The first step in entering into the truth realities is to reflect on yourself according to God’s words, and compare all of your different states to His words. If you want to enter deeper, you must dissect and understand your corrupt disposition more deeply. What should you do after you have understood it? You should find a way to practice and enter, and put thought into how to practice the truth and cast off your corrupt disposition; this is the correct path. Some people become negative after gaining an understanding of themselves; they cry and sob that they have been eliminated and are service-doers and foils, and they don’t even want to do their duties. What kind of people are these? These are absurd people, and drama queens. So, what is the best way to fix it? At the very least, they should not cry or make a fuss, and moreover, they should not give up or complain about God. The most important things they should do are seek the truth and come to understand what God’s intention actually is, which course of action has the most reason, and what path they should choose; these are the most important things. It is easiest for people to lose their reason when they are constantly controlled by the intention to be blessed. People who lack reason are the most pitiful, but people who, in all things, choose to submit to God and seek only to satisfy God, are those with the most reason and who have the biggest conscience. When a person is exposed by God, how should they handle it, and what choice should they make? They must seek the truth, and should not, under any circumstances, become muddleheaded. It is good for you to experience God’s judgment and chastisement, and to see your corruption as it truly is, so why are you negative? God exposes you so that you can gain an understanding of yourself, and in order to save you. Actually, the corrupt disposition you reveal stems from your nature. It is not that God wants to expose you, but if He does not expose you, won’t you still reveal it? Before you believed in God, He had not exposed you yet, so wasn’t everything you lived out a satanic corrupt disposition? You are someone who lives according to a satanic disposition. You shouldn’t be so shocked by these things. When you reveal a little bit of corruption it scares you to death, and you think it’s over for you, that God doesn’t want you, and that everything you’ve done is for naught. Don’t overreact. It is corrupt humans whom God saves, not robots. What do I mean by corrupt humans? I mean people who reveal a satanic corrupt disposition, who are arrogant and self-righteous, do not accept the truth, are capable of resisting and rebelling against God, of being antagonistic toward Him, and who are capable of following in Paul’s footsteps. These are the sort of humans God saves. If you want to accept God’s salvation and achieve salvation, you must face the corrupt disposition that exists in your heart, face the corrupt disposition you reveal every day, and every day you must seek the truth and reflect on yourself, compare yourself to God’s words, practice discernment and dissection of the corrupt disposition you reveal, and battle it. Some people battle with it several times but are defeated, and say, “Why do I always reveal arrogance? Why don’t other people?” In fact, everyone reveals arrogance. When other people reveal it, you don’t know, but they know. Or, it could be that they themselves don’t know when they are revealing arrogance, but God knows. Also, there is another issue people must remember: God fixes people’s corrupt dispositions; He does not fix their way of doing things. God does not hate the momentary intention you have while doing something, or a particular way of doing things, or if you are occasionally lazy or do not pay a price; these are not the things God hates. What God hates is your corrupt disposition. Whenever you feel you are revealing a corrupt disposition, you should become aware of it on your own before God disciplines you. You shouldn’t guess whether God hates you or has eliminated you; you should be aware of your problem, then seek how you should repent, and what way of practicing the truth will bring about change. This is a manifestation of normal reason. What you should first become aware of is, “These words of mine are not reasonable, and they reveal arrogance. I am not capable of doing this task, yet I talk myself up and say that I can, so isn’t it just a lot of big talk? Big talk and talking myself up show I have an arrogant disposition.” God does not condemn you for big talk, but does that mean you can just let it go? No, you cannot let it go. You must dissect it, and say, “Why am I so good at talking myself up and talking big? Why do I brag about things I can’t do, or things which I don’t even know if I can do? Why do I have this foible?” This is not a foible. A foible is a surface-level bad habit. Big talk is one of the ways an arrogant disposition reveals itself; it is your satanic disposition that directs you to live in a state like this—you are entirely directed by your disposition. If you can suppress it, and not reveal an arrogant disposition, does this mean you do not have an arrogant disposition anymore? Does it mean it has been fixed? It is absolutely not that simple. It is not just by changing the way you do something, being outwardly rule-abiding and well-behaved, not being cocky, and having a cultured manner that makes you not arrogant. Those are just masks, and add new problems on top of being arrogant, and the result is even more troublesome. If you want to fix your arrogance, and fix every sort of corrupt disposition, you must seek the truth to fix it when performing your duties. This is the correct way. For example, suppose the leader arranges for you to perform a certain duty, and after listening you say cavalierly, “I have done duties like this before. This will be a piece of cake!” But right after, you realize you revealed arrogance, and that this way of thinking was wrong, and quickly pray and adjust your thinking, saying, “Oh, God! I’ve revealed arrogance yet again. Please prune me; I am willing to perform my duty well,” this is the first thing you should do. Then, how should you treat your duty? You think, “I am doing this for God, and I am doing it in His presence, so I must handle it carefully. I cannot mess it up. If I do, it will be so embarrassing!” Then, you mull it over, and think, “No, that’s not right. Why should I be afraid of embarrassing myself?” This state isn’t right, either; you have started to stray from the path. How should you correct it? Which direction is the right way to go? Again, this has to do with practicing the truth to fix problems. You should think, “I am not afraid of embarrassing myself. The key is that I should not be detrimental to the church’s work,” and your state will have turned around. But if you then think, “What if I am detrimental to the church’s work and am pruned? I will have no pride,” your state will be incorrect again. How can this be fixed? In your heart, you must think, “I never place any importance on my duty, I’m lazy about doing it, and I’m so arrogant. I deserve to be pruned. I must pray to God and let Him work. I’m a hard nut to crack, but God is almighty and nothing is impossible for Him, so I will lean on God.” This is right; this is the right way to practice. God has imparted certain talents to you, and let you acquire some knowledge, but acquiring this knowledge does not necessarily mean you can perform your duty well. Isn’t this a fact? (Yes.) How does a person arrive at this conclusion? (Through experience.) This experience taught you a lesson, and gave you insight. Namely, that what God gives to people is not something they inherently possess, nor is it their capital; God can take away what He has given them at any time. When God wants to expose you, no matter how talented you are at something, you will forget it and be unable to use it—you will be nothing. If, at this time, you pray, “God, I am nothing. I have this ability only because You gave it to me. I beg You to give me strength! Please bless and guide me, so I am not detrimental to Your work.” Is this the right way to pray? (No, it is not.) What changes should you make at this point? You say, “Oh, God! I am willing to submit to Your arrangements. I cannot always think that I am right. Although I know a few things about this area of work, and have some proficiency at it, it doesn’t necessarily mean I can do the task well. Because my corrupt disposition is a disturbance, I am given to doing things in a perfunctory and sloppy manner, and do not take my duty seriously. I am incapable of controlling myself, and cannot get a grip on myself. I beg You to protect me and guide me. I am willing to submit to You, do the best I can, and give You the glory.” If you do your duty well, and give eighty percent of the credit to God and twenty percent to yourself, is that appropriate? (No, it’s not.) It isn’t reasonable to divide things up that way. If God was not at work, could you do your duty well? Absolutely not, because not only do you lack the truth, you also have a corrupt disposition. No matter what sort of corrupt state exists in people’s hearts, they must always reflect on themselves, and seek the truth to fix it. Once their corrupt disposition has been cleansed, their state will be normal.

Sometimes a wrong thought or idea will appear in a person’s heart, and it disturbs their heart. They get stuck in that state, and are unable to emerge from it for a day or two. What should a person do at a time like this? You should seek the truth to fix the situation. First, you should get clear on how the wrong thought or idea arose, how it gained a hold over you, made you negative and depressed, and made you reveal all sorts of rebelliousness and unsightly ways. Then, when you realize that these things were dictated by your corrupt disposition, and that God loathes it, you should quiet yourself before God and pray, “God, discipline me and let me learn the lessons I need to. I am not afraid of being revealed, nor am I afraid of being embarrassed or losing face. All I am afraid of is my actions violating Your administrative decrees, and displeasing You.” This is the right path, but do you have the stature to walk it? (No.) If you do not have the stature, does it mean you cannot pray in this direction? Since it is the right path, you should pray in this direction. Now, people’s stature is small, they must frequently come before God, lean on God, and let God protect them more and discipline them more. When their stature has grown, and they can shoulder a burden and do more tasks, God will not need to worry so much, and will not need to constantly protect them, discipline them, try them, or watch them. This is a matter of the heart, and God looks at people’s hearts. God does not care how well-behaved or obedient you are on the outside; He looks at your attitude. Maybe you say nothing all day, but what attitude do you have in your heart? “I have been given this duty, so I have a responsibility to do it well, but I have a habit of being unbridled, and I always do as I please. I know I have this issue, but I can’t control myself. I am willing for God to orchestrate my environment, and remove the people, events, and things surrounding me which could disturb me, impact the performance of my duty, or impact my practice of the truth, so that I do not fall into temptation, can accept God’s trials, and can accept His discipline.” You must have a heart of willing submission. When these thoughts are in your heart, how can God not see them? How can He pay them no heed? So, God acts. Sometimes when you pray like this once or twice, God does not heed you. When He tests a person’s work and sincerity, He will not say anything, but this does not mean that what you did was wrong. Under no circumstances should you tempt God. If you always tempt God, and say, “Am I right in doing this? Did You see it, God?” then you are in trouble. This is an incorrect state. Just focus on taking action. No matter whether God is disciplining you, leading you, trying you, or guiding you, pay no heed. Just focus on putting effort into the truth you understand, and acting in line with God’s intentions. That is enough. So far as what the result will be, a lot of times it is not your responsibility. What should you take responsibility for? Performing the duty you should perform, spending the time you should, and paying the price you should. That is enough. Anything that concerns the truth must be examined, and effort must be put into understanding it. The crucial thing is that people walk the path they should. This is enough. This is what people should be doing. As for what level of stature you have, what trials you should go through, what discipline you should experience, what situations you should experience, and how God holds sovereignty, you do not need to pay attention to these things. God will do it. You say, “I am small in stature. Don’t make me undergo any trials, God, I’m afraid!” Would God do that? (No, He wouldn’t.) There is no need for you to worry. You say, “I am so large in stature, and have ample faith. God, why don’t You put me through a few trials? Try me like You did with Job and take away everything I have!” God would not do that. You do not know your own stature, but God knows well and is very clear; He can see the heart of every person. Can people see God’s heart? (No, they can’t.) People cannot see God’s heart, so how do they understand God and cooperate with Him? (Through His words.) Through understanding His words, performing their duty well, and holding fast to their place as people. What is people’s duty? It is the labor that people should do, and are capable of doing. These are the tasks that God has given you. What do the tasks that have been given to you include? The area of work you are familiar with, those tasks which the church gives you, those tasks which you should do, and those tasks which are within your ability to do. This is part of it. Another part has to do with the matter of life entry. You must be able to practice the truth and submit to God. Just focus on practicing and entering into the truth. Don’t pay attention to others’ evaluation of you or how God sees you. You do not need to pay attention to these things, nor is it necessary for you to pay attention to these things—these are not the things you should be bothering yourself with. People have no say in their good fortune, misfortune, longevity, all the things they experience in their lifetime, their luck, or their life; no one can change these things. You must be clear on this. God is sovereign over these things. People absolutely must clearly recognize and understand this in their hearts. Don’t concern yourself with anything on behalf of God; don’t try and decide what God wants to do. Just focus on effectively handling what you should do, what you should enter into, and the path you should be on. That is enough. As for what your future destination will be, do you have any say over it? (No.) Then how can you solve this problem? Part of it, is by doing everything you should do each day well, and fulfilling your duty as a person. This is the commission God gives to everyone. You came into this world, and God has led you this whole time—no matter whether He has given you various sorts of gifts, or nurtured you and given you a talent or ability, this shows that God has given you commissions. It is very obvious what commission God has given you, and there is no need for God to tell you directly. For example, if you know English, then God definitely has requirements for you in this area. This is your duty. There is no need for God to call down from heaven and say to you directly, “Your duty is translation, and if you don’t do it, I’ll punish you.” There is no need to say this. It is already very clear to you because God has given you normal rationality, thought processes and thinking, as well as the ability to understand this language. That is enough. What God has given you is what He is telling you to do, and this is very clear to you in your heart. During the process of performing your duties, and during the process of accepting God’s commission, you must accept everything God has done to you, including the positive guidance, watering, and provision He has given you. For example, by frequently eating and drinking God’s words, listening to sermons, living church life, fellowshipping on the truth, and harmoniously cooperating with others whilst performing your duty. Another part of it, is through individual life entry—this is the most important. Some people always want to know if they have life, and if they are effective. It is fine to reflect on these things momentarily, but don’t focus on them. It’s like planting crops every year—none of the farmers say how much yield there must be that year, and that if they don’t achieve that result, they will die. They are not this foolish. They all sow seeds when it is the season for it, then water them, fertilize them, and tend to them normally. Then, when the season is right, they are guaranteed a harvest. You must have faith like this; this is real faith in God. Don’t be so calculating with God, saying, “I have put in some effort the last while, will God reward me?” It’s not acceptable to always be asking for rewards, like an office worker asking for their wages at the end of the month. It’s not acceptable to always be asking for wages. People’s faith is too weak, and they do not have real faith in God. Once you see clearly that the path of following God is the path to salvation, and is real life, that it is the correct path that people should be following, and the life that created beings should have, just focus on pursuing the truth and seeking to enter into reality, listening to God’s words, and walking and acting in the direction God points you. This is right. Don’t always ask God, “God, how much longer is it until I have followed You to the end of the road? When will I be saved? When will I be rewarded and get a crown? When will the day of God arrive?” These are all states that people have, but does this make it right? (No.) Some people say “The law cannot be enforced when everyone is an offender,” but this saying is a fallacy, it does not hold water, and it is not in line with the truth. The fact that everyone has these states proves that everyone has a corrupt disposition, so they must all remedy this problem and get over this hurdle. You must always examine yourself in your heart, not focus on looking at how others are doing, and while you examine yourself, you must correct any corrupt states you have. People’s minds are dynamic, and are always actively thinking—one moment they lean left, and the other they lean right; their way of thinking is always a bit off. They do not walk the right path. They insist on following others, and on following wicked trends in the world and walking the wrong path. This is people’s nature essence, and they couldn’t control it even if they wanted to. If you cannot control it, then don’t control it. When an incorrect intention or view surfaces, then fix it. This way, the corruption you reveal will gradually lessen. So, how can you fix it? By praying, and constantly gaining understanding and turning things around. Sometimes, no matter how you try to turn things around, those things surface, so pay them no heed, and just do what you are supposed to do. This is the easiest method. So what is it that people are supposed to do? Perform their duty well, and keep to their duty. You cannot reject the commission God has given you; you must complete it well. Apart from this, in terms of individual life entry, you must do your best to strive for the truth while doing your duty, and work hard to achieve whatever level of entry you can. Whether you are ultimately up to par will be decided by God. People’s own feelings and verdicts are of no use. People cannot decide their own fate, and are unable to evaluate their behavior, or determine what their ultimate outcome will be. Only God can evaluate and determine these things. You must trust that God is righteous. To borrow the words of unbelievers, you must dare to act, dare to be accountable for your actions, dare to face the facts, and be able to take responsibility. People who have a conscience and reason should perform their duty well and take responsibility.

It is crucial that people frequently examine themselves, and it is crucial for people to accept God’s scrutiny. It is also crucial for people to seek the truth, reverse their states and views, and emerge from them, when they examine themselves and find that they have incorrect states or views. In this way, without realizing it, you will experience fewer and fewer incorrect states, and you will become more and more discerning toward them. After you reverse your incorrect states, the positive things within you will increase, and you will perform your duty with greater and greater purity. Although, on the outside, the way you speak and your personality will be the same as before, your life disposition will have changed. In what ways will this be apparent? You will be able to follow the truth principles when doing things and performing your duty, and you will be able to take responsibility in these things; when you see others doing things in a perfunctory manner you will be angry, and when you see wicked phenomena, as well as passive, negative, improper and wicked practices that reveal corrupt dispositions, you will detest them. The more you look at these things, the more distaste you will feel, and you will become increasingly discerning toward them. When you see some people who have believed in God for a very long time, and who speak very clearly about words and doctrines, but don’t do any real work and lack principles, you will get angry and loathe it. In particular, when you see leaders and workers who don’t do real work, who always talk about words and doctrines, and who have believed in God for years but haven’t changed, you will have discernment toward them, you will be able to expose and report them, and you will possess a sense of justice. Not only will you hate yourself, but you will also hate it when these wicked and unjust things occur. This will prove that there has been a change inside of you. You will be able to look at issues and treat the people, events, and things around you from the perspective of the truth, from God’s side, and from the perspective of positive things—this will show there has been a change in you. So, will you still need God to evaluate you? No—you will be able to sense this yourself. For example, before, if you saw someone doing things in a perfunctory manner, you thought, “That’s normal. I’m the same way. If he didn’t do things that way, then it would make me look like I was doing things in a perfunctory manner.” Everyone was doing things in a perfunctory manner, so you felt you were doing pretty good. At that time, you won’t think that way anymore. You will think, “Doing things in a perfunctory manner is unacceptable. The work of God’s house is important. It was rebellious enough that I was doing things in a perfunctory manner—why are you being like I was, and doing things that way too?” You will think you were so ignorant and immature before, that the way you saw things was so despicable and shameful, and that there’s no way you could give an account of it to God, and your conscience will not be able to get over it. The fact that you will be able to have thoughts and feelings like this will prove that the truth and God’s words have already taken root and germinated within you. The perspective from which you view things, and the standards by which you evaluate things will have changed. You will already be a completely different person from before, when you lived within your corrupt dispositions. You will have already changed in a real way. Have you changed a bit, now? (A little.) Now you have changed a little, and occasionally, when you see people doing things in a perfunctory manner, not wanting to practice the truth, and always indulging in physical comfort, you don’t think it is a good thing. However, if you were asked to go help and support them, satanic philosophies would still constrain you. Though you discover this problem in people, you do not dare say anything out of fear of offending them, and even think, “No one elected me as group leader, so there is no need for me to stick my nose into other people’s business.” When you encounter these unjust and negative things, you are unable to stand on the side of the truth in your speech and actions, or take responsibility; you just turn a blind eye, and think that it is a great way to comport yourself, distancing yourself from contention. You think, “If anything goes wrong it will have nothing to do with me. I’m dodging a bullet.” If you still have views like this, will you be able to practice the truth? Will you have life entry? With views like this in your heart, you are a nonbeliever, and cannot accept the truth. That is why views like this cannot go uncorrected. If you want to have life entry, in one respect, you must be able to supervise yourself. In another respect, you primarily need to accept God’s scrutiny. If you notice there is reproach inside your heart, you should reflect on yourself, and figure out where this reproach is coming from. If you can feel that God is scrutinizing you, and you believe that God is scrutinizing you, then you should accept His scrutiny. It is only by frequently feeling remorseful, unsettled in your heart, and that you owe God on account of being in those states, that you will have the motivation to practice the truth and enter into the truth. There are some standards for, and practical manifestations of, entering into the truth realities. To what extent have you entered into them, now? (When a situation arises, I can see many shortcomings in myself, but I spend a lot of time stuck in that state. I don’t know how to adopt the perspective of the truth to dissect or understand what issues I have; I do not have clear discernment toward myself; I do not see myself clearly, and I often can’t see other people’s states clearly, either.) If you cannot see yourself clearly, then you cannot see others clearly. This statement is correct. When other people have an issue, you think it has nothing to do with you, but in fact, the states are consistent, and the same. If you cannot see your own state clearly, you will not be able to resolve your issues, let alone resolve others’ issues. Once you have resolved your issues, you will be able to see others’ issues very clearly, and fix them right away. If you want to have life entry, you must abide by the following two things: One, is that you must perform your duty well, and the other, is that while you are performing your duty, you must frequently examine yourself, seek the truth to reverse your various incorrect views, thoughts, stances, intentions, and states, and emerge from every sort of incorrect state. If you have the strength to emerge from them, you will overcome Satan and cast off your corrupt dispositions. Then, you will have turned yourself around. You will have emerged from your passive and negative states, and will not be constrained or controlled by these states. This in and of itself is a step forward. You must resolve this issue first. What negative or passive states do you have? Some people think, “That’s just the way I am. There’s nothing I can do to fix my arrogant disposition. In any case, God knows about it, and I reckon that He has already classified me. I’ve tried to change so many times, but I’m still the same. This is just who I am.” You have a bad view of yourself, but this is a negative state; it’s a bit of a mindset of abandoning yourself to despair. You haven’t sought the truth to resolve this issue, so why do you think you are hopeless? People frequently live in states like this; one momentary revelation of corruption and they think they have been classified, and that this is the type of person they are. This is a negative state; it should be reversed, and you should emerge from it. What other negative or passive states do you have? (I frequently live in a state where I do things based on my gifts and caliber, and lack life entry. This state is very severe.) When people do things based on their gifts and caliber, they always like to compete with others, thinking, “How come you can complete this task but I can’t? I have to work hard and put effort into this task, to try and do it better than you!” In this your devilish nature has emerged. What should be done about this? If, when you do things, you have this motivation or starting point, pay it no heed. It is a momentary revelation, or a momentary ignorant thought. Don’t act according to it, and you will be fine. You must do things in a down-to-earth manner, and in the way they should be done. If you encounter a difficulty, take the initiative to look at how other people have handled it. If they’ve handled it well, talk with them and learn from them. This way, you will reverse your incorrect states. If you have those thoughts and reveal corruption inside, but do not act in that way, then your corrupt dispositions will be thwarted. However, if you have those thoughts and act in that way, and your actions are even more severe than your thoughts, then this spells trouble, and it will make a mess of things. People’s corrupt dispositions are what God hates the most.

God’s approach to your corrupt dispositions is not to make you hide them, cover them up, or disguise them. Rather, He allows you to reveal them, exposing you and making you gain knowledge of them. Once you have knowledge of them, is that it? No. After you have knowledge of them, and know it is wrong to do things according to your corrupt dispositions, and that it is a dead-end road, you must come before God, and pray to Him and seek the truth to resolve your corrupt dispositions. God will enlighten you, and give you a correct path of practice. God’s words talk about what people should do, but people have corrupt dispositions, and sometimes don’t want to do as God says; they want to do things their own way. So, what does God do? God gives you freedom, and allows you to act this way for the time being. As you go along acting this way, you will hit a wall and feel you have messed up. Then, you will go back to God and seek what you should do. God will say, “In your heart, you understand My requirements. So, why don’t you listen?” And you will say, “Then discipline me, God.” God will discipline you, and it will hurt, so you’ll think, “God doesn’t love me. How can He be so cruel to me? He is so heartless.” God will say, “Okay, then I won’t do this anymore. Keep doing things however you intend to,” and you will be back on the path that you were on before. You will do things, hit a wall again, and ponder, “There is something not right about what I’m doing. I have to go back and confess my sins. I am indebted to God.” You will go back to God again and pray and seek, understand that what God says is right, and then do as God says. But when you are doing it, you will think, “Doing this will hurt my pride. Maybe I’ll just take care of my pride first.” Then you will be in trouble again, and have fallen short again. You will go back and forth again and again like this over time. If people can reflect on themselves, always recognize the deviations within themselves, reflect on and understand their corrupt dispositions, and then seek the truth to resolve them, then during the course of this experience, their stature will also be constantly growing. For people who have hearts, who are willing to practice the truth and love positive things, they will gradually experience fewer setbacks and failures, the parts of them which are submissive to God will increase, and the parts of them that love the truth will increase. That is why God allows you to fail and rebel while you experience and practice the truth; He does not look at these things. It is not like God will no longer want you, or that He’ll send you to hell, or sentence you to death for not listening to Him on one occasion. God does not do this. Why is it said God’s love is extremely vast when He saves people? This is where God’s love is manifested. It is manifested in His tolerance and patience toward people. He is constantly tolerating you, but not indulging you. God’s tolerance is about Him knowing people’s stature, knowing their innate capacity, knowing what people reveal in certain circumstances, and what they can attain based on their stature, and allowing you to reveal these things, giving you a certain amount of space, and accepting you when you come back to Him and sincerely repent, while also recognizing the sincerity of your repentance. Therefore, when you return and ask God whether it is right to act in that way, God will continue to tell you and give you an answer. God will patiently tell you that it is right to act in that way, and give you validation. But when you change your mind again, and say, “God, I don’t want to do this. It isn’t beneficial to me, and it makes me unhappy and uncomfortable—I still think I should do things my way, that way, I’ll not lose face, I’ll be smooth and slick, and I’ll be able to satisfy myself in every regard—I will satisfy my individual desires first,” God will say, “You can come up short, but by doing so, you are the one who will ultimately lose out, not Me.” When God is saving you, He sometimes allows you to be willful like this; this is His tolerance and this is the mercy He shows people. However, people cannot be self-indulgent when they see His mercy, and treat His patience and tolerance as a sort of weakness, or see it as an excuse for rebelling against Him and not heeding His words. This is rebelliousness and wickedness on the part of people. People must see this clearly. The tolerance and patience God shows you stretches on without limit. If you can sense God’s earnest intentions, that is a good thing. It is not that God is incapable of using extreme measures to save you—you must understand that there are principles behind God’s actions. He does things in many ways, but He does not use extreme measures. Why is this? God allows you to experience all kinds of adversity, frustrations, and tribulations, as well as many failures and setbacks. In the end, through the process of allowing you to experience these things, God makes you realize that all He has said is correct and the truth. At the same time, He makes you realize that what you think and imagine, as well as your notions, knowledge, philosophical theories, philosophies, and the things you learned in the world and which were taught to you by your parents are all wrong, and that these things cannot guide you onto the right path in life, and cannot lead you to understand the truth or come before God. If you still live by these things, then you are walking the path of failure, as well as the path of resisting and betraying God. In the end, God will make you see this clearly. This process is something you must experience, and it is only in this way that results can be achieved, but it is also a painful thing for God to see. People are rebellious and have corrupt dispositions, so they must suffer a bit, and experience these setbacks. Without this suffering, they would have no way of being purified. If a person truly has a heart which loves the truth, and is truly willing to accept God’s various methods of salvation and to pay the price, then there is no need for them to suffer so much. God does not actually want to make people suffer so much, and does not want to make them experience so many setbacks and failures. However, people are too rebellious; they are unwilling to do as they are told, unwilling to submit, and unable to walk the right path or take shortcuts; they only go their own way, rebel against God and resist Him. People are corrupt things. All God can do is hand them over to Satan and put them in various situations to constantly temper them, thereby allowing them to gain all kinds of experiences and learn all kinds of lessons, and to come to understand the essence of all kinds of wicked things. After that, when people return and take another look, they will realize that God’s words are the truth, admit that God’s words are the truth, and admit that God is the reality of all positive things, and the One who truly loves, worries about, and can save people. God does not want people to suffer so much, but humans are too rebellious, want to take the wrong path, and want to go through this suffering. God has no choice but to put people in various situations to constantly temper them. To what extent are people ultimately tempered? To the extent that you say, “I have experienced every kind of situation, and now I finally understand that apart from God, there is no person, event or thing that can make me understand the truth, that can make me enjoy the truth, or that can make me enter the truth realities. If I obediently practice according to God’s words, obediently stay in man’s place, uphold my status and duty as a created being, obediently accept God’s sovereignty and arrangements, have no further complaints nor desire extravagant things from God, and can truly submit before the Creator, only then will I be someone who truly submits to God.” When people reach this level, they truly bow down before God, and God need not set out any more situations for them to experience. So, which path do you wish to take? No one, in their subjective desires, wants to suffer, and no one wants to experience setbacks, failure, difficulties, frustrations, or adversity, but there is no other way. People have satanic natures; they are too rebellious, and their thoughts and views are too complicated. Every day, your heart is in constant contradiction, strife, and turmoil. You understand few truths, your life entry is shallow, and you lack the power to overcome the notions, imaginings, and corrupt dispositions of the flesh. All you can do is take man’s usual approach: constantly experiencing failure and frustration, constantly falling down, being buffeted by hardship, and rolling around in the muck, until a day comes when you say, “I’m tired. I’m fed up. I don’t want to live like this. I don’t want to experience these failures. I am willing to come before the Creator in obedience; I shall listen to what God says, and do what He says. Only this is the right path in life.” Only on the day you are fully convinced and admit defeat will you be able to come before God. Have you come to understand something of God’s disposition from this? What is God’s attitude toward people? No matter what God does, He wants the best for people. No matter what situations He sets out or what He asks you to do, He always wishes to see the best outcome. Say you go through something and encounter setbacks and failure. God does not wish to see you discouraged when you fail, think you are finished and have been snatched by Satan, then give up on yourself, never find your feet again, and plunge into dejection—God does not wish to see this outcome. What does God wish to see? That while you may have failed in this matter, you are able to seek the truth and reflect on yourself, find the reason for your failure, accept the lesson this failure has taught you, remember it in the future, know that it is wrong to act this way and that only practicing according to God’s words is right, and realize, “I am a bad person. I have a corrupt satanic disposition. There is rebelliousness in me. I am far from the righteous people of whom God speaks, and I do not have a God-fearing heart.” You have seen this fact clearly; you have come to recognize the truth of the matter, and through this setback, this failure, you have gained some sense and matured. This is what God wants to see. What does maturing mean? It means that God can gain you, that you can be saved, that you can enter into the truth realities, and that you have embarked on the path of fearing God and shunning evil. God hopes to see people take the right path. God does things with earnest intentions, and all of this is His hidden love, but people often can’t sense this. People are narrow-minded and extremely petty. The moment they can’t enjoy God’s grace and blessings, they complain about God, become negative, and act out in anger, but God doesn’t hold it against them. He just treats them like ignorant children and does not nitpick them. He lays out circumstances for people that let them know how grace and blessings are obtained, let them understand what grace means to man, and what man can draw from it. Say you like to eat something that God says is bad for your health when eaten in excess. You do not listen, and insist on eating it, and God allows you to make that choice freely. As a result, you get sick. After experiencing this several times, you realize that the words God speaks are actually right, that what He says is true, that you must practice according to His words, and that this is the correct path. So, what comes from the setbacks, failures and suffering that you experience? For one thing, you can sense God’s earnest intentions. For another, it makes you believe and feel sure that God’s words are right and that they are all practical, and your faith in God grows. On top of that, by experiencing this period of failure, you come to recognize the veracity and accuracy of God’s words, you see that God’s words are the truth, and you understand the principle of practicing the truth. And so, it is good for you to experience failure—though it is also something which makes you suffer, and which tempers you. But if being tempered thus ultimately makes you return before God, makes you understand His words and accept them into your heart as the truth, and makes you come to know God, then the tempering, setbacks and failures you experienced will not have been in vain. This is the result that God wishes to see. However, some people say, “Since God is so tolerant of people, I’ll just let loose, do things however I please, and live the way I want.” Is this okay? (No, it’s not.) What created beings should do is practice according to the correct path God has pointed them toward, and not waver from it. If they are unable to fully accord with God’s intentions, so long as they do not contravene the truth, and can accept God’s scrutiny, it’s okay. This is the minimum standard. If you stray from the truth, do not pray, and do not seek, then you have strayed too far from God, and have already crossed over into dangerous territory. When you are too far from God, do not perform your duty in the church, and have already left the space where God works to save people, the Holy Spirit will stop working on you, and you will have no chance, and no salvation to speak of. To you, God’s love is just empty words.

When you believe in God, you first must understand God, understand His intentions, and His attitude toward man. By doing this, you will know what truth God ultimately wants you to understand and enter into, and understand what path you should follow. After you know these things, you must do your utmost to cooperate with what God wants to do, and what He wants to accomplish in you. If you truly cannot cooperate and your energy and strength are exhausted, then that’s just how it is; God will not force people. However, people now do not put all their strength into these things. If you do not put your full strength into practicing the truth, but put your full strength into obtaining blessings and a crown of righteousness, then you have strayed from the right path. You must put your effort into practicing the truth, and into cooperating with the missions and duties that God gives you; you must give of yourself and expend yourself for these things with all your heart. Then, you will conform to God’s will. God pays no heed to people who do not attend properly to their duties, but paying them no heed does not mean there are no principles behind His actions. When God pays them no heed, it shows He is tolerant, accepting, and patient. He knows what things people must experience in their lives, what these created beings are capable of accomplishing, and what they are not, what certain types of people can accomplish at certain ages, and what they cannot. God has the most clarity about these things, much more so than the people themselves. However, just because God is clear about these things, it doesn’t mean you can say, “Okay, then, just do as You like, God. I don’t need to think about anything. I can just sit around all day and wait for manna to fall from the heavens. It’s fine for God to handle everything.” People must do their utmost to cooperate when carrying out their responsibilities, the things they should do, the things they should enter into, the things they should practice, and the things that are within people’s innate capability to accomplish. What does it mean to do one’s utmost to cooperate? It means that you must put time and energy into your duty, suffer and pay a price for it. Sometimes, your pride, vanity, and self-interest must take a loss, and you must completely let go of your yearning for a destination, and your desire to be blessed. These things should be let go, so you must let them go. For example, God says, “Do not lust after comforts of the flesh, for it is not beneficial to your life growth.” You are unable to submit to Him, and after experiencing several failures, you think, “God is right. Why can’t I put it into practice, and rebel against the flesh? Am I incapable of changing? Is this how God sees me, too? Will He not save me? I’m a lost cause, so I will just be a laborer, and labor until the end.” Is this acceptable? (No, it’s not.) People are often in this state. Either they only pursue blessings and a crown, or else—having experienced a few instances of failure—they think they are not up to the task, and that God has also passed a verdict on them. This is wrong. If you can turn things around in time, change your heart and mind, let go of the evil committed by your hands, return before God, confess and repent to God, acknowledge that your actions and the path you walk are wrong, and admit your own failures, then practice according to the path God has indicated to you, without giving up pursuing the truth no matter how tainted you are, then you’re doing the right thing. In the course of experiencing changes in their disposition and being saved, people will necessarily encounter many difficulties. For example, being unable to submit to the situations laid forth by God, their own various thoughts, views, imaginings, corrupt dispositions, knowledge, and gifts, or else their own various problems and faults. You must battle all manner of difficulties. Once you have overcome these myriad difficulties and states, and the battle in your heart has ended, you will possess the truth realities, you will no longer be bound by these things, and you will have been set free and liberated. One problem people often encounter during this process is that, prior to discovering problems in themselves, they think they’re better than everyone else, and will be blessed even if no one else is, just like Paul. When they discover their difficulties, they think themselves nothing, and that it’s all over for them. There are always two extremes. You must overcome both of these extremes, so that you do not veer one way or the other. When you encounter a difficulty, even if you are already aware that the problem is utterly intractable and will be hard to fix, you should face it properly, come before God and ask for His help in fixing it, and by seeking the truth, gnaw away at it bit by bit like ants gnawing on a bone, and turn this state around. You must repent to God. Repenting is proof that you have a heart that accepts the truth and an attitude of submission, which means there is hope that you will gain the truth. And if, in the midst of this, any more difficulties appear, don’t be afraid. Quickly pray to God and lean on Him; God is secretly watching and waiting for you, and as long as you do not depart from the setting, stream, and scope of His management work, there is hope for you—you absolutely must not give up. If all you reveal is a normal corrupt disposition, then as long as you are able to understand it and accept the truth, and practice the truth, a day will come when these problems are solved. You must have faith in this. God is the truth—why do you need to fear this little problem of yours cannot be solved? This can all be solved, so why be negative? God has not given up on you, so why give up on yourself? You should not give up, and you should not be negative. You should face the problem properly. You must know the normal laws for life entry, and be able to see the revelation and manifestation of a corrupt disposition, as well as occasional negativity, weakness, and confusion, as normal things. The process of changing one’s disposition is a long and repetitious one. When you are clear on this point, you will be able to face problems properly. Sometimes, your corrupt disposition reveals itself severely, and it disgusts anyone who sees it, and you hate yourself. Or, sometimes, you are too lax and are disciplined by God. This is no cause for fear. As long as God is disciplining you, as long as He is still caring for and protecting you, still working in you, and is always with you, this proves that God has not given up on you. Even when there are times that you feel God has left you, and that you have been plunged into darkness, do not be afraid: As long as you are still alive and not in hell, you still have a chance. However, if you are like Paul, who stubbornly walked the path of an antichrist, and ultimately testified that for him to live is Christ, it’s all over for you. If you can come to your senses, you still have a chance. What is the chance you have? It is that you can come before God, and can still pray to Him and seek, saying, “Oh God! Please enlighten me so I understand this aspect of the truth, and this aspect of the path of practice.” As long as you are one of God’s followers, you have hope of salvation, and can make it to the very end. Are these words clear enough? Are you still liable to be negative? (No.) When people understand God’s intentions, their path is a broad one. If they do not understand His intentions, it is narrow, there is darkness in their hearts, and they have no path to tread. Those who do not understand the truth are as follows: They are narrow-minded, they always split hairs, and they always complain about and misunderstand God. As a result, the further they walk, the more their path disappears. In fact, people don’t understand God. If God treated people as they imagined, the human race would have long since been destroyed.

Paul’s seven sins represent revelations typical of corrupt humanity, but Paul was just the most severe case. His nature essence was already determined—that was the person he was. However, these corrupt dispositions are common to all corrupted humans; every person has them to a different extent. These states all stem from a corrupt disposition. Although you are not the same type of person as Paul, you possess these corrupt dispositions, too; you just do not manifest them as severely as he did. At the present time, states of this sort that the majority of you have are seen by God as revelations of corrupt dispositions. However, Paul did not just reveal a corrupt disposition; he was on the path of resisting God, and stubbornly refused to repent. He was sentenced and condemned. He had a demonic nature, and this truth-hating demonic nature of his was beyond help. After this, you should fellowship on this discourse, and compare yourselves to it. The goal of this is to recognize the severity of these mistakes that Paul made, then uncover all of the corrupt states you have which are like Paul’s, and fix them step by step. The point of fixing these corrupt dispositions is to make people capable of living with increasing human likeness, and increasing compatibility with God. Only by fixing these corrupt dispositions can people truly come before God, be compatible with Him, be a true created being, and make God look upon them with satisfaction. Do you draw comparisons with yourselves? (We are a bit lacking in this regard.) The thing you lack the most is the truth. Truth is what you should be entering into. You have quite a few things inside you now, but the majority of these things are corrupt and bad. You have some absurd knowledge, are too petty, always think about making transactions and trades, have an overabundance of negative things, and become negative when you don’t do a task well, or perceive a difficulty. When you see that God’s work is not in line with your wishes, negative emotions rise up in you, and you are opposed to His work and fight it. When you accomplish some small result in your work, it goes to your head and you forget yourself. You become arrogant and don’t know your place in the universe, think you are a cut above everyone else, and want God to give you a crown and a reward in exchange; you also dare to be unrestrained in public. In sum, these states are consistent with Paul’s states—they are the same, and God loathes them.

We have summarized and defined Paul’s seven major sins. Paul ultimately became the object of punishment. When God decided Paul’s outcome, did He base it on just one of his sins? (No.) Taken together, this was the end he should have had; it was the way he should have ended up. The facts are right in front of you; you cannot deny them. If there are some among you who walk a road like Paul’s from start to finish, manifest all of Paul’s seven sins, and cannot seek the truth to resolve them, what will your outcome ultimately be? (The same as Paul’s.) You will become an antichrist demon like Paul, and should be punished. When you are punished, do not accuse God of being unrighteous. Instead, you should praise God’s righteousness, and say, “God is righteous! God exposed Paul’s seven sins, and His words explained them. It was me who didn’t enter into His words!” Now things are different than two thousand years ago; God tells people about every truth clearly and transparently, and it is written out for you, so that you can hear and understand it, and you see that that is how God works and accomplishes things in real life, too. If you are still unable to enter into the truth, and cannot fix your corrupt disposition according to God’s words, do not blame God for punishing you according to His righteous disposition. In the Book of Revelation, God said, “My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12). God repays people according to what they do. This is God’s righteous disposition. Those who believe in God should reflect on and understand themselves in light of God’s words, and in light of Paul’s seven sins that God exposed, and achieve true repentance. This is what God approves of.

June 14, 2018