People don’t understand the truth when they first begin to believe in God, and have many notions and imaginings about Him. When you’ve believed in God for several years, read so many of His words and listened to so many sermons, just how many of these notions and imaginings have been resolved? Even after believing in God for several years, some people still have notions about God’s judgment, chastisement, and pruning, while others can have notions when they see the severity of God’s words. Can these things be solved by seeking the truth? If you can seek the truth in everything, and use it to solve any problems you encounter, then you are someone who pursues the truth. Are you able to seek the truth to solve problems now? When you encounter anything that gives rise to notions, or when you transgress, how do you seek the truth to solve it? Who can talk about their experience of this sort of thing? (When I was a leader I didn’t do any practical work, just tasks that made me look good, and I always fought for prestige and status. This disrupted and disturbed the church’s work, and when I faced being pruned, I still tried to justify myself and didn’t have true reflection and knowledge, or repentance and change. Later the church displaced me, but my heart was still defiant and dissatisfied, and I always complained and vented negativity. Leaders pruned me for not accepting the truth at all and resisting God, which is something that offends His disposition, and told me that if I still did not repent then I’d be cleared and cast out. I didn’t understand the truth at that time, and seriously misunderstood God. Although I never said I didn’t believe in God, I thought that as I had offended Him, He definitely wouldn’t save me, so I’d just render service. After that, I didn’t pay that much attention to pursuing the truth, and it wasn’t until I heard God’s fellowship one day that I eventually turned around.) After you turned around, did you have a correct path of practice? What would you do if the same thing happened again? (Right now, I don’t have a path of practice for this aspect.) Actually, all these problems can be solved with the truth. If people want to resolve their misunderstandings about God, then, in one respect, they must recognize their own corrupt dispositions and dissect and understand their previous mistakes, wrong paths, transgressions, and negligence. In this way they’ll be able to understand and see their own nature clearly. Additionally, they must see clearly why people go astray and do so many things that violate the truth principles, and the nature of these actions. Furthermore, they must understand what precisely God’s will and requirements are for mankind, why people are always incapable of acting according to God’s requirements, and why they always go against His will and do what they like. Bring these things before God and pray, understand them clearly, and you can then turn your state around, change your mindset, and resolve your misunderstanding of God. Some people always harbor improper intentions no matter what they do, always have evil ideas, and cannot examine whether their inner state is right or not, nor discern it according to God’s words. These people are muddled. One of the clearest characteristics of a muddled person is that after they do something bad, they stay negative when faced with being pruned, even giving themselves up to despair and determining that they’re finished and cannot be saved. Isn’t this the most pitiful behavior of a muddled person? They can’t reflect on themselves according to God’s word, and can’t seek the truth to solve the problem when faced with difficulties. Is this not being very muddled? Can giving yourself up to despair solve problems? Can always struggling in negativity solve problems? People should understand that if they make a mistake or have a problem then they should seek the truth to solve it. They need to first reflect and understand why they committed evil, what their intention and starting point in doing so was, why they wanted to do it and what their goal was, and whether someone encouraged, incited, or misled them to do it or if they did it consciously. These questions must be reflected on and understood clearly, and then they’ll be able to know what mistakes they made and what they themselves are. If you can’t recognize the essence of your evildoing or learn a lesson from it, then the problem cannot be solved. Many people do bad things and never reflect on themselves, so can such people ever truly repent? Is there any hope for their salvation? Mankind is the progeny of Satan, and regardless of whether or not they have offended God’s disposition, their nature essence is the same. They should reflect on themselves and come to know themselves more, see clearly to what extent they’ve rebelled against and resisted God, and whether they can still accept and practice the truth. If they see this clearly, they’ll know how much danger they are in. In fact, based on their nature essences, all corrupt humans are in danger; it requires a lot of effort for them to accept the truth and it is not easy for them. Some people have committed evil and revealed their nature essence, while some have not yet committed evil but aren’t necessarily much better than others—they just haven’t had the situation or opportunity to do so. Since you have these transgressions, you must be clear in your heart about what attitude you should have now, what you should account for before God, and what He wants to see. You must clarify these things through prayer and seeking; then you’ll know how you should pursue in the future, and will no longer be influenced or constrained by the mistakes you made in the past. You must walk the path ahead and perform your duty as you should, and no longer give yourself up to despair; you must emerge totally from negativity and misunderstanding. In one respect, it’s negative and not very advisable if you perform your duty now to make up for your past transgressions and mistakes, but this is the mindset you should have at the very least. In another respect, you have to positively and proactively cooperate, do your utmost to perform well the duty you ought to perform, and to fulfill your responsibilities and obligations. This is what a created being should do. No matter what notions you have about God, or if you reveal corruption or have offended His disposition, this must all be solved by reflecting on yourself and seeking the truth. Learn from your failures, and emerge completely from the shadow of negativity. Once you understand the truth and are freed, no longer constrained by any person, event, or thing, then you will have the confidence to walk the path ahead. After you have made some gains and some life progress, and no longer have any notions about God, you will gradually enter the right track of belief in God.

Someone may have transgressed in the past, or gone astray, but they aren’t actually some greatly treacherous or evil person, it’s just that they were too arrogant, so arrogant that they became unreasonable, lost restraint, and couldn’t control themselves, and did things which God loathes and despises, and which even disgusts themselves. But having followed until now they must have made some progress. When it comes to whether they can ultimately remain, God will determine this based on their current behavior, as well as their current attitude toward Him and toward their duty. Someone might say: “I’ve committed serious transgressions in the past, but afterward I came to understand the truth. I really regret my transgressions, but I can’t take them back, even if I put the truth into practice now. I always feel like I’m tainted, and my heart is not clear whether God wants me or not.” This is you passing a verdict on yourself, not God; your verdict doesn’t represent God’s, nor does your attitude represent His. You must understand what God’s attitude is, and what His bottom line is toward every corrupt human and those who can be saved. Are you clear on this? What God looks at is a person’s attitude, determination, and resolve in pursuing the truth. He doesn’t care about who you were before, what your transgressions were, or how much you’ve expended, offered, or suffered. God doesn’t look at these things. Someone may say that they believe in God and have been incarcerated eight times, and God says: “I don’t look at these things about you. I just look at how you behave now, whether you’re someone who pursues the truth, whether you bore witness while in prison, what things you’ve gained, whether you know God, and whether you’ve entered the truth realities.” This is the result God wants. Some people say: “I have transgressed and gone astray, but now I recognize this, and through deep reflection, I have become willing to repent, and firmly resolve to perform my duty well, to not be perfunctory, and to do my best, so that I may satisfy God, repay His love, and make up for my past mistakes. I want to pursue and practice the truth in the course of performing my duty. I will not just exert myself or render service, I will try to put the truth into practice, live out human likeness, and honor God by performing my duty well.” With this attitude, will God still look at your transgressions? He won’t. You must, therefore, be sure of this in your heart, so you won’t be constrained by past transgressions anymore. Some people are always constrained by past transgressions, and think, “God cannot possibly forgive anything that offends His disposition. His heart has long since spurned me, and it’s useless for me to pursue the truth.” What sort of attitude is this? This is called being suspicious of and misunderstanding God. In fact, before you even did anything that offended God’s disposition, you had a disrespectful, irreverent, and perfunctory attitude toward Him, and you didn’t treat God as God. People reveal their satanic dispositions because of a moment of ignorance or impulsivity, and if there is no one to discipline or stop them, they commit transgressions. After their transgressions lead to consequences, they don’t know to repent and yet are ill at ease. They worry about their future outcome and destination, and carry all these things in their hearts, always thinking, “I’m finished and ruined, so I’m just going to write myself off as hopeless. If God one day doesn’t want and thoroughly loathes me, the worst thing that can happen is I’ll die. I put myself at the mercy of God’s orchestration.” On the surface they talk about putting themselves at the mercy of God’s orchestration and submitting to His arrangements and sovereignty, but what is their actual state? It is resistant, intransigent, unrepentant. What does it mean to be unrepentant? It means they stick to their own ideas, not believing or accepting anything God says, always thinking, “God’s words of exhortation and comfort are not meant for me, but for other people. As for me, I’m finished, I’m already written off, I’m worthless—God has long since given up on me, and no matter how I confess my sins, pray, or weep in remorse, He will never give me another chance.” What attitude is this, when they measure and second-guess God in their hearts? Is it an attitude of confession and repentance? Obviously not. This kind of attitude represents a type of disposition—intransigence, incredible intransigence. Outwardly they appear particularly self-righteous, not listening to anyone, understanding every doctrine but not practicing anything. In fact, they have an intransigent disposition. From God’s perspective, is intransigence submission or rebelliousness? It is clearly rebelliousness. They, however, feel they’ve been greatly wronged, “I used to love God so much, but He cannot let go of one little mistake I’ve made, and now my outcome is lost. God has passed a verdict on people like me. I am Paul.” Did God say you were Paul? God didn’t say so. You say you are Paul—where does this come from? You say you’ll be struck down by God, punished, and sent to hell. Who decided on this outcome? You clearly decided it yourself, as God has never said that you’ll be sent to hell when His work is completed, and that you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. So long as God doesn’t say that He spurns you, then you have the chance and the right to pursue the truth, and you should just accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s words. You must have this kind of attitude, as this is the attitude of accepting the truth and God’s salvation, and of true repentance. You always cling to your own notions, imaginings, and misunderstandings; you are already filled with and occupied by these things, and have even decided that God won’t save you, and then harbored a perfunctory mindset in the course of performing your duty, a mindset of writing yourself off as hopeless, a negative and passive mindset, a mindset of living day by day, a lazy mindset. Can you gain the truth? You will not be able to gain the truth with this mentality, and you will not be saved. Is such a person not pitiable? (Yes, they are.) What caused them to be so pitiable? It’s because of ignorance. When things happen, they don’t seek the truth but always study and speculate, and even want to dig into God’s words to see which were spoken about their situation, what God’s attitude is, how He passes verdicts, and what their outcome will be—and through this determine what the result of the matter will be. Is this approach seeking the truth? Certainly not. They hang God’s words of condemnation and curse above their own head, living in negativity—which appears to be fragility, feebleness, and negativity, but is actually a kind of resistance. What is the disposition behind resistance? It is intransigence. In God’s eyes, this kind of intransigence is a type of rebelliousness, and is what He detests the most. If God didn’t want to save you, why would He tell you so many truths, give you so many paths of practice, or exhort you with such sincere words? Yet you still say God won’t save you. What is the basis for this? God’s heart always hopes that people repent, but it’s people who don’t even give themselves a chance. What is the issue here? It’s that human nature is too deceitful. People do not believe in God or His words, and this is the attitude with which they treat Him. Someone might say: “God is faithful, and within His words is judgment, exposure, condemnation, curses, mercy, and forgiveness. I know these words all represent God’s disposition, but I don’t know which are aimed at my situation. I always feel that God’s words of condemnation and curses are meant for me, while His words of blessing and approval are meant for those who pursue the truth. I’m finished, in any case.” They have this kind of presumptuous attitude from beginning to end, and use this as an excuse to say that God won’t save them. They’ll think, “Since You won’t save me, God, then I might as well be perfunctory in performing my duty. If You won’t give me any reward, why should I work so hard?” Their mindset changes, and becomes unreasonable. They don’t accept the truth, but bring their own intentions, negative state, and human imaginings, speculation, and excuses to oppose and contend with God. They live in negativity, not interested in seeking the truth or fellowshipping on it, and indifferent to putting it into practice or being an honest person. They adopt an evasive attitude toward it, and even now have not awakened, but still live in a negative state. God says that these sorts of people are the most pitiful. From beginning to end it is always people who contend with God, people who speculate about and misunderstand Him, and torment themselves into negativity through their human notions and imaginings. They become estranged from God, yet still want to exploit Him and make a deal with Him, without turning around even the slightest. Is this not self-inflicted? It is just like those lyrics say, they are “starving themselves at a great feast.” This is most pitiful. God bestows an abundance on man, yet man still goes begging with a broken bowl. Is this not a beggar who deserves to suffer?

From the beginning, I have often exhorted you that each of you must pursue the truth. So long as there is a chance to do so, do not give up; pursuing the truth is the obligation, responsibility, and duty of each person, and the path that each person should walk, as well as the path all who would be saved must walk. Yet no one heeds this—no one thinks it a matter of import, believing it to be mere cant, each person thinking what they will. From the beginning unto today, though there have been many who clutch books of God’s words in their hands and read them, who listen to sermons, who all seem to have accepted God’s judgment and chastisement and His guidance in the course of performing their duties, a relationship between man and God has not, in fact, been established, and all people live by their imaginings, notions, misunderstandings, and speculations, such that they live each day in doubt and negativity in how they treat God’s words and work, as well as His guidance. If you live in such states, how can you cast off negativity? How can you cast off rebelliousness? How can you cast off the mindset and attitude of deceit and wickedness or speculation and misunderstanding with which you approach the commission and duty that God has given you? Certainly, they cannot be cast off. Therefore, if you wish to embark on a path of pursuing and practicing the truth and entering the truth reality, you must come at once before God, pray to Him, and seek His will—and figuring out His will is what matters most. It’s too impractical to always live in notions and imaginings; you should learn to reflect on yourself in all matters, and to recognize which corrupt dispositions you still have that need to be cleansed, which things are preventing you from putting the truth into practice, what misunderstandings or notions you have about God, and which things He does that don’t accord with your notions, but cause you to doubt and misunderstand. If you reflect on yourself in this way, you can discover which problems you still have that need to be solved by seeking the truth, and if you practice like this then your life will grow quickly. If you don’t reflect on yourself but always harbor notions and misunderstandings in your heart about God, always insist on your own ideas, always think that God lets you down or isn’t fair to you, and always hold onto your own reasoning, then your misunderstanding of God will only get deeper and your relationship with Him more and more distant, while your heart’s rebelliousness and opposition to Him grow greater and greater. It’s dangerous if your state gets this bad, as it will already seriously affect how effectively you perform your duty. You can only treat your duty and responsibility with a slipshod, perfunctory, irreverent, rebellious, and resistant attitude, and what is the end result? It will lead you to be perfunctory in doing your duty, deceptive and resistant to God. You won’t be able to gain the truth, nor enter the truth realities. What is the root cause of this result? It is because people still have notions and misunderstandings about God in their hearts, and these practical problems have not been solved. So, there will always be a gulf between people and God. Therefore, if people want to come before God, they must first reflect on what misunderstandings, notions, imaginings, doubts, or speculations they have about Him. These things must all be examined. Truly having notions or misunderstandings about God is not a simple matter, as it touches upon people’s attitude to God as well as their nature essence. If people don’t seek the truth to solve these notions and misunderstandings, it’s not like these things will just vanish into thin air. Even if they don’t affect you performing your duty or pursuing the truth, when something happens or under special circumstances they will still appear to disturb your mind and your performance of your duty. Therefore, if you have notions and misunderstandings, then you must come before God and reflect on yourself, seek the truth, and understand clearly the root cause and essence of why these notions and misunderstandings arise in people. Only then can they disappear, your relationship with God can be normal, and your life can gradually grow. That people have too many notions and misunderstandings about God proves that mankind resists and is incompatible with Him. Only by continuously resolving these notions and misunderstandings can the gulf between people and God gradually close. They will be able to submit to God, and have greater faith in Him; with greater faith, their practice of the truth will be much less adulterated, and there will be much fewer adulterations and obstacles in their pursuit of the truth.

Which people are less adulterated when performing their duties, and scheme less on their own behalf? (Simpler people, those who don’t misunderstand God.) This is one type, but there’re also honest people, kind-hearted people, those who pursue the truth more—these people are less adulterated when performing their duties. Those who have misunderstandings or imaginings about God, or who have extravagant desires or demands of Him, are highly adulterated when performing their duties. They want prestige, status, and rewards, and if some big reward is still far away, and out of sight, they’ll ponder, “Since I can’t get it immediately, I’ll just have to wait and endure. But I should first get a little bit of benefits now, or at the very least some status. I’ll first strive to be a leader in the church, to be responsible for dozens of people. It’s quite glamorous to always have people circling around you.” And so this adulteration in their belief in God appears. When you haven’t performed any duty, or done anything practical for God’s house, you’ll feel that you aren’t qualified, and these things won’t arise in you. But when you are capable of doing something, and feel that you’re a bit superior to most people, and that you can preach some doctrines, then these things will arise. For example, when a leader is being elected, if you’ve only believed in God for one or two years, you’ll feel that your stature is small, that you’re unable to preach any sermons, and that you aren’t qualified, so you’ll step back during the election. After three or five years of belief, you’ll be able to preach a few spiritual doctrines, so when the time comes to elect a leader again, you’ll proactively reach for that position and pray, “Oh God! I bear a burden, I’m willing to be a leader in the church, and willing to be considerate of Your will. But regardless of whether I am elected or not, I am always willing to submit to Your arrangements.” You’ll say that you’re willing to submit, but in your heart, you’ll think, “But it would be great if You’d let me have a go at being a leader!” If you have such a demand, will God satisfy it? Certainly not, because this demand of yours is not a legitimate request, but an extravagant desire. Even if you say that you want to become a leader so that you can show consideration for God’s burden, using this excuse as your justification, and feeling that this is in line with the truth, what will you think when God doesn’t satisfy your demand? What manifestations will you display? (I’ll misunderstand God, and wonder why He didn’t satisfy me when I just wanted to show consideration for His burden. I’ll become negative, resistant, and I’ll complain.) You’ll become negative, and think, “The person they elected hasn’t believed in God for as long as I have, they’re not as well-educated as I am, and their caliber is worse than mine. I can also preach sermons, so in what way are they better than me?” You’ll ponder and ponder, but you won’t be able to figure it out, so notions will arise in you, and you’ll judge God as being unrighteous. Is this not a corrupt disposition? Will you still be able to submit? No. If you didn’t have this desire to be a leader, if you could pursue the truth, and if you possessed self-knowledge, you’d say, “I’m fine with just being an ordinary follower. I don’t possess the truth reality, I am of average humanity, and I’m not very eloquent. I have a bit of experience but I can’t really speak about it. I want to speak more about it but I can’t explain myself clearly. If I do speak more, it’s likely that people will feel fed up with listening to me. I fall too far short of this position. I’m not suited to being a leader, and should just keep learning from others, perform my duty to the best of my ability, and pursue the truth with my feet on the ground. One day, when I have stature and am fit to lead, I won’t refuse if elected by my brothers and sisters.” This is the correct state of mind. If one day your brothers and sisters view you as suited to being a leader and elect you, this will definitely be because God permitted it, so would you lead or not? (Yes, I would, I would submit.) How would you submit? Say that you think, “I reckon I can do it. No one else is better than me, so I can definitely do it. This is God moving my brothers and sisters to elect me. Of these people, I have believed in God the longest, I’m the right age, I have some experience in society and I’m a capable worker, I’m eloquent and educated, I’ve performed all different kinds of duties and have some experience. I’m suitable in all respects. If my brothers and sisters were under my leadership, then the church life would definitely flourish and keep improving.” Then arrogance arises in you. Is there any reason in this? What will you do next? You will do evil and bad things, and then you must be pruned, and face judgment and chastisement. Is someone’s state of mind important? (Yes, it is.) No matter what you do, you must reflect on and come to understand your motives, your point of origin, your intentions, your aims, and all your thoughts, according to the truth, and determine whether they are right or wrong. These things all must have God’s words as their foundation and base, so that you don’t go down the wrong path. No matter what you want to do, or what you seek, pray, or ask for before God, it must be legitimate and reasonable, it must be something that can be put on the table and approved of by everyone. There’s no point in seeking and praying for things that can’t be brought out into the open. No matter how much you pray for those things, it will be of no use.

People are always adulterated while performing their duties; they are always adulterated with their own intentions and preferences. So, do people deliberately allow themselves to be adulterated? No, this is involuntary. The number of adulterations a person has depends on their dispositions and their pursuit. If a person pursues the truth, they will have less intentions, selfish motives, desires, and negative states when performing their duty. If they do not pursue the truth, they will have more adulterations, and they’ll be likely to become negative when faced with failure or setbacks, sometimes even being tripped up by a single sentence. You always talk about “feeling tormented by pride, status, and affection”—you feel tormented by everything, all day. This is irrational. People are often dominated by their satanic nature, they live under the control of their satanic dispositions, and have all kinds of extravagant desires, but do not seek the truth to resolve them. Regardless of what kind of corruption they reveal, they always feel negative and tormented. If you feel tormented, then you are in trouble; whenever feeling tormented is mentioned, it’s never a good thing. Why? The word “tormented” itself isn’t even justified—people only feel tormented under special circumstances, and it’s not a manifestation that those who pursue the truth often display. There’s something wrong with always feeling tormented, there’s a problem with people like that—it’s a state of negativity and resistance. Moreover, it’s incorrect and inappropriate to use the word “tormented” in this way. Why don’t people who feel tormented all the time ever get results from it in the end? It’s because they don’t seek the truth, but are instead always negative and resistant, opposing God. The result of this is that they suffer a lot but gain nothing at all. People who love the truth will always submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangement, no matter what difficulties or problems they encounter. They’ll accept God’s orchestrations, come before Him to seek the truth, and walk the path of pursuing the truth. Don’t feel tormented for no good reason, as it won’t get you anywhere. For example, you feel tormented by affection, but are you ever able to extricate yourself from it? You feel tormented by status, but do you have true insight into status? You feel tormented by your future and destiny, but are you able to free yourself from the constraints of your future and destiny? Can you let go of your desire for blessings? (No, I cannot.) So, how can you solve these problems? They must all be solved by pursuing the truth. Pursuing the truth can solve people’s unreasonable demands and extravagant desires, as well as their misunderstandings of God and their imaginings, speculations, doubts, and determinations about Him. Will people still feel tormented when all of these states are resolved? Won’t all these states of feeling tormented just disappear? At that time, what will your thoughts, views, attitude, and state be like? You’ll be able to submit and wait, and you won’t fight against God’s sovereignty and arrangement, nor rebel against Him or judge Him. Moreover, when God’s hand falls upon you, or He orchestrates an environment for you, you’ll be able to actively cooperate and submit before Him instead of resisting or evading, and even less will you try to escape it. You’ll have more and more of these positive states, and this proves that you’re pursuing the truth. However, if those negative things constantly occupy your mind and influence your daily actions, thoughts, and ideas, and affect your state, then this proves that you don’t pursue the truth at all, and you will eventually be cast out.

When many people perform their duties, they are always adulterated with their intentions, they always try to distinguish themselves, they always like to be praised and encouraged, and if they do something well, they always want some payoff or reward; if there is no reward, they are indifferent to performing their duties, and if there is no one to pay attention to them or encourage them, they become negative. They are as unstable as children. What is going on here—why are people always adulterated with their intentions in their duties and never able to put them aside? This is chiefly because they do not accept the truth; as a result, no matter how you fellowship the truth with them, they are incapable of putting these things aside. If these issues are never resolved, then as time goes on, they easily become negative, and increasingly indifferent toward performing their duties. Seeing words from God about being approved of or blessed, they are a little motivated, and become a little enthusiastic; but if no one fellowships the truth with them, if no one motivates or praises them, they grow indifferent. If people frequently laud, compliment, and praise them, they feel that they are particularly wonderful, and in their hearts, they are sure that God is protecting and blessing them. At such times their desires to stand out above the masses are achieved and fulfilled, their intent to be blessed is temporarily assuaged, and use has been made of their skills and talents, which gives them face. They are so happy they skip along the street, their faces beaming. Is this the effect of pursuing the truth? (No.) This is simply their desires being fulfilled. What disposition is this? This is an arrogant disposition. They don’t have the slightest self-awareness, but have extravagant desires. Faced with some adversity or difficulty, or if their pride and vanity are not fulfilled, or if their interests are even the slightest bit compromised, they become negative and fall down. Before, they stood as tall as a giant, but in just a few days they have crumbled into a pile of dust—the difference is so huge. If they are people who pursue the truth, how could they topple so quickly? Clearly, people who perform their duties based on zealousness, desires, and ambition are very weak; when they encounter some setback or failure, they fall down. Seeing their imaginings come to nothing, their desires are unfulfilled, and they have no hope of being blessed, they immediately fall. What this shows is that regardless of how enthusiastic they were about their duties at the time, this was not because they understood the truth. They were performing their duties with the desire of being blessed, and because of zealousness. No matter how zealous people are, or how many words and doctrines they are able to preach, if they are incapable of practicing the truth, if they cannot perform their duties according to the principles, if they only rely on zealousness, they won’t be able to last for long, and when faced with tribulation or disaster, they will not be able to stand firm, and will fall. Some people just collapse when faced with failure or setbacks, others collapse when being pruned, while others collapse when faced with being disciplined. Those who do not possess the truth always fall at the first hurdle in this way. So, what are the manifestations of someone who pursues the truth? (No matter what kind of refinement they face, although they might be in great pain, they won’t become negative. They’ll seek the truth and submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangement.) Not becoming negative is one manifestation, but you haven’t seen through to the main manifestation, which is that people who pursue the truth are not hindered or affected in the performance of their duties, no matter what difficulties, pain, or weakness they experience. Those who don’t pursue the truth are enthusiastic in performing their duties when they’re happy; no matter how much they suffer, they don’t feel exhausted, and they are able to set aside all personal matters, and not abandon their duties. But it’s different when they’re unhappy. They feel too tired when doing even a little bit of work, and if they suffer a little, they complain, and always think about going home to live out their days and get rich, and about a way out for themselves. But those who pursue the truth think, “No matter how much I suffer, I must perform my duty well and repay God’s love. Only by performing my duty well will I have conscience and reason, and be worthy of being called human.” Apart from focusing on performing their duties well, they’re able to eat and drink God’s words and fellowship on the truth with their brothers and sisters no matter what troubles they face, and they seek the truth to solve their difficulties. They ponder on these things over and over again: “How can I resolve this state? Where does the problem lie? Why do I feel negative? Why am I being pruned? How did I do this wrong? Where was my mistake? Is this a dispositional problem, am I not proficient in this field, or do I harbor some of my own intentions?” They get results after examining these things for a few days, and they realize that the church’s work has suffered because they harbored their own intentions, feared offending others, and didn’t consider the interests of God’s house. What attitude should you adopt after coming to this kind of conclusion? How should you solve this problem? You must accept the judgment, chastisement, and pruning of God’s words, reflect on yourself within His words, hold your state against His words for comparison, and achieve an understanding of your own corrupt dispositions. In this way you’ll know whether or not you’re someone who loves the truth and submits to God. Is arriving at this conclusion enough? You’ll still have to confess and repent before God, saying, “What I did was not in accordance with the truth, my actions were dictated by my satanic disposition. I am willing to repent, and I will never rebel against God again. No matter what happens, I will always seek the truth and act according to God’s requirements. If I cannot, may God discipline and punish me.” This is a truly repentant heart. If you can pray and make a firm resolution in this way, and if you can practice like this, then this is a submissive mindset. If you experience in this way, you will gradually come to submit to God’s work, have a true understanding of Him, see that His disposition is truly righteous and holy, and develop a God-fearing heart. You will be responsible and loyal in performing your duty, and in this way, you will have some practical experience, and you will have entered the truth realities.

Some people follow their own will when they act. They violate the principles, and after being pruned, they admit in mere words that they are arrogant, and that they made a mistake only because they do not have the truth. But in their hearts, they complain, “No one else sticks their neck out, just me—and in the end, when something goes wrong, they push all the responsibility onto me. Isn’t this stupid of me? I can’t do the same thing next time, sticking my neck out like that. The bird that sticks its neck out is the one that gets shot!” What do you think of this attitude? Is it an attitude of repentance? (No.) What attitude is it? Haven’t they become slippery and deceitful? In their hearts they think, “I’m lucky this time it didn’t turn into a disaster. A fall in the pit, a gain in your wit, so to speak. I have to be more careful in the future.” They do not seek the truth, using their petty tricks and cunning schemes to attend to and handle the matter. Can they gain the truth in this way? They cannot, because they have not repented. The first thing to be done when repenting is to recognize what you have done wrong: to see where your mistake was, the essence of the problem, and the corrupt disposition you have revealed; you must reflect on these things and accept the truth, then practice according to the truth. Only this is an attitude of repentance. If, on the other hand, you consider cunning ways exhaustively, you become more slippery than before, your techniques are cleverer and more concealed, and you have more methods to deal with things, then the problem is not quite as simple as just being deceitful. You are using underhanded means and you have secrets you cannot divulge. This is wickedness. Not only have you not repented, but you have become more slippery and deceitful. God sees that you are overly intransigent and wicked, that you admit on the surface you were wrong, and accept being pruned, yet in reality, you do not have a repentant attitude in the slightest. Why do I say this? Because while this event was happening or in its aftermath, you did not seek the truth at all, you did not reflect and try to know yourself, and you did not practice according to the truth. Your attitude is one of using Satan’s philosophies, logic, and methods to resolve the problem. In reality, you are sidestepping the problem, and wrapping it up in a neat package so others see no trace of it, letting nothing slip. In the end, you feel you are quite smart. These are the things God sees, rather than your having truly reflected, confessed, and repented of your sin in the face of the matter that has befallen you, then going on to seek the truth and practicing according to the truth. Your attitude is not one of seeking the truth or of practicing the truth, nor is it one of submission to God’s sovereignty and arrangements, but one of using Satan’s techniques and methods to resolve your problem. You give others a false impression and resist being revealed by God, and you are defensive and confrontational regarding the circumstances that God has orchestrated for you. Your heart is more closed than before and separated from God. As such, can any good result come from it? Can you still live in the light, enjoying peace and joy? You cannot. If you shun the truth and shun God, you will certainly fall into the darkness and weep and gnash your teeth. Is such a state prevalent in people? (Yes.) Some people frequently admonish themselves, saying, “I was pruned this time. Next time, I’ve got to be more calculating and more careful. I have to be on my guard in all matters so that I don’t end up losing out; people who aren’t calculating are dummies.” If you are always guiding and admonishing yourself so, will you ever be able to get good results? Will you be able to gain the truth? If an issue befalls you, you must seek and understand an aspect of the truth, and gain that aspect of the truth. What can be achieved by understanding the truth? When you understand an aspect of the truth, you understand an aspect of God’s will; you understand why God did this thing to you, why He would make such a demand of you, why He would orchestrate circumstances to chasten and discipline you so, why He would use this matter to prune you, and why you have fallen down, failed, and been revealed in this matter. If you understand these things, you will be able to pursue the truth and will achieve life entry. If you do not understand these things and do not accept these facts, but insist on opposing and resisting them, on using your own techniques to disguise yourself, and on facing all others and God with a false countenance, then you will be forever unable to gain the truth. If you have an honest attitude, one of accepting and submitting to the truth, and no matter what happens, no matter how much pain there is in your heart, or how humiliated you are, you’re always able to accept and submit to the truth, and you’re still able to pray to God, saying, “Everything God does is right, and I must accept it,” then this is a submissive attitude. However, during the process of acceptance you must continuously reflect on yourself, reflect on where the errors lie in your actions and behavior, and which aspects of the truth you have violated. You must also dissect your own intentions, so you can clearly see your own true state and stature. If you then seek the truth, you’ll know how to practice the truth in accordance with the principles. If you practice and experience in this way, then you’ll make progress before you know it. The truth will take root inside you; it’ll blossom, bear fruit, and become your life. All of the problems of your revelations of corruption will gradually be solved. When things happen, your attitude, views, and states will tend more and more toward the positive. Will you still be estranged from God then? Perhaps you will still be estranged from Him, but less and less so, and the doubts, speculations, misunderstandings, complaints, rebelliousness, and resistance you harbor toward God will also diminish. When they diminish, it’ll be easier for you to quiet yourself before God when things happen, and to pray to Him, seek the truth, and seek a path of practice. If you can’t see through things when they befall you, if you are instead utterly confused, and still don’t seek the truth, then there will be trouble. You’re sure to handle matters using human solutions, and your philosophies for worldly dealings, slippery methods, and clever techniques will all come out. This is how people first react to things in their hearts. Some people never put their hearts into striving toward the truth when things happen, and instead always think about handling those things by human means. As a result, they flounder around for a long time, they torment themselves until their faces become wan with exhaustion, but they still do not put the truth into practice. This is how pitiful those who do not pursue the truth are. Though you may now perform your duty willingly, and you may forsake things and expend yourself willingly, if you still have misunderstandings, speculations, doubts, or complaints regarding God, or even rebelliousness and resistance against Him, or if you use various methods and techniques to oppose Him and reject His sovereignty over you—if you do not resolve these things—then it will be nigh impossible for the truth to be master of your person, and your life will be exhausting. People often struggle and are tormented in these negative states, as if they had sunk into a quagmire, and they are always preoccupied with the idea of right and wrong. How can they discover and understand the truth? To seek the truth, one must first submit. Then, after a period of experience, they will be able to gain some enlightenment, at which point it is easy to understand the truth. If one is always trying to work out what is right and wrong and gets caught up in what is true and false, they have no way to discover or understand the truth. And what will come of it if one can never understand the truth? Not understanding the truth gives rise to notions and misunderstandings about God; when one has misunderstandings about God, they are likely to complain about Him. When these complaints burst forth, they become opposition; opposition to God is resistance against Him, and a serious transgression. If one has committed many transgressions, then they have committed manifold evils, and should be punished. This is the sort of thing that comes of being forever unable to understand the truth. So, the pursuit of truth is not merely meant to have you perform your duty well, to be obedient, to behave by the rules, to appear devout, or to have saintly decorum. It is not merely meant to achieve these things; principally it is meant to resolve the various incorrect views you harbor toward God. The purpose of understanding the truth is to resolve people’s corrupt dispositions; when those corrupt dispositions are resolved, people will no longer have misunderstandings about God. These two things are linked. At the same time as people resolve their corrupt dispositions, the relationship between them and God will gradually improve and become increasingly normal. Once their corrupt dispositions are resolved, therefore, people’s misgivings, suspicions, testing, misunderstandings, questions, and grievances regarding God, and even their resistance, will all be resolved, bit by bit. What immediate manifestation occurs when a person’s corrupt dispositions are resolved? Their attitude toward God changes. They can face everything with a heart of submission to God, and then their relationship with Him will improve. If they understand the truth then they will be able to put it into practice. They have a heart of submission to God so they won’t be perfunctory in the performance of their duty, let alone will they deceive God. In this way, they will have fewer and fewer notions and misunderstandings about God, their relationship with Him will become more and more normal, and they’ll be able to fully submit to God when performing their duty. If they don’t solve the issue of their corrupt dispositions, they’ll never be able to attain a normal relationship with God, and never have a submissive heart toward Him. Just like unbelievers, they will be too rebellious, always denying and resisting God in their heart, and it will be impossible for them to perform their duty well. This is why pursuing and practicing the truth is so critical! You don’t pursue the truth, but still want to resolve your notions, misunderstandings, and complaints about God—can you achieve this? Definitely not. Some people say: “I’m just a simple person, I don’t have anything like notions, misunderstandings, or complaints. I don’t think about these things.” Can you guarantee that you don’t have any notions if you don’t think about it? Can you avoid revealing your corrupt dispositions by not thinking about it? No matter what corruption someone reveals, it is always determined by their nature. People all live by their satanic nature; their satanic dispositions are deeply rooted within them, and have become their nature essence. People have no means by which to eradicate their satanic dispositions, it is only by using the truth and God’s words that they can gradually solve all the issues of their corrupt dispositions.

Where does an improvement in a person’s relationship with God, or a lack thereof, manifest? It manifests in the attitude and views you have when faced with people, events, and things. If your attitude and views come from satanic philosophies for worldly dealings, or knowledge and theories, and you hold these things as your life philosophy and motto, then are you someone who pursues the truth? Have you gained the truth? (No.) It can’t be definitively said that you aren’t someone who pursues the truth; perhaps you’re on the road to pursuing the truth, but at the very least it shows that you haven’t entered the truth realities. If, when faced with something that doesn’t accord with your notions, you immediately get angry, pound the table and shout at people, refuse to accept it, and do not submit, what is the problem here? Is this a person who lives before God? Why are you unable to seek the truth? This shows that the truth has not yet taken charge of your heart! If you can’t even keep calm over such a triviality, and such a small matter exposes your ugly state, then this proves that you’re not good at using the truth to solve problems, and that you set aside seeking the truth when you lose your temper. If that’s the case, how can you have life entry? Some people believe in God for many years, but no matter what happens they behave like unbelievers, living according to satanic philosophies and never seeking the truth or changing their perspective on how they interact with others and handle matters. Although they have not committed any obvious evil acts or made any egregious mistakes, and they appear to be good people, they’ve believed in God for many years but don’t have life entry, and have never put the truth into practice. Can people like that attain God’s salvation? I’m afraid it’ll be difficult for them to attain it. Some people believe in God for many years, and no matter what happens they always say, “In my opinion such-and-such…,” “I plan so-and-so…,” and “I think this-and-that…,” or they say, “This old saying put it well…,” and “It’s like that famous person said….” People who always talk like this have a problem, as it proves that they are someone who is of Satan, someone who doesn’t have the slightest bit of the truth in their heart. When something happens, if you always say, “I remember that God’s words say…,” “God once said…,” or “In one of the sermons of God’s house, it was preached that…,” “There’s a line in a hymn of God’s words that says…,” if you always think about problems and talk like this, it proves that you’re someone who loves the truth and who possesses some of the truth reality. Whatever happens to someone who believes in God, they must first work out what God’s words say, compare everything against God’s words, and use God’s words as their foundation, base, and starting point. Is this not the attitude they should have when pursuing and practicing the truth? This is the bare minimum. Nowadays, although people listen to sermons and read God’s words every day, when things happen, they still say, “My mother said…,” “There’s an old saying…,” “Such-and-such a famous person said…,” “A proverb said…,” and “As the common saying goes….” Where did the words of God that they ate and drank go? From these people’s attitude and reactions, you can see that they still haven’t gained the truth or entered the truth realities, and that they don’t have God-fearing hearts and always speak in the tone of unbelievers. Such people have a numb and dull-witted countenance. What causes this? (Not pursuing the truth causes it.) People may look numb and dull-witted on the outside, but what are they like on the inside? They’re withered inside, in other words, they still haven’t been watered and fed by the truth. They’re still hungry, and have not yet gained the truth. So, they live numb, exhausted lives, they are slow to react, and when something happens they’re particularly helpless, and say from time to time, “God, I don’t know what to do!” “I’m confused!” or “I have no path!” These words are always on their lips. Are they good words? (No, they’re not.) So why do some people always learn them? They’ve even become popular buzzwords. Why do these words sound so awkward to Me? They’re not good words, and there’s no need to learn them. Don’t pay attention to popular things, instead pay attention to the truth and solving your own practical problems. You must reflect on whether your views, attitude, intention, and starting point reveal a corrupt disposition when things happen to you. You must reflect on this. No matter what happens, do you rely on satanic philosophies and use human methods to solve it, or do you seek the truth and solve it according to God’s words, or do you adopt a compromising middle ground approach? Your choice best reveals if you’re someone who loves and pursues the truth. If you always choose to solve problems by relying on satanic philosophies and human methods, the consequence will be that you cannot gain the truth, nor the enlightenment, illumination, and guidance of the Holy Spirit. What’s more, notions and misunderstandings about God will arise in you, and He will ultimately spurn you and cast you out. But if you can seek the truth in all things and solve them according to God’s words, then you’ll be able to attain the enlightenment, illumination, and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Your understanding of the truth will grow ever clearer, and you’ll come to know God more and more; in this way you’ll be able to truly submit to and love God. After practicing and experiencing in this way for a period of time, your corrupt dispositions will be ever more cleansed, and you’ll have fewer and fewer instances of rebelling against God, until eventually you’ll achieve complete compatibility with Him. If you always choose the compromising middle ground approach, you’re actually still relying on satanic philosophies to handle problems. Living like this will never earn you God’s approval, you’ll only be revealed and cast out. If you’ve chosen the wrong way to believe in God, the religious way, you need to reverse your course quickly, step back from the brink, and adopt the right way. Then there might still be hope for you to attain salvation. If you want to gain the right way of believing in God, then you must seek and fumble around for it on your own. Someone who has spiritual understanding will find the right path after a period of experience.

So, what did we just fellowship on? (We fellowshipped on what the pursuit of the truth mainly solves, that is, the various erroneous views people have about God, and people’s corrupt dispositions. We also fellowshipped on what people’s views, attitudes, and intentions are when things happen to them, and on whether people approach things using satanic philosophies and human notions and imaginings, or solve them through seeking the truth.) These words are easy to remember, but the key is whether you’re able to measure against God’s words when something happens, and if you’re able to find the principles of practice. If you can apply the principles, then you’ll be able to put the truth into practice, and if you can put the truth into practice, you’ll have the truth realities. Understanding the truth doesn’t mean you’ve gained the truth. It is only when you can put the truth into practice that you’ll truly be able to understand it. If you put the truth into practice often and do so completely in line with the principles, then this is gaining the truth. Merely being able to speak about words and doctrines cannot be considered good caliber. You only have the comprehension ability if you can seek the truth to solve problems when things befall you. The most crucial thing is being able to solve practical problems. For example, if you have a good relationship with a brother or a sister, and they ask you to point out what is wrong with them, how should you do it? This relates to what approach you take to the matter. Is your approach based on the truth principles, or do you use philosophies for worldly dealings? If you can clearly see that they have a problem, but don’t tell them outright so as to avoid harming your relationship, and you even make excuses, saying, “My stature is small now and I don’t understand your problems thoroughly. When I do, I’ll tell you,” then what is the issue? This involves a philosophy for worldly dealings. Is this not trying to fool others? You should speak of as much as you can see clearly; and if something is not evident to you, say so. This is saying what’s in your heart. If you have certain thoughts and certain things are evident to you, but you are afraid of offending them, terrified of hurting their feelings, and so choose to say nothing, then this is living by a philosophy for worldly dealings. If you discover that someone has a problem or has gone astray, even if you can’t help them with love, at the very least you must point out the problem so that they can reflect on it. If you ignore it, isn’t this doing them harm? If you help them once, and discover that they don’t accept the truth, that they are unreasonable, have a vicious disposition, and fundamentally do not love the truth, then you’d be wise to not point out their problems to them. But if you also don’t point out problems to someone who can accept the truth, then you do not have love. If you interact with your brothers and sisters like this, then you’re just playing games, tricking people with clever words, and always wanting to laugh at other people. People who act like this are not good people, and there is a disposition contained within this. Such people are living entirely by satanic philosophies, they are not speaking or acting from within the reason of normal humanity, nor are they behaving according to the truth principles. According to the truth principles, then, how should you approach this matter? What action accords with the truth? How many relevant principles are there? Firstly, at the very least, do not cause others to stumble. You must first consider the other’s weaknesses and what way of speaking with them will not cause them to stumble. This is the very least that ought to be considered. Next, if you know they are someone who truly believes in God and can accept the truth, then when you notice they have a problem, you should take the initiative to help them. If you do nothing and laugh at them, this constitutes hurting and harming them. Someone who does so has no conscience or reason, and they have no love for others. Those who have a bit of conscience and reason cannot just look at their brothers and sisters as a joke. They should think of different ways to help them resolve their problem. They should let the person understand what happened and where their mistake was. Whether they can repent is their own matter; we will have lived up to our responsibility. Even if they do not repent now, sooner or later there will be a day when they come to their senses, and they will not complain about you or accuse you. At the least, how you treat your brothers and sisters cannot be below the standards of conscience and reason. Do not indebt yourself to others; help them to the extent you can. This is what people should do. People who can treat their brothers and sisters with love and in accordance with the truth principles are the best kind of people. They are also the most kind-hearted. Of course, true brothers and sisters are those people who can accept and practice the truth. If a person only believes in God to eat their fill of bread or to receive blessings, but does not accept the truth, then they are not a brother or sister. You must treat true brothers and sisters according to the truth principles. No matter how they believe in God or what path they are on, you should help them in the spirit of love. What is the minimum effect one should achieve? First, it is not causing them to stumble, and not letting them become negative; second, it is helping them, and making them turn back from the wrong path; and third, it is making them understand the truth and choose the right path. These three sorts of effect can only be achieved by helping them in the spirit of love. If you do not have true love, you cannot achieve these three sorts of effect, and you could only achieve one or two at best. These three sorts of effect are also the three principles for helping others. You know these three principles and have a handle on them, but how are they actually enacted? Do you truly understand the other’s difficulty? Is this not another problem? You must also think, “What is the origin of their difficulty? Am I capable of helping them? If my stature is too small and I cannot solve their problem, and I speak carelessly, I may point them onto the wrong path. Beyond that, how is this person’s comprehension ability, and what is their caliber? Are they opinionated? Do they have spiritual understanding? Can they accept the truth? Do they pursue the truth? If they see that I am more capable than them, and I fellowship with them, will jealousy or negativity arise in them?” These questions must all be considered. After you have considered and gained clarity on these questions, go fellowship with that person, read several passages of God’s words that apply to their problem, and enable them to understand the truth in God’s words and find the path to practice. Then, the problem will be solved, and they will get out of their difficulty. Is this a simple matter? This is no simple matter. If you do not understand the truth, then no matter how much you say, it will be of no use. If you do understand the truth, you can enlighten and benefit them with just a few sentences. The key to helping people with love is to fellowship on a few passages of God’s words about the problem, and this method is most effective. If you do not fellowship on God’s words, and try to use human words alone, then you will never solve any practical problems, no matter how many words you speak. Some people can only exhort others and will say, no matter what problems other people face, “Read more of God’s words and seek the truth in them, then it’ll be easy to solve the problem,” or “You should love God, and that’s enough. You’ll never be negative, as loving God will solve all your problems.” It is nowhere near that simple. Is loving God something you can practice as soon as you’ve said it? How do people love God if they don’t understand the truth? How can people love God if they don’t know His work? If people truly love God, then they’ll never be negative, and won’t have any difficulties. Loving God is not a simple matter, and is it accomplished just by speaking about a few doctrines or shouting a few slogans? Submitting to God is even less simple, and it’s not like saying a few words of exhortation can make someone submit to Him. Even if fellowshipping on God’s words can bring people a little benefit at the time, it’s not as if you can solve the problem of their rebelliousness and bring them to submit to God by just fellowshipping on the truth once, and it is not as if people will immediately be able to submit to God when you fellowship on the truth clearly. People must experience judgment, chastisement, and pruning, in order to achieve results. People who always speak about words and doctrines to exhort others are the shallowest. They have no truth realities, they always rely on speaking about words and doctrines to help people, and they achieve no results. This is called being perfunctory, and is not a sincere way to treat people; it’s too fake, it is not kind-hearted. In sum, this kind of person is a hypocrite. If you do not have a heart of sympathy or love for others, how can you help people? It’s not easy to truly solve a problem. You must understand the truth, see through the essence of the problem, and then fellowship clearly with others in accordance with the truth principles, and be able to fellowship on the path of practice in a way that others understand. In this way, people will not only understand the truth, but also have a path for putting it into practice, only then can the problem be considered solved. You must go through these things; understanding will come through your practical, first-hand experience. The more you fellowship on the truth, the clearer it will become, the more assured your heart will grow, and the more you’ll have a path forward. When you really understand the truth, you’ll know how to put it into practice. Believers in God must experience in this way, they must solve their problems one by one, and each time they resolve a problem they have to resolve a kind of corrupt disposition. When they have solved a lot of problems, their corrupt dispositions will have more or less been resolved too. In such a manner, the more problems they solve, the fewer corrupt dispositions they will have, and the more realities of submission to God they will possess. In this way, people will enter the truth realities without even knowing it. The more problems people solve, and the more truths they understand, the more paths to practice they will have; the more problems they solve, and the more corrupt dispositions they cleanse, the more truth realities they’ll enter. This is the process of believing in God: You constantly discover problems and solve them—once you solve one problem, you discover another and then solve it, and in the end you solve many problems, you come to understand the truth, and if a problem appears again, you’ll be able to solve it quickly yourself. This is how you gradually grow in stature. With fewer and fewer problems and difficulties, you’ll definitely reveal less corruption, submit to God even more, and have more experiential testimony. In this way, without even realizing it, your life disposition will change, and you’ll ultimately achieve compatibility with God. You won’t have any rebelliousness, and you will be able to put the truth into practice and submit to God in any matter. This means that you will have grown in stature, and completely achieved salvation.

It really is simple to put the truth into practice, but if you don’t have sufficient comprehension ability, or your heart isn’t in it, and you’re always sloppy and perfunctory, then you’ll never gain the truth. So, how can someone gain the truth? Is it through dubious tricks or force? No. It’s gradually obtained, little by little, through accumulation, seeking, first-hand experience, and fumbling, as you go through real life. This is also the way the Holy Spirit guides you, sometimes just giving you a few words, which you don’t understand at the time, but come to understand after a few days through seeking the truth, and then your heart lights up, and you have a path. You gain, but others don’t, and you grow in this aspect of the truth. That is being shown favor. Some details of the truth must be felt and experienced, and as your experience grows deeper and more detailed, you’ll feel your path more accurately. Without even knowing it, you’ll follow this path in seeking and practicing the truth. You’ll gain even more enlightenment on the foundation of your understanding of the truth, and understand more details of the truth and more truth realities. This is the path of pursuing the truth. If you can experience and practice this, you’ll feel that putting the truth into practice isn’t hard, but if you don’t practice in this way, then you’ll always feel that it’s abstract and difficult, more difficult than attending university or researching any advanced technology. But in fact, it’s just a matter of using your heart. Learning any professional knowledge or theory relies on memory, and mental analysis and research, but only gaining the truth requires you to use your heart. You must use your heart to experience it and taste it, and put effort into thinking about how to experience it. Gradually you will come to find and gain the right path for putting the truth into practice. Then you will have gained a treasure. What’s the secret to gaining the truth? Firstly, do not use satanic thinking, logic, philosophies for worldly dealings, or techniques to handle the things that happen around you. That is a dead end, for if you live by satanic philosophies then you will never be able to gain the truth. When things happen, if your first reaction is to handle and solve them using human methods and techniques, and you always want to protect your personal interests and image, then this will lead to a dead end. If you can seek the truth when facing a problem, if you can pray to God and seek His will, and know what lessons you should learn, and what truths you should understand within God’s arrangements, then this is correct. Therefore, no matter what happens to those who don’t pursue the truth, they’re always numb, awkward, hesitant, helpless, and without a path. In fact, God gives people many chances to gain the truth but, because they don’t love the truth, they choose the wrong path and fail to gain it.

People who live amid corrupt dispositions live for status, vanity, profit, and desire. All of corrupt humanity is like this, virtually the same with only some minor differences. Regardless of how many corrupt dispositions a person has, after coming to believe in God all those who love the truth can come to an understanding of their own corrupt dispositions through eating, drinking, and experiencing God’s words, and many of their corrupt dispositions will gradually be solved, and they will reveal less and less corruption. They are totally different than unbelievers, they are two distinct kinds of people, and is this not a change achieved by pursuing the truth? These people go from being unbelieving devils to transforming into real people who have gained the truth and who live out a human likeness after they come to believe in God; this is the gain and the fruit of belief in God. But those who don’t pursue the truth at all after coming to believe in God, don’t change even after many years of belief, and are still the same as unbelievers—this kind of person will be cast out. Why is there such a big difference between people who similarly believe in God and perform duties? The crucial point is that their attitudes toward the truth are different. The hearts of those who love the truth will grow ever brighter the more they read God’s words, and the more they listen to sermons the more they’ll understand—they are always making progress. But those who don’t love the truth don’t enjoy reading God’s words, nor do they make an effort to put the truth into practice, so their corrupt dispositions cannot be solved or cast off. They can’t disguise their corrupt dispositions, even if they try, and they can’t cover them up, even if they want to. This is because corrupt humans have all been corrupted by Satan, be they unbelievers or those who believe in God, the essence of their corrupt satanic dispositions is actually the same, and they all live for status, image, profit, and desire. What do people argue for the sake of? Why do they beat each other to a pulp over something? It is all for these things, and no matter the method, technique, or form, the goal is actually the same. Why was Satan cast down into midair? (Because it competed for status with God.) This is the true face of Satan. Nowadays, Satan’s “genes” have been passed down to corrupt mankind, corrupting them, so people have become Satan’s ilk, they have taken on the appearance of Satan, and what they live out is identical to Satan. If you can recognize the corrupt dispositions within Satan’s nature essence, and then solve them one by one, you will be saved and be able to break away from Satan’s influence. Is it difficult to solve the problem of corrupt dispositions? (It’s not difficult for those who pursue the truth, but most of the time we aren’t willing to put the truth into practice, and just act according to our own will. When we are pruned we become negative and upset for a while, before reluctantly practicing according to the truth.) All those who don’t love the truth are like this, and must be urged, pulled, and pushed by others to put even a little bit of the truth into practice. What is the greatest difficulty in putting the truth into practice? Now there are some people who see clearly that the greatest difficulty is mainly the hindrances that come from corrupt dispositions. It is due to people’s love of fame, gain, status, vanity, and image. Conversations, disputes, and arguments between people are all competitions to see who is superior—whoever is able to convince the other ends up looking good. They are all competitions about who has the insight, the competence, or the authority, and who has the final say. There’s no end to the competition over these things, and concealed behind all this is Satan’s disposition, which lives for fame, gain, and status. See through this, and the problem can easily be solved. At the very least first resolve those surface-level things that are easy to solve, and then gradually solve the misunderstandings, speculations, doubts, and complaints about God that are in your innermost heart, as well as the opposition, probing, and competition that are concealed there. Once these are completely resolved, you’ll become like Job, a perfect person in the eyes of God. Why did God say that Job was a perfect person? Through God’s trial of him, we can see that he had no opposition or probing when it came to God. During his life, and the period when he experienced God’s sovereignty over all things, things like his rebelliousness and resistance were all pruned away and solved. Once these negative things had been solved, his behavior was totally different from that of all corrupt mankind when he faced God’s trials. Is what he said during his trials, “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah,” a doctrine? It definitely isn’t. These words have weight, and no one had ever said them before; they were first spoken by Job, and came from his personal experiences.

Are you worried when you see yourselves revealing so much corruption on a daily basis, and always living amid a satanic disposition, without much change? (Yes, I worry, and sometimes I feel tormented.) It is normal to worry, as is to feel tormented. But no matter how worried or tormented you feel, you need to calm down and seek how to solve your corrupt dispositions. This is the correct state of mind. If you feel tormented for a number of years and your corrupt dispositions still haven’t been resolved, this won’t do and this feeling of torment is useless. You must ponder, “Which of my problems have been solved? Which of my corrupt dispositions have been resolved? In which matters do I no longer complain about God?” You must always ask yourself this. If you say, “I always used to complain and grumble when faced with this kind of thing, and harbored misunderstandings about God, but now I don’t complain when it happens again, and I harbor no misunderstandings about God,” then this shows you haven’t wasted your time. Once you understand and have gained the truth, you’ll have a different attitude toward God, and will naturally have a God-fearing heart and a submissive state of mind. This isn’t ordinary deference, or showing respect from a distance, or yearning, love, attachment, or dependence; it’s not just these things, it’s real fear. For corrupt mankind today, it’s still too early to talk about fearing God, too distant. So, what should you first pursue now? To not be suspicious of God no matter what happens. How can you refrain from being suspicious? First, you must know what God’s will is, and what the truth is. Second, when things happen which don’t accord with your notions, don’t complain about God, or have any misunderstandings about Him. How can you refrain from having any misunderstandings? You need to understand the truth, and then gradually break through and resolve your notions and misunderstandings about God one by one. The day will come when, no matter how great the trial or tribulation you face, you will not resist, instead you will have a God-fearing heart, and be able to submit no matter how He tests you. Then you will have succeeded. What stage are you in right now? When things happen, you ponder, “Is this God’s doing? Is it right for Him to do it?” or even sometimes think, “Where is God? Is there even a God? How come I can’t feel Him?” There are many such thoughts and states, and this is not alright, as you’re still far from embarking on the path to being made perfect. You must work hard in your pursuit, as presently your stature is still too small, falling short of the standard for possessing the truth realities. Don’t think that you’re alright and you possess some realities, so you can go to heaven and become an angel. Your few realities still fall far too short; even if you were fitted with wings you’d still be no angel. Don’t think too well or too highly of yourself, you should have a little self-awareness. Can you testify to God? Are you fit for God’s use? Measured by this standard, you’re still far from God’s requirements, and need several more years’ experience.

March 11, 2018