There is a common problem in the corrupt disposition of people, a common problem which exists in the humanity of every person, a most severe problem. This common problem is the weakest, most fatal part of their humanity, and in their nature essence, it is the hardest thing to dig out or change. What is this problem? It is that humans always want to be exceptional, superhuman, perfect people. People themselves are created beings. Can created beings achieve omnipotence? Can they achieve perfection and flawlessness? Can they achieve proficiency in everything, come to understand everything, see through everything, and be capable of everything? They cannot. However, within humans, there are corrupt dispositions, and a fatal weakness: As soon as they learn a skill or profession, people feel that they are capable, that they are people with status and worth, and that they are professionals. No matter how unexceptional they are, they all want to package themselves as some famous or exceptional individual, to turn themselves into some minor celebrity, and make people think they are perfect and flawless, without a single defect; in the eyes of others, they wish to become famous, powerful, or some great figure, and they want to become mighty, capable of anything, with nothing they cannot do. They feel that if they sought others’ help, they would appear incapable, weak, and inferior, and that people would look down on them. For this reason, they always want to keep up a front. Some people, when asked to do something, say they know how to do it, when they actually do not. Afterward, in secret, they look it up and try to learn how to do it, but after studying it for several days, they still do not understand how to do it. When asked how they are getting on with it, they say, “Soon, soon!” But in their hearts, they’re thinking, “I’m not there yet, I have no idea, I don’t know what to do! I must not let the cat out of the bag, I must continue putting on a front, I can’t let people see my shortcomings and ignorance, I can’t let them look down on me!” What problem is this? This is a living hell of trying to save face at all costs. What kind of disposition is this? Such people’s arrogance knows no bounds, they have lost all reason. They do not wish to be like everyone else, they don’t want to be ordinary people, normal people, but superhumans, exceptional individuals, or hotshots. This is such a huge problem! With regard to the weaknesses, shortcomings, ignorance, foolishness, and lack of understanding within normal humanity, they will wrap it all up, and not let other people see it, and then keep on disguising themselves. There are some who are blind to everything, yet still claim they understand in their heart. When you ask them to explain it, they cannot. After someone else has explained it, they then claim that they were about to say the same thing but were unable to voice it in time. They do everything they can to disguise themselves and try to look good. What do you say, do such people not live with their heads in the clouds? Are they not dreaming? They do not know who they themselves are, nor do they know how to live out normal humanity. They have never once acted like practical human beings. If you pass your days with your head in the clouds, muddling through, not doing anything with your feet on the ground, always living by your own imagination, then this is trouble. The path in life you choose is not right. If you do this, then no matter how you believe in God, you will not understand the truth, nor will you be able to obtain the truth. To be honest with you, you cannot obtain the truth, because your starting point is wrong. You must learn how to walk on the ground, and how to walk steadily, one step at a time. If you can walk, then walk; do not try to learn how to run. If you can walk one step at a time, then do not try to take two steps at a time. You must conduct yourself with your feet firmly on the ground. Do not try to be superhuman, great, or lofty. Human beings, dominated by their satanic disposition, harbor some ambition and desire inside of them, which is hidden within their hearts. They do not want to live with their feet on the ground, rather, they always want to run off into the air, to live amidst the clouds and mist. Are they not dreaming? Do people live in midair? That is the domain of Satan, not a place for people to live. God created man from the dust of the earth; He causes them to live on the ground, to live normally and with rules, to learn the common knowledge of how to behave, to learn how to act, how to live, and how to worship Him. God did not give people wings, and He does not allow them to live in the air. The ones who roam about in the air are Satan and all kinds of evil spirits, not people. If people always have this ambition, always wanting to become superhuman, to change into something else, then they are asking for trouble. It is very easy to become totally obsessed! First off, this thought and idea of yours is wrong. It comes from Satan, goes entirely beyond reality, does not conform to God’s requirements at all, and goes entirely beyond God’s words. So what is this thought? It is always wanting to be free of vulgarity, to be outstanding, to be without peer, to be exquisite beyond compare, to fly one’s own colors, to become famous and great, an idol in the hearts of people—are these the goals one ought to pursue? Absolutely not. Among all God’s words, there is not one that tells people to pursue becoming a superhuman, a strongman, a celebrity, or a great person. None of these things people imagine are real, none of them exist. To pursue these things is to dig your own grave—the more you pursue them, the faster you die. This is the road to destruction.

Since God has said so many words, do you know what His requirements are for people’s behavior? (He wants them to conduct themselves conscientiously.) (He wants them to conduct themselves and act with their feet on the ground, assiduously, and without attracting attention.) Although these few words are simple, most people cannot achieve them; only honest people are capable. In fact, no matter how you express it, to put it briefly, God requires people to be honest. Only the honest are able to conduct themselves conscientiously, to have their feet planted on the ground as they act, to not attract attention, and to be assiduous, so being an honest person is right, and God likes honest people. God detests deceitful people. Those who do not conduct themselves conscientiously, who do not have their feet planted on the ground as they act, are deceitful. Do you understand when it’s said this way? So tell Me again, besides requiring them to be honest people, what other requirements does God have of people? (They need to humble themselves.) You say “humble,” but is it reasonable to use this word to describe people? (It is unreasonable.) Why is it unreasonable? Humanity, corrupted by Satan, originally had no status; they were originally less than the worms, so how much more humble could they be? If they lowered themselves further, what would they become? Would they not become devils, or beasts? Man was created by God, and all those created by God have human instincts. People are all able to achieve the things they ought to possess, which are all part of their normal behaviors and revelations. First let us speak of happiness, anger, grief, and joy, some of the emotions that people possess. When someone is sorrowful or sad, the most common manifestation is crying. It is a natural revelation of normal humanity. When you are sorrowful or in pain, you can cry, let your tears out. Do not pretend. Some people say: “I do not cry, I am a strong man, and men do not shed tears easily!” Other people say: “Although I am female, I am resolute. I must be strong like a man. I will be a heroine, not a weak woman.” Is this sort of thinking correct? What kind of humanity is this? This is pretending; it is not true. That which is pretended is not a revelation of normal humanity. Rather, it is a false appearance given to others, completely twisting normal humanity. So when people have something to be grieved or anxious about, when they sigh, or when their expression is relatively serious, or when they do not want to eat, all these things are revelations of normal humanity, which no one can cover up. When someone encounters something good, they smile, which is also a normal revelation. There are some people who dare not laugh out loud when they are pleased. They always cover their mouths to hide their smiles, always fearing people’s jokes. Is that normal? (It is not normal.) This is also pretending. They think that women cannot laugh in public in front of lots of people, and they especially cannot show their teeth, otherwise people will look down on or disdain them, so they must restrain themselves, and they cannot be frivolous. This is the result of a traditional Chinese cultural education. In someone whose happiness, anger, grief, and joy are abnormal, others cannot see the manifestations or needs of their normal humanity. Is this kind of person normal? (They are not normal.) Is there not something in their thoughts which dominates them? People have been corrupted too deeply by Satan. That is just how it is. They are more like fiends than people. This is the appearance of those who are dominated by a devilish nature. They are extremely false, and they pretend too much. Why is it that people who have believed in God for several years have hardly changed at all? For one thing, people do not have a correct knowledge or clear view on the path, principles, direction, and goals of being a normal person, nor do they have a clear view of the path to pursuing the truth. For another thing, this kind of person is ignorant. Even if they live to be forty or fifty years old, they know nothing about how to be an honest person, or which requirements they must meet in order to live out normal humanity. This is because traditional culture has set its roots too deep in people’s hearts, and they always want to pretend that they are the holy, great people they have imagined themselves to be, which causes them to understand things in prejudiced, ludicrous, and strange ways. Are there such people among you? Some people have never opened their hearts up to others, nor do they know how to talk about their innermost thoughts. They seem as if they have no difficulties, as if they have never been negative or weak, as if they have never had any difficulties with life entry. They do not need to seek anything, nor fellowship with others, nor do they need the fellowship, provision, help, or assistance of anyone else. They seem as if they understand everything on their own, and can resolve anything. When someone asks them whether or not they have ever been negative before, they say: “I am occasionally negative, but I just pray to God, set my resolve, and swear an oath, and then I’m fine.” What kind of person is this? On the outside, it may not appear that there are many such people, but in reality, there are many people who possess these states. To this day, a person like this does not know what it means to believe in God. They think that to believe in God just means to acknowledge Him and be a good person, and they will one day “become immortal and attain the way” and enter into the kingdom of heaven, just like the Buddhists talk about being free from human desires and passions, or being pure of heart and having few desires. They work diligently and exert themselves in this direction, but is this believing in God? Even now, they do not know what it is to believe in God, nor do they know what they ought to pursue, or what kind of person they ought to be. However many sermons on the truth they listen to, the goal they pursue does not change, nor does their viewpoint on believing in God change. This is quite troublesome! If you do not even understand what it means to believe in God, then are you able to know who your God is? If you do not even understand what it means to believe in God, then are you able to pursue the truth? Can a person who has absolutely no knowledge of the vision of believing in God love the truth? Those who do not understand the vision of believing in God are those who are unable to get the truth. It is useless to ask this sort of person whether or not they love the truth; they do not understand what it is to believe in God or to pursue the truth. They do not understand these things. Whether they have believed in God for three years or five, ten years or eight, none of them understand the truth. All they know is that to believe in God is to be a good person, to do good things, to be kind and charitable, and they think that this is an honorable way to live. Is this viewpoint not too superficial and out of date? This is incompatible with and totally unconnected to the truths of believing in God. Someone who has believed in God for many years, but still treats the matter of belief in God with the viewpoints, thoughts, and methods of nonbelievers, Buddhists, and Taoists, who relies on traditional notions and imaginings to walk the path of belief in God, who mistakenly believes that their understanding is pure, who thinks that believing in God this way is the only way to pursue the truth—are they not lying to themselves?

Chinese people have the traditional cultural background of Taoism and Buddhism. Under this great traditional social background, it is very difficult for Chinese people to free their thoughts from these things, so when Chinese people mention belief in God, the first things they think of are the Buddhist and Taoist viewpoints of being vegetarian and praying to Buddha, not killing, giving alms and doing good, helping others, not attacking or yelling at others, not murdering or committing arson, being a good person, etc. Then how long does it take for a person to get rid of these things and understand the true meaning of belief in God? Which truths does a person need to pursue an understanding of in order to totally turn these incorrect thoughts and notions around, to completely eliminate them? Only by truly understanding God’s requirements and by believing in God according to the principles of the truth can a person step onto the right track of belief in God; only from then on does their life of belief in God formally begin. If someone still has feudal superstitions in their heart, or the notions, imaginings, and regulations of traditional religion, then these things they keep in their hearts are the very things God loathes and hates the most. They must seek the truth, discern these things, and then totally give them up. Only such people love the truth, only they can receive the work of the Holy Spirit. This is for certain. If you do not base your belief in God on the truth of His words, then you will never be able to obtain His blessings. Once someone has stepped onto the right track of belief in God, once they have crossed that threshold, there is a change in their inner state. First off, their thoughts and viewpoints are not illusory, but are real. Their state, thoughts, and ideas are not empty, but are in accord with the truth, they completely conform to God’s words. The goal and direction they pursue is not doctrinal, nor is it unreachable or invisible, rather, it is something positive, in accordance with God’s requirements, and is approved of by God. Their whole state, their thoughts, and their ideas are all practical and real. You believe in God now, so where are your thoughts? If they are still floating up in the air, without an accurate direction, if there are still many thoughts that do not correspond to reality, and many empty, doctrinal thoughts, with all kinds of human ideas, notions, and imaginings, then you are still living in the air of imagination, and you have not come down to the ground. This is very dangerous, because what you think, what you do, and the goals you pursue in your heart have nothing to do with the truth of belief in God or with God’s requirements—they do not even touch lightly. So on what basis do you act? You act on the basis of the summarized experiences of man, man’s philosophies for worldly dealings, as well as the things that you learn from society, your family, and all kinds of circumstances, and the things that you imagine up and summarize in your head. For example, when something happens to you, you act the way you think you ought to, and you think that to do so is in accordance with the truth, and that what you think is right and positive is the truth. One day, when you run into a wall or are pruned, then you will realize that your actions, thoughts, and ideas are all human imaginings and notions, which are fundamentally incompatible with the truth principles. That is to say, before a person has formally entered onto the right track of belief in God, many things they do have nothing to do with the truth principles. They come from the minds and imaginings of people, or their preferences, enthusiasm, and willpower, or their good wishes and hopes, or even their desires. All these things are the starting point and source of people’s actions.

As to which states a person must possess in order to enter onto the right track of belief in God, there is a standard, which is that they must possess a normal state while experiencing God’s words. Some people already live in this state, while others have not yet entered into it, or who occasionally have it, but after a time, they return to their old state. What is this state? It is when, after someone goes through a period of time relying on their enthusiasm, preferences, notions, and imaginings, they suddenly realize that believing in this way seems unacceptable, that they cannot obtain the truth, and that believing in this way is empty and unrealistic. They realize that they have always been a created being, that they ought to be a true created being, and sincerely do the duty of a created being with all their heart and strength. Then they start to do things with their feet on the ground, and they do their duty with all their loyalty. As they do things, they start to ponder and seek out how to act in accordance with the truth, how to satisfy God’s intentions, and how to be accepted by God. They do not act based on their notions, imaginings, or preferences. Only at this point do people have a desire to satisfy God and reciprocate His love. At this point, they start to seek the truth, seek the intentions of God, and start to satisfy His requirements. When you have this desire, when you have a normal state in your heart, in one respect, you are standing in your rightful place and being a true created being. In another respect, which is the primary one, you have truly accepted from the bottom of your heart that God is your Lord and your God, and you have accepted all God’s words, and have seen that they are the truth. You are also able to practice and experience God’s words, and you cause God’s words to become your life reality, which allows you to obtain truth and life. When you have this will and desire, as well as this kind of need, and you accept the word of God and His requirements of you, and have the will to submit to God and satisfy Him, then your life’s state will start to change. Starting from this point, you will be walking onto the right track of belief in God.

These words I have just fellowshipped, to sum up, are quite simple; that is, once a person begins to recognize that they are a created being, that person will develop hopes of becoming a genuine created being in order to satisfy God. At the same time, such people will also accept God as their Lord and God, and desire to submit to all of God’s requirements, as well as His sovereignty. They therefore will stop acting wantonly, and will seek God’s desires and seek the truth principles in everything they do. They will no longer simply do whatever they want to or do things according to their own plans. Rather than relying on their individual ideas to act, they will begin to have God constantly in their thoughts, and their subjective wish will be to satisfy God in all aspects, conform to the truth and meet God’s requirements in their actions. People in such a state have undoubtedly begun learning to seek the truth, practice the truth, and enter the truth reality. If you are in such a state and have such a will, then you will very naturally start to learn how to seek God’s intentions, and begin to seek how not to dishonor God’s name, how to honor God as great, how to fear God, and how to satisfy God; instead of satisfying your own selfish desires or satisfying someone else, you try to satisfy God. When someone enters this state, they are living in the presence of God, and they are no longer directed by their corrupt disposition. When you enter this state, the things you think of in your subjective desires are positive. Even if you occasionally reveal a corrupt disposition, you will be aware of it, and you will be able to self-reflect and seek the truth to resolve it. Thus, although you still have a corrupt disposition, your corrupt disposition will no longer be able to direct your everything, to control you. At this time, is the truth of God’s word not taking sovereignty within you? Are you not living within God’s words? Are you all able to let the truth exercise authority in your hearts? This depends on whether or not you have the will to pursue the truth. If someone clearly understands a lot of the truth, then the truth will naturally exercise authority in their heart. If they do not understand much of the truth, or they have too many of Satan’s poisons, then they cannot have the truth exercise authority in their heart. There are many people who are willing to practice the truth, but when things befall them, they involuntarily show themselves off, pursue fame, gain, and status, have no restraint or control, and they allow their corrupt disposition to reveal as it will. What state is this? This is when a person understands too little of the truth, their stature is too small, and they are unable to overcome the flesh or Satan’s influence. It is very difficult for this kind of person to allow the truth to exercise authority in their heart. So, pursuing the truth is no simple thing, and without even a few years of experience, it is very difficult to resolve the problem of a corrupt disposition. For example, some people are very deceitful, they never speak their innermost thoughts aloud, and they cannot say even a single true word. No matter what they discuss or how many words they say, they do not speak clearly, always going in circles, and they are not in control of themselves. In front of their corrupt dispositions, and in front of their disgusting, satanic nature essence, people reveal themselves to be so insignificant, weak, powerless, and entirely helpless, so they often sin, make mistakes, and are negative. What is going on here? (They have not walked onto the right track of belief in God.) They have not walked onto the right track of belief in God, and what does that imply? (They do not yet understand that they are created beings, and they are unwilling to submit to or satisfy God.) This is a consequence brought about by not pursuing the truth. You are in this situation, so can you say you have not yet started to enter the truth reality? (Yes.) Does a person who has not entered into the truth reality count as having obtained the truth? (They do not.) Does a person who has not obtained the truth have the truth in their heart? (They do not.) Without the truth, do people not act based on their corrupt dispositions? So in order to do some positive things as they do their duty, what must a person possess? Must they not understand the truth? If a person cannot practice the truth as they do their duty, instead only knowing how to act on their own will, what quality is that? Is it not laboring? This is equivalent to God hiring a nonbeliever to labor for Him. If you do not pursue the truth or enter into the truth reality, then you are laboring. Do you think God is willing to see people He wants to save merely laboring for Him, without practicing according to His words to achieve salvation? (He is not willing.) Why is He not willing? (God created man so that He could obtain them.) That is correct, God created man to manifest Himself, and even more so to obtain them. Why is God dissatisfied when people only labor for Him? (Because people’s actions are not what God wants.) So what does God want? (God wants people’s sincerity.) Is laboring for God not sincerity itself? Regardless of whether or not your laboring is genuine and sincere, if you do not pursue the truth, then even if you labor your whole life, you will not obtain the truth. If you do not obtain the truth, that means you do not obtain God, and God does not obtain you, so your laboring is without value or meaning. No matter how many years you labor, if you do not pursue the truth, then God will not obtain you, which means that you still resist God. Who causes this? It is caused by people themselves not working hard to cooperate, by people themselves not pursuing the truth; that alone is the root cause. From the practical side of things, how can God not obtaining a person be explained? It is that they always have their own intents as they do their duty, and they do not offer up their heart to God, so their heart is not turned to Him, neither is their heart for Him. They do not show consideration for His intentions, much less try to satisfy Him by fulfilling their duty. The simplest explanation is that this person is not sincere toward God, so there is absolutely no hope for them. God scrutinizes people to see whether or not they sincerely believe in Him; He wants their sincerity. What does it mean to be sincere? (To have a heart that turns toward God, a heart that submits to God.) That is right. If a person does not have a heart that turns to God, that submits to Him, then can they be called a good person? Can God like such a person? Can a person who is not of one mind with God put the truth into practice? Do you have hearts that submit to God? Can you stand by God in all things? Do your hearts turn toward God? To say that you have no sincerity at all would be unjust to you, but to say that you truly hate Satan, that you can rebel against Satan and totally turn to God, would also be incorrect. This requires that you possess a heart of submission to God, that you pursue the truth, and attain an understanding of more truth. What kind of heart does God want people to have? First off, this heart must be honest, and they must be able to conscientiously do their duty with their feet on the ground, able to uphold the work of the church, no longer having so-called “great ambitions” or “lofty goals.” Every step leaves a footprint as they follow and worship God, they conduct themselves as created beings; they no longer pursue becoming an exceptional or great person, much less a person with special powers, and they do not worship the creations on alien planets. Additionally, this heart must love the truth. What is primarily meant by loving the truth? It means loving positive things, having a sense of justice, being able to sincerely expend yourself for God, truly love Him, submit to Him, and testify of Him. Of course, you can only accomplish these things after you understand the truth. Someone who has this kind of heart is a person who has normal humanity. Someone who has normal humanity must at the very least possess a conscience and reason. How can you tell if a person possesses a conscience and reason? If their speech and actions are basically in accordance with the standards of conscience and reason, then from a human perspective they are a good person, and they are someone who is up to an acceptable standard. If they can also understand the truth and act according to the truth principles, then they are fulfilling God’s requirements, which is higher than the standard of conscience and reason. Some people say: “Man was created by God. God gave us the breath of life, and it is God who provides for us, nourishes us, and leads us to grow into adults. People of conscience and reason cannot live for themselves or for Satan; they ought to live for God, and fulfill their duty.” This is true, but it is only a broad framework, a rough sketch. As to the details of how to live for God in reality, this involves conscience and reason. So how does one live for God? (Do well the duty that a created being ought to do.) Correct. Right now, all you do is to do the duty of man, but in reality, who are you doing it for? (For God.) It is for God, it is cooperation with Him! The commission God has given you is your duty. It is fated, predetermined, and governed by Him, or in other words, it is God who gives this task over to you, and wants you to complete it. So how can you rely on your conscience to complete it and do it well? (We have to use all our effort.) You have to use all your effort, which is a manifestation of relying on your conscience. Additionally, you must use your whole heart and fulfill your responsibilities—do not be perfunctory about it. God has His expectations and the price of His painstaking effort upon us. Seeing as God has predetermined that we should fulfill this responsibility and do this duty, we ought not to let Him down, disappoint Him, or make Him sad. We should do our duty well, and give God a perfect, satisfactory answer. We rely on God for that which we cannot do, we learn more about our professions, and we seek more after the truth principles. God gives us life, so we ought to do our duty well; for each day we live, we ought to do that day’s duty well. We should make what God has entrusted to us our primary mission, make doing our duty the number one thing in our lives in order to complete it well. Although we do not pursue perfection, we can put forth effort toward the truth, and act based on God’s words and the truth principles, so that we can satisfy God, make Satan ashamed, and have no regrets. This is the attitude that believers in God ought to have toward their duty. When you have lived to forty or fifty—or even seventy or eighty—when you look back at the things you did when you were young and ignorant, you will see that although you weren’t very old at the time, you did everything with all your heart and strength; you always acted based on your conscience, you did not let God down, you did not disappoint Him or make Him sad, and in your heart you accepted God’s scrutiny and inspection. When this is all accomplished and you give God your completed exam, God will say: “Although you did not do a great job, and your results were average, you nevertheless used all your strength, and you did not neglect your duty.” Is this not acting based on your conscience? So when people often reveal corruption, have their personal choices, desires, and preferences, even to the point that they completely violate the standard of their conscience, and lose their normal humanity, what is to be done? You must pray to God and rebel against yourself, you cannot allow those things to constrain you or control your conscience and reason. When your conscience is able to direct your actions, your livelihood, and your life, then it will be easy for you to conquer the selfish desires of the flesh, and you will be able to obtain this aspect of the truth. This is the bare minimum you should have. As to what kind of human heart God wants, how many aspects have I just spoken about? (Three aspects: an honest heart, a heart that loves the truth, and having conscience and reason.) Within an honest heart and a heart that loves the truth are some more details, you should ponder on this and summarize it later. At the very least, what a person should possess is the conscience and reason that someone with normal humanity ought to have. If someone does not have a conscience or reason, then they lose their normal humanity, they cannot do anything well, they cannot accomplish anything, and in the end, they will completely fail. But if they only have a conscience and reason, if they live based on their conscience and do not do anything evil, does this amount to entering onto the right track of belief in God? Can they attain God’s approval by living based on their conscience and reason alone? They absolutely cannot.