration. You must be clear in your heart about how you should experience God’s work to become a person who accords with God’s intentions, and how you should pursue the truth and how you should practice the truth in order to be perfected by God and come to accord with His intentions. If you have such thoughts, you will be willing to proactively cooperate with God. This is called showing consideration. This is an attitude, and it is also a choice in how one conducts oneself. This is consideration. It’s just as people honor their parents—when their parents have difficulties, they are willing to help; when they see that their parents are in poor health, they become anxious in their hearts and try every possible means to get medical treatment and health care for their parents, so that their parents can regain their health as soon as possible and their illness and pain can be alleviated. This is a manifestation of honoring one’s parents. That is, if you are unaware of your parents’ difficulties, illness, and pain, that is one thing; once you know about them, you will be particularly concerned and particularly attentive, and you will do your utmost to reduce your parents’ suffering. This is called showing consideration. Then what about how you treat God? God’s requirements for man are not high. Children can show consideration for their parents, so man can also show consideration for God. Do you understand this aspect of showing consideration for God now? (We understand.)

If one wants to achieve a tacit understanding with the incarnate God, the fourth condition they must possess is that they must understand God’s intentions. If you want to show consideration for God’s heart, want to satisfy Him, want His wishes to be fulfilled, and want Him to receive comfort, then you must ponder: “What are God’s intentions? What does God want to do? What does God want? What is God anxious about? What is He worried about? What is He sad about? What is He in pain about? What does God pay a price for? What is God’s required standard? What are God’s requirements? What has God expressed? What has God said to mankind?” If you want to show consideration for God’s intentions, you must understand what His intentions are. To understand God’s intentions, you must frequently seek and ponder in the various things you encounter. Regardless of whether you are a leader or worker, a supervisor of an item of work, or an ordinary believer, you must seek what God’s intentions are and what His required standard is in the various people, events, and things you encounter. You must tirelessly contemplate them, and seek and ponder them without being restricted to any form. Ultimately, once you understand God’s intentions and God’s required standard, it will be easy for you to achieve a tacit understanding with God, and you will possess the basic conditions. So tell Me, what basic conditions should one possess to achieve a tacit understanding with God? (One should possess conditions in four areas: first, genuine belief in God; second, a true heart toward God; third, consideration for God; and fourth, an understanding of God’s intentions.) Do you remember them? Are these the four? (Yes.) None of these four conditions can be lacking; once you meet these four conditions, you can have a tacit understanding with God. Each one looks very simple, but actually attaining it is not easy. So, which of these four conditions do you possess? (Strictly speaking, we have not yet attained any of them.) Strictly speaking, you do not possess any of them. If we do not put it so strictly, most people have a little bit of a true heart toward God. Is this appropriate to say? (It is appropriate.) As for the other three conditions—genuine faith, consideration for God, and an understanding of God’s intentions—people do not possess them in the slightest, right? (Yes.) Whether or not you possess them, you must strive toward these aspects and reach as far as you can. If you have done your utmost, then no matter what level you can ultimately reach, at the very least you will have a clear conscience and have done right by yourself. But if you do not strive upward and are ultimately left with regrets, then you can only beat your breast and blame yourself. Regardless of whether you can measure up to these four conditions, and no matter what level you can reach, at the very least you must strive upward. This is because the standard has now been lowered, and a step back has already been taken. You are not required to be compatible with God. The standard of being compatible with God is very high, and you cannot measure up to it. Now you are only required to achieve a tacit understanding with God. You should do your utmost to strive upward toward this—do not give up—and ultimately come to have genuine faith in God, have a true heart toward God, have consideration for God, and be able to understand God’s intentions. The process of attaining these four conditions is also the process of achieving a tacit understanding with God. Of course, once you fully attain these four conditions, you will have a complete tacit understanding with God.

We have finished fellowshipping on these four conditions that one should possess to achieve a tacit understanding with God. According to usual practice, shouldn’t we give some examples? This is what you most like to hear, and it is also a necessary path and method by which you come to understand the various truths. Giving some positive and negative examples will enable you to understand the truth about having a tacit understanding with God and the principles of practice in this regard. In your view, among the people around you or the people you know about, is there anyone who has already attained these four conditions—that is, who has already achieved a tacit understanding with God? At the very least, in your eyes, this person has a tacit understanding with God, can shoulder a heavy burden, and can complete the mission given by God. Give some examples. Who is such a person? (The man used by the Holy Spirit.) Besides the man used by the Holy Spirit, can you give a few more examples of people who have a tacit understanding with God? Let us see what people of this type have in common. Through some examples from them, let everyone see what characteristics people of this type have: their words, actions, and conduct, their thoughts and views in how they conduct themselves and handle matters, their attitudes toward God and toward the truth, their attitudes toward their own missions and duties—the manifestations they have and the common characteristics they have in these regards. Besides the man used by the Holy Spirit, are there any such people? (No.) Then let us fellowship on how the man used by the Holy Spirit achieved a tacit understanding with God, or, in other words, what things the man used by the Holy Spirit has done that are manifestations of a tacit understanding with God. Some people may know about these things, and some may not. Whether you know about them or not, in any case, you should try to gain understanding and try to make comparisons based on the topic fellowshipped on today.

To fellowship on the manifestations of the tacit understanding that the man used by the Holy Spirit has with God, we must begin with the Holy Spirit’s utterances and words to the churches. The Holy Spirit’s first utterance to the churches marked the point from which God formally began to speak words and make utterances to mankind in the identity of God Himself, unfolding His third stage of work—the work of the Age of Kingdom, namely, the work of speaking to all mankind to perform chastisement and judgment. Starting from the Holy Spirit’s first utterance, the man used by the Holy Spirit read them, but he did not merely read them himself and then circulate them in the church. He thought to himself, “These words are neither ordinary nor usual; they seem to come from the Holy Spirit. Since they come from the Holy Spirit, all the brothers and sisters in the church have the right to see them. This is God’s utterance, and this great news should be made known to everyone.” So, to let everyone in the church know about this news and see the Holy Spirit’s words and utterances, what should be done? Ordinary people really did not have this burden, nor did they know how to do it. The man used by the Holy Spirit then began to do this; that is, he took the Holy Spirit’s words and spread them within the church, so that more of God’s chosen people could get to read God’s words. At that time, due to a limitation—not being able to openly print books about belief in God in the environment in mainland China where belief was persecuted—the man used by the Holy Spirit organized young people in the church who wrote neatly and were conscientious in doing things to copy out and make carbon copies of the Holy Spirit’s words. After they had been copied, the copies were sent to each region and district; the districts then sent them to the churches in various places, and the churches then sent them to individuals. At the very least, each church had to have one or more handwritten copies of the Holy Spirit’s words to the churches. Whenever one of God’s latest utterances was expressed, the man used by the Holy Spirit arranged for people to make carbon copies of it. When the words that had been expressed reached a certain amount, he organized people to print them as books. In a place like China that so frantically resists God, even believing in God involved risk, let alone printing books about belief in God. Once arrested, it was the death penalty. Therefore, buying printing machinery and equipment at that time involved risk, too. Even under those circumstances, the man used by the Holy Spirit still organized people to do this work well, getting people to buy some machinery and equipment, and organizing people to type and learn typesetting, and arranging for brothers and sisters to take charge of printing and bind God’s words into books. From typing, typesetting, proofreading, and printing to binding and then distributing the books to churches in various places—the man used by the Holy Spirit organized people to do all of this work. Tell Me, if the man used by the Holy Spirit had not organized it, who would have taken the lead in doing this work? (No one would have done it.) In doing this work, for one thing, safety had to be ensured; for another, the people selected for each step of the work had to be suitable. Through this process, these books were ultimately sent one after another to churches in various places. Although the printing quality of the books at that time was far worse than it is now, judging from the environment at the time, the financial conditions of the church, and people’s conditions in every respect, achieving one copy per person of The Words of the Holy Spirit to the Churches and Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs was already very good and very difficult. If no one had organized it and there had not been a right person to do this work, then no matter how many words there were from the Holy Spirit to the churches, they could not have been sent to the churches in time, and they might not even have reached the brothers and sisters at all and achieved one copy per person. From the time God began expressing His first utterance up to now, the man used by the Holy Spirit has persisted in doing this work. The work of printing books has a long history, and after one copy per person was achieved, the printing work could be considered to have achieved results.

Besides arranging for people to print The Words of the Holy Spirit to the Churches and distribute it in a timely manner, another item of work the man used by the Holy Spirit did was establishing churches in various places. At that time, the churches in various places were all made up of people who had just accepted this stage of work. Many churches did not have suitable leaders and workers. The churches were chaotic internally, the administrative structures were chaotic, and personnel matters were also chaotic—that is, every aspect was chaotic. The man used by the Holy Spirit then began rectifying things, setting up administrative structures and cultivating leaders and workers. Then, step by step, he found all those who had some zeal, could expend themselves, could be cultivated, and could also forsake their families, and had them do church work. At that time, people in some places married early. At sixteen or seventeen, or eighteen or nineteen years of age, they would think about getting married, having children, and producing offspring. The brothers and sisters in the church were no exception and were also influenced by these local customs. Many brothers and sisters who were zealous in their belief in God had also reached this age. If the church had not promoted and cultivated them, frequently watered them, placed burdens on them, and had them do work in various places, then these people might have married and might already be grandmothers or grandfathers by now. At that time, some of these young people could be considered to have gained special favor. Some churches could not find people of good caliber among the older people to serve as leaders and workers. Some people of better caliber still could not forsake their families, while some others had poor caliber and were simply incapable of doing actual work, and merely had some zeal and were willing to run around and expend themselves. What, then, was to be done? The man used by the Holy Spirit cultivated some young people of good caliber and promoted them to travel among churches in various places and do work, because they could forsake their families and were relatively free. After these people were cultivated, at the very least, church life in the churches in various places could be guaranteed. Together with the words of the Holy Spirit to the churches, church life and church work in the churches in various places became somewhat more normal. Some of these young people are now around fifty years old. Having followed God up to the present, they can be said to have experienced a great deal. Perhaps what they feel most fortunate about is that they did not miss the opportunity to be promoted and cultivated by God’s house at that time, nor did they, like nonbelievers, begin discussing marriage when they reached that age and walk down the aisle. Although they remain single today, they have gained a great deal and understood quite a few truths. Establishing churches in various places and cultivating leaders and workers was one aspect of the work. Another aspect was that church life was not just a matter of being able to read God’s words and having the Holy Spirit’s work. Church life required a great deal of content. In believing in God, besides reading God’s words, people also needed to fellowship the truth and talk about their experiences. They also had some needs in terms of forms of entertainment, such as singing hymns and dancing. Therefore, the man used by the Holy Spirit established a hymn team, organized some people to write experiential hymns, and also wrote hymns himself. The purpose was to give the brothers and sisters songs to sing and enrich church life. After the hymns had been written, how could they be uniformly distributed to the churches so that all the brothers and sisters could learn to sing them? The man used by the Holy Spirit organized people to sing the hymns and found people to record them. At the time, the singers and musicians were all amateurs. They had not undergone professional training and began practicing without much musical knowledge. When songs were recorded, there was no good recording equipment, nor were there high-end instruments for musical accompaniment. An erhu was considered a relatively practical instrument, and having one could be counted as having accompaniment. A few individuals could also play a little on the accordion or electronic keyboard. In short, they were all amateurs, but reaching that level at the time was already no easy task. Of course, regardless of whether the works ultimately produced were good or not, this matter needed someone to organize it. Whatever the churches needed, whatever the brothers and sisters needed, and whatever cooperation God’s work required of man, the man used by the Holy Spirit could think of them all and kept following up on these matters. That is, within what he was capable of, he took everything man could think of and turned it into reality, and also did his utmost to do everything man could do. In this way, the man used by the Holy Spirit organized and followed up on this work, sending the printed books of God’s words, hymnbooks, and recorded cassette tapes and CDs to all the churches, so that all the brothers and sisters could read God’s words, could learn hymns, and had a good church life. Although church life at that time was relatively plain compared with now, and conditions were relatively difficult, with no modern equipment or high-end machinery, and with no leaders and workers or technical personnel that were fit for use, because the man used by the Holy Spirit organized and followed up on this work and constantly improved every item of work, people were still able to enjoy a good church life under the circumstances at that time. This good church life meant that people could read God’s latest words, feel enjoyment and gain liberation. Everyone could read God’s latest utterances to mankind and know God’s intentions at that very moment, God’s thoughts about man, and His requirements of man. Better still, some people could understand the truth in God’s words and have some entry. Through the man used by the Holy Spirit organizing and arranging things in this way, for one thing, churches were established, and for another, people all came to live a normal and orderly church life. God’s house is not a religious group. Church life does not practice religious rituals, much less does it practice monologic preaching. The church life of God’s house must include eating and drinking God’s words, and must include the Holy Spirit’s work; it must include fellowshipping the truth and talking about experiential testimonies, and also must include singing hymns in praise of God. This kind of church life is church life under God’s leading and direction, watering and provision, and guidance and help; it is true church life. Although compared with church life now it was very shallow, very single-faceted, and very simple, that was what human beings needed at the time, and it was also so that human beings could enjoy the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and illumination—that is, so that all of God’s chosen people could enjoy God’s words in church life and hear God’s voice with their own ears. This was a good beginning for church life. Without such a church life, you could not possibly have made it to today. Precisely because there was this kind of regular, stable church life with practical results, people could come step by step to where they are today and be brought to where they are today, and have the stature they have today as well as the gains they have today in every respect. This is the work the man used by the Holy Spirit did in terms of church administration, personnel, and the church’s specific work. The man used by the Holy Spirit also did important work in another area, which was to preach sermons close on the heels of the Holy Spirit’s words to the churches. He regularly or irregularly called leaders and workers together for gatherings and fellowshipped God’s intentions, fellowshipped the truth principles that people should adhere to in their daily lives and in doing their duties, and also fellowshipped how to establish churches and water churches, and fellowshipped how to serve God. The man used by the Holy Spirit did his utmost to do this work well, fellowshipping topics about life entry and also fellowshipping truths concerning serving God. This is what left the deepest impression on Me.

The work done by the man used by the Holy Spirit was closely related to God’s intentions and to God’s purpose in establishing churches on earth, and it was inextricably linked to the work God was about to do on His chosen people. Strictly speaking, what the man used by the Holy Spirit said, what he focused on, what he followed up on, what he supervised, and what he did in the church during every period were all in close cooperation with the work of the Holy Spirit; he strove to cooperate to the utmost in implementing whatever leadership the Holy Spirit provided, whatever revelations God gave, and whatever meanings and requirements there were in God’s words, so that God’s words would not be in vain, so that God’s intentions would not be in vain, and so that the people at the time could all know and understand God’s intentions and God’s words. Although it did not reach the point of being known to every household, at the very least, under the leadership of the man used by the Holy Spirit, the people at the time could all closely follow this stream and feel that this stream had the Holy Spirit’s work, had God’s work, had God’s words, and had God’s intentions. They were certain that this stream came from God, certain that this stream was right, and, at the very least, certain that the man used by the Holy Spirit was a right person. No matter what gap there was between everything he did then and what is being done now, in short, everything he did was to uphold and cooperate with the work done by the Holy Spirit. In terms of the level to which people in the church understood the truth at the time, the man used by the Holy Spirit was able to do these things and was able to bring the church to the level it had reached then—which of the four manifestations of having a tacit understanding with God would you say he possessed? (I feel he possessed all four.) It would be somewhat less than objective to say that he also possessed the fourth one, “understanding God’s intentions,” but in My view, he possessed at least the other three: genuine belief, a true heart, and consideration, with “consideration” being the most evident. He was someone who showed consideration for God’s burden, and in doing so much work, he never schemed to obtain for himself anything related to money or personal benefit. You might not understand what I mean by this, so I will give you an example. Ever since the man used by the Holy Spirit began organizing the printing of books and up to the present, not a single cent has been charged to the brothers and sisters for any of the books our church has distributed. It was not that we only stopped charging for them later, when the church had the means; even at the very beginning, when finances were particularly tight, we did not charge a single cent. Why was that? Although the church was not very well off financially at the time, given the limited financial resources available then, it could basically cover expenses such as the cost of printing books, so the brothers and sisters were not charged for the books distributed to them and could read them free of charge. As books continued to be printed, the total amount of the church’s funds grew smaller and smaller. At that time, most of the brothers and sisters who had believed in God for many years had no source of income because they had been doing their duties all along, and they did not have much money on hand. Consequently, the money offered sometimes could not cover the church’s expenditures and various expenses. I remember very clearly that, on one occasion, a batch of books needed to be printed, but the church only had a few thousand yuan left. After the cost of printing the books was paid, there would be no money left for the church’s work. If leaders and workers had travel expenses that needed to be covered when going somewhere, or if living expenses needed to be covered while hosting brothers and sisters for a large gathering, the money might not have been available. What was to be done? Under these circumstances, should the books still be printed? (Yes, they should.) The books still had to be printed, and the money still had to be paid. The man used by the Holy Spirit thought of a solution. He said that a few yuan should first be collected in advance for each book in this batch—just enough to cover the cost of printing the batch. In this context, money was collected in advance on that one occasion. But after a while, brothers and sisters in the church made offerings again, and there was enough money to cover the printing costs for the next batch of books. From then on, the church’s finances turned around, and we never charged money for printing books again. That incident was just a brief interlude. What is the point of mentioning this? The point is that, even when finances were at their tightest, we did not stop printing our books. The man used by the Holy Spirit tried every possible means and, like the head of a household, became anxious about, pondered, and made plans for this matter. Most people don’t know about these things. When these books of God’s words were distributed to the churches, the most people would say upon receiving one was, “This book is so good! We had it printed ourselves—how difficult that must have been!” Some did not even cherish this book or read it properly. However, people did not know how many difficulties the Above faced behind the scenes while doing this work and printing this book. Quite a few people in our church came from the Local Church or other denominations. Previously, the leaders and mainland apostles of those denominations did not do the work of printing books. They took away most of the money offered by the brothers and sisters in the various churches, but they did not print books or make hymns widely available. Whatever sermon recordings there were from the higher levels were never distributed to those below. They did none of this work. God’s chosen people had nothing other than a Bible. If you wanted to read a collection of sermons or experiential testimonies, you could not obtain one; if you wanted to listen to a few good hymns, that was even more difficult. No one did this work. If you wanted to read spiritual books, you had to have a personal relationship with them before they would lend you one to read. God’s chosen people simply could not gain life provision, and there were no good people to lead and manage church life. Those apostles and leaders did not do any real work at all. One thing they regularly did was hold a co-workers’ meeting every so often where they ate and drank lavishly. This may have been the “work” they did. I was young back then, just seventeen or eighteen, and when I heard about these things, I felt, “What a mess! Are these people who believe in God? How does this resemble something believers in God would do?” I became very indignant when I heard about this. We are not concerned with what they ate or what they enjoyed. In short, at the very least, they did not organize church life properly, they did not distribute the spiritual food people needed—books and hymns—and they did not cultivate leaders and workers. They did none of this work. The church received no small amount in offerings, but when they went to the churches in various places, they cared only about eating, drinking, and enjoying themselves. They did no real work and never used the offerings for church work. At gatherings, they just talked about a few doctrines and shouted some slogans, and that was the end of it; they never resolved actual problems. After the man used by the Holy Spirit began working, he put a stop to these phenomena. He set about resolving every problem and began doing concrete work bit by bit, so that church life and the church’s personnel work gradually changed and got onto the right track, and this has continued up to the present. God’s offerings are what people offer to God. If you look at the management and use of the offerings, the living expenses of the incarnate God account for only a very small portion. The remaining majority of the offerings are used for the work of preaching the gospel, the living expenses of leaders and workers and people who do their duties full time, and the purchase of machinery and equipment needed for church work, and so on. In short, all these expenditures are reasonable and are used for the work of God’s house, rather than to support useless people who cannot do their duties. Speaking of the work of God’s house, the scope is broad. The man used by the Holy Spirit used these offerings reasonably, built up church life bit by bit, and sorted out the administrative work bit by bit. The various kinds of people in the church were also categorized: Those who did their duties were distinguished from those who did not, and those who loved the truth were distinguished from those who were averse to the truth. Those who should be cleansed away were cleansed away, and suitable people to cultivate in different periods were also promoted. These are things that you have all seen and all experienced. Along this journey, of course, the man used by the Holy Spirit gradually came to understand the truth and grasp the principles for doing work in the course of experiencing these things. In one respect, he received the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment through doing work. In another respect, through God’s work and words, he gradually came to understand God’s intentions more and more. His understanding did not remain merely at the level of doctrines, nor did it remain merely within regulations and practices. Rather, his understanding became increasingly practical, and he became increasingly able to do church work well according to God’s requirements, making church life more stable and more normal, and more beneficial to people’s life entry. Therefore, it was in the process of constantly seeking and constantly exploring that the man used by the Holy Spirit came to understand God’s intentions, cooperate closely with God, show consideration for God’s intentions, and do his utmost to do church work well, striving to ensure with greater precision that God’s intentions would not be in vain and God’s will could be carried out. In every single thing he does, whether it concerns personnel or life entry, and whether it concerns external affairs or internal matters, he strives to accord with principles and to accord with God’s intentions, without deviating to the left or the right. The man used by the Holy Spirit does his work with these four conditions: genuine belief, a true heart, consideration, and an understanding of God’s intentions. For you, this is not merely extremely beneficial and extremely helpful; it is your blessing! If this person were not a right person, but were a person who pursued fame and gain and coveted the benefits of status, a deceitful person, a person who was bent solely on profit and whose eyes lit up at the sight of money, or a disbeliever, tell Me, could he do this work? Could he cooperate in all these ways? Could he achieve such a tacit understanding with the incarnate God? (No.) So, this person is extremely crucial! It is mainly because the man used by the Holy Spirit possesses the four conditions we just spoke about that he can do this work of the church well. When it comes to the same matter, people have both the right to choose and room for choice. They can choose to handle it badly, and of course they can also choose to handle it well. If they handle it well, countless people will benefit, and the words God speaks and the work God does will gradually achieve results in people. But if a person does not take the good path and instead recklessly commits misdeeds, what sorts of things will they do? They will use all of God’s offerings for personal enjoyment, buying luxury cars and luxury homes, and even buying private planes and cruise ships to travel to countries around the world, enjoying eating, drinking, and having fun. At most, they will preach a few sermons occasionally, and that will be the end of it. They will do no church work at all and will ignore the church even if it is in complete disarray, caring only about their own enjoyment. If such a person were to lead the church, would it be easy for you to have a good church life and a good environment for doing your duties? (No.) So it truly is necessary to have a good person like the man used by the Holy Spirit leading you. Some people see the work done by the man used by the Holy Spirit and still think nothing of it, thinking, “This is easy. Who could not do it? As long as one understands God’s intentions, and is the person used by God, the person designated by God, doing this work is easy.” Tell Me, is it easy? (No.) It is not easy to do this work well, let alone in an environment of religious persecution like that in mainland China. The man used by the Holy Spirit was wanted by the authorities; no matter where he went to attend gatherings or what item of work he did, he was risking his life, and being arrested meant death. Did he then give up his duty? Did he retreat? Did he try to be slippery and slack off? (No.) No matter how fearful or how weak he was in his heart, he never gave up his duty. Some people do not shoulder important work and face no great danger wherever they go. When they say, “I have not given up doing my duty,” this is easy to say and easy to do. But considering the circumstances the man used by the Holy Spirit was in, for him to be able not to give up in such a dangerous environment and also attend to every aspect of the church’s work—he had to think of every area of work and every matter, and had to think of them before anyone else did—would you say this was easy to do? (No.) Man’s energy and what man’s natural capacity can bear are both limited. It looks easy when you see him doing it, but if you were asked to do it, you would know how difficult and how far from easy it is. Among you people who have listened to sermons for so many years, I have not found a second person like this, nor have I found anyone who can shoulder this work. Quite a few people began following when the Holy Spirit began speaking to the churches and have continued up to the present. They should know and be clear about what the church has gone through in developing to its present state and how it has come this far step by step. If not for the consideration and understanding the man used by the Holy Spirit showed for God’s burden, then, speaking from a human perspective, the church could not possibly have developed to its present state. Of course, some people will say, “Was it not the Holy Spirit’s work and leading that enabled him to achieve such results in his work?” The Holy Spirit also wants to work on you, but do you have that true heart and consideration? Can you do it? I don’t think you could necessarily do it. This is not belittling you; rather, you fundamentally cannot do it. The man used by the Holy Spirit and you are both human beings, yet he can do it and you cannot. This proves that there are differences between people. God chose him to do this work, and God was not wrong in the person He chose. At the very least, this person possesses this condition and he has this qualification, whereas you do not. You do not possess the conditions God requires, so God chose him and did not choose you. You have no choice but to be convinced. This is a fact, and no one can deny it, right? (Yes.)

Now that we have finished talking about church life, the printing of books, and every aspect of the church, let us next talk about the preaching of the gospel beginning in 1995. At that time, the man used by the Holy Spirit asked Me, “Is it okay to preach the gospel now? Some people say they want to go out and preach the gospel,” and I agreed. Afterward, the man used by the Holy Spirit began making arrangements for this work. He did not organize gospel teams in a simple fashion and then dispatch particular people to particular places to preach the gospel, make that one simple arrangement, and consider everything taken care of. While organizing the gospel teams, he pondered how to preach to the various religions and denominations, what gospel truths the people in the various religions and denominations needed, and which passages and content to select from God’s words for inclusion in gospel books. He then selected and compiled some essential words of God concerning the various aspects of the truths of the gospel and had them printed as books specifically for preaching the gospel. After the books were printed, the man used by the Holy Spirit also organized the training of gospel workers and personally worked out the principles for preaching the gospel. This was the concrete work he did. That is, when I tell him about a matter, he goes and implements it without another word and without any compromise. He does not trouble Me or pester Me with questions about how to do it; I do not need to worry about it. If a matter is entrusted to you, I still have to worry about it and check on it. But when it comes to the man used by the Holy Spirit, I say a single sentence telling him what to do, and he goes and does it and implements it. What left the deepest impression on Me was that the man used by the Holy Spirit worked out many principles for preaching the gospel, such as how to preach the gospel, who could be preached to and who could not be preached to, and which methods to use to preach it and which methods not to use to preach it. He worked out the specific ways and methods, item by item, in great detail. Then he frequently held gatherings for the gospel teams, had them raise questions, and fellowshipped with them to provide answers. He also worked out what notions and questions religious people had about God’s work of the last days, how these should be faced, which truths should be fellowshipped, and which methods should be used to resolve their questions. He attended to every matter, great or small, tackling them bit by bit like ants gnawing on a bone. You see, I said a single sentence and he went and implemented it, and I could be a hands-off manager. Why do I say this? With the man used by the Holy Spirit there doing the work, I did not need to worry, because he was fully capable of shouldering this work. He showed consideration and also sought; of course, he was also submissive and truly paid a price. That is, he was able to take the words I spoke and My requirements, and implement them. In this way, the gospel was spread bit by bit. Regardless of how many people were preaching the gospel, in any case, it was with the man used by the Holy Spirit that this work was launched and began to make progress. He was the one who organized, followed up on, implemented, and supervised it, bringing the work bit by bit to where it is today. It can be said that the present achievements in the work were attained on the basis of those initial work arrangements, stipulations of the details of the work, and general affairs arrangements. These things were all work done by the man used by the Holy Spirit. He has a true heart and has paid a real price. Are these not facts? (Yes.)

As the gospel of the kingdom spread wider and wider and more and more people accepted this stage of work, what issue did this involve? It involved the issue of establishing churches. Could you do the work of establishing churches well? You would still be unable to do it well. The man used by the Holy Spirit still had to personally make work arrangements, deploy this work, and carry out this work, and personally supervise, follow up on, and urge this work forward. Therefore, he frequently convened gatherings for leaders and workers and for the people responsible for gospel work, telling them how to establish churches, how many people should form one church, how many churches should form one district, how many districts should form one region, how many church leaders and how many deacons should be appointed in each church, and so on. He made specific stipulations concerning every detail involved in church work, including specific arrangements for the management and use of offerings. All this was work done by the man used by the Holy Spirit. Tell Me, does he have a tacit understanding with the incarnate God? (Yes.) If he had no consideration for God’s intentions in his heart, or only had a tiny bit of consideration, or if the consideration he showed was compromised to some degree, could this work have been implemented? (No.) What situation would have arisen in the church? (Church life would have become chaotic.) Not only would church life have been chaotic, but all aspects of church work would have been chaotic. Evil people would also have been able to cause disruptions and disturbances, and even hold power and have the final say in the church. The work of establishing churches everywhere would have been chaotic, and various items of work such as personnel arrangements and the management of offerings would have been chaotic. If the person that served as the leader did not have a heart that truly showed consideration for God and, on seeing that the church was developing well, growing in scale, and increasing in numbers, began to enjoy the benefits of status, live off past achievements, and spend their remaining years in comfort—if this kind of person was the leader, then church work would not be done well. However, the man used by the Holy Spirit has always done his utmost in church work, right up to the present. A phrase often used by people with resolve is, “As long as life continues, the struggle will continue.” For the man used by the Holy Spirit, as long as life continues, the work will continue. He has continued working all along. Even when you ask him to rest, he does not rest; he works this way every day and persists in working no matter how tired he is. Is this something that can be achieved simply by understanding God’s intentions? Did he work only because someone was supervising and urging him? No. People’s hearts are not the same. This person has a God-fearing heart and shows consideration for God’s heart. This is extremely crucial! No matter how tired he becomes, he does not grow negative, and no matter what difficulty he encounters, he does not retreat; he persists in working all along. Therefore, all items of church work have now gotten onto the right track step by step, are proceeding increasingly smoothly, and are achieving increasingly good results. How does it feel to have such a person leading you in carrying out every item of concrete work? If you didn’t have this person leading you, what would happen to you? Would you not lack a great deal? (Yes.) Having this person is crucial for you. He has brought every item of church work onto the right track. The problems arising at every step of the work have become fewer and fewer, the problems that need to be resolved have become fewer and fewer, and the truth principles people understand have become increasingly clear. These results have been produced not merely because this person is present, but, more importantly, because he has a tacit understanding with God. What if he were to take a different path? What if he were to engage in his own enterprise and manage his own status? Then the results produced would not be like this. It is precisely because the nature of all the work he does is closely cooperating with God’s work, is showing consideration for God’s intentions, and is having a tacit understanding with God, that you are the ones who ultimately benefit. How much benefit have you received? Without looking any further afield, at the very least, you have come to understand quite a lot about the various areas of expertise, have made progress in your expertise, and have gradually gone from being amateurs to being professionals. Moreover, the more detailed and specific he is in speaking about the truth principles, and the stricter his requirements of you are, and, in particular, the harsher the words with which he prunes you are, the more able you are to engrave them in your hearts, remember them deeply, clearly understand what the truth principles are, and understand what God’s intentions are. You truly are that base. No matter how many times the truth principles are fellowshipped to you, you cannot remember them. Only when the man used by the Holy Spirit frequently exposes and prunes you this severely, and even scolds you, do you come to understand some truth principles, become much more rule-abiding and well-behaved in your self-conduct and actions, and set your attitudes right. Of course, in the process of being pruned, you also tremble with fear, always afraid that the man used by the Holy Spirit will see through you and clear you out. I see this as a good thing, not a bad thing. At the very least, some people now have a much better attitude toward doing their duties and are much better behaved than before. This has had a positive effect. Although scolding people might seem wrong, and viewed outwardly, it is not so refined in terms of appearances and the words are not so pleasant to hear, the results achieved are good. To achieve this result, how much of a price has the man used by the Holy Spirit paid? How many times must he get mad with you? Tell Me, when he prunes you, does he not get mad? Does he not get angry? Would this not also harm his health? He does not want to prune you. Sometimes he becomes so mad that he scolds you, and the words he says may not sound very refined. But judging from your manifestations in My interactions with you, what he says is correct and accords with your actual situation; it is not excessive in the least. What is it that you have done to make this person so mad? It is because the things you do are too infuriating. The truth principles have been fellowshipped to you for so many years, yet you still do not understand them and still recklessly commit misdeeds according to your own will. Only then is he forced to speak this way. After saying this, he himself even regrets it, saying, “We are all brothers and sisters; why do I get so angry?” I comfort and encourage him: “This is exactly how they should be pruned. There is nothing wrong with it. The next time you encounter this kind of situation, you must still prune them.” Tell Me, is it right to encourage him like this? (Yes.) It is precisely because people are too deeply corrupted, too numb, and pitifully small in stature that even a very simple matter requires scolding and roaring to achieve results. Otherwise, the work cannot be done. Everyone thinks that they are capable, and everyone wants to act willfully and recklessly according to their own will. Tell Me, would it be acceptable not to have such a person keeping things under control? (No.) People all say they believe in God, but none of them have a God-fearing heart; they are all people filled with corrupt dispositions. If there were no one keeping things under control, the situation that followed would be that everyone would want to have the final say and everyone would want to wield power like a king, while refusing to let the truth be in charge, and refusing to let God be in charge. If the truth is to be in charge and the truth is to hold power, then there must be someone watching over you, and this person must be used to restrain you. Is it easy to achieve this effect? (No.) As the man used by the Holy Spirit works, the more he works, the angrier he becomes; the more he works, the more anxious he becomes; the more he works, the harsher his words become; the more he works, the more frequently he prunes you; and the more he works, the worse his attitude toward you becomes. This alone reflects just how poor your caliber is, how intransigent you are, how numb you are, and how small your stature is. Tell Me, with the work being this difficult, has the man used by the Holy Spirit given up? He has not given up. No matter how many times you make the same basic mistakes, has he given up on you? (No.) Whenever any team seeks regarding a problem, the brother, without another word and without any compromise, immediately fellowships about it and resolves it. Sometimes he is eating or is about to rest, but he puts down his bowl or postpones resting and immediately replies. He says, “Once I have replied, they can quickly get to work. The work must not be delayed; the work is urgent. Once I have replied, I will feel at ease, and I will also be able to rest with peace of mind.” Look, is his mindset toward resolving problems right? (Yes.) He is always supervising you and urging you on, and he also frequently prunes you. He is also always checking your work, keeping your workload full so that you are not idle, and he watches over you every day. Tell Me, is it good to have such a person leading you? (Yes, it is good.) I think having this person is quite good. He is very helpful to you in pursuing the truth and doing your duties well. Do not dislike him, and do not complain. I am responsible for fellowshipping the truth, and I truly do not have the physical strength or energy to do this general affairs work and administrative work. Moreover, with the brother doing it, there is no need at all for Me to do it. If I were the one doing work on you, I would be considerably milder. This would give you an opportunity to take advantage, and you could not possibly be as well-behaved as you are now. I know this situation. My being so lenient with you is not entirely appropriate for you. When I do not treat some people strictly, they become dissolute and unrestrained, and even push their luck, doing their work carelessly and perfunctorily. Do people of this kind not need to be pruned? (Yes.) What you need most is the brother’s severe way of working—the more severe, the better. When the day comes that you understand the truth, and you know to show consideration for God’s intentions, can practice accurately according to the truth principles, do your duties better and better, do your duties in an increasingly proper manner, become increasingly effective in the performance of your duties, know to come before God, know to practice the truth, and know to act according to God’s intentions, tell Me, will this not be a good thing? (Yes.) This is a good thing. Having such a person is so beneficial to you. This person does all these things precisely because he has a tacit understanding with God. This tacit understanding means showing consideration for God and being able to implement and practice God’s words without compromise, and then bringing you bit by bit onto the right track of believing in God, so that in doing your duties you gradually come up to standard and get onto the right track, and so that you can successfully complete the mission God has given you and give an account to God. This is a good thing. So tell Me, in this process, what role does the man used by the Holy Spirit play? What role do you take him to be playing? (The head of a household.) Like the head of this household, right? The whole way, he leads you to press forward. No matter what difficulties arise in the work, he never complains about the difficulty, never complains about the hardship; if anyone backslides, he pulls them along and strikes them to drive them forward.

There is still quite a lot more to the topic of having a tacit understanding with God, and some details have not yet been discussed. If you want to hear about them, at our next gathering we will discuss these specific details so that you can gain some understanding of what it means to have a tacit understanding with God and, regarding people who can achieve a tacit understanding with God, how God views them and how God characterizes and defines them. We will fellowship about all these things. Let us end our fellowship here for today. Goodbye!

December 21, 2024