God asks people to treat Him as God because mankind has been too deeply corrupted, and they don’t treat Him as God, but rather as a person. What is the problem with people always making demands of God? And what is the problem with them always having notions about God? What is contained within man’s nature? I’ve discovered that, regardless of what happens to them or what they’re dealing with, people always protect their own interests and worry about their own flesh, and they always look for reasons or excuses that serve them. They don’t seek or accept the truth in the slightest, and everything they do is justifying their own flesh and planning for the sake of their own prospects. They always solicit grace from God, wanting to gain whatever advantages they can. Why do people make so many demands of God? This proves that people are greedy by nature, and that before God, they don’t have any reason at all. In everything people do—whether they are praying or fellowshipping or giving sermons—what they think about, and what they pursue and yearn for, only ever amount to demanding and soliciting things from God, hoping they might gain something from Him. Some people say that “this comes down to human nature,” which is correct. In addition, people making too many demands of God and having too many extravagant desires proves that people are totally devoid of conscience and reason. They are all demanding and soliciting things for their own sakes, or trying to justify and make excuses for themselves—they do all of this for themselves. In many things, it can be seen that what people do is totally devoid of reason, which fully proves that Satan’s logic of “Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost” has already become man’s nature. What problem is illustrated by people making too many demands of God? It illustrates that people have been corrupted by Satan to a certain point, and that in their belief in God, they don’t treat Him as God at all. Some people say, “If we didn’t treat God as God, then why would we still believe in Him? If we didn’t treat Him as God, could we have kept following Him until now? Could we have endured all this suffering?” On the surface, you believe in God, and you are able to follow Him, yet in your attitude toward Him, and in your views on many things, you don’t treat God as the Creator at all. If you treat God as God, if you treat God as the Creator, then you should stand in your position as a created being, and it would be impossible for you to make any demands of God, or have any extravagant desires. Instead, in your heart, you would be capable of true submission, and you would be fully capable of believing in God in accordance with His requirements, and of submitting to all of His work.

When the incarnation began to be witnessed, people all complained: “God, You didn’t enlighten us before You became flesh so that we could mentally prepare ourselves. If we had been mentally prepared, then we would be able to accept You instead of rebelling and resisting. Aren’t You almighty? We rebel against and resist You because we’ve been corrupted by Satan and can’t help but do so. Can’t You do something to stop us resisting, and allow us smooth passage?” Isn’t this what people thought? Many people also set conditions, saying: “There’s nothing we can do about our rebelliousness and resistance. God’s incarnation is too incompatible with our notions. If God’s incarnation were a little taller, or had an outstanding appearance, or were rich in knowledge and spoke eloquently, or could materialize at will and perform signs and wonders, or if God appeared and worked incarnate in accordance with more of people’s imaginings, then we wouldn’t resist God.” Many people made these demands at that time, but God didn’t act in accordance with man’s imaginings or notions. On the contrary, He struck back against and acted completely contrary to human notions. What did this prove? It proved that human notions and demands are unreasonably troublesome. Some people became church leaders but didn’t do any real work, and only busied themselves with some external affairs. When I pruned these people, saying only a few words of reproach, they felt sad inside, they wept bitterly and became negative. They said to themselves: “Isn’t God merciful and loving? I’m suffering so much, why doesn’t He say a few nice words to comfort me? Why doesn’t He bestow even a single word of blessing on me?” People made demands of God in this way, and they were full of their own justifications. Some people felt they had capital because they had preached the gospel successfully to many other people, so after doing something wrong and being pruned, they argued: “I preached the gospel successfully to so many people without any reward, and now I’ve been pruned like this. I’ve suffered so much, and in the end, I was still pruned. Why doesn’t God care about my feelings?” Do people who think like this have the truth in their hearts? Are these demands reasonable? If I comforted someone after pruning them, they’d think, “God is so good, I never thought He’d comfort me.” But then, if I pruned someone else, and that person was particularly upset, and I didn’t comfort them, that person would think, “Why does God comfort others after pruning them, but doesn’t comfort me? God’s not being fair to me,” and there’d be notions in their heart. People harbor many unreasonable demands, imaginings, and desires in their hearts which, at a certain time, and given the right environment, will come bursting out. For none of the thoughts, ideas, or demands revealed by man are compatible with God, and man’s nature is full of satanic things: Everything he does is for himself, he is selfish and greedy, he has too many extravagant desires, and he is too filthy and too profoundly corrupt.

People always make demands of God, no matter what the situation. What is the problem with this? Some people will pray to God when they are enjoying comfort, saying, “Oh God, protect me, let me live in this state all the time.” People also have demands when they’re unhappy or in low-spirits: “God, why won’t You show me kindness? Why won’t You enlighten me? Why are things so good for other people, but so bad for me?” When met with adversity, people strongly demand that God change their environment; when things are going well, people’s demands become even more excessive. When people obtain something, they covet more, and when they don’t, they desperately want to obtain it. What do people want to obtain? They want to obtain the things they like, and what their fleshly interests require. Therefore, none of man’s demands are justified or deserved. When I gave some clothes or things to use to a few poor families, some people were unhappy to see this. They thought, “Why does God always look after them but not me? God’s not fair!” Others didn’t take it to heart at the time, and they thought, “It is already by God’s grace that I am able to walk the path of believing in Him, and follow it safely until now. I shouldn’t pursue those material things.” But after pondering on it afterward, they felt upset. When they felt unable to overcome that feeling they prayed, and temporarily stopped ruminating, but those things were still in their hearts—however they weighed them, their hearts still felt out of sorts, and they thought to themselves: “Where’s God’s righteousness? Why can’t I see it? God doesn’t handle any of these external affairs fairly or reasonably, so where is His righteousness manifested?” Then they changed their minds and thought, “Righteousness isn’t the same as fairness or reasonableness, and they shouldn’t be conflated,” but they were still upset and unable to let the matter go. People are so concerned about a bit of material interest, it would be great if they could be equally concerned about the truth. Regardless, always making demands of God in one’s heart is a part of their nature, and people who don’t love the truth all love material benefits. All of people’s demands and plans, regardless of whether demanding this or that from God, or making such and such plans for oneself, are incompatible with the truth, and utterly irreconcilable with God’s requirements and intentions. God loves none of them, they are all loathed and hated by Him. The demands people make of God, all they pursue, and the paths they walk all have nothing to do with the truth. Some people think, “I’ve been working for the church for so many years—if I’m sick, God should heal and bless me.” In particular, those who have believed in God for a long time demand even more from Him; those who have only believed for a short time feel unworthy, but after a while, they’ll begin to feel entitled. This is just how people are; this is man’s nature, and no person is an exception to this. Some people say, “I’ve never made extravagant demands of God because I am a created being, and I am not worthy of asking anything of Him.” Don’t speak so soon, time will reveal everything. People’s nature and intentions will be eventually exposed and burst forth one day. People now don’t make demands of God because they don’t think it’s necessary, or the right time, or because they’ve already made so many demands of God, yet they just don’t realize that these are demands of God. In short, people have this kind of nature, so it is impossible for them not to reveal it. With the right circumstances or opportunity, it will naturally reveal itself. Why do we fellowship on this today? It’s to make people understand what is in their own nature. Don’t think that believing in God for a few years, or doing a few days’ work for the church, means that you’ve expended, devoted, or suffered a lot for Him and deserve to obtain a few things, like the enjoyment of material things, bodily nourishment, or to be respected and valued by others, or for God to speak gently to you, or to care about you more, and to ask often whether you’re eating and dressing well, how you’re doing physically, and so on. These demands arise unconsciously in people when they have expended a long time for God, and they come to think that they deserve to demand anything from Him. When they have only been expending for God for a short amount of time, they think that they don’t have the right, and they don’t dare to make demands of God. But over time, they’ll think that they have capital and their demands will start coming out, and the things in their nature will be exposed. Aren’t people like this? Why don’t people contemplate on whether it’s right to make demands like this of God? Do you deserve these things? Did God promise them to you? If something doesn’t belong to you, yet you keep demanding it, this is not in accordance with the truth, and entirely born from your satanic nature. How did the archangel behave in the beginning? It saw that it had been given too high a position, and that it had been given too much, so it thought that it deserved whatever it demanded and whatever it obtained, finally reaching the point where it said, “I want to be on equal footing with god!” Therefore, if people have too many demands, too grand desires, in their belief in God, and yet they don’t examine themselves, and fail to realize the seriousness of the problem, then one day they’ll say, “Step down, god. It’d make more sense for me to be god,” or, “God, I’ll wear whatever you wear, eat whatever you eat.” People who have reached this level are already treating God as a human. Though people may acknowledge with their mouths that God incarnate is God Himself, that is merely doctrinal understanding, and does not mean that they know God’s essence. In fact, people who can speak words and doctrines do not have the slightest bit of submission or fear in their hearts. Some people even want to be god, and there will be trouble if their ambitions and desires swell to this degree. It is likely that a calamity will befall them, and even after they’re expelled from the church, they must still be punished by God.

Believers in God should treat God as God, and only by doing so are they truly believing in God. They shouldn’t just acknowledge God’s status, they should have true understanding and fear of God’s essence and disposition, and be absolutely submissive. Here are a couple of ways to practice this: First, maintain piety and an honest attitude within when interacting with God, without any notions or imaginings, and possess a submissive heart. Second, bring the intentions behind everything you say, every question you ask, and everything you do before God to examine them and pray. Only by knowing how to practice in accordance with the truth principles, and with a basis in God’s word, will you be able to enter the truth reality. If you do not seek the truth, you will not only be unable to enter the truth reality, but you’ll accumulate more and more notions, and that spells trouble. When you regard God as a person, then the god you believe in is a fanciful god in heaven; you will have completely denied the incarnation, and you will no longer acknowledge the practical God in your heart. At this time, you will have become an antichrist and fallen into darkness. The more justifications you have, the more demands you will make of God, and the more notions you will have about Him, which will put you in increasing danger. The more demands you make of God, the more it proves that you simply don’t treat God as God. If you always harbor demands of God in your heart, then, over time, you will likely treat yourself as God, and bear witness to yourself when working in the church, even saying, “Doesn’t god bear witness to himself? Why can’t I?” Because you don’t understand God’s work, you will have notions about Him, and you will not have a God-fearing heart. Your tone of voice will change, your disposition will become arrogant, and in the end, you will gradually come to exalt and bear witness to yourself. This is the process of man’s decline, and it is completely brought about by him not pursuing the truth. Everyone who walks the path of antichrists will exalt and bear witness to themselves, they will promote themselves and show off at every turn, and they have absolutely no place for God in their heart. Have you experienced these things that I’m talking about? Many people persistently bear witness to themselves, saying, “I suffer this and that, I work in such-and-such way, God values me to this and that degree, and entrusts such-and-such work to me, and currently I am this and that,” deliberately using particular tones and affecting certain manners while speaking, and eventually some people may come to think they are God. The Holy Spirit has long since abandoned those who reach this point, and while they have not yet been cleared out or expelled, and are left instead to render service, their fate is already sealed and they are just awaiting their punishment. This has already happened in some places. A new believer saw that a certain sister spoke and appeared quite dignified, and mistook her for God. When it was time to leave, this new believer clung to her thigh and cried, “Oh god, don’t go! Oh god, I’ll miss you!” She clearly knew that she was not God, but didn’t deny this or set the record straight. Does such a person have reason? (They do not.) She has no reason at all, and she is definitely no good! Some people are confused and ignorant, and treat somebody like that as God—this truly is a terrible thing! And to cling, crying, to her thigh is simply so ignorant as to be irredeemable! Treating a corrupt human who is of Satan as God—how can this be called believing in God? Is that not believing in Satan? How confused must someone be to treat a person as God? If you believe in God, but you are unable to accept or pursue the truth, it is likely that you will be misled by others, and you will be liable to do foolish things and to go astray. Foolish and ignorant people are truly in danger, they are capable of doing all kinds of stupid things.

People always make demands of God, asking Him to do this or that according to their own notions. You ask God to save you, to have mercy on you, to love you, to show you grace—all according to your ideas. In doing so, you are using your own ideas and your own methods to make demands of God, and to make God obey you. What’s the problem with this? Is this believing in God? What you believe in is simply yourself. God is not in your heart, nor are any truths to speak of. Someone bought Me a pair of shoes out of kindness, but they didn’t fit, so I wanted to return them. But then I thought if I returned them, he might misunderstand, so I gave them to another person to wear. He couldn’t accept this when he found out, and said: “Do You know how much effort and money I spent, and how far I traveled to buy them? You gave them away so easily, do You think it was that easy for me to earn that money? Give them back if You don’t want to wear them—how could You give them to others?” I said: “I didn’t commission you to buy Me shoes. You bought and gave them to Me, but they didn’t fit so I gave them to others to wear. Is that a problem? If I gave them back to you, would you not become negative and weak, and misunderstand Me? Can’t I make reasonable arrangements?” Is it appropriate for people to treat Me like this? It seems that people still have intentions and demands even when they offer something to God. Is this someone who understands the truth? When you offer something to God, it is no longer yours, it belongs to Him. God can do whatever He wants with it, and however He handles it is His business. People should have a bit of reason, learn to submit, and not always interfere with God’s affairs. Is there any reason in constantly arguing with God? When people buy things for Me, they seem full of great kindness and love for God, but afterward they demand that I must like them, and complain if I do not. What’s more, it’s not okay if I don’t use them, people make restrictions about whom I can give them to, and don’t permit Me to do this or that. People scrutinize and ponder on God all day long like this, thinking, “Why can’t God satisfy man’s desires?” People are completely lacking in reason, they are so unreasonable! I’ve found that people all say, “I must love God well, and repay His love,” but they don’t have the slightest understanding in their hearts of what it means to love God. People’s hearts are full of their corrupt dispositions, so how can there be love? Isn’t talk of loving and submitting to God nothing but empty words, if people are so corrupt that they don’t even have the reason of a normal person? The only things that are within people are notions and imaginings, resentment, extravagant desires, and their unreasonable demands. There is simply no love or submission within them. For people, love is just a goal to pursue, just a requirement from God. How many of them achieve it? How many have real experiential testimony?

Now that you are all willing to pursue the truth and to strive to change your dispositions, how should you reflect on yourself when you make demands of God? Are your demands in line with the truth? What should your attitude be toward God? Have you ever contemplated these questions? Some people become arrogant after leading a few churches, thinking that God’s house can’t do without them, and that they deserve special treatment. People have a satanic nature, and the higher someone’s position, the greater their demands of God become; the more someone understands doctrines, the more hidden and treacherous their demands become. They may not say them out loud, but they’re concealed in their hearts. They are not easily discovered by other people, but who knows when the complaints and resistance inside a person might burst forth? That would mean even more trouble, and it would be likely to offend God’s disposition. Why is it that the more a person is a leader or a celebrity in the religious world, the more likely they are to be an antichrist who is in danger? The higher someone’s position, the greater their ambitions become; the more someone understands doctrines, the more arrogant their disposition becomes. It is dangerous, therefore, to believe in God but to pursue status rather than the truth. God has expressed so many truths, and revealed and eliminated from His house all those who do not love the truth, let alone those in the religious world. Do you see the necessity of God judging and chastising people? When people really understand the truth and have life entry, they will see the reality of their own corruption, and feel that it would be dangerous for them to not pursue the truth. Right now, people don’t understand their own nature at all, and even if they do have a little superficial understanding, it’s just of doctrines, and they haven’t gained the truth. Therefore, they don’t think they’re in danger, nor do they know to be afraid, or to worry about themselves. Some new believers dare to say and do anything, but those who have experienced judgment and chastisement are different. They have somewhat of a God-fearing heart, and even if they harbor some notions, they don’t dare speak them out, and they hurry to pray: “Oh God, I’ve offended You….” Some new believers dare to blurt out words of blasphemy without even thinking, saying “God suffers? Suffers what? Eating and dressing well, being hosted by people everywhere—that’s not suffering! But I don’t care about those things. I believe in the spirit of god, not some person.” They dare to deny the incarnation. These people have such audacity. They have no God-fearing heart at all, they aren’t afraid of anything, they dare to say anything, and they all harbor demonic and beastly natures. If the Above has a somewhat good impression or opinion about someone, some people say, “This is a popular and favored person in the church, who is well received in god’s house.” Does this sort of person understand the truth? Not in the slightest. The way they view things has completely exposed that everything in their heart is still of the world. It is a totally secular viewpoint and vibe. Can believing in God and reading His words have any effect on these people? They do not accept the truth at all, and their way of viewing things is the same as nonbelievers’. They are actually disbelievers.

Always making demands of God is a part of man’s nature, and you must dissect this nature according to God’s word. How should you dissect it? The first step is to be clear about which unreasonable demands, and which extravagant desires people have with regard to God, and you should dissect each and every demand: Why do people make that demand? What is their motive? What is their aim? The more you conscientiously dissect it in this way, the more understanding you’ll have of your own nature, and the more detailed that understanding will become. If you do not dissect it in detail, but just know that people shouldn’t make demands of God, only understanding that making demands of God is devoid of reason, and that’s it, then ultimately you will make no progress, and you will not change. Some people say, “We have so many demands of God because we’re too selfish. What should we do?” Naturally, people must understand the truth and know man’s selfish essence. When you truly have knowledge of the selfish essence of man, you will realize that man’s corrupt dispositions are deep-rooted. At that point, you will know that what you lack most is the truth, not extravagant desires, and it will be easy for you to let go of your unreasonable demands of God. The only worrying thing is that people do not know themselves. As for those obvious extravagant or unreasonable demands, they are easy to come to know when you dissect them, and you can feel hatred for yourself. But sometimes you feel that your demands are justified and reasonable, that people ought to have such demands of God, and even feel that having demands of God is not excessive, but proper and perfectly justified. This is enough to show that you still have not understood the truth, and consequently cannot thoroughly understand this matter. Here’s an example: There was a man who followed God for many years, and suffered a lot through many storms and challenges. He always appeared to behave well, and seemed okay in terms of his humanity, his suffering, and his loyalty to God. He was rather possessed of conscience, willing to repay God’s love, and usually knew to step carefully while carrying out his work. Later, I discovered that although the things he said sounded nice, he wasn’t submissive in the slightest, and didn’t do any real work at all, so I dismissed him and commanded that he not be used again in the future. Some people developed notions about this matter and stuck up for him, saying, “Even if he hasn’t achieved anything, he has endured hardship. He has suffered quite a bit during these years that he’s followed God. Although he hasn’t done any real work and doesn’t know how to fellowship the truth to resolve problems, his belief in God is sincere, and he hasn’t done anything bad. God should show mercy and grace to this kind of person. He has believed in God for many years and suffered so much; if even a person like this is eliminated, then do we who have just started believing in God have any hope of attaining salvation?” Are these not human notions? New believers do not understand the truth, so they cannot see through this matter. They always go by human notions and imaginings, always hoping that God will bless everyone, and thinking that—regardless of what kind of person someone is—as long as they have believed in God for many years, they should be blessed by God and allowed to survive. Some people even thought, “He has done right by God by suffering so much; God shouldn’t let him down!” What kind of words are these? These are the words of a scoundrel. So many of the demands that people make of God arise from human notions and imaginings. People are measuring what God should give to people, and how He should treat them according to the standard of conscience among man of being fair and reasonable, but how can this be in accordance with the truth? Why do I say that people’s demands are all unreasonable? Because they are the standards that people demand of other people. Do people have the truth? Are they able to see through to man’s essence? Some people demand that God treat people according to the standard of conscience, imposing this human standard on God. This does not accord with the truth; it is all just unreasonably making trouble. When it comes to some small matters, people can endure for a while, and outwardly they do not make any demands, but their hearts are full of demands and desires. When their outcome is finally determined, their demands will burst forth, words of complaint and condemnation will pour from their mouths, and they will begin to show their true colors. At that time, they will know their own nature. People are always making demands of God according to human notions and their own will, and they make many demands of this sort. You may not normally notice, and think that occasionally praying to God for something doesn’t count as a demand, but actually, careful dissection shows that many human demands are unreasonable, devoid of reason, and even ridiculous. Before, you didn’t recognize the seriousness of having unreasonable demands of God, but you will gradually come to know it in the future, and then you will have a true understanding of your own nature. It’s only by gaining understanding and discernment little by little in the process of your experiences, and then combining this with fellowshipping about the truth, that you can gradually gain a thorough understanding of your own nature essence. Then, you will be able to let go of your unreasonable demands of God, and you will enter the truth reality in this respect. When you truly gain a thorough understanding of man’s nature essence, you will admit what kind of thing you are, and you will be able to keep a low profile. When you can rebel against the flesh and practice the truth, you will achieve freedom and liberation, and your disposition will change. At that time, you will have gained the truth. The truth sets people free.

Nothing is more difficult to handle than people constantly making demands of God. As soon as God’s actions do not correspond with your wishes, or haven’t been carried out in accordance with your wishes, then you are likely to become defiant—which is sufficient to show that man’s nature is that of resisting God. Recognition of this problem can only be achieved by frequently reflecting on yourself and reaching an understanding of the truth, and it can only be fully resolved by pursuing the truth. When people do not understand the truth, they make many demands of God, whereas when they truly understand the truth, they make none; they feel only that they have brought God too little satisfaction, that they have too little submission to God. That people always make demands of God reflects their corrupt nature. If you cannot know yourself and truly repent concerning this matter, then you will face peril and hidden dangers on your path of belief in God. You can overcome ordinary matters, but when you encounter major matters involving your fate, prospects, and destination, those hidden dangers will become a ticking time bomb which is liable to explode. Then you will be in great danger! Some people never pursue the truth, yet they still feel very safe and that they’re guaranteed to be able to follow to the very end. It turns out that when they encounter trials, they cannot overcome them, and they relapse into their old ways, and become objects of destruction. Many people have always followed and believed in this way; they’ve behaved well during the time that they’ve followed God, but this does not determine what will happen in the future. This is because you are never aware of man’s fatal flaw, or the things that are within man’s nature that can resist God, and before they lead you to disaster, you do not have knowledge of these things. If your nature of resisting God goes unresolved, this will set you up for disaster, and it is possible that when your journey ends or when God’s work finishes, you will do that which most resists God and say that which is blasphemous against Him, and thus you will be condemned and eliminated. At the most perilous of times, when he had been caught and imprisoned, Peter tried to escape. At the time, he did not understand God’s intention, and planned to survive and do the work of the churches. Later, Jesus appeared to him and said, “Would you have Me crucified for you once more?” Peter then understood God’s intention, and was quick to submit. Suppose that, at that moment, he had his own demands and said, “I don’t want to die now, I fear pain. Were You not crucified for our sake? Why do You ask that I be crucified? Can I be spared from crucifixion?” If he had made such demands, then the path he had walked would have been in vain. But Peter had always been a person who submitted to God and sought His intention, and, in the end, he understood God’s intention and submitted completely. If Peter had not sought God’s intention and had acted according to his own wishes, then he would have taken the wrong path. People lack the faculty to understand God’s intentions directly, but if they do not submit after understanding the truth, then they are betraying God. That is to say, people always making demands of God relates to their nature. The more demands they have, the more rebellious and resistant they are, and the more notions they have. The more demands someone has of God, the more they are a person who resists God, and even opposed to Him. Perhaps one day they could betray and leave God. If you want to solve this problem, you need to understand several aspects of the truth, and also have some real experiences in order to understand it thoroughly and completely resolve it.

In measuring whether or not people can submit to God, the key is whether or not they have any extravagant desires or ulterior motives toward Him. If people are always making demands of God, it proves that they are not submissive to Him. No matter what happens to you, if you do not accept it from God, and you do not seek the truth, and you are always arguing for yourself and always feeling that only you are right, and if you are even capable of doubting that God is the truth and righteousness, then you will be in trouble. Such people are the most arrogant and the most rebellious toward God. People who always make demands of God cannot truly submit to Him. If you make demands of God, this proves that you are trying to make a deal with God, that you are choosing your own will, and acting according to it. This is betraying God and being devoid of submission. To make demands of God is in and of itself being devoid of reason; if you truly believe that He is God, then you will not dare to make demands of Him—which you are not qualified to do anyway—regardless of whether they are reasonable or not. If you have true belief in God, and believe that He is God, then you will only worship and submit to Him—there is no other choice. People today not only make their own choices, they even ask God to act according to their own will. Not only do they not choose to submit to God, they even ask God to submit to them. Isn’t this so lacking in reason? Therefore, if there is no true faith within a person, and no substantial belief, they can never obtain God’s approval. When people are able to make fewer demands of God, they have more true faith and submission, and their reason is relatively normal. It is often the case that the more inclined to argue people are, the harder they are to deal with. Not only do they have many demands, but if you give them an inch, they’ll want a mile. When they are satisfied in one respect, they’ll then make demands in another. They have to be satisfied in all respects, and if they are not, they start complaining, and they give up and let everything fall apart. After doing so, they feel indebted and remorseful, and they weep bitter tears, and want to die. What is the use in that? Are they not being unreasonable and relentlessly vexatious? This series of problems has to be resolved from their corrupt disposition, the root of all this. If you have a corrupt disposition and don’t resolve it, if you wait until you get into trouble or cause a disaster to resolve it, how can you make up for this loss? Won’t this be a bit like locking the barn door after the horse has already bolted? To completely resolve the problem of your corrupt disposition, you must seek the truth to resolve it when it first arises. You must solve the corrupt disposition in its budding state, thereby ensuring that you will not do anything wrong and preventing future troubles. If a corrupt disposition takes root and becomes a person’s ideas or viewpoint, it will be able to direct a person to act up. Therefore, self-reflection and self-knowledge is mainly about discovering one’s corrupt dispositions, and quickly seeking the truth to resolve them. You must know what things are in your nature, what you like, what you pursue, and what you want to obtain. You must dissect these things according to God’s words to see if they are in accordance with God’s intentions, and in what way they are fallacious. Once you understand these things, you must resolve the problem of your abnormal reason, which is to say, the problem of your unreasonableness and relentless vexatiousness. This is not only the problem of your corrupt disposition, it also touches on the matter of whether or not you are a person of reason. Especially in matters where fame, gain, and status are concerned, when people get carried away by fame and gain, their reason becomes abnormal; it is as if something has gone wrong with their nerves. This is also people’s fatal flaw. Some people feel that they have a certain caliber and some gifts, and they always want to be leaders and to stand out, so they ask God to use them. If God doesn’t use them, they say, “How can God not look favorably upon me? If God uses me, I promise I’ll expend myself for God!” Is there an intention behind such a statement? Their desire to expend themselves for God is conditional. Though it seems like a good thing that they are willing to expend themselves for God, in reality, there are intentions behind their expending themselves for God. What they love is status, and this is what they focus on. Without status, they are unwilling to expend themselves for God. Is such a person really submitting? When people truly submit, they are capable of performing their duties with one heart and mind regardless of whether God uses them or not, and they can expend themselves for God regardless of whether they have status or not. Only then can they be considered to possess reason and to be submissive to God. It is good when people are willing to expend for God, and God is willing to use such people, but if they aren’t equipped with the truth, God has no way to use them. If people are willing to strive toward the truth and cooperate, there must be a preparatory stage. Only after people understand the truth and can genuinely submit to God will God be able to formally use them. This training stage is essential. Leaders and workers today are all in this training stage. After they have life experience and can act with principles, they will be fit to be used by God.

The things in man’s nature are not like some outward behaviors, practices, or thoughts and ideas that can just be dealt with and that’s it; they must be unearthed bit by bit. Moreover, they are not easy for people to identify, and even if identified, they are not easy to change—achieving change requires an adequately profound understanding. Why do we always dissect man’s nature? Don’t you comprehend what that means? Where do the revelations of people’s corrupt dispositions come from? They all come from within their nature, and they are all governed by their nature. Every one of man’s corrupt dispositions, every thought and idea, every intention, are all related to man’s nature. Therefore, by directly unearthing man’s nature, his corrupt dispositions can be easily resolved. Though it is not easy to change people’s nature, if they can discern and see through the corrupt dispositions they reveal, and if they can seek the truth to resolve them, then they can gradually change their dispositions. Once a person has achieved a change in their life disposition, then there will be fewer and fewer things in them that resist God. The purpose of dissecting man’s nature is to change his disposition. You haven’t grasped this aim, and think that just by dissecting and understanding your nature you can submit to God and restore your reason. All you do is just blindly apply regulations! Why is it not enough to just expose people’s profound arrogance and self-righteousness? Why is it also necessary to dissect their corrupt nature? It won’t solve the problem if only their self-righteousness and arrogance are exposed. But if their nature is dissected, the aspects that this covers are very broad, it includes all corrupt dispositions, and it is not just the narrow range of self-righteousness, self-importance, and arrogance—their nature encompasses more than this. So, all of people’s various demands of God are actually their extravagant desires, and all are revelations of corrupt dispositions. It is good when people can come to see this matter clearly. Once you recognize your extravagant desires, you can hate yourself for having no humanity, and can see through to your own nature essence. Then it becomes easy for you to rebel against the flesh and deny yourself, and your corrupt dispositions will be easy to resolve, and you will have a path forward. Otherwise, you will never dig out the root cause of your revelations of corruption, and will only say that this is pride, arrogance, or self-righteousness, or having no devotion at all. Can only talking about such superficial things solve your problem? Is there any need to discuss man’s nature? In the beginning, what was the nature of Adam and Eve? There was no intentional resistance within them, much less open betrayal. They didn’t know what it meant to resist God, much less what it meant to submit to Him. They accepted into their hearts whatever heresies and fallacies Satan released. Satan has now corrupted man to such an extent that it is exceptionally difficult for mankind to accept the truth, people can rebel against and resist God in all things, do not seek the truth at all, and think up all sorts of ways to oppose Him. It’s evident that man’s nature is the same as Satan’s. Why do I say that man’s nature is Satan’s nature? Satan is that which resists God, and because people have the nature of Satan, they are of Satan. While people may not intentionally do things to resist God, because they have the nature of Satan, all of their thoughts are resistant toward God. Even if people do nothing at all, they are still resisting God, because man’s internal essence has changed into something which resists God. Present man, therefore, is different from newly created mankind. There was no resistance or betrayal within mankind before, they were full of life, and not governed by Satan’s nature. If people are not dominated or disturbed inside by Satan’s nature, then no matter what they do, it does not constitute resistance toward God.

What is nature? Nature is man’s essence. Dispositions are things that are revealed from one’s nature, and a change in disposition means that one’s corrupt disposition has been cleansed and replaced with the truth. What is therefore revealed is then not a corrupt disposition, but a manifestation of normal humanity. After Satan corrupted man, man became an embodiment of Satan, he became Satan’s ilk that resists God, and he became entirely capable of betraying God. Why does God require people to change their dispositions? Because God wants to perfect and gain people, and people who are finally made complete possess a lot of added realities of knowing God, and the realities of all aspects of the truth. People like this are completely in accordance with God’s intentions. In the past, people had corrupt dispositions, and would make a mistake or resist God whenever they did something, but now people understand some truths, and can do many things that are in accordance with God’s intentions. However, this doesn’t mean that people don’t betray God. People still can do this. The corrupt dispositions revealed from within man’s nature can change in part. The part that changes is the part where the truth is used to resolve corrupt dispositions, thus enabling one to practice according to the truth; the rest may still be occupied by satanic dispositions. Therefore, being able to practice one aspect of the truth does not mean that your life disposition has changed, because the change you have undergone is only partial, not complete. It is like how people used to always have notions about and demands of God, and now in many respects they don’t—but they might still have notions or demands in some matters, and are still able to betray God. You might say, “I can submit to whatever God does, and submit in many matters without complaint and without demands,” but you can still betray God in some matters. Although you don’t resist God on purpose, when you don’t understand His intentions you can still go against His desires. So, what is meant by the part that can change? It’s that when you understand God’s intentions, you can submit, and when you understand the truth, you can put it into practice. If you don’t understand the truth or God’s intentions in some matters, then there is still a possibility that you could reveal corruption. If you understand the truth, but do not put it into practice because you are constrained by certain things, then this is betrayal, and this is something in your nature. Of course, there is no limit to how much your disposition can change. The more of the truth you gain, the deeper your knowledge of God will become, and the less frequently you will resist and betray God. This is a change in life disposition. Seeking to change one’s disposition is mainly achieved by pursuing the truth, and understanding one’s own nature essence is achieved through understanding the truth. When one truly gains the truth, all of their problems will be resolved.

Winter, 1999